Oven-Grilled Tuna Steaks

This summer I did something I don't usually do, because of an utter lack of self control. I indulged in beer. Omigoodness I love beer. And not crap light beer but really good craft beer. By the beginning of August, I was ready to be done and start living cleaner. So the husband, who also loves the craft beers, and I have been eating healthier.

It's boring in a way — OK, in a lot of ways. But we have learned to appreciate some simple dishes that we never made at home. Like oven-grilled tuna steaks. Even our kids love these (who knew?), so this dinner has become a new go-to Chez George.

XOXO,
Amy

Oven-Grilled Tuna Steaks
3-4 half-pound tuna steaks
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper
Fresh herbs of your choosing

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray baking sheet or inside of grill pan with non-stick spray.

Mix together lemon juice and olive oil with a fork. Brush the lemon juice and olive oil mixture over each side of each tuna steak. Salt and pepper each side. Sprinkle herbs (I used rosemary) to each side. Bake for four to six minutes per half inch of thickness, or until fish begins to flake when test with a fork but is still pink in the center. I have found sticking closer to the four-minute mark is best.

Serve with a steamed vegetable or salad for a really healthy dinner.

Slow Cooker Fish Tacos

I love fish tacos and on a recent 80-degree November day (gotta love Fall in Charlotte!) they seemed like an excellent idea for dinner Chez George. I'd bookmarked California-Style Fish Tacos in my America's Test Kitchen Healthy Slow Cooker Revolution and followed it nearly to a T. And what the halibut?! They were gooood!

XOXO,

Amy

Slow Cooker Fish Tacos

Based largely upon America's Test Kitchen Healthy Slow Cooker Revolution

Yields 12 tacos

4 limes (1 1/2 sliced 1/4 inch thick, plus 3 tablespoons juice and lime wedges for serving)

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1-2 tablespoons minced canned chipotle chile in adobe sauce (just the liquid part)

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

Salt and pepper

4 (6-ounce) skinless halibut fillets, 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick (can be fresh or frozen; if frozen, thaw ahead of time)

1/2 small head of cabbage, cored and sliced (use slicer setting on food processor) or buy a bag of already slice cabbage. (You want 4 cups.)

6 tablespoons fresh cilantro, minced

3 scallions, sliced thin

1/4 cup light mayonnaise

1/4 cup low-fat sour cream

2 garlic cloves minced

12 (6-inch) corn or flour tortillas, warmed (I prefer corn.)

Fold sheet of aluminum foil into a large sling that covers the bottom of your slow cooker across the long width of your slow cooker. You want there to be extra foil at the ends to grab when it comes time to remove the fish. Arrange lime slices in single layer on the bottom of the slow cooker. Add water (about 1/2 cup) until it is level with the lime slices.

Microwave 2 teaspoons oil, 2 teaspoons chipotle juice, coriander, cumin, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper until fragrant, about 30 seconds and let cool slightly. Lightly dab halibut with paper towel to remove excess water, especially if thawed from frozen. Rub one side of each fillet with spice mixture and then place (spiced side up) on top of lime slices. Cook on low for 1 to 2 hours. You will know when the halibut is done, because it flakes when a prodded with a paring knife and the internal temperature registers 140 degrees. (I could tell by just looking and prodding; didn't need to use a meat thermometer.)

While fish is cooking, combine cabbage, 1/4 cup cilantro, scallions, 2 tablespoons lime juice, remaining 1 teaspoon oil  and 1/4 teaspoon salt in bowl. Place in fridge until ready to serve.

And in separate bowl, combine mayonnaise, sour cream garlic, remaining 1 tablespoon lime juice, 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons chipotle sauce and remaining 2 tablespoons cilantro. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Place in fridge until ready to serve.

Gently lift foil sling from slow cooker and transfer place on cutting board. Lift fish fillets from the limes. Cut each fillet into 3 equal pieces. Spread sauce evenly onto warm tortillas, top with fish and cabbage and serve with lime wedges.

If your crew can't eat 12 tacos at dinner, just know that that this dish holds up for leftovers.

Slow Cooker Mediterranean Fish Stew

I've been trying to find new, easy ways to cook fish, so the slow cooker naturally comes to mind. Readers, this is my new favorite easy-to-do fish dish. I love the mix of seasonings -- garam masala, paprika, cayenne pepper for heat and saffron for mellow.

