Grilled Salmon with Roasted Corn Relish

For the past few weeks, I've actually been working out and trying to do something about the weight that I've put on since I went to nursing school.  Last week, I told Rick that we were going on a diet, and he wasn't too thrilled.  He told me that diets never worked, but I'm not talking about some fad diet.  I'm talking about eating better.  One of the good things about living in the Lowcountry is that the warm weather allows us to grill for more months than some of my more Northern friends.  Unfortunately, though, we are now entering what I like to call the "Oppressively Hot" time of the year.  It starts around my birthday (which is next week, btw) and goes until some time toward the end of August.  Luckily, the evenings aren't so bad which makes it a little bit easier to eat healthier!

For dinner last night, I was browsing the Cooking Light recipes on myrecipes.com when I came across this recipe.  Ever since I made that chicken with corn salsa, I'm a sucker for anything with a corn salsa or relish or whatever the recipe wants to call the corn goodness on top! I actually used the chicken with corn salsa recipe to help me out a bit because I didn't have the Anaheim peppers like the original recipe called for (and I also decided to add a minced garlic clove, too...I can't help it!!!). I did end up using the leftover relish on chicken tonight (it makes a lot!), and it was quite yummy!!  

Here's what I did...

Grilled Salmon with Roasted Corn Relish

Ingredients 

1 tablespoon, seeded jalapenos, chopped

Butter

3  shucked ears corn

1 can diced tomato, drained

1/4  cup chopped fresh cilantro

Juice from 2 limes
1 clove of garlic, minced

1  teaspoon  salt, divided

1/2  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper, divided

1  teaspoon  ground cumin

1 pound skinless salmon fillets

Directions

Butter corn.  Place corn on grill rack (I used a grill basket that I use for all the veggies that we do all our veggies on) ; grill  until lightly browned, turning occasionally. Cool and cut kernels from cobs.

Combine jalapenos, corn, garlic, tomato, cilantro, and juice; toss gently. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper.

Combine remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and cumin, stirring well. Rub spice mixture evenly over both sides of salmon. Place salmon on grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 4 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness. Serve with relish.

Enjoy!

Crab Cakes with a Roasted Red Pepper Aioli

Harris Teeter had crab legs on sale last week so I grabbed a big ole frozen bag.  I've turned into a sucker for crab cakes, and I like experimenting with different toppings and cake recipes.  Since I was out of eggs this weekend (and not feeling like going to the grocery store), I opted to use light mayo only for the cakes.  I came across this recipe on myrecipes.com, and I was immediately interested in the red pepper aioli.  It was the perfect way to get rid of the end of a jar of roasted red peppers that I had in my refrigerator.  The aioli turned out delicious (and it goes well with Triscuits, too!), but I wasn't that impressed with the crab cakes.  I opted to bake them instead of frying, and I really think that, sadly, frying does make them taste better.  I'm trying to eat a little better these days (not that a mayo aioli and crab cakes are all that fabulous for you), and I'm hoping that making small changes like baking instead of frying will start to snowball into larger ones for us.  I'll spare you the sub-par crab cake recipe (I would recommend using this one here) be definitely share the aioli one!

Here's what we did....

Roasted Red Pepper Aioli
Ingredients
1/3 cup drained roasted red pepper
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon green onion, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 cup light mayonnaise


Directions
Add the first 4 ingredients to a food processor and process until just a little chunky.  In a medium bowl, mix the mayo and the red pepper mixture.  Cover and chill in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve.


Enjoy!

Grilled Shrimp with Cilantro, Lime, and Goat Cheese

On the 4th, Rick and I decided to grill some shrimp on his new grill as an appetizer.  I found this recipe tucked away in my epicurious.com recipe box, and I thought that it would be perfect to help use up the cilantro and lime that we had leftover.  Since Rick's not a huge feta fan, I opted to follow the suggestion of one of the recipe reviewers who recommeded using goat cheese instead.  I also used 3 shallots as I totally forgot to pick up an onion at the new Harris Teeter.

