Adventures in the Kitchen #2

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Banana Pudding
We had a batch of overripe, black patchy bananas. That happens a lot in this household. But I hate waste. And anyone who knows anything about bananas and desserts, bananas are best when they start getting their spots. So I made a some banana pudding. Never in my life have I made it, but I decided to give it a crack, using this recipe. Verdict? Loved it. I love Vanilla wafers and lining them on our pie dish made a wonderful, yummy crust. The consistency was a little thin, so next time I might add more egg yolks. Overall, very good! Not a bad way to salvage food!

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Sun-Dried Tomato Penne Pasta
This was adapted from Giada DeLaurentis' show (who, I'm convinced, can't possibly eat all the high-carb and sugary food she makes), but I added ground beef since a vegetarian dish wouldn't fly in this household. I used a jar of garlic marinated Sun-Dried tomatoes, but I needed more sauce for the amount of people I was cooking for...Forgive me, we're poor, so we I threw in another jar of marinara sauce. In the end, it seemed like another bolognese pasta with penne, but it was still good. The basil adds great color and flavor.

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Lemon Garlic Baked Tilapia
The in-laws gave us a bunch of Tilapia fillets, so I had to think of an easy and quick way to cook them. I used this recipe, but followed reader reviews and used more butter. I didn't have a whole lot of fresh garlic left so I used garlic powder. I sauteed the butter, garlic powder, pepper, lemon and parsely together before I poured it over the chicken. Luckily Tilapia cooks pretty fast and 15 minutes at 375 degrees was just enough to get it moist and flaky, but cooked. It was yummy and light. To get the most out of the flavor, I would let the fish marinate for as long as possible. When I warmed up leftovers, the fish had soaked in all the flavors overnight and it tasted soooo much better.