Your kitchen will smell like a combo North African, Italian and Spanish restaurant. Your husband, who is supposed to be eating more fish and watching his cholesterol, will tell you this stew is merely OK. But you won't care. He's wrong and besides that means easy leftover lunches for you.

XOXO,
Amy

Slow Cooker Mediterranean Fish Stew
Adapted from America's Test Kitchen's Healthy Slow Cooker Revolution

2 onions, chopped fine
2 tablespoons tomato paste
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons garam masala
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 (13-15 ounces each) cans artichoke hearts, with artichokes cut in half length-wise so that juice runs out; then pat with paper towels or clean dish towel so they are less wet
2 cups chicken broth (I prefer reduced sodium)
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained (I prefer no salt added)
1/4 cup dry white wine
Pinch of saffron
1 1/2 pounds cod fillets, 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick, cut into 2-inch pieces
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, chopped coarse
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced (optional)

Microwave onions, tomato paste, garam masala, paprika, cayenne and olive oil, stirring occasionally, until onions are softened, about 5 minutes. Transfer to slow cooker.

Add in rest of ingredients in list, down to and including the saffron. Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours or on high for 3-5 hours.

When time is up on the slow cooker, your kitchen will smell amazing. Add in fish and olives and cook on high until cod falls apart when gently prodded with a fork -- about 30-35 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

Salmon Penne in Vodka Sauce

Dinner doesn't have to be hard. There are days when I like to go all out and whip up a new dish or two and then there are days when I want to have wine for dinner, but to quote my 9- and 7-year-old daughters, "that's not appropriate." What I am saying is that sometimes I just want to get dinner on the table fast. In the end, it really is about eating together as a family.

God bless short cuts and leftovers. Several of my favorite short cuts -- or cheats, as I call them -- come from Trader Joe's. You already know some of my TJ's creations -- from my posts about Cheater Crockpot Chicken Curry and Easy Yellow Curry Shrimp Pasta. I serve those dishes over another TJ's cheat -- the microwaveable organic jasmine rice.

Salmon Penne in Vodka Sauce is another Trader Joe's dish of mine. I often make this dish for meatless Lenten Fridays, as I did last week.

I use the Trader Giotto's Organic Vodka Sauce. I've tried other brands, but this is my favorite, because it has chunks of tomatoes in it and it's not as fatty as its peers. I also get the salmon for this dish from TJ's -- the silver brite salmon found in  the freezer case.

You know what's funny? Whenever I make my Trader Joe's short-cut meals, I always envision myself scooping little tastes into white paper cups and handing them out at the sample counter.

XOXO,
Amy

Salmon Penne in Vodka Sauce

1 1/2 pounds salmon, cooked and then chipped away from skin in medium-sized hunks
2 jars (25 ounces each) of vodka sauce
1/2 to 2 pounds penne, cooked just slightly al dente and drained
Sea salt

Put salmon flesh side down in a glass dish sprayed with Pam. Cook salmon in 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes. It will look opaque and there will be liquid at the bottom of the pan. Cook for too long and the fish will look dried out and there will be no juice in the pan.

Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions.

When the salmon is done, use two forks to chip it away from the skin. Don't shred it. You want some nice-sized hunks of fish.

Mix together the salmon and sauce and allow to warm through for several minutes. Add penne pasta to the sauce and stir all together.

Serve salmon penne in vodka sauce, topped with sea salt to taste, alongside a green vegetable or salad.

This recipe yields a lot of salmon penne. I'm talking two dinners and several lunches for four. I like leftovers, which can be kept in the fridge for a week or frozen. My kids like to eat these leftovers in their school lunch.

If you are not into leftovers, what's wrong with you? Kidding. If you are not into leftovers, simply cut the above recipe in half.

Dungeness Crab

Last week, the husband, our boy and I took a little trip to San Juan Island. It's a short car and ferry boat trip from our new digs in Seattle. It's incredibly beautiful and relaxing...the perfect place to unwind after a cross-country move.

One of our adventures while we were there was catching Dungeness crab. It was entertaining and hilarious. Little crabs scampering all over the boat with our son giggling like a maniac and me trying to keep their pinchers from my toes and the husband trying to wrangle them into the cooler. And it was delicious, too. At the end of our crabbing, we had pile of fresh seafood for dinner. Glory be.

Interested in crab catching fun? This is how our day went down...

