Japaleño-Lime Tilapia with Coconut-Ginger Rice

Marinated Tilapia with Coconut-Ginger Rice

as (barely) adapted from The Wednesday Chef and Steven Raichlen
(Serves 4)
To Make the Fish:
-1/3 cup fresh lime juice (I mixed in Meyer Lemon juice, too)
-1 large jalapeno, with seeds, minced
-4 tilapia fillets (the original recipe calls for grouper or red snapper. Red snapper works well too, but tilapia can be easier to find and cheaper.)
-chopped fresh cilantro (or not. We didn’t use cilantro because I’m not such a fan and it was fine without it)

*Serve with steamed zucchini and sugar snap peas (or snow peas), extra lime juice, and chopped scallions or green onions (as pictured below in their individual containers, ready for steaming).

Make the rice first! (Recipe below)

Combine the citrus juice and jalapeño in a shallow glass dish. Add the fish and coat with the marinade. Let stand for 20 minutes, turning once.

After you’ve made the rice, preheat the broiler. Remove fish from marinade and put it on a baking sheet or broiler pan (oil this pan! Otherwise your fire alarm will go off according to the recipe). Broil until fish is just cooked through, about 6 – 8 mins total. Season with salt and pepper.

To Make the Rice:
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
4 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
1 cup rice
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1 cup water

Sautee the ginger and garlic briefly in oil, just until not raw (like a minute or two. You might not even have to do this step…but the ginger and garlic might be overpowering)

Put the rice, milk, and water in to the rice cooker. Add the garlic and ginger. Turn on the rice cooker and cook it!

This might not be the most gorgeous meal I've ever made, but it's one of the most impressive for the amount of flavor it packs given how easy it is to make!

Freezer Burritos

Hello!

This is the second time I have made these spectacular freezer burritos from Shutterbean. They are great because 1. they actually reheat well (unlike many frozen burritos, in my opinion), 2. you can customize them, and 3. you can make them in different sizes.

Check out my assembly line above clockwise from the top:

-a mix of black beans and low-fat refried beans (1 can of each) plus a bunch of spices (cumin, salt, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, and tumeric, I think)

-homemade corn salsa

(-water--for me, not the burritos)

(-remotes since I tend to watch food network while I cook)

-tortillas. I use enchilada size tortillas since I don't like eating an entire burrito at once. This way they're smaller and you can eat half for a snack or all for a meal

-nonfat greek yogurt which I use instead of sour cream

-fresh lime, tomatoes, and onion

-tin foil, 2 sheets, ready and waiting

-cheese -- this time I got a pre-shredded "mexican blend" because I hate grating cheese

-rice made with a pinch of chili powder, a can of chopped tomatoes, 1 glove of garlic (minced), and a pinch of cumin. This was the coolest thing that I learned from Shutterbean: add things to your rice cooker! SO. EXCITING. And more on that soon.

A close up. You can really add whatever you like/dislike. I don't really love cilantro, but most people would have that nicely chopped on their cutting board. Other things to add: hot sauce, veggies (I may try corn and zucchini next time), meat, etc!

Ready? Set? Go! Proportions are the hardest part of this for me--I tend to over-fill my tortillas. Still, I got the hang of it, mostly, by the time I was finished. Also: I got I think 8-10 burritos out of all of this (with bigger tortillas you wouldn't make as many) but I have lots of leftover salsa.

Burrito time! I spared you the photos of my horribly rolled burritos. I can't roll them. Sad, sad story for me. Luckily, freezing them mostly solves this problem.

Once frozen, remove tinfoil, wrap in a damp paper towel and heat in the microwave for 2-3 min. Enjoy with more nonfat greek yogurt and salsa!

