Lime Fish

So,

We started up the food blog again apparently. Tonight, Aly googled some lime fish recipe which was embarrassingly easy to make and we are gonna blog about it.

We left off a few of the ingredients because Aly didn’t like them, and she went shopping without me this week. So no red onion and no sesame seeds. I think the seeds would have been an improvement to an otherwise lame salad.

This meal was a dish and a side, which is kind of unusual for us, usually we do a meal and then forget about a side. The meal was the fish, and the side was a Snap Pea Salad. I’ll talk about the salad first. To make it you throw the olive oil and lime juice in a bowl. Then you are supposed to grate some ginger, but that’s a pain so I diced it. Throw that in, and then the peas. Mix and done. Overall they were alright, but didn't have a lot to them. Aly didn't like uncooked snap peas, but I didn't mind. Just nothing to write home about. Limey peas. I think I ate them all and she threw like 4 away. This is where the seeds may have added some excitement to the salad, but maybe not. We probably won't bother again, but if I see them in a salad bar I’m all over it.

The fish was the main dish. It was embarrassingly easy. Throw oil in the skillet. I didn't measure but used way more than called for. It wasn't enough and the fish stuck to the pan. As you can see from the pics, Aly's turned into a pile. We were supposed to use Halibut, but our Wegmans is weirdly stocked. We never have basic fish that isn't frozen, but always have tons of exotic 3 eyed puffer fish or other ridiculous stuff. We threw the fish in the oil and fried it 5 min on each side. Put it on a plate and served with lime slices. The recipe didn't mention what to do with them, so we squeezed them on the fish. Overall I forgot how easy and good fish like that is. We should probably do it a lot more often. We probably intend to do that again. 

-Jeff

Recipe from RealSimple.com
Ingredients:
-1 Tbsp Fresh lime juice
-1 tsp Grated fresh ginger
-2 Tbsp Olive oil
-Kosher salt and black pepper
-12 oz (4 cups) Sugar snap peas, strings removed
-1 Small red onion, thinly sliced
-1 Tbsp sesame seeds, toasted (optional)
-4 6oz Pieces halibut fillet
-1 Lime cut into wedges

Directions:
-In a large bowl combine the lime juice, ginger, 1 Tbsp of the oil, and 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper
-Add the snap peas, onion, and sesame seeds. Toss to coat
-Heat the remaining Tbsp of oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat
-Season the fish with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Cook until opaque throughout, about 3-5 minutes on each side
-Serve with the salad and lime wedges

French Toast

I'm kind of running out of ideas for breakfast night. Once we did waffles and pancakes, I figured I'll also do French Toast, and then I may have to get creative...

Anyway, I just looked up a quick recipe online. I went through a few because I know I had a friend who claimed to make the best french toast and said "the secret is using vanilla!" I didn't think it was such a big secret, but we were both drunk and making breakfast at about 2 am, so what did I know?

It turns out vanilla may be more secret than I thought, but it's not completely unheard of. I just made sure to use a recipe that did include it. I was intrigued, though, that my recipe listed the cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla as "optional." If you don't use them, you dip the bread in milk, eggs, and salt (to taste). That sounds gross; please use at least some of these spices.

It turned out pretty tasty. I think this is a quick, easy recipe to hold on to for the future if friends stay over or I have extra bread to get rid of before it turns green.

-Aly

I absolutely can't find my recipe again online, so I'll just post it here without a link. If you recognize it, let me know and I'll include a link. I know I found it online and didn't make it up myself.

Ingredients
6 thick slices bread
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
salt to taste

Directions
Beat together egg, milk, salt, desired spices and vanilla.
Heat a lightly oiled griddle of skillet over medium-high flame.
Dunk each slice of bread in egg mixture, soaking both sides. Place in pan, and cook on both sides until golden. Serve hot.

Taco Pie

When I told a coworker about our schedule change and need for more meal ideas, she responded with "Ooh, you should make taco pie! The recipe's actually called 'Impossibly Easy Taco Pie,' and trust me, if I can make it, you can make it!"
I admit I was at least slightly insulted because I'd only said "I need ideas for what to eat," not "I need to eat, but food is hard!" However, I got over it because "taco pie" sounds delicious.

I found it on the Betty Crocker website and, when I saw the ingredients, I had to categorize this in my group of "foods I have no problem serving my family and enjoy myself, but would not ever make to impress anyone." It is definitely impossibly easy; it is seasoned ground beef, Bisquick, and some tomatoes and chiles, but the result is not going to make your snooty mother-in-law believe you have become a domestic goddess.

First off, I completely removed the tomatoes and chiles for ours because eeeeew. Jeff made up for this by topping his servings with salsa which I consider a completely satisfying compromise, but I don't like these things in my food, so I don't know if people who do would still find it lacking. I also cut all of the cooking times down by a minute or two because our oven cooks hot, but I haven't figured out by how much, so rather than decreasing the temp I've usually just made a point to decrease cook time. I think it was still in a little too long for the first time (before adding cheese) but it wasn't burnt, so that's fine.

 

The end result was very tasty. I added a dollop of sour cream to mine and, as I said, Jeff put salsa on his. We only had two small slices leftover even though it said it was supposed to feed six, so I think if you were feeding a group you'd need two pies, or some side dishes so they could handle smaller portions. I also am not totally sold on pouring Bisquick over ground beef as a meal. I guess I'd rather take a page out of Jeff's book and have more "from scratch" steps because the Bisquick definitely feels like a cop out. Maybe I'll try a variety next time that uses Jeff's biscuit recipe and his homemade taco seasoning.

Recipe from the Betty Crocker website

-Aly