Lime | I Can Cook That

Cumin Spiced Fish Tacos with Avocado Mango Salsa

With Cinco de Mayo this past weekend, I couldn’t stop thinking about making some kind of Mexican-themed meal this weekend. So I was pretty excited when my boyfriend suggested Fish Tacos on Sunday. My trusty Cooking Light obviously had the perfect recipe to fulfill our craving. These Cumin Spiced Fish Tacos with Avocado Mango Salsa get an extra boost of flavor from toasting the cumin seeds before grinding. If you can’t find cumin seeds, ground cumin will work for the recipe as well, just skip the toasting part.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon cumin seeds
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound tilapia fillets
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 cup sliced peeled avocado
2/3 cup finely chopped peeled ripe mango
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
the juice of one lime
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/2 can black beans, rinsed
8 oz sour cream
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
the juice and zest of 1/2 a lime
8 (6-inch) corn tortillas

Continue reading Cumin Spiced Fish Tacos with Avocado Mango Salsa

Kara Age Scallop Salad with Honey Lime Dressing

A while back, I received a box of Kikkoman Kara-Age Soy-Ginger Seasoned Coating Mix and make these wonderful Kara-Age Popcorn Shrimp. The box came with two bags of Kara-Age seasoning and I’ve been holding on to it waiting for the perfect recipe to use it. I found a recipe for a Seared Scallop Salad that sounded wonderful by itself, but I thought the Kara-Age would be an awesome addition, so here is my recipe for Kara Age Scallop Salad with Honey Lime Dressing!

Ingredients for the Honey-Lime Dressing:

The juice of 3 limes
5 teaspoons honey

1 tablespoon rice vinegar
Salt, to taste

Ingredients for the Scallop Salad:

2 tablespoons peanut oil

2 lbs dry sea scallops

1 packet of Kikkoman Kara-Age Soy-Ginger Seasoned Coating Mix

1 bag of mixed greens (I used a baby spring mix)

2 cups chopped vegetables of your choice

So, I’m having a busy week, which means I wanted the quickest recipe possible. Pre-washed bag of mixed greens? Check. Seafood so it cooks quickly? You bet. Pre-chopped assorted vegetables? Oh my.

Trader Joe’s has containers of a “healthy 8 chopped veggie mix” that includes broccoli, carrots, green cabbage, red cabbage, jicama, green bell pepper, radishes and celery. Sounds good for a salad to me! (If you want, chop up whatever makes you happy and put it in this salad. I was just being super lazy).

First make your dressing. Whisk together the lime juice, honey, vinegar and salt until the honey is incorporated (I find this to be easier if the honey has been microwaved for a few seconds). Set aside.

Add the salad greens and vegetables to a large bowl. Toss to combine.

Add the kara-age mix to a large ziplock bag. Add the scallops, close the bag, and shake until the scallops are fully coated.

Heat the peanut oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add some of the scallops to the skillet (no more than 5-6, you don’t want them to crowd). Cook the scallops for 4 minutes until golden brown.

Flip and cook for another 4 minutes. The scallops should be opaque throughout. (Cut one open to check).

Transfer to a plate and repeat with remaining scallops.

To serve, add the greens and vegetables to individual plates and place the scallops on top. Mix to dressing and drizzle on top.

This recipe should make 4 salads.

Easy, right?

For so little effort, a dish should not taste this good!

The honey lime dressing was perfect with the slightly bitter salad and the kara-age.

The kara-age added hints of ginger, soy, and garlic which really complemented the dish. It also added a nice sear to the scallops.

Depending on how few/many scallops you add to the plate, this could be an appetizer or the full meal. After taking the photos I added 1-2 more to make it my dinner for the night.

Black Bean Mango Salsa on Jalapeno Parmesan Crisps

You can never have too many quick appetizers on hand. I am loving the Kitchen Table Makers Crisps. I already did one post on the Rosemary Parmesan Crisps, so it was time to get a little spicy. I used Kitchen Table Makers Jalapeno Parmesan Crisps and topped it with a yummy Black Bean Mango Salsa. The original recipe had jalapenos within the salsa, but after tasting the Crisps, I decided they had enough heat that the additional jalapeno might be too much. If you’re a huge spice fan, feel free to add a bit of chopped jalapeno to the salsa.

