Fish Tacos and other Lenten Recipes!

One thing you will learn about me, is that I am not a fish person. I just never have been, but guess what! I'm slowly easing myself into liking it.

What the heck is Lent?
If you aren't aware, Lent is a time of fasting prior to Easter. During the forty days, you sacrifice things (Facebook, TV, Coffee, Sweets, etc.) to better yourself and make you closer to God. Maybe you don't have much to give up, or just want to do random acts of kindness throughout the 40 days. That works too! Either way, it's a time of fasting and becoming closer to the Lord. Also, as Catholics, we give up meat on Ash Wednesday and all Fridays during the Lenten Period. Fish Fries are super popular during this time too.

Usually these are the only days in the entire year I'm super craving a burger (of course). Well Brad and I decided, even though we LOVE Fish Fries, we want to save money and eat healthier this Lenten season. We have been making our own Lenten recipes. We made fish tacos two Fridays ago for Lent. And this past Friday, Brad made us crab quesadillas.

The fish tacos: As a person who doesn't eat fish, I don't really know how to make fish. But I did make the dressing and marinaded the fish!

Let's start with the ingredients:
Ranch Dressing
Cilantro
Chili Powder
Cumin
Light Sour Cream
Lime Juice
Alaskan Pollock
Old Bay (not pictured)
Other Toppings:
Cole Slaw Lettuce Mix








So again, I tend to look up recipes then do my own version.. of everything.

First the marinade, is just the same marinade I use for my fajitas.
Cumin, Chili Powder, and Lime Juice and I added Old Bay this time.

I graciously poured half of the lime juice into the bottom of the dish, then added my seasonings and fish. I made sure the fish was covered in everything.

I let that sit for a little bit while I worked on the dressing. Most of the favors were the same and pretty basic. I think I'm going to be using this dressing for many other recipes, it is soo good.
It was Cilantro, Cumin, Chili Power, Light Sour Cream, Light Ranch and Lime juice. It's called Chipolte Cilantro Lime dressing. Pretty much amazing. I did a tablespoon of the cilantro & cumin, 1/2 tablespoon of chili powder, the whole little container of sour cream, and a cup of ranch. I just finished off the lime juice of whatever I had left. I used it the next day on a chicken wrap. mm mm

Okay, now for the Fish. I know I promised a guest entry by a professional writer, but Brad never wrote anything so here's what I'm going to tell you.

He pan fried the fish, using Pan Oil Spray and Old Bay Seasoning. He added the Old Bay to make sure it wouldn't stick and fry to the pan. By the last one it was considered blacken from the use of the pan, so he used his Blacken Old Bay seasoning to add flavor.

Here is the finished product. We used Cole Slaw Lettuce mix to add some more flavor to it on Tortilla Soft Shells.

I paired it with cheesy cauliflower. It was very filling and delicious!

Well that's all for now. I am starting the 21 day fix on Wednesday, so be ready for some serious clean eating and portion controlled recipes!

Checking In!

Sorry for not posting this week. It seems like the week has slipped away! I do have a Fish Taco recipe to post, but I need help with my guest cook (aka Brad) to talk about the fish. Brad has done so much in my culinary skills, no one has ever challenged me more or push me to do more. I love it!

I made turkey and turkey pot pie the first time this year, and I'm exploring fish. I don't really eat fish, so I never make it. It's Brad's specialty so I let him cook it up for our fish tacos after I marinaded and made some dressing for them. As someone who doesn't eat fish, it was so delicious! Needless to say, cooking for and with Brad has expanded my options, which I think is awesome.

As I said before, I am trying to get healthy and lose weight. My co-worker is on the 21 day fix it from Beach Body. It's an interesting new lifestyle. It will teach you portion control through colored containers along with a 30 minute daily workout, different workout for each day! I'm excited to start it and should be getting it in the next week. I know it will change the way I look at food, which is great.

It really has changed my world. So far, just by realizing my calorie intake was WAY too low according to her 21 day fix it book, I have lost 4lbs in 2 weeks. 

