I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

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Crispy Asian Fish Sandwiches

Crispy Asian Fish Sandwiches

Since having Autumn Price and I have really been making a point to have dinners together at the table. No more eating in front of the TV. She has no idea what is going on but it’s just nice to feel more settled at dinner with all 3 of us involved. When she was younger we would put her in her bouncy seat and put that on the table. Now that she is a whole 4  1/2 months (ha!) she sits in her high chair and ‘eats’ her hands.

I really try to plan out dinner for the week so that it’s quick prep time for us to make or finish assembling the meal. Some days it’s salad. Some days it’s soup. Some days it’s tacos. The best meals are quick to prepare and make enough food for leftovers. But leftovers get played out and boring. So then you have to turn to trying something new so that it makes dinner together so much fun.

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These Crispy Asian Fish Sandwiches are just the perfect solution for changing things up for dinner.

And that is why I love participating in Secret Recipe Club so much since I get to learn about other people’s blogs and get to try new to me recipes. So much fun!

This month I had another Nicole’s blog called Hapa-Tite. She has such a fun blog with great recipes that highlight her diverse background that include Chinese, Cherokee, German, and American, all while being culturally Hawai’ian. Plus it was fun to get a blog from a fellow Nicole!!

We picked these sandwiches out because we realized that we hadn’t had fish in awhile so it would be good to try something new when incorporating more fish into our dinner routines. This sandwich has great flavors and textures so it really elevates things from your standard fish sandwich.

I made some minor changes to the recipe that Nicole shared because of what I could get at the grocery store and some preferences. I was on my 2nd trip to the grocery store and I couldn’t find chives so I grabbed some green onions instead to still have that onion-y flavor in the sandwich. Then instead of the wasabi mayo, I made a sauce with some mayonnaise, wasabi and a few other things I grabbed from the fridge since I knew we wouldn’t actually eat wasabi mayo so it wouldn’t get used so there was no sense in buying it.

We loved this recipe because of the flavors, textures, and ease of putting together. We’ve already been talking about when we would make this again. This would be a great dinner option for you if you are in the middle of lent as well!

This Crispy Asian Fish Sandwich is a real winner for lunch or dinner. I swear that you will  be hooked. whomp whomp!

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Crispy Asian Fish Sandwiches

Makes 2 sandwiches

Ingredients

  • 2 white fish fillets, preferably tiliapia, 6-8 ounces total
  • 1/2 Cup flour
  • 1 eggs
  • ¾ cup panko bread crumbs
  • ½ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • canola oil
  • 2 sesame seed buns
  • 1 lemon, sliced into 4 long wedges
  • Toppings: thinly sliced English cucumbers, lettuce, cilantro

For the sauce

  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 teaspoon wasabi
  • 1 teaspoon ponzo sauce or soy sauce
  • 1/2 of a scallion thinly sliced

Process

  1. Prepare the sauce by combining all of the ingredients. Set aside.
  2. Liberally season both sides of the fish fillets with salt and pepper.
  3. Place the flour in a medium dish; beat the eggs with a splash of water in a second medium dish; and combine the panko with the ginger and garlic powder in a third medium dish.
  4. Coat the fish fillets evenly in the flour, then beaten egg, and then panko mixture.
  5. In a large skillet, heat the oil, about 1/4 inch, over medium to medium-high heat. Fry the fish until golden, about 3 minutes on each side.
  6. While the fish is cooking, lightly toast the buns.
  7. Transfer the cooked fish to a paper towel-lined plate to drain off excess oil. Squeeze 2 wedges of lemon over the fish.
  8. Serve on the sandwich buns with the sauce, toppings of your choice, and a wedge of lemon.

Inspired by Hapa-tite

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Secret Recipe Club

Check out all the other great Secret Recipe Club posts this month!

 

Check out my 2 years of Secret Recipe Club posts!!!!

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Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.

Thirsty Thursday: Watermelon Agua Fresca

 Watermelon Agua Fresca

Ahh summer…

What is your favorite drink to enjoy during the summer? Is it a beer? A glass of sangria? A glass of icy cold lemonade? Well, I love it all. I had such a hard time picking a drink to share for this week’s “Summer Time Favorites” themed Thirsty Thursday post. I wanted to share something that I find really refreshing and is simple to prepare because you don’t want to be stuck inside making a drink, you want to be outside enjoying it!

