The Perfect Fish Tacos

I’m very particular when it comes to eating fish.  I’ve been a vegetarian since I was about eight years old.  Not until recently, I didn’t even eat fish.  I started eating fish about two years ago, simply for the health benefits.  There are only two kinds of fish I will eat, and that’s canned albacore in water and tilapia.  End.of.story.

SO——I made some fish tacos last night.  Beer battered fish tacos.  Dos Equis Amber beer battered fish tacos witih avocado, cabbage slaw, and homemade salsa (with a side of black beans and Mexican rice).  The nice thing about this is that the fish is not deep fried, it’s pan fried (a LITTLE less grease).  The homemade toppings from fresh vegetables and fruit (avo is a fruit) make it so good.

Beer Battered Fish

4 small tilapia filets (cut in half length wise)

3/4 c. vegetable oil

2/3 c. self-rising flour

1 c. beer (of your choice)

1 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

Cabbage Slaw

1/2 head of purple cabbage (chopped)

1 lime (juiced)

2 tsp. white vinegar

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

Salsa                                                                                              Additional Ingredients

2 large tomatoes (diced)                                                                 8 corn torillas

1/2 jalapeno                                                                                  1-2 avocados

1/4 clump of cilantro                                                                    1 can black beans

1/4 lime (juice)                                                                              1 pouch of Mexican rice

salt and pepper to taste                                                                   

Directions

Mix together flour, beer, paprika, and s&p.  Heat oil to medium-high in a frying pan.  Coat tilapia pieces in the beer/flour mix and drop into hot oil.  Be careful, this oil is HOT.  Let cook for a few minutes (or until golden brown).  Flip over and let the other side do the same.  Line a plate with paper towels away from the burner.  Remove fish from pan and place on the paper towels to allow the excess oil to absorb.

The salsa and slaw can just sit while everything is cooking to soak up flavor and let the cabbage break down a little (from the lime and vinegar).

Once the fish has cooled slightly, build your tacos!  This makes enough for about 4 people (so each person can have two tacos).

Raspberry Peach Heaven

Θnce upon a time, there was princess who lived in the enchanted town of Peaches ‘n’ Cream.  She was a simple girl, who enjoyed the small things in life, like watching birds in the park and admiring colorful flowers in the spring.  One day, she came upon a glowing flat screen, with pictures of all of her favorite things:  painting, decorating, cooking, crafts!  It had the word “Pinterest” at the top, oh my.  Hiding on the screen, was what looked like a recipe for delicious cobbler–it was!  Princess Peach thought, this looks delicious, but I want to make it my own.  She decided to use less sugar, less butter, and add some more fruit.  After she created the cobbler, she soon decided it was the most heavenly tasting thing she had ever taken a nibble of.  She continued to eat and eat, until she turned into a giant peach!  Soon after, her prince came crashing through the door (his name is not James… or Mario for that matter), “My princess, what have you done?!!!!”  Speechless, she rolled herself over to him and showed him the empty dish.  Together, they chuckled and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon…

Have I gone too far?  I think so.  Although I’m not a princess like the one in the story, the rest is pretty much true.  I ate the entire thing in one sitting.  Fork in one hand, whipped cream in the other.  Nobody was stopping me!  And if you’re still wondering, no, I did not turn into a peach.

Here’s the recipe:

Raspberry Peach Cobbler

Can of sliced peaches in 100% pear juice

1/2 container of fresh raspberries

1.5 cups self-rising flour

1.5 cups milk

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 stick butter (melted)

In a 9×13 inch baking dish pour melted butter. Mix self-rising flour, milk, and sugar to make a smooth and RUNNY batter (yes, it’s supposed to be really runny).  Pour batter over melted butter.  Put fruit on top, juice and all.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Let set 15 minutes before serving.  Serves about 8 (unless you’re like me and eat the whole thing in one sitting).

Toned, Tan, Fit, and Ready

Sometimes when I’m trying to relax, I visualize laying on the beach in the warm sand.  I imagine the sun beating down on me and waves crashing onto the shore.  Growing up on the west coast, the beach became my “happy place”.  I went to college at a school that was a five minute drive to the beach.  My roommates and I would go lay on the beach in-between classes, or we would (attempt) to study while soaking in the sun.  If I could be anywhere, it would probably be on the beach.