Layered Salad

Salads are one of those things that I really don't make very often. I like them, don't get me wrong, but since I don't usually like just lettuce and dressing for a meal, I can't justify buying all of the ingredients. I love Caesar salads, but they aren't the most healthy or nutritious option in the salad world. I don't like nuts or carrots, which are easy additions to bulk up salads, and I never eat enough lettuce before it goes bad. However, I think I've found a way to eat more salads! I discovered my new favorite salad about a month ago when I was searching for a light summer meal that I could prep ahead of time. I came across an Asian steak salad and was immediately intrigued. It was fantastic. More on that later once I recreate it and take some photos, though.

This got me thinking about other ways to bulk up salads besides with meat. I have the Epicurious ap on my phone (and I'm obsessed!) so I typed in "summer," "salad," and "dinner" into the search categories and discovered this one. Well, my version is variation of the actual salad since I substituted artichoke hearts for olives and left out the fennel since I didn't have any). Anyway, what I love about this salad is that you can make it ahead of time (you're supposed to!) and it's unusual and filling enough to be a lovely dinner.

Layered Salad
as adapted from Epicurious

-1 heads of lettuce. I used a variety of greens but it calls for romaine.
-6-8 oz garbanzo beans (3/4 of a can, or more or less to taste)
-8 artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
-3 tomatoes, chopped (or 8 oz or so cherry tomatoes sliced in half)
-1 zucchini*, thinly sliced. I used a mandoline.

Dressing:
-1 head roasted garlic
-1 tsp olive oil
-1/2 c mayo
-1/4 c buttermilk
-2-3 T chopped, fresh basil
-salt/pepper to taste


In a large bowl, place the lettuce (washed and torn into bite-sized pieces), top with garbanzo beans, then artichoke hearts, then tomatoes, and finally, cover the entire top of the salad with zucchini, overlapping so you can't see anything underneath.


(*this is how you know how much to use. Slice part of the zucchini and start layering it, and stop when the salad is covered) Top with dressing and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 8. Toss and serve.

Dressing: blend all ingredients. Note: there will be more dressing than you need, most likely.

Woodies on the Warf

I went to this event for the first time ever to take some photos for my mom. While I don't really care much about cars, I was pleasantly surprised by these and enjoyed myself more than expected.


Matching cars! So cute! I might have been able to squeeze into the little one but I didn't think it would be the best idea to try...

Great color and I loved the front of it.


The engine of one...in good condition probably.

My favorite hood ornament, hands down.


Another cool hood ornament and nice grill.


They had about every color car you could possible think of. Including eggplant (not pictured, sorry).


Woody bugs! Below is the back of the VW woody, complete with surfboard.

Bermuda #2

Now that I have the rest of the Bermuda photos, I can actually show you the deliciousness that was Bermuda High Tea as well as some other meals. So here goes:

Baby brother is very pleased with our set of rum snacks. Bottom plate: cream puffs, lemon mousse with chocolate shells, rum truffles. Middle plate: shrimp po'boy (great), crab salads in mini brioches, bloody mary shooters, spinach roll ups, smoked salmon on rye (delish). Top plate: macaroons, scones (not pictured/already devoured).

The season tray that my parents split. Bottom plate: cheesecake squares (phenomenal), fruit mousse Napoleon things, lemon or lime cream (not pictured), something else that wasn't pictured. Middle plate: roast beef roll ups, frittata, shrimp in mini croissants (delish), cucumber shooters (barely pictured), something else (barely pictured). Top plate: meringues, scones (not pictured/already devoured).

Spiked coffee with an unusual fruit liqueur that I can't remember the name of with a rock candy sugar swizzle stick.

Beef carpaccio at one of the Fairmont Southampton's restaurants.

A caprese salad at the same place as above. This lovely presentation is one I'm dying to replicate once I get my hands on some big, heirloom tomatoes!

As you can see, the food was delicious. We had some fantastic fish dishes that of course I forgot to take photos of. Naturally. On every family vacation my brother and I each get to pick out a souvenir. Luckily, we still get to pretend we're little kids and each got something. I'm not sure what he chose but I got a Bermuda teatime cookbook. I'm very excited to make some snacks from it and will hopefully be doing so soon. In the meantime, I'm stuck with a frightening amount of zucchini, but more on that in the next few posts.