After securing a fishing license (let's stay out of trouble, now), our first step was baiting the crab trap (with stinky frozen salmon heads) and tossing it into the water. This was trickier than it seemed. You have to be strategic with where you leave your trap...if the water is too shallow, you'll end up catching rock crab instead of Dungeness. Not bad, but not ideal. If the water is too deep, you'll lose your trap. And then you're out a bunch of money and you have no crab. Lame.

At this point you need to exercise some patience. Your trap needs to sit in the water waiting for those little crabby crabs to wander in. So read a book, bake some cookies, take a hike, whatever. Just leave the trap. We left ours for about 12 hours.

Once your patience is exhausted, it's time to sail out to your trap and haul in your catch. Well, hopefully you have a catch. You could have a whole lot of nothin', but let's focus on the positive. (Our first day, we only ended up with one rock crab that was big enough to keep. So don't feel bad if you don't have a ton of crabs. Day two was much more fruitful.)

Pull up your trap and get your ruler ready. Dungeness crabs need to be at least 6 1/4" or you have to toss them back in. And they need to be male crabs, too. The ladies get to keep on swimmin'. Also keep in mind that you can only hang on to five crabs. So gather the big boys and pop them in a cooler for the boat ride back to land.

There are a couple ways to put the poor crabs out of their misery. Some people boil them alive, but we prefer to chop them in half with a well-placed shovel blow to end it all quickly. Then scoop out the guts and gills and use a hose to spray the crabs clean.

Now fill a big, giant pot with suuuuper salty water and get that baby boiling. If you're really serious, use this bad boy:

Carefully drop the crabs into the pot. Once the water returns to a boil, set your timer for 15 minutes. When the time is up, use tongs to remove the crabs from the water.

Place the crabs in ice water for a few minutes so they stop cooking. Once the crabs are cool enough to handle...dinner is served! There are plenty of things you can do with the crab, but when it was swimming in the ocean minutes earlier, we like to eat it simply with melted butter and a squeeze of lemon.

Forget cooking...let's get crabbing!
Erin

Teriyaki Glazed Salmon

Tell me I'm not alone in this: You have a plan for dinner. You are positive, 100% positive, that you have all the ingredients on hand. You consider going to the grocery store, but, no. You're really, really sure you've got everything. Once you're preparing the meal, however, you realize you're missing one of the key ingredients. So. Annoying.

That's what happened when I went to make this salmon, and I was peeved. The original recipe called for hoisin sauce. I usually have a bottle open in my fridge and two in the cupboard because every time it goes on sale I think, "Well, gee! I think I need some hoisin sauce!" So I stock up. Until I actually need it. Doggone hoisin sauce.

Anyway I made a quick switcheroo and used teriyaki instead. The substitution worked wonderfully and my salmon was glazed with a golden, slightly sweet crust. I propped it up on a pillow of sticky rice and served some edamame on the side.

Give Teriyaki Glazed Salmon a try. But if you're fresh out of teriyaki sauce, just go ahead and use hoisin. And let me know how it is!

Teriyaki Glazed Salmon
Serves: 4
Adapted from: Simply Recipes

2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
4 6-ounce salmon fillets

In a small bowl, whisk together teriyaki sauce, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, and ginger. Place salmon in a baking dish or a Ziploc baggie. Pour marinade over salmon and turn to coat. Allow to marinate a few minutes or up to an hour.

Heat the broiler to high. Adjust the oven rack so it's about 6" away from the heating element. Line a broiler-safe (not glass!) pan with aluminum foil and place salmon on the foil. Drizzle marinade over salmon. Broil salmon for about 10 minutes, until it flakes easily with a fork. (Real life cooking here: I can adjust my oven rack so it's 4" or 8" away from the broiler. I put it 8" away for 10 minutes then moved it closer for 2 minutes, to help the top caramelize. Worked like a charm.)

Fish Tacos with Chipotle Coleslaw

Steamy summer weather begs for a light dinner. Preferably one you can make on the grill. These fish tacos are perfect after a day spent lounging by the pool, sipping pina coladas at the beach, or traversing the town on your bicycle.

But they're also perfect after a day crunching numbers at your desk, when your ledger was illuminated by the ghastly glow of fluorescent tube lights. Where your office dress code dictated that closed-toed pumps and (gasp!) pantyhose hid your pedicure.

So roll your windows down on your commute home tonight. Crank up the summer jams and wear your shades.

Fish tacos will remind you that summer is really here.

