Fish Tacos with Fresh Mango Salsa and Chipotle Yogurt Sauce

Now that it's springtime and its getting warmer every day and staying light out later, it's time to start making summery food! Fish tacos are wonderful anytime but this recipe is very refreshing and is loaded with flavors I associate with summertime: cilantro, mango, lime. I made these fish tacos with tilapia and they turned out wonderful! The fish is flaky and absorbs a lot of the lime juice that I cooked it in. I topped the fish with fresh mango salsa and chipotle yogurt sauce that was delicious and so tasty. Whenever I get fish tacos at a restaurant, they always come with charred red cabbage but I had never figured out how to make it. Anyways, I figured it out and it's so easy and adds great flavor to the cabbage and to the tacos. The charred cabbage was so delicious I wanted to eat it all by itself!

Fish Tacos with Fresh Mango Salsa and Chipotle Yogurt Sauce

• 1 pound of flaky white fish
• 4 tablespoons of fresh lime juice
• 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil 
• 10-12 small flour tortillas, warmed

Mango Salsa:

• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
• 1 ripe mango, diced
• 1 handful of cilantro, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• juice of 1 lime

Chipotle Yogurt Sauce:

• 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
• 3 tablespoons fresh squeezed lime juice
• 1/4 cup chipotle sauce from can 
• 1 garlic clove, minced

Charred Cabbage:

• Small head of red cabbage
• 2 tablespoons olive oil or can use cooking spray to cut calories
• pepper, as needed
• lemon pepper seasoning, as needed

Preparation

1. Cook fish in a frying pan with olive oil and lime juice until cooked through. 
2. For salsa, cut up mango, onion, red pepper, cilantro and toss together with cilantro, garlic, and lime juice. 
3. For yogurt sauce, mix greek yogurt, chipotle sauce, garlic and lime juice. 
4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees for charred cabbage. Slice cabbage and pull sections apart so seasoning and oil reaches every part. Drizzle with oil or cooking spray and then sprinkle pepper and lemon pepper seasoning over cabbage. Cook for 15-20 minutes or until charred. 
5. Warm tortillas. Top with fish, salsa, charred cabbage, and yogurt sauce. 
6. Enjoy!

Quinoa Tabbouleh

This recipe was so refreshing and filling! The flavors were super intense but I wish I had added more lime, parsley, and mint to it to make it even more delicious. I also think my ratio of quinoa to tomatoes and cucumbers was a little off...too much quinoa. The recipe is essentially exactly the same as the traditional tabbouleh made with bulgur. The only difference is that it calls for quinoa, which I liked because I think more people will likely have quinoa on hand and know how to prepare it than wheat bulgur. I also didn't rinse the quinoa and I've heard that rinsing it changes the flavor dramatically. 

Quinoa Tabbouleh 

• 1 cup of quinoa, rinsed well
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more for taste
• 1 large cucumber, diced, chef's choice
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2/3 cup chopped parsley
• 1/2 cup chopped mint
• 2 scallions thinly sliced

Preparation

• Prepare quinoa as directed on package or follow the simple directions below:
• Bring 1 cup quinoa, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 2 cups water to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low or to simmer, cover, let cook for 15-20 minutes or until tender. Take off heat and let stand for 5 minutes, uncovered. Fluff with fork and allow to cool completely before using.
• Combine olive oil and lemon in small bowl and add salt and pepper as desired. 
• Chop up veggies and herbs and combine with cooled quinoa.
• Pour olive oil/lemon mixture over the quinoa mixture and stir thoroughly.

Olivia and Tanner's Wedding!

Even though this is a food blog, I decided I would post about the beautiful wedding I went to this past weekend in Pennsylvania. I love adventures and of course this road trip was no different...
We stayed at my cousins apartment at Fairfield University on our way to and from the wedding. And then, we got a little lost trying to find the church and while pulling over to look at the gps, we got stuck in the mud! We only tried to get it out for a couple minutes before some locals stopped and pulled us out. It was funny, we were all dressed up and you could tell he looked at my Rhode Island license plate and kind of laughed...silly out-of-towners. If we had gotten stuck in the mud in RI, I doubt anyone would have helped us for quite a while. 

Finally we made it to the beautiful stone church where the wedding was held. My best friend Olivia got married to the love of her life and I got to be there to see them exchange vows and dance their first dance as Mr. And Mrs. Tanner Jackson...it was absolutely beautiful.

Olivia and I have been best friends since we were 6 years old and it's been a wonderful journey growing into adults together that culminated in her beginning the rest of her life with Tanner on Saturday. 

