Grilled Salmon with Strawberry Mango Salsa

I found a new website, Notakeout.  It has a lot of quick recipes with detailed prep information and shopping lists for each menu.  I chose the grilled salmon.  The marinade just has 4 ingredients and the salmon just has to marinade 10 minutes.  Light the charcoal, make the marinade; put half  on the salmon for 10 minutes.  Place on hot grill for 4-5 minutes per side.  When removed, cover the with the remaining salmon and let rest for 10 minutes.  Very quick and easy.  I didn't think the salmon was very pretty, but it was very tasty.  The mustard marinade was delicious, but I think the oil could be cut some.  Now for the salsa.  I didn't actually have a recipe, but based it on a couple of different ones I've used before. It was extra good and went extremely well with the salmon.  Check out the notakeout web site for some quick ideas on fixing dinner without doing the drive thru thing.

Fruit Salsa

1/2 mango roughly chopped
6 to 8 chopped strawberries
2 chopped green onions
1 finely chopped jalapeno
1 clove minced garlic
juice of 1 lime
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
pinch of salt

Mix all ingredients lightly.  Let stand 10 minutes for flavors to blend.  Add additional jalapeno if more heat is needed.

Grilled Salmon

Directions

1 side fresh salmon, boned but skin on (about 3 pounds)

Ingredients

For the marinade:

nocoupons

• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 3 tablespoons good soy sauce
• 6 tablespoons good olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

Light charcoal briquettes in a grill and brush the grilling rack with oil to keep the salmon from sticking.
While the grill is heating, lay the salmon skin side down on a cutting board and cut it crosswise into 4 equal pieces. Whisk together the mustard, soy sauce, olive oil, and garlic in a small bowl. Drizzle half of the marinade onto the salmon and allow it to sit for 10 minutes.
Place the salmon skin side down on the hot grill; discard the marinade the fish was sitting in. Grill for 4 to 5 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish. Turn carefully with a wide spatula and grill for another 4 to 5 minutes. The salmon will be slightly raw in the center, but don't worry; it will keep cooking as it sits.
Transfer the fish to a flat plate, skin side down, and spoon the reserved marinade on top. Allow the fish to rest for 10 minutes. Remove the skin and serve warm, at room temperature, or chilled.

Graduation

J graduated from medical school on May 15 & W turned 30 on May 9th, so we had two great things to celebrate on our trip to Waco.  We got to see their new house and a lot of Waco.  It looks like a great town, I'd recommend the walk along the Brazos and the zoo. Unfortunately, we didn't get any good pictures of J graduating, we didn't see her before the ceremony and there was a terrible crush afterwards - so no photos in her regalia.

Chickasaw National Park in Oklahoma

This park is not too far off I-35 south of Oklahoma City.  If you're going that way and have time, stop in.  It's a very nice park with a lot of man-made swimming and picnicing areas.

Kindle Cover

As you may have noted in my last post, one of the things my wonderful children got me for Mother's Day was a Kindle.  They looked for a cover in Kansas City & we looked locally, but couldn't find one.  Since I was going on a trip & wanted to take the Kindle, I rummaged through my stash of material and notions and made a traveling case for it myself.  It is totally reversible and is much cuter than the black neoprene ones shown online.

A GREAT MOTHERS DAY

 

Sponge Cake with Strawberries and Whipped Cream

Generally, there are two days of the year that I won't cook for anyone else, my birthday and Mothers Day. This year is an exception. Yesterday was W's birthday, Mother's Day and the day that son A flew across the country to visit as a surprise. So W, I made you a "Foolproof Sponge Cake" from the cookbook "The New Best Recipes" from America's Test Kitchen. Filled with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. We had some sweetened strawberries to serve on the side. Your brother ate your piece and said it was delicious.

Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing and Southwestern Beef Wraps

Okay the Creamy Lime Cilantro dressing.When we lived in Topeka there was a Mexican restaurant that we liked to go to on occasion,  Casa del Sol.  It had a buffet line with sturdy Mexican ladies behind it asking you how many tacos you wanted, passing your plate on to the next lady.  It was delicious.  Anyway they had a "Verde" dressing there that was the BEST, but I've never seen it or tasted it anywhere else.  This comes close,  I think when I make it again I will put in a little more cilantro and maybe some parsley to increase the green color.  I got the recipe from a blog I like to visit  "Our Best Bites".  They are generous with their recipes and only ask that a link to their site be included.  I'm also posting another of their recipes "Southwestern Beef Wraps".  I made it the other night and took it to work for Cinco de Mayo.  It was very good, not real spicy, in fact it could be a little spicier.  A woman at work asked if it could be made with chicken & I think that would be a fabulous idea.  It would make the chicken taste like it does at our local Mexican restaurant that they use in their chicken enchiladas, burritos etc.
Our Best Bites link: 
http://www.ourbestbites.com/

Southwestern Beef Wraps

1 onion, chopped
2 1/2-ish lb. beef roast, trimmed of fat but left whole
1 heaping tsp. chili powder
1 heaping tsp. garlic powder
1 heaping tsp. cumin
1 heaping tsp. Kosher salt
2 bell peppers (you can use 2 green bell peppers or mix it up a little with red, yellow, or orange; just make sure one is green), chopped
1 14 1/2 oz. can Mexican-style diced tomatoes OR 1 can of Rotel tomatoes (regular or mild, depending on your preference)
Flour tortillas

Desired toppings

Place chopped onion in the bottom of the slow cooker.Combine seasonings in a small bowl and then rub seasoning mixture all over the roast.Place roast over onions, top with chopped peppers,and then pour the canned tomatoes on top of everything.Cook on high for 5-6 hours or low for 8-9 hours OR  start this in the morning, cook it on high until things start to boil and then cook on low until dinnertime and the meat shreds easily with two forks.  Shred meat and then serve with desired toppings!  (I actually put this on low at 10pm and it was perfectly cooked in the morning)

Creamy Lime-Cilantro Dressing

1 pack (1oz) Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix
ignore directions on the packet
1C mayo
1/2 C milk
1 lime
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 C roughly chopped cilantro
1/4 C green salsa*
hot sauce

Place milk, mayo, and ranch mix in a blender. Juice the lime in there too, you should get about 2T juice. Toss in the garlic, cilantro and green salsa. Blend 'er up. Sample it and add hot sauce to taste. Make it several hours ahead of time to allow it to thicken. 

Talapia w/Spicy Rice

Sometime a delicious dish invents itself. Last weekend I made Texas Caviar and Pico de Gallo, I ate what I wanted and Cassandra ate some, but there was just that amount left that was too much to throw away.  I had planned for fish for dinner, but saw the leftovers and decided to put them to use with my fish.  I put the Texas Caviar and Pico de Gallo together in a large skillet, added some rice and a little extra water and simmered for 10 minutes.  I then added the fish on top of the rice mixture, simmered for another 5 minutes, added the corn left over from last night & simmered for another 5 minutes.  The fish picked up the spicy flavors and the rice was perfectly done. I made two servings so I have dinner for tomorrow too.  I served it with a lettuce salad with a  Cilantro Lime Dressing  that I made. I'll save that recipe for that tomorrow.

Asparagus with Hollandaise

Something I've never had in my many years (never mind how many) is Hollandaise sauce.  I've heard about it a lot, but have never even been tempted to make it.  So since it is supposed to go perfectly with asparagus, I thought I'd give it a try.  It was pretty easy to make, but I have to say I don't think I've missed much.  I'm not going to include the recipe, but if you're interested look it up on the food network under Alton Brown.  Really it's just egg yolk with a lot of butter, a little lemon juice and cayenne mixed in.  I prefer my asapargus with just the butter, or even without butter and just a bit of olive oil. Basically I think the French just tarted up something would have been  better left alone.