Salmon Tostadas with Katie

Katie came over yesterday to cook some dinner with me and my family after work! We made Black Bean and Salmon Tostadas, they were really good, filling, and so easy to make. We're both in Oklahoma for a couple of weeks. Then Katie's on to Chicago and I'm on to Dallas! So we'll probably make a couple more dinners together before we head off to new cities.

Salmon Tostadas

Ingedients:

• 8 6-inch corn tortillas
• Canola oil cooking spray
• 1 7 ounce can boneless, skinless wild Alaskan salmon, drained (or use frozen or fresh salmon, cook and flake)
• 1 avocado, diced
• 2 Tbl minced pickled jalapeños, plus 2 tablespoons pickling juice from the jar, divided (or use fresh jalapenos with pickled jalapeno juice, or red wine vinegar)
• 2 cups coleslaw mix or shredded cabbage
• 2 Tbl chopped cilantro
• 1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed
• 3 tsp reduced-fat sour cream
• 2 Tbl prepared salsa
• 2 scallions, chopped
• Lime wedges, for garnish

Directions:

Position racks in upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat to 375°F. Coat tortillas on both sides with cooking spray. Place on 2 baking sheets. Bake, turning once, until light brown, for about 12 minutes. Don't over cook them or they'll get hard and tough.

Combine the salmon, avocado and jalapeños in a bowl.

I only added half the jalapenos and half the juice because my mom really doesn't like spicy food. But you couldn't taste it at all. I'd recommend using both tablespoons of jalapenos and all the juice, and if you like it spicy, add more! But you can barely taste the jalapenos if you half it, so don't be afraid to add them in!

Combine cabbage, cilantro and the pickling juice in another bowl.

Process black beans, sour cream, salsa and scallions in a food processor until smooth. Transfer to a microwave-safe bowl. Cover and microwave on High until hot, about 2 minutes.

To assemble tostadas:

Spread each tortilla with some bean mixture

and some salmon mixture

 and top with the cabbage salad.

Serve with lime wedges and/or tomato wedges. Enjoy!

Katie and I cooking away!

SAE: Three Appetizers!

Only two more meetings left! :( I looked up a ton of new recipes this week and made three different appetizers for SAE. I think I am the first sweetheart to ever make a seafood dish, and it was delicious.

When I am searching for recipes for SAE meetings, I look for flavor, easiness, and quickness. I need something that the boys will enjoy, but also that I'll want to make again.

My favorite part about cooking today was when Ryan and I made homemade pastry shells!

HEB ran out of pre-made pastry shells, so I bought fillo paper and we made them from scratch. They are pretty easy, but really messy. We just followed the directions (for the most part) on the box and came out with some pretty good looking pastry shells and pastry crackers (aka: wantons for another recipe!).

First, we cut up the paper into squares, we had different sizes because we weren't sure which size worked. We dipped them in butter and wiped off the excess butter. Then we formed the paper into the mini-muffin tins and baked for 10 minutes! We thought it wouldn't turn out at all... But they did!

The three appetizers I made for this meeting were:
1. Spicy Seafood Shells
2. Cheese Blintzes
3. Blue Cheese Biscuits

Spicy Seafood Shells

This was so delicious, and the favorite of the guys at meeting. In the future, I think I might add a little more spice. But still so delicious this way!

 Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
• 2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2/3 cup shredded Swiss cheese
• 1/3 cup chopped onion (about half an onion)
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp hot pepper sauce (tobasco)
• 3-5 dashes Old-Bay Seasoning
• 1 (4 oz) small shrimp, frozen and thawed, or canned and drained (if you want to use a little more... Go ahead!)
• 1 (8 oz) can crab meat, drained and flaked
• 3 (2.1 oz) packages mini fillo tart shells
• paprika 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a medium baking sheet.

In a medium bowl, mix together mayo, Parmesan cheese, Swiss cheese, onion, Worcestershire sauce, spice, and hot pepper sauce. Gently stir in shrimp and crab meat.

Form fillo dough into shells. Fill shells with the mixture.

