I heart Mexican food more than any other cuisine, so Cinco de Mayo is naturally one of my favorite holidays because it gives me a chance to indulge in some Tex-Mex treats. I was in the mood for something light, and I didn’t have a ton of time, so I decided to make fish tacos. These are very simple, but very tasty– clean and fresh.
Ingredients:
- 4 Tilapia fillets
- Corn tortillas
- 2 Limes
- Shredded cabbage
- Shredded carrots (I use a bagged coleslaw mix for the carrots and cabbage)
- 2 cans refried black beans
- 1yellow onion
- Handful jarred jalapenos
- Cheese (I used a chipotle cheddar, but you could use Monterey jack, queso blanco, colby, etc.)
- Salsa
Directions:
- Wrap tortillas in aluminum foil and warm in oven.
- Saute onions until golden. Add beans and jalapenos to onions and heat through.
- Salt and pepper tilapia fillets and grill or sear until cooked through. Squeeze lime juice onto each fillet.
- Spoon a small amount of the beans onto tortilla (can also serve beans on the side, but the consensus here was to put on taco) and add tilapia, cabbage, carrots and cheese. Serve with salsa.
We’re always on the lookout for meals that are [a] healthy, and [b] easy. This dish easily falls into both categories. Bridget found this recipe for Fish Fillets in Parchment with Asparagus and Orange while flipping through bonappetit’s latest edition (April 2008).
I think she thought it would be something I would love (and love to cook). She was right. The snob in me loves how elegant this dish feels. The workaholic (who has no time) loves its speed.
Simply cut four large squares (mine were 12×12) of parchment, and place them on the counter. Rub the parchment with a little butter.
Place a 5 to 6 oz. fillet of halibut or cod (we used halibut) on top of each square. S&P on top.
Cut some asparagus, and arrange the pieces around the fish (we used about 3 stalks per parcel). Lay 3 tarragon leaves on top (as beautifully as you can), and spoon over 1 tblsp. of orange juice.
Add 1/2 tblsp. butter (not melted) on the tip-top, and seal this baby up. I guess I should have mentioned this earlier, but position the fish on one half of the parchment square. That way, when you’re ready to seal it, just fold the other half on top (like closing a book).
Start on one side, and roll (crinkle) the package closed. You don’t need an airtight seal, but get it as contained as you can because you want the fish to steam inside.
Then it’s just 400 degrees for 17 minutes. Done and yum! Mashed sweet potatoes were our side.
Something about brown paper just makes me swoon. These packages weren’t tied-up with string, but this is one of my new favorite things (I couldn’t resist). Try it, blog about it and let us know what you think!
Here’s the news I’ve been waiting to share. Amano’s decided to give chocolate to everyone that commented on the (day of the) Amano giveaway post. There were a few late commenters, but by my count, I have 98 qualified comments. If you were one of them, CONGRATS!
In addition to Amano’s already generous offering, they created a discount code for all of my readers to receive 15% off. To use it, go to their online shop. Enter:14A01068A28
We love you guys! Comment or email with questions!
I am so pleased to announce that Blake Makes has been included on Alltop’s list of top food blogs on the planet!
I told you we were getting some attention (and we’re just getting started).
Apart from all of my Sooper Heroes’ blogs, the food blogs featured on Alltop Food are some of my favorites.
I’m honored to be in such esteemed (and popular) company.
We’re getting there, Blake Makers. This blog isn’t even a year old, and look at what we’ve been able to accomplish.
I can’t wait to see where we’ll be even six more months from now, not to mention this time next year.
Go see us on Alltop. There are a lot of blogs, but we’re there. Look in the middle column, 11 down from the top. Ta dah!
Hello, Sooper Heroes. Sorry it’s taken me a little longer to get the winners up. I thought I’ve would have gotten some news today, but it looks like it’s going to be a little longer (and I can’t wait any more).
The 50 winners have been selected, but we may have another Amano announcement to make either later today, or tomorrow.
Congratulations to the winners, and if you didn’t win…stay tuned.
To see if you won, click the following link to view the full list of winners.
This giveaway is over, and all of the chocolate has been claimed. If you missed out, check back soon as we do free food giveaways almost every week. If you’d like to participate, remember you have to be Sooper – join our SOOPZ network.
UPDATE: Hello, Soopers. It’s going to take a little longer to announce the winners. Amano’s shared with us a bit of last-minute good news, so we’ve got a little more work to do behind the scenes before we’re ready to announce. We’ll announce tomorrow, but believe me, it will be worth the wait!
Ok, Sooper Heroes. Here’s your post. If you’d like a chance to win three (3) bars of amazing Amano Artisan Chocolate, comment on this post. We’ll announce the 50 lucky winners tomorrow. You’ve got all day, so GO!
