Fish Tacos

I tried my hand again at fish tacos today. And I am so glad I did! Wow... and I mean wow. They were absolutely perfect! The fish was spicy and tangy while the cole slaw was cool and slightly sweet. Loved them... just loved them. I'm trying to incorporate fish into our diet. Once a week is the goal, but I'll be happy if we eat fish once a month. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've bought/made fish since being married - and that's over 5 years! Don't get me wrong... I love seafood! I order it almost every time we go to a restaurant if it's available. The problem is... fish is expensive. And some people (don't want to name any names... *cough S.D.) don't like seafood as much as I do. That's why tilapia is so great! It doesn't have a real strong fishy taste, and it's not one of the more expensive fish. Sweet Boy even liked it. So here it is... as easy as can be...

Just saute your spices in a little oil and throw in the fish. (Does that picture look upside down to anyone else? I promise it's not.)

Ahhh... now that's a beautiful sight to see. Some of you may recall in an earlier post that I tried to make my own tortillas. Well... to that I say, "I love you pre-made, no effort, non-authentic flour tortillas!" It's funny how you can gain an appreciation for something so simple after much blood, sweat, and tears (oh yes, there was blood, sweat, and tears).

Slap on a little Veganaisse infused with chopped cilantro. I hope you have Veganaisse - it is one of those "can't live withouts".

Pile on the tilapia. Oh, it's looking good!

Next is the cole slaw. I love cole slaw, and it's perfect on this taco. Make sure you make it at least 1-2 hours before dinner so it can have time to set.

Now you have a delicious little taco. Yumm...

Oh yeah... this is kind of random, but I made rice with it too. Sweet Boy loves this rice, so I make it for him.

My sister got these recipes off of allrecipes and gave them to me. I revised the tilapia a tad, but the rice is pretty much the same. The only difference there are the dried cranberries and some flaked coconut.

Fish Tacos

Cole Slaw (Most of these measurements are estimates b/c I didn't really measure - I'll try to do that next time and update it)
1/2 bag cole slaw mix
1/3 c. Veganaisse
2 T. peach soy yogurt (vanilla would also be fine, but all I had was peach)
1 T. olive oil
1 1/2 T. sugar
1 T. balsamic vinegar
pinch of salt
1/4 t. celery seeds

Mix together all ingredients, cover, and refrigerate.

Tilapia
2 T. olive oil

5 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 c. yellow onion, chopped

1/4 t. cumin

1/4 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1-2 dashes of ground red pepper
3 T. cilantro, chopped
1 lb. tilapia, cut into cubes
1 lime, juiced

Saute onion and garlic in oil over medium heat until tender. Add the rest of the spices up to cilantro and cook for 3-5 minutes. Add tilapia and cook on med-high until fish is cooked through. Turn heat to med-low, add juice from 1 lime and cook for 1 minute.

Sauce
Mix 1/4 c. veganaisse with 1 T. chopped cilantro. If desired, add a dash of ground red pepper.

Rice
1 can coconut milk (this is one of my new favorite ingredients)
1 1/4 c. water
1 t. sugar
pinch of salt
1 1/2 c. jasmine rice
dried cranberries
flaked, sweetened coconut

Mix together milk, water, sugar, and salt. Add rice and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed and rice is fluffy.

Enjoy!

Almost Molten Chocolate Cakes

Ok, so I know I lost a little credibility with some of you because of the last post. Well, I'm making up for it here! There's no veggies in these! Ever since S.D. introduced me to my first Molten Lava Chocolate Cake at Chili's, I've been in love. No no, not with S.D, I was in love with him way before that. I'm talking about the cake. Oh... it's one of those desserts that just make you giddy! Warm ooey gooey fudge spilling out of a moist spongy chocolate cake - what could be better? I don't think we've ever ordered another dessert at a restaurant if Molten Chocolate Cake is an option. Nothing can compare.