Ingredients:

1 can (15 oz.) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 firm, ripe mango, diced
1 tomato cored and chopped
1 orange bell pepper, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1/4 of an onion, diced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
the juice of 2 limes plus zest
Salt, to taste
Jalapeno Crisps

Continue reading Black Bean Mango Salsa on Jalapeno Parmesan Crisps

Garlicky Meatball Pasta with Avocado-Butter Lettuce Salad

Despite having an Italian mother, I have never made meatballs before. I’m almost embarrassed to admit it. Whelp, at the age of 26, I believe it is time to finally get my hands dirty and make some meatballs. One of Cooking Light’s 40 Fast Menus in Under 40 Minutes had a recipe for meatballs, so I used it as my base for this recipe.

For the Pasta:

9 ounces refrigerated fettuccine
12 ounces ground sirloin

2 sausages, removed from their casings
1/2 cup panko
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
2 garlic cloves, minced
3/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 3/4 cups lower-sodium marinara sauce
1 ounce Parmesan cheese, grated

For the Salad:

1 cup chopped red onion
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 cups torn butter lettuce
1 cup sliced avocado

Because this is a very simple sauce, I’d suggest going for a premium high-quality marinara sauce.

Bring a pot of water to a boil. While waiting for the water to boil, combine the beef, sausage meat, panko, basil, garlic, salt, pepper, and egg in a medium sized bowl. The original recipe did not have the sausage included, but I thought it would add some extra flavor (I used these awesome sausages from Martin‘s in Reading Terminal- Mozzarella and Basil Sausages, amazing right?)

Shape the mixture into small meatballs. The recipe says to make 16. I ended up with 10. I wasn’t very good at the whole eyeballing-the-right-size-thing.

By now the water should be boiling. Cook the pasta according to directions. Drain over a bowl to reserve 1/3 cup pasta water.

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and cook until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. (stir to flip the meatballs so they brown evenly)

Reduce the heat to medium low and add the sauce and 1/3 cup pasta water.

Cover and cook for 11 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through.

While waiting for the sauce to cook, combine the red onion, olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper in a bowl. Let stand for 10 minutes.

Add lettuce and avocado; toss gently.

When the sauce is finished cooking, mix in the pasta and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes.

Serve the pasta topped with some Parmesan cheese and the salad on the side.

I love how simple this recipe is but still packs a bunch of flavor! My normal tomato sauce takes forever to make, so I’m pretty excited to have a quick sauce when I need it.

Oh. And the meatballs? Fan-tastic. I could eat these all day.

The salad was really delicious as well! There was a bit too many onions for my liking, so I might limit the amount next time I make this.

I seem to forget how yummy simple recipes can be, something I need to remember as vegetables and fruits come back in season.

Bacon Bloody Mary

What could possibly make a traditional Bloody Mary even better? Bacon of course! The smoky taste of bacon is a perfect upgrade to everyone’s favorite brunch accompaniment. I used Bakon Vodka to make this Bacon Bloody Mary, but you can also make your own homemade version if you so choose.

Ingredients (makes one drink):

1 1/2 oz Bakon Vodka

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Juice of 1/2 a lime

1 teaspoon Worcestershire

4 drops tabasco, or more if you want it spicy

1/2 teaspoon Old Bay, plus more to rim the glass

Tomato Juice

1 piece of bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 celery stalk

Ice

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Review of Routin 1883 Gourmet Syrups & Cocktails

One of my favorite parts of blogging is when I’m given the opportunity to sample products and give my honest review of them. I love the chance to try something new and to incorporate it into recipes. So when Routin 1883 contacted me to sample some of their gourmet syrups, I was excited to dust off my bartending kit and concoct some tasty beverages. The company produces gourmet flavors for use in cocktails, specialty coffees, Italian sodas, etc. The syrups, manufactured in the French Alps, have no preservatives, GMO’s, or high fructose corn syrup (they are even gluten free). Routin 1883 was kind enough to send me a bunch of different samples so I tried to highlight each of them to review.

To try the vanilla, I added the syrup to a traditional White Russian (I thought it sounded like it would be delicious, I was right!)