Fish Tacos with Chipotle Coleslaw
Serves: 4
Coleslaw adapted from Centsational Girl

8 corn tortillas
1/4 cup low fat mayonnaise
1/4 cup low fat sour cream
2 limes, divided (You need the juice from the first lime and slice the second lime into wedges for serving.)
1/2 teaspoon adobo sauce (from a can of chipotle chiles in adobo)*
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, plus extra cilantro for serving
1 teaspoon agave (or substitute honey)
Salt
14 ounces coleslaw mix (The bag of shredded cabbage, carrots, etc. Feel free to shred your own if you're so inclined.)
1 1/2 pounds tilapia fillets
Chili powder
Olive oil
Guacamole, for serving

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Wrap tortillas in foil and pop them in the oven for about 10 minutes, until tortillas are soft and pliable. (You can also heat the tortillas in the microwave or on the grill if you prefer.)

In a medium bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, sour cream, the juice from 1 lime, adobo sauce, chopped cilantro, agave, and salt to taste. Stir in the coleslaw mix. Refrigerate until you're ready to serve.

Heat your grill (or a grill pan if your gas grill is out of gas...sigh) to medium high. Meanwhile shake a bit of salt and chili powder on both sides of the tilapia. No need to measure. Just sprinkle the seasoning on until it looks good to you. Drizzle the tilapia with olive oil so it doesn't stick and then grill for about 3 minutes on each side, until the fish flakes easily with a fork. Flake the fish into big chunks and set onto a platter for serving.

Let everyone build their own tacos. I like to load my tortilla with fish, coleslaw, a generous squeeze of lime, and a few leaves of cilantro.

*If you like things spicy, feel free to chop up a bit of the actual chipotle chile and stir it into the coleslaw. I'm a bit of a spice wimp, so I skipped it.

Baked Honey Dijon Salmon

The husband is a salmon purist. He likes it with lemon pepper and butter. So when I told him that I was making salmon with Dijon mustard and honey, he was dubious.

When he took a tentative bite of his dinner, he looked at me with surprise. Good surprise. And he took another bite. "This is good! Really good!" And he polished off every last crumb.

By the way, do you know what else Baked Honey Dijon Salmon is besides really good? Really easy.

Let's make dinner.
--Erin

Baked Honey Dijon Salmon
Adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything
Serves: 4

2 tablespoons butter, melted
1.5 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup very finely chopped pecans
Salt and pepper
4 salmon fillets

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.

In a small bowl, mix together butter, honey, and mustard. In a separate bowl, mix together bread crumbs, pecans, and salt and pepper.

Place salmon in prepared baking dish and evenly divide mustard mixture among the fillets. Use a spoon to spread the mustard mixture to the edges of the fillets so they're totally covered. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture over the salmon.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

Tuna Salad with Tangy Zip

The husband and I were watching Breaking Bad the other day.

Do you watch Breaking Bad, by the way? I think it's on AMC. (All I really know is that it's on the TiVo, and that's what matters.) I have a theory about Breaking Bad: You're either a Skylar fan or a Walt fan. I think Walt is cuckoo, and Skylar should kick him to the curb. The husband thinks Skylar is a nagging jerkface and Walt should ditch her. So, I'm curious. If you watch Breaking Bad, let me know in the comment section if you're on Team Skylar or Team Walt. Thank you.

Back to the matter at hand...

We were watching Breaking Bad, and for some reason one of the characters (Hank, I believe) mentioned Miracle Whip. The Miracle Whip comment was not instrumental to the plot at all, but he said it. And I could not stop thinking about Miracle Whip. Specifically, tuna noodle salad made with Miracle Whip. Thanks for that, Hank.

So I made Tuna Salad with Tangy Zip. It was all I hoped and more.

Tuna Salad with Tangy Zip
Serves: 4 as a main dish

1.5 cups uncooked small pasta (I used rotini.)
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 cup carrots sliced 1/8" thick
1 cup cucumbers quartered and sliced 1/8" thick
7 ounce can tuna, drained and flaked
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup Miracle Whip
1/4 cup mayonnaise
Salt and pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta according to package directions until al dente. Once it's finished cooking, rinse the pasta under cold water until it's cooled. (If I'm serving the tuna salad right away, I like to put the pasta in the fridge while I'm chopping the veggies so it can keep cooling down. Warm-ish pasta in tuna salad creeps me out.)

