Garlic-Onion Striped Bass

Striped bass is a wonderful light fish that can be easily cooked in the oven or on the grill.  For this recipe, I choose to bake it but if you have the chance to fire up the grill that is always an added addition!!

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp onion-onion (tastefully simple)
• 1 tbsp spicy oh my garlic (city fish) alternative is garlic-garlic (tastefully simple) with a dash of dried jalapenos mixed in.
• 1 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 lb of striped bass

Directions:

1. Place fish skin side down on pan

2. Rub in olive oil to fish

3. Sprinkle the onion-onion and oh my garlic over the fish to give it a nice coating of seasoning

4. Bake at 350 until your done-ness is achieved.  For me it was about 20 minutes to have the tail at medium well (my style) and medium rare (husbands style) at the thicker end.

Nutritional Information:

With two servings made from this, it is a definite plus for a diet here!  At only 350 calories, this is also very low in carbs and high in protein.  Enjoy this meal thoroughly.

My opinion on the Results:

Loved it!! The spicy oh my garlic gave it a kick that was much appreciated and the onion gave it an added surprise in each bite.  Striper is a nice light fish with a unique smooth butter taste unlike other game fish or white fish.  Delightful meal paired with light drinks and a stuffed shell!

Lemon-Lime-Blueberry Infused Water (with alcoholic recipe!)

My newest infused water I also found out how to make it alcoholic (*gasp*)

The infused water is:

• Handful of blueberries
• 1 lemon sliced
• 1 lime sliced

Leave overnight to infuse into water and drink away.

Now for my alcoholic creation:

• Glass full of ice
• Half the glass of infused water
• 1 shot of vodka
• Top off with club soda
• Garnish with lime, lemon, blueberry skewer

By itself the infused water is refreshing on a hot day, add with the vodka and you have a treat for the night-time.  I highly suggest that you are hydrated when adding the vodka…

Marinara Mussels

Mussels are a delight in the summer since they are easy to steam, or cook in a boiling pot of something.  Whatever is in the pot will marinate into the mussels as they open in cook.  This is a simple recipe using a simple Marinara sauce that you can buy at the grocery store. 

Ingredients: 
1 pound of mussels
1 cup of marinara sauce

Directions:
1. Clean the mussels.  I usually put them in a colander and then run cold water over them.  Using a small scrub brush for a deeper cleaning and pull the “beards” off them if you need to. 

2. Check each mussel to be sure that it is still “alive” and fresh.  To do this you can either tap them to see if they are extremely hollow (hollow means dead), or if you have an open mussel, push it closed.  If it stays closed then it is alive and fresh, if it opens back up to the same amount then its dead. Mussels can die in between buying them and getting home with them so double check!

3. Place clean mussels in an appropriate size pot.

4. Pour in a cup of watered down marinara (mix some water in so that it’s not as thick)

5. Place on stovetop at medium-high heat.

6. Mussels are done when they are all opened, for my batch this was about 10 minutes. 

7. Serve with crusty bread to soak up the marinara sauce and mussel juice. Remove from shells with finger or fork and ENJOY!!

Nutritional Information:

Recipe makes a serving size of 2. Also a key point to the nutrition here is that you don’t actually eat the entire cup of marinara sauce, they are just cooked in it.  I’m overestimating on the nutrifacts on this saying that each person is eating even a quarter cup of marinara, which some might do!  I know I didn’t!!  Now if you have bread with this, be sure to add in that value to this. 

My opinion on the Results:

I personally love mussels, and they can do well with lots of different flavors.  Mixing it with the marinara was a nice change from my normal white wine recipe.  This recipe is excellent for the pasta lover at heart, and can even change the type of wine that is served with it (red compared to the normal white people have with fish!).

Oyster "Rockefeller" Variation

Oysters are going to be the death of me.  I love them anyway, even raw!  Tonight for an appetizer we had a variation of an Oyster Rockefeller... variation because I didn't have all the correct ingredients to do the real ones.  And just because the grill was already running for dinner, I cooked these little guys up on the grill.

Ingredients:
12 oysters 
1 cup of shredded spinach
1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella
2 tablespoons of diced onions

Directions:
1. Shuck the oysters so that you have them on the half shell

2. Mix together in a bowl the spinach, cheese, and onions.
3. Spoon the mixture on top of the oysters in their shells.
4. Put on grill for 5 minutes if you want them a little raw still, but warmed.  Or 10 minutes if you want the oysters to be cooked more.

5. Serve warm and enjoy!

Nutritional Information:
The recipe calls for 12 oysters, I did two different nutritional information pictures for those that want a full serving of 6 oysters, and for those that want the information for just 1 oyster. 

