family meals: week 40

Salmon Tacos with Mango-Avocado Salsa. The salsa was very good, but it tasted better a day later. I think all the flavors had time to blend and it was much more yummy. We love fish tacos, so it’s hard to go wrong with that for dinner. Brave is the only one who isn’t wild about salmon, but I think True had like 5 tacos! Of course, the girls did theirs without the spice. The radishes we used were straight from our garden and they are the best radishes I have ever tasted!

Kale Noodle Bowl with Avocado Miso Dressing. This one was just, “eh.” It sounded good in theory, but something was missing to me. Ben liked it, but he wasn’t wild. True loved the soba noodles and Brave loved all of it (she had a couple of servings). It was loaded with lots of kale, so that was one good thing about it. I probably tripled what the recipe called for because we had a lot to use from our garden.

Week 5/20 – 5/24
Monday: Orzo with Feta, Basil and Shrimp
Tuesday: Chicken Enchiladas
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Hummus wraps
Friday: Sushi night

I would love to make this, but Ben says it’s a bit costly for a family dinner, so I’m thinking of making a similar version using cod. Anyone ever try to change crab cakes into fish cakes? Is it just as good? I’ve totally been loving the Williams-Sonoma food blog. All their pictures are just gorgeous and almost every dish suddenly makes me hungry! I’m obsessed with looking through their blog for ideas and I’ve been pinning so many of their recipes. What have you been cooking lately?

family meals: week 39

Pan Seared Tuna with Kale and Chorizo. The recipe calls for hake, but we didn’t have that so we used tuna, and it also called for chorizo, but we used soy-rizo instead. Another change we did is instead of mashed potatoes, we did mashed cauliflower. It all tasted good together, but I don’t think it’s a recipe that I will make again. We just weren’t wild about it. We got the fish from my mom and dad who went to the port to get some fresh seafood over the weekend, so I wanted to use up the fish she gave us and things we already had. Our garden has lots of kale, so I googled kale and fish and this recipe came up.

Week 5/13 – 5/17
Monday: Kale Noodle Bowl with Avocado Miso Dressing
Tuesday: Chicken Enchiladas
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Sandwiches (swim nights are usually easy meals)
Friday: Sushi night

Sometimes I don’t always follow our weekly meal plan because things will come up (or I forget to give Ben the grocery list), but they still provide a little bit of guidance on what to make. I’m looking for more vegetarian dishes to cook, so if you have any good recipes to recommend, I would love to hear it!

tilapia ceviche on crispy wontons

Tilapia Ceviche on Crispy Wontons
adapted from this recipe

Ingredients:
1. 2 avocados
2. 1 medium tomato
3. 1 lime
4. Habañeros finely chopped (we used 6 because we like it that spicy, but unless you like it pipin’ hot, maybe just use 1)
5. 1 small red onion finely chopped
6. 1 package of wonton wrappers
7. 1 tbsp sesame oil
8. 1 pound of sashimi grade tilapia
9. 2 tbsp rice vinegar
10. 1/2 tbsp fish sauce (can do without it if you don’t have any)
11. 1 bunch of chopped cilantro
12. Salt to taste

Directions:
Chop up the avocados, tomato, habañeros, onion, tilapia, and cilantro and toss together (note the finely chopped items in the ingredients list). Continue to add in the rice vinegar and fish sauce, and mix well. Sprinkle with salt (about 1/2 tsp – 1 tsp should do it) and squeeze the lime juice on top. Mix, cover, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Set the oven to 350 degrees F and lightly brush each side of the wonton with sesame oil, and then lay each piece separately onto a baking sheet. Watch the wontons carefully as they can burn pretty fast, but generally it takes about 4-8 minutes (depending on your oven) to get them crispy. Once they turn a nice golden brown, take them out of the oven and allow them to cool. Top your wontons with the tilapia ceviche and enjoy!