Qualifications:
- Must be a registered Sooper Hero
- Must like (love) dark chocolate
- Must have a (food) blog
- Must be interested in blogging about it and linking to Amano (and us)
Read our Amano review for more information.
Comment and tell us how much you love dark chocolate. You can write a haiku, compose a song or just say, “hey.” We don’t require anything specific, but we do value enthusiasm and creativity (so keep that in mind… wink, wink).
Good luck!
We just sent out another Sooper Secret E-mail. Check your inboxes and spam folders for the message. There’re some secret goodies in it, and even some clues.
Training wheels.
Think about it, Soopers.
Update: For those Blake Makers who want some Amano now, they’ve offered our readers a 15% discount code for purchases made on their site good through the end of May. Comment on this post if you want the code and I’ll email it to you.
Hi. Just to be clear, the giveaway is this Thursday. This post is just the announcement so you can get to know Amano.
Yay for my (Bridget’s) first giveaway! Despite being a major chocoholic, I am picky about how I indulge in my addiction. Although I will admit to sneaking a Hershey’s Kiss now and then, I love nothing more than high quality dark chocolate that’s rich and smooth.
That said, the chocolate lover in me was so happy when I took my first bite of Amano Artisan Chocolate. It’s wonderfully dark, but I didn’t taste any strong bitterness as often happens when I have chocolates that are 70% cacao.
I tried three varieties of Amano chocolate over the course of a week, and I loved them all so much that they were almost all gone before Blake got to take photographs (what you see below is what was left and it lasted about 5 seconds after Blake snapped the last pic).
Amano is one of only around a dozen manufacturers in the U.S. that makes its chocolate from the raw, natural bean. It strives to make the highest-quality product possible by creating the chocolate in small batches with the best ingredients (After talking to one of the Amano owners, Blake said they even get out in the fields to help with the harvest from time to time). The hard work definitely pays off because this is some truly yummy chocolate!
We know what you love about Blake (and Bridget) Makes…the free food! Well, here we go again! FREE CHOCOLATE GIVEAWAY, Thursday, April 24.
Note: I know we seem to be giving away a lot of free chocolate lately (almost exclusively), but we decided to squeeze this one in before the weather gets too warm. We have tons of free food, but chocolate ships best in cooler temperatures (and gets twice as expensive to ship with cool packs in warmer weather). We would have moved on to our other great food finds, but I had to get Amano in your hands first. It’s THAT good.
So, this is how the giveaway will work this week. We’ll post Thursday morning, and you’ll have all day to express your love for dark chocolate. Fifty (50) lucky winners will each receive three (3) bars of Amano Artisan Chocolate! You lucky Sooper Heroes.
Qualifications:
- You have to be a registered Sooper Hero
- You have to love dark chocolate
- You have to have a blog, preferably a food blog
- You have to be interested in showing Amano some love if you enjoy your free sample by blogging about it (and linking to their site).
Last year we took a trip to Washington, D.C. to visit our friend Norisha and we had a delicious meal at Pizzeria Paradiso in Georgetown. I loved the egg they added to the pizza midway through cooking because it added a creamy richness to the pie. Tonight, Blake has a late dinner meeting, so I decided to stay home, watch a girly movie and make a pizza that reminded me of our trip to D.C.
We had an unopened package of turkey bacon and leftover smoked mozzarella, so I decided to make a bacon, egg and cheese pizza. This took me almost no time to make and it turned out so well. Blake ended up eating half before his night out and declared it incredibly delicious!
My only regret was that I only used one egg; next time I’d use two so each half would be covered in delicious, sunny yolkiness (as seen below!). Now, I’m off to watch Nancy Drew!
Ingredients:
- Ready-made pizza crust (I like Boboli because it’s cheap, keeps awhile in the pantry and tastes good.)
- Marinara sauce
- Mozzarella (I used a combo of leftover bagged cheese and deli smoked mozzarella- the smoked cheese added tons of flavor, so I would definitely mix this in again.)
- 3 strips bacon
- Handful chopped Fresh flat-leaf parsely
- Salt and pepper
- Grated Parmesan cheese
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
- Cook bacon, crumble and put to the side.
- Spread thin layer of marinara over crust, and add a few handfuls of mozzarella. Bake pizza on the rack for about 4 minutes.
- Pull out oven rack, and make sure it’s level. Crack egg in center of pizza and add a little salt to yolk. Push over rack back in, turn on broiler and bake for an additional 5-6 minutes, until yolk has thickened but is not hard (sunny-side up).
- Add bacon, parsely, grated Parmesan and black pepper to taste.