Bermuda

My baby brother graduated from Dartmouth and in celebration (both for actually getting him packed up and out of the dorm on time and for graduating in four years) we took a quick family vacation to Bermuda. I had no idea how close Bermuda was to Boston. Just a quick, two-hour flight later and you're on a tropical island with turquoise ocean and pink sand beaches. Yes, they are really pink, but more on that later.

Lovely, right? Our last night there was a couple sharing a bottle of champagne in one of these love seat chair things watching the sunset. Pretty perfect. My favorite part about Bermuda, besides the obvious sun and warm water, was how formal it was. I've been to the Caribbean before, as well as Hawaii and various other tropical places, but this was a different feel. The hotel we stayed in hosted a happy hour every Friday evening and describing it will better explain what I mean by "formal." I love happy hour since it signals affordable food and drinks, and usually, a younger crowd. In Portland and really everywhere else in the US, it means a variety of people--business types in suits just out of the office, college kids in jeans and tshirts meeting friends over a PBR, etc. You could wear a studded leather jacket or a suit jacket and be just fine. Not here. Almost all of the guys/men were wearing Bermuda shorts (basically suit shorts), button down shirts or well-ironed polos, suit jackets, knee socks, and dress shoes, and the many of the girls were in cocktail dresses! at 5 in the afternoon on a Friday! A slight difference, to say the least.


This was our hotel. It was pink to match the sand. The sand (sadly) wasn't hot pink or anything, but it definitely had a distinct salmon-colored tinge. Our hotel wasn't on the beach and you had to ferry to another hotel across the bay to get to the beach so I failed to get pictures. Yeah, fail.


More hotel views. I could have stayed longer, certainly. The other best part was the High Tea we had upon arrival. You could chose between the seasonal food selection and the rum one and then pick your choice of tea. It was phenomenal. More on the that later once I snag photos from my mom's camera! For now, a few more Bermuda photos:

Bailey's Coffee

If it's really cold and wet out, and you're tired and just want something cozy to drink, get a bailey's coffee. It's just coffee with bailey's in it. I add sugar to this (yes, I know someone is cringing in horror right now but I really don't like bitter things). In other words, this is my substitute for an Irish coffee--perfect for those of us who don't really like the taste of coffee, or anything else that is bitter!

Bailey's Coffee:

-1 mug of black coffee
-1 shot of bailey's
-a few packets of sugar

And only two months later...

Yes, I know, I know, I've been dreadfully behind on this thing. I can explain! I'm not in Portland anymore!

So here's what happened: I just haven't been finding anything in Portland. At all. So when my roommate suddenly got a job in San Francisco, I figured that instead of trying to find a new place, it made more sense to move home for a bit and reevaluate things. After moving out June 1 I drove up to Seattle for a long weekend to do some job hunting and networking there, drove back to PDX and flew out a few days later for baby brother's graduation. Graduation was the expected combination of hectic and great, and from there my family flew off to Bermuda! After a few days there, I flew back to Portland, picked up my car and zoomed on home (but don't worry, Mom, I didn't speed!).

Having been back in California for about 2 weeks now, I'm finally settled and organized. As you may imagine, I've been a bit scatterbrained with all the travel.

California has been pretty fabulous so far. I've missed the sun more than I realized. I'm lucky to have a great house, a big kitchen (complete with dishwasher and disposal!!), and a gorgeous garden! I'm getting really spoiled by all the fresh fruit and herbs right outside. In my opinion, that's the best kind of spoiled to be.

So for at least the next little bit, expect recipes with lots of limes, plums, and lemons (since we have an abundance on hand), as well as grilled things since I have a gas grill here.