In a large bowl, combine the cooled, cooked pasta with peas, carrots, cucumbers, tuna, and basil. Stir in the Miracle Whip and mayonnaise. If it seems too dry, stir in a little bit more Miracle Whip and mayonnaise until it feels right to you. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Note: If you make Tuna Salad with Tangy Zip the night before you serve it, you might need to add more Miracle Whip and mayo right before serving. Sometimes pasta soaks up the dressing while it sits in the fridge.

Salmon with Dill Cream Sauce

I spent last week in San Francisco, home of the Lady of the House and one of my all-time favorite cities. Most of my time was spent in meetings for work, but I made sure I had some fun, too. A certain Lady brought me to fabulous SPQR where we toasted friendship with generous pours of prosecco and piles of pasta. And I brought back a little treat for the husband, which he is enjoying as I type: a homemade chocolate peanut butter cup from Z. Cioccolato in North Beach. It has flaky sea salt sprinkled on top. It was a good present.

After a week of non-stop action, I'm having a lazy day. I'm refusing to change out of my sweatpants. I wrote Christmas cards, read my book-of-the-moment, and watched football with the husband. I reveled in the Christmas lights strung about my home sweet home. As delightful as my visit to San Francisco was, I love being home.

Even on the laziest of lazy days, this fancy-enough-for-company salmon is wonderfully doable. It's easy, my dear readers. Sweatpants easy.

Salmon with Dill Cream Sauce
Serves: 4

1.5 pounds salmon fillet
Salt and pepper
Lemon pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup sour cream
1 lemon, halved
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place salmon on a baking sheet, skin-side down. Sprinkle with salt and lemon paper to taste (I'm pretty generous with both), and drizzle with olive oil. Bake salmon in preheated oven for 10-15 minutes until the fish flakes easily with a fork. Squeeze juice from half of the lemon over the cooked salmon.

While salmon is cooking, stir together sour cream, juice from the remaining lemon half, and dill. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (This will probably be more sauce than you need, but you can store the leftovers in the fridge and serve with sliced veggies the next day.) Serve salmon with creamy dill sauce sauce.

A Dinner Recipe from Lady of the House!

It's probably no surprise that I have a thing for parchment paper. I love the zing it makes as you rip it from the roll, the crisp folds it allows, and there's nothing quite like its sweet smell while it toasts in the oven. The other night I had a few fillets of salmon and some vegetables that were on their way out, so I reached for my parchment paper.

This one's easy, and you'll have a really lovely meal in no time.

Here's what you'll need...

-salmon fillet(s)

-zucchini

-carrot

-ginger

-scallion (spring/green onion--whatever you call it) 1/2 per fillet

-red skin potatoes (about 2-3 per fillet)

-fresh sprig of parsley

-fresh sprig of tarragon

-white wine (whatever's in the fridge or cheap at the store will do)

-salt & pepper

-parchment paper

And here's how to do it...

First we need to get the potatoes chopped, drizzled with a bit of oil, salted and peppered and popped in the oven at 425 for a good 20 minutes. Make certain to check on them at the half way mark, and give them a toss so they cook evenly.

Next, prep your other ingredients. Chop the tarragon and parsley finely. (You'll need just a healthy sprinkle per fillet.) Peel the carrot, then chop it in half and cut it into thin strips. Same with the zucchini, but leave the skin on. Peel the ginger, and aim for about 6 little strips per fillet. With the ginger you're cutting discs, then strips. Ya dig? Half, then quarter lengthwise the scallion. Think LONG and skinny with all these vegetables. They have to fit in the suitcase.

Ding ding! The potatoes are done and the kitchen smells ah-mazing! Grab those guys and set them aside.

Take each fillet individually, and skin them if you didn't manage to get the frazzled fish monger at your grocery store to do it for you already. Fetch the parchment paper, and "zing" a sheet per fillet. Take your sheet (about an 18 inch tear) and fold it in half. Wiggle the fillet in that fold.

Grab your veggies and pile them atop the fillet. Don't forget the potatoes, salt and pepper, and fresh herbs--this is a complete meal in one little parcel. Do your best to get three sides of the parcel stable and packed, then grab the white wine and give it a drizzle. Then fold, fold, fold so everything's sealed and safe. (As you can see from my photo, I made sure to sample the white. It's only wise! And the chef deserves a tipple, eh?)

