Cumin Dusted Fish with Black Bean & Avocado Salad

Words cannot describe how elated I am about the beautiful weather we are having! I realize that I'm in the South now and that's to be expected, but this is my first Spring here and coming from Michigan, March is typically a yo-yo month. From year to year, you never know if it's going to be nice and sunny with Spring-like weather or really, really crappy with blustery winds and blizzard conditions. It's just one of those things that I don't miss!

But there is something about a 65 degree day with sun that really brings your spirits up and gets you in the mood for Summer, which is hopefully just around the corner. Thoughts of grilling out, sipping cocktails outside with friends, going to the beach, and laying in the sun gives me the warm and fuzzies! And this nice weather definitely tells me that it's time to put away those recipes for chili and casseroles and bring out the dishes filled with fresh veggies, fruit and meat!

With the beautiful weather we're having, light dishes come to mind, especially those of fish. Served with a fresh and rustic salad of tomatoes, avocados, cilantro and black beans, you can feel your waist shrinking and getting ready for bikini season! At least in my mind, I feel like I'm doing something good by eating this dish!

I used catfish as it was what we had on-hand; it's also a nice mild and tender fish to use and really absorbs the cumin flavor. But really, you could other types as well: salmon, mahi-mahi, tilapia, or white fish would be excellent substitutions. The marriage of flavors is a great combination and you can adjust the intensity of them however you please!

Cumin Dusted Fish with Black Bean Avocado Salad

Ingredients - Fish
1 lb. Fish Fillets (fresh or frozen)
4 Tbsp. Ground Cumin
1 Tbsp. Salt
2 Tbsp. Pepper
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil

Ingredients - Salad
2 Avocados, chopped roughly
1 large Tomato, chopped roughly
1-15oz. can Black Beans, drained and rinsed
1 small Jalapeno, seeded and diced finely
1/4 small Red Onion, diced finely
1 Lime
Salt
Pepper
2 Tbsp. Fresh Cilantro, chopped roughly

Directions
In a small bowl, mix together the cumin, salt and pepper. Preheat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Generously season one side of the fish with cumin mixture and place in skillet (seasoned side down). Season the other side facing up and cook until no longer opaque (about 2-3 minutes per side). Remove fish from pan and let sit on a plate covered with paper towels to let any excessive oil leave.

In a medium bowl, combine avocado, tomato, black beans, jalapeno and red onion; stir to mix together. Squeeze the juice of 1 lime over the mixture and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add in cilantro and lightly stir to combine.

Spoon over fish and serve immediately.

Note: With the salad, you can add and/or omit any of the ingredients listed as well as adjust the amounts. These are the amounts we prefer for our taste, but they can easily be adapted to yours as well!

Yield: 4 Servings
Source: With a Cherry on Top

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Hoisin Glazed Shrimp with Crispy Noodles

I'm a sucker for some good Chinese food, which is why I like to make it a lot here at home! Granted, it's not nearly as good (or bad for you) as you what you would get in the restaurant, but I'm not Chinese and I don't have all of the fancy cooking tools and ingredients they use, which is probably why mine is a little more figure-friendly! Let me just say that I will never try to compete with the regular Chinese fare....it's just too good! But making fake-out take-out from home is definitely a nice substitution in many ways (especially for your budget and health)!

I pulled this recipe from Every Day with Rachael Ray. Now I know that a lot of people don't care for her and while I used to profess my undying cooking love for her once before, that love has fizzled out a bit. I don't watch her show anymore and I've never really had any luck with her cookbooks. That being said, however, I do enjoy picking up her magazine every month.

Enough of that....back to the recipe! So, I don't think that Rachael actually came up with this recipe. I think that it came from someone else as it seems a lot of the recipes in there do. But, I found it tucked in with an article about trying to re-create flavors you taste in restaurants (hence the idea of fake-out take-out)! That is one thing I love doing and what a lot of people commend me on...going to a restaurant and figuring out the flavors in a particular dish, sauce, dressing, etc. and then going home to try it out and keep trying it out until I've finally mastered that same flavor (or close enough to it).

