Cooking with Kelly: Parmesan-crusted tilapia

I love carbs. I would eat only carbs if I could. Alas, when you're trying to squeeze into a white dress, carbs are not your friend. So when we were ramping up to the wedding, I tried to like fish. I found liking fish was easier when it looked more like chicken. And I missed carbs less when I could eat something crunchy (think about it -- when you're cutting carbs, nothing is crunchy).

With this dish, not only is it crunchy and not so fishy, but the creamy cheesy crust is really satisfying. I can't say the crust is particularly healthy, but it is low-carb.

Here's how it goes:

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 and 1/2 Tablespoons mayonaise

1 Tablespoon lemon juice (I used fresh because I have several, several bags of frozen lemons from wedding centerpieces)

1/4 teaspoon basil

1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/4 crushed red pepper flakes

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon onion powder

4-6 tilapia fillets

Mix all ingredients together until fully incorporated. Place the fillets on a foil-lined baking sheet in a single layer. Put underneath your preheated broiler. I set mine to high, but each oven is different, so keep an eye on it.

Broil the fish on the oven rack closest to the broiler for about three minutes. Remove the baking sheet and flip all the fillets, then bake for another three minutes. The fish should flake easily.

Remove the tray and flip one more time. Evenly divide the topping over the fillets and top with a healthy amount of fresh pepper (I like a Royal blend of black, green and rose-colored peppercorns). Bake for two minutes or until the topping is brown and golden.

Great with green beans!

My comeback

So, it's been a long, long time since I've been a dedicated blogger. Let me start out by saying, I've been slacking. But let me explain -- in the past few months, I've bought a house, got married and got a dog. We've been busy.



Anyhow, I'm going to get back at this whole blogging thing in earnest now that all the craziness has died down. Viva la blog!

Cooking with Kelly: Peanut butter basted ham

OK, I know this sounds weird, but it is delicious. I bought a bone-in, hickory-smoked ham for $2 with a coupon and I needed to learn how to do something with it. Because I don't keep a million ingredients on hand, I did a little searching and I came across a recipe that I adapted.

The basics of cooking a ham: Let it sit at room temperature for two hours, then place in a 325-degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes per pound or until an instant-read thermometer reads 130. Of course, your cooking time per pound is dependent on what type of ham you're using.

I covered mine with foil after the first hour. Then in the last 20 minutes, I took off the foil and applied the following glaze:

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

1 cup chicken stock

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon Worcester sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 clove pressed garlic

1 teaspoon steak seasoning

Freshly ground pepper and salt

Warm this all on medium heat in a sauce pot until fully incorporated. Coat the ham completely and evenly.

Stand Mixer Sunday: Whole wheat pizza dough

I love a good pizza. I was so depressed living in Arizona because it was difficult to find a decent pizza out there.

But hey, the economy sucks so we're not going out. But you can make pizza at home super cheap. Here's my recipe for a healthier version of pizza with whole wheat crust.

Here's what you need:

1 and a half cups whole wheat flour

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tablespoon Italian seasoning

1 cup warm, filtered water

2 tablespoons honey (I prefer clover honey)

2 tablespoons yeast

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for sprinkling

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons warm water

Start by placing warm water (it should feel warm but not uncomfortably so) in the bowl of your mixer. Stir in the honey and yeast and allow it to sit for about five minutes until it gets foamy. Next, add a cup of the all-purpose flour, Italian seasoning, olive oil and salt. Mix with the flat paddle setting for one minute or until all the ingredients are incorporated and the consistency of pancake batter.

Next, add a cup of the whole wheat flour and mix with the bread hook until incorporated. Add a cup of regular flour and repeat, then add the final half-cup of whole wheat flour and the extra water and allow it to mix for at least five to seven minutes so the gluten can form. The dough should make a ball around the hook.

Place in a greased bowl and turn to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and put in the warmest, least drafty part of your house. After it's double in about 45 minutes, punch down and knead for two minutes to redistribute the yeast. Allow to double again for about an hour and a half.

This is the fun part.

