Fish tacos

I have been on my husband's case lately because he is always talking about how he LOVES to grill - and how he is just the best at it - and he can grill ANYTHING. Oddly enough, I never catch him actually grilling anything. He'd much rather wait for me to make something - no matter how un-meaty it may happen to be. Last week when I made this nice seafood dinner - I mentioned how the entire meal could have been grilled. He got the hint and we eventually came to the agreement that he would start preparing 1 meal per week. He took this seriously for about 15 minutes and started doing some "meal planning"

He came out of the office the other day with a grilling cookbook he got as a wedding gift. He found a recipe for fish tacos and started reading it aloud to me. The ingredient lost was 500 items long, and the prep time was about 4.5 days. It was a little too ambitious for somebody who hasn't touched food since way back when he was single.



My sister-in-law consequently posted a recipe for fish tacos on her blog that sounded much simpler. As the two filets of tilapia defrosted for a full 4 days, I appealed to the husband to simplify the recipe. We used the marinade listed above - just some lime juice, olive oil and jerk seasoning. A LOT easier than what he was originally planning. He even had the foresight to smoke some hickory chips to add to our charcoal grill. The fish was so smoky and delicious.


To garnish:
whole wheat tortillas
romaine lettuce
quartered cherry tomatoes
shredded cheese
Cholula
Mango Guacamole. Mmmmmmmmmmmm x 1000


On the side: refried black beans
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/2 seeded jalapeno, chopped
1 tsp cumin
1 Tbsp red wine (why the hell not, right?)
1 can black beans - with juices
2 Tbsp chopped cilantro

Saute garlic and onions until soft-ish. Add jalapeno and saute a minute or so more. Add the cumin and saute until the smell is so overwhelming you can barely breathe (about 30 seconds). Add the wine - magic! No more suffocation! Add the can of black beans and turn heat to LOW. Simmer about 15-20 minutes- they will be nice and CREAMY. Add cilantro and love them.


The verdict? Everything was great! Well, I also did everything except smoke the fish. But it's a start, right? Now it's time to solve some cases with Mulder. I just saw this scene.


I am lucky.

Salmon and Mango Strawberry Salsa

Salmon is one of the few fishes that actually benefit your health. With respect to cardiovascular health - the fatty fishes are your best bet. I won't go into any lipid sciences - since I find it boring (two of my best friends are in lipids- but I don't necessarily understand what they do). I do know that fish oils are great for you - mainly by reducing arachidonic acid - which is a pro-inflammatory protein. Fish oils work to dilate blood vessels and stop platelets from stickign together - which lowers the risk of heart attack and stroke. They also work in the liver to limit the production of LDL (the bad cholesterol). So BAM - fish oils are pretty good.

The catch (haha get it) with salmon is that it has to be wild salmon - coho or atlantic. Otherwise the natural diet and environment aren't incorporated into the dead fish bodies for your consumption (sounds appetizing, right?) Well, it is. Deal. When you buy salmon, is it PINK or is it nice and SALMON colored? If it's light pink, the color is added in - since the natural diet fed to farmed salmon makes them almost white. So spend the money and buy the better stuff.

Well, enough with that. I happened to make some salmon tonight that was DELISH. I made a paste of 1 Tbsp lime juice, 1 tsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp coriander, Na++ and pepper, and a shake of cayenne. I then proceeded to rub this on a filet of salmon, which had previously been rubbed with Na++ and Pepper.


I paired it with some roasted sweet potato wedges that I put a teaspoon of honey at the end for good luck. Also some roasted asparagus with olive oil. Yum.

All of these things can go in the oven at 450. The potatoes stay in for 30 - everything else for 10 -ish. Be your own judge!



What's that on top of the salmon? Oh just a little strawberry-mango salsa.

SALSA
One mango
3 strawberries
Juice of 1/2 lime
1 tsp lime zest
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Na++ and Pepper

Mix together and let sit for as long as you can stand it.

I'm eating fish again

Last weekend when our friends came to town, I had fish at various times. I tend to eat fish with guests or when out to dinner because it is difficult to always eat vegetarian out (like at an oyster roast) and I hate being a pain in the butt by making people plan around me. I generally don't eat fish very often because when I did it would upset my stomach quite a bit, as I hadn't eaten meat in almost 2 years now.

Well, all of the fish I enjoyed last weekend didn't bother me at all - and it all tasted great. My husband really wants nothing in the world but for me to eat meat again. Well, I will not eat anything else besides fish - but I though adding fish into my diet would make him really happy.

So- Friday night I told him I had a surprise for him, and drove him to Fresh Market and told him we'd be eating fish at home again and he could pick out whatever he wanted. Like the butthead that he is, he acted like my surprise sucked and told me I hyped it up too much and he was expecting something "awesome." In reality, all that I said was that I had a surpise for him. Apparently uttering that sentence was too much "hype," and he probably expected me to take him to NHL tryouts or a Rudy-marathon at a local bar with free beer on tap.

No more surprises for that guy.

The first fish dinner I cooked was some simple Chile-Spiced tilapia with some Strawberry Mango Basil Salsa from How Sweet it Is. It was really good - except for the fact that they only gave us one filet of tilapia to split, thouygh I clearly said I wanted 2. Oh well, we each got a crab cake also.

I served it with my favorite tomatoes (cherry tomatoes sauteed in olive oil for 10 minutes until nice and soft) and KALE CHIPS.

And my husband... he didn't even say thank you! Maybe he needs some more tofu and art shows instead of fish and hockey games.

My Morning Smoothie 2

Frozen strawberries (they were buy 1 get 2 free all this week, so I bought 6 and chopped and froze them all), 1/2 banana, 1/2 mango, hemp seeds, coconut yogurt, orange juice, cinnamon and splenda.

*** since I do not eat meat (no, not even fish) - I have to derive my omega 3's from other sources. Hemp seeds are a great source.