When we want a sushi night, but don’t really want to dish out the money, this is what we do. Tilapia is so much cheaper than salmon sashimi, which is our fave, and most definitely cheaper than getting sushi for take away. It’s Ben’s favorite way to eat raw tilapia (this is my favorite way to eat it as I just substitute the tuna with the tilapia). We probably put a little more habañeros than the average person because we like things spicy, but 1 should do it, or if you can’t hack spice, just lightly sprinkle some red pepper flakes. The habañero tastes so good here because it’s a pepper that has a sort of spicy sweet thing going on and we love it! I’m pretty sure we’re probably going to eat some version of this on Friday night. It’s just so good and quick to make, plus it’s perfect to eat while we relax and watch a movie in bed! If you like sushi, I’m almost sure you’ll like this too!

family meals: week 38

Curried Split Pea Soup with Coconut Milk. Even if you aren’t a fan of vegetarian dishes, I’m almost sure you’ll like this one. It’s a yummy one!

Dumplings. Shrimp & Chive Dumplings and the other kind, which was ground turkey based, I kind of just winged it with my own ideas. The dumplings were a hit with the girls! Brave and Glow especially liked the shrimp ones and those were spicy! It was about a year ago when I first made dumplings for our dumpling party and they are such an easy dish to make. Don’t get intimidated and give it a shot! Mine aren’t perfectly wrapped, but whatever. As long as it’s yummy, there’s not much to complain about.

Week 5/6 – 5/10

Monday: Chicken Enchiladas (Just made it a couple weeks ago, but it’s so good, I want it again!)
Tuesday: Salmon Tacos with Mango-Avocado Salsa
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Hummus Wraps
Friday: Pizza/sushi night

We have had one meal outside this past month, but I’m hoping for more soon. I’m ready to sit under twinkly lights and our (mostly) cool summer evenings!

curried split pea soup with coconut milk

Curried Split Pea Soup with Coconut Milk
Serves 6

Ingredients:
1 tbsp canola oil
2 medium yellow onions, chopped (2 generous cups)
6 cloves of garlic, chopped
5 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced into coins (about 1 cup of coins) *I doubled this amount for our batch
8 cups of low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
3 cups of yellow split peas
3 tbsp Indian curry powder
1 can light coconut milk
6 oz baby kale (or spinach) *I tripled the amount of kale we used for our batch
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground cumin
Pinch of cayenne pepper or to taste
Sea salt, to taste

Directions:
1. In a large pot, bring broth and split peas to boil, then lower the heat and simmer covered until split peas are perfectly tender, mushy, and falling apart. It may take longer than an hour depending on the age of the split peas.
2. Heat the canola oil in a  large pot over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, 1 teaspoon salt, and sauté over medium heat until softened, about 5 minutes.
3. Add garlic, black pepper, cumin, and curry powder, and sauté another 1-2 minutes until the garlic is cooked.
4. Blend 1/2 the split peas with an immersion blender or standard blender. If using a standard blender, do not fill more than half full and use care as hot liquids can explode out of blender.
5. Add curried onion mixture to soup and simmer for 15 minutes.
6. Stir in the coconut milk, baby kale, and cayenne. Bring back to a boil for 3-5 minutes, stirring well until the soup is thick and creamy and the kale is wilted. Adjust salt as needed.

Ben has a co-worker, Julianne, who is always sharing with us a little batch of whatever she makes at home, and every batch she has shared has always been quite delicious! Without fail, I send Ben off to work the next day reminding him to ask Julianne for the recipe. She’s vegan (and a dietitian), so everything she makes it meatless and healthy. Throw in the yumminess that it always ends up to be, and I’m always secretly hoping she makes something else and brings it to work to have Ben share it with us at home.

This curry recipe is from her and so deliciously good! It may look simple, but I say give it a try! It’s such an easy dish to make and it is so flavorful. I’m thinking that I must make this recipe again soon. I was eating it for days after and I never got sick of it! Thanks for sharing it with us Julianne!