A Dinner Worth Sharing

This will be a short and sweet post, but I just have to share tonight's dinner:

Grilled salmon* for me (steak for Hubs), steamed broccoli and twice baked potatoes.

*I know I said last week that we're not fans of salmon, but I actually do like it okay if I'm in the right mood for it. Also, we had a bag of it in the freezer that needed to be eaten.

I seriously loved this meal. It was pretty darn simple to make and totally satisfying. The twice baked potatoes were definitely the star of the show!

I've made twice baked potatoes before, but I was reminded of them recently when reading Yes I Want Cake's post on them.
I made them the same way as she did so check out her blog for the deets. Definitely adding twice baked potatoes back into the regular rotation!

And if you're wondering about the salmon, it was simply seasoned with jerk seasoning and then grilled on a piece of foil (so it doesn't fall through the grate) for about 10 minutes.

Now I'm off to hang out with these two:

Have a great night!

YBBC - Day 5

Friday was partially spent out of town too so I definitely deviated from the plan a lot. I tried to still make smart decisions though!

Here's what the plan called for (I don't know why I'm even posting this since I basically didn't follow it at all):
And here's how things went down...

BREAKFAST
I ate breakfast at the free continental breakfast at the hotel. I toasted a piece of multigrain bread and topped it with 1 Tbsp peanut butter, sliced banana and a drizzle of honey.


MORNING SNACK:

None.


LUNCH
I stopped at a place called Pita Jungle in Tucson and got the Veggie Garden Wrap.
It was delicious, packed full of veggies and the size of my arm! I ate half of it for lunch and the other half later for a snack.


AFTERNOON SNACK

Like I said above, I ate the rest of my pita lunch for a snack.


DINNER
Steamed Fish with Pesto & Veggies and brown rice on the side.
I pretty much followed the recipe linked above exactly, except that I used mahi-mahi instead of snapper and I added cherry tomatoes to the foil packets.

Unfortunately I just wasn't feeling fish that night (Alex liked it though!), so I actually only took a few bites of this dinner and then abandoned it in favor of this:

Special K cereal with sliced banana and almond milk....yum! Totally hit the spot. Sometimes you just gotta go with what sounds good!


FITNESS

Rest day....again. Ooops!

Seafood Gumbo

Soups or otherwise warm and comforty {it's a word...stop giving me the red squiggly line Blogger} foods are all I've been wanting lately. It's not even terribly cold here in Arizona and it's certainly not snowing, but I still crave the warmth of a soup.

Before I forced myself to revise it to include a little more variety, my menu plan looked a little something like this:

Sat: Seafood Gumbo

Sun: Tortilla Soup

Mon: Corn Chowder

Tues: Beef Stew

You get the idea. Kind of ridiculous, right?! I edited my menu plan to only include two soups, but one of the ones that made the cut was Seafood Gumbo.

I recently watched an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay in which he made authentic "Nawlins" Seafood Gumbo. Not only did it make me want to get on a plane and fly to Nawlins, it also made me want to eat Gumbo RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE.

Instead of RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE, I had to settle for tomorrow since I had to give myself time to buy the needed groceries.

The recipe I used comes from a cookbook that I haven't used much in the past, but that I am suddenly LOVING now. It's called Peace Meals and it's a cookbook by the Junior League of Houston. I've made so many things from this book in the past few weeks! It has a lot of slightly more "fancy pants" recipes in it that are still very approachable for a non-chef like myself. {If you're interested, you can buy the cookbook from Amazon here.}

My quest to make authentic seafood gumbo was somewhat stunted by the fact that I could find neither seafood stock nor file powder in my grocery store. :(

The good news, though, is that it still turned out delicious (although much less authentic) with chicken stock and no file powder. :)

Seafood Gumbo

source: Peace Meals

serves 6 to 8

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped onions

1/2 cup chopped bell pepper

1 Tbsp chopped fresh garlic

1 tsp chopped fresh thyme

2 dried bay leaves

1/4 cup tomato paste

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

6 cups (1.5 quarts) seafood stock (or chicken stock if you can't find it)

1/2 pound crab claw meat

1 pound shrimp, cooked and peeled

12 lightly sauteed oysters

gumbo file, for garnish

diced green onions for garnish

Heat the oil in a large stockpot over medium-high until hot but not smoking. Gradually whisk in the flour. Cook for 20 minutes or until the roux is the color of peanut butter, whisking constantly. Add the celery, onions and bell peppers. Cook for 10 to 20 minutes or until the vegetables are tender; the roux will cool slightly as the vegetables are added and darken as the vegetables release their natural sugars. Stir in the garlic, thyme, bay leaves, tomato paste and cayenne. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes or until heated through, stirring occasionally. Add the stock. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to medium. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Add the crab, shrimp and oysters and cook until heated through (a couple minutes). Discard the bay leaves. Garnish with file and green onions.