Hopefully you left the oven on. Pop your parcel in at 425, just on a cookie sheet, and wait about 20 minutes. When you smell the salmon, and that sweet toasted parchment paper, you'll know they're ready. Unwrap the steamy goodness and plop it on the plate. Enjoy!

xoxo

{ Lady of the House }

Pan Seared Tilapia with Lemon & Browned Butter

When I made glazed tilapia recently, I thought it was really tasty. "Oh, man, this is so good. Absolutely delicious. Wow. I mean, the combo of the fish and the sauce...Oh, man. Mmm. Geez, this is good." Maybe I should have toned down my ooh-ing and aah-ing, because the husband wasn't quite as enamored as I was.

"Well, I think I'm more of a tilapia-seared-in-butter kind of guy," he said.

Fair. The man likes his fish crispy and buttery. I can handle that. I'll still force him to endure glazed tilapia sometimes (because it really was awesome), but I felt challenged to create a husband-approved dinner.

Not being one to back down from a food challenge, I snagged two more tilapia fillets and set to work.  Flour and butter made it crispy, lemon added a bit of pizzazz. The husband seemed to enjoy this new tilapia very much. When I asked him for a quote to confirm its excellence, he said, "So you can put it on your blog and embarrass me?" Then he paused. I'm pretty sure he realized I held the tilapia recipe as leverage. "But it was flaky and good," he conceded.

He must really love me to let me embarrass him like this.

Pan Seared Tilapia with Lemon & Browned Butter
Serves: 2

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tilapia fillets, about 6 ounces each
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablepsoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Heat oil in a non-stick pan over medium high heat. Season tilapia with salt and pepper. Dust with flour and pat off excess. Add tilapia to the pan and saute for about 4 minutes, until the first side has a golden brown crust. Flip tilapia and saute for 3-4 minutes longer, until the second side has a golden brown crust. Add butter to the pan. Wait until the foaming and bubbling subsides, then add the lemon juice and parsley. Swirl the pan to combine. Plate the fish and pour the pan sauce over it to serve.

Dill Tuna Salad

In Milwaukee, we're expecting weather in the 90's for the next few days. And I've heard that many of you in other parts of the country are sweating even more. Now, don't get me wrong, I loooooove hot weather, but I'm not into heating up my kitchen when it feels enough like an oven outside.

That's when I turn to easy, fast favorites like tuna salad. Sounds boring, right? Well, it's just not. Forget the staid salad of your past; stir in a smidge of dill from the herb pot on your back porch. Squeeze in a little lemon to brighten things up. Oh, and you say you've got some snap peas from the farmer's market? Well, wouldn't a pop of green be lovely mixed with your tuna?

The recipe below is the tuna salad I came up with based on the ingredients at my house. Don't have dill? Switch to parsley. And maybe you need to make room in your freezer for another carton of Ben & Jerry's. If that's the case, feel free to toss in some (thawed) frozen peas instead of the snap peas. ('Cause nothing cools you off quite like ice cream.)

Give this recipe a whirl, or make your own rendition. And let us know how it turns out over on our Facebook page!

Dill Tuna Salad
Serves: 4

2 cups snap peas, trimmed and sliced in thirds
2 cups cooked and cooled small pasta (such as bow-tie pasta)
1 (6-7 ounce) can tuna
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
Zest from one lemon
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Salt and pepper

Bring about 6 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Meanwhile, fill a separate bowl with very cold water and ice cubes. Place the snap peas in the boiling water for 1.5 minutes, until they turn bright green. Immediately transfer the snap peas to the ice water and allow them to cool. Once cooled, drain the snap peas.

In a large bowl, combine cooked and cooled snap peas, pasta, and tuna.

In a separate bowl, mix together mayo, sour cream, dill, lemon zest, and lemon juice.

Add to the bowl with the pasta and stir gently to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Glazed Tilapia

Now that the weather is nice, I'd rather be outside doing something productive reading a book on the porch than spending hours and hours on dinner. So, you may notice some super-speedy recipes these days. That, or really short blog posts.

Anyhow, this glazed tilapia was born out of the need for speed. These ingredients are all things I keep on hand, so it didn't require a special trip to the grocery store.  And the double bonus was this: since I was only making two tilapia fillets, I had extra glaze leftover. So, I boiled up some angel hair pasta (that stuff cooks at the speed of light), and stirred in 1-2 tablespoons of glaze and a few drops of pasta cooking water. Et voila! A side dish.

Sigh. How I love cooking quickly.

P.S. Don't forget to comment on Lady's post from Wednesday to win a gorgeous handmade guest book! It's the perfect gift for your favorite hostess...or yourself.

