Shrimp Tacos

As the heat and humidity go up I wanted to make something that wouldn't heat up the kitchen. Here is what I made.
Shrimp Tacos
1/2 pound of shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 tsp chipotle powder or smoked paprika if you don't want the spicy flavor
1/2 cup shredded red cabbage
Guacamole and salsa to taste click here for recipes
2 tbs queso fresco
1 tbs Sour Cream
1/2 ear corn on cob, grilled and then kernels removed
1 tbs cilantro, chopped, used as garnish
Nonstick spray
2 tortillas, grilled for about 15 seconds

Preheat the grill to medium.
Sprinkle shrimp with chipotle or smoked paprika. When grill is hot put corn on grill and cook until it gets grill marks on one side and rotate until all sides are grill marked then set aside and let it cool. While corn is cooking put shrimp on the grill. Cook shrimp for 2 to 3 minutes then flip them over and cook for another minute or 2. Spray both sides of the tortillas with no stick spray. Place on grill for 15 seconds flip and cook for another 5 or 10 seconds. You want them heated through with little spots of color you don't want them crisp. Cut the kernels off the corn.
Place cabbage, on tortilla and top with shrimp. Add the queso fresco, corn, salsa guacamole and any other taco toppings you like.

Mexican Pizza and Top 10 for Food Bloggers

After watching the food blogs the last few weeks apparently there is some sort of food blogger rule that says between the last week of December and by mid-January a blogger must post a top 10 list. Some post the best recipes of the year, some the best photos and some promise what they will do during the next year. My list is slightly different approach. The Top Ten Foodie Trends I Don't Understand.

Top Ten Foodie Trends I Don't Understand
9. Why does it have to be 10 things?
8. Highly specialized cooking gadgets. There is a new popsicle maker on the market it makes 2 popsicles at a time and sells for $50. Have you never heard of dixie cup, recycled popsicle stick and a freezer? Cost .03 cents. Maybe I have watched to much Alton Brown and believe his slogan Death to Uni-taskers.
7. Bacon - I like bacon. I have 2 bacon t-shirts. But this bacon thing has gone to far. Bacon Mints, Bacon toothpaste, bacon soap, and the thing that pushed me over the edge bacon nativity scene. Bacon has officially jumped the shark.
6. Cupcakes - when they started bacon cupcakes, there are 1,140,000 images in the Google search, cupcakes jumped the shark.
5. Grains - This years grain of the year is quinoa. I think the reason it is so popular is because no 2 people pronounce it the same way, so every time you hear the name it sounds new and run out and buy it. Now everybody has 12 boxes of quinoa and they have to cook with it. Yes I understand grains are good for you, but why all of these exotic 3 times more expensive than oat, barley and corn grains. Oh wait I think I just answered my own question.
4.  Gluten Free - I know some people actually have a medical problem with gluten and they are exempt from my rant. I have seen foods that have never had gluten advertised as gluten free, while this may be true the fact that they are advertising it implies that other brands contain it. Gluten is generally found in processed foods and grains. Gluten has become the new "fat" we must get rid of it in all food.
3. Sliders - Smaller burgers are good right? Except they are small so people eat twice as many and end up eating more fat and calories than if they would have eaten the full size burger.
2. Making things in a jar - why do we want to make it harder to get things out of the container. Tall and skinny usually means awkward and hard to get at.
1. Pops/balls - I don't like to bake so maybe I am missing the idea of why these are good. But why would you make a cake then squish it into a ball and then put it on a stick? If some one would hand you a piece of cake that is all squished up you wouldn't eat it.

Mexican Pizza
2 tortillas
1/2 can refried beans
1 cup Mexican Chicken

Salsa, sour cream, black olives, green onions, red onion, tomato, jalapeño, queso fresco or any other favorite topping to taste.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toss the tortillas in the oven and heat them until they start to bubble. remove them and they will finish crisping as they sit. While the tortillas are crisping heat the beans and chicken. Spread some beans over the tortilla, then put down a layer of the chicken. Top that with some cheese. Put back in the oven until the the cheese melts. remove and top with the other ingredients.

Mexican Salad

I love it when I get to go to the Farmers Market, it always inspires me to make something great for dinner.   There are several parts to this recipe but most are easy and can be made in a couple of minutes so don't panic. 

Mexican Salad

Chicken

1 batch of Mexican Chicken, this if from my other blog

Salad

1 tortilla, per person

1 cup lettuce, torn into bite size pieces per person

1 oz Queso Fresco per person

Heat a frying pan over high heat. After the pan gets hot throw the tortilla in it. When the starts to bubble and get some color on it flip it over and cook until other side starts to brown. Remove and do the same to the remaining tortillas.