I cut the dough into two somewhat smaller parts. It would be easiest to form the two pieces into round heaps, punch down in the center and use a rolling pin to roll out from the center. I don't have a rolling pin, so my pizzas were a little lumpy. But hey, they taste great.

When you've finished with all your toppings, cook on a stone for 15 minutes in an oven heated to 450 degrees.

Cooking with Kelly: Bugs Bunny Waffles!

These waffles and I have a long history. When I was 7, my aunt gave me a Bugs Bunny Waffle maker for Christmas. I'm sure she didn't know what a role this would play in our family.

Over the next several years, we moved this apparatus around with us through at least four out of state moves.

A couple months ago, after a long history with my family, the Bugs Bunny Waffle maker met its last waffle. Something inside of it went bad and it no longer heated up. The way this waffle maker works, a light turns off when it's hot enough and then you add the batter.

When I moved, I found an inconspicuous package on my front porch. Oddly enough, my sister found a Bugs Bunny Waffle maker on eBay. We have been using it at least weekly since we moved in.

This serves as just a little reminder that food can transport you to different times and places. Never underestimate the power of a dish to take you back.

Best housewarming gift ever.

Kelly the Culinarian -- Rested and Refreshed!

So that whole Nov. 1 thing didn't happen, I know. So what have I been doing for almost a month?

Well, I started a new job, but more than that, we bought a house! It was a long, frustrating and horrible process and I hope we don't have to do this for at least another five years. We're still settling in, but I finally think I've accomplished enough to get back into my routine.

As I've told other people, we bought a kitchen and the house came with it. I was always secretly judging a house's merits based on the home and this one measured up. Here are pictures of the completed kitchen. It has stainless steel appliances and 42-inch cherry cabinets. We did paint it ourselves a color called Oak Cask.

My cooking begins again tomorrow!

Food find: Grand Lux Cafe, Chicago

ALERT: A new Kelly the Culinarian launches Nov. 1.

Now that we're all out of college and either working or working on a PhD, my friends and I are pretty busy. Between husbands, babies, managing a whole department at a Fortune 500 company, overseeing a department at a library and becoming a doctors, I barely get to see these ladies. We've always made it a point to get together once a year, even if we have to plan four months in advance.

This year, my friend cashed in on the best connection I've ever seen. Her uncle works at the W Chicago Lakeshore, perhaps the cleanest, most trendy establishment I've ever been to. Her uncle was nice enough to get us a family discount, send us a bottle of wine and call us just in time to watch the fireworks over Navy Pier from our room on the 21st floor.

Because we live life on a budget, we made lunch our big meal. One of the ladies pick the Grand Luxe Cafe and I'm quite glad she did. I've heard about this place before and it's quite the experience. The interior at the Chicago location, one of just a handful in the county, features a large staircase and a huge seating area that manages to still feel cozy thanks to whimsical decorations, generously spaced-out tables and strategically placed room dividers.

The food here is all about presentation -- heaped mounds of greens with soaring arches of green onion strands and generous portions of extras such as chunks of seasoned bacon, crunchy tortilla strips of blue cheese hunks.

I was also a big fan of the bread. It came straight out of the oven and tasted like it might have been proofed on site.

I ordered the lunch portion of salad and pasta, which was the basic house salad and pasta telephono. The menu said the pasta was a rich tomato sauce blushed with creamed and baked with a crunchy crust. The salad had a delicious honey vinaigrette and was quite tasty. I was of the opinion that the pasta was a little average -- it would have been nice to get a pasta with a little more texture. The sauce was very rich and flavorful, but the baking and creation of the crispy crust left the pasta a bit dry. Oh well, it was still yummy.

The piece de resistance was the cookies. At the end of the meal, one of the ladies ordered a fresh batch of chocolate almond cookies, which arrived in a little box that we took to our hotel. It smelled delicious the whole way home and I couldn't wait to have a few. The cookies melted away in you mouth and were quite rich without being overwhelming. I suspect at least two different chocolates were used in the cookies to produce the flavor. And for $75 for five people, the meal was a bargain.

Oh how I love girls' weekends.