My Opinion on the Results:
Loved them!  I think I would have liked them a little more cooked then I cooked them, or maybe even do them in the oven next time.  But needless to say, I ate all 6 of mine, and would make more if I had more oysters in the house! 

Grilled Wahoo

Spring is in the air, and the grill is up and running!  With a wonderful local fish market (City Fish Market) that brings in fresh fish almost daily, you can never beat having something new to cook up.  Tonight's experiment was Wahoo!!  Now for the Marine Biology freak I am... Wahoo is a sports fish similar to Mackerel located in tropical areas like Hawaii, Bermuda, and the Caribbean. With that stated I have whipped up a wonderful fish to grill up!

Ingredients:
1 lb of Skin on Wahoo Fish 
2 tablespoons lemon infused olive oil 
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon minced garlic 
1/2 teaspoons sea salt
1/2 teaspoons black pepper 

Directions:
Preheat Grill to medium/high heat
1. Coat top of the Wahoo with lemon infused olive oil.
2. In a small bowl mix together the paprika, minced garlic, sea salt and black pepper.  Sprinkle the mixture on both sides (half per side).
3. Place fish on grill skin side down and cook till done to your preference

There is no time that I am including on this recipe because the done-ness of the fish is personal preference.  I personally like the fish to be at a easy "flake" when using a fork.  My fiancee likes to have a easily cut fish with a butter knife.  My version would be called "medium well" in a restaurant whereas his would be "medium rare".  Key to cooking any fish is to be sure it's cooked how YOU like it cooked.  We get a tail end cut every time so that this is possible without cooking at two different time intervals.  This was about 20 minutes for tonight's fish.

Nutritional Information:
This recipe is intended for 2 individuals for dinner.  You could potentially cut about 60 calories out of this recipe if you use half as much olive oil.  But I like to have a nice coating on it when seasoning and then grilling.  

My Opinion on the Results:
Fish was AWESOME!  I loved the paprika on the fish as it gave a nice little kick in flavor.  The lemon cooled down that kick and infused into the fish while it was cooking.  Overall, very happy with my first experience of Wahoo, and can't wait to try out new recipes on it!   

Orange-Lemon Infused Water

For Christmas this year I received Primula Infuser Pitcher, Flavor It 3-in-1 Beverage System. Absolutely love this thing!

My newest drink I made today in it is Orange-Lemon water. Sometimes I like to have a little extra something in my water, but also don't feel like doing it for every glass that I drink. This pitcher makes about 4 to 5 glasses of water and can be filled for flavor twice as long as the fruit is still good.

The health benefits of having flavored water is also the whole new craze on the internet. So needless to say I am jumping on the bandwagon!

Here is today's recipe for my orange-lemon water:

5 small clementines sliced
1 large lemon sliced

Layer into infuser of pitcher and let sit in fridge for an hour or so before first glass.

Banana Bread Granola Bar Recipe

Trail mix and other granola bars has been my new obsession.  Yesterday when looking in the cupboard I realized that my bananas were getting way beyond the brown that they should be at!  Looking up ideas online for what to do with old bananas did not result in anything more then ice cream and banana bread.  Neither which I wanted at the moment.  Last week I made trail mix bars (a recipe that I need to modify and make again)..so I thought, why not change up that recipe and use the bananas in them!!


So with the old bananas and a cupboard full of various ingredients I got to work on making the banana granola bars in my mind.

Ingredients:
2 cups of old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup of peanuts
1 cup of cashews
1/2 cup of ground flax
1 cup of mashed bananas (4 medium to large old bananas)
1/2 cup of peanut butter

Directions:
Preheat the Oven to 350F
1. Mash the bananas in a large bowl with a masher
2. Add in old fashioned rolled oats and ground flax 
3. Chop nuts in a blender or food processor, add to mixture and mix
4. Melt peanut butter for 30 seconds in microwave and pour over mixture
5. Line a baking dish of your choice with parchment paper.  I used an 8 by 8 for thicker bars (results in longer cooking time) or you can use a larger one for thinner bars.
6. Spoon the mixture into the baking dish (with parchment paper) and flatten down with a spatula.
7. Put in oven for 20 minutes, till lightly browned, but do not go beyond that point.
8. Let cool, and then place in fridge to further cool them before cutting.  I cut mine into 10 bars and placed into snack bags to keep them longer in the fridge.

Nutritional Information:
With a serving size of 10 from the ingredients that I listed.  I used caloriecount.about.com for my nutritional information.  These may not be the healthiest things on the market, but they are right up there with store bought granola bars (150 calories for 40g).  

  

My Opinion of the Results:
Honestly, I don't love them!  But my fiancee does and that is sort of who matters.  I did find though that if I heat them and drizzle with more peanut butter they are so much better.  Next time I make these I may drizzle peanut butter on the top instead of mixing in; and also possibly add some dried fruit or chocolate chips.