Fish Quesadillas with Pineapple Salsa
My dad gave me some fresh fish he had caught when I visited last weekend, and he told me I must either cook them up by Monday or freeze them. Fish is SO much better when it’s fresh, so I cooked it up. My daughter loooooves fresh fish, but she wasn’t very hungry Monday night and we ended up with quite a stack of leftover cooked fish, part catfish, part Northern Pike.
So what do you do with a stack of leftover fish? Well, I often make fish tacos, but this time I wanted to do something a little different … why not a fish quesadilla? I tried it once. Pretty good, but not great. So I tried it a different slant on it … much better! … you are going to be so glad I waited to blog this because these Fish Quesadillas are SO good! The white beans and greek yogurt take them to a level beyond tasty. (That’s my own personal opinion.) I’m wanting another one already … gonna have to get some more tortillas!
Fish & White Bean Quesadillas with Pineapple Salsa
- 1 cup cooked white beans (Great Northern or Cannellini)
- 1/4 cup plain nonfat greek yogurt
- 1 Tablespoon of liquid from the beans
- 1 Tablespoon goat cheese
- Green onion (I used two)
- Garlic scapes (I used two)
- 1 Tablespoon finely chopped jalapeno (use more or less according to how spicy you want it)
- A few cilantro leaves
- 1 cup finely shredded Mexican blend of cheeses
- Cooked fish fillets
- Flour tortillas (whole grain is good!)
- Pineapple salsa (recipe below)
Directions:
- First, make the pineapple salsa and set aside to allow the flavors to blend.
- In a food processor or handi chopper, blend the white beans, yogurt, goat cheese, and a bit of cooking liquid from the beans till smooth. Add snipped green onion, garlic scapes, jalapeno, and cilantro and stir (or chop if you like), then blend in the shredded cheese.
- Heat a skillet pan to medium low heat and spray with cooking spray. While it’s warming, spread a tortilla with the cheese/bean mixture, then put flakes of fish all over half the tortilla. Fold it in half so the cheesy mixture completely covers the fish flakes. (If you want to make a big full round quesadilla, spread two tortillas with a thin layer of the cheesy mixture, top one of them with flaked fish, then carefully put the other tortilla on top (cheesy mixture down).)
- Put the tortilla in the pan, cover and cook briefly. Check often and when it is brown on the bottom, flip the tortilla over to brown the other side. When both sides are brown and the cheese is nicely melted, slide the quesadilla out of the pan onto a cutting board, cut into pieces, and serve immediately with the fresh pineapple salsa.
Fresh Pineapple Salsa
- 2/3 cup pineapple cut into small chunks
- 1/2 cup chopped red onion
- 1/2 cup chopped, peeled orange
- 1/2 cup chopped green & red bell pepper
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled & chopped fine
- 3 teaspoons finely chopped jalapeno (use more or less depending on how spicy you want it)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons tequila
- Juice of 1/4 of a lime
- A small bunch of cilantro leaves, chopped
Mix all ingredients in a small bowl. Let sit for a bit to allow the flavors to blend. Store any remaining salsa in a covered container in the fridge.
This recipe was shared at Potluck Party, Fit & Fabulous Fridays, Weekend Potluck, Everyday Mom’s Meals, Manic Mondays, Totally Tasty Tuesdays and KM’s Seafood Bloghop.
Maple Ginger Fruit Crostini with Basil
It’s a dreary, wet morning in South Dakota. Everything is very green and growing fast … I need to get out and pull weeds and tend my little garden. And I have some MORE grocery shopping to do … but first, I think we need a little color to brighten the day. Just looking at these little toasts makes me happy.
This is a little fruit crostini I whipped up last week for a snack. I was very pleased with it overall, but I have to be honest with you, I didn’t like the french bread as the base for this little toast. I think it would be much better on blueberry bagels or maybe some sugar cookies or snickerdoodles? Something that goes better with the juicy fruit. But I do have to say the maple, ginger, and basil in the cream cheese is oooh so good. The fruit mixture is just perfect with the sweet creamy cheese. You could toss on some toasted nuts as well. I think that would be nice. I’m not sure why I left off the