Ethnic Love

I didn't take any food photos at the ranch. It was just the last thing on my mind as we were celebrating such a profound moment for our family. I'm sure you'll all understand.

So let's skip ahead to Sunday evening, shortly after we arrived back home.

I busted out some of these that I stole from the pantry at the ranch:

TastyBite Madras Lentils

I feel a little bad about stealing them but I couldn't help it! They looked interesting and delicious and who knows how long they had been in that pantry all lonely.

Basically it comes in a pouch and you just squeeze it into a bowl and heat it up in the microwave or the stove.

The consistency of it was a bit more soupy than I expected. I would have liked more thickness and more lentils/beans.

Then I dumped in some cooked brown rice and chowed down.

My overall review: Eh. Just okay.

Honestly it reminded me a lot of canned chili, which isn't necessarily a good thing when you're wanting an Indian dish.

I ate all of it though, which goes to show you that I didn't hate it. And by all I mean the whole box (plus rice)...which is supposed to be "2 servings".

I would probably buy it again but I might try a different variety next time to see if it's less "chili-like" and more "Indian-like". :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tonight we made Peanut Shrimp for dinner:


I bookmarked this post over at Carrots 'n Cake when she blogged about making Peanut Shrimp.

She basically just made this Rachael Ray recipe for Peanut Chicken with shrimp, which is what I did as well.

When we finished cooking it I realized that there was a ton of extra sauce so we stirred the steamed broccoli that we were planning on eating on the side right into the dish. It was a great addition!

We also added about a teaspoon of this to up the flavor and spice:

Almost out! Need to restock.

I thought it was really good but Hubs actually said he thought the peanut buttery-ness was a little overwhelming (which is saying a lot since he is a peanut butter FREAK).

He said next time he would decrease the peanut butter to about 1/2 cup. Fair enough.


Oh one more thing, I have no idea why Rachael calls for 1/4 cup of oil to cook the chicken/shrimp in. That seems a little ridiculous. So we decreased the oil to about 1/8 cup or 1-2 tablespoons.

We served the Peanut Shrimp over brown rice, which is a must with all the extra sauce that this recipe made!

I just realized that the past two dinners have been very ethnic. First, Indian....then Thai. Probably my two favorite types of ethnic foods! I think it's the spice.

Do you enjoy ethnic food? What's your favorite kind?

Mahi and Bone Marrow Donating.

Odd title, no? Keep reading to the end to see why.

Another delicious dinner from the pages of my latest issue of Cooking Light magazine! This was the meal that we were supposed to have yesterday, but ended up postponing until tonight. I'm so glad we got around to making it!

What's for Dinner? 7/28/2010
-MahiMahi with Bacon-Tomato Butter
-Sauteed Spinach with Garlic
-A tiny bit of leftover brown rice

This one caught my eye because it had the words "bacon" and "butter" in the title. I bookmarked that baby faster than you can say "MahiMahi".

And it sure did not disappoint. But when would bacon and butter combined in a dish EVER disappoint?!

Yummmmm.

Although the bacon-tomato butter was AWESOME, I also have to say that I think mahimahi may just be my new favorite fish. It's meaty and not too fishy tasting and also pretty darn cheap {HUGE bonus}!


We made the recipe pretty much exactly how it's written {other than tossing in an extra slice of bacon because we're baconaholics...oops} so I'll just link to the recipe:

Mahimahi with Bacon-Tomato Butter {click the link for the recipe}

The sauteed spinach was delicious and very simple to make as well. Here's a quick rundown of how I did it:

Sauteed Spinach with Garlic & Lemon
Source: me

1 tsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 large bag of baby spinach
Juice from half of a lemon
S&P

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook garlic in the hot oil for about 2 minutes, stirring frequently so it doesn't burn. Then add in all the spinach {or as much as will fit in the pan and then add the rest later as it starts to wilt} and let cook for a minute or two. Using tongs, toss the spinach so that the leaves at the top get down to the heat. Add the lemon juice and S&P and continue tossing until all the spinach is wilted{about 4 minutes}. Immediately remove the spinach from the pan so it stops cooking and serve.


Now I'm off to pack and finish up laundry! Hubs and I are headed back to my family's ranch tomorrow after work. I'm sooooooooooo ready for some R&R after a crazy couple of weeks!

Although I don't know how relaxing it will actually be, since it will be like a mini family reunion with 35 members of my dad's side of the family.

There will also be one very special guest at the ranch: My 15 year old cousin's bone marrow donor.