Ingredients:

2 ounces vodka

1 ounce Kahlua

1/2 ounce vanilla syrup

Top with cream

To make, add ice cubes to a glass. Pour vodka and Kahlua over the ice. Add the vanilla syrup and stir. Fill with light cream and serve.

The vanilla syrup held up nicely to the strong coffee flavor of Kahlua and was an awesome complement to this already delicious drink. After a sniff of the syrup I decided to go with a 1/2 ounce instead of an ounce because it seems to be quite strong.

The coconut syrup meant I could pretend it is summer. I added it to rum and pineapple juice for a taste of the islands.

Ingredients:

2 ounces light rum

1 ounce coconut syrup

fresh pineapple juice

Add ice cubes to a tall glass. Pour rum and syrup over the ice. Fill with pineapple juice and serve.

This is so refreshing. It’s a perfect escape from the winter weather and would also be perfect as a pitcher in the summer months. Coconut and pineapple just go so well together.

I decided to use the raspberry syrup to make a raspberry rickey: a gin rickey with raspberry flavoring.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 ounce gin

the juice of 1/2 a lime

club soda

1 ounce raspberry syrup

Add ice to a short glass. Add gin, lime juice , and raspberry syrup and top with club soda.

This was another really refreshing drink. The syrup wasn’t sugary so it didn’t take away from the bite you’d normally get in the original version of this drink. You could also serve it straight up (no ice) if you’d like. Just mix it in a shaker and pour into a glass.

For the caramel syrup, I thought it might be fun to try a flavored martini. I happened to have sour apple liqueur in my apartment (I have no idea why) so a Caramel Apple Martini immediately popped into my mind.

Ingredients:

2 ounces sour apple liqueur

1 ounce vodka

1 ounce caramel syrup

Add ice to a shaker. Pour in apple liqueur, vodka, and caramel syrup and shake. Strain into a martini glass rimmed with a cinnamon-sugar mixture.

This tasted exactly like a candied apple. The caramel’s sweetness really helped tone down the sour apple flavor of the liqueur.

Next up, a frozen strawberry-champagne daiquiri. I had some champagne left over from New Years Eve that I just put into an ice cube tray. I thought this would be a perfect use of those champagne ice cubes.

Ingredients:

2 ounces light rum

1/2 ounce triple sec

1 ounce strawberry syrup

6 strawberries

juice of one lime

1/2 teaspoon sugar

5 champagne ice cubes

5 normal ice cubes

You’ll need normal ice in there too because champagne doesn’t freeze entirely. Add all of the ingredients to a blender and blend until frothy. The champagne might bubble a bit. Pour into a glass and serve.

I think champagne should be the base of every strawberry daiquiri from now on. The strawberry syrup added a much bolder flavor to the daiquiri than strawberries alone would without adding a typically syrupy, sugary taste to it. It really enhanced the daiquiri!

Last but not least, I made what I’ve dubbed a Toasted Martini.

Ingredients:

2 ounces chocolate liqueur

1 ounce espresso (cooled)

1 ounce roasted hazelnut syrup

Add ice to a shaker. Add the chocolate liqueur, espresso, and syrup and shake. Strain into a martini glass rimmed with cocoa powder.

Do I even have to mention how amazing this was? I could drink this all day. It was like a grown up chocolate milk, definitely my favorite. The hazelnut flavor was amazing!

Overall I think I gravitated more to the syrups that would go nicely in coffees (which is next on my list to try): Roasted Hazelnut, Vanilla, Caramel, and Coconut. But the fruit flavors were really nice as well! They are actually flavored with real fruit juice which is very noticeable. They don’t have that normal “syrupy” taste at all. Routin 1883 has tons of different flavors on their site so be sure to check them all out. They also have plenty of recipes if you’re looking for inspiration!

Sriracha Deviled Eggs

My little sister loves deviled eggs. She loves them to such an extreme, that we chose a restaurant (Supper in Philadelphia) during Restaurant Week solely because they were known for their amazing deviled eggs of the day. (The rest of their food is awesome too, definitely worth checking out). During Restaurant Week, they were offering their Sriracha Deviled Eggs, which my sister devoured. So when I was offered to try Land O’Lakes eggs through the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I knew I wanted to make them for her. Luckily, Supper took the guesswork out for me and shared their recipe with Meal Ticket a few years back.

