Parmesan Rock Fish

We love fish around our house. Even our girls, ages 1 and 3, gobble it right up and usually go for seconds. This recipe is so easy and fast, it's a great dinner on those nights that you want a yummy meal around the table but don't have much time.

 {Ingredients}

2 Rock Fish Fillets

1-2 Tbsp Unsalted Butter

Kosher salt to taste

1/4 C Parmesan Cheese, freshly grated

{Directions}
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
Pat fish dry and sprinkle kosher salt to taste. Generously sprinkle fish but it is overwhelming if you get too much. Use your judgement and remember play it safe, you can always add more after it's cooked. Set aside.
In an oven safe dish melt butter in oven. Once melted, place fish in dish, (did you hear that rhyme? ha ha) and cover with parmesan cheese. Make sure that fish does not overlap.
Bake 20-25 minutes.

Serve immediately.

This has already been repeated twice in the past 2 weeks at our house, hope you love it as much!

Brynn

Restaurant Review: Bucket-o-Crawfish

Bucket-o-Crawfish
1980 West 3500 South Suite #104
West Valley City, Utah 84119
(801) 419-0900
http://www.bucketocrawfish.com/
$$
5 star!!!
super casual, great for families, average noise

At first I was super hesitant with this dinner. I would consider myself a pretty adventurous eater and I am usually willing to try most anything but when we arrived I was a little hesitant. Our waiter explained everything to us and brought out a small sample - bonus points in my book, I hate ordering things that i'm not sold on. The crawfish (new to me) still has eyes, legs etc. and comes in a plastic bag, sauce and all, ready for you to dig in. So -- I tried the sample and immediately put my reservations behind me. It was delish! Here is a quick run-down of how it all works.

Step one: order your meat; You can choose from crawfish, shrimp, clam, muscle, snow crab and dungeness crab. Obviously, the fancier you go, the pricier it gets. 
Step two: order your sauce; Cajun, Garlic butter, lemon pepper and crazy mix of all of them (my favorite)
Step three: like it hot? pick your spice!
finally ORDER THE SWEET POTATO FRIES. Just trust me, okay?

and now for the fun part - all the tables are covered in plastic tablecloths. When your order is up they bring you a bib and DUMP YOUR FOOD RIGHT ON THE TABLE! What?! Does that go against everything you have ever learned at a restaurant? Yeah, me too. But, it was so. much. fun! We absolutely loved it! We tried a variety of crawfish and shrimp with several different sauces and we loved all of it. I'm not kidding on this, no plates, no silverware, LOADS of napkins (well, wet wipes) and a ton of fun!

Go try this if you are in the area. It is one we still talk about and want to take several of our friends for a little date night adventure!

Restaurant Review: Milagros

So we all love the tex-mex that is everywhere- Cafe Rio, Barbacoa, Chipotle - but in my opinion, true, legit, TASTY Mexican food is harder to come by.

*Don't worry i'm very aware that I might stand alone on this opinion, and that it probably goes back to my aversion of all things melted cheese...*

Well, Mexican Food taste buds prepare to GET. BLOWN. AWAY!!!!!!!!!!

Milagros in Orem, Utah is by far the BEST legit Mexican place, IN UTAH, ever!!! Although there are several street taco stands that come in as close second. I know I know, GASP! they are good, ok, don't judge :)

Anyway...here's the info:
For those that aren't sure how this works, look HERE

Milagros

970 W 800 N
Orem, UT 84057
801-655-1555

Monday  -  Saturday 11:00 am – 9:00 pm

http://milagrosutah.com/
$$

5-Star!

Family Friendly, average noise, casual but not out of place if you are dressed up. 

This restaurant prides themselves in serving LOCALLY FRESH food. That was one of my favorite parts of our experience. If they could get it fresh and local, they did. The food was phenomenal, the service was fast and really friendly, (even when my three year old threw her root beer on the floor) and the atmosphere was comfortable and classy. We were impressed that even though it was full the night we were there, the noise level was very acceptable and the whole ambiance was fun and comfortable.

