Healthy Fish Tacos For Your Family Movie Night

I usually make my fish tacos with fried fish, as in my photos here.  However, recently, I have been aware of the amount of sodium and fat I am eating these days.  So, for a change, I have been testing making my fish tacos by sauteeing the fish instead of frying.  I have also been experimenting with herbs and spices instead of salt since there is so much sodium in so many of the foods we eat.  Surprisingly, they taste just as good because of the seasonings in the guacamole and the salsa.  Plus, I have the pleasure of knowing they are truly healthy and still way yummy!  Even if you decide to fry your fish, you can omit deep frying and salt.

I have used catfish, tilapia, and whiting to make these.  You can use cod, flounder or any other white fish you have available.  I use the prepared standing taco shells, just because I like the idea that you can sit them up side-by-side and they don't fall over so much.

Ingredients

2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 lb catfish, tilapia or cod fillets
*Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste, if necessary
Guacamole
Salsa
**Light sour cream or Homemade Fish taco sauce (See Below)
Shredded reduced-fat cheddar or Colby Jack cheese
Shredded lettuce
8 Stand and stuff taco shells

Preparation

Heat oil in skillet over low-medium heat.  Add the fish.  Add *salt and pepper if desired and cook slowly on each side for about 3-4 minutes or until the fish flakes easily.  I like to add a couple of tablespoons of water if the fish starts sticking to the bottom of the pan and then cover to steam until fish is done. Season with garlic salt. Remove from heat.

Place fish into shells and add toppings.  I usually start with the lettuce, fish, then guacamole on top; salsa, light sour cream or my homemade tartar sauce and cheese

*In my quest for no added salt recipes, I have combined ground savory, basil, dill to season the fish.  It has been a delicious substitute and has made the fish have really succulent.

My Homemade Tartar Sauce

1/2 cup light mayonnaise
1/2 cup low or non-fat yogurt
2 Tbs dill relish
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp dried dill
1/2 tsp dried oregano or Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp basil
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper or to taste

In a medium bowl, mix together yogurt and mayonnaise.  Stir in dill relish, oregano, cumin seeds, dill, and cayenne.  Let stand to blend flavors while preparing tacos

Stuffed Soft Crabs Maryland Style

I love Maryland seafood.  There are so many delicious varieties in the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.  I feel lucky to have grown up in a region with, what I consider, the best seafood in the world. You may ask whether I have had all the seafood in the world and I'd have to say "no." Nevertheless, that's what I think and I'm sticking with it.

It's coming up on soft-shell crab season in May. I haven't tried this particular soft shell crab recipe yet, however, it won't be long before I do.  I love soft crabs and stuffing them with crab meat sounds so delicious.  I just hadn't thought of this.  It looks so easy and that's what I like--Food that is simple, easy and delicious.  Found this recipes in one of my Maryland Seafood Booklets.

12 medium Maryland soft crabs, cleaned
1 pound Maryland backfin crabmeat
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine

Dry soft crabs with paper towels.
Remove all cartilage from crab meat.
Place soft crabs in shallow baking pan.
Remove top shell from crabs and stuff each
crab cavity with about 3 tablespoons
crabmeat. Replace top shell. Melt butter
and pour evenly over crabs. Bake at 400°F
until shells turn red and crabs are slightly
brown, about 15 minutes. Serves 6.

7 Seafood Handling Tips for your Family's Safely During the Hot Seasons

It's almost that time of year again.  We are fast coming upon the spring and summer hot seasons.  We cook in our kitchens or on outdoor grills to eat outside. We'll take foods with us to distant locations.   We also do more fishing than during the winter, have family crab feasts and attend neighborhood "fish frys."  I think we eat and cook lots more fish, oysters and crabs to be eaten outdoors here in the Chesapeake Bay area than at any other time of year. 

So we need to be aware that there are dangers involved if we are not careful about protecting our foods from spoiling.; especially seafood.  I have assembled some safety tips for keeping your seafood safe for everyone to enjoy during the spring and summer time.

