Grilled Tuna Fajitas

ingredients

• 2 5- to 6-ounce fresh or frozen tuna steaks, cut 1 inch thick
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons snipped fresh cilantro or parsley
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 1 recipe Tomatillo Salsa (see below)
• 8 8-inch fat-free flour tortillas
• Nonstick spray coating
• 2 medium red sweet peppers, quartered, stems and membranes removed

directions

1. Thaw fish, if frozen. Rinse fish; pat dry. Place fish in a plastic bag set in a shallow dish. For marinade, mix lemon juice, cilantro or parsley, olive oil, garlic, black pepper, and red pepper. Pour over fish in bag; seal bag. Marinate in the refrigerator for 30 to 60 minutes, turning bag occasionally.
2. Meanwhile, prepare Tomatillo Salsa. Wrap tortillas tightly in foil.
3. Drain fish, reserving marinade. Lightly spray a cold grill rack with nonstick coating. Place fish on the rack of the uncovered grill directly over medium coals. Place red sweet pepper quarters beside fish and perpendicular to wire of grill rack. Grill fish for 8 to 12 minutes or just until fish begins to flake easily, turning once and brushing once with reserved marinade halfway through grilling. Discard any remaining marinade. Grill sweet peppers for 8 to 10 minutes or until tender, turning occasionally. Place wrapped tortillas on grill rack during the last 5 minutes of grilling.
4. Flake fish into large chunks with a fork. Cut sweet peppers into 1/2-inch-wide strips. Immediately fill warm tortillas with fish and sweet pepper strips. Serve with Tomatillo Salsa. Makes 4 servings.
5. Tomatillo Salsa: Wearing plastic gloves, rinse 2 fresh serrano peppers. Halve peppers; remove seeds, stems, and veins. Finely chop peppers. Remove husks from 3 fresh tomatillos. Finely chop tomatillos (you should have about 1-1/2 cups). Stir together peppers; tomatillos; 3 green onions, thinly sliced (6 tablespoons); 2 tablespoons finely chopped onion; 1 tablespoon lemon juice; 1 tablespoon snipped fresh cilantro or parsley; 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1 clove garlic, minced.
6. Make-Ahead Tip: Up to 2 hours ahead, prepare Tomatillo Salsa. Cover and chill.

Ratatouille

(from Clean Eating)

2 firm, good-sized purple eggplants (about 4lbs)
1/2 c EVOO, divided
2 large zucchinis, eashed, well-timmed, quarted along the length, seeded and cut again in two-inch strips
2 green peppes, washed, seeded and deveined, cut into half-inch strips
4 good-sized onions, peeled and coarsely chopped
6 good-sized tomatoes, washed, peeled, and coarsely chopped
6 cloves garlic, passed through a garlic press
2 T dried oregano
1 heaping tsp dried thyme
1/4 c fressh basil, chopped
1/4 c fresh dill, chopped
3.5 tsp sea salt, divided
freshly ground pepper to taste

Salting eggplant:

1. Peel and cube eggplant. In large bowl, toss with about 2 tsp of fine sea salt. Place in a bowl and let stand, covered for about an hour. The bitter juice will collect in the bottom of the bowl.
2. Transfer eggplant to colander and rinse well. Pat dry rinsed eggplant with clean towel.

Ratatouille:

1. Prepare large shallow roasted pan witha a light coating of olive oil.
2. Preheat over to 350F.
3. Place about 3 T olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed skillet, and heat over medium-high heat. Saute eggplant in batches. You can add more olive oil with successive batches. Place eggplant in prepared roasting pan.
4. Saute all vegetables. Add more olive oil as needed. Toss vegetables gently once they are all in pan.
5. Toss herbs, garlic, rest of sea salt and pepper into the liquid remaining in the skillet. Cook until fragrant (not long). Pour over vegetables in pan.
6. Bake in oven, uncovered, for one hour. Serve hot over brown rice.

Chocolate Cake not for the Faint of Heart

I can't wait to make this for our friend's birthday this week. I made it once before for another birthday and realize that special occasions really should be the only time to pull out this cake for so many reasons. It's quite possibly just super amazing and maybe the best chocolate cake I've ever had.

"dry mixture"
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt

"wet" mixture
2 sticks butter
1 cup water
1/3 cup cocoa


3/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda and salt together (dry mixture).  In a saucepan bring butter, water and cocoa to a boil (wet mixture).  Add the two mixtures and mix well.  Add sour cream, eggs and vanilla.  Pour into a 9x13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Frosting
 1 stick butter
1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp milk
1/4 cup cocoa
4 1/3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

In a saucepan, bring butter, milk and cocoa to a boil.  Then add powdered sugar and vanilla.  Pour over warm cake and serve.

Still cold but it should be Spring Menu

We are moving in two weeks - or maybe four - and it's hard to contain my excitement and my obsession for how perfectly organized our next place will be. Until then, while all I want to do is pack, pack, pack and plan, plan, plan for all that additional space, I have to feed, feed, feed my family. Here's my two-week menu planner. It's always sort of fun when you have dinner plans with another family. You only have to cook part of it.

Monday:
Memorial Day BBQ with friends

Tuesday:
Eggplant Ratatouille

Wednesday:
Birthday party - I make the cake

Thursday:
Shrimp Fajitas

Friday:
Date night

Saturday:
Chickpea stew

Sunday:
Pot Roast

Monday:
Leftovers

Tuesday:
Pasta salad

Wednesday-Sunday:
Traveling (we travel a lot)

Roasted Vegetable and Ricotta Pizza

(from Shine on YaHoo)


This week, I'm doing it a little different. I'm posting my recipes - because I find them all over the Internet - and then I'm going to cook them. If they're not up to snuff, then I'm erasing them. That's the short of it. But I keep seeing a recipe that I know I should remember and my mind is becoming too garbled with other things that I really should remember.