After all was said and done, we had wished that we had made some pasta to go with it because it was just begging for it!  Instead, we just snacked and paired it with some garlic bread (for dipping if you are me!).  Turns out that it was enough of a meal for both us, though!  Very yummy! 

Here's what we did...

Grilled Shrimp with Cilantro, Lime, and Goat Cheese

Ingredients

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/2 cup cilantro

Juice of 1 lime

4 cloves garlic, pressed

3 shallots, chopped (can use any type of onion)

1/4 cup white wine

2 1/2 tablespoons goat cheese

Directions

Mix oil, garlic, lime, and 1/4 cup of cilantro in a large bowl.  Add shrimp and shallots; toss to coat.  Refrigerate and chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat grill to medium and spoon shrimp and shallots into a grill pan.  Cook for about 3 minutes per side for the shrimp (until pink). 

On the stove, bring the remain liquid to a boil with 1/4 cup white wine.  Mix in cheese and remaining cilantro.  Remove from heat and then mix in shrimp and shallots.

Serve with crusty bread for dipping or over pasta.

Enjoy!

Steak fajitas!

I like to think of this meal as my first iPhone dinner since I used my new iPhone and the epicurious.com app to make the grocery list and cook it at Rick's new place.  One of the things that I've been looking forward to when I finally got an iPhone was this app!  As I'm sure is obvious, I'm a huge fan of epicurious.com, and I've been admiring the app on their website for quite some time now!  If anyone out there was any other awesome cooking related (or not) app suggestions, please send them my way!  I'm looking forward to playing...umm, using my iPhone for a long time to come!

Okay, so back to the meal.  Sadly, Rick and I haven't been cooking anything new recently or at all really.  With the holiday weekend, we decided that we going to change that.  We've been spending more time at his new place, and last weekend, he bought one of those tabletop gas grills at Lowes.  It's really cool and allows us to be able to grill on his back porch (one of the things that I love about his place).  While he was running some errands yesterday afternoon, I decided to check out the epicurious.com page for some ideas for dinner, and I came across this one.  I thought that it sounded yummy, and what better way to celebrate the 4th of July than with some Mexican!  LOL!  Based on the reviews on epicurious, I decided to marinate the steak for a few hours while we were at the pool.  I also added cumin to the lime juice marinade.  Being that we were cooking at Rick's place, I had to stock up on a couple of kitchen necessities to take over there including salt and pepper grinders and a juicer when I went to the new Harris Teeter to get steak.  I ended up getting the pre-cut fajita steak instead of doing the cutting myself.  We used 0.62 pounds which made a little bit more than enough for two (perfect for snacking on later).  The fajitas turned out great!  Using balsamic vinegar with those ingredients wasn't something that I would have thought to do but the onion (and green pepper) were a perfect compliment to the meat.  Given the small amount of meat that we used, I think that going with one onion and one green pepper and a whole pound of steak would be perfect for 4 servings which is what I'm recommending in my recipe here.  I look forward to making this one again!

Here's what we did...

Steak Fajitas with Lime and Cilantro

Ingredients

1 lb steak (I used the pre-cut fajita steak from the grocery store)

1 sweet onion, peeled and cut into wedges

1 green pepper, cut into strips

1cup chopped cilantro leaves

Juice of one lime

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons cumin

2 teaspoons salt and 

2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper

Small torillas

Salsa of your choice

Sour cream (if desired)

Shredded cheddar cheese (if desired)

Directions

In a shallow dish, mix steak with lime juice, 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon pepper, and 1/4 cup cilantro.  Cover and place in the refirgerator to marinate for 1-2 hours.

In another bowl, mix onions and green pepper with 1/2 tablespoon oil, balsamic vinegar, 1/4 cup cilantro, 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper.  Cover and place in the refrigerator to marinate for 1-2 hours

Marinating time for both can be as short as 30 minutes if you do not have the full 1-2 hours.

