Quinoa Salad with Shrimp & Lemon Vinaigrette

I found this recipe and it looked amazing. It called for quinoa but I had on hand some "Harvest Grains" from Trader Joes that had Israeli couscous, quinoa and some other stuff and that was really good! So I say, make it with quinoa or Israeli couscous.

I ate some leftover for lunch on a bed of spinach and it was really great, so good that next time I'll serve it as a tossed salad on spinach or arugula. A few things I'll do differently next time: leave out the pomegranate arils (turns out I'm not a fan), add the corn (that I defrosted and left in the microwave), and serve on greens.

I must admit, that as much as I liked this, my family wasn't a huge fan of this salad....kids especially and they pretty much eat everything so maybe not super kid-friendly!


Quinoa Salad with Shrimp and Lemon Vinaigrette
recipe adapted from Iowa Girl Eats

Lemon Vinaigrette:
1/2 c. plus 2 Tb. fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
5 garlic cloves, pressed
dash of sugar
1 Tb. honey
1/2 tsp sea salt
lots of fresh black pepper
1 c. olive oil
dash (or two) of cayenne pepper

Mix everything together in a jar and shake well.

Quinoa Salad:
1 1/4 c. dry quinoa or Israeli couscous, prepared & cooled
2 oranges, peeled, segmented and chopped
1 c. frozen or fresh corn
1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2-3/4 c. chopped cilantro
1 c. pomegranate arils (optional)
4 green onions, chopped
1 lb shrimp, peeled and rinsed

Toss the shrimp with a few tablespoons of the dressing and refrigerate while you prepare the salad. To make the salad mix cooked quinoa or couscous, oranges, corn, cucumber, black beans, cilantro, pomegranate and onions together in a bowl. Then heat a skillet or grill pan over medium-high heat, add in the shrimp and coook until just pink. Try not to overcook the shrimp. Serve the salad at room temperature or cold, with shrimp on top and drizzle with dressing.

Mediterranean Tuna Panini's

I found this recipe in Rachael Ray Magazine and it looked so good, yet so different from a regular tuna melt that we had to try it.  We loved these sandwiches!  My kids were not quite thrilled, but they did eat it. (And what they didn't eat Rob finished off for them.)

I don't have a panini press so I cooked the sandwiches in a cast iron skillet and put another skillet over the top with a bowl in it to weigh them down a little bit but I think just grilling them would work fine to.


Mediterranean Tuna Panini's
adapted from Every Day with Rachael Ray

Makes 3-4 sandwiches, depending on how full you stuff them.

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

1 juicy lemon, juiced

4 tbsp. olive oil

1/2 tsp thyme

black pepper

sea salt

3 5-oz cans tuna, drained and flaked

1/2 small red onion, finely chopped

4 tbsp. capers, chopped

3 Tb. parsley, chopped

4 slices swiss cheese

tomato slices

4 slices provolone or mozzarella cheese

8 slices sourdough bread

4 Tb butter

In a small bowl mix together garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, thyme, pepper and salt.  Set aside.  In a mixing bowl add tuna, onion, capers, and parsley.  Pour over dressing and toss to coat.  Heat a skillet over medium-high or panini press. Lightly butter the bread.  Layer swiss cheese, tuna, tomatoes, and provolone.  Grill on each side a couple minutes or until the bread is golden-brown and the cheese is melted.  I served these with sweet potato fries.

Crab Dip

This dip is a Christmas tradition in my family.  My Aunt Michelle would always make it and I was so obsessed with it as a kid that she started making an extra plate of dip just for me.  (She loves me!) Which could be part of the reason I was the "chubby kid" but, hey I enjoyed it.

I love this recipe because it comes together really quickly and requires very few ingredients.  This is a great thing to whip up to take to a Christmas or New Year's party.

We like our sauce a little spicy so we add horseradish to the bottled cocktail sauce, which is completely optional for you.

Crab Dip

8 oz block cream cheese, softened
6 oz cocktail sauce (1/2 bottle)
1 tsp prepared horseradish, optional
8 oz imitation crab meat, chopped (or 8 oz baby shrimp works great too)

Using the back of a spoon, spread the cream cheese onto a small platter or large plate.  In a small bowl mix together the cocktail sauce and horseradish and spread the sauce on top of the cream cheese. Sprinkle crab meat over the top of the cocktail sauce layer.  Serve with crackers, I prefer Wheat Thins.