Salsa

2 Tomatoes, chopped into small pieces (I used 1 heirloom and 1 yellow)

1/2 to 1 jalapeno, chopped into very small pieces

1 tbs red onion, chopped into small pieces

1 tbs cilantro, finely chopped

Mix all of the ingredients together and let it sit for a few minutes for flavors to mingle. You can use store bought or your own recipe if you want. I do recommend fresh when tomatoes and peppers are in season.

Guacamole

2 small avocados, peeled, sliced into pieces

1/2 lime, juiced

1/2 tsp cumin

1 tbs red onion, finely chopped

10 cherry tomatoes, cut in 1/2

1 tbs Cilantro, finely chopped

As soon as the avocados are cut and peeled squeeze the lime juice on them, to prevent them from oxidizing. Mash the avocados with a potato maser. Fold in the remaining ingredients. 

To assemble put tortilla on plate top with the lettuce. Then add the chicken top with guacamole and salsa. Sprinkle with the Queso Fresco.

Chicken Tostada with Queso Fresco

Thursday my wife and I celebrated our 28th wedding anniversary. My wife had taken Thursday and Friday off, I surprised her and told her I took Friday off and told her we were heading for the beach. We live close enough to the beach where we can make it a day trip. The weather was perfect 80 degrees with a light breeze. We arrived just in time for lunch. We found a nice restaurant on the beach and Annette had crab cakes and I had Lobster Newburg served over linguine. After walking the beach and exploring downtown Wilmington, NC. We headed for the Airlie Gardens. The gardens definitely had and Italian influence but with a southern twist. Check out the gardens if you are ever in the area, definitely worth the trip. Then we swung by the beach for a short stroll, it seems our shell collection was a little short and my wife needed to add a few more to complete it. Then we had to grab a little more seafood before we headed home. I had a salad with shrimp and crab, completing the seafood trifecta (shrimp, crab and lobster) all in one day. My wife had shrimp and seared tuna served over Thai noodles. I think it was probably the best day off we have had in a long time.

Friday night is usually when we do our grocery shopping, but since the beach messed that up we went Saturday. Since Saturday we have a farmers market we decided to go there first. I am glad we went. The market is bigger this year with more vendors and a better variety of foods. I bought some Queso Fresco which inspired today recipe. We also bought mixed greens (in todays recipe), strawberries which are now jam thanks to Annette, radishes and cilantro (also in todays recipe).

Chicken Tostada with Queso Fresco

Tostada and Miscellaneous Ingredients
1 tortilla per person
no-stick cooking spray
2 oz Queso Fresco, crumbled

Salad
This makes enough for 2 people
1 cup mixed greens
1 radish, sliced thinly per person
1/2 lime, juiced
1 tbs canola oil
salt and pepper to taste

Chicken
I chicken breast per person (I think we bought sparrow breasts as the one we got were so small)
1 tsp Southwestern seasoning per breast

Salsa
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, halved, quartered if large
1 tbs red onion, chopped
1/4 Jalapeno, finely chopped My wife likes very mild salsa add more if you like some spice
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat grill.
While grill is heating mix salsa ingredients together and let them sit to the flavors can mingle.
Sprinkle both sides of chicken breast with southwestern seasoning. Grill the breasts to desired doneness.
While breasts are grilling mix lime, oil, salt and pepper in a bowl. Toss the greens in the bowl to coat and set aside.
Spray the tortillas with no-stick cooking spray and place on grill when you take the breasts off. Cook until they get brown spots and start to bubble.

To Assemble
Put the tortilla on the plate, top with greens. Put the radishes on the greens. Put the chicken breast on top of the greens. Top the breast with the salsa. Sprinkle the whole thing with Queso Fresco.


Airlie Gardens in Wilmington NC.

Carmel Apple Quesadilla

This is a recipe that was completely inspired by another blogger or should I say bloggers, Mr. & Mrs. P. In the teaser for their recipe they said Apple Quesadilla and I assumed it was a dessert, it turned out to be a cheese and apple quesadilla. I decided to do a dessert version. Click here and you can check out their recipe for Apple Quesadilla.

For my version I just winged it as I watched the Super Bowl, so taste and adjust to your liking. If I make this again I would consider toasting the tortillas a little longer to add some crunch to the recipe.

Carmel Apple Quesadilla
1 tbs. butter
1 apple but into bite sized pieces, I used Granny Smith
1 1/2 tbs brown sugar
2 tortillas
no stick cooking spray
carmel, melted or carmel sauce
cinnamon sugar

Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. Add the apples and cook until they are soft. While the apples are cooking spray both sides of the tortillas with no stick spray and put them one at a time into another skillet heated over medium heat. Cook tortillas until they start to form bubbles and take on some color. Flip over and cook other side until they bubble again. Put the tortilla on a plate.
When the apples are soft add the brown sugar and stir until the sugar melts and forms a glaze. Put 1/2 of apple mixture on half of the tortilla and then fold other half of tortilla over top of it. Drizzle the carmel over the tortilla shell and then sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar.