Lime Cilantro Butter Sauce

So remember how I was drooling for days after eating at La Jolla?  Well, I wondered if I could somehow recreate their Salmon baked in Cilantro Butter Sauce.  I googled it, and TONS of recipes came up.  So of course, I had to try!

I have tried two so far: one very simple one - it's not the real deal, but does the trick if I'm short on time and some more complicated ingredients, and one that is more complicated, but very delicious, and still not that hard.  So, if you love cilantro and seafood, be sure to try this out - it can go with pretty much anything 20,000 leagues under the sea!

Cilantro Garlic Butter

1 lime cut into wedges
3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
2 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Squeeze half of the lime wedges onto the fish, season with salt and pepper.  Bake the fish.  In a small saucepan, heat the oil and then add the garlic.  Let the garlic cook for about 2 minutes and then stir in the butter, remaining lime juice, and chopped cilantro.  Pour the cilantro garlic butter over the fish and enjoy!

Lime Cilantro Butter Sauce
Adapted from a recipe at laylita.com

1/4 cup water
1 medium sized shallot
4 garlic cloves
juice from 2 limes
lime zest (as much or as little as you want)
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 serrano pepper (or more if you want more kick)
1/4 cup butter
1 bunch of cilantro
salt to taste

Put water in a medium-sized saucepan on medium heat.  Mince the shallot and garlic cloves.  Add the minced shallots and garlic, the lime juice, lime zest and cream to the water.  Let simmer on low to medium heat for about 10 minutes.  Chop the serrano pepper into fine pieces and add it to the sauce.  Then add a little bit of the butter at a time until it melts into the mixture.  Remove from heat.  Chop up the cilantro and add it, then pour all of the sauce into a blender or a food processor, until it reaches a smoother consistency (about 1 minute).  Add salt to taste.  Serve with any seafood.

A couple of things about this recipe.  First, can I just say how awesome it made me feel to cook with a shallot?  Yeah, it did.  That was definitely something on my bucket list :)  Second, I served this with tilapia and rice, but I know it would be delicious with salmon as well.  Third, when we had this, I really did think it was delicious, but I felt like it was missing something.  Oh yeah, the salt.  Oops.  Salt is a very key ingredient, and really brings out the flavor, so don't forget that key ingredient!

The Gestapo Part II

Dave returned home late Friday night (he was out of town Wednesday through Friday, if you didn't read the previous post, click here).  Since then, he's been going around the house singing, "I'm the Gepetto, I'm the Gepetto!"  I think he meant Gestapo.  Nice old Italian man who carves wood - the evil state police of Germany - practically the same thing.

One of the first things he asked when he walked in the front door is, "Did you at least save me one of the cupcakes?"  Of course I did.  I would never eat 12 cupcakes all by myself in 2 1/2 days.  Just 8.  There were 4 left when he got home.  He ate one, threw one in the garbage (he said he had to at least throw one away after I wrote that post about him), and gave me seconds to hide the other ones before he chucked them as well.

The outcome?  I'm officially addicted to these cupcakes.  I've been craving them all week.  Just in case you have too, here's the recipe:

German Chocolate Cupcakes

Cupcakes: Make life easy on yourself.  Use a German Chocolate cake mix. 

Frosting:

1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup sugar
3 beaten egg yolks
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla

Cook the above ingredients on medium heat for 12 minutes, then add:

1 1/3 cups coconut
1 cup roasted chopped pecans (pecans can be roasted in the microwave for one minute on each side)

I like to chop off a piece of Almond Joy and place it on top for a garnish.

*These cupcakes are even better when they are warm and served with ice cream!

Pizza Without the Red Sauce

This is a recipe that Dave and I made for one of our date nights.  It's so delicious!  Disclaimer: the sauce is still red, it just isn't the traditional red sauce most pizzas have.  I adapted it from a recipe at allrecipes.com.

Ingredients:

4 Tbsp. butter (melted)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 Tbsp. sun-dried tomato pesto
2 tsp. dried basil
2 tsp. dried oregano
2 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
1 unbaked pizza crust
Diced tomatoes
Fresh spinach, torn
1 sweet onion, diced
1 (6 oz) package feta cheese, crumbled

Directions:  Mix the butter, olive oil, garlic, tomato pesto, basil, oregano, and Parmesan cheese together to make the sauce.   Spread over one medium-sized pizza crust, and then add the toppings.  Bake according to the directions for the pizza crust.

Note: obviously you can add other toppings that you like, these are just my favorite.  Dave and I like to make personal pizzas so that we can vary both what we put on and how much.  Enjoy!

Cinni Minis

Okay, so the other night I had some leftover dough from the Pillsbury seamless dough sheets I had used for dinner.  And what sounded good?  Cinnamon rolls.  So I decided to experiment a little, even though I had never made cinnamon rolls before (unless helping my mom when I was 6-years-old counts).  It is such an EASY and delicious dessert!  I totally recommend trying it out for yourself.

What you'll need:

1 Pillsbury Seamless Dough Sheet
1 tbsp. butter (melted)
Cinnamon
Sugar

Frosting:

1 tbsp. butter (melted)
1 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
powdered sugar

First things first - preheat your oven to 350.  Then, get out your dough sheet and unroll it.  Take your 1 tbsp. melted butter and spread evenly over the dough.  Next, spread some sugar and cinnamon over the dough, as evenly as possible.  Be as liberal or conservative as you want.  Finally, roll it up.  Like so.

Okay, this next part sounds weird, but hey, it worked for me.  You need some type of string (don't just cut the rolls, you'll smoosh them!).  I didn't have any string lying around, but I had some floss, so that is what I used.  Put the string around a small section of the roll, then tighten it until it cuts the roll off.  Does that make sense?  Lay them out on your baking sheet. They'll look like this:

Finally, pop them in  the oven.  I let them cook about 10 minutes, but my oven tends to run a little hot, so you can adjust accordingly.  While they are baking, I make the frosting.  Combine the melted butter, milk, and vanilla.  Then add the powdered sugar - I never measure it, I just mix more and more in until I like the consistency. 

Here's the finished product:

So good!  Enjoy them with a glass of milk.  Best thing about them is that since they're "mini," you can have more than one without feeling guilty (or at least not very)!

Variation: Okay, there's no way around this . . . I might as well just admit that I have been making and eating these a lot recently.  Here's a fun thing I tried the other night.  Instead of rolling the dough the long way, I rolled it the short way so they were thicker.  Then, instead of making individual rolls, I actually just baked it as one big roll.  When I got it out of the oven, I drizzled it with frosting.  The idea was to be sort of like chocolate roll, except cinnamon roll.  You know?  Anyway, I wish I would have taken a picture, because it looked pretty cool.  But I think you get the idea.  And besides, taste is really all that counts ;)

Fresh Peach Pie

My mouth waters just remembering how delicious this peach pie is (yes, it's already been polished off).  And it is a lot of fun to make.  This recipe is a classic Grandma Kimball one, that is a must-make at this time of year.  Dave and I went to a local fruit stand and bought fresh peaches, and then went to our local grocery store and bought fresh frozen pie crust :)   The original plan had been to make the pie crusts from scratch, but when I realized I don't even have a rolling pin (which says more about my domesticity than any words ever could), the idea was quickly abandoned.

Ingredients:

1 pie crust (bake ahead of time)

6 large peaches
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons corn starch
2 tbsp. butter
1/2 tsp. almond extract

Heavy whipping cream
2-3 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. vanilla

Sauce:
Take two peeled peaches and use your hands to work them into a pulp.  Once they are thoroughly squished, bring peaches, water, sugar, and corn starch to a boil.  Once it starts boiling, remove from heat and add the butter and almond extract.  Stir and then set aside, waiting for the sauce to reach room temperature.

Pie:
Take the other four peaches, peel, and then cut into small slices.  Spread evenly in the pie crust.  Once the sauce has reached room temperature, pour it over the peaches in the crust.  Refrigerate at least two hours. 

Topping:
Whip one cup heavy whipping cream with several tablespoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla until thick.  Serve with pie.

Helpful hint:  Put your pie crust in the oven while you work on the sauce.  I like to overcook the pie crust a little so it's crunchy compared to the soft peaches.

So good!  We finished off the night by eating pie and watching old reruns of I Love Lucy.  What a perfect Saturday night!

Homemade Salsa

So, last night Dave and I decided to have a cooking adventure.  Truth is, we've been watching a little too much TV lately and were ready for a break.  And, when you have a daughter that goes to bed at 6 pm, you can pretty much count on having to find something fun to do at home.  So don't ask me how salsa and peach pie ended up on the menu, they just did.  I'm a little embarrassed to admit that Dave and I ate the whole bowl last night.  And a little proud.

A big thank you to Rachelle Kimball and Grandma Kimball for this recipe:

6 large tomatoes, diced
1 onion, diced
10 sprigs cilantro
2 inches jalapeno pepper (seeds or no seeds, depending on how hot you like it)
Salt and pepper to taste

The wonderful thing about this recipe is that you can completely tweak (isn't that a great word??) it to your liking.  Don't like a lot of onion?  Don't put as much in!  Love cilantro?  Double the amount you add!  Etc.  I like it chunky, so I chop everything small, and don't blend it, but you can blend it for 3-5 seconds if you prefer a smoother texture.  Enjoy!

To make your chips and salsa experience even better, heat the chips on a cookie sheet in the oven for 5 minutes and serve warm!

Trifle - A dessert not to be trifled with

Ingredients:

2 boxes Ghirardelli Brownies
1 pkg cheesecake jello pudding (3 oz)
1 pkg white chocolate jello pudding (3 oz)
3 cups milk
1 container Cool Whip

Directions: 

Mix two batches of brownies and bake in a large deep cookie sheet. Under cook them just a little - make sure they are very soft and the edges aren't crusty.  Let cool.

Mix both packages of jello pudding with 3 cups milk, and let it thicken.  Mix in one container of Cool Whip.

Once the brownies are cool, cut them into one-inch squares, and put a layer of brownies in the bottom of your trifle dish.  Then add a layer of the pudding mix, then brownies.  I usually do about 3 layers of each, depending on the size of the trifle dish.  Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours, or overnight.  Garnish with crushed Skor or Heath bar right before serving.  


Eat several large servings!  Enjoy!

*Note, you can mix it up with different kinds of pudding, add hot fudge, nuts, or fruit!