RECIPE: Fish Tacos

Mmmm.... fish tacos!!!  There is no better summer dinner. None...

Here's where I started... mahi mahi, corn tortillas, a green onion or two, cilantro, cabbage and the amazing Southwest Dressing...

Oh yeah... and you must, must, must use the Liquid Gold aka the garlic-infused olive oil ... promise me you'll keep this on hand in your kitchen.  You won't regret it!

Here's the quick run down on how the Lite Southwest Dressing is made... greek yogurt, cayenne pepper, cumin powder and chili pepper.

Several dashes of chili powder, a dash or two of cumin powder and a pinch of cayenne pepper...

And some kosher salt and black pepper... 

Mix it together.  Taste to see if it needs anymore kosher salt (it probably does) or black or cayenne pepper.  Just make this to your own tastes.  You can't go wrong with this... and whatever is left over can simply go in a container in the refrigerator for several weeks (just like the yogurt).

Next attack those greens... cabbage (sliced rather thin), green onions, cilantro...

Line 'em up where they will await their final calling in life... 

 

Next is the fish... add about a tablespoon of garlic-infused olive oil to the skillet and bring it up to HOT!  Then add the salted/peppered fish to the skillet and let it cook through, turning over half-way through.

While the fish is cooking you can throw the tortillas on a griddle to warm up a bit, on medium heat... turning over once they bubble a bit.  Don't let them get too crispy... they'll just crack in half when you use them.  And you don't want that to happen... 

Once the fish is done you can remove it to another flat surface cut into strips...

Then the assembly process starts...  line up your warmed tortillas, schmear them with a touch of Southwest dressing, topping them with a couple slices of fish...

Then add the cabbage, green onions and cilantro... and be prepared... 

to enjoy a really yummy (and rather healthy) dinner!!!  

We typically serve these up with a small side dish:

sharing a can of clam chowder

corn on the cob

black bean soup

Corn and Black Bean Salad

there really are so many options... 

the only thing that ISN'T an option is making these tacos...

 

enjoy your time in the kitchen...

WRAPS: His and Hers

Just as summer is coming to an end, I realized I hadn't yet posted one of our staple summer dinners...

Wraps... we make "his" and "hers" versions of our mediterranean chicken wraps. How easy can THAT be?!


But first I'll start with the low-cal dressing that goes on so many dishes in our house... it is adapted from a chain brewhouse-type restaurant. Instead of a mayo/sour cream base, I use 0% fat Fage yogurt to keep the calories down.



Low-Cal Southwest Dressing
Recipe courtesy Lori Tisdale

Instructions
1 cup Fage 0% yogurt
1 1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
Healthy pinch of cayenne pepper
Pinch kosher salt/black pepper

Instructions
Whisk together. Give it a taste; add more cayenne or salt, if needed.






The grilled chicken gets cut into long strips...



The tortilla (aka wrap) gets thrown on the griddle real briefly to warm it up, on both sides...



Then the low-cal Southwest Dressing gets gets smeared on the slightly warmed sun-dried tomato wrap...



Then the rest of the to0pings-of-choice get placed atop the dressing... I chose lettuce, red onion, red bell pepper strips, chicken, havarti cheese and arugula. Mmm mmm good!









Cut it in half... and you've got an entire meal right there!





And for his... (he likes different toppings)...



Same wrap. Same dressing, lettuce, red onion, red pepper strips... but he prefers mozzarella cheese and some New Zealand spinach...



Oh! I forgot one more important thing... wrap it tightly and place back on the griddle for about 45 seconds, seam side down. This will help to hold the tortilla together at the seam.



There ya go... this meal earns major points, in my book!
- It's quick and easy.
- It doesn't require heating up the whole kitchen (which is a plus during the hot summer).
- It can be easily customized for each person.
- It can be easily wrapped up and taken with you.
- It makes for fantastic leftovers.



These wraps are just fantastic for easy summer livin'... and life is good!




enjoy your time in the kitchen...

2 RECIPES: Alfredo Sauce and Italian Nachos

Please forgive me, for I neglected to take pictures of all the players for this post... but you can catch up easily. Come with me...

We're going to make italian nachos... and for that we need some grilled chicken, alfredo sauce and nacho toppings. You will want to make these...

My hero-of-a-hubby and I first enjoyed these in Dallas at a Johnny Carino's restaurant... and we fell in love, with the nachos that is (as we were already in love with each other - obviously). We were in Dallas for my brother's wedding... and jealous they had a Carino's and we didn't.

Lucky us, they eventually opened a Carino's restaurant near us in Southern California and we got to go back and enjoy it again and again... to the point that I finally started making them at home. Sadly they recently closed their location near us... but we don't mind, I'm making my twist on our favorite Carino dishes in my own kitchen now...


Here's how we do the italian nachos. Start with wonton wrappers, cut in half to form triangles. (I used about half a package, or 30-40 wonton wrappers for two large dinner plates of nachos.)



Once the canola oil is heated up to frying temperatures then you can start frying the wonton wrappers, several at a time. Fry until lightly browned and then flip them over. With a spider remove them to a dish lined with paper towels (to soak up any extra oil). Continue with all of the wonton wrappers until they are all fried.



While you're working on the wonton wrappers grill up some chicken breasts. You'll see that I cut the chicken breasts in half. They cook a bit faster this way... and that suits me just fine.



Once they were on the grill I sprinkled them with garlic salt and black pepper. They cooked for about 3 minutes on each side... once they got flipped over they cooked for about 2 minutes. Nice and fast, eh?!



In the meantime, most of the wonton wrappers are ready... every now and then I sprinkled them with some kosher salt. And then they just sat over here and waited for their nacho destiny.




In the meantime I started the quick and easy alfredo sauce. This uses a block of cream cheese, half a stick of butter, parmesan cheese, milk, nutmeg, and kosher salt/pepper.



It's as easy as this... cube the butter and cream cheese. Place the cubes in a medium sized saucepan (over medium low heat), add milk and parmesan cheese and stir until everything is melted and smooth.



Add the kosher salt, black pepper and freshly grated nutmeg to taste. Allow the sauce to sit over low heat, stirring every few minutes, until you're ready to use it.






Tonight my hero-of-a-hubby was helping with the prep work... see?! There are his manly hands slicing up some cute lil' pepperoncinis... yum!!!

And to give him a bit more credit... he also did 2 loads of dishes tonight (lucky me!), prepped most of the misc ingredients (also known as "mise en place"), manned the frying wonton wrappers, and looked over my shoulder each step of the way! We had fun doing this together tonight! (I'm one lucky girl!!!)




Lastly we begin the assembly... let's work on the first layer of "chips", sliced chicken, alfredo sauce and toppings of choice...



And we finish it off with just one more layer of all of these good things...



He likes only a few pepperoncinis and black olives, and no tomatoes...


But me? Load 'em up! I love the pepperoncinis, black olives, diced tomatoes... and I typically like cripier chips. So we made our own plates...



Johnny Carino's also offered them with crumbled italian sausage, which we did not use tonight... but it only makes these nachos better. There's always next time...


In the meantime... here's the recipe for the alfredo... enjoy!!!



Favorite Alfredo Sauce
Recipe courtesy Lori Tisdale

Ingredients
8 ounces cream cheese, cut into small squares
3/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
¼ cup butter, cut into small squares
½ cup milk
Pinch of salt, black pepper and nutmeg

Instructions
Place medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Combine cream cheese, Parmesan, butter and milk, stirring constantly until smooth. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.

Leftovers freeze well.



enjoy your time in the kitchen...