lime | Mommie Cooks!

Salsa Verde

March 28, 2011 By Julie 33 Comments

Our family ~~is addicted to~~ loves salsa. Take my kids to a Mexican restaurant and we might as well save the money on the meals because they’ll scrape the dishes of salsa clean and ask for more before the drinks even arrive at the table. My husband practically inhales the stuff. And for him, the hotter the better. He’s the one asking for the “muy caliente” batch sitting in the back of the kitchen. You know the one; it’s usually deemed to have a little too much kick for American Gringos. Well not my husband. He relishes in the deliciousness of a good salsa induced sweat.

It can be said that salsa is the Mexican version of ketchup and I believe it. It tastes good on (and in!) just about everything. Give me a bowl of salsa, some chips and a beer and I’m as happy as a girl can be. Recently, I’ve really been getting into salsa verde. It has a real “limey” flavor that you just don’t get from regular salsa. And the best part about about this green nectar of the Gods is how truly easy it is to make.

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17 Bean White Chicken Chili

March 21, 2011 By Julie 24 Comments

Have you ever bought one of those packs of beans from the grocery store? You know the ones, they have 17 different flavors of legume in the assortment and a recipe for the same old soup on the back every time you pick it up.

Well, I just so happened to have one such bag gracing the inside of my pantry a few weeks back that was bellowing at me to eat it. Being the adventuresome food blogger that I am, I decided to veer away from the bean sack’s dinner plans and instead attempt to create a dish of my own. It would be a chili dish. And while I was at it, I resolved to make it a chicken based chili. And if I was going to use chicken, why not take it one step further and make the base be something other than tomatoes. I was on fire; the inspirational juices were flowing like a glass of cool water on a hot summer day.

I threw in a little of this, and a bit of that. The steam was rising and the water was bubbling. All I needed was my witches hat, a wart and a good cackle, and I would have been concocting one seriously wicked witches brew. When the smoke cleared and the spoon was laid to rest, what remained was one seriously delicious white chicken chili.

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Micki’s Black Bean Corn Salsa

May 17, 2010 By Julie 18 Comments

Some people call it black bean salsa, some call it texas caviar. I simply call it delicious. This stuff is so good that I can eat it by the spoonful, with or without chips. I’m not alone either. Andrew and Alex, my two youngest, will join me in my spoon eating of this black bean goodness. We mainly use it as a dip for tortilla chips or as an accompaniment with main dishes; I’ve got two main dish recipes that I will be sharing in the upcoming days that use it as an enhancement. It’s versatile, healthy and yummy!

I have my best Texas friend, EVER, to thank for this delicious recipe. Micki and I met 6 years ago at a childbirth class for the arrival of both of our first children, and we’ve never looked back. I love this girl to pieces. She’s the type of friend that you can tell anything to, call any time of the day or night, talk on the phone with for HOURS and never get bored, and just plain have a kick ass time with any time you see her. She’s been there for the laughs and tears; even now that we’re long distance. She’s got your back no matter what and she’ll defend you with everything that’s in her. Friends come and go, but every once in a while you meet one that you know is special. Micki’s that one for me. I love ya girl!

Now, without further ado… Black Bean and Corn Salsa; Micki Style. Here’s what you’ll need:

Ingredients Needed:

1 Large Lime, Juiced
2 Tbsp. Balsamic Vinegar
½ tsp. Ground Cumin
¼ tsp. Salt
1 15 Oz. Can Black Beans, Rinsed and Drained
1 Cup Frozen Corn Kernels, Thawed
1 Medium Tomato, Diced
8 Thin Green Onions, Sliced (1/2 cup)
1/4 Cup Chopped Fresh Cilantro
1 Fresh Avocado, Chopped

Combine your lime juice, vinegar, cumin and salt in a large bowl; stir to mix well. Next, add in the beans, corn, green onions and cilantro; and stir to mix well again. Before serving add in the tomato and avocado. Serve immediately or refrigerate overnight.

Micki's Black Bean Corn Salsa

Total Time: 15 min

Ingredients:

1 Large Lime, Juiced
2 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
1/2 tsp Ground Cumin
1/4 tsp Salt
1 15 Oz. Can Black Beans, Rinsed and Drained
1 Cup Frozen Corn Kernels, Thawed
1 Medium Tomato, Diced
4 Green Onions, Chopped (1/2 Cup)
1/4 Cup Fresh Cilantro, Chopped
1 Avocado, Chopped

Directions:

Combine your lime juice, vinegar, cumin and salt in a large bowl; stir to mix well.

Next, add in the beans, corn, green onions and cilantro; and stir to mix well again.

Before serving add in the tomato and avocado.

Serve immediately or refrigerate overnight.

Mahi Mahi + Salad Fixings+ Homemade Asian Dressing

May 7, 2010 By Julie 9 Comments

Put it all together and you have One. Killer. Salad. I have to say, this was some tasty fine dinner. The inspiration for this meal actually came after a last minute decision to head to Le Peep for breakfast after church last Sunday. Going out to breakfast isn’t in our normal routine, but for some reason I was just feeling the need to partake of somebody’s cooking other than my own. And believe me, when the mommy’s got an urge for breakfast, it darn well needs to be honored in this house.

