Chili Lime Spice Mix

Remember back in the spring when I made those roasted salmon tacos by Ina Garten?  If you missed it, I made them right before Cinco de Mayo and they were one of my best discoveries yet.  If you are looking for a simple & delicious taco recipe I hiiiighly recommend you try this one.  It was basically "love at first bite" for me and this spice mix and after dinner I started to think up what else I could use it with.

Super Simple & flavorful Chili Lime Shrimp

Salad!

Since then, I've used the rub for my Chili Lime Shrimp Salad.

Originally vegetarian dishes. But the Chili Lime Chicken on these Burrito Bowls was delish!

I have also used it on chicken, which I added to a fall vegetable salad one week and burrito bowls another.  Both recipes were from the cookbook Eat Real Food by Kathryne Taylor.

WHY DO I LOVE THIS SPICE MIX?  I LOVE THIS SPICE MIX BECAUSE:

1. There are only 3 ingredients!

2. These 3 ingredients happen to be items I always have in our kitchen, so that's (1) less thought and (2) less groceries to buy.

3. It takes no time at all to prepare!

This spice mix has come to the rescue several nights already and it is guaranteed to stick around as one of my go-to simple flavorings for meats and fish to add pizzaz to even the simplest weeknight dishes.  Here's how you make it.  I hope you enjoy it and that it helps you get some deliciously simple meals on the table like it has for us!

Happy Fueling!

Taylor

CHILI LIME SPICE MIX

By Ina Garten

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 teaspoons chipotle chili powder

• 1 teaspoon grated lime zest

• 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt (or less if you prefer)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix all of the ingredients together in a small bowl.

2. Toss with shrimp, salmon, chicken or flank steak.

3. Cook your seasoned protein of choice.

4. Serve and enjoy!

NOTE:  This original recipe was for about 1.75 pounds of salmon. (to serve 6)  You could double or halve the recipe depending on how many people you are serving.  I have done both and it's turned out delicious either way!

Sun Butter Squares: Doubled for the Growing Young Athlete

Hey there!  Hope you had a fun and restful weekend.  To kick off this week I want to share with you a twist on this recipe that I previously posted.  It's yummy as originally written, but I created this modification in response to a need I commonly see in the young athletes I encounter.  Lately as I've been working with young athletes, I realize that we often talk a lot about ways to pack nutrition and /or energy into small quantities.  That's because one of the obstacles with young athletes can be getting enough calories and good nutrition in them throughout the course of their busy days and jam-packed schedules.  Breakfast has to be quick, lunch is short, snacks need to be easy.  

With that in mind, I decided to re-make my Cherry Sun Butter Squares but this time double the recipe.  I tried them this weekend and loved them just as much as the original recipe.  The taste was the same but they were denser so more to bite into.  And being thicker, or denser, than the original recipe, made it a little easier to cut them into squares, not crumbling as much when I sliced through them (there will be some crumbling b/c there is no flour, egg, butter, etc. in these).  If you or your young athlete have trouble getting a bite in before running out the door in the morning or if your young athlete doesn't have a huge appetite in the morning, these could be an easy solution.  Now that I've doubled the recipe you get more "bang for your buck".  They are great either way, but if you're having trouble getting enough breakfast in the morning, these bars, or something like them (because you can create your own variety with your favorite dried fruits, nut / seed butters), could be a great option.

The doubled recipe is below.  For my initial post with step-by-step pictures of how I put it all together, click the link here!

SUN BUTTER QUARES: FOR THE ATHLETE THAT NEEDS MORE

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups rolled oats (quick cooking)

• 1 cup Sun Butter

• 1/4 cup (or 4 tablespoons) dry milk powder

• 1 cup dried tart cherries, chopped

• 1/2 - 1 tsp. ground cinnamon

• 1/4 cup (or 4 tablespoons) honey

DIRECTIONS:

1. Add all ingredients to a large mixing bowl.

2. Mix ingredients together with a rubber spatula until well-incorporated (can also use a fork).

3. Line a 9x9 inch baking dish with parchment paper ( I actually used an 8" x 8.5")

4. Spread oat - Sun Butter mixture out evenly along bottom of dish, making sure to get to all sides and corners

5. Cover dish and place in the freezer. Allow to rest in the freezer for at least 3 hours. I leave mine in the freezer overnight.