This dish was good. But, it's definitely not at the top of my list as one of my favorites! This Mongolian Beef, however, was. But it really was good. There was a lot of sweetness going on with the pineapple and hoisin and the shrimp was a nice combination to throw in, but I think it needed more garlic. I always think something could use more garlic! You can never have enough garlic! I did, however, have some problems with the noodles. Basically, they're Ramen noodles cooked and fried. Now this recipe says to cook the brick of noodles whole and apparently it's supposed to stay in it's form, but not for me it didn't! It completely fell apart. But, I made do and fried them anyway and they eventually adhered together and worked out the same way. Problem resolved. My next problem was the texture! They were crispy and crunchy on the outside and soft and noodl-y on the inside, which was kind of weird when I first tried it. But the more I ate, the more I found I liked it and I ate it all! In fact, I'm planning to have leftovers today! So I guess it wasn't really a problem after all, but I bet it'd be really good over rice as well. This may be a recipe you like and it may not. I can tell you that I will probably make it again, I'm sure, and maybe with a few tweaks I'll like it even better, but it's certainly not worth 5 stars!

Hoisin Glazed Shrimp with Crispy Noodles

Ingredients
1 - 10oz. pkg. Ramen Noodles
1/2 cup Hoisin Sauce
1 - 20oz. can Pineapple Chunks
1/2 cup Pineapple Juice (reserved from chunks)
Vegetable Oil
1 Tsp. Red Pepper Flakes
1 - 10oz. bag Frozen Green Beans, thawed
1 lb. Shrimp, peeled and deveined
4 cloves Garlic, minced

Directions
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Drop in the brick of noodles and cook according to package directions. Drain and let sit to dry off a bit.

In a medium bowl, stir together the hoisin, pineapple juice, 2 tablespoons of oil and red pepper flakes; set aside.  - Note: the amount of red pepper flakes in this recipe adds quite a bit of heat, so you may want to reduce the amount you use or omit altogether if you don't like it.

In a small skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of oil over med-high heat. Slide the noodles into the pan and begin to fry until golden brown (approximately 5 minutes per side). Also use a spatula sprayed with non-stick cooking spray to help press noodles down into pan and also for flipping.

Meanwhile, in another large skilled, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over med-high heat. Add the pineapple chunks and green beans, sauteing until slightly browned (approximately 5 minutes). Transfer to a plate and let sit.

Add in shrimp and garlic to the same pan and cook until shrimp become pink (stir frequently to prevent the burning of garlic). Stir in the hoisin mixture and add pineapple and green beans back in; tossing to coat. Reduce heat to low and cook until heated through (about 2-3 minutes).

Cut off a large chunk of the crispy noodles and place on a plate. Spoon shrimp mixture and sauce over the noodles and serve immediately.

Yield: 4 Servings
Source: Adapted from Every Day with Rachael Ray

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Honey Lime Salmon

Do you ever have those days where it's geting close to dinner time and you know you have to cook, but you have absolutely no idea what to make because you A). didn't plan out your weekly menu like you were supposed to, B). didn't go to the grocery store because you didn't plan out your weekly menu and C). didn't take anything out of the freezer because you, yep, didn't plan out your weekly menu?!  Moral of the story: PLAN OUT YOUR WEEKLY MENU!!!  As you know, we've been trying to eat a bit more healthier in our house, so we have a freezer stocked with an assortment of seafood; in trying to use up the meat and seafood we have, I decided to wing it on dinner and pulled out some salmon since it's usually pretty easy to prepare and always well-liked.

Now that I had solved the first problem of figuring out what to have for dinner, I had to move onto the next of how I was going to prepare it.  Not wanting to run out to the grocery store for a few ingredients, I once again, had to tap into that creative side and work with what I had.  I rummaged through the cupboards and the fridge and came up with a couple of ingredients that I thought may work well together: honey and limes.  I like the sweetness of honey combined with citrus flavors...top that off with a little heat from some red pepper flakes and voila, you have Honey Lime Salmon!

To my delight, this dish was delectable!  The salmon wore the flavors well; it was a light dish but with various depths of flavor blended together to really make it a meal.  Plus, it's something that can be made all year long and the leftovers go great on top of a nice, crunchy salad...yum!

Honey Lime Salmon
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Ingredients
6 Salmon Fillets
1/2 cup Honey
1 Lime
2 Tbsp. Cilantro, minced
1 Tsp. Red Pepper Flakes
Salt
Pepper

Directions
In a small bowl, combine honey, the zest of 1 lime and the juice of 1 lime; mix well and alter ingredients according to taste.  Mix in cilantro, red pepper flakes and salt and pepper to taste.  - Alter the red pepper flakes according to your like/dislike of heat in foods.

Place salmon in a dish and pour honey lime marinade on top; refrigerate for about 15 minutes to let flavors soak through.  - Do not marinate fish longer than 15 minutes prior to cooking as it will become mushy.

Preheat grill (indoor or outdoor) on Medium heat.  Grill salmon 4-5 minutes on each side and serve immediately.

Source: With a Cherry on Top

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