Birthday Brunch

I have pretty limited photos because we got distracted by the eating and gorgeous sunshine. However, it was a great example of how to host brunch and still sleep in. Since I was planning to go out dancing the night before, I wanted something really easy to make so that I could have a relaxing birthday morning. My roommate and other friend decided to go all out and do eggs Florentine (as pictured above--how cute are my heart-shaped egg poachers, huh?! I'm still obsessed) and we ended up with an amazing amount of bacon.
Someone else brought the best sausages (pictured above. I could eat all of those right now, oh man) I have ever had and there was lots of juice and champagne (of course). I made champagne cupcakes that can be found here. Those also look a lot prettier than mine...heh. BUT I had Disney Princess Sparkle Frosting. That's right, SPARKLY FROSTING. IT REALLY SPARKLED! It was awesome.
See the sparkles?? And yes, my cupcakes just might say "I win" on them...I also had decorating help. Sadly I forgot to take photos of my actual contribution to the meal and the point of this post. I've made it before in bailey's form like the original version but this one was better:

Boozy Berry Baked French Toast
as adapted from Smitten Kitchen's version

-1 loaf supermarket French or Italian bread (I used Fred Meyer's "Bakery French Loaf"--aka the cheapest one...*but not the baguette)
-3 C milk. I used 1% and it tasted magnificent and rich so I see no need for the whole milk she calls for. I also never have whole milk on hand.
-3 eggs
-2 T sugar
-pinch of salt
-frozen raspberries (maybe 1/2-1 C)
-frozen blackberries (1/4 C)
-raspberry liqueur of any kind. I believe I have a knock off of chambord or framboise but it tastes just as good. I have no idea how much I used but I will explain that in the directions below.

1. Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish with butter.
2. Cut about 3/4 of the bread into thick slices and smush them together in the pan to make a packed layer. Cut more bread as needed to fill the pan and cut on into smaller slices to fill the gaps.
3. Pack berries into the other gaps and sprinkle some on top for good measure.
4. Whisk milk, eggs, sugar, and salt together and pour over bread.
5. Drizzle raspberry liqueur over the bread. *Note: put some in a cup or spouted measuring cup so drizzling is easier. You don't want a ton of this stuff because it's so sweet. Think of it as the caramel ribbon in ice cream--it's not a layer of caramel, but almost every bite has a little. That's the best way I can think of to describe how much to use...
6. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
7. In the morning, preheat the oven to 425 and bake for about 30 min or until puffy and golden on top. Serve with maple syrup and gloat over how easy and delicious it is.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Buttercream

For my friend and ex-co-worker's birthday I decided to visit and bring cupcake. A while ago she'd told me to make peanut butter cupcakes with chocolate frosting for a different event. I didn't because I wasn't sure I was as into the idea of peanut butter cake--that's for next time. This time I figured I'd stick w an awesome chocolate cupcake recipe I already had and see what I could do with peanut butter, powdered sugar, milk, cream cheese, and butter.
The result is awesomeness. Kind of the flavor of homemade Reese's (more peanut buttery and less sugary for those of you who have never had one) combined with the texture of thick butter cream. In other words, totally addictive.
Chocolate cupcakes! For once I managed not to overfill the cupcake liners so I made nice, even, non-gigantic cupcakes!
I had to make sure they were properly cooked...yes, they were.
I tried to frost them beautifully but they ended up looking a bit silly. The ones with the dot of chocolate on top looked cool but the attempt at lines majorly failed. Whatever, they were pretty phenomenal.

This is the recipe for the chocolate cupcakes.

This is the frosting, more or less. I say that because when it comes to making buttercream I cannot be bothered to actually measure things. I just taste as I go. The key to keeping it smooth and creamy is to add the powdered sugar a little at a time.

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Butter Cream Frosting:
-1/4-1/2 C creamy peanut butter. I think I used the Trader Joe's creamy one.
-1/4-1/2 STICK of butter (not cup), softened.
-a large scoop of cream cheese (like with a spoon you eat cereal with. You could add more but I wanted this to be really peanut buttery, not cream cheesy with peanut butter flavor so I only used a little).
-powdered sugar.
-milk (I used 1%).

