We are on our third week with guest cook Kara Curfman from the blog 5survivethedrive.blogspot.com. It’s hard to believe this month is half gone! Kara, thanks so much for sharing another seafood recipe with us!!!
“We all know the feeling of not having enough time to get a meal together on “the fly” when kids are going 40 different ways and you are too tired to even pull it together. Freezer cooking solves this problem. You know when it’s going to be ready and you have it all ready to go whether it is going in the crock pot, on the grill or in the oven. It makes things more predictable and takes the thinking out of it. You are only responsible for coming up with your sides and as a group we often add ideas to our cooking instructions to help with that. With 6 children, home schooling some of them and various violin lessons or soccer, swim team, tennis or what have you, this IS PERFECT for me. Coming up with HOW you cook is crucial and must give you the most bang for your buck in terms of time. For us, in under 5 hours (we eat dinner in the middle of our cooking session now that we have gone to a Friday night) coming home with 24 different meals (no duplicates) is ideal. We cook like this every 2 to 2 1/2 months. I have the largest family and we seem to go through our meals quicker than the others. We have determined that we seldom eat out or just scramble for a meal. We also share meals fairly often for various reasons: friends who are sick, a fellow foster family getting a new placement, etc. ”
I have also cooked with only one of the girls. We did the same number of meals, but there were only 12 different ones. In other words we took home 2 of everything. We still cooked 6 meals 4 times.
Photo of Kara’s groups spices.
Photo of group members piles of monthly meals
Tilapia
Tilapia Parmesan – Bag1/2 C Parmesan cheese block ****Prep shred finely1/2 stick butter, softened3 T mayonnaise2 T lemon juice1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper1 tsp Cajun Seasoning2 pounds Tilapia fillets (Keep Frozen!!!!)
This is a meal that does best with mostly fresh ingredients. The freezing portion of this meal is that you will keep the Tilapia in the freezer until ready to prepare. OTHER INGREDIENTS NEED TO BE ON HAND IN THE FRIDGE AND CUPBOARD.
Combine all ingredients (except for the fish) in a large bowl. Blend well. Set aside while you get the Tilapia prepared.Arrange fillets in a single layer on the prepared pan. Broil a few inches from the heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Flip the fillets over and broil for a couple more minutes.
Remove the fillets from the oven and cover them with the Parmesan cheese mixture on the top side. Broil for 2 more minutes or until the topping is browned and fish flakes easily with a fork. Be careful not to over cook the fish.