After living on the east cost for the past few years, my hair has become darker than it has ever been, and my skin has become lighter than it has ever been.  It’s great living somehwere where there are four seasons, but I miss being able to just go to the beach (without rocks or freezing water).  I also miss that nice golden tan I used to have… year round.  A tradition of mine, before I moved east, was to lay out and tan on the first day of winter every year.  Without fail, the weather was always perfect.

I know I mentioned in my previous post that the weather has been gorgeous here, well it definitely has been.  This past weekend I got a nice little tan from laying out at a day concert, but I’m not as tan as I’d like to be [especially if I want to wear my new light pink bathing suit when I go to CA (coming up very quickly)].  And let’s just say, even though it’s 90 degrees on the T, I’m not getting any darker.  Can I just say, THANK GOODNESS I’m an Independent Beauty Consultant for Mary Kay because I had the perfect fix sitting on my shelf.  Mary Kay Subtle Tanning Lotion.  I figured, why not?  If I don’t like it I can just send it back.  It’s amazing!  It doesn’t have that nasty smell like most self tanners do and it doesn’t turn your skin orange (or at least not mine).  Here’s a picture of it, although the bottle doesn’t look like this anymore (I have to use “Company approved images” and they haven’t updated the photo to the new bottle).

Anywho, I’m hoping that when the time comes for me to hop on that plane (ughhh… I don’t even want to think about THAT part of the trip), I’ll be toned, tan, fit, and ready for some California lovin’ and some Snoop Doggy Doggin’ (whatever that means…)!!!

I know I briefly mentioned having a happy place.  Everyone has their own, what’s yours?

Attempt #328947

So, one of my last posts was about my brown thumb.  This post is about my attempt (#328947) to turn it green.

Picking the Right Variety

As I previously mentioned, I have always been envious of people and their natural ability to grow things.  I also mentioned that I never seemed to have trouble helping my parents with their gardening (fruits and vegetables, not houseplants).  Now that spring is here, I’m making my millionth attempt at growing something, or some things.  I’ve decided to leave houseplants in the past because they have proven their ability to defeat me.  This time I bought tomatoes, peppers, and lettuce.  I made sure to buy the right variety (the kind that can grow in planters, since I don’t have an actual yard).

Trip to Home Depot… and Lowes

From my experiences gardening with my parents, I knew I needed a mixture of soil and manure.  My boyfriend (Daniel)read the instructions on the tomato pot and said, “It says to just plant in soil.  You don’t want to screw these up too!”  I said, “Sometimes you have to do a little more than what the directions say.  Remember those homemade cinnamon sugar tortilla chips you burned?  You followed the directions to a T!”  Quick segue here, there are people who LOVE instructions when it comes to cooking, gardening, etc.  I am not one of those people… Daniel is.  I don’t like following recipes when I cook… he does.  He thought I should follow the directions on the tomato pot… I REFUSE!  Anyway, I pulled out my handy-dandy iPhone (No, I did not use Siri.  She doesn’t like me) and I called my parents!  I wanted to make sure I bought the right things, in order to make my plants actually grow.  They said the manure/humus mix combined with vegetable soil would be perfect.

Plant ’em!

Can I just say, there was some weird stuff in the manure/humus.  Is this gum?!!  Ok, it probably wasn’t gum, but you never know what cows eat.  Moving on… I mixed the soil with the manure/humus, planted everything, watered it, watched my cat try to demolish everything I had just done, then sat there and stared, just waiting for it to grow.  (The last part is not true).

Perfect Weather

The weather here has been SO perfect for gardening.  It’s been sunny on the weekend and somewhat rainy during the week.  My plants are getting nice fresh water and energizing sunlight from good ol’ Mother Nature.  My kitty cat seems to like it too.  Although she’s not a fan of BEING in the rain, she does enjoy watching it from our nicely covered deck.  Look at this sweet little picture I took of her on the sunny day I was gardening!  Isn’t she precious?