My cousin, Thomas, was diagnosed with Leukemia when he was 13. It was an extremely rough road but eventually he was matched with a donor and received a bone marrow transplant. That transplant saved his life and he is now in remission.

This trip will be the first time for all of us (including Thomas) to meet this person who so selflessly donated his marrow to save my cousin's life. It turns out he's a 22 year old college student...I don't know about you but I sure wasn't thinking about donating bone marrow when I was in college!

We feel so blessed that this person came into our lives and we are SO excited to spend a weekend with him, surrounded by the people who care the most for Thomas.

I'm planning on updating from the ranch on occasion but we'll see if that happens! It seems like all my plans always go out the window when we're there.

Question of the Day: Are you in the bone marrow registry? It's the simplest process ever! All you have to do is take a quick swab of the inside of your mouth and then BAM...you're in the registry and could potentially save someone's life.

Scared of the donation part? It's a simple, non-surgical procedure in which patients usually can go home the same day. I admit I don't know that much about it firsthand {from the donor's perspective} but I plan on asking Thomas' donor ALL about it this weekend. I'll be sure to report back. Here's a link that answers a lot of "myths" about donating though so check it out!

Now go order your kit!!! :)

UPDATE: I just realized that my link to the marrow registry website was actually linking to the recipe...OOPS! :) I fixed it now so you should be able to get to the right place.

UPDATE #2: I was also just reading more about the registry and found this regarding U.S. Military personnel (and their dependents) who wish to join the registry:

U.S. military personnel are asked to register for the Be The Match Registry through the Department of Defense (DoD) using one of these options below. Military personnel is defined as active duty U.S. military personnel and their dependents, reservists, retirees, National Guard, Coast Guard and DoD civilian personnel.
Attend a DoD donor drive
Call 1-800-MARROW-3
Visit a walk-in registration center

I work for the DoD (as a civilian) so I signed up when they had a donor drive at my office one day. It was so easy! All I did was walk down the hall, take my swab, fill out a form, and voila!

For more info on military pesonnel who are interested in becoming a donor go here.

Double Duty

What's for Dinner? 7/21/2010
-Asian Salmon
-Sesame Sauteed Snap Peas
-Brown Rice

Sometimes things just work out the way they should.

For example, when you buy too much salmon for just two people on accident and end up stumbling across a recipe that is perfect for freezing.

The problem began when I asked the lady at the seafood counter for 2-3 servings worth of salmon. Somehow that translated into 1.6 pounds and enough for at least 4 servings....uhhhh okay then. Time to figure out something to do with extra salmon!

I knew I wanted to make the salmon Asiany {shut up, spellcheck...it's a word!} but I didn't have a recipe pinned down. When I got home from work I typed "Asian Salmon" into the Googster and a recipe popped up that looked good and required very few ingredients {all of which I had on hand}.

As I started reading over it I realized that not only was it perfect for tonight, but it also was perfect for freezing and eating later. SCORE. This recipe could pull double duty!

Freezer salmon getting ready to be put in the freezer and tonight salmon getting all flavory {also a word}.

Getting ready to go to the oven.


As the salmon baked I cooked some brown rice and sauteed some snap peas for side dishes.


And here's the finished product! Aint she a beaut?!? It tasted great too! Alex and I aren't huge salmon fans so we were a little apprehensive about how we would like this but we both gave it two thumbs up!



Asian Salmon
Source: Joelen's Culinary Adventures
My changes in purple.

4 salmon fillets, skinless {ours had skins...no biggie} and deboned
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons good soy sauce
6 tablespoons good olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ginger, minced
1 stalk green onion, sliced for garnish
{I upped the amounts of the dijon, soy sauce, & olive oil a tiny bit so I would have enough for the freezer salmon and the tonight salmon...we like lots of sauce}

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper {we used foil}; set aside.

Whisk together the mustard, soy sauce, olive oil, and garlic in a small bowl. Drizzle half of the marinade onto the salmon and allow it to sit for 10 minutes.

Place marinated fish on parchment lined baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 5-7 minutes {I baked for closer to 10 minutes and it was still a little on the rare side}. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 2-5 minutes. before serving. Garnish with sliced green onions and serve.

* To make ahead/freezer meal - Whisk together the mustard, soy sauce, olive oil, and garlic in a small bowl. Pour marinade in a quart size freezer bag and add the salmon fillets. Seal and freeze. When ready to prepare, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place salmon on baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 5-7 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 2-5 minutes. before serving. Garnish with sliced green onions and serve.