Watermelon Agua Fresca is a perfect summer time drink. I can’t get enough of it at this point. I’m really missing beer, chilled white wines, and sangria now but this Watermelon Agua Fresca is really hitting the spot right now.

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I keep buying watermelons like they are going out of style. I don’t think I’ve ever eating so much watermelon in my life this summer. And now I’m drinking it. It’s just hard to resist it since it is at its peak freshness for such a short period of time.

Oh, and on the plus side I don’t have a watermelon sized bump… yet.

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And Amanda has shared a Sonic favorite because you just can’t resist Happy Hour in the summer. But if you miss Happy Hour don’t fret since you can now make your own Ocean Water at home. Soooo good!!!

Watermelon Agua Fresca

Serves: 4

Ingredients

  • 5 cups fresh, seedless watermelon, cut into cubes
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 T. sugar or agave, or to taste (optional)
  • Juice of 2 fresh limes or to taste
  • Lime slices, for garnish

  • Optional add-ons: fresh mint or basil, sparkling water, champagne, or vodka

Instructions

  1. Puree together the watermelon, water, sugar, and lime juice in a blender.
  2. Pour into glasses and garnish with lime slices.

Sourced from Playing with my Food

Thirsty Thursday: Strawberry Daiquiri

Strawberry Daiquiri

I really love the heat of summer but this summer is kinda getting to me. Really, I hate to say that since summer is my favorite season. But this summer has been intense from chilly weeks of rain in June to the hot soupy humid weather now. But I’m gonna plan on blaming my distaste for this summer on The Bean. For example, I just feel extra gross and I can’t stay hydrated no mater how much water I drink (easily averaging 100+ ounces a day). Plus I can’t enjoy the fun drinks that are fantastic to sip on in the summer.

Case in point, the Strawberry Daiquiri!!! When we decided on our Frozen Drinks theme for our weekly Thirsty Thursday posts I thought of this since we enjoyed so many of them on our cruise last year.

I think I need to mix up a virgin (womp whomp) batch since Price had to do the dirty job of drinking up the half batch I made one morning. Such is the life. ha! But I really need to make these again since the sweet smell of strawberries filling our kitchen was intense and lovely. I used fresh strawberries that I cut up and froze since when I first read the recipe I quickly mixed up frozen with fresh so I just needed to give my berries a bit of a deep freeze before getting to making this frozen drink.

Amanda has made a Skinny Frozen Pina Colada that I wish I could dive into. It looks awesome plus it is a skinny version. The best for the summer… a refreshing pool side drink that doesn’t make you regret sipping on it in your bathing suit.

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Strawberry Daiquiri

Makes 4 glasses

Ingredients

  • 1 cup light rum
  • 1/2 cup fresh lime juice
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup sprite or 7-up
  • 1 (16 ounce) package frozen whole strawberries

Process

  1. Pour rum, lime juice, sugar, and Sprite into blender container. Briefly blend to combine and dissolve the sugar.
  2. Add the frozen strawberries into blender, a few at a time, blending until smooth. Pour into chilled glasses.

Slightly adapted from Empty Nest, Two Full Plates

Thirsty Thursday: Michelada Marias

Michelada Marias

The Superbowl is just a few days away so Amanda and I decided to make it our theme this week. My office has set up a Squares Board so I’ll probably get a square for $5. At least there is no thought involved at all like picking a winner or the score since I don’t know anything about these teams. Well, the only thing I know about the 49’s is that my brother used to deliver newspapers to Steve Young’s parents. 20 years ago. See, totally relevant.

Once Amanda told me she was making some awesome loaded up Texas Cheese Fries (seriously. omg.) I knew that I light drink wouldn’t do. Besides it’s a day about football so a beer really does have the spotlight. So I decided to make some Michelada Marias.

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I had seen Michelada Marias made before by Ingrid Hoffmann on Simply Delicioso and I had always wanted to try one. I love beer with a lot of lime so I figured this would be great with it’s extra kick of a salted rim and sauces added to the beer. And it really was great. Ingrid recommends Tabasco but I didn’t have that on hand do I used a cayenne pepper sauce and it was good as well. You might be able to take an extra dash or two of the hot sauce but go easy on the Worcestershire sauce as you are already salting the rim and you don’t want the beer to get to salty. weird.