Land O’Lakes eggs come from hens that are fed an all-vegetable, whole-grain diet with no animal by-products.

Courtesy of Land O’Lakes

Although I primarily use eggs for baking or as an ingredient in a larger dish, I wanted to highlight the eggs for this recipe.

Ingredients:

6 Land O’Lakes eggs, hard boiled and halved
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Dijon
2 teaspoons Sriracha

The juice from 1/2 a lime

The zest from 1/2 a lime
1 teaspoon chopped cilantro

Fill a large bowl with ice water. To hard-boil the eggs, add 6 eggs to a large pasta pot. Cover with 1 inch of water and bring to a boil. Boil for 8 minutes uncovered. Remove with a slotted spoon and add to the iced water for 30 seconds and remove. To crack the eggs, roll back and forth on the counter and peel the shell off of the egg.

Halve the eggs.

Scoop out the yolks and transfer them to a bowl. I used a half teaspoon so that the spoon was smaller than the yolks. They are pretty easy to kind of pop out.

Use a fork to mash the yolks. Add the mayo, Dijon, Sriracha, lime juice, zest, and cilantro to the yolks.

Mix to combine, try to work out any chunks that may remain, you want it as smooth as possible. Add the mixture to a ziplock bag. If you have a pastry tip, feel free to use it. If not, just cut off one of the corners and squeeze the mixture into each egg white.

Garnish with chopped cilantro and a sprinkle of paprika.

I’m not a huge fan of hard-boiled eggs, so I let my sister and friends be the judge of these eggs. When I asked my sister what needed to be changed, she told me nothing, she loved them just the way they were.

My friends managed to eat a dozen deviled eggs within minutes! Some even said they were some of the best deviled eggs they’ve had –they clearly haven’t been to Supper yet. 🙂

The Sriracha adds some heat to the eggs but is not too spicy. The lime flavor does shine through, so if you are not a fan of lime, cut out the zest (the original recipe did not have zest in it).

Yum

Sriracha Deviled Eggs

Total Time: 20 minutes

Yield: 12 servings

Ingredients

6 Land O’Lakes eggs, hard boiled and halved
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Dijon
2 teaspoons Sriracha
The juice from 1/2 a lime
The zest from 1/2 a lime
1 teaspoon chopped cilantro

Instructions

Fill a large bowl with ice water. To hard-boil the eggs, add 6 eggs to a large pasta pot. Cover with 1 inch of water and bring to a boil. Boil for 8 minutes uncovered. Remove with a slotted spoon and add to the iced water for 30 seconds and remove. To crack the eggs, roll back and forth on the counter and peel the shell off of the egg.
Halve the eggs.
Scoop out the yolks and transfer them to a bowl. I used a half teaspoon so that the spoon was smaller than the yolks. They are pretty easy to kind of pop out.
Use a fork to mash the yolks. Add the mayo, Dijon, Sriracha, lime juice, zest, and cilantro to the yolks.
Mix to combine, try to work out any chunks that may remain, you want it as smooth as possible. Add the mixture to a ziplock bag. If you have a pastry tip, feel free to use it. If not, just cut off one of the corners and squeeze the mixture into each egg white.
Garnish with chopped cilantro and a sprinkle of paprika.

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Broiled Thai Curry Salmon & Baby Bok Choy

As much as I try to like bok choy, I just don’t really like the flavor. However, I received two baby bok choy in my CSA so here’s my attempt to hide the cabbage-y taste using a Bon Appetit recipe as a base that includes a Thai Red Curry sauce.

Ingredients: (this only makes 1 serving)
2 baby bok choy
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon Thai red curry paste
1/2 can coconut milk
the zest of 1 lemon
the juice of 1 lime
2 teaspoons fish sauce
1 6-ounce salmon fillet
Chopped scallions, for garnish
Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat your broiler.

Roughly chop the baby bok choy and place on one side of a cookie sheet.

Place the salmon on the other side of the cookie sheet and season with salt and pepper.

Broil for 5 minutes. Stir the bok choy and broil for another 4 minutes, until the salmon is cooked through and the bok choy has crisped a bit.

While the salmon and bok choy are cooking, heat the oil in a saute pan and add the red curry paste.