6. When ready, bring dish out of the freezer and lift up the bars with the parchment paper, placing parchment paper and bars on a flat surface.

7. Run a sharp knife through hot water and then blot carefully to remove excess water. Making the knife really hot will make it easier to slice through the cold bars.

8. Slice evenly into 9 individual bars.

9. Serve bars immediately or wrap, individually in plastic wrap and store in the freezer so that squares are ready to go as you need them!

Hope you and your family enjoy these bars as much as we do!

Happy Fueling!

Taylor

Dinner without a Plan

Tuesday night's dinner had pretty much no plan at all but turned into something really delicious!  I want to share it with you to demonstrate that just because you don't have a plan, doesn't mean you can't get something simple and tasty on the dinner table after a long day of work / school / practices / motherhood / fatherhood / etc..  I mean, some days you just can't. Period.  I totally get that.  Been there,  This, however, is for those days when you think you can't but you know you have just a little left in you.

We were out of town last weekend and so I didn't do my normal recipe brainstorm and planning.  However, when we got in town on Sunday evening I quickly ran to the store and bought items for big salads plus a few veggies and other staples.  I also knew I had some uneaten veggies from last week that were still good.  

My initial plan was baked salmon with lemon, a spinach salad and bread.  Nothing fancy but it was dinner and it would do.  I actually talked to my husband after work around 6:15 and we almost threw in the towel and went out.  But then we decided to stick with the plan of salmon and somewhere between picking up the salmon at the grocery after work and pulling into the driveway I had concocted a whole new dinner idea pulling together simple ingredients that I knew we had at the house.

In this post I'm going to list the ingredients I used for this dinner and how I went about getting it all on the table in about 30 minutes.  I didn't measure anything so these are ball park amounts.  I'll make it again and update with exact measurements in one of the upcoming weeks.  However, I think that's the great thing about cooking, sometimes measurements don't have to be exact.  You can play around with it to your liking and it can still be great!  

Before I give you the rundown of dinner, I want to leave you with 3 take-aways to remember so that you can create your own weeknight dinners when you have no specific plan in mind.

THREE THINGS TO REMEMBER FOR DINNERS WITHOUT A PLAN:

• Always have your favorite go-to ingredients stocked in the fridge / pantry. They will be so handy when the unplanned dinner rolls around! (For me this includes things like: feta or goat cheese, a bell pepper, an onion, mushrooms or summer squash, dried herbs, fresh whole grain bread, quinoa or pasta)

• Tasty & healthy dinners don't have to be complicated. If you have a few great herbs and spices, you can have a delicious dinner!

• It's ok to keep parts of the meal basic. I used to feel like every part of dinner had to have it's own recipe and be something glamorous. Then I realized (a) that's a lot of pressure for one weeknight meal and (b) that's just not how it has to be. For this meal, I focused on the salmon, then kept the veggies fairly simple and our starch even simpler with one of our favorite hearty whole grain breads toasted in the toaster. Protein, veggies, complex carb, DONE!

