Tilapia, Turnip Mash, Red Lobster Style Biscuits

Culture time! Yesterday was the last day of Ramadan (30 days of fasting, starting each fast at sunrise, breaking each fast at sunset). Today is Eid-ul Fitre, which translates to "Festival of Breaking the Fast." It also marks the start of a new moon. Muslims follow a lunar calendar, which is why Ramadan starts on a different day each year. The month of fasting is actually a lunar month. It begins with a new moon and ends with a new moon. Every night during Ramadan a nice meal is prepared to break the fast. On the first and last day a large meal is prepared. The last day is made even more special with the exchange of gifts. So, getting to my point, I believe I will prepare a nice Middle Eastern/North African meal tonight. Hopefully, I'll have some interesting food to post over the weekend!

As for yesterday, we had tilapia. I usually buy it "fresh" and cook it, but honestly it tastes "fresher" when I buy it frozen, so I think I will stick to frozen. We had a busy day yesterday, so I just made a quick meal. I sprinkled the fish with some sweet Hungarian paprika (I LOVE this stuff, so much flavor), parsley, chopped garlic, and s/p. Bake it until it turns white and flaky (about 6-8 minutes). Another reason we had a quick meal is because my daughter wasn't in a happy mood. When she's in a bad mood, then I am not in the kitchen very much. She will hang on my leg and cry at me, so I just stop what I'm doing and spend time with her. Nothing is more important than her. She doesn't understand that I am busy, so I don't mind. But it does wear me down and stresses me out a bit. Thankfully, my husband was super-sweet and surprised me with flowers and a movie to watch later. I'm happy to report that today my baby girl is in a much happier mood! :)

Ok, on to the side dish - creamy turnip mash. I've made this in the past and the recipe instructs you to boil the turnips in 3 cups of cream and then when the turnips are fork tender, throw away 2 1/2 cups. That was painful for me to do. I hate wasting cream. I could have made a cream sauce, butter, whipped cream, ice cream - endless possibilities. So, this time around, I covered the turnips with water and boiled until fork tender, poured out the water and added a splash (and I do mean a tiny splash) of heavy cream and a big chunk of butter. I mashed them up until they reached a mashed potato consistency. It tasted the same to me and I didn't have to waste heavy cream.

I also made some red lobster style biscuits. This recipe didn't blow me away, so I will keep looking for a better version. The only change I made was that I used my own homemade biscuit mix instead of Bisquick baking mix.