The decorations were absolutely stunning. Her mom has impeccable taste and transformed an old gymnasium into a breathtaking venue decorated with strands of lights and flowing fabric. The tables were decorated with burlap and mason jars and baby's breath. I loved the rustic place settings...it reminded me of the place settings I want to use to post pictures of the food I make, thus part of the reason I decided to post on here about the wedding.

The food was delicious. Grilled fruit with basil and mint along with fresh veggies, crackers, and cheese for appetizer while we waited for the bridal party to arrive at the reception. For dinner we feasted on prime rib with horseradish sauce or chicken cordon bleu accompanied by salad, roasted potatoes and tortellini. Dessert was my favorite part of the meal. I don't even know what all the different cookies and cupcakes I ate were but my favorite was the vanilla chai cupcake. If any of you know me, you know that I love chai so this was like a dream come true...chai in a cupcake!  

                    

                    

                    

When it was still light outside, the lighting inside was beautiful and as it got darker, the room began to glow from the candles, overhead lights, and the lights underneath the fabric and the table clothes. Absolutely gorgeous!

                               

And of course I had to post a picture of me and my dashingly handsome date :D 

                                    

Cauliflower and Brussel Sprouts Pizza Crust

Hmmm...not sure where to start with this post because this was an interesting experiment. I loved the result but hated the process. I don't currently have the right kitchen gadget to make the process a lot less time consuming. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning...I love pizza. And I love cauliflower and brussel sprouts. I think  it was probably last year when I started hearing about this alternative way to make pizza crust out of ground up cauliflower and was immediately intrigued. Cauliflower is a much more versatile vegetable than I ever thought. Side note: A few weeks ago I made beer battered buffalo cauliflower bites, which turned out delicious...I'll have to post about that experience sometime soon.

Anyways, I only have a blender, not a food processor so that made the whole grinding up cauliflower and brussel sprouts a much longer process than it would have been with a food processor. Other than that, it's a very basic recipe...put it all in a bowl, knead it up, shape into pizza crust, bake and vous la!

***please note: I found that this recipe makes two smaller pizza crusts. I like very thin pizza crust so a little goes a long way for me. 

Cauliflower Brussel Sprouts Pizza Crust 

• 1 head of cauliflower
• 8-10 brussel sprouts
• 1 cup of flour, chef's choice
• 1 teaspoon of nutritional yeast
• pinch of salt
• pinch or red pepper flakes
• 3 eggs

Preparation

1. Separate cauliflower into florets, and blend until they are the consistency of quinoa
2. Line a bowl with cheese cloth or paper towels and put the ground cauliflower to squeeze out moisture. Do this several times till it seems mostly dry. 
3. Grind up brussel sprouts till well shredded before adding to cauliflower. 
4. Mix in flour, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper flakes. 
5. Add three eggs and knead them into mixture. 
6. Line a pizza pan or cookie sheet with parchment paper and form dough into pizza crust shape desired. 
7. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until brown on top and edges. 
8. After crust is crispy, add whatever toppings desired and then cook at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes. 

Recipe credit goes to What's Cooking Good Looking. 

Polenta Veggie Lasagna

I loooooove pasta. I'd say at least once a day I crave macaroni and cheese and lasagna and spaghetti and meatballs. Yeah, my pasta obsession is bad...Pasta in moderation (pasta and moderation just don't work for me) is okay but there's nothing that's really nutritionally good for you unless it's a whole wheat pasta which to me always seem very chewy no matter how long you cook them for. Anyways, I've been wanting to come up with ways to curb my pasta cravings and I've started to realize that it's usually the stuff that we pair with pasta that I really crave like cheese and red sauce. So I knew if I could find a lower calorie, less filling substitute, I could almost cut pasta entirely out of my diet. Thus begins my experiment making polenta veggie lasagna.

Let me just give you a quick preview...this is what it looked like when I finished...

First, pick out what kind of vegetables you want to include in your lasagna. I love broccoli in just about anything and in the last few months, I've been putting brussel sprouts in stir-rys and omelets so I figured it could work well in lasagna too. Normally, I would use a red pepper, but my boyfriend's mom was coming for dinner and she's allergic to peppers. I also used a green zucchini and a yellow onion and kind of eyeballed the amounts for each vegetable. I added some fresh spinach towards the end because I didn't want it to cook too quickly.

I always sauté my veggies in olive oil or in olive oil cooking spray. While they are cooking, I grind some rainbow peppercorns and sea salt into the mixture. No matter what vegetables I'm cooking, salt and pepper are a must...

Since it's lasagna, of course, I needed to layer it all with some fat-free ricotta cheese, egg, and italian seasoning mixture. 

I used garlic basil polenta and sliced it very thin...I found that in an 8x8 pan, I could fit about three rows with three and a half slices across. 