Sesame Sauteed Snap Peas
Source: Me

1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 cups of fresh snap peas
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ginger, minced
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon roasted sesame seeds

Heat sesame oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add snap peas to the pan and stir fry for about 3 minutes. Then add the garlic, ginger & soy sauce to the pan and continue to stir fry for about 3 more minutes. Sprinkle sesame seeds on the peas and then remove from heat. Serve.

Crab & Cream Cheese Wontons

What's for Dinner? 7/12/2010

I'm on kick with making recipes that I spotted on other blogs lately and so far I'm batting 1000!

Katie at Health for the Whole Self recently posted about these Crab & Cream Cheese Wontons and they immediately reminded me of a healthy version of Crab Rangoon. I freaking LOVE crab rangoon so I added them to the menu for this week right away.

YUM! They were tasty little suckers.

The only problem with them is that they are little and cute and delicious and that made me want to eat about 50 of them. It was hard to stop. I don't have a lot of self-control when it comes to bite size things!

First you mix up a teeny bit of cream cheese with some crab meat, chives {or green onion if your grocery store doesn't have chives like ours}, garlic powder & pepper.

Then you get to the hard part. FOLDING WONTONS. :::dun dun dun::: I had no effing clue how to fold these things and my wonton package was lame and didn't explain it to me.

I quickly turned to my friend Google and typed in "how to fold wontons". This video on How to Fold a Wonton from youtube came up so I watched it. At this point I thought I was good to go. Seemed easy enough!

Well, I wasn't so "good to go" after all. My first one started out decent but then it all started going downhill from there. I could.not.figure.out how I made the first one so pretty and the rest sucked so bad!

Alex walks into the kitchen at about halfway through the wontons after he hears my cussing from the kitchen.

Him: "Hey! That one looks like a stealth bomber! And that one looks like a paper airplane. Are they supposed to look like that?"

Me: ::::evil glare:::: "Well if you are so judgey about it why don't you just try it!"

That was a mistake. He did try it and was COMPLETELY winging it...not even sealing the edges.

Me: "Nevermind! I take it back! Unless you are going to watch the video and actually do this in an educated way I do NOT want your help!" {Have I mentioned that I'm a control freak on this blog before?}

He did actually go watch the video and then he came back with an improved attempt. And yet, neither of us could master the dang wonton folding technique! It seems so easy on the video...

Here they are all prepped in the oven and ready to be cooked. My first attempts are on the left side of the pan and then as you look to the right those are the last ones. Notice the ones on the right look more like origami than wonton. :)

As the wonton baked I stuck some brocc & caul in one of my beloved steamer bags...

Then I pulled the wonton out of the oven...Mmmmm! Some of them burst a little bit but they still tasted just fine!

Here is the recipe with my notes in red:

Baked Crab and Cream Cheese Wontons

Seen on Health for the Whole Self

Makes about 20 wontons {I got 28 wontons out of it}

Ingredients

Wonton wrappers (about 4×4” in size) {The ones I bought said "Medium Wontons" and can be found in the freezer section of my grocery store...with the other international frozen items.}

4 tbsp cream cheese, softened {I had to google how many tablespoons were in an ounce, since my cream cheese is labeled in ounces. FYI 1 oz = 2 tablespoons. Also I ended up adding another ounce of cream cheese because I thought it needed it. So 6 tbsp or 3 oz total.}

6 oz. can of crab meat (4 oz. drained) {Found in the canned tuna section of the grocery store}

freshly ground pepper (to taste)

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 cup fresh chives, finely chopped

1. In a small bowl, mix together the crab, cream cheese, pepper, garlic powder, and chives.

2. Dollop a heaping teaspoonful onto the center of each wonton wrapper, then wet the edges and fold into a “hat” shape (per the directions on the wonton wrapper package). {See above for my explanation of how I attempted to fold them}

3. Place the wontons on a baking sheet lined with foil or sprayed with nonstick spray. Spray the wontons liberally with more spray (I used Olive Oil spray).

4. Bake at 400º for about 7 minutes {I baked mine for closer to 10 or 11 minutes}, or until lightly browned.

Bowl of Seafoody Comfort Food

Recently I mentioned in passing that my father-in-law made a delicious seafood dinner for us when he was visiting. At the time I forgot to take a picture but tonight we were craving seafood so we decided to make it again and do the dish justice with some photos.




Holy bowl of deliciousness!! It was just as good as we remembered and this may very well be our favorite new meal. It's also really, really simple to make and can be tweaked to your liking very easily. The official name for it is Cioppino but I like to call it Garlicky Tomato Seafood Pot. You can really use whatever seafood you like but ours had King crab legs, mahi-mahi, mussels and shrimp. Calamari would be really good in it too but they didn't have it at our grocery store.

