Oatmeal & Fruit Bars

I've never liked to eat breakfast first thing in the morning. I make these and pack them in my lunch box and eat them either on the drive to work or later in the morning, and I save some for snacks.

Combine:
2 cups plain yogurt
1/2 cup brown sugar (less or more depending on how sweet the fruit is)
1 teaspoon baking soda

Add:
2 cups oatmeal
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup chopped walnuts
3 cups total of a combination of the following:
Chopped dried apples
Chopped dried apricots
Raisins
Dried cranberries
Chopped dates
All of them or whatever you want, and other fruits can be substituted.

Optional: sprinkle a little brown sugar on top.

Put in greased baking dish, bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

When cool cut and try not to eat all of them while storing them in plastic containers or ziplocks. They keep fine for a week or so in the fridge.

Redfish Ceviche

Here's another excellent recipe from a kayak fishing website:

3 filets Redfish (or other fish)
Juice of 10 limes and 2 oranges
1 red onion
2 roma tomatoes no seeds or membranes
1 avocado
6-8 cloves garlic chopped (I like garlic)
2 jalapeno peppers no seeds or membranes
1/2 bunch cilantro

Slice fish into chunks 1/4 - 1/2". Chop all veggies. Combine with juice in a shallow pan or casserole dish. Add the following to taste (my taste provided):

1 dash white wine vinegar
several dashes soy sauce
1 dash worcestershire sauce
1 looong dash Tabasco - In the immortal words of Justin Wilson, "Ah'm a dashin man wit da sauce"
Several shakes Cavendar's Greek Seasoning
Several shakes Slap Ya Mama

Cover and place in refrigerator. Fish will turn white when cured. If all the fish is submerged, it should be done in about 4 hours. If not, wait 4 hours then stir thoroughly and wait another 4 hours. It's fine to eat after that, but will continue to improve for about 24 hours.

Bon Appetit!

Redfish Cakes

I found this on a kayak fishing forum, so that's not my mom!

Don't know what to do with those big reds? I got this one from my mom:

Boil (poach) the filets in crab boil (about a cup of the powder for 6 cups water seems to work for me - add more or less if ya wanna)
Saute your trinity (onions, celery, green peppers)
Mix the trinity and fillets with bread crumbs (my mom uses that boxed stuffing, I use that can of italian crumbs) and one egg.
The fillets should flake off and mix in well (unless you overcooked them)
form into patties, balls, fish shapes, whatever
Lightly dust with fish fry (corn flour)
Brown in your favorite cast iron skillet
Eat.

These things also freeze well so you can pull them out later for snacks.

Pan Fried Fish

I didn't invent this, but it one of my favorite ways to cook fish, especially if I'm just cooking a little. This works especially well with redfish and black drum, but it will work with any fish.

Make a mixture of one half corn flour and on half corn meal. I keep some of this in a one gallon ziplock in the fridge. The "Fish Fry" that you buy is nothing but corn flour. You can buy tortilla flour for much cheaper, that's what is - corn flour. Add spices to taste, I use some Lemon Pepper, some salt free cajun seasoning, and some fresh ground black pepper.

No need to dredge the fish fillets with milk and egg, I prefer just water. But you can dredge if you want.

Put some olive oil in a fry pan and heat it till it's almost smoking. A quarter inch deep or so will do. Fry the fish fillets until golden brown on both sides, which only takes a couple of minutes. Let them cool on paper towels to soak up the oil and serve. A squeeze of lemon and a bit of whatever you like on fish is fine, but not needed. I like catsup mixed half and half with hot sauce, but that's just cause I've been living down here so long...

Baked Fish

I came up with this as a way to bake bass and make it less fishy tasting. It works well with catfish and any other fillets. I don't know where I came up with the idea for the broccoli, but it works. The broccoli does not taste fishy, and I think it counteracts the fishy taste.

Cover the bottom of a Pyrex baking dish with broccoli tops. Frozen is fine, but cook them a little in a pan of water on the stove to soften them. Not much, don't want to overcook.

Chop up some onion, green peppers, celery, and garlic and saute in butter in a pan. You want just enough to cover the fish. Again don't cook this too much, it will cook while baking. Seasoning vegetable mixture from the store frozen foods section will work ok too if you are in a hurry.

Spice the fish fillets and lay on the broccoli. Lemon pepper, salt free cajun seasoning, pepper, whatever you like..

Pour the seasoning mixture over the fish fillets. Add a couple of pats of butter to the broccoli. Slice up some lemon thinly and place on the fish.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. Garnish with some chopped shallots and squeeze some fresh lemon on the fish. Enjoy.

My Brown Rice Jambalaya

I don't really care for white rice so I experimented with several recipes and came up with this. It's not traditional cajun jambalaya, but I like it. I usually make a pot of meat free red beans at the same time, and then use the jambalaya for the rice. This freezes and stores well.

Melt a stick of butter in large pot
Chop and saute in butter:
One onion
Green pepper
Several stalks of celery
Couple of cloves of garlic

After the vegs cook down some add:
One pound turkey sausage, sliced
One pound turkey or chicken

Add 3 cups brown rice and 4 cups water
Seasoning to taste, I use about 1/3 cup each of:
Worchestershire sauce
Louisiana Hot Sauce (Tabasco is hotter, don't use as much)
Then add some fresh ground pepper and some cajun seasoning, I use salt free.
Bring to boil, then reduce heat and cover till rice is done.

I don't over season when cooking, and add more at the table to taste.

Lot's of substitutions can be done, the only thing that has to stay the same is the rice to water ratio. More water will make it too soupy.