So after consuming more than a few breakfast delights and pretty much rolling ourselves out of the restaurant, my husband proclaimed that a light dinner needed to be in our future in order to counteract the pig out that so shamelessly occurred just a few minutes earlier. Hence, this delicious salad was born.

I know it’s going to sound silly, but my favorite part about this salad is the mandarin oranges. There’s just something about those little orange slices of heaven that get me every time. I could eat them straight out of the can. Ok, who am I kidding, I DO eat them straight out of the can. It’s so bad that I’ll hide them from my kids and eat them when they’re at school just so I don’t have to share. Yes, my name is Julie and I have a mandarin orange problem.

Ok, first up, the dressing. Here’s what you’ll need:

Ingredients Needed:

For the Dressing:

3 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
2 Tbsp of Fresh Ginger
1 Green Onion, Chopped
1/2 Lime, Juiced
3 Tbsp of Honey
1/2 Cup Sesame Oil
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
1/4 Cup of Soy Sauce
/4 Cup of Rice Vinegar

This dressing is so easy peasy, it make me wonder why I don’t make homemade dressing more often. You basically just take everything from the list above, throw it in a blender/processor and hit start. Bango, homemade Asian dressing.

Now, take about a half of a cup of your dressing and throw it in a gallon sized ziploc bag along with your mahi mahi. Close ‘er up, throw it in the fridge and let it marinate for at least an hour if not longer. Be sure to refrigerate your remaining dressing as well. You’ll need that again later on to slather on your finished salad; yum!

Once dinner time is upon you, grab your marinated fish and throw it on the grill until cooked through and then set to the side to keep warm.

Now you can really put anything you’d like in your salad so it is by no means a requirement to have what we used in ours (although, I might disagree with that statement when it comes to the mandarin oranges). Here’s what we threw into our salad:

Ingredients Needed:

For the Salad:

1 Bag of Spinach
1 Bunch of Romaine
1 Handful of Carrots, Chopped
1/2 Pint of Cherry Tomatoes, Halved
1 Handful of Sliced Mushrooms
1 Can of Mandarin Oranges, Drained and Rinsed
1 Small Cucumber, Sliced (or in our case, 1/4 of a really LARGE cucumber)
2/3 Cup of Crumbled Blue Cheese

Throw all your salad fixings in a bowl and voila! Isn’t that beautiful?

To plate your dinner, grab the a plate of salad, toss in a little (or a lot depending on your tastes) dressing and throw a mahi mahi fillet on top. And that’s all there is to it! Grab your wine, grab your salad and enjoy every. last. bite. of your creation. I know we did!

Blimey, it’s Limey Pork and Rice!

April 27, 2010 By Julie 9 Comments

Arghh, I’m feeling a bit of pirate in me this morning as I write this post. It could be that this is a Caribbean inspired dish or it could be as simple as the fact that limey rhymes with the word blimey. OR, most likely, it’s because I have three small boys who all love playing good guy bad guy in any form from Star Wars, to cops and robbers, to pirates.

This dish was delicious and I would definitely make it again. My only disappointment was that I added in the half and half to my lime sauce when the temperature of the pan was still too hot, so the whole thing curdled kind of like the turkey on National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. The taste was still delicious though, so I know it will work beautifully for you if you’re just a bit more conscious of your cooking temperature (or lack there of) when you go to add in your half and half. Ok, so here’s what you’ll need:

Ingredients Needed:

1 Pound of Pork Cutlets
1 Lime, Juiced
1 Tbsp of butter
1/2 Cup of chicken Broth
1 Green Onion, Chopped
2 Cloves of Garlic
1 tsp of Ginger (fresh or dried)
1/2 Cup of Half and Half
2 Tbsp of White Wine
1/4 tsp of Cayenne
Salt and Pepper to taste

Yep. You guessed it, I forgot to add the white wine to the picture. I’m not sure why I have such issues getting everything in the ingredient picture, but I’m thinking it’s because I get inspired part way through cooking and decide to add an extra ingredient I hadn’t originally thought of. In any case, here’s a picture of the wine to make you all feel the complete ingredient list. Feel it with me. Now pour yourself a glass to help you get in the mood while you cook this masterpiece.

Now that we have everything we need, the first thing you’ll want to do it pound out your cutlets. You already know how much I love pounding meat. It’s a great aggression release AND it tenderizes your meat all in one. Gotta love it. You’ll want to pound them nice and skinny. Place a piece of waxed paper on the top and bottom when you pound to eliminate splattering.

Once your meat is sufficiently pounded, go ahead and heat up your skillet on medium high heat. Add in your butter and then cook your pork cutlets in the heated pan. As you throw them in, sprinkle some salt and pepper on each side. It should be about 2-3 minutes per side depending on how thin you pounded them.