Of course, one of the things that make a molten chocolate cake, well, "molten" are all the eggs (I'm just assuming since most recipes call for 2-3 eggs plus 2-3 egg yolks). Since my Sweet Boy can't have eggs, something else had to be done. I did find 2 vegan recipes for molten cakes online. One of them has you scoop out the inside of the cake once it is baked and then fill it with the fudge - but that seemed like cheating. And the other recipe had veggies in it. Haha... it's a wonder I didn't pick that one.

So anyways, I decided to try something different. Unfortunately... it didn't work. But it was still amazingly good! It turned out to be more like that Eaglebrand Chocolate Poke Cake instead of a molten lava cake.


I made my own sweetened condensed soy milk (sounds difficult, but sooooo easy). After baking the cakes in jumbo cupcake tins I poked holes in the tops and poured my sweetened condensed milk inside the holes. Actually... it was sweetened condensed milk mixed with Hershey's syrup. Who knew Hershey's syrup was dairy free? I didn't, so good thing I had it anyways. Well, I also made my favorite fudge sauce, soy style, and used a Ziploc bag with an icing tip to pump those suckers full of fudge! I was expecting a gushing Mount Rushmore! It was more like a leaky faucet. But hey, if my faucet was leaking fudge I certainly wouldn't complain.

Ah yes, that's better. What's the point of chocolate cake without a little ice cream on top? Less is not more in this case.

You can see a slight amount of fudginess in this next picture.

I wonder if Sweet Boy liked it?

Oh yes, yes he did. He ate more than I thought he would. That was a big piece for a little guy.

Messiness all around... makes me happy!

So, even though these weren't really "Molten" Chocolate Cakes, they were definitely company-worthy, definitely unbelievable that they were dairy-free and egg-free, and definitely DE-LICIOUS!

Here's the recipe:

Almost Molten Chocolate Cakes

Vegan Chocolate Cake (I used this recipe, which was perfect http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Crazy-Cake/Detail.aspx)
2.5 c. Soy Milk
3/4 c. white granulated sugar
1/4 c. Hershey's Syrup
6 oz. semi-sweet Bakers chocolate
4 T. vegan butter
1 c. powdered sugar - sifted

Bring soy milk to a boil over med heat in saucepan and simmer uncovered until reduced to 1 cup (about 45 min-1 hour). Pour half a cup of reduced milk into another saucepan and set aside. Stir granulated sugar into original saucepan until completely dissolved. Add Hershey's syrup and refrigerate. Prepare cake as directed and pour into jumbo muffin tins. Bake at 350 degrees F for 23-26 minutes or until tops of cakes spring back when lightly touched. Meanwhile prepare fudge by adding chocolate and butter to remaining saucepan of reduced milk. Heat over med-low and stir continually until smooth. Add and stir in powdered sugar. After cakes have cooled 10-15 minutes, poke 5 holes in each cake with the end of a wooden spoon. Pour refrigerated milk mixture into holes. Scoop fudge sauce into pastry or Ziploc bag fitted with large icing tip. Stick the tip halfway into cakes and squeeze a good amount of fudge into each cake. Flip over onto plate and serve immediately. Or, keep in muffin tins and refrigerate until needed (just heat up in microwave before serving). Serve with whip cream, ice cream, or just a little powdered sugar.

***Note: I changed the serving size to 6 when making the Crazy Cake recipe - this made 4 jumbo cupcakes and I had some milk syrup and fudge sauce leftover to make about 2-4 more cakes***

Veggie Muffins!

Ok look, it's not like it sounds. They're just muffins with certain ingredients that happen to be veggies. Ok fine, it's exactly how it sounds. But they're good! And good for you! Really now, what mom isn't trying to sneak in some veggies here and there into her kids diet? Well, here's the perfect way to do it! I've experimented with it a couple of times, and these are by far the best. So, first thing's first, puree some peas with a little soy milk:

Scary isn't it? Looks like something Shrek would eat. You may not want your kids watching while you make these. There's a good chance they wont even take one bite.