Michelada Marias

Makes 4 drinks

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup kosher salt
  • 3 tablespoons chili powder
  • 4 limes, quartered
  • 4 (12-ounce) bottles beer
  • Red pepper sauce
  • Worcestershire sauce

Process

  1. On a small plate combine the salt and chili powder. Rub a wedge of lime around the rims of 4 (12-ounce) glasses and rub  the glasses into the chili/salt mixture.
  2. Squeeze the juice from the lime wedges into the glasses.
  3. Pour the beer into each glass and then add a dash each of the red pepper sauce and the Worcestershire sauce.

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Looking for more ideas for what to serve during the Superbowl? Then check out these perfect game day food and drinks!

Thirsty Thursday: Slime Rickey

With just less than 2 weeks until Halloween Amanda and I decided to have 2 Thirsty Thursday posts with a spooktacular Halloween theme. We each will share one drink that is for great for trick-or-treaters of all ages (non-alcoholic) and one boo-zy one that you can enjoy at a party. This week I am sharing a fun drink that kids will just love and Amanda is sharing one that will put a smile across any grown ups’ face.

 

 

A Slime Rickey is perfect for kids as it is a lime rickey but there are some spooky eyes floating around in the glass! Just kidding! Those creepy eyes are just grapes and some maraschino cherries. Make and freeze the eyeballs in advance and you can whip up these drinks for the kids for a party or to refresh them after a long night of trick-or-treating. Perfect drink to sip on while sorting out all the candy!

Check out Amanda’s drink called a Bloody Tooth Cocktail! A reddevilish delight for parents after a long night of trick or treating! Sure to put a smile on your face!

Slime Rickey

Makes 4 drinks

Ingredients

  • 8 oz of lime juice (approximately 6 limes)
  • 4 oz of simple syrup
  • 16 oz of seltzer water
  • green grapes, round is preferred
  • maraschino cherries
  • crushed ice

Process

  1. To make the frozen eyeballs: chop maraschino cherries into tiny pieces. Score a ‘X’ at the end of the grape. Insert the piece of cherry into the grape. Arrange on the baking sheet and freeze.
  2. Combine 2 oz of fresh limes juice with 1oz of simple syrup in a glass. Add crushed ice and then seltzer. Put at least 5 frozen ‘eyeballs’ into each drink and enjoy!

Spiced Black Bean, Grilled Avocado, and Goat Cheese Tacos- SRC

For my Secret Recipe Club post this month I had Melissa’s blog. She shares great sounding and looking recipes on her blog called Fried Ice and Donut Holes. While her blog is not a vegetarian blog she does have a great number of veggie friendly posts that look mouth watering. I have several recipes bookmarked for some healthy comfort food eating this fall and winter.

When it came time to pick a make a recipe I had a very hard time because I had a whole list of great things like, Barbecue Chicken Pizza, Baked Pumpkin Donuts, and Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Pot Pie. In the end I picked the Spiced Black Bean, Grilled Avocado, and Goat Cheese Tacos. I simply picked these tacos to make because I was having a crappy, super busy week. I had these bookmarked since I loved how they could be a great recipe to use when I didn’t feel like cooking. Well, that is exactly what happened. I had just about everything at home so I just ran out for an avocado and some wine (since I really needed that as well) and was quickly on my way to dinner once I got back home.

 

 

I made a few changes to the original recipe but I think you have to do what works best for you and you taste preferences/ingredients on hand/sanity. For example, I could not find coriander seeds at our grocery store so omitted them and decided to amp up the other flavors I did have. I switche using olive oil out for corn oil as corn has a more subtle flavor as a higher smoking point, which I figured would be best for the grilled avocados. I added some cilantro since I love it and always have it around (for us and the rabbits). I mashed my black beans as I like that texture and I figured that it would more easily stay in the taco to eat (while balancing a glass of wine on my lap and watching Parenthood). I really enjoyed these and since I typically have the ingredients around on hand I know I can always have a great dinner at the ready with some easy adaption.