1. Start with a 1/4 c of the butter and a 1/4 c of powered sugar in a big bowl. Beat until incorporated and add more sugar. If it looks dry, add a splash of milk.
2. Add enough sugar so that it stops tasting like you're eating straight butter, but stop before it tastes like butter cream.
3. Add in the peanut butter and cream cheese. Keep adding sugar until the consistency and taste are to your liking. The end!

French Onion Soup

I have probably mentioned before that I really don't eat soup. It's true. I hate it. I caved with miso soup and have been wanting to try french onion soup for a while. I love caramelized onions...to the point where I eat them out right out of the pan. My roommate makes fun of me for this. I figured french onion soup with give me a more dignified reason to do this...
Check out that onion/broth goo! Yumity Yum Yum!
Almost ready for eating. To explain the onion behind the bowls, I grated a little fresh onion onto the soup before broiling the bread and cheese with it as suggested by Smitten Kitchen...I'm not sure it made a huge difference.
Cheese+bread+CARAMELIZED ONIONS=awesome food
I keep making a lot of brown things. It was good though, promise!

French Onion Soup
-3-4 white or yellow onions (1 1/2 lbs or so), shredded
-1 T butter
-drizzle of olive oil (to coat pan)
-spoonful of sugar (helps onions caramelize but you don't have to add it if you don't want)
-2 quarts beef stock (I didn't use this much. I also used some chicken stock and water to lighten it up)
-3 T flour
-1/8 C cooking sherry or red wine vinegar
-1/8 C cider vinegar
*You can use white wine instead but I didn't have any. I also really liked the tanginess that the vinegar brings...
-1/4-1/2 of a baguette, toasted and crumbled/broken into chunks
-1-2 C grated cheese (I used a combo of Swiss and Monterrey jack. I also am not really sure how much I used since I didn't serve all of the soup at once)

1. Heat a very large, deep pan (I used a big cast iron one), melt butter/oil. Shred onions (I use my food processor. It's awesome).
2. Cook onions, adding sugar if you want and more oil or butter as needed, over medium heat until very soft and caramelized.
*Note: Smitten Kitchen suggests that you "Add the onions, toss to coat them in oil and cover the pot. Reduce the heat to real low and let them slowly steep for 15 minutes"...I did this but am not sure how useful it really was.
3. When onions are caramelized, add flour and stir for a few minutes. Add wine and some stock, stir to combine.
4. Continue adding broth slowly, letting the onions absorb the liquid. Once most of it is added, bring to a simmer and cover slightly for about 30 minutes. Check and taste for consistency and add pepper if you want.
5. To finish everything off: Preheat broiler, top oven-safe bowls of soup w crumbled, toasted baguette, grate cheese and little raw onion on top, and broil until bubbly.

Spice Cupcakes with Lemon Curd

A week or so ago I had this extreme desire to bake something all day. Then I got into this productive mood and decided I wasn't allowed to bake anything until I'd gotten in lots of job hunting. Eventually, I was still "being productive" when my roommate (who actually works and stuff) came home and told me that another friend was coming over to make dinner.

Instead of just deciding to bake something tomorrow, I decided that I absolutely had to bake something right that second. I also decided that I didn't want to go to the store. This was slightly a problem. I wanted something fast, which meant cupcakes or brownies or something. As opposed to bread, for example, that needs to rise. I also didn't have milk, yogurt, or chocolate chips. Or much butter. I initially wanted to make ginger cookies. Not sure why since they're more of a wintery cookie but whatever. Alas, no molasses! I was discouraged. I don't like yellow cake much, vanilla cupcakes are boring, and chocolate cupcakes aren't as good if you aren't adding chocolate (alongside cocoa powder) into the batter (or so I thought. More on that later.). I felt like I was going to fail and I was not pleased about this. As a last resort I checked my cupcake cookbook (yes, ONLY cupcakes) for a spice cupcake recipe without molasses as a possible compromise. I WON! They exist and called for sour cream, which I had! Totally exciting. And quite delish when topped with lemon curd!