Cook for 30 seconds and add coconut milk and lemon zest. Boil until the mixture thickens slightly, about 5 minutes. Stir in lime juice and fish sauce.

To serve, add baby bok choy to a plate and top with salmon. Drizzle curry sauce over the entire plate. Top with chopped scallions if desired.

The curry sauce did a fantastic job of making the baby bok choy palatable. I still did get a hint of the taste of the baby bok choy, but it was much more subtle than just a steamed bok choy recipe. I wish the sauce had a bit more spice to it, so next time I’d probably increase the amount of the red curry paste.

I was apparently quite hungry and started eating this before I topped the salmon with scallions. Oops. But after having a few bites without the scallions and a few bites with, I strongly suggest adding them, they really work great with this dish.

Avocado-Corn Chowder with Rotisserie Chicken

I swear, every single recipe I’ve come across in the past week has included avocado. I am somewhat blaming one of my coworkers, who manages to consume at least 1/2 an avocado a day, every day. So this recipe choice is very much influenced by her avocado obsession. My CSA share’s inclusion of corn this week made this a must try. I adapted this from Cooking Light‘s August Issue.

Ingredients:

2 ripe avocados, divided

1 1/2 cups water

The juice of 1 lemon

The juice of 2 limes

1 teaspoon honey

1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided

A pinch of ground red pepper

1/4 rotisserie chicken, shredded

Corn kernels from 3 ears of corn (or 1.5 cups of defrosted corn kernels)

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1/3 cup chopped scallions

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Peel and chop 1 avocado and put into a blender.

Add the water, lemon and lime juice, honey, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and pinch of red pepper. (Add more red pepper if desired) Blend until smooth.

Place in the freezer for 15 minutes. During this time, chop your red bell pepper, scallions, and cilantro, and peel and dice your remaining avocado. Shred the chicken as finely as you choose.

Combine the diced avocado, bell pepper, corn and scallions and pour the avocado puree over the mixture. Mix to combine. Spoon into four bowls and top with chicken and cilantro.

This meal is too easy to not try. Using frozen corn kernels and rotisserie chicken makes this a 20 minute meal. I made this the night before in the hopes of having it for lunch the next day. I was a bit worried that it might oxidize overnight and turn an unappealing color, but the citrus from the lemon and lime kept that from happening. The original recipe uses orange juice instead, but that didn’t sound all that appealing to me. I also substituted rotisserie chicken for grilling my own chicken because I had bought 1/2 a rotisserie chicken to make another dish from Cooking Light also.

I loved that the citrus came through in the dish, but could have used a bit more red pepper flakes. This is a very chunky chowder, which makes it feel like a real meal versus a too smooth soup. My coworker even tried a bite, and she approved. I will be making this for lunch again in the near future!

Fried Rice with Sweet Soy Sauce

I really try to make an effort to bring my lunch to work each day. My office is absolutely freezing, so I tend to gravitate towards warm lunches. Because of this, I am always looking for new pasta and rice recipes that sound like they would reheat well and still taste good. As usual, Cooking Light came to the rescue with the August issue’s Fried Rice with Sweet Soy Saucerecipe. I made all four servings so that I could have a batch for dinner, and get a few lunches out of it.

Ingredients for Fried Rice:

3 tablespoons peanut oil, divided

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

3 finely chopped shallots

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 serrano chile, seeded and chopped

4 cups cooked rice

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 thinly sliced daikon radish

1/3 cup fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced

1/3 cup fresh mint leaves

1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

4 lime wedges

Ingredients for sweet soy sauce:

1/4 cup lower-sodium soy sauce (or coconut aminos to make gluten free)

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar (The original recipe used dark brown sugar. I didn’t have any. Oh well)

Begin by cooking your rice. You can just cook the rice in water because the soy sauce will add plenty of taste, no need to waste your chicken broth.

While your rice is cooking. prepare your shallots, garlic and chile. I am a wimp about heat and serraro chile can really be hot, so I removed all seeds before chopping. If you like spicy food, keep the seeds in.

Slice your daikon radish. I used a mandoline slicer.

Prepare your herbs.

To make the sweet soy sauce, combine the soy sauce and brown sugar in a saucepan. Heat over medium heat. Simmer for 2 minutes or until the brown sugar is incorporated into the soy sauce. Set aside.