Garlicky Tomato Seafood Pot
Inspired by this recipe for cioppino

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2 mahi-mahi filets
1/2 lb peeled shrimp
1 lb mussels
1 26 oz jar marinara sauce of your choice {we like the garlic & basil flavor best for this dish}
1/3 cup white wine
4 King crab legs
Crusty bread for dipping

Heat one tablespoon of olive oil and one tablespoon of minced garlic to a large pot and heat on medium-high. Cook for about 1 minute. Add fish, shrimp and mussels to the pot and cook until the mussel shells open. Pour in the marinara sauce and white wine. Add the crab legs to the pot, cover and simmer for about 5-7 minutes. Transfer to bowls and serve with lots of crusty bread for soaking up the sauce!

Serves 2 {you could easily make it stretch for more than 2 people but if you did I would buy enough crab legs for each person to have 2}

No Chance in Hell

Did anyone else have a manic Monday like me? Gahhhhh. It was even harder than usual to get back in the swing of things at work this week, I think because last week I was out of the office in a training class most of the time. Playing catchup stresses me outtttttt. I don't like being overwhelmed. Humph!

I came home feeling pretty wiped but forced myself to do 30 Day Shred level 2...Gotta burn off all those calories I drank and ate this weekend!

There wasn't a chance in hell I was going to cook dinner tonight, so luckily we had planned a meal that is super easy and Alex was completely willing to put it together. Sometimes things just work out the way they should in life. :)


That would be one of very favorite easy and healthy{ish} meals:

-Whole Wheat Spaghetti with jarred sauce
-Grilled Hot Italian Turkey Sausage links
-Steamed-in-a-Bag Broccoli

Seriously one of our favorite meals and it is so easy. Gotta love that!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now switch gears with me and rewind to last night because I still need to fill you in on what we ate for dinner! The in-laws were still in town last night so my father-in-law cooked! YES! House guests who cook me dinner on occasion are MORE than welcome in my house! :)

He made an amazing deeeeeeelicious seafood dish with a tomato sauce called Cioppino, which he saw featured on Diners, Drive-ins & Dives earlier in the day. I forgot to take a picture {bad blogger!} but here's a link to the recipe that he took inspiration from. It was sooooo good! Ours had crab legs, mussels, clams, shrimp and fish. He served the tomatoey seafood with fresh bread for lots of dipping.

Alex and I loved it so much that we plan on making it again sometime soon so hopefully I will get a picture of it then for blogging's sake. :)

Puttanesca Please

What's for Dinner? 6/13/2010

-Grouper with Puttanesca Sauce
-Whole wheat orzo

Grouper was on sale at the grosh {grocery store} this week so we snatched some up for $7.29/pound {which is still kinda expensive by our standards but we decided it was worth it}.

I did a quick search for "grouper" on CookingLight.com and this recipe for Grouper with Puttanesca Sauce popped up and sounded too good to be true. I looooooove puttanesca sauce! It's salty and acidic and has a little kick to it. Have you ever had Pasta Puttanesca at an Italian restaurant? If not, I highly recommend you do. It's delicious!

Anyway, back to the fish. This dish was very tasty! So far I have loved every fish recipe that we've tried that had a tomato-based sauce on top of it so it must be a fail-proof combo!

If you're not a fish fan, this sauce would also be great served with some crumbled Italian sausage and pasta.



Grouper with Puttanesca Sauce
Source: CookingLight.com

Keep your pantry stocked with the sauce ingredients to make this dish anytime. Serve with orzo to soak up the sauce.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 fillet, 3/4 cup tomato mixture, and 1 tablespoon chopped parsley)


4 (6-ounce) grouper or flounder fillets
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Cooking spray
1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup thinly sliced onion
1 tablespoon bottled minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes, drained
1/3 cup chopped pitted kalamata olives
2 tablespoons capers
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (optional)

Heat a nonstick grill pan over medium-high heat. Sprinkle fish with salt and pepper. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add fish to pan; cook 5 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.

While fish cooks, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion; cook 4 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently. Add garlic, oregano, and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 6 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in olives and capers; cook 1 minute. Spoon tomato mixture over fish. Sprinkle with chopped parsley, if desired.


CALORIES 238 (18% from fat); FAT 4.8g (sat 0.8g,mono 2.5g,poly 0.8g); IRON 2.4mg; CHOLESTEROL 63mg; CALCIUM 142mg; CARBOHYDRATE 12g; SODIUM 736mg; PROTEIN 35.5g; FIBER 1.5g

Cooking Light, JULY 2004

{I didn't post last night because we went out to dinner for a last minute date night at BJ's Brewery. I enjoyed a beer and the grilled shrimp tacos with steamed veggies instead of chips. Then I asked {forced} Alex to take me to the fro-yo place. I got my "usual" which is cheesecake/strawberry swirl with fresh raspberries and mini chocolate chips. YUM!}

Healthy Paula Deen...Say WHAT?!?..

When Alex went to the grocery store yesterday, I asked him to pick up some fresh fish for tonight's dinner. I didn't have any other ideas in mind besides that I wanted fish. {Normally we do try to menu plan and shop on the weekend but I was out of town all weekend and on Monday/Tuesday so this week is a fly by the seat of our pants kinda thing.}

He chose Mahi Mahi, which I was really excited about because I think it's a delicious fish! I knew we had to find a recipe that would really let the fish shine.

Then, my crazy day at work happened and I ran out of time to even think about how to cook the fish and ended up working late. Luckily my wonderful husband stepped in and found a recipe for Mahi Mahi Lettuce Wraps on foodnetwork.com. He stopped by the store for a few ingredients on the way home from work and then cooked it all himself.


And it was finger-lickin' good! Seriously we were both licking our plates to get every last remnant of it in our bellies.

The big shocker? It's a Paula Dean recipe. Let me repeat that...this healthy, light, butter-free recipe belongs to Paula Deen. WHAT?!? I'm still in shock over this fact.


What's for Dinner? 6/9/2010

-Mahi Mahi Lettuce Wraps
-Guacamole & Chips


Mahi Mahi Lettuce Wraps

Source: Paula Deen on Food Network

Prep Time: 5 min
Inactive Prep Time: 5 min
Cook Time: 8 min

Serves: 2 servings

Ingredients

* 1 mango, diced
* 2 plum tomatoes, diced
* 1 red onion, diced
* 1/2 jalapenos, diced
* 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves
* 2 limes, juiced
* Salt and pepper
* 2 mahi mahi fillets
* Olive oil, as needed
* Lettuce leaves (recommended butter or romaine)

Directions

Preheat grill or grill pan to medium-high heat.

Combine the mango, tomatoes, jalapeno, cilantro and lime juice in a medium mixing bowl and season with salt and pepper. Season the fish with salt and pepper and brush with olive oil. Grill for roughly 3 to 4 minutes per side, until just opaque in the center. Set aside to cool

When slightly cool, chop into large chunks. Add to the reserved salsa and fold carefully as to not break up the fish. Add mixture to the middle of the lettuce leaves and roll.

Kick the Canned {Tuna}

What's for Dinner? 5/27/2010

-Seared Sesame Tuna Steaks with Orange Sauce
-Steamed Broccoli
-Leftover Brown Rice & Black Beans

Recently the hubs and I discovered a mutual love of all things tuna {and I'm not talking about the canned kind here}. We order it every chance we can get at restaurants but we had never cooked with it before.

We found some awesome flash-frozen, vacuum-packed yellowfin tuna steaks at the grocery store that we immediately snatched up. Then the search for recipes began and I, of course, went to my old faithful CookingLight.com. This recipe popped up in the search results and I decided it was definitely worth trying.


Our first attempt at cooking seared tuna was a SUCCESS! This dish was so perfect and tasted just like something we could have ordered from a fancy schmancy restaurant. The sauce was very Asian in flavor which went great with the tuna.

Our steaks were quite a bit thicker than the recipe called for so we did have to cook them for longer than called for. And in case you didn't know, seared tuna should be served rare! Don't overcook it!

If you've never tried non-canned tuna before, I encourage you to give it a shot. It's a really delicious, meaty fish and doesn't taste "fishy" at all. It's even good raw...although we always leave that up to professional chefs in restaurants! ;)

Seared Sesame Tuna with Orange Sauce
Source: Cooking Light

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 steak, about 1/2 cup of couscous, and 2 1/2 tablespoons of sauce)

1 cup water {Omitted}
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided {Omitted}
2/3 cup uncooked couscous {Omitted}
Cooking spray
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 (6-ounce) Bluefin tuna steaks (about 3/4 inch thick) {ours were quite a bit thicker}
1/2 cup fresh orange juice (about 2 oranges) {we subbed orange juice from a carton}
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon bottled minced fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon bottled minced garlic
1 tablespoon water
2 teaspoons cornstarch

Bring 1 cup water and 1/4 teaspoon salt to a boil in a medium saucepan; gradually stir in couscous. Remove from heat; cover and let stand 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. {Omitted all this}

While the couscous stands, heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Combine the sesame seeds, flour, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and black pepper. Dredge both sides of tuna steaks in the sesame seed mixture. Add the fish to pan, and cook 4 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Remove the fish from pan, and keep warm. {Our fish was thicker so required about double the cooking time}

While the fish cooks, combine the orange juice and the next 5 ingredients (orange juice through garlic) in a small saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Combine 1 tablespoon water and cornstarch, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Add the cornstarch mixture to the pan, and cook for 2 minutes or until the sauce is thickened, stirring frequently. Serve the fish with the couscous and sauce.