Spiced Black Bean, Grilled Avocado, and Goat Cheese Tacos

makes 4 tacos

Ingredients

  • 1 (15 oz) can of black beans, preferably low sodium
  • 1 tablespoon corn oil
  • 1 tablespoon ground cumin
  • generous pinch of red pepper flakes
  • 1 avocado
  • 1 teaspoon corn oil
  • juice and zest from 1 lime
  • 2 teaspoons honey
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 oz from a goat cheese log
  • fresh cilantro
  • 4 Flour Tortillas or 8 Corn Tortillas

Process

  1. Rinse the black beans, reserve 1/2 cup of the liquids.
  2. In a small skillet, warm the corn oil over medium heat. Add the cumin and pepper flakes. Once the spices have ‘toasted’ and are fragrant, add the black beans and liquids. Cook for 5-10 minutes on medium-low heat to reduce the liquids. Prior to preparing the tacos, mash up the black beans with a potato masher.
  3. Cut the avocado in half, gently score to create slices, and brush with some oil. Put on a grill or grill pan on high heat just to char the outside of the avocado.
  4. In a small bowl, combine the juice and zest of 1 lime, the honey, and salt and pepper.
  5. To assemble the tacos, place 1/4 each of the beans, avocado, and goat cheese into 1 flour tortilla or 2 layered corn tortillas. To finish add fresh chopped cilantro and a drizzle the lime-honey mixture over the filling and serve

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Secret Recipe Club

Check out my previous Secret Recipe Club Posts:

August: Birthday Cake Oreo Truffles

July: Tropical Pork Pineapple Kebabs

June: Cheesy Garlic Knots

May: Berry Brownie Torte

April: Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream

March: Sauteed Green Beans with Lemon and Almonds

February: Fried Pickles

Jan: No SRC postings

December: Shrimp Sriracha Stir Fry

November: Vegetable Enchiladas

October: Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

Check out the rest of the reveal day posts!

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Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.

Spinach Salad with Shrimp, Avocado, and Grapefruit with Citrus Vinaigrette

I love salads so much. I really hate that we have the tendency to skip over salads in the winter or automatically go for ones that have cranberries in them or whatever to make them ‘wintery’. They are perfectly fine salads but I wanted to make one that was not something that you would expect to see in winter, but that is in season now.

 

 

Citrus is in season in the winter. As much as we enjoy our lemonades and margaritas in the summer the best season for domestic citrus is the winter. The citrus vinaigrette is light since it is mixed with a light vinegar and some water. I felt that the lime and vinegar combination could result with a tart dressing so I cut it will some water to dilute it. If you prefer a more intense vinegar then don’t add water, but you may like to add a pinch of sugar to balance it out.

 

 

According to Produce Pete Florida avocados are in season now. They are in season from late June to February. Why use a Florida avocado? The texture us much different from a Hass-variety so it can stand up well to being mixed into a salad. They are much firmer compared to Hass avocados, which are great for guacamole.

 

Spinach Salad with Shrimp, Avocado, and Grapefruit with Citrus Vinaigrette 

*serves 2 as a main, serves 4 as a starter*

Spinach Salad with Shrimp, Avocado, and Grapefruit

Ingredients

  • 8 oz of baby spinach
  • 1/2 a Florida avocado
  • 1 large ruby red grapefruit
  • 1/2 pound of shrimp, 36-40’s
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • salt and pepper

Process

  1. Wash and pat dry the spinach, plate.
  2. Halve the avocado. Remove the peel and then slice thin wedges from the avocado. Layer on the salad evenly.
  3. Peel the grapefruit and then carefully peel the membranes away from the segments. Evenly distribute the segments on the salad.
  4. Rinse and remove the tails from the shrimp. Sprinkle salt and pepper on the shrimp.
  5. Over medium heat, warm the oil in a large skillet. Cook the shrimp, flipping after 2 minutes, cook until evenly pink.
  6. Add the warm shrimp to the salad and then top with some of the citrus vinaigrette.

Citrus Vinaigrette 

Ingredients

  • 2 limes
  • 1 orange
  • 1 clove of garlic, minced
  • 2 oz rice vinegar
  • 2 oz water
  • 2 oz extra virgin olive oil
  • salt and pepper

Process

  1. Squeeze the limes and orange.
  2. Add the garlic, vinegar, water, oil, and salt and pepper.
  3. Mix until all ingredients are incorporated.