recipe: tilapia and diced tomato bake

this was such a throw-together meal i don't think it really constitutes a recipe... but it was a good (and healthy) week night dinner that was also tasty, so it's a win in my book. 

ingredients list: 

- 4 tilapia fillets

- 1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes with jalapeno, excess liquid drained*

- 1/2 white onion, diced

- 1/2 tsp oregano

- 1/2 tsp garlic powder

- salt & pepper to taste

- 1 zucchini, diced

- parmesan cheese

to make: 

pour half of the diced tomatoes into the bottom of a glass baking dish, along with onion. add tilapia fillets on top of the tomatoes, then pour in the remaining diced tomatoes, and season with oregano, garlic powder, and salt & pepper.

i sauteed my zucchini separately over medium heat and added it on top of the fish at end, since i prefer my zucchini a bit crisp, although it could be baked in the dish as well. 

top with cheese when it comes out of the oven, and serve over quinoa or rice. 

*as you can see in the picture, i didn't drain my tomatoes, so i ended up with quite a bit of moisture as the tilapia cooked down :(

recipe: corn and crab bisque

terrible picture, delicious soup!

one of the perks of living in the PNW is that every now & again alaskan king crab legs will pop up in the grocery store on sale for $9.99/lb. yesterday was one such event, so it seemed like the perfect opp to cook a nice din for the man piece. i decided to make a crab bisque, using the Corn and Crab Bisque recipe from allrecipes.com. 

i made a few adjustments, adding in some Old Bay seasoning (seemed like a sin not to have the OB in the pot), shallots, extra garlic, white wine, swapping canned chicken broth for homemade crab stock that i had frozen, and double the amount of crab. 

it came out fantastic, although i personally prefer a little bit thicker/creamier of a soup... next time i think i'd cut back slightly on the seafood stock. and possibly add in bacon into the pan with the onion/garlic mixture... that sweet & smokey bacon flavor would have been dope in this. 

ingredients list (scaled back to 4 servings):
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1/4 cup onion, chopped
- 1/4 cup shallot, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1/4 cup wine
- 21 ounces (roughly) of crab stock or chicken broth
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp cajun seasoning
- 1/4 tsp old bay seasoning
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 
- 2 ears corn, kernels cut from cob
- 1/4 cup half-and-half
- 2 tbsp flour
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 lb fresh crab meat
- salt & pepper to taste

PDX restaurants: Apizza Scholls

there is nothing about Apizza Scholls i could say that hasn't already been said. this is not only the best pizza i have had in Portland, but could possibly be one of the better pizza's i've ever had, period (and this is putting it up against NYC and New Haven CT pies). 

every part of the toppings was just packed with flavor, and the crust tasted like a small slice of a fresh-baked, ooey gooey pillow soft artisan bread, but with char flavor from brick oven heaven. 

we ordered the margherita & the white (bianca) pizzas, two large pies between 4 people. (for the first time in my life, i ate 4 slices of pizza in one sitting. could. not. help. myself!) 10/10/10, so worth the wait. 

recipe: paleo brownies with caramel & toasted coconut flakes

one of the Portland struggles is having friends with special diets. hosting or bringing something to a party there is guaranteed to be a vegetarian, a gluten-free, a paleo, a pescatarian, a vegan, a lactose-intolerant, a organic only, or 1,000 combinations of diets in between of that. i was tasked with needing to bake a paleo-only desert, not really knowing what that was before i embarked on my journey of recipe searching. baking without grains or dairy blew my mind. 

i searched quite a few recipes, and they all sounded just based on ingredients alone that they would taste like hot garbage. the brownie recipe from Amazing Paleo sounded like one of the better recipes of the bunch, and didn't seem like they would end up as "dry and sandy" as some of the other reviewed recipes out there.

they turned out fairly tasty -- these would never be my go-to brownie if i had a choice, but the folks i brought them for said they were one of the better paleo deserts they have ever had (they recently gave up baking paleo since the results were so poor typically). i'd say if you have to bake paleo, this is a really solid recipe, BUT it is so damn expensive (i think i spent almost $30 on ingredients when all was said & done), buying a desert from a swanky paleo bakery may be a good back up as well! 

Vancouver CA eats!

Fritz European Fry House: poutine

this is a very late posts about some of Canada's finest offerings from my trip to Vancouver BC, but mother of god looking back at these pics made me instantly hungry. i don't normally eat sushi (don't love the seaweed), but had some sushi SO good i've been craving it ever since, my first (how has this happened?!) taste of poutine, the dopest rosemary and rock salt bagel i could ever imagine, and countless other noshes that were all better than the last. we had limited time in CA, but could have spent the entire trip in the Granville Island Public Market. we settled on two trips instead - one for the rock salt bagels for breakfast (from Siegel's Bagels), the other to A La Mode for the clam chowder pot pie, some gourmet chocolates, and almond pastries for the trip back to the good old USA.

A La Mode: clam chowder pot pie

PDX burgers: Canyon Grill

Thrillist released its list of the 10 best burgers outside of Portland a few months back -- only 2 of which are in a reasonable driving distance unless i'm out of town. after a day in Beaverton running errands with the hubs, it was a perfect excuse to try out Canyon Grill.

i ordered their signature burger that comes dressed with swiss, bacon, avocado, mushrooms, grilled onions, roasted red peppers, and Canyon Sauce. i was grateful it came wrapped in a little burger diaper, because this beast was massive and it was messy. the burger patty itself was pretty ordinary (though not bad by an stretch), but the fun was in the toppings. it was an uphill battle keeping everything on-bun, but was a mouth party when it all came together. 

i'd say if you're going there as a burger purist it wouldn't be top of the list (though in its defense i didn't try a plain burger and the patty flavor could have just been drowned out by all the toppings?), but if you're in town and need a good bite, it's worth hitting up.