Fish Tacos with Creamy Lime Guacamole and Cabbage Slaw

I cannot believe that it is already April - 2011 is flying by and I hate it! It won't be too long until we are packing up and moving to North Carolina. Although, the move is exciting and there are many new places to see and people to meet, I will miss Charlottesville and everything that goes along with it - being only an hour away from our families, the friends we have made, our fave restaurants, football tailgates, the downtown mall, the incredible music scene...the list goes on and on. Sigh...And so I digress...back to the fish tacos...

I wish that I could take credit for these amazing fish tacos but the only thing that I can take credit for are the pictures to document the meal and scarfing them up. We went over to a friend's house for dinner last week and she made these tasty tacos. These tacos are so light, refreshing and flavorful. The grilled fish, cabbage slaw and simple lime guacamole come together to create quite the perfect bite - the ingredients are so tasty on their own that you don't even really need the tortilla.Thanks Lauren and Will for such a delish meal!

Source: Food and Wine Magazine

You Will Need:

• 2 Hass avocados—halved, pitted and peeled
• 1/4 cup low-fat sour cream or Greek yogurt
• 1 small jalapeño, seeded and thinly sliced
• 2 Tbsp minced red onion
• 2 Tbsp chopped cilantro
• 5 Tbsp fresh lime juice
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 small head of napa cabbage, shredded (4 cups)
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil, plus more for brushing
• 2 pounds thick red snapper fillets with skin, cut crosswise into ten 2-inch-wide strips
• 10 7-inch flour tortillas, warmed
• 2 medium tomatoes, thinly sliced
• Hot sauce, for serving
• Lime wedges, for serving

Here We Go:

• Light a grill
• In a medium bowl, mash the avocados, sour cream, jalapeño, red onion, cilantro and 3 Tbsp of the lime juice
• Season the guacamole with salt and pepper and press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the guacamole
• In a large bowl, toss the cabbage with the 2 Tbsp of vegetable oil and the remaining 2 Tbsp of lime juice and season with salt and pepper
• Brush the fish with oil and season with salt and pepper
• Grill over moderately high heat until lightly charred and cooked through, about 10 minutes
• Transfer the fish to a platter and pull off the skin
• To assemble each taco, spread a dollop of guacamole on a tortilla. Top with a piece of fish, a few tomato slices and a large spoonful of the cabbage slaw
• Serve with the hot sauce and lime wedge



Serves 10
Happy Feasting!



T.C's Coleslaw

My grandmother was a phenomenal cook. I still dream of her homemade apple cakes with caramel butterscotch icing, fresh strawberry cakes, Santa Claus whisker cookies, old fashioned green beans, spaghetti sauce with cloves (who knew?) - the list goes on and on. She was one of those women who was a chef before her time and should have opened a restaurant with all of her "good eats" but never had the chance to. This homemade coleslaw recipe is made with just a few simple ingredients and yet it is so much better than those soupy coleslaw containers that you find at most grocery stores. It can be served with mac & cheese or atop a BBQ sandwich - either way it has just the right amount of vinegar and just enough mayonnaise that you can actually taste the cabbage and carrots.

You Will Need:

• 1 medium carrot
• 1/2 head of cabbage
• 2 Tbsp light mayonaise (my gramma definitely did not use light mayo but I did)
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• Salt & pepper to taste

Here We Go:

• Grate carrot over medium sized bowl using a microplane (pictured here) or box grater

• Grate cabbage over bowl and mix ingredients together



• Add mayonaise, sugar, apple cider vinegar and salt & pepper
• Stir all ingredients together



Serves 2-4 as a side
Happy Feasting!

Rainbow Chopped Salad

One of my Christmas presents was a subscription to Bon Appetite magazine. I cannot tell you how amazing this gift has been. Each month I eagerly await the arrival of next month's issue and then I spend undue amounts of time flipping through the pages and marking each recipe that I want to try. February's issue was no different - packed full of tasty meal ideas and the rainbow chopped salad was surely one of them.

My husband and I are moving to North Carolina in June, and we spent this past weekend looking for a place to live. After four consecutive nights of eating out (which was all delicious I might add), I decided that we were both desperately in need of some veggies. The only adjustment I made to this salad was substituting the hazelnuts for slivered almonds and it was delicious.This colorful salad is packed with fruit, nuts and cabbage and it's almost too gorgeous to eat...but we managed to anyway!

Adapted from February 2011 Bon Appetit

You Will Need for the Salad:

• 6 cups chopped romaine hearts
• 4 cups sliced red cabbage
• 1 large Fuji apple, halved, cored, diced
• 1 Asian pear, halved, cored, diced
• 1 mango, peeled, diced, or 2 Fuyu persimmons, peeled, seeded, diced
• 3/4 cup slivered almonds
• 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese (optional, but I used it and highly recommend)

You Will Need for the Dressing:

• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 1/2 Tbsp finely chopped shallot
• 1/2 Tbsp honey
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Here We Go for the Dressing:

• Whisk vinegar, shallot, and honey in small bowl to blend
• Gradually whisk in oil and season dressing to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper

Here We Go for the Salad:

• Combine romaine and next 6 ingredients in very large bowl; toss to blend. Add dressing and toss to coat
• Divide salad among plates. Sprinkle with blue cheese, if desired, and serve

Serves 8
Happy Feasting!