What have your experiences with vegetable gardening been like?  I’m hoping to have some nice plump red tomatoes by summer!

Some Nights

I’m sure most of you have heard the song “We Are Young” by FUN (played over and over again on the radio), but has anyone heard their song, “Some Nights”?  I probably couldn’t tell you any of the lyrics, but the rhythm and tune keeps playing over and over again in my head.  Seriously speaking, it’s rarely the lyrics that draw people into a song when they first hear it.  People claim they are drawn to songs because of the lyrics, “No dude, those lyrics… they’re awesome… the lyrics are what keep me ALIVE… I live, eat, breath…” that’s a load of schnuffleflogger (for lack of a better word).  I’m not saying that lyrics don’t retain interest, but they are not normally the first thing a person notices.  Anyway, “Some Nights” is the type of song that makes you want to jump up and dance… in a field… with lions and meerkats (specifically Timon and Pumbaa).  It sounds like a song you would hear in the Lion King, except modernized.  If you haven’t already, I suggest you listen to it.

Speaking of the Lion King, I thought I’d share my Lion King inspired painting.  It’s not for anything in particular.  If you’re a painter, it’s quite easy.  If you’re not, well, you can probably do it too.  The most difficult part was avoiding painting the wrong stripes in the zebra section.  It’s hard to tell from the photo, but the crooked verticle and horizontal lines are deep red.  This is definitely my favorite painting (of mine).

Hopefully I’ve inspired you to start painting, or at least motivated you enough to go to YouTube and listen to the song… maybe you’ll even want to come dance in a wild animal congested field with me.

Green with Envy

The Beauty of Spring

I grew up in a small town–Fallbrook, CA aka the avocado capital of the world.  My family had an avocado grove, and we always planted a garden for spring and summer.  The garden got larger and larger over the years, including zucchini, beefstake tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, yellow pear tomatoes, pumpkins, lettuce, cucumbers, peppers, herbs, crookneck squash, straightneck squash, and the list goes on and on.  We also had several fruit trees, such as loquat, peach, apple, plum, orange, lemon, tangerine, tangelo, lime, fig, and of course avocado (as I mentioned earlier).  And by the way, if you don’t know what a loquat is, you must find one and try one.  Although they can be difficult to eat (especially if you don’t like the skin, like me), they are so sweet and delicious.  I digress, what was I saying?  Oh yes, so I never really had trouble helping my family keep up the garden and trees, but let me tell you a little about my recent trials and tribulations.

Trials and Tribulations

It’s now spring, where are my daffodils and where are my tulips?  I planted my bulbs in the winter and followed the guidelines I found online.  I must have overwatered them throughout the winter (only once every two weeks) because they are rotten.  All that work just to get rotten bulbs instead of beautiful flowers.  What about my baby money tree?  Oh, that’s dead too.  I have no idea what I’m doing wrong.  Who kills a money tree?  They are supposed to be one of the easiest trees/plants to take care of.  My large money tree is still growing and sprouting new leaves, but it’s struggling.  Several leaves have turned brown and yellow and have fallen off.  I also bought some rosemary, but that died within a month.

Brown Thumb

To all you gardeners out there!  How do you do it?  Let’s just say, I am green with envy.  I’m a wanna-be green thumb, that’s for certain!  Let’s just say, I got sick of spending money on plants that I just seemed to kill.  I think having some kind of tree or plant is a nice touch to a living room or dining room, but if they keep dying, what do you do?  

Kind of Sort of Solution

I decided to take my mom on a little hike in the area surrounding my home to find sticks and twigs.  Why??!!  Well, if I can’t have a real live tree, I need to have a real dead one.  (That sounds kind of silly, but I am NOT buying a fake plastic tree.)  My mother and I gathered up the best long skinny branches and twigs we could find and took them back to the house.  I have a beautiful large purple tinted vase that we put all the different sized sticks into.  I then added some sparkly sticks (it was an old Christmas decoration that I ripped apart).  So, now I have an abstract sort of tree.  I put the tree in the vase up on a little end table in the corner of my dining room and it adds the perfect accent to the room.