After the peas are fairly smooth (there will still be a few lumps from the shells) you will mix them with some more milk, maple syrup, and wheat bran. Wheat bran has become a staple at my house - you can find it in the health food section of your grocery store.

Now, I couldn't live without the Ener-G egg replacer! I absolutely love it... I do. One day I was on http://www.egglesscooking.com/ (I really like this site) and she said that the Ener-G works better if you blend it until it's thick and use warm water. So, that's what I always do. I should do a side by side experiment to see if it really makes a big difference. Maybe one day.


Here is my blended Ener-G. I usually blend it for about 30 seconds to 1 minute. It's not really thick, but definitely thicker than just stirring.

As you can see, my food processor gets a workout with this recipe. Although my triceps could use the workout, I just pulse the carrots instead of using a grater to shred them all.

And I use the big fat baby carrots, not those skinny wimpy ones. Just wanted you to know in case somebody is crazy enough to try these veggie muffins. (Really... they're good)

So after you get everything chopped and ready, you're going to start mixing. And, where applicable, let a little guy be the helper.

He did such a good job mixing, he got to lick the spatula. Ok, so he decided to pick off the spatula instead of lick off. What can you do...

Now just fill up the muffin tin and stick it in the oven. Twenty minutes later they look something like this...

Almost makes you want to eat one doesn't it? Well, the recipe is below. I adapted it from one of my favorite muffin recipes: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Low-Fat-Blueberry-Bran-Muffins/Detail.aspx. You should try that one too... very tasty.

Veggie Muffins
1 1/2 c. wheat bran
about 3/4 c. soy milk, divided
2/3 c. frozen peas, thawed
1/4 c. maple syrup
1/2 c. apple sauce
1 egg equivalent of Ener-G egg replacer
1/3 c. brown sugar (feel free to up this to 2/3 c. if you like your muffins sweeter)
1 t. vanilla
1/2 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
12 big fat baby carrots

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and flour 12 muffin cups. Puree peas with 1/4 c. milk. Pour into liquid measuring cup and add milk to the 1 cup line. Stir in maple syrup and wheat bran. Let that sit for 10 minutes.
Whisk together all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Blend Ener-G for about 1 minute. Mix together Ener-G, apple sauce, brown sugar, and vanilla. Blend in wheat bran mixture. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients until just mixed. Fold in carrots.
Bake in preheated oven 20 minutes, or until tops spring back when lightly touched.


By the way, I do not encourage lying, but these could possibly be passed off as green apple and peach muffins just by looking at them. Depending on your child's age of course. I'm just saying...

Grandma's Brisket

Doesn't it seem like every Grandma has a recipe that is irreplaceable? A recipe that doesn't need even an ounce of tweeking? Well, my Grandma's Brisket is that recipe. I've been eating it since I was little, but every time I take that first bite my eyes light up. "Wow! This is delicious!" So naturally, when trying to decide what to make for our special Valentine's Dinner, I thought of Brisket. And it did not disappoint!

Ok now, don't judge me... but I couldn't pass these up! They were so... hmm, what's the word... Valentiney!

Yes, they are red heart-shaped glittery plates. Hahaha... you should have seen S.D.'s face when I showed them to him!

They did make a pretty little plate for my Sweet Boy. Poor little guy has to eat off heart shaped glitter plates because his mom is crazy. :)

Look at the beautiful orchid S.D. got me... I had to show it off. Hopefully I can keep it alive.

I wish I had a better picture of the Brisket, but I thought of it too late. Oh, it was so tender and perfect, all I wanted to do was EAT it... there was no time for pictures! Sweet Boy is not usually a big meat eater, but he gobbled this up! We had asparagus and potatoes with it as you can see. S.D. and I had cheesy mashed potatoes, but I always take out some potatoes for Sweet Boy right after boiling them.

Well, here's the recipe for Brisket. No, not just Brisket. The Most Delicious Brisket Ever!