CALORIES 460 (28% from fat); FAT 14.3g (sat 3g,mono 4.1g,poly 4.9g); IRON 3.6mg; CHOLESTEROL 65mg; CALCIUM 118mg; CARBOHYDRATE 35.2g; SODIUM 513mg; PROTEIN 45.7g; FIBER 1.6g

Cooking Light, MARCH 2003

Simple Pasta Deliciousness

PHEW!! We're back home after a whirlwind weekend! We've been out of town since Thursday to celebrate various family milestones with my side of the family {one of which included my 25th birthday}. I'm exhausted from such a fun-filled weekend.

Luckily, I had planned a super simple dinner for tonight, which I originally found on a great blog called Eat.Drink.Run. I don't think I could have handled something complicated tonight!

I was a little worried that it was going to be too simple {a.k.a. bland} for us but Alex had THREE helpings of it, so I'm pretty sure he liked it. :)



Here's how Shelby described the process for Sundried Tomato Shrimp Pasta on her blog:

A super simple – and healthy – pasta with shrimp. So easy. Boil whole wheat noodles. Melt 1 TBSP butter and 1 TBSP olive oil in a pan. Cook 1 TSP minced garlic and a few sundried tomatoes for a couple of minutes. Add shrimp and cover until cooked through. Drain pasta and toss into shrimp mixture along with dried basil and oregano. Less than 20 minutes total!

{I also added some fresh basil & thyme from our Topsy Turvy}

Shrimpo de Mayo

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

We decided to celebrate with shrimp tacos and margaritas. Aye caramba!

This was another "Superfast" Cooking Light recipe that I found and it was another success! You use pre-cooked shrimp and there is no actual cooking involved in it, which means it's great for a hot summer day. {FYI It hit 95 degrees here today.}



Basically the filling for the tacos is ceviche, which is a cold shrimp dish. Traditionally, the shrimp is "cooked" in the lime juice but in this case the shrimp is pre-cooked and just soaked in the lime juice for a short period of time.

I forgot to buy avocados {doh!} so we subbed mango chunks for the avocado. It worked out surprisingly well that way.

Here's the recipe for Ceviche-Style Shrimp & Avocado Tacos {click the link}. Enjoy!

Fab Fish

What's for Dinner? 5/2/2010

-Fish with Citrusy Tomatoes
-Brown Rice
-Steamed Snap Peas

I saw this fish recipe on a favorite blog of mine, Health for the Whole Self, and immediately added it to our menu for this week. It looked like something right up our alley....and it WAS. It was so good! Hubs was high-fiving me throughout this meal because he liked it so much. :)

Katie made hers with tilapia but we decided to go for cod. Cod gets a bad rap but I happen to love it. It's mild, meaty, never "fishy" tasting and cheap. This meal was great served over brown rice too because it soaked up all that extra yummy sauce. Below is the recipe, with my changes notated as well.

Fish with Citrusy Tomatoes

Seen on Health for the Whole Self

Adapted from Real Simple {my changes in red}
Serves 4

Ingredients
4 fish fillets, 4-6 oz each (any mild white fish will work, such as tilapia or halibut...we used cod)
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp olive oil, divided
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup fresh orange juice {next time I would probably do 1/4 cup of lemon juice and 1/4 cup of orange juice to cut some of the sweetness}
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped {we only used 1/4 cup}
2-3 tablespoons capers (depending on how salty you want the dish to be)
sea salt and black pepper

1. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the garlic and cook for about a minute. Add the tomatoes, orange juice, capers, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 5-6 minutes, until the tomatoes begin to break down. Add parsley during the last minute.

2. Meanwhile, in a separate skillet, heat the remaining 1 tsp oil over medium high heat. Season the fish fillets with salt and pepper, then place in the skillet and cook until opaque throughout (about 5 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of your fillets). {We just cooked the fish in the broiler for about 7 minutes, instead of pan frying it. I don't like having two burners on the stove going at once....it stresses me out.}

3. Spoon tomato mixture over fish and serve.

A Summery Meal on the Last Day of Winter {What's for Dinner? 3/19/2010}

The weather has been BEAUTIFUL here lately! Warm, bright blue skies, lots of sun. It has definitely been feeling spring-ish around here but the first day of spring isn't until tomorrow. And isn't it just perfectly ironic that tomorrow is the day that it's supposed to get cold and rainy again?!?

