Fish Tacos

For Chelsea.  Because no one better understands a pregnancy craving than a pregnant lady.

I love fish tacos.  Easy, healthy, inexpensive, and delicious, these are a huge hit in my kitchen.  This seems to feed 4 adults, so adjust as necessary.

You'll need:
1 lb fish.  I use thawed formerly frozen tilapia, but any fish will work.
2-3 cups of finely shredded cabbage
Diced tomatoes
Salsa
Cilantro
Corn tortillas

For the sauce:
1 cup plain yogurt
1/3 cup mayo
1 tsp lime juice
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp dried dill
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp minced capers

Lay fish fillets on a cookie sheet, sprinkle both sides with a few drop of lime juice, and a little cumin, chili powder, and salt.  Bake at 375 until done.  Tilapia only takes 12-15 minutes.  You can find recipes to batter and fry your fish, but I'm just as happy with the easy baked version, so that's what I do.  While the fish is baking, mix up the sauce and make the slaw.

To make the sauce, mix together sauce ingredients.  You can use more or less yogurt or mayo, and can always substitute sour cream if needed.  The capers aren't essential, but add a nice little undertone.  You can also add garlic, cayenne, or salt, depending on your preferences.

To make the slaw, mix about a third of the sauce with the shredded cabbage.  Add a few extra drops of lime juice, and a sprinkle of salt.

After the fish is done baking, use the warm oven to liven up the corn tortillas.  Grab as many as you think will be consumed (10 or so, maybe), and get them thoroughly wet.  Shake off excess water, and pop them in the oven (straight on the rack) for about 60 seconds.

Serve immediately.  I break up chunks of fish onto my tortillas, and then top with a hefty dollop of sauce, then the slaw, tomatoes, salsa and cilantro.  Pairs well with a Corona or margarita.  Enjoy!

Thai Green Curry Chicken

My dear friend Allie gave me this recipe a couple of years ago.  In the form of a Facebook message.  So every time I want to make this, I have to search the archives of my old Facebook messages, which really isn't the best method.  I have grand ideas for a sturdy binder and transparent sleeves for recipes like this... to put together someday.  In the meantime, my "For the Tummy" board on Pinterest is where I keep my online recipes. 

And so I decided this recipe needed to be Pinable.  For my own sake.  So here it is.

serves 4 to 6

3 large chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 lbs)
2 cans coconut milk
2 tablespoons green curry paste (or much less, if spicy)
2 tablespoons fish sauce
zest of 1 lime
1/2 cup chicken broth
chopped fresh basil and cilantro
at least 4 cups cooked rice.
salt, to taste

I didn't have any limes, so I used a tablespoon of lime juice, which was perfect.  The green curry paste I have is from a little local Asian market, and it's pretty spicy.  So I actually only used maybe 1/2 a teaspoon so the sauce would be mild enough for my young kiddos. Then after the cooking was all done, I mixed a couple of teaspoons of curry paste with some of the sauce, and added it to what my husband and I ate.  Spicy, and oh so tasty!

Get some rice going.  Jasmine rice is great, but regular plain white rice is what I had on hand.

Pour (or scoop, really) coconut milk into large pan.

(Notice the different textures?  The thick stuff in the back is the Trader Joe's Coconut Cream, which I love.  The creamier stuff is good old basic coconut milk, which is also great.  Some people prefer to use a "light" coconut milk, which is fine too, just less creamy.)

Let it melt, allow to boil, and simmer for a good 15 minutes so it reduces from about 4 cups to about 3cups.  Now is a great time to cut your chicken into bite sized pieces.

Add the curry paste, fish sauce, lime zest, and chicken broth.  Simmer for another 10 minutes or so.

Add chicken to sauce. 

Return to boil, and let boil for 3 or 4 minutes to ensure chicken pieces are fully cooked.

Remove from heat, and scoop over rice.  Garnish with fresh cilantro and basil, if desired, and serve warm.

Salt to taste, and enjoy!

Bacon Chocolate

A few weeks ago, I was browsing Pinterest, and saw a nice little article with some fun suggestions for stocking stuffers for the man in your life.  Some good ideas.  Some things I've gone before.  Then a link to buy Bacon Chocolate bars.

For 12 bucks a piece.

Noooo thanks.  For half that price, I figured I could make a whole tray of bacon bars.  So I did.

I baked up some bacon, and then cut it into tiny pieces.

Then I spread a layer of chocolate chips on parchment paper on a cookie sheet.

I popped the tray in the warm oven for a few minutes until the chocolate chips were melty, and then I spread it all together, and sprinkled my bacon on top of it.

When it was aaaaalmost cool, I scored it into bars, and then let it finish cooling.

Then I cut up a bunch of aluminum foil, and wrapped up a whole pile of my very own bacon chocolate bars.

All ready for stockings on Christmas Eve!

Happy Birthday Party

I spent a silly amount of time collecting schedules from all of Chloë's grandparents, aunts, and uncles, trying to find the perfect day where everyone would be available.  I just needed to find ONE DAY in the month of June so I could throw a birthday party for Chloë.  Well.  No such luck.  So I settled on having two parties.  Plus a little party on her actual birthday.  So three parties for the three-year-old, we decided.  She didn't seem too torn up about it.

So a couple of weeks ago we had the Blakey Chloë Birthday Party.  It was still a week before her birthday, but she understood that she wasn't actually 3 yet.  If someone wished her a happy birthday, she was quick to correct them.  "It's not my birthday," she would say, very seriously.  So we started wishing her a happy birthday party, which went over much better.

The weather was perfect, so we had a BBQ outside.  At the last minute, I decided to go with a  sprinkles theme.  She had, after all, asked for a cake with sprinkles.  So I pulled out every color streamer and balloon that I had in my party box.

Her birthday outfit just happened to work perfectly.

Elaina is already tired of hotdogs and hamburgers.

So excited about her princess balllon. 

Happy Birthday Party!

(I even put sprinkles on the vanilla ice cream.)

Besides the cake with sprinkles, she wanted "dress-ups" for her birthday.  She got lots of good dress ups, but she especially had a lot of fun trying on the different hats and accessories.

Elaina worked on her cake for a long time.  This kid loves sugar.

I think it was a success.

Elaina's Birthday Party

We had a very pink first birthday party for Elaina on Saturday evening.  Almost everyone wore something pink, and of course there were pink balloons and pink presents and pink cake.

I made a huge pot of souvlaki, and dozens of pitas, and then my whole family (except Samuel) and Bryan's whole family came to eat dinner and celebrate!

Giving kisses to the birthday girl.

Singing Happy Birthday!

The white cake I made, but I used food coloring to make it a pink ombre.  I made a cream cheese butter cream frosting that turned out pretty well, too.

Elaina just sort of picked at it.  She didn't devour it with delight the same way her big sister did on her first birthday.

Bryan thought to grab my iPhone and get a video.


Everyone in pink!  Or at least, various shades of red.

Opening some presents.

Her first baby doll from her mama and daddy.

Digging into the gift bags.

Curious about her distorted reflection on the birthday card.

The children looking at and playing with all of the new things.

Holding two of my favorite two babies.  They're a lot bigger than they were six months ago. 

It was a fun time.  We are quickly outgrowing our living room.  Maybe we'll have to move into a bigger place at some point.

The next day, Elaina was giving her new baby doll some snuggles. 

I asked my sister to take pictures, so thanks for being my personal photographer, Katie! 
Most photographs taken by Katherine Botkin.