Dinner for a King!

The last two weeks have felt like a whirlwind!  Xavier cut 2 teeth, meaning in short he's been UNBELIEVABLY miserable!  I would too if I had 2 teeth come through in the same week!  My poor baby...  We had a bat in our house for 3 days which always lends for a little extra chaos (because apparently mine doesn't have enough already).  And then as if things weren't crazy enough, my office is moving locations so we're in "trying to work out of boxes" stage with T-minus 5 days until launch!  Sometimes I would slap my 7 year old self if I could for asking God to give me an exciting life... *shakes head*  In the midst of all of this, I'm trying to keep clean clothes on our backs, warm food in our tummies and get as much sleep as I can in the hours that are left.  Teething doesn't equal a lot of sleep for mommy and daddy!  Though I must give a shout out to my wonderful husband who is very good at taking over with Xavier to give me a "shift" to sleep. 

Backing up a little in the story, my son developed his "pincher" grasp around 7 months but it's been difficult to find him foods that he can eat and practice feeding himself without him choking.  The gluten free cheerios didn't go so well since they don't dissolve as fast as the regular ones I guess.  That whole experience ended with Aunt Maria turning Xavier on his belly which brought the cheerio flying back out (thankfully) of his throat!  This made Mama put a NO CHEERIOS UNTIL HE HAS teeth clause in affect!  (He had to practice with scrambled eggs and pasta, not as easy but still good)  Fast forward to Xavier now having teeth.  I decided to give him some of the Erewhon Crispy Brown Rice cereal I have here.  (Which btw is delicious and "snap and crackles" just like the gluten filled Rice Crispies much to my delight!)  Not sure why I didn't think of it earlier?  He loved it!  I should have gotten a video because it was hilarious to watch him.  First he put his whole hand on them, making them stick to his fingers.  Next he banged his hands against the tray because they would "dance" and he thought that was great fun.  Finally he tried one, decided they were awesome and began shoving fistfuls into his mouth! 

It was so funny, but I will tell you to expect a MESS!  I'll probably be finding crispy brown rice until we move.  Alas the joys of having a baby :)  These are the moments you'll remember for the rest of your life.  Plus anything that will keep him busy, content and out of the stuff he's not supposed to get into while I'm working is a blessing!  I'm very grateful to be able to work from home occasionally, but having a crawler presents new challenges.  Even trying to make dinner is a new fiasco.  If I can't have dinner done or at least together and "cooking" in 15 mins, Xavier's having a meltdown.  That's about as long as any activity, even his favorites like playing in his bouncy car, will last.  Finding recipes that fit that timing is the latest challenge.  Considering the rave review dinner got tonight, I thought I'd share the recipe with you!  As you know I'm lousy at measuring, but here's my best "guess" lol.

Coconut-crusted white fish

4 - 4 oz. pieces of fish (I used tilapia this time, but any mild fish should work)
2/3 cup of GF flour (I used Arrowhead Mills All Purpose)
1 cup of Coconut
1/2 tsp. of Goya Adobo with Black Pepper
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. of Trappey's Red Devil Cayenne Pepper Sauce
Oil for frying (unless you want to bake it, but frying fit my "time schedule")

Blend the flour, coconut, Adobo together in a bowl.  Blend the egg and the hot sauce in another bowl.  You can add more hot sauce if you want a little extra bite.  I just wanted an "accent" flavor.  Heat your oil in a pan on medium until it "pops" lightly when you flick water in the pan.  Take some flour and coat the fish.  Then dip in the egg mixture.  Then roll in the coconut mixture.  Put the fish in the pan and cook both sides.  The fish will "flake" meaning fall apart easily when it's done.

While the fish was cooking, I took a bag of salad and put some in two bowls.  Then I cut up a tomato and added some Bhuja cracker mix.  This stuff is great!  Especially since croutons in most cases are a no no for us gluten free people.  The words on the bag sum it up well "a crispy-crunchy blend of spicy snack nibbles".  *Love*  My cousin turned me on to it and I've been hooked ever since.  Giant Supermarkets by me also has all the gluten free stuff mentioned in this post!  Just add your Bhuja to any salad and it tastes exotic.  I'm not kidding!

My husband and I sat on our floor with Xavier in his Bumbo chair and pigged out on our dinner.  The food tasted like we should be handed a bill for $75 after we were done eating!  It was really THAT good!  Don't take my word for it, try it yourself...you will not be disappointed!  I don't know what my favorite part about the whole thing was - the fact that it only took approx. 15 mins to prepare or that it was inexpensive to make or that it tasted so good we fought over the last piece of fish!  *We shared, don't worry :)  So let me know what you think when you try it!