1. Always make sure to wash your hands with hot soapy water before and after handling raw seafood.  As a food handler, 20 seconds was required.  Singing the Happy Birthday song twice takes 20 seconds and should be standard practice anytime you cook raw seafood, even as a home cook.

2. Do not leave any seafood out of the refrigerator for more than two hours, including preparation time and time on the table.

3. It is always the best practice to defrost seafood in the refrigerator or under cold running water and not on the kitchen counter.  You can use the microwave method, although I only use this in an extreme emergency.*

*Even in an emergency, I prefer using cold or lukewarm water in a bowl or plastic bag and massaging the fish often to break through the ice.  (It may take a bit more effort on your part; and your hands do get cold; however, I notice that the microwave will actually cook parts of the fish, so in essence, it hasn't saved anything.)

4.  This tip is extremely important.  Never, ever put cooked food on the same plate  you used for the raw seafood.

5. Similarly, don't ever put cooked crabs in the same basket that came with the live crabs.

6. When you're marinating fish or shellfish, do it in the refrigerator, never at room temperature. Throw away the marinade after use.

7. Make sure you wash all containers, utensils, knives, plates, cutting boards and other surfaces touched by raw seafood with hot soapy water before reusing them.

Family Friendly Holiday Sweet Potato Pie

I love sweet potato pie and have always loved it. It's not a recipe that my mom or anyone in my family ever made.  It's just something that I found out about when visiting my ex-husband's family in North Carolina.   Well, actually, it was my brother in-law's grandmother who made awesome sweet potato  pie.  She was a true southern cook.  It was an amazing adventure to visit that part of the family.  They were the epitome of the black family from the South who had little in the way of financial riches and worked hard to support the family in the best way they could.

Interestingly, it didn't have to be Thanksgiving or Christmas. It could just be an occasion of family or friends visiting for a weekend.  Every stop was pulled out.  It was amazing.  Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, candied yams, potato salad, collard greens, kale, homemade rolls, sweet potato pie; and this was not a holiday! This was just a regular Sunday dinner! Welcoming anyone who came by.  I was a young bride and new to North Carolina cooking.  But it was there in Raleigh that I fell in love with North Carolina Barbecue and real sweet potato pie.

Here is my take on Sweet Potato Pie.  I'm pretty sure I've added some ingredients like rum extract and coriander that they did not use in the North Carolina . This year, I used white and yellow sweet potatoes for the first time. I got them from a local farmer where I buy my eggs.

This recipe made enough for two hearty pies. Since I don't do pie crusts very well, I got two ready made frozen pie crusts to pour the filling into.  That didn't take away from the taste. I also could not find my hand mixer so I had to mix the filling by hand.  This meant I couldn't mix everything at one time. Had to add the ingredients a few at a time.  It took a little extra time to blend.  Still, the pies turned out well.  And, they were actually better on the second day when the flavors had a chance to meld.

Ingredients

4-4 1/2 cups mashed sweet potatoes (I used about 4 lbs of sweet potatoes)
4 eggs slightly beaten
1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)
1 cup almond milk 
2 Tbs molasses
6 Tbs all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1  1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp coriander
1 tsp allspice
2 tsp lemon extract
2 tsp rum extract
2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 375° F

Mix all ingredients together until well-blended with a hand mixer or food processor.  Bake for one hour or until a sharp knife inserted into center of pies comes out clean. Serve plain or with whipped cream.

Fast and Easy Pork Sandwich for a Quick Fall Lunch

When you go to a deli or  a lunch wagon here in my area for a hot sliced or pulled pork sandwich, you can expect to spend no less than $8 for a naked sandwich.  More often than not, however, they will cost $9.00 or more plus tax. Don't get me wrong, they are delicious and worth it.  Well, maybe.  Anyway, I guess it's whatever the market will bear.  And, in this market, it can bear a lot, apparently.