Both Mr. Chef and I were super impressed and would highly recommend it.

Also, we both loved our food, the kids menu was yummy too and from the looks of other people's tables, can't go wrong on the menu. One recommendation though - when you go, try the grilled honey-injected onion ball. It was so delicious!

Go, try it out and let me know what you think!

Just as a side note, in April 2013, City Weekly voted Milagros as "Best Utah Mexican Food" 

Here is another review to help convince you.

Best Miraculous Mexican Cuisine

“Milagros, meaning “miracles” in Spanish, is a heavenly take on Mexican fare. This Orem restaurant was started by Dave Tuomisto, the restaurateur who also founded the popular Bajio chain. His newest dining destination is a restaurant that offers a sometimes-sweeter take on traditional Mexican cuisine, such as the seafood tacos that come with pineapple salsa and roasted-red-pepper chutney, or the popular grilled onion ball that’s injected with honey and spices while in the oven. You also can’t go wrong with Barry’s Pollo Fundido-a chicken breast wrapped lovingly in a fried tortilla and smothered with sour cream, cream cheese, Monterey Jack and cheddar cheeses along with a smattering of sumptuous chilies and spices.

Pesto Paninis

I love summer cooking; Barbeques, grills, fruit, fruit and more fruit! So last night I decided grilled sandwiches were in order. I have issues with melted cheese, serious issues. If it's too thick and I take a bite a bathroom better be close by, and regardless of how hungry I am, I'm done eating for the rest of the night. My husband thinks I'm crazy. What can I say, it's a texture thing.

So, normally paninis aren't really my thing. That whole melted cheese gets in the way. However, last night these were delicious. AND the best part about sandwiches is everyone can make theirs just how they want. For example, my sandwich has one thin layer of cheese but Mr. Chef can't get enough of that ooey goodness. To each their own.

Remember : Make yours with whatever you want! You could have paninis every day for a month and never have the same sandwich twice :)

So - I'm not giving you a recipe. These should be made to order, just how you want.
Go choose a delicious meat from your local deli, get some tasty cheese (experiment a little with this, we got a cheddar with red pepper in it) and slather on the pesto!

Restaurant Reviews: Introduction

OK -- Mr. Chef and I not only love to try new recipes but one of our favorite hobbies is trying new restaurants. We love finding a new gem where we can try new things and have a fun night out. For example -- a few weeks ago we were going to a local tried and true pizza place and as we drove our 3 year old started crying, hard, and screaming, "I don't want pizza! I want sushi!"
uh oh! So -- to her future dates, we are really sorry. She is officially ruined. 

Anyway, new, different, healthy (most of the time) food? Bring it on!

Here is the plan. I try and post a new recipe once a week and now in addition to that I will be reviewing a different restaurant weekly.
I will post all the normal details of the restaurant as well as using a 5-star rating system and a 4 $$ symbol system as follows:

(per person/includes entree, drink, tax and tip)
$ - Cheapo, under $10/person
$$ - Moderate, $11-$30/person
$$$ - Spendy, $31-$60/person
$$$$ - Splurge, $61+/person 

Thoughts? Isn't that exciting?! I hate going to a new restaurant and leaving disappointed. Hopefully this will help a little. There is one catch though. We live in Utah and not all of these places will be chains. So, to our Utah readers - maybe this one is for you. Hopefully there will be something for everyone with these reviews but we'll see.

Review #1 (isn't this so exciting!?)
***update: I've moved the Bucket-o-Crawfish review to it's own post for simplicity of finding it.

Spinach Pesto

 Everyone needs a good quick pesto sauce recipe! Trust me on this one, it's yummy. 

There is a secret ingredient that you might never guess. Go ahead, read on and tell me if you guessed it! Dare ya ;)

I'm keeping this short and sweet today, enjoy!!!