Glazed Tilapia 
Serves: 4

1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 teaspoon dried ginger
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon lime juice
Pinch of red pepper flakes
4 tilapia fillets, about 1" thick each
Salt and pepper

Combine brown sugar, soy sauce, hoisin, ginger, garlic, lime juice, and red pepper flakes in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until thickened, 15 minutes. Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to the highest setting and preheat the broiler. Sprinkle tilapia with salt and pepper and brush with the glaze.  Broil for about 7-8 minutes, until fish is cooked through. Brush with additional glaze before serving.

Balsamic Tuna Salad

The husband had a work function, so I was on my own when dinner time rolled around. Inspired by the gorgeous, summery weather in Wisconsin (and, let's be honest, the stuff I had in my fridge and cupboards), I decided to make myself a little tuna salad.

I threw some stuff in a bowl, and greedily scarfed it down while I watched some high-quality television (in other words, DVR'ed episodes of Real Housewives of Orange County). When I was darn near finished, I had a revelation, "Holy cow! This is awesome!" And I meant the food, not the high-quality television. Although that was awesome, too. "I need to post the recipe on Hot Dinner Happy Home! People should eat this!"

So, I took a picture of my mostly-eaten dinner with my camera phone. I have no shame.

Balsamic Tuna Salad

Serves: 1 hungry person (ahem, me)

1/2 cup cooked small pasta (I like farfalle)

1/4 cup flaked tuna

1/2 sweet red pepper, diced

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

1.5 tablespoons really good balsamic vinegar

1 small tomato, diced

2 tablespoons chopped basil

Salt and pepper

Combine pasta, tuna, and red pepper in a bowl. Drizzle with oil and vinegar and stir to combine. Gently stir in tomato and basil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stuff your face while watching Real Housewives of Orange County.

Tuna Noodle Casserole

Just a few days ago, I was discussing the gorgeous, sunny, warm weather in Milwaukee. Well, this is Spring. I shouldn't have been surprised when the weather forecast dipped back to the 40's. Sigh.

With the return of the clouds and cold came my craving for a cozy dinner. Enter Tuna Noodle Casserole. Not that I'm knocking a handy can of Campbell's, but this isn't your standard mushroom soup meal. This is from scratch goodness.

If Spring is sticking around in your town, keep enjoying those salads. But if, like me, you're drowning in April showers, Tuna Noodle Casserole might be just what you need.

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Tuna Noodle Casserole
Adapted from allrecipes.com
Serves: 6

4 tablespoons butter, divided
8 ounces egg noodles
1/2 onion, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 ounces baby portobello mushrooms, chopped
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
Salt and pepper
2 (6- or 7-ounce) cans tuna, drained and flaked
2 cups frozen peas, thawed
3 tablespoons bread crumbs
3/4 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 baking dish with cooking oil spray.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add egg noodles and cook until a dente, about 8 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and saute for 5 minutes, until onion is softened. Add mushrooms, increase heat to medium-high and cook for another 5 minutes, until the mushrooms are tender.  Transfer onion and mushroom mixture to a small bowl.

Add 2 tablespoons butter to the now-empty skillet. Once butter is melted, whisk in the flour for 1-2 minutes. Very slowly, whisk in the milk. Stirring frequently, continue to cook until the mixture is thickened and smooth, about 5 minutes. (When you pull a spatula through the sauce, it will leave a trail behind in the pan. See blurry picture below.) Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Combine cooked noodles, onion and mushroom mixture, sauce, tuna, and peas. Pour into the prepared baking dish.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter and combine with breadcrumbs and cheese. Sprinkle on top of the casserole. Bake for 20 minutes, until lightly browned.

Tilapia with Oranges and Olives

The husband requested tilapia for dinner the other day. Because I bought a bushel of oranges at Costco recently, I thought I'd bake the tilapia in foil packets with orange slices on top. I wanted to add some flair, and I had this idea in my mind that oranges and olives would be a good combination. So, some chopped Kalamata olives went into the packets, too. When I opened up the foil, a wave of orange-y steam smacked me in the face.  I liked it. I thought the fish tasted pretty darn good, too.

The husband, on the other hand...not so much.

He looked up at me with his beautiful, brown eyes, and said, "This isn't how you made it last time, was it?"

Uh oh.

After some fact-finding questions, I discovered that the husband doesn't like baked oranges. And the combo of oranges and olives really weirded him out. Well, you live, you learn. No more savory oranges for the husband.