First, I put a thin layer of red sauce on the bottom of the pan and then put the polenta down followed by a layer of the sautéed veggies and then the ricotta cheese mixture on top of that. I topped the first layer with red sauce and then sprinkled a little mozzarella on top and then repeated all of the steps again. After I put the second layer of the lasagna down, I finished it off with a sprinkling of italian seasonings. 

Vous la!

Then I baked it at 375 for thirty minutes covered and then 15 minutes uncovered. It was delicious!

Polenta Veggie Lasagna

• One tube of polenta
• 2 1/2 cups of fresh vegetables of your choice (broccoli, peppers, onions, spinach, brussel sprouts, etc.)
• 1 jar of red sauce
• 1 1/4 cup fat free ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• Italian seasonings
• Shredded mozzarella 

Preparation 

1. Dice fresh vegetables and sauté in oil just till tender. 
2. Slice polenta thinly while veggies are sautéing. 
3. Mix ricotta cheese, egg, italian seasonings. 
4. Layer red sauce, polenta slices, vegetables, ricotta cheese mixture, red sauce and mozzarella. 
5. Repeat step 4. 
6. Cook at 375 degrees for 30 minutes covered. 
7. Cook for 15 minutes uncovered and then let stand for 5-10 minutes to cool. 

Fried Bananas, Batman!

So I'm trying to write more posts more often...so this morning, I decided to make fried bananas for breakfast. I don't really like bananas but fried anything is amazing! It was really easy, required very few ingredients and turned out delicious!






I fried the bananas on each side for about a minute in coconut oil for added flavor. Besides adding a delicious coconuty flavor, coconut oil has the good kind of fat and has also been known to stave off infections and heart disease. I highly recommend substituting coconut oil for butter or vegetable/canola oil when frying sweet things.

The banana slices cook very quickly so you need to make sure that you watch them the entire time. If you cook them too long, the sugar in the bananas breaks down from the heat and they can burn very easily.

After the banana slices cooked on both sides, I poured a small amount of honey mixed with a little hot water over them and then sprinkled with ground cinnamon. You don't need a lot of the honey because they are already very sweet.

Let them cool for a couple minutes before eating because they will be very hot. I kind of wish these weren't so easy to make because now I think I'll make them all the time...

I'm gonna put a shortened version of this recipe down below :)




Fried Bananas with Honey Drizzle 

• banana(s)
• coconut oil (use as needed)
• honey
• hot water
• ground cinnamon

1. Melt 1-2 tablespoons of coconut oil in the pan and spread so it covers the pan. 
2. Slice banana into 1/2 inch pieces and place in the frying pan. 
3. Cook for about a minute or until they are dark brown on both sides.
4. Mix a little hot water into a few tablespoons of honey and drizzle over fried bananas.
5. Serve sprinkled with ground cinnamon. 

Pollotarian, pescatarian, vegetarian, vegan...what am I?!

When I first started cooking my own food when I moved away to college, I was introduced to all the different kinds of diets in regards to meat and animal by-product consumption...pollotarian, pescatarian, vegetarian, and vegan. Most people haven't heard of pollotarian or pecatarian even though they might identify with those eating habits. I had a friend in college who called herself a pollotarian when I first met her, became vegetarian shortly after, and a couple years later went vegan. Because of the nature of the vegan diet, it was difficult for her to get the protein that she needed so she has since gone back to simply being a vegetarian.

So...not that I've used all these different words, let me define them for you.

A pollotarian is someone who eats poultry i.e. chicken, duck, turkey, etc. Some have used this term to mean someone who eats both poultry and fish but technically one would not consume any fish.
A pescatarian is someone who eats fish i.e. cod, salmon, swordfish, shrimp, etc.
A vegetarian is someone who doesn't eat any kind of meat but eats animal by-products i.e. eggs, dairy products, honey, etc. You can even break this category down more into two more categories:

1. ovo-vegetarian, someone who eats eggs
2. lacto-vegetarian, someone who eats dairy products

A vegan is someone who doesn't eat any kind of meat and won't eat any animal by-products.

I haven't done a whole lot of research on these different eating habits and lifestyle decisions other than what I learned in the general nutrition class I took in college and from the many friends I have who have either tried out one or more of these options or who are have been eating one of these diets long term. For short periods of time, I have only eaten fish and poultry but never for very long. For me, I hate to say it but rather than being about animal rights, my diet is much more about nutrition.

I have threatened to become a vegetarian many times in the last 10 months but every time, my boyfriend has talked me out of it and convinced me to simply have more moderation in my consumption of beef and pork. Personally, I think that all diets are about moderation...cutting something  you love out of your diet can make you want to binge on something else thats unhealthy. It's easier to eat healthy when you treat yourself a little bit as a reward for eating well.

Thoughts? Comments? Criticism?