Continue cooking your pork until all the cutlets are done. Set them aside and keep them warm. Now we’re going to move on to the sauce. I’m sorry to say, I didn’t take any pictures of the sauce preparation. I can’t say for sure why I did this, but I’m guessing it’s because I’m still a traumatized from my curdling incident. Anyway, you’ll just have to trust what I tell ya here and go with me. I promise it will taste delicious.

For the sauce, add your wine and lime juice to the pan and deglaze it on medium high heat. Add your chicken broth, cayenne, green onions, and ginger and heat through. Now, and this is important, turn your heat down to simmer and let your sauce temperature come down a bit. While it’s settling down, stir it, to help it reduce and thicken. Remove your sauce from the heat and add a small bit (1 to 2 tsps worth) to the half and half to help raise the temperature of the milk a bit. Next, pour in your half and half and whisk it vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes. Hopefully it’s a beautifully creamy sauce at this point. Add salt and pepper to taste. I haven’t tried again since my first biff, so if you try it, let me know if it worked better for you.

To plate the meal, I made some jasmine rice and laid a couple cutlets on top. If my sauce would have been the way I hoped, I would have poured it over the top of the meat, but because it was less than pretty, I poured it over the rice so I had the flavor without you having to see my curdled mess. We can’t get every meal perfect right? Live and learn I always say. I promise you though, despite it’s less than perfect appearance, it was still more than just a little delicious and definitely worth a “do-over” in the near future.

Limey Pork and Rice

Yield: Serves 4

Total Time: 30 min

Ingredients:

1 Pound Pork Cutlets
1 Lime, Juiced
1 Tbsp Butter
1/2 Cup Chicken Broth
1 Green Onion, Chopped
2 Cloves Garlic, Minced
1 tsp Ginger (Fresh or Dried)
1/2 Cup Half & Half
2 Tbsp White Wine
1/4 tsp Cayenne
Salt and Pepper to Taste

Directions:

pound out the pork cutlets.

Add in the butter and cook the pork cutlets in a sauce pan on medium high heat. As you toss them in, sprinkle some salt and pepper on each side. It should be about 2-3 minutes per side depending on how thin you pounded them.

Add the wine and lime juice to the pan and deglaze it on medium high heat.

Add the chicken broth, cayenne, green onions, ginger and heat through.

Turn your heat down to simmer and let your sauce temperature come down a bit.

Remove sauce from the heat and add a small bit (1 to 2 tsps worth) to the half & half to help raise the temperature of the milk a bit.

Pour in the half and half and whisk it vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Quickie Guacamole

March 22, 2010 By Julie 11 Comments

Well, the weekend’s over and it’s back to the bump and grind of every day life. I’m feeling pretty fortunate that we were blessed with beautiful weather here in North Carolina for the first weekend of spring considering my friends back in Texas were given yet another snowstorm with multiple inches of snow. It inspired me to cook up all kinds of goodies to share this week including a pizza using the guacamole recipe below that was amazing (who would have thought you could use guacamole on a pizza?) and a pound cake that was worth every tablespoon of butter I put into it.

Ok, so let’s get to the guacamole. This is my quickie version of guacamole. It’s the recipe you go to when you want yummy guacamole without all the dicing and chopping. Don’t get me wrong, I do love a batch of high effort guaco as much as the next girl, but most nights during the witching hour (and if you have kids you know what I mean), I feel lucky just to get food on the table, let alone gourmet guacamole. This guaco serves up a mean batch of delicious and takes about half the time to make. So here’s what you’ll need:

Ingredients Needed:

2 Large Avocados
The Juice from 1 Lime
1 tsp Onion Powder
1 tsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Cumin
1 Clove of Garlic
2 tsp of Cilantro
Sea Salt to taste

Now I know I mentioned this in an earlier recipe, but I just want to throw out again what a wonderful thing Dorot herbs are. No garlic mincing, no cilantro chopping, and best of all, because it’s a freezer item, it stays good for so much longer than fresh herbs. Don’t get me wrong, I love fresh herbs as well as the next gal and use them often, but for a quick backup, that really does the job, these are awesome.

Ok, the recipe. Mash up your two avocados in a bowl with a fork. Add in the juice, onion powder, chili powder, cumin, garlic, and cilantro. Mix well and then add your sea salt to taste. And let me tell ya, don’t be afraid with the salt. I find it takes a bit to really get the flavor where I want it. And that’s it! I told you it was a quickie.

I want to add one more note about the salt. For this recipe if you have access to it, try to use sea salt vs. regular salt. I don’t know why it is, but for some reason, sea salt makes guacamole that is really good! A friend once told me that sea salt was the secret to great restaurant guaco and after trying it, I’m a believer.

So here it is; the finished product. Try not to drool too much on your computer screen.

Quickie Guacamole

Total Time: 15 min

Ingredients:

2 Large Avocados
1 Lime, Juiced
1 tsp Onion Powder
1 tsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Cumin
1 Clove Garlic, Minced
2 Tbsp Fresh Cilantro, Chopped
Sea Salt to Taste

Directions:

Mash up your two avocados in a bowl with a fork.

Add in the juice, onion powder, chili powder, cumin, garlic, and cilantro.

Mix well and then add your sea salt to taste.