Kauai Inspired Cilantro Salmon Wrap

My hubby & I just got home from a fabulous week on Kauai's east shore.  We ate all our meals based on Yelp reviews!  We found things that made our taste buds dance and sing.  I'm not normally a fish person, but ahi, ono, and mahi mahi fresh from the Pacific sure made me a happy vacationer.

Our favorite hole-in-the-wall was a very popular establishment called Mermaids Cafe.  I had the Ahi Cilantro Wrap... not once, but two times during our stay!  So, of course, I had to create something reminiscent of my fabulous experience when I returned to the mainland.  All I had on hand was salmon, brown rice, and boring ol' flour tortillas, but that just had to do!  So I asked the man of the house to prepare the salmon on the grill and I set to work trying to create a cilantro sauce.  I have no idea what they put in their recipe, so I looked up "cilantro pesto" on the WWW, and got an idea for ingredients other than the obvious.  Of course I didn't measure, and it's all on taste, but here ya go:

2 cloves of garlic peeled, smashed and chopped
1 bunch of cilantro with the stems cut off
2ish tablespoons of fresh lemon juice
2ish tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1ish teaspoon of pepper

Put it all in the food processor until it resembles pesto.

I had leftover brown rice in the fridge from yesterday's lunch, so we dumped it (cold) on top of the tortilla along with the cilantro mix and the sliced salmon, and rolled it up like a burrito.  The flavors were pretty fantastic and I must say it will be a staple dinner in my house from now on.  Sure, it's a "summer in the sun" kind of meal, but hey, it's practically summer all year 'round where I live.

For next time:
I'd like to try a little dash of cayenne in the cilantro mix, and some sliced cucumber in the wrap.
Also, the hubby had a second wrap, and we were out of rice by then, so he used wasabi mayo from TJ's with the salmon and said it was very tasty!

Beef For Dinner? Yep, In My House!

Thanks once again to my mother-in-law for the magazine subscription or else I would not have stumbled upon this simple beef stir-fry that has become a monthly staple in my house!  About a year after my hubby & I were married, he asked me sweetly "do you think you could make red meat once in a while?"  I have never liked the taste of beef, but in order to score some points in the wifey book and make something I could stomach I went on the hunt!  I substitute Trader Joe's brand instant chicken broth packets.  Since I use chicken more than beef anyway I figured it wouldn't make a huge difference.  We didn't notice a change in the taste, and now I don't have to waste a can or box of broth.  I just use the full cup of the broth packet mixed with water.  The trick is to mix the cornstarch with all the other ingredients before adding it to the broth or it will get all clumpy & gross.

I also made a cold cucumber "salad" with thinly sliced cucumbers using my mandoline, a little soy sauce and some rice vinegar.  I tossed it all in a bowl together and stuck it in the fridge when I put the meat in to marinate.  That way it was chilled by the time we ate.  It was a nice addition to the meal!

Refreshing Cucumber, How I Love You So!

It's that time of year again when I start acting like a health conscious food critic.  You know the type, I put away the chocolate cake recipes (somewhere not too secret so that I can find them again in about a week), and I start looking for those healthy alternatives for my residual holiday cravings!

This may not be the healthiest item on the menu, but it got me to eat carrots.  I got the idea for this cucumber dip from a magazine, and I don't remember which one!

Ingredients:
1/2 Cucumber, peeled
1 package (8 ounces) Neufchatel Cheese (or cream cheese if you don't want the "lite" version)
1/4 onion, grated using the small holes of the grater
1 tsp garlic powder
salt & pepper to taste

Directions

1. In my "special blender" I stuck the cucumber in & pulsed it to a puree.
2. I poured the cucumber puree into a fine mesh strainer and got as much liquid out as possible.  (I reserved the liquid for something else, you'll see).
3. I put the cucumber puree, cheese, onion, garlic, salt, and pepper into the blender & spun it until it was all creamy & dip-like.

Pretty simple, huh?  It tastes great with carrots, and I'm not a huge carrot fan.  I used the leftover liquid to make a tasty cucumber-lemon-water.  I juiced one lemon, and poured the lemon juice and cucumber liquid into a two-liter pitcher.  I added ice and filled the pitcher with water.  It's a little tart, but very refreshing!