Tilapia with pineapple rice

Aside from how good it tastes, this dish is incredibly fast and simple to prepare, and I usually have the ingredients in the pantry (well, except the green onions--I rarely just have those just lying around).  The recipe is from a magazine called "Clean Eating", so in addition to all of the other reasons to make it, it's very healthy too.  You know, so I can eat a bowl of ice cream for dessert :)  Here's how to make it:

Romper, part 2

I finally got around to making another romper!  This one fits considerably better, having taken the sides in a little and increased the length.  After reading a blog post about using a flatlock (or ladder) stitch, I used my serger to decoratively apply the rib knit along the edges.

Pan-fried tilapia

This is what I make if I am uninspired by the contents of my fridge and/ or I'm in a hurry.  It always tastes delicious, so there aren't any complaints when I make it.  Here's the recipe (such as it is):

Tilapia Tuesday!

We all love fish, especially my 6 year old.  When I take the weekly poll about what everyone wants for dinner, he usually asks for fish (hotdogs are his unfortunate other request).  While other fish might be a tad tastier, I tend toward tilapia because it's mild flavored and fairly firm, making it easy to cook and versatile.  And unlike other fish (I'm looking at you, salmon) it doesn't suffer from being frozen.  As a matter of fact, I only buy tilapia in frozen form, which makes for easy planning and quick, last-minute meals.  Even better, US farmed tilapia is listed as a "Best Choice" on the Seafood Watch list.

Since we have tilapia so often, I'd like to start a regular feature highlighting our tilapia recipe of the week.  Full disclosure: we won't necessarily have the tilapia meal on Tuesday.  That's too much pressure.  :)

Overrun by Olallieberries, in a good way

Jars of jelly and jam, in my beautiful new jars!

Olallieberry ice cream

This past weekend, we made the trip back to Swanton Berry Farm in Davenport to pick olallieberries.  We went a little wild, picking over 12 pounds (and at $4 a lb!), and it was quite a task to dispatch all those berries before they went bad.

Ruboff romper pattern

I've fallen in love with the short-sleeved rompers for my littlest man.  In the heat of summer, I'd keep him in only a onesie to stay cool, but his cloth diaper hangs out of the legs openings.  Not cute!  I bought the romper on the left and figured I could ruboff the pattern to make my own.  How hard could it be?  I had my serger out for another purpose, so the general construction was easy, but it took at least 4 tries to get the crotch gusset right.   And wow, the snap-tape I used for the bottom closure was such a pain!  I used a zipper foot to seam the edge, but it wasn't quite close enough and I had to manually push it through the machine.  I've caught my finger with the needle doing that in the past, so it's not my favorite method of sewing!

The finished romper turned out fine, but I've got some fit and construction alterations in mind.  Hopefully I get another done before summer ends!