Brisket

2 T. soy sauce

2 t. Worcestershire sauce

1 T. liquid smoke

1 t. garlic salt

1 t. onion salt

1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. pepper

2 T. celery seed

3-4 lb. brisket

BBQ Sauce (you have to make this BBQ Sauce with it)

6 T. brown sugar

1 c. ketchup

2 t. dry mustard

2 T. lemon juice

2 T. soy sauce

6-8 drops tabasco

Put brisket in a 9x13 pan. Combine first 8 ingredients and pour over brisket. Marinate overnight. Cover with foil and cook at 300 degrees for 3.5 hours. Scrape off seeds from top of brisket and pour off extra marinade. Spread half of BBQ sauce on top of brisket. Increase oven temperature to 350 degrees, cook covered for 1 hour.

***If you find that you like your Brisket a little more tender, then cook it at the lower temperature for 30 minutes - 1 hour longer***

Enjoy!

Valentine Oreo Balls

Here is my passion in life... dessert. Oh, how I love dessert. Especially now that I've sworn myself to only eating it twice a week (still working towards that goal... baby steps right?). It's the most fun to make, to eat, and to clean up after (licking the bowl). It's just wonderful!

Once I found out about Sweet Boy's allergies, I wasn't sure how to do dessert. Cakes, cookies, ice creams, they were all out. Then someone said those magical words I will never forget - "He can have Oreos." TaDahhh....! That was a great day.

Since then I have discovered how to make cookies, cakes, and other things he can eat. But we still love Oreos. One day I was making Oreo Balls to take to a Super Bowl party, and I thought... how could I make these for Sweet Boy? He can have the Oreos, he can have the dipping chocolate, but not the cream cheese. Then there was a light bulb moment. His soy yogurt... perfecto! And it was perfect. Dare I say even better than the cream cheese ones. So, here's what to do...

First thing's first, set aside 7 Oreos. Then crush up the rest of the pack. Try not to eat too many along the way... I know it's tempting. You can use your food processor like I did, or a ziplock bag and some elbow grease. Then stir in 4-8 oz of soy yogurt (I used a strawberry flavor and it was delicious!). I know 4-8 is a big range, but I only made a few so I didn't actually measure out the yogurt. The original recipe calls for 8 oz of cream cheese, but the yogurt has more moisture in it. Therefore, you probably wont need as much. Start out with 4 oz; if you can form it into a ball then it's good. Otherwise, add more yogurt a little at a time until it will easily form into a ball. If it gets too sticky, crush up the 7 cookies you set aside at the beginning and add them to the mixture.

Roll into 1 inch balls, form into heart shapes, and freeze for 5 minutes. In the meantime, melt some chocolate for dipping as directed on the package . Obviously I used white chocolate for these hearts, but only because I was taking them to people. If they were for Sweet Boy then I would use Bakers Semi-Sweet Chocoalte or a vegan chocolate.

After the hearts are done chilling, dip them in your melted chocolate using a spoon. Shake off the extra choclate and place on wax paper. After they harden you are ready to enjoy. Okay, so if you're like me you wont wait until they harden. Mmm... delicious. Now they are ready to package and give away as a cute valentine.

Guacamole with a side of Frazzled

So, it was a typical night. Sweet Boy screaming at the top of his lungs through the whole dinner making process (I hope this is just a phase) while trying to decide whether he wants to be in the high chair eating bits and pieces of dinner as they become available, or on the floor scurrying around my feet in hopes that I'll quit making dinner and come play with him. Then there's me - at least one finger bleeding from a knife slip, flour and food bits down the front of my good sweater because I want S. Dear (hubby) to think I wear normal clothes at least once in a while, and wishing I had picked an easier/quicker meal. The only word for it is... "Frazzled." I don't know why I feel the need to make things more difficult than they should be. It all started with flour tortillas.

Yes, I know... it looks like a cross between a fat elephant and Africa. Well, that's what I see anyways.

I didn't have any flour tortillas to make fish tacos, but I had to make fish tacos to use up the Tilapia in the fridge. I could have just baked the fish or cooked them in the skillet, but fish tacos sounded so good. Therefore, I had to make my own tortillas from scratch. The irony of it is, I went to the grocery store later that day. Could have picked up tortillas, but I had already decided to make them from scratch. So it was going to happen! And... there it is...