Heat grill to medium heat.  Place the onion and pepper in a grill basket and cook for 15 minutes.  Remove the onions from the grill basket and place in a bowl.  Place steak in the grill basket and cook for 10 minutes.  Remove steak and add to the bowl with the onions.  Stir steak, veggies, and remaining cilantro together in the bowl. 

Toast tortillas on the grill for about 1 minute.

Serve steak, veggies, salsa, and cheese and sour cream (if desired) in wrapped tortillas.

Enjoy!

2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

2 1/2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Skirt-Steak-Fajitas-with-Lime-and-Black-Pepper-106578#ixzz0sjXjb4Hx

2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

2 1/2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Skirt-Steak-Fajitas-with-Lime-and-Black-Pepper-106578#ixzz0sjXjb4Hx

Katie's Spicy (game)Cocktail Sauce

Rick bought a tabletop gas grill for his new place, and tonight, we are going to be watching the Gamecocks play some baseball against their rivals the Clemson Tigers for a chance to go to the College World Series Championship games.  Rick's excited that his team is doing well and of course about the new grill.  I decided to get some local shrimp from Sammy's Seafood (a little stand up Hwy 41 from where we live) to throw on the grill as an appetizer to go with our steaks and veggies.  For the sauce to go with the shrimp, I decided to make some cocktail sauce.  I used a recipe from myrecipes.com as a guide, and here's what I came up with.  It's a little bit on the spicy side so it's definitely not kid friendly.  I was really unsure how it was going to turn out so I brought over some McCormick's in case it was yucky.  We didn't need it! 

Here's what we did...

Spicy (game)Cocktail Sauce

Ingredients

1 cup ketchup

1/4 cup garlic chili sauce

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Juice of one lemon

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 cup horseradish

Directions

Mix all ingredients together and chill for about 1-2 hours.  Serve with grilled (or boiled) shrimp.

Enjoy!

Misses, Lots of Misses

Today when I was riding the CARTA express hom from work, it dawned on me that I hadn't blog in over a week.  It's not that I haven't been cooking because I have.  Okay, I haven't as much as normal.  I blame the hot weather for that (or at least that's what someone near and dear to me said this week).  The other problem is that I've had a week of MISSES and FAILS this week.  Here are the top three highlights...

1.  In an attempt to get rid of the okra, I thought that doing a gumbo-pasta creation would be an excellent idea.  Think onions and okra and tomatoes and garlic and shrimp and bacon....yummmmmm!  WRONG!  It was bland (despite the amount of Creole seasoning I dumped in it) and not that good. I have no idea what I could've done differently.  It smelled pretty dern good when it was cooking, but the final result was lacking.  For the first time in a while, I actually threw it out.  I figured that I could either throw it out that night or wait at least a week until it was a science project and sacrificing a tupperware container with it.

2.  On Friday night, I thought that I'd look all cute and wear heels.  I used to wear heels all the time, but since I walk a lot more than I used to at work, I wear flats.  So anyway, I'm wearing a cute dress and one of my favorite pair of heels.  I'm feeling good about mysel, and then BOOM!  I fell.  Gotta love hypermobile joints!  My right knee got all scraped up. I've been tempted to tell people that I fell rollerblading (in fact a couple people asked if that was what I did), but I've sucked it up and been honest.

3.  I went to buy steak tonight, and I wasn't paying attention to what I was buying, and I ended up with Sirloin Tri-Tip.  When I got it home, I had no idea about the cut so I had to google it...lol.  Apparently, it's one step above roast.  FAIL.  Luckily, Rick isn't coming over this evening so if I have yet another miserable meal, I'm on my own.  I'm marinating it as I speak so we'll see.  I mixed together McCormick's Montreal Steak Seasoning (that stuff could make a piece of poo taste good so there is hope!); low sodium soy sauce; 1 clove of garlic, pressed; some extra virgin olive oil; and a little bit of red wine.

Anyone else out there having a failure-ific week?