Happy Birthday Mom!

     Yesterday was my mom's birthday as well as Ash Wednesday.  When planning a celebration for this busy week night, I had a lot to consider.  It had to be quick and relatively easy, meatless, and of course appealing to a wide variety of appetites. 
     Recently my parents went to dinner at restaurant in Maine.  They both came back pretty impressed with a dish my mom ordered.  It was fish cooked and served in parchment paper.  That sounded pretty interesting to me so I googled a recipe and found one that fit the criteria for the evening at sparkrecipes.com. 
     For my other creation, I decided to go with spinach balls.  This recipe was gifted to me by some of my pals at work.  I had been excited to try them out, so they also made their way onto the menu.  I thought they would compliment the baked ziti my grandma was bringing.

Parchment Wrapped Tilapia

The great thing about this dish, is that it is so individual.  You could cook one piece of fish, or in my case 8.  I will list the ingredients below per serving.

Ingredients
1 Tilapia Filet
2-3 Lemon Slices
3 Onion Slices
2 Potato Slices
3-4 Spears of Asparagus
5 Black Olives
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 tsp Olive Oil
Parchment Paper

Method
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Lay the tilapia in the center of a sheet of folded parchment paper.  It should be large enough to form a pocket around the contents.
3. Layer the vegetables on top of the fish.
4. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
5.  Roll in the edges of the parchment paper to form a pocket and place on a baking sheet.
6. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until fish is cooked completely.

The Taste Test
     The recipe I used said that this dish only needed to bake for 12 minutes on 350.  After 12 minutes, the fish was not cooked.  I upped the temperature and cooked it for an additional 12 minutes.  The parchment paper should begin to turn brown and you will be able to hear the contents sizzling.  Once we got the time and temperature right, this was really tasty.  The fish was soft and flavorful and I was amazed at how tender all of the vegetables got in the parchment paper...even the potatoes.  You can totally throw a variety of other vegetables in with the fish-something I would like to experiment with some more.

Spinach Balls

Ingredients
2 cups crushed seasoned stuffing
1 cup finely chopped onion
2 eggs and 2 egg whites
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup butter, melted
3 tbsp vegetable broth
1 garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp salt
2 packages of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

Method
1. In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients except the spinach.
2. Stir in spinach until blended.  Roll into 1 inch balls.
3. Place your spinach balls on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray.  Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

The Taste Test
I loved these!  I was actually surprised that my dad also liked them along with my grandma and uncles (sometimes a tough crowd!).  I can't wait to make these again.  They were also VERY easy.

    It was so nice to get my family together in the middle of the week to celebrate my mom's birthday.  I literally threw everything together, which goes to show that in the end all that really matters is being together.  Once again, I am grateful that we are all close enough to make these gatherings happen as often as they do. 

Ace decided to really test out his walking skills to celebrate the occasion! 

Jax is always front and center when it is time to sing and blow out the candles.

Happy Birthday Mom!  

I love you!

xox