Arrange stuffed shells on baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven 7 to 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. 

Sprinkle with paprika before serving. 

Cheese Blintzes

The best words to describe this sweet snack is heavenly. I know the sour cream sounds weird, but when you mix it with the blintzes when they're hot out of the oven, they are to die for. They were so good, I even forgot to take a picture of them... Ryan and I are already planning on making them at the lake next weekend!

Ingredients:

• 1 (1 lb) loaf white bread
• 4 Tbl white sugar
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
• 2 tsp milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 pint sour cream

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray. 

Trim crusts from bread and roll the slices flat. 

In a small bowl combine sugar and cinnamon to make a mixture. 

 

In a large mixing bowl, mix softened cream cheese, milk and vanilla until smooth. Spread this mixture onto each slice of flattened bread. Roll each bread slice up. Dip bread/cream cheese rolls in melted butter, roll the blintzes immediately in the sugar-cinnamon mixture. Cut rolls in half. Arrange the blintzes on the prepared cookie sheet. 

  

Bake for 10 minutes. Serve with sour cream. 

Blue Cheese Biscuits

These little biscuits are really easy and inexpensive. I had all of the ingredients on hand, and although I used blue cheese... You can try this recipe with any kind of cheese, that melts well. It was a great snack/appetizer, but you could also make it as a side/roll substitution.

 

Ingredients:

• 1 (10 oz) package refrigerated biscuit dough
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 5 oz blue cheese, crumbled

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.. Lightly grease a 9-inch pie plate, or baking sheet, with non-stick cooking spray. 

Slice each biscuit into quarters, arrange then in the prepared pie plate. Pour melted butter over the biscuits, then sprinkle the biscuits with blue cheese. 

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. 

ENJOY!

Cameron's Meal and A Fun Present

A couple of things... First I officially got into Culinary School! I just ordered my chef's coat and pants and set up a meeting with my adviser! I'm so excited and I start in August!

Second, I went to Dallas last week for a lunch and meeting with the Baylor Advisory Board. I told Cameron I really wanted to cook dinner instead of going out that night. When I got out of my exam and started driving to Dallas I called him to ask what we were going to cook.

He responded with "I don't know, I have a Voila in the freezer, I thought we could just make that." Needless to say I was disappointed, but I was excited to see him, so I tried to cover up my disappointment and told him that would be a nice dinner.

An hour and half later I got to Dallas. As soon as I opened the door I could smell a bunch of different ingredients and knew that he had lied and was surprising me with a homemade dinner.

I got to the kitchen and he told me we were going to make shrimp. He had already peeled and devained all the shrimp so everything as ready.

Cameron's Dinner (Shrimp, Peppers, and Salad)

Ingredients:
(Since Cameron was in charge of getting all the ingredients I don't know how much he used, but you can never have too much garlic!)

• Shrimp
• Butter
• Garlic
• Bell Peppers (Orange and Red added a lot of color)
  
• Mozzarella
• Cheery Tomatoes
• Black Olives (Sliced) Although Cameron doesn't like olives, so I just had some in my salad
• Olive Oil (Italian Dresseding or any kind of dressing works)

Mince the garlic, Cut the peppers, Peel and devain the shrimp. Heat a medium skillet and add the butter and garlic. Then add the shrimp and cook until pink. Next add the peppers to the butter-garlic mixture and cook for 5-8 minutes.

Cameron sauteing the Shrimp.

Mix together the mozzarella , cherry tomatoes, and olives (or pick out the olives like Cameron) and then toss with olive oil or Italian dressing. (Maybe even add some basil too! We didn't have any but fresh basil would be great in that salad.)

The dinner was delicious and I was so thankful that Cameron put together such a great dinner.

My third announcement is my AMAZING gift from Ryan. Every year my roommates do a Secret Santa (this way we all get special gifts and it saves us poor college girls some money!) Anyway we went to Nifas and Ryan gave me this gorgeous apron! I can't wait to wear it when I'm cooking at home for the holidays!