My sad little taco that was way too much effort for so little enjoyment.

Don't get me wrong, making the tortillas was easy enough and definitely tasted better than store bought. However, they were just too time consuming for a screaming baby. Oh well... guess we will go back to making quick fix meals. Haha... I say that every night.

I was going to post the recipe for fish tacos, but they need some doctoring up a bit. I just wasn't a big fan (sorry sis). But, here is where I got the recipe for tortillas in case anyone is brave enough to try them. Really, they are quite easy.

And here was my favorite thing about dinner...!

Mmmm......... guacamole......... Mmmm.......... I love it. I didn't used to like guacamole, but I LOVE this one. Try it, you'll like it. The only thing I change about this recipe is that I use half the amount of salt called for. Definitely one of my favs on allrecipes.com.

Enjoy!

Crazy Easy BBQ Chicken Pizza

Well, there it is... isn't it wonderful!?! I get so excited when I make something for Sweet Boy (a.k.a. my baby) that actually looks like the real thing! It was pretty darn tasty too. There is a definite trick in getting that vegan cheese to melt - you have to put foil over it for the last 5-10 minutes. Also, the pizza crust was not wanting to get brown on the bottom, so I stuck it on the bottom rack for 5 minutes at the end and that seemed to do the trick. Other than that, it was as simple as can be. Unroll the dough, slap on some sauce and toppings, and stick it in the oven. I even used canned chicken - I know, I know... yuck right? Well, there's a way to make it edible. (Recipes below)

I also made one of Sweet Boy's favorites - Roasted Sweet Potatoes. Yum... he and I can finish off a whole cookie sheet full of these. The side that touches the pan gets all caramelized and crispy. We like ours really caramelized. Slightly burnt caramelized. It's like... when you're roasting a marshmallow and it catches on fire, and then it has the outer skin that's all burnt and crispy. Ohhh, those are the best kind right?! Well, if you're like my Dear (hubby) and don't like burnt marshmallows then you better just cook them at a lower temperature. Or you can flip them over halfway through the cooking process. But you should try the burnt way at least one time. :)

Sweet Boy really liked the pizza, and he always likes the sweet potatoes. All in all it was a successful dinner (which are sometimes few and far between). Not a scrap of food left - a clean tray is always a good sign. No, wait... there it is...

That's more like it. It wouldn't be dinner without some food on the floor. :) At least he ate most of it.

And at least he eats it off the floor later (after dunking it in the spilled milk of course)! Seriously, I think boys are programmed to do gross things. And no, I don't really let him eat off the floor - not frequently anyways.

Crazy Easy BBQ Chicken Pizza

Can of pizza dough (I used Pillsbury)

Favorite BBQ sauce 2-3 T.

Italian Dressing

12.5 oz. can of chicken

Bush's Baked Beans (optional)

Vegan Mozzarella Cheese (I used Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet)

Pineapple tidbits (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Grease cookie sheet with cooking spray. Roll out dough onto cookie sheet and spread out with you hands (the more you spread it the thinner the crust will be). Poke with fork all over and put dough in preheated oven for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat Italian dressing in nonstick skillet over Med-High heat and add chicken. Let it sit and cook until that one side of the chicken is browned (I always like to do this with canned meats - otherwise they're too watery). Flip it over and turn off heat. Take out pizza dough and spread on BBQ sauce. Then layer chicken, beans (I know it sounds weird, but I wanted to beef it up a bit for Sweet Boy - it turned out good surprisingly), cheese, pineapple. Return pizza to oven and cook until sides and bottom of crust are browned (10-15 minutes). Cover with foil for the last 5 minutes to melt cheese.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Sweet Potatoes

Olive Oil

Salt (to taste)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Cut sweet potatoes into 1.5 inch cubes. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, toss together and spread out on cookie sheet. Cook in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until tender and desired caramelization is achieved.