Honey Lime Fish Taccos with Chipotle Slaw

 This recipe is a MUST-do.  Seriously.  If you even like fish a little bit, try these.  I will say though that if you have small children, be prepared for this to take alittle longer than your usual meal prep.  It is an easy recipe, but has lots of steps and is a bit involved. 

Once again I am reminded that I need some photography lessons or something becaue this just looked good, smelled good, and tasted good--but my pictures are a little lame, so please forgive that and give these tacos a chance.

Honey Lime Fish Tacos with Chipotle Slaw

Honey Lime Glaze:

1/3 c lime juice (squeeze it fresh)

2 Tb honey

1 Tb vegetable oil

1 tsp cumin

Whisk everything together and set aside.

Chipotle Slaw:

1/2 c mayo

1 chipotle pepper

1 Tb adobo sauce

salt & granulated garlic to taste

3 c coleslaw mix

1 1/2 c cilantro, chopped

Mince the chipotle pepper or put it in the food processer.  Mix together the minced/pureed chipotle, mayo, adobo sauce and salt & garlic.  Mix together dressing with the coleslaw mix and cilantro.  Refrigerate until needed.

Fish:

1.25 lbs tilapia, chunked

1/3 c flour

2 eggs beaten

3 c panko bread crumbs

1 c. vegetable oil for frying

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Dredge the fish in the flour, then the egg, then the panko.  Test the oil, when it's hot add the fish to the pan cooking 1-2 minutes per side.  You will probably have to do this in 2 batches.  Remove the fried fish from the pan onto a plate with a paper towel.  Brush the honey-lime glaze over the cooked fish and assemble tacos on flour tortillas with fish, slaw, and shredded cheddar cheese.

Tuna Noodle Casserole

This recipe is a throwback to the 80's. We used to looove when Mom made this, although admittedly we were pasta hogs. We would eat anything with pasta and as previously mentioned, we also loved Velveeta cheese, so this is clearly a winner!

A few weeks ago I decided to make it and the entire family ate it happily so try it out! If you aren't tuna fans, a can of chicken would work great too.

Tuna Noodle Casserole

12 oz egg noodles (I used whole wheat) cooked

12 oz tuna, drained well

1 c. frozen peas

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 c. sour cream

1 c. milk

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

2 c. Velveeta (about 15 thin slices, I used 2 % milk Velveeta.)

2 tsp. olive oil

1/2 c. finely diced onion

salt & lots of pepper (easy on the salt, the cheese and soup are already salty)

1 c. crushed cornflakes

2 Tb melted butter

Boil noodles al dente, careful not to overcook! Add in the peas during the last minute of cooking noodles and drain everything well. In the same pot saute onion in the olive oil for a couple minutes. Turn heat to jedium low and add soup, sour cream and Velveeta cheese. Let cook, stirring occasionally until the cheese is melted. Add in cheddar cheese, noodles and peas, and tuna, stir well to combine. Taste and add salt and pepper to your liking. Pour into a greased 9x13'' pan. Mix cornflakes with the melted butter and top the casserole. Bake at 400 15-20 minutes.

Tuna Pasta Salad

Living in Phoenix in the summer is a bit hellish. Living in Phoenix in the summer 7-9 months pregnant is super duper hellish. I'm always trying to find something to make for dinner that doesn't require a lot of oven time--or eating super steamy foods. This pasta salad is a great weeknight dinner that's super quick to throw together and is nice and cold to eat. Serve it with a piece of bread or some melon and you've got a meal. I made this for dinner at the beginning of the summer and it was a hit with my whole family and now that I'm looking at the picture thinking...hmmm I should make that again! this would also be a great playdate lunch that you can do completely ahead of time.

This is also a super inexpensive meal wihch is always a good thing too!

