Tropical Chicken Tacos

Saturday, while getting my hair done, I found a new magazine, that I wanted to try about 7 recipes out of.  So, I took it home with me.

Magazine:  "Clean Eating"
April/May 2012

Page 51

Tropical Chicken Tacos

Marinade:

1 jalepeno pepper, seeded and minced

1/2 cup low fat coconut milk

1/4 cup minced red onion

3 Tablespoons minced pineapple

1 tsp ancho chile powder

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper

4 - 4oz chicken breastes

Salsa:

1 jalepeno pepper, seeded and minced

3 cups cubed pineapple

1 loosely packed cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1/4 cup minced red onion

1/4 cup toasted unsweetened coconut

1/8 tsp salt

For Tacos:

12 - 6" corn tortillas

Instructions:

1.  In large mixing bowl or zip lock bag combine all ingredients for marinade.  Marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes or overnight in the Refridgerator(NOTE: Chicken should not marinate for more than 8 hrs)

2.  Meanwhile, prepare the salsa, cover and refrigerate until needed( Salsa can be prepared up to 1 day in advance)

3.  Heat a grill or a grill pan(use some safflower oil if using a pan).  Cook chicken until throroughly cooked through (about 12 minutes).   Remove from heat; transfer to a cutting board let rest for 5 minutes, then slice up and divide among tortillas.

Top each with salsa!

The salsa bowl, almost gone!

a half eaten taco

I WILL make this recipe again.

I can't wait to make the other 6 recipes from this magazine that I am excited about!

Chile Shrimp Tacos

Tonight's dinner comes courtesy of "Clean Eating" - April/May 2012 Magazine!  More about this magazine in my next post.

So, yesterday we had chicken tacos out of the same magazine.  That recipe will come later as well.  Looking for something easy and tasty, we gave this new recipe a try too.

Easy = YES

Fast = YES

Tasty = YES

Would we make it again?   YES

Chile Shrimp Tacos

Serves 4; Hands-on Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 45 Minutes...that's for shrimp marinating time.

"Juice grapefruit and lime brighten up these fresh and light shrimp tacos"

Ingredients:

1 large grapefruit

2 cloves garlic, minced, divided (some for marinade, some for guacamole)

1 lb large shrimp, peeled, deveined and detailed

1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions,divided(some for marinade, some for guacamole)

1 tsp chile powder

1/4 tsp sea salt

1 lime, zested and juiced

1 avacado, peeled and pitted --- CHANGE, we used 2!

8 - 6" corn tortillas, warmed

Directions

1.  Zest grapefruit and set aside in a medium bowl for the Guac.  Segment grapefruit with a paring knife, slice  off the ends and remove pith, working from top of fruit to the bottom.  In a wide shallow bowl, use a knife to make incisions along membranes toward center of fruit and cut segments free.  Cut into bite size pieces.  Reserve juice in bowl(for marinade) and transfer segment pieces to bowl with zest(for Guac.).

2.  To bowl with juice, add 1 clove garlic, shrimp, 1/4c green onions, chile powder and salt.  toss to combine.  Cover and refrigerate for up to 30 minutes.

shrimp and guacamole!

3.  Prepare Guacamole: to bowl with segments and zest, add another clove of garlic, remaining green onions.  Stir in lime zest and juice then smash avaocado into mixture with a fork or the back of a spoon to form a chunky guacamole.  Cover tightly and refrigerate until needed.

4.  Heat a large saute pan on medium-high.  Add shrimp mixture and saute, stirring frequently until shrimp are pink and cooked through, 3-5 minutes.  Spread guac on tortillas, top with shrimp dividing evenly.

2 prepared tacos

 

Strawberries + Lemon + a little help = Strawberry Lemonade

So earlier today, I needed some grocery items for dinner, but was too exhausted to go to the store.  So Jon volunteered to go out while I napped.  I needed Chicken and a Lemon....

I should have taken a picture, but he came back with a FULL BAG of lemons! like 10 of them.  I was scared.  But he declared he wanted to try making Strawberry Lemonade.  (He also bought fresh strawberries).

After looking up a few recipes, Jon started juicing some lemons.  I remained doing my own thing, until I was asked to make some simple syrup and help mix it all together.

Here's a picture of the carnage....

The already juiced halfs

It produced just over 2 cups of juice!
I made a simple syrup mixture (2 cups water/2 cups sugar).
Jon also pureed a whole thingy of strawberries...what they come in 1 pound?

We started by adding 1 cup simple syrup to the pureed strawberries.  We added about half the lemon juice to a pitcher, then about half of the strawberry puree.  It was still too sour, so we added about another 3/4c simple syrup.  That was the right tartness, so we just added a bunch of water

Here's the finished product....

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO TASTY!

"Homemade Strawberry Lemonade"

1 cup of fresh Lemon Juice (about 3-4)
Half a pound of strawberries
~1 1/2 cups of simple syrup
Add water until the 'right' consistency
Ice to make it cold.

Put in pretty pitcher

ENJOY!