21 Day Fix It calorie formula: [Your weight] X 11 + 450 [workout calories.. I only add about 200] - 750 [calorie deficit]. 

Yup, I lost weight by eating more. I was starving myself without even realizing it! Currently I'm eating about 2,000 daily. I work out about 3 times a week. If you are using My Fitness Pal, make sure you customize the calorie intake! I didn't and that's when I realized it was too low. They just assume everyone is skinny and have a desk job. That's not true! 

If you want to follow me on MyFitnessPal (everyone can use a little motivation) my username is smueller11

I decided to start a 30 day Guns, Buns & Abs challenge this week. I'm on day 4 and I think my abs may kill me. It hurts so bad but so good! I actually started last night doing a circuit. So I did 15 squats, 3 pushups, 9 leg lifts. And did that 4 times. Well the 4th time was just the squats, and 8 leg lifts. But I think splitting it up helps me not feel like I'm ready to die. 

Let me know if you try it or need motivation! :) 

Fajitas are my favorite!

As I mentioned, I am a big Mexican fan! Well Fajitas are my top notch favorite. I could probably eat them every day. 

Way back when, I came across a really good low carb fajita recipe. I have used it for years and made it into a simple version etc. 

Well this was one of those days, the marinade I squeeze a ton of lime juice, some cumin (which I didn't have so I used taco seasoning), and pepper into a bag with the cut up raw chicken and shake it up. 

I have lime juice on hand at all times, and I'm pretty sure someone made fun of me for it seeing it in my fridge ... two lime juice containers. It's just such a good go to juice to create a marinade or even use instead of oil in the frying pan! 

Finished Fajita Salad 

The trick to this recipe is making the peppers and onions, AWESOME. You gotta chop all your peppers and onions, and then keep a close eye on the frying pan with the olive oil and veggies in them. When the onions get translucent is when you should take them off and put them too the side. Just perfect! :) 

After you are doing whipping up your veggies, time for the meat! It should be marinaded decently, you can always put it in longer, but like I said this is a quick meal! Here's what's nice, you don't need any oil, just dump the ziplock of meat out onto the pan with the meat. All that marinade makes it good for frying! 

And that's basically it. Make it a Fajita bar with soft or hard taco shells, create a salad as I did, and add whatever toppings you like!

It's so delicious, and everyone is sure to love it. 

Spices: add spice to your life!

I was eating dinner and just did pasta with red sauce. So lame! Ever since I made the zucchini ribbon primavera, I have been making an easy version of it.


Easy Primavera:
I cooked the pasta regularly. Putting in the bowl I want to eat it in garlic powder, cilantro, parsley, oregano, shredded Parmesan cheese and cream cheese. I would then drain the pasta and throw it in the bowl. It was so quick and delicious!!!

Why did I change it this time?? I can't answer that but traditional sauce is not as good as spices!

Spices were never a major thought in my cooking life until recently (after exploring different recipes) and I am totally in love!! They completely change the taste and it's wonderful.

I think another time spices changed everything, I made some veggie stir fry for my parents (they are vegetarians). I had no idea what to make and I didn't have much in the fridge. I did some frozen veggies to make this stir fry with rice. I literally looked into my spice rack and was like what is an Asian spice... To make it taste better. Guess what it worked! I used ginger and it made such a difference! One spice can make a world of difference. It's so crazy, but true.

Tell me what your favorite spices are! Do you have any recommendations for a spicy but savory dish to make? 

Brad SMASH: Guacamole Salad Bowls

Sunday night, Brad and I came back to my house before having to say good bye for the weekend. I spend my weekends generally at Brad's house since he is on the other side of the city it's easier than going back and forth. I think it's helping my dog allergies too, being exposed more. 

Finished meal! 

So back to cooking, I bought a ton of fresh foods last Friday, that I needed to use ASAP. 

I had two avocados, and some Romaine lettuce, onions, etc. I decided to make guacamole on a bed of lettuce with ground turkey. 