I was thinking: "Why go to a deli when you can make a perfectly delicious sandwich at home worthy of the best meals on wheels food truck fare?"  So, for lunch today I made my sandwich with some thinly sliced Korean BBQ marinated pork I bought from one of my favorite Korean food markets.  I cooked it slowly in a a tablespoon of oil with some sliced yellow and red onions, toasted a large sub roll and added a little non-fat ranch dressing for the extra juicy sloppy factor.  When I had almost finished half of the sandwich, I though to have some avocado with it.  Way yum!

Rotisserie Chicken Salad for Dinner and A Movie At Home

When I had my own personal chef business, I would cook for many couples who either had no time to cook because they both had demanding jobs or they just hated to cook.  As a personal chef, the idea is to cook meals for a week or two, package and label them with instructions and freeze them.  The first meal, however, was not one to be frozen, but to be ready for dinner and a movie when the clients came home that very evening.

Apart from the regular menu we had agreed on, one of my requests was whether I could do something with leftover rotisserie chicken.    As you might imagine, many of these power couples would buy a roasted deli chicken for a quick meal and wonder what they could do with it after the first day.  So I would make a simple rotisserie chicken salad.  The chicken was already cooked and well seasoned so it was just a matter of cutting up the chicken, adding some onion and celery, and perhaps apples, raisins, avocados or nuts, depending on whether one of them had a food allergy

It turned out to be a favorite.  It also happens to be a favorite of mine for dinner and a movie at home.  You can have this with crackers for lunch or as a sandwich on a hard roll or croissant.  You can serve this rotisserie chicken salad as a main course on Romaine lettuce or baby spinach leaves with baked sweet potato fries and a glass of beer.  I'm into pumpkin beer for the season.  I also like this with fresh asparagus.

Here's my recipe for a simple creamy rotisserie chicken salad.  In fact, I just made this one this evening.  This is great for dinner and a movie. In fact, I'm watching an old classic 1936 Perry Mason movie.

Ingredients

2-3 cups rotisserie chicken, cut up, skin and all

1 small onion, chopped fine

1 or 2 stalks celery, chopped fine

1/2 cup light mayo

2-3 Tbs light ranch salad or sour cream

1 tsp dried dill (flakes or seed)

1 tsp dried parsley flakes

Freshly ground pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in bowl.  Add more ranch dressing if you want a wetter salad.  Personally, I make mine with lots of Ranch dressing  You could add walnuts or crunchy apple chunks. I also love this with chopped avocado and crispy  turkey bacon.

East Fall Apple Dessert

I saw a recipe online recently for an apple crisp cooked in a microwave.  Being a cook who doesn't always want to take a long time for cooking and preparation, I decided to try it.  The flavor was delicious, however, it turned out that the topping wasn't really crispy.  It was a simple recipe to which I added a couple of ingredients I thought would add to the dish.  I was right.  It turned out well, like an apple pie without the crust. 

The topping is chewy and the inside was soft and juicy. I used 3 huge Stayman apples that I got from a local farmer's market over the weekend. They are sweet and tart all at the same time.  Actually, they were so large, they measured almost five cups.  You can use Granny Smith as the original recipe called for or other cooking apples. Enjoy.

Ingredients

4 cups apples, peeled, cored and sliced

Juice of one lemon

¼ tsp ground cardamom

1 tsp ground nutmeg

½ tsp ground coriander

For the topping

½ cup melted butter

¾ cup quick cooking oats

¾ cup packed brown sugar

½ cup flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground allspice

In large bowl place sliced or cut-up apples. Add lemon juice, cardamom, nutmeg and coriander. Mix well together with wooden spoon.   

Place apples in an 8 inch square baking dish or a deep dish glass pie plate.  In another bowl, mix together the melted butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice, oats and flour.  Spread this topping evenly over the apples.

Cook in microwave on high power for 10-12 minutes until apples are soft.  Let cool so topping will set.  Serve with ice cream or use a dollop of sour cream.