Add 4 eggs to a bowl and lightly beat.

Add 1 tablespoon peanut oil to a large saute pan over medium-high heat, swirling to coat the bottom of the pan. Pour eggs into the pan and cook for 2 minutes or until they set. Remove and set aside.

Increase the heat to high and add 2 tablespoons peanut oil to the pan. Add your shallots, garlic and chile and saute for 1 minute.

Add the cooked rice and cook for 3 minutes or until lightly browned.

Add cooked eggs and soy sauce mixture.

Season with salt and pepper and mix to coat. Add to bowls and top with radish and herbs. Serve with a lime wedge.

This meal was really tasty, not only the first time around but also when reheated. The serrano pepper gave a subtle heat to the whole dish which counteracted the sweetness of the soy sauce, great combination! When I packed it for lunch, I kept the rice mixture in one container and a few radish slices,herbs , and a lime wedge in another container. I heated the rice in the microwave and topped them with the radish slices and herbs, then squeezed the lime juice over the whole dish. Perfect!

Shredded Chicken Tacos with Tomatoes and Grilled Corn

Tacos are one of my favorite “quick dinners.” For the most part, it all comes down to assembly. I tend to make tacos more as a way to clean my fridge of various vegetables (lettuce, tomatoes, corn, avocados, etc.) but this recipe from the August issue of Cooking Light sounded so tasty I couldn’t wait for a fridge-cleaning day, went out, and bought these ingredients.

Ingredients:

2 ears shucked corn (or 1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed)

1 package baby heirloom tomatoes

Salt and pepper, to taste

8 (6-inch) corn tortillas

1/4 rotisserie chicken

1 peeled avocado, cut into 16 slices

8 lime wedges

Preheat your broiler. Place the corn on a pan and broil the corn for 18 minutes, rotating every 6 minutes to allow for an even char. If you are using frozen corn kernels, allow them to thaw. No cooking/broiling needed — you can skip down to combining the kernels with the tomatoes.

While the corn is cooking, quarter the tomatoes. Shred your chicken.

Cut the kernels from the corn.

Place the kernels in a bowl and mix in the tomatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Heat the tortillas. Divide the chicken evenly among the tortillas.

Top each with 1/4 cup of the corn mixture and 2 avocado slices. Serve with lime wedges.

I loved the flavors in this dish. However, I don’t feel like the flavor of the corn had the chance to shine through, so I’d suggest using defrosted corn kernels to speed up the process. The colors of this are so pretty too! Heirloom tomatoes add extra pizazz, but using plain old cherry or grape tomatoes would get the job done.

Grilled Corn with Chipotle-Lime Butter

After reading just the title, how could you not be excited for this recipe? Grilled corn is one of my favorite treats in the summer, and I refuse to let my city dwelling keep me from it! I cooked this on a counter top grill and loved it, so I can only imagine how delicious this is on an actual outdoor grill.

This is another recipe from Cooking Light’s “Quick & Healthy Menu Maker App“. I cut the recipe in half, to make only two servings. We ate this along side the Mango Shrimp Kabobs.

Ingredients:

Cooking spray

2 ears shucked corn

1/2 tablespoon butter

1/4 teaspoon chipotle chile powder

Zest from 1 lime

Salt and pepper, to taste

Begin by shucking your corn. Take care to remove as much of the silk as possible.

Side note: this was probably the most stressful part of the process for me. I was using corn from my CSA share and had read a post from another CSA share member, One Curly Fry in a Box of the Regular, about the horror she found under the husk. Oh the joys of organic produce. Thankfully, I had a bit more luck than she did. Look how wonderful that corn looks!

Preheat your grill. I set mine for medium-high. Coat the grill with cooking spray and add the corn.

Cook until grill marks begin to appear, about 10 minutes (closer to 8 minutes for a normal grill). Turn the corn frequently to allow it to evenly cook.

While the corn is cooking, place the butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds or until the butter has melted. Add the chile powder, zest, pepper and salt.

ok. It’s not much to look at, but it tastes good!

Remove the corn from the grill and brush the butter mixture over the corn.