Tuna Pasta Salad
1 lb shells or any short-cut pasta (OR 13 oz whole wheat pasta, that's what seems to come in a box of that)

1 c. halved cherry tomatoes or diced tomatoes

1 medium minced red onion

1/2-3/4 c. minced celery

1 c. frozen peas, thawed

3/4 tsp dill

1/4 tsp granulated onion

1/4 tsp granuated garlic

lots of pepper

1 tsp. sea salt

1 1/4 c. mayo

3/4 c. ranch dressing

3-4 cans tuna in water, drained well

Boil the pasta to al dente. Drain well and rinse under cold water until it isn't hot. In a large bowl mix pasta and all other ingredients. Taste and adjust seasonings. Refrigerate at leasat an hour before serving. If you refrigerate overnight you may need to stir in some extra mayo and/or ranch dressing because the noodles will soak up most of the dressing and personally, I like it more "wet" than dry.

Fish Sandwich and Homemade Tartar Sauce

We've traveled to Alaska three times since we've been married and we LOVE fish and chips. The greatest part of being in Alaska is you can find halibut and chips everywhere...it's sooo good.

This isn't really fish and chips. Nor is it halibut. But whatever. We like fish and especially tartar sauce. Please disregard the burnt outer edge of this bun. Again with the bad photography...what do I say?



Fish Sandwich with Tartar Sauce
Sauce:

1/2 c. mayo

2 Tb sour cream

1 Tb minced or grated onion

3 Tb minced dill pickle

2 tsp lemon juice

pinch of dried dill

salt, pepper to taste

Mix everything together, refrigerate until ready for use.

Fish:4 4-5 oz fillets tilapia (or any white fish)

3 c. crushed potato chips

1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. milk

Seasoning salt, pepper

Season the fish with the seasoning salt and pepper. Pour the milk into a shallow bowl. Put the flour into another shallow bowl, season with seasoning salt and pepper, stir to combine. Dip fish in milk, then dip into flour, dip in milk again, and then dip in crushed chips. Put fish on a sheet pan and bake at 450 for 10 minutes or until fish flakes.

Toast four rolls and place fish on the rolls with tartar sauce, sliced tomato, and lettuce.

Tuna Melts

This is a super quick, super cheap dinner. But I will say that Rob "mmmm'd" over this a lot. I think it could've had something to do with the mini french loaf that it was baked on too. This is the same recipe I use for basic tuna salad.

And you are so lucky to see the messy kitchen counter in the background. I served this up with some oven fries. And a salad, but this photo is of Rob's plate and he chose not to partake.

Tuna Melts

3 cans chunk light tuna in water, drained

2 Tb finely diced red onion

2 Tb chopped red or yellow bell pepper

1 Tb sweet pickle relish

1/2 tsp dill

1/4 cup mayo

salt & pepper
sliced cheddar or American cheese
kaiser rolls, french bread, or wheat sandwich bread

Mix everything together except cheese and bread. Taste for seasoning and add extra mayo if you like. Preheat the oven to 425. Put your open rolls or bread on foil and top with tuna salad and cheese. Cook in the oven for 10 minutes or until the sandwich is warm and the cheese is melted.

Grilled Shrimp

We love shrimp. If you don't think you like shrimp, you may change your mind when you make this! SO simple, easy and very few ingredients. Always use raw shrimp for this!

We first had shrimp grilled like this up at Lake Powell with some business friends. Our friend John cooked for us one night and made this and it was love! So thank you John, for introducing us to this amazing recipe. I usually try to spend $2 or less per pound for meat but I do make an exception for the occasional shrimp or fish.

This time we had this wonderful Alaskan shrimp that Rob's mom brought for us. It's so amazing it tastes like mini lobsters. So Rob grilled us up some shrimp! Yummy.

If you don't live in Southern Arizona you may be past the grilling-out season, but we pretty much live in hell so we grill. A lot. So either saute this on the stove or save it for summer.

John Cox's Grilled Shrimp

1 lb raw shrimp, de-veined and peeled

3 garlic cloves minced, divided

juice of 1 lemon, divided

1 Tb olive oil, divided

salt & pepper

Just before grilling toss half of the chopped garlic, olive oil and lemon juice with the shrimp. Sprinkle with salt & pepper. Grill until just pink...being careful not to overcook. Once cooked add the other half of all the ingredients and a bit more salt & pepper. Enjoy!

We usually have this with veggies and pasta with homemade pesto sauce.