FOR THIS DINNER YOU NEED:

• Two 6-ounce salmon filets (I used coho salmon b/c it's a little meatier and a little less "fishy")

• About 2 to 3 cups of fresh spinach

• About 2 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese

• About 1/4 cup of part-skim ricotta cheese

• About 1/3 cup of pine nuts

• Pinches of salt, for the spinach stuffing and for the veggies (maybe about 1/4 tsp total but taste test if for yourself)

• Pepper, to taste

• 1 medium zucchini, sliced and then each slice halved (so you end up with half circles)

• 1 medium yellow bell pepper, cored and chopped into about 1/2 to 1 inch dices

• 1/2 white onion, peeled and sliced into half moons

• About 2 teaspoons + 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil

• About 1/2 tablespoon Herbs de Provence seasoning (or more, if desired)

• 2 slices of whole grain bread (we used the Seeduction Bread from Whole Foods)

 

HOW I PULLED THIS ALL TOGETHER:

1. My thought process on the drive home that got me from plain baked salmon & spinach salad to what was actually on the dinner table went a little something like this....... "Can I step it up a notch so that dinner is a little more interesting? I really don't want a salad if I think about it. I know I have an extra pepper in the fridge and, oh yeah, the rest of that zucchini that I didn't make last week (if it's still good. I'll have to check that). And what if I stuffed the salmon?! I know I always keep feta in the fridge and I bought some ricotta last week for something I now honestly can't remember, ha. And toasted pine nuts take everything up a notch! Yep, I think this will work". That's how deep my thought process went - clearly, not too complicated.

2. I got home and found an onion to add to my veggie medley, which was perfect. I quickly sliced up the yellow bell pepper, zucchini (which I found to still be good) and half of that white onion.

3. In a small skillet, I heated about 2 teaspoons of olive oil on medium low heat. To that I added about 2 to 3 cups of fresh spinach, about 2 tablespoons of crumbled feta (I used the last of what we had) and about 2 big spoonfulls of part-skim ricotta so about 1/4 cup, I would say but you could use a little more if you want.

4. While the spinach wilted and the cheeses all melted together (you need to stir these a little) I heated about 1 - 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Once that was heated I added my sliced peppers, zucchini and onions and let those cook, stirring occasionally, until the veggies were softened and browned and the onions looked caramelized (probably around 15 minutes or so). A few minutes into cooking the veggies I added one of my favorite seasonings, Herbs de Provence, and a pinch of salt, stirred and continued to let those cook over the stove while I finished the rest of dinner.

5. After I got the veggies started I added about 1/4 - 1/2 cup of pine nuts to another small skillet and toasted on medium-low until they were browned and fragrant, about 4 minutes (watch these and you'll know when they are done. They start to brown and you can smell the nuttiness - so good!). You don't need to add any oil to the skillet because as the nuts heat they release their natural oils into the pan. When the pine nuts were done I added them to my spinach & cheese mixture, incorporated well with a rubber spatula, and set aside.

6. Then I prepped my salmon by cutting a slit in the top of each filet and creating sort of a pocket. I then divided my spinach-cheese mixture evenly and stuffed it into the "pocket" of each salmon filet. I sprayed a grill pan with vegetable oil , heated it to medium-high heat and turned my oven broiler on high. Once the grill pan was hot, I added my salmon filets and let those cook about 5 to 8 minutes until you start to see it cook / turn light pink from the bottom up. I then put my grill pan in the oven under the broiler and let that cook for about 1 1/2 minutes.

7. While the salmon cooked I gave the veggies another stir and then turned the heat as low as it would go just to keep them warm. The veggies should cook in about 15 minutes.

8. After 1 1/2 minutes I used oven mitts to take the grill pan out of the oven. While the salmon cooled down just a smidge I toasted 2 slices of whole grain toast in our toaster and set the table. When the toast was done, I prepared each plate adding a stuffed salmon filet, big scoops of warm veggies and the slice of whole grain toast.

This was delish!  The stuffing was mild but had a little bit of a bite from the feta and a nuttiness from the toasted pine nuts.  The veggies were tender but not mushy and the toast was simple but just as good as always.

I hope this post not only leaves you with a new recipe idea but that it also encourages you and helps you get dinner on the table the next time it's 5:30 PM and you haven't yet really thought dinner through.  Remember to use what you have, keep it simple, get creative & don't be afraid to play around with ingredients.  Sometimes the best things happen when you don't have a plan!

Happy Fueling!

Taylor