As you can see I buy my spinach in bulk. Costco has yummy spinach, and LOTS OF IT, for cheap. I'll get that and make 4-5 batches at once. This is my favorite go-to sauce, for loads of options. It's especially good on those days spent at the pool, where we run home just in time to get dinner on the table as Mr. Chef walks in. It's like I had been slaving for hours over a fresh hot cooked meal :)

 To start, let's make one thing VERY clear...this is easy peasy.  

 Blend all the above ingredients, minus olive oil, together in your blender or food processor until creamy. Slowly add oil, while blending. 

Pour into ice cube trays or tupperware for storage. 

For some reason pesto will discolor after you freeze it. I don't honestly know why. To avoid it, simply pour a very thin layer of oil on top of the pesto in the container. 

This freezes really well or goes great on sandwiches, pizza, wraps, pasta...the options are endless! Maybe i'll do a pesto week next week and give lots of ideas for how to use your pesto? Anyone interested?

{Ingredients}
5 C loosely packed, fresh spinach
1/4 C Lemon juice
1-2 tsp grapefruit zest (any citrus will do but the grapefruit adds a really fun zing)
1/2 C pine nuts, toasted
1/3 C Olive Oil
salt and pepper to taste (I usually add about a full tsp of salt and 1/4-1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper)

{Directions}
Toast pine nuts in oven or toaster oven. spread them out in a single layer on a cookie sheet and toast at 250 degrees for 5-8 minutes, just long enough to enhance the flavor. When you open the oven door, you should be able to smell them. 
Place spinach (no need to de-stem but make sure it's washed well), lemon juice, pine nuts and grapefruit zest into blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. While still blending slowly add oil until well mixed. I usually prefer Olive Oil, however, this past time I made this I ran out of Olive Oil so I substituted Canola Oil. Whatever vegetable oil you have should work just fine. My personal preference is Olive. Add salt and pepper to taste. Use with your favorite recipe.

Optional use: Pour prepared pesto into ice cube trays or tupperware. Cover with a very thin layer of oil to preserve the bright green color while frozen. Freeze immediately.

PS - Did you guess the secret ingredient? Who would have thought, grapefruit pesto!?

Candy go-carts

This post is a little different. We are still making stuff in the kitchen, well actually the park, but it's still food. So, today is for the kiddos!

So -- today's post is a quick and fun idea when you are looking for a different day with the kids, or adults, or whoever. (we all got in on this action, maybe the adults more than the kids in some instances)

My little girl just turned three and was sure that ONLY a Fix it Felix party would do. Not Wreck it Ralph or Sugar Rush, Fix it Felix, complete with the building cake from the movie. Somehow I pulled it off and it was a blast and she was in heaven. But one of the most fun parts of the whole thing was making our own go carts. If you have a winco around you go hit them up for their bulk candy and go crazy!!!

Here is the birthday girls cart:

 We had a HUGE array of candies, cookies and crackers to use. Make sure that you get lots of round candies for different wheels and steering wheels. We also found that toothpicks were extremely handy!

And here are some other masterpieces...Aren't they beautiful!?

 

 

There are so many fun things you can do with this! Go grab candy of your choice, a few toothpicks, some awesome icing and go go-cart crazy!!!



Recipe for Royal Icing:
(recipe from Food Network)

{Ingredients}
3 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners' sugar (powdered sugar)

{Directions}

In large bowl of stand mixer combine the egg whites and vanilla and beat until frothy. Add confectioners' sugar gradually and mix on low speed until sugar is incorporated and mixture is shiny. Turn speed up to high and beat until mixture forms stiff, glossy peaks. This should take approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Add food coloring, if desired. For immediate use, transfer icing to pastry bag or heavy duty storage bag and pipe as desired. If using storage bag, clip corner. Store in airtight container in refrigerator for up to 3 days.