A Simple Feast--Baked fish, baked potatoes, and brussel sprouts

This picture probably would have been prettier if I remembered to take the picture before I cut up the baked potato, but I was just too excited to eat this yummy meal!

The primary point of this post is to show how easy it is to make a meal consisting of a variety of dishes to come together at the same time to make a good meal, even in a small home kitchen.  This seems to be an obstacle for some people to overcome before they are comfortable cooking meals from scratch.  (A secondary purpose is to share a simple way to prepare fish!  So moist and delicious!)

It was a simple feast, to be sure, but a feast none the less.  And it was good!  Okay, the brussel sprouts weren't amazing--they tasted like cabbage, which we aren't to fond of by itself (next time, if there is a next time, I have some, I'll probably chop them up and slip them into egg rolls)--but they weren't bad.  If you like cabbage, they probably would be amazing though!

One thing that made this meal nice to make is that it didn't require a lot of effort.  Another is that the potatoes and fish could be baked at the same temperature.  Here's what I made, how I made it, and how easy it is to put together a meal like this, even on a busy night.

Start with the baked potatoes:

Baked Potatoes

desired number of baking potatoes, like Russets

shortening, butter, or oil (optional)

Scrub potatoes.  Poke a few holes in each potato.  Rub with shortening, butter, or oil, if desired, for a softer skin.  Bake at 350 for about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours (can also be baked at 375 for 1 to 1 1/4 hours or at 325 for about 1 1/2 hours, if desired).  Serve with butter and/or sour cream, as desired.

Once the potatoes had been in the oven for about an hour, I got the fish ready.  Because the kids aren't big fish eaters, and my husband and I tend to just want moderate amounts of meat, I was able to make just one fillet, about 1/2 pound of fish (which in this case, was $3.50 worth of fish), be enough for all of us, making the entire meal fit in my $5 a meal for the family budget.

Baked Whitefish

whitefish fillets

softened butter

lemon juice

salt

pepper

Lay fish fillets out on a baking dish.  Brush with softened butter and lightly sprinkle with lemon juice.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

Once the fish was in the oven, I started on the brussel sprouts.  Like I said before, these weren't the best things in the world--but probably only because we don't care for cabbage flavor by itself.  If we did, I'm sure everyone would have gobbled them up.  Even as it was, they were pretty good.

Brussel sprouts

brussel sprouts

butter

Remove outer leaves of brussel sprouts and rinse.  Boil for 3 minutes.  Remove from water and submerse in cold water until almost tine to serve.  A few minutes before serving, halve or quarter brussel sprouts.  Melt butter in a skillet.  Saute brussel sprouts until crisp tender.

Then it was just a matter of plating the food and sitting down and eating it:  the best part!

Super-Duper Easy, Quick Fried Rice

I love fried rice because it is easy, quick, cheap (since we use homegrown veggies, eggs from a relative, and venison sausage that my husband hunted up, about the only things we are paying for are the tiny bit of chicken, soy sauce, and rice, which is, of course, cheap as heck as well!) and a great way to use leftover rice and meat.  This meal can be whipped up in about 10 minutes as long as the rice and meat were already cooked!  We really like it with chicken and sausage, but you can switch out the meats, maybe use fish instead of chicken, or leave it out altogether to suit your needs.  I always try to make extra so my husband can take it to work for lunches, but I never seem to make that much extra, it disappears so fast!  It freezes pretty well as is, but freezes even better without the egg, so if you were to make a large batch of this to freeze, for future meals, you might want to set apart the part to freeze before adding the egg and just cook the egg when it is ready to be served, or skip the egg altogether.

Chicken & Sausage Fried Rice

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen carrots
2 eggs (optional)
2-3 cups cooked rice
1/4 cup soy sauce (adjust to taste)
1/2 cup cooked chicken pieces
1/2 cup cooked sausage pieces

Heat oil in a large pan or wok.  Saute onion, peas, and carrots about 5 minutes.  Add rice, soy sauce, and meats.  Heat while stirring until rice reaches desired color and everything is heated through.  While it is heating, scramble eggs and fry in a separate frying pan.  Add cut eggs into small pieces and add to rice right before serving. 

Another $5ish Family Meal--Creamy tuna casserole

I used to think tuna casserole had to have cream of mushroom soup in it.  Then I discovered that Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup has MSG and autolyzed yeast extract (another form of MSG!) in it, which is not something I want to feed my family!  With this knowledge in hand, I started to make my tuna casseroles with Imagine Organic Creamy Portabello Mushroom Soup, but it is so expensive, I didn't want to use it often.  Then, I came across a recipe that didn't use any soup as a base, instead used a base of sour cream and milk.  Since I buy sour cream in bulk (5 lb container for about $5) from a restaurant supply store, this was a far more acceptable option.  The original recipe had a bunch of stuff I didn't like in it, so of course I tinkered with it, but here is the end result.

Creamy Tuna Casserole

12 oz uncooked pasta of your choice

10-12 oz canned tuna, drained

2 cups frozen peas

1 onion, diced

1 1/2 cups sour cream

3/4 cup milk

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup dry Italian bread crumbs

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 tbsp butter, melted

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Cook pasta according to package directions.  Combine pasta, tuna, peas, onion, sour cream, milk, salt and pepper in a 2 quart casserole dish.  Combine bread crumbs, cheese, and butter and sprinkle over the tuna mixture.  Bake uncovered 35 to 40 minutes or until hot and bubbly.