"Spiced Sour Cream Cupcakes"
Not really adapted from Fergal Connolly's 500 Cupcakes

*Note: apparently "the hearty flavor of these cupcakes [is] perfect for tailgating parties and fall picnics"...who knew!

-1 1/2 c flour
-1 tsp baking powder
-(2 tsp) cinnamon but I always do my spices to taste
-(1 tsp allspice), see above
-cloves, pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, ginger: a sprinkle of each
-2 eggs
-3/4 C sour cream (I used lite and it still tasted delish)
-1 C brown sugar, packed
-3 T each golden raisins and chopped pecans if you like. I don't like either so I skipped that part.
*Note #2: The recipe says it makes 1 1/2 dozen but it barely made me 1 dozen...

1. Preheat over to 350. Line muffin tins.
2. Sift dry ingredients into a medium bowl, set aside.
3. Beat eggs and sour cream until combined, add sugar and mix well.
4. Add dry ingredients in batches until smooth.
5. Spoon batter into cups and bake about 20 min.

Top with lemon curd. I didn't make mine. You can, but I already had pre-made lemon curd on hand.
*Note #3: The recipe calls for a cream cheese frosting with orange juice and zest. It's probs lovely, but I didn't have cream cheese on hand...

Beef Stroganoff

I really don't eat enough meat. I love it but it gets a bit expensive and I just really don't think to buy it for some reason. Well, the other day I was feeling tired and lethargic and realized it's probably because I haven't had any red meat in a while. I decided to resolve that by cooking some meat. Brilliant plan. I wasn't sure what to make until I started chatting with one of the people I volunteer for. She immediately told me I had to make beef stroganoff. I can hardly remember the last time I had beef stroganoff and have certainly never made it. She told me how easy it was and I was hooked!

My biggest concern was the mushrooms. I can't stand the texture. The flavor is fine, it's just the texture that gets me. I resolved this by chopping them up super, super tiny. Like the size of minced onion.
Meat! Yum! I love that we finally have a knife that cuts it easily!
Brown the meat all over. A lot of recipes tell you to brown it in batches but I didn't bother. I just kept tossing it until everything was browned.
Onions and leeks and browned-meat-leftovers.
Cooking everything, pre-meat. Yum. Make sure to taste it as you go and keep adding spices and herbs.
MEAT! And below, the finished product! Unfortunately this may be one of the ugliest dishes to make and photograph...too bad they haven't figured out a way to make scratch-n-sniff pictures for the computer...

Beef Stroganoff (slightly adapted from Doran's Mom's version)
(makes about 3 good-sized servings)

-3/4 lb beef tenderloin (I got the cheapest I could find at Whole Foods and it was like $4!) trimmed of fat and chopped into 1-2 inch pieces
-3 or 4 little white mushrooms (or more, but I don't like them), very finely diced
-3/4 of a large white onion
-the white and light green parts of a leek, finely chopped
-olive oil
-salt n pepper
-nutmeg
-1/4 c sherry
-1/4 c Worcestershire sauce
-1/8 c red wine
-beef broth or water (I used beef broth)--as much or as little as you like depending on how soupy you want everything
-oregano
-1 tablespoons flour
-2 large spoonfuls of (low fat) sour cream or more or less to taste
-egg noodles

1. Cut steak and toss with flour, salt, pepper. Brown in oil or butter over medium heat. Once brown on all sides, remove from heat.
2. In the same pan: heat a little more oil if needed add the onions and leeks until soft and then add the mushrooms. Cook, scraping the bottom of the pan to get the browned bits of meat, until mushrooms are tender.
3. Meanwhile, set water on to boil and cook the egg noodles.
4. Add the sherry and Worcestershire to the onion/leek/mushroom mix, add herbs/spices to taste. Cook for a bit, continuing to scrape the bottom, and then add a little beef broth.
5. Bring to a boil, add meat and simmer until the meat is cooked. Add more beef broth as needed to keep enough liquid in the pan.
6. Once meat is done, turn off the heat and stir in sour cream.
7. Serve with noodles!

*Note: this reheats well!