With that, here's a recipe that looks so good. I might go with Shine's suggestion and buy storebought pizza dough, but my own pizza dough is so easy and I always make a double or triple batch and freeze it.

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See More: 100 Easy Chicken Recipes

Shortcut Pizza: Refrigerated Fresh Pizza Dough
Store-bought dough yields pizzeria quality. Ask for it in the bakery of your supermarket, or check specialty retailers like Trader Joe's. In a pinch, buy dough in tubes from the refrigerated section of the grocery store (it's higher in sodium than fresh dough). Just bring the dough to room temperature while the oven preheats.
Roasted Vegetable and Ricotta Pizza
Ingredients:
1 pound refrigerated fresh pizza dough
2 cups sliced cremini mushrooms
1 cup (1/4-inch-thick) slices zucchini
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 medium yellow bell pepper, sliced
1 medium red onion, cut into thick slices
5 1/2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
1 tablespoon yellow cornmeal
1/3 cup tomato sauce
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/3 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons small fresh basil leaves

Preparation:
1. Position an oven rack in the lowest setting; place a pizza stone on rack. Preheat oven to 500°.
2. Remove dough from refrigerator. Let stand, covered, for 30 minutes.
3. Combine mushrooms and next 4 ingredients (through onion) in a large bowl; drizzle with 1 1/2 tablespoons oil. Toss. Arrange vegetables on a jelly-roll pan. Bake at 500° for 15 minutes.
4. Punch dough down. Sprinkle a lightly floured baking sheet with cornmeal; roll dough out to 15-inch circle on prepared baking sheet. Brush dough with 1 teaspoon oil. Spread sauce over dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Sprinkle 1/2 cup mozzarella over sauce; top with vegetables. Sprinkle 1/2 cup mozzarella and red pepper over zucchini mixture. Dollop with ricotta. Slide pizza onto preheated pizza stone. Bake at 500° for 11 minutes or until crust is golden. Sprinkle with basil.

Coconut Rice Pudding with Mango

Since mangos are in season, mangos and sticky rice is on my list. We'll be making this this week too!

(from finecooking)

2 cups whole milk
1 14-oz. can coconut milk
1/2 cup raw medium-grain white rice
Pinch salt
2 large egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. coconut extract
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 ripe mango, peeled, pitted and thinly sliced
Toasted shredded coconut, for garnish

Put the milk, coconut milk, rice and salt into a large, heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Uncover and continue simmering, stirring frequently, until the rice is tender and the pudding is reduced to about 3-1/2 cups, about 8 minutes. It's important to let the puding simmer gently, not boil, and you'll need to stir constantly toward the end of cooking to prevent scorching.

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sugar, and coconut and vanilla extracts. Slowly add the cooked rice mixture, whisking constantly. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan, making sure to scrape the bowl. Set the pan over medium-low heat and cook, stirring and scraping the sides and bottom of the pan constantly with a  wooden spoon, until the mixture has thickened and coats the back of the spoon, about 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat. Transfer the pudding to a bowl or serving dish and lay a sheet of plastic wrap right on the pudding's surface to prevent a skin from forming. Serve warm, at room temperature, or chilled, garnished with the sliced mango and toasted coconut.

Black Bean and Mango Tostadas

It has been a while since I posted a recipe on here. I've taken a brief hiatus from cooking new recipes while we travel all over the place. But we are back for four days and I found a little time to scrounge together a quick recipe with these beautiful mangoes I bought at a discount store here in town.

These tostadas were delicious and I think even snafu'd Jared before he realized they were vegetarian. At that point, he didn't care and scarfed the rest. To Jared (and his mother's) credit, Jared is a healthy eater and doesn't mind the vegetarian dishes I throw at him as long as we get meat in there at some point during the week. This is a shoutout to my mother-in-law (and my father-in-law that would also eat anything): thanks, Anne, for teaching the boy good eating habits, and Doug, for setting the example of eating what's on your plate!

What could be better about a quick, healthy meal that's vegetarian and packs the protein? One dollar fifty cents per serving is what could be better. We loved these and actually ate them for Saturday and Sunday.

(adapted from myrecipes)

COOK TIME: 10 MINUTES
PREP TIME: 5 MINUTES Ingredient

1 15-oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 scallions, white and light green parts, finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

4 8-inch flour tortillas

6 ounces grated low-fat Monterey Jack, Pepper Jack, or Cheddar 

1 ripe mango, peeled, pitted, and diced

1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted, and diced

1/4 small red onion, finely chopped (2 Tbsp.)

1 tablespoon lime juice

1. Preheat oven to 425ºF. Combine beans, olive oil, scallions, chili powder and 1/2 tsp. salt in a bowl.
2. Mist a baking sheet with cooking spray. Place tortillas on sheet and spoon bean mixture on top. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake until golden and crisp, about 10 minutes.
3. While tostadas are baking, combine mango, onion, lime juice and 1/4 tsp. salt in a bowl. Remove tostadas from oven, spoon mango mixture on top and serve immediately.

Note: Spice it up. If you like more heat, use pepper Jack cheese instead of plain Monterey Jack.Swap salsas. Don't care for mango or can't find one? Sub in tomato salsa instead.Go green. To add another layer of flavor, sprinkle on some chopped avocado and fresh cilantro after assembling.Put in more fruit. Mango gives the dish a touch of sweetness. Substitute or add chopped papaya, pineapple or kiwi for even more of a tropical taste.Try another base. We used small flour tortillas for these tostadas, but you can use corn tortillas if you prefer.