In honor of the great weather, we cranked up the grill for tonight's dinner...Grilled Barbecue Shrimp, Grilled Corn on the Cob and Spinach & Pesto Orzo.


We just brushed the shrimp with Stubb's BBQ Sauce and then grilled them on skewers. The corn was simply grilled in its husks. The orzo mix just consisted of baby spinach, feta cheese and pesto. All of it was super easy!

Spicy Shrimp in Coconut Milk + Nostalgia {What's for Dinner? 3/5/2010}

Last night I came home from work in a foul mood and this close to being in tears. It was just one of those days where I felt defeated, both personally and professionally. Luckily, I have an amazing husband who wrapped me up in his arms and told me everything was going to be okay. Then he told me to go relax and he would take care of dinner.

Of course, because I'm a control freak, I ended up helping make dinner anyway but it was a team effort. Then we ate dinner and proceeded to watch an episode of Parks & Recreation {I really wanted to watch True Blood Season 2 and I thought we could find it On Demand but alas we couldn't...so this was our second choice}.

We had never watched this show before but it turns out it's totally HILARIOUS! It's a lot like The Office in the way it's filmed and the humor {which is okay with us because we love The Office}. We ended up watching all 4 episodes of it that were available On Demand for free and it was great.

After we finished watching the shows I started feeling nostalgic so I made Alex tell me the story again of how he decided he wanted to propose to me and how he went about planning it all. I love that story. It makes me happy. :)

When he finished the story he said "Hold on one second" and went to put our engagement video in the DVD player. I don't think we'd watched it since we've been married so it was so fun to relive it all again. And just because I feel like it, here are some photos from September 2, 2006:

Realizing what's happening

Will you marry me? under the Century Tree

Saber Arch

Suddenly a horrible start to my Friday night turned into a wonderful date night with my husband. I love when that happens!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NOW, enough blabbing. Dinner was a delicious Thai-ish shrimp dish! Here is the original recipe for Spicy Shrimp in Coconut Milk that we bookmarked but we realized that the recipe was a bit off on some of the measurements so below I will post the recipe the way we did it.

We served the shrimp over brown rice, which is really a must since this make SO much extra sauce. You have to have something to soak it all up! We also made some simple roasted snap peas on the side. All I did for those is toss them in some olive oil & kosher salt and then just roasted on a sheet pan for about 15-20 minutes in the oven on 400 degrees.


Spicy Shrimp in Coconut Milk

Ingredients

* 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
* 1 cup chopped onion
* 1 tablespoon minced garlic
* 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
* 2 tablespoons coriander
* 1/4 teaspoon cumin
* 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
* 1/8 teaspoon turmeric
* 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes {The original recipe wouldn't have been spicy at ALL so I think it's a little ridiculous that it is called Spicy Shrimp in Coconut Milk. We added the red pepper flakes to add some spice.}
* 1 can diced tomatoes, drained
* 1 can unsweetened coconut milk {NOTE: We had never cooked with coconut milk before so when we first opened up the can and found the milk solidified and separated we were very close to throwing it away. However, upon googling, we found out that is perfectly normal. All you have to do is stir it up. So don't be afraid of solidified coconut milk!}
* 1/2 cup water
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 pound shrimp, peeled and cleaned
* 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
* lime wedge (for serving)
* Cooked rice

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large non-stick skillet on medium heat.

2. Add onions and cook for 3 minutes.

3. Add garlic and ginger, cook 2 minutes.

4. Add all the spices, cook 1 minute.

5. Add tomatoes, cook 1 minute.

6. Add coconut milk,water, and salt, and bring to a simmer.

7. Simmer until thickened 5-10 minutes.

8. Add shrimp, simmer, stirring for 5 minutes.

9. Stir in cilantro.

10. Serve over rice with lime wedges.

Panko Crusted Cod {What's for Dinner? 2/28/2010}

Panko Crusted Cod with Roasted Brocc & GB {garlic bread}

This was the meal we had planned for Friday but, as you know, got pushed off in favor of pizza. I'm glad we finally made it though because it was a good one!


I got the idea for this fish preparation from a Martha Stewart recipe I made in the past. It basically involved brushing pork chops with dijon mustard and then coating in panko breadcrumbs. It was a very tasty, healthy and delicious way to make "oven-fried" pork chops so I thought it might work for fish too. And it did! The mustard adds great flavor and "glue" for the coating and the panko adds that awesome crispiness.

All you do to prepare Panko Crusted Cod is brush each fillet of fish with dijon mustard and then coat in panko. Then bake in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes, or until fish is flaky. I recommend cooking the fish on a rack, placed on top of a cookie sheet to keep the bottom from getting soggy. {We didn't do this but we will next time.}

Also try this coating with chicken or pork chops!