This idea can be expanded and twisted to fit the look you are going for.  For some, a nice touch would be some dried leaves or a different kind of wood.  If any of you are lucky enough to live by some birch trees, those would look lovely!  Do you like my sort of tree?  What ideas do you have to personalize this to your home?

Tea for Two and Two for Tea

The best part of waking up is Folgers… STOP. HALT. SAY NO MORE! And no, I’m not going to say Starbucks is better… And I’m definitely not going to say DD is better, even though I live in New England.

I like my occasional cup of coffee, or should I say, grande decaf one pump white mocha, but that’s only on days I feel like splurging and spending $5 on a drink. Needless to say, I’m a tea person. Not only do I love tea because it tastes amazing–I love it for it’s health benefits. There was a point in time when I was obsessed with anything and everything tea–types of tea, flavors of tea, benefits of tea, where tea comes from, etc. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still borderline obsessed, but now that I’ve educated myself on most things related to tea, I’ve calmed down with the research.

Sometimes I feel like a nut (health nut)

Green, white, black, and oolong all have health benefits, as they are all derrived from the same plant, “Camellia sinensis”. What makes these teas different is the way the leaves are processed. Green and white tea are steamed, whereas black and oolong are dried and fermented.  The main health benefit of tea, according to several studies, is that it is proven to reduce the risk of many different types of cancer.  It’s debatable which of these teas contain the most health benefits, so choosing which type of tea to drink all comes down to flavor preference…

Flava flav

Of all the teas, the most floral and fruity flavors come from the herbal and rooibos teas, which technically aren’t even teas since they aren’t created from the Camellia sinensis plant. Black tea (Earl Grey and English Breakfast) and oolong have more of a bold taste. Black teas are often served with milk or lemon (not both, since lemon will sour the milk) and sugar. Green tea (my favorite) has a delicious fresh flavor that falls right in the middle when measuring flavor/strength. My all time favorite is Tazo Zen (props to s-bucks for carrying this one), which is a green tea with hints of lemongrass and spearmint. Then there is white tea. White tea is very mild in flavor, but very refreshing. It’s also slightly different from the other types because it is made up of the buds and leaves from the Camellia sinensis.  Then there is chai (which is technically just a generic word for tea).  The most common form of chai has a black tea base, but is enhanced with other flavors, usually including Indian spices and steamed milk.  It tastes like Christmas in a cup (I’m not a fan).

Some like it hot

Really, any of the above mentioned teas are delicious hot. A very common hot tea drink is London Fog, which consists of Earl Grey, steamed milk, and vanilla syrup. I personally think it’s disgusting, but many like it!

Ice, ice, baby

Same goes for iced. Any tea can be made into an iced tea. Often times, iced tea is served with lemon or some kind of fruity/simple syrup. I’m normally a hot tea drinker, but I made up this little recipe the other day…

Little bit of this, a little bit of that

Last Saturday was a beautiful sunny spring day. I had five women over for a Ladies Luncheon to show them some products I sell as a Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant. While I was treating the ladies to TimeWise Microdermabrasions (which make my skin feel amazing, by the way), I served them some refreshing Raspeberry Tea Lemonade.

Ingredients

1 gallon water

3 raspberry tea bags

3 lemons

1/2 c. fresh raspberries

1/4 c. honey (to taste)

1/4 c. sugar (to taste)

Directions

Pour the water into a saucepan over high heat until it begins to boil. Turn off the stove and add tea bags. Once the tea has steeped, add the honey, sugar, and the juice of two lemons. Let it cool for 30 minutes. Cut the remaining lemon into slices and place into a pitcher. Pour the tea over the lemon slices. For a pretty and delicious accent, serve it with a few fresh raspberries floating on top of each glass you pour.

For an added bonus, freeze a little bit of the tea in an ice cube tray so your ice won’t water down your drink when you go to serve it!

The Verdict

Everyone LOVED the tea.  My pitcher was empty by the end of the luncheon, and everyone left with their skin feeling renewed and their thirst quenched!

**What’s your favorite kind of tea?  If you’re not a tea drinker, have I at least piqued some interest?  I would love to hear your thoughts!**