But I'm curious, readers. What about you? Was I crazy with my orange-olive combo?

Tilapia with Oranges and Olives
Serves:2

2 tilapia fillets
Salt and pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced shallot
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 teaspoon orange zest
2 tablespoons chopped Kalamata olives
6 thin orange slices
2 tablespoons white wine

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut two large pieces of aluminum foil to create your packets. Place one tilapia fillet on each piece of foil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Evenly divide garlic, shallot, parsley, orange zest, and olives between the two packets. Top each fillet with 3 orange slices and 1 tablespoon wine. Carefully fold up the sides of the foil and crimp the top to form a packet. Place packets on a baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes, until fish flakes easily with a fork.

Pan Seared Tilapia

When the husband isn't home for dinner, I often succumb to laziness in the kitchen.  I'll make a PB&J sandwich, heat up some soup, or pour myself a bowl of cereal.  But recently, when I was dining alone at Chez Happy Home, I decided to actually cook something.

Still, I was feeling a little lazy.  So my hot dinner had to be easy.  Like REALLY easy.  And it was.  From start to finish, it took me 35 minutes.  During that time I made dinner, unloaded the dishwasher, puttered around the kitchen, took some photos, and talked to myself like I was on a cooking show.  (The husband was lucky he missed that last part.)

My main course was pan seared tilapia.  You can see a sneak peak of my side dish in the photo of the tilapia.  But you'll have to come back tomorrow to find out what it was.  For now, enjoy the first installment of dinner for one.

Pan Seared Tilapia
Serves: 1

1 tilapia fillet (6 ounces)
Salt and pepper and your favorite seasoning, if desired
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
Lemon wedges, if desired, for serving

Pat tilapia fillet dry.  Season with salt and pepper and, if desired, your favorite seasoning.  (I decided to add a bit of spice to my dinner by sprinkling my tilapia with Penzeys Chili 9000.)  Place flour in a shallow bowl or plate, and add salt, pepper, and seasoning to the flour.  Stir to combine.  Dredge tilapia in the flour to coat, then pat off excess.

Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add tilapia and cook for about 4 minutes, until you can see the opaque color come about halfway up the side of the fish.  Flip tilapia over and allow it to cook for about 1-2 minutes.  Add butter and tilt the pan so it melts under the fish.  Then, tilt the pan again so the butter pools along the edge of the pan.  Use a spoon to scoop up the butter and pour it over the top of the tilapia.  This will help flavor the top of the fish.  Plate the fish and pour any extra butter over the top of the tilapia.  If desired, serve with lemon wedges and a sprig of parsley for garnish.

Mahi Mahi with Mango Salsa

When Kelly and Cristoph came over for dinner, we made this delicious concoction to go with our Sesame Asparagus.

Cooking fish is intimidating for a lot of folks.  I know it is for me!  So, a good way to conquer the fear is to cook with friends.  If you mess up, you're all in it together, so no one has to take the blame.  And if that unlikely event does come to pass, you know my rule...pile in the car and head over to McDonald's.  Every likes McNuggets.

But, in hopes of avoiding disaster, here are a few general guidelines for cooking fish:

1. Typically, cook fish for 8-10 minutes per 1" of thickness.    
2. Raw fish is translucent; cooked fish is opaque.
3. When your fish is cooked through, it will flake easily with a fork.

Check out this article at finecooking.com for even more information on how to tell when fish is done. 

Mahi Mahi with Mango Salsa

Adapted from "An Occasion to Gather"

Serves: 4

Mahi Mahi

4 mahi mahi fillets (6 ounces each)

2 limes

3 tablespoons white wine

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

Mango Salsa

1 mango, peeled and diced

1 avocado, peeled and diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

2 tablespoons chopped red onion

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger

1/8 teaspoon hot chili sauce

In a gallon-sized Ziploc bag, combine mahi mahi, zest from one lime, juice from both limes, wine, and ginger.  Shake to coat.  Marinate fish for 30 minutes to one hour, turning occasionally.  While fish is marinating, make the salsa.  

Combine all of the salsa ingredients in a medium bowl.  (You can store salsa in the refrigerator for several hours until you're ready to serve, but add the avocado close to serving time so it doesn't turn brown.)  

Adjust oven rack to the top position and preheat broiler to high.  Place mahi mahi on a baking sheet.  Broil about 8-10 minutes per inch of thickness, until fish is opaque throughout.  Serve mahi mahi with mango salsa.