White Fish Tacos

Posted by: Maggie

So, is anyone else desperately in need of some light and healthy food after Christmas?

I could not bear to eat one more heavy, fried, or cheese-laden meal, and decided these white fish tacos from Annie's Eats would satisfy my desire for something healthy, yet flavorful.

These tacos were a cinch to put together.  All you do is whip up a quick marinade for the fish, and while it's soaking up the marinade you make a cilantro cream sauce (that I may have consumed half of with a spoon) and chop some veggies.

One of my favorite DC restaurants, Ceiba, has fish tacos on their happy hour menu that I crave at least once a week.  These aren't quite the same - Ceiba's fish is breaded, and they serve the tacos with an unidentifiable but delicious sauce, but I'm glad I can make something comparable at home now!

P.S. This is the first food photo I've taken with my new Canon Rebel XS! I'm bummed that I had no daylight when I took the photo, but I think the clarity is pretty good, huh? I have no morning light in my apartment, and when I get home from work it's already dark out.  I can't wait to make something on the weekend to see how the camera does when I'm able to take pictures with natural light. 

Here is what you will need:

For the fish...
2 T freshly squeezed lime juice
3 T Extra virgin olive oil, divided
3 T minced cilantro
1/4 t cumin
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 6 oz halibut fillets (make sure to remove any pin bones!)
Salt


For the sauce...
Juice of 1 lime
2 T minced cilantro
6 oz non-fat Greek yogurt
1 clove garlic, minced
Pepper, to taste


For topping and serving...
Chopped tomatoes
Shredded purple cabbage
Green onions (I ended up not using these since the ones I picked up weren't in great condition.  The original recipe calls for them however, and I think they would add a nice pop of color.  I added some extra cilantro on top instead.)
Small flour tortillas

Mix together the lime juice, 2 T of the oil, cilantro, cumin, and garlic in a shallow dish.  Whisk together until well blended.  Place the fish in the marinade, and turn evenly coat.  Let marinate 15-30 minutes.

While the fish is marinating, prepare the cilantro cream sauce.  Mix together the lime, cilantro, yogurt, garlic, and pepper, and chill it in the fridge until you're ready to use it.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a large frying pan.  Place the fish in the pan, and cook without disturbing for 3 minutes.  Carefully flip the fish, and cook for another 2-3 minutes.  Remove to a plate, season with salt, and let the fish rest for 3 minutes.  Shred the fish into bite-sized pieces with two forks.

Assemble the fish, cilantro cream sauce, and toppings in flour tortillas.  I got two large tacos out of this recipe (my tortillas were probably about 8 inches across.)

Source

Christmas 2010 and Spinach Artichoke Dip

Posted by: Maggie

Hello everyone! I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas (or Saturday to those of you who don't celebrate.) I went up to New Jersey Wednesday night to visit my family and just got back this afternoon.   My last three visits up to Jersey have been rushed and/or stressful (boyfriend meeting the parents anyone??) so it was nice to have a calm, relaxing visit for once.

I managed to escape work a bit early on Wednesday, and headed over to Union Station to catch an early train home.  While I waited, I wandered around and looked at the Christmas decorations.  I used to live a few blocks from Union Station and it always drove me crazy when people would stop and gawk, and photograph everything when I was walking through there just trying to get to work.  Just a couple years later I've become one of them!

Now that I'm not rushing through on a daily commute, I get it.  How could you not stop and take pictures in a place as gorgeous as this? 

Annie, Emma (our non-blogging sister), and I spent Christmas Eve at our Mom's house.  We've always done fun finger food and appetizers on Christmas Eve instead of having a formal sit down meal.  This year we had baked brie in puff pastry, buffalo wings, shrimp and grits, and spinach dip.  I'm a huge fan of appetizers, so this is pretty much the perfect kind of meal for me. 

I made the spinach dip (recipe below), but my Mom cooked the rest of the food.  While she cooked, we decided to take a few photos in front of the tree...

 

I wish I smiled for this photo...I'm really quite surly in pictures sometimes.

Annie and Emma...Emma found out the day before Christmas Eve that she got accepted into her first choice college for Fall 2011!  Congratulations Emma!

And last but not least, A Bitchin' Kitten.  This is Pumpkin, who is clearly tuckered out from playing with the "seagull on a string" toy I bought him for Christmas.  

We chowed down on appetizers throughout the day including this shrimp and grits recipe that my Mom served in a martini glass.  I believe she got the recipe from Paula Deen, and I highly recommend it.

We also put a big dent in this spinach dip.  Unlike most spinach-artichoke dip recipes, it's done on the stovetop instead of in the oven.  I like it better that way, because it doesn't get the hard crispy top that makes dipping bread or chips so annoying.  It makes about 7 cups of dip (what you see below is a very, very small amount of the whole batch). 

1/4 cup salted butter
2 (10 oz) packages frozen chopped spinach, partially thawed
1 (14 oz) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 - 2 (16 oz) containers sour cream*
1 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese (I recommend shredding your own or buying a tub of the pre-shredded kind versus using the stuff in the canister.  It will melt much better.)
Garlic salt, to taste

Melt the butter in a large deep pan over medium heat.  Stir in the spinach and artichoke hearts, and cook for about 5 minutes.  Mix in the cream cheese and sour cream until combined.  Stir in the parmesan cheese and garlic salt.  Continue cooking for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally until thickened.  Transfer to a slow cooker, and keep it on the warm setting, if desired.

*I would use 2 if you plan to keep the dip warm in a slow cooker like I did.  I only used 1 1/2 and the dip got super thick.  If you plan to serve it right away 1 1/2 would be perfect.

* * *

On Christmas Day, Annie, Emma and I went over to my Dad's place.  We went to church in the morning, and came back and had cinnamon rolls and fruit salad for breakfast.  We opened presents right after, and imagine my surprise and excitement when my first one from my Dad contained this:

Yes, that is the Canon Rebel XS.

My current camera is the Canon PowerShot a1000IS.  It has been a reliable little camera for about a year and a half now, but it's really not cut out for food blogging, or the type of photography I'd like to learn to do well.  Plus, I dropped it on my birthday back in April (things seem to slip from my fingers much more easily after a few beers), and it has an entire chunk broken off the lense.  I'm really quite astonished it's made it through the past 8 months at all. 

I spent the rest of Christmas Day taking pictures of random objects around my Dad's, and can't wait to photograph some new recipes with it!  I plan to take a class to learn about all the features, but if anyone has beginner tips feel free to leave them in the comments!

For dinner, my Dad made chicken parmesan.  I actually got the recipe we have for it on our blog from him.

I better wrap this up before it morphs into the worlds longest post.  I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas as much as I did!

Merry Christmas!

Posted by: Maggie and Annie

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!  We'll be back after the holiday with new recipes!

(And yes, Annie is dressed as Ralphie from A Christmas Story, not the Easter bunny)