*disclaimer* I rarely follow a recipe, and generally just whip something together. I'll try my best to give you the ingredients and recipe tips, but usually just have fun. Do whatever you'd like as long as you think the favors would taste good. :) 

Brad got me some of those taco salad bowls for my birthday. I thought they looked fun, and since we eat so much Mexican, why not? 

Ok, so we started with making the guac... 

I was going to find you the recipe, but of course it wasn't one I actually pinned. 

All it is: 
Avocados
Lime Juice
Salsa
Cilantro
Onions
Garlic Clove

It called to smash the avocados in a large bowl with the lime juice, but that's what started our issues. We couldn't smash the avocados! Brad wasn't really being much help and I thought maybe it was because they were still cold from being in the fridge so I told him to go watch some TV and I'll start the turkey. 

The turkey was pretty simple, I just threw it in the frying pan with some olive oil and I added taco seasoning, but ran out so I mixed in fajita seasoning. It wasn't the best turkey I made, but the guac flavors kinda over powered it so it worked. 

After I started the turkey, Brad came back into the kitchen and asked for my rubber mallet. This was after I used a can to smash the garlic clove because I don't own a garlic press.

I run to my room and get the rubber mallet. I think pictures are worth a thousand words.. I have two:

 This happened, he got smart and put it in a bag. The bag broke and he put plastic wrap over it. Kinda messy, but fun and effective. 

After we got the smashing done. I finished off the guac and put the pieces together! 

It was a bit oniony. I used a small onion, but didn't chop it enough. Overall, it was rather tasty. 

This was my Sunday evening, what did you do? Do you have any recommendations on how to make the recipe better? 

Does your significant other help or stay out of the kitchen? 

I enjoy it when Brad and I cook together. He tends to become the genius of the situation, or help from a meltdown occurring. He really saved me during a messy buckeyes situation during Christmas. My peanut butter mixture was extra greasy and all of my balls I rolled stuck together in the freezer. He fixed all of them and put paper towels between them to soak up the extra grease! :) 

I never said I was a gourmet cook or even that my recipes workout all the time, but when they don't it's nice to have a knight in shining armor to rescue me. Or he would probably prefer I said a super hero in a green lantern outfit.

[Happy]? Monday!

Hello! 

It's Monday... and a day after the Day Light Savings Time has hit us once again. 

Did you know it will take about 3 days to get back into a sleep routine from the one hour difference? I know I am suffering the effects! I couldn't get to sleep last night and then my alarm went off WAY too early. 

I'm just chugging through the day! I just wanted to "stop by" and say hello. No, I didn't forget about the blog yet! My next couple posts involve Mexican food. This post is a disclaimer for that. 

I LOVE MEXICAN FOOD.  A lot of my cooking posts will be reflective of such. I made a nice Fajita salad the other day that I wanted to post. Then last night Brad and I took our hand at making guac. Well, let's just say things involved a rubber mallet. I think THAT might be the next post. Ha. 

I need to download the pictures and such, so stay tuned! 

Let's get down to cooking!

Ok, enough about me. You want to learn how to cook. Or at least learn how I cook. 

Well since I just started this blog, I'm going to tell you about some SUPER DELICIOUS recipes I've made the past few weeks. 

1) Zucchini Ribbon Primavera 
Here is the original recipe

But I did champagne, onions, and grated the zucchini. It was such a light and delicious pasta sauce. And check out the calories! SO LOW.  Now, I had to fix it a little different for Bradley. He can't do pastas, rice, or breads. I did just oven baked chicken in Italian seasoning and put the sauce on top. He said it was wonderful. 

*Note, he is generally my only taster so he might be a little bias, but for the most part my food is really really good. haha. 

2) Parmesan - Garlic chicken wings 
This glorious delight was inspired by the Pampered Chef Parmesan Garlic dipping seasoning. 

It literally is just chicken wings (cleaned and rinsed) in a baking dish, set to 425 degrees, drowned in olive oil and seasoning. 

SO GOOD AND FILLING. We had this and roasted potato fries and broccoli. I had two wings and I was stuffed.