Since living in Seattle, I’ve been craving some good Mexican food. Since we’ve yet to find anything that compared to what we had in Arizona, I had to make it myself. I’ve had this recipe saved in the recipe file online for about a year. I’m so glad I have it a try it’s amazing! The chipolte-lime sauce is amazing! Really simple, healthy, perfect! This would be a really fun dinner for a entertaining friends, something fun about all the toppings, combos, gets people mingling, reaching over the table, makes for good fun!

Fish Tacos with Chilpolte-Lime Sauce
recipe adapted from culinate.com

For the fish:

• 1lb flaky white fish, tilapia, halibut, cod (I used cod)
• 4 T fresh lime juice
• 2 T vegetable oil
• 2 T soy sauce

Chopolte-Lime sauce:

• 1/3 cup mayonnaise
• 1/3 cup plain yogurt
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 2 T fresh lime juice
• 1 chipolte chile in adobo sauce, minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• a splash of adobo sauce

for serving:

• corn tortillas (I grilled these for a couple seconds to get them warm and extra yummy)
• guacamole
• chopped small white onion
• fresh cilantro
• fresh lime
• chopped tomatoes
• salsa

Combine the fresh lime juice with the vegetable oil and soy sauce in a rectangular glass or ceramic dish. Add the fish, turn to coat, and leave to marinate while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
For the chipotle-lime sauce combine the mayonnaise, yogurt, sour cream, lime juice, chipotle chile, a splash of adobo sauce and chopped garlic in a bowl.
Remove fish from the marinade and grill until cooked through about 4 minutes on each side.
For each individual taco, place some of the fish (breaking off chunks of the cooked fillets) on a tortilla, drizzle with the chipotle-lime sauce, and top with all the goodies and eat with *Mexican beer*

Image: sammyw

This soup was similar to tortilla soup, but had more substance. It’s full of good things, new potatoes, poblano chilies, corn, red peppers, so so good. My favorite thing about this soup is all the wonderful toppings. I did forget to do a step on this recipe. I didn’t roast the red pepper or the poblano chilies! Oops, I totally spaced it until I was already to far into the recipe to roast them. But it’s really simple to roast them. You can char them whole on the grill until they are all black, or you can do this in the oven broiler. Once the peppers are black on all sides, place in a paper bag & close tightly. This allows the pepper to steam itself and will make the peeling process a heck of a lot easier. Once the pepper has cooled off peel skin, take out the seeds, chop & ta da, roasted peppers!

Here’s a poblano, if you haven’t cooked with them before, they’re awesome!

Roasted Corn Poblano Chowder
recipe from The Whole Foods Market Cookbook

• 2 T butter
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup plus 1 T flour
• 6 cups veggie stock
• 2 cups milk
• 1 1/2lbs new potatoes, unpeeled & diced
• 3 poblano chilies, roasted & chopped
• 1 16oz package frozen corn
• 1 red pepper, roasted & chopped
• a couple good pinches of cayenne pepper

In a large pot, melt the butter and add onion, celery & garlic. Reduce to low and add the flour, stirring to make a roux. Cook over low heat to allow the flour to cook out. Turn heat to high and slowly whish in the stock. Add the milk & bring soup to a rolling simmer, stirring often. Add the potatoes, chilies, peppers and corn. Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes for until potatoes are cooked through. Add cayenne pepper to taste. Top with goodies like:

• a squeeze of fresh lime juice
• sour cream
• chopped cilantro
• avocado
• grated sharp cheddar cheese

Image: sammyw

It’s been a long while since I’ve made something sweet in this house. I think with the overload of Christmas goodies, we needed a break. But didn’t take long, it’s still January! That being said I thought I’d slowly increase the sweetness factor. These have 4 whole cups of fresh blueberries, so they’re healthy right…? Or is that just what I keep telling myself…

Blueberry Crumb Bars
recipe from smittenkitchen

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 t baking powder
• 3 cups flour
• 1 cup cold butter
• 1 egg
• 1/4 t salt
• Zest and juice of a lemon
• 4 cups fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 t cornstarch

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9×13 inch pan.

In a bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg, dough should resemble small peas. (very much like making pie dough).  Press half of dough into the pan. In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries. Pour the blueberry mixture over the crust. Sprinkle remaining dough over the blueberries. Bake about for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown.

Images: sammyw