:) Din Din! Part 1

I'm doing these three recipes seperate for label purposes... Anyway, Jason and I have begun feeling more inspired in the kitchen, and cooking has become more of an adventure for us than ever before.

Plus, this is random, but every time I've done a career analysis to see what field I would be a good match for, I've always come back with either jobs in the service industry doing something like sociology, psychology, or going into the ministry, or jobs in the creative industry such as marketing, advertising, studio arts, writing, and cooking. I always thought that was a strange thing to stick in the middle of a list of renaissance arts- reading, writing, and art. But now that I've become more comfortable in the kitchen, I've found that cooking has become a creative outlet for me. The ways I like to express myself creatively always evolves and changes, so it doesn't surprise me that this is my "flavor of the week" so to speak (and no pun intended). But it's almost an adrenaline rush for me to see a countertop covered up in raw veggies, packages of raw meat, and jars of spices evolve into something beautiful and delicious... With my help, of course. Jason likes to be creative with his hands too, so it's something that we love to do together, and something we've only really done with each other. Cooking with someone isn't something we've shared with past relationships... It's new to us and it's new to our relationship, which is hard to come by almost 4 years in. To us, every meal is an adventure, especially when something new is to be tried.

So, last night, we embarked on an adventure in uncharted territory... Pecan crusted dijon tilapia, served with parmesan garlic mashed potatoes and sauteed garlic asparagus.

I made the potatoes and the asparagus, and Jason helped me with the fish. It was delicious! (naturally, I found this recipe on Celeste's blog ;))


INGREDIENTS:1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup brown mustard, such as French's Bold 'n Spicy (I used Grey Poupon Dijon mustard)
1 pound tilapia fillets, if frozen, thaw
1/4 cup chopped pecans, finely chopped

DIRECTIONS:Lightly butter a large, shallow baking pan, such as a jelly roll pan. In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise and mustard.
Using paper towels, pat fish lightly to dry. Arrange fish fillets in prepared baking dish.Spread mayonnaise mixture over each fillet. Sprinkle each fillet with chopped pecans; press down gently.

Bake in a preheated 350° oven for 12 to 15 minutes, until fish flakes easily with a fork.