I loved the subtle smokiness of the chipotle chile powder with the corn. We had some leftover limes from the kebobs and took full advantage of the lime juice on the corn, which really worked well with the butter mixture. I honestly had trouble taking photos of this, because as soon as it was done, we couldn’t control ourselves and scarfed it down! Definitely a keeper.

Mango Shrimp Kebabs

Earlier this week, I wrote a post reviewing Cooking Light’s new App. I have been playing around with the app for about a week and kept coming back to this Mango Shrimp Kebab recipe. The colors are amazing, and it sounded so delicious! I cut the recipe in half (makes 2 servings) but kept the original recipe mostly intact.

Ingredients:

3/4 pounds large peeled and deveined shrimp

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 large red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 mango, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

1/2 small red onion, cut into 1-inch pieces

Juice and zest of 1 lime, cut into wedges

Cooking spray

Preheat your grill to medium-high heat. Prepare your mango, pepper, and onion.

Thread shrimp, bell pepper, mango, and onion alternately onto 4 skewers. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and lime zest. Note: the original recipe did not include zest. But I thought it might be an easy addition to the flavors, you’re using a lime anyways!

Coat the grill with cooking spray. Place the skewers on the grill rack and cook for 2 minutes on each side, or until shrimp are cooked (Mine took closer to 3-4 minutes per side, I blame my little indoor grill. If using a normal grill, 2 minutes on each side should be plenty.)

Serve with lime wedges. Squeeze the wedges over kebabs before eating.

Before I go on, I want to give special thanks to my “Sous Chef” and friend Ericka for helping me out. I am pretty darn scared of knives and cutting slippery fruit stresses me out quite a bit, so I am forever grateful to Ericka for her amazing mango-chopping skills.

We made this along with the Corn with Lime and Chipotle, also suggested by the app. And I couldn’t be happier with the results. The pairing was perfect! We actually ended up using some of the leftover chipotle butter mix on some of the shrimp, just to try it out.

shrimp with chipotle butter

Ericka thought maybe marinating the shrimp in a jerk marinade before adding to the skewers would really bump this recipe up a notch and I agree. However, the original recipe is delicious on its own, and quite simple and fast to make. Look out for my post on the Corn, these two really should be eaten together!

The ingredients were wonderful together, sweet, tangy and fresh. Ericka kept referring to getting a piece of each ingredient in one bite “the perfect bite” and I have to agree with her.

Do not forget to squeeze the lime over the skewers before enjoying. The citrus adds a whole new dimension to this already delicious dish.

Cilantro Lime Hummus

I can never have enough hummus, it is one of my favorite snacks (although I tend to eat so much of it, it’s not really a snack!) I’ve had hummus on the brain for a while now. Be Well Philly must have read my mind, because they posted this great Cilantro Lime hummus recipe that I just had to try. As a plus, cilantro came in my CSA share this week!

Ingredients:

1 garlic scape, roughly chopped (or 2 cloves garlic)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 14-oz. can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup tahini
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro
Juice and zest of 2 limes

Continue reading Cilantro Lime Hummus

Sangria

For Father’s Day, I wanted to make my dad a somewhat traditional sangria. He is a man who has nothing and wants nothing (which is probably a result of having two daughters and a wife who want everything), but he does love a good sangria. I hope he likes it!

Ingredients:

1 bottle of Rioja wine

1/2 cup brandy

1/4 cup triple sec

1/2 cup orange juice

1/4 cup cranberry juice

3 table spoons simple syrup

1 apple, cored

1 orange, cut into thin slices

1 lemon, cut into thin slices

1 lime, cut into thin slices

1 peach/nectarine, pitted and cut into wedges

Ginger ale, to taste

Combine the wine, brandy, triple sec, orange juice, cranberry juice and simple syrup. Stir.

Prepare all of your fruit.

Add the fruit to the wine mixture and refrigerate for about 1 hour.

When ready to serve, pour sangria into a glass and top with the ginger ale to taste.

I took only one sip of this, so my dad will have to be the true judge of this recipe. It seemed to taste good to me: not too sweet and still a hint of actual wine. You can make a bunch of substitutes for this recipe. If you don’t have the time to make simple syrup, just use 3 tablespoons sugar and stir until it dissolves in the wine mixture. Feel free to substitute or eliminate some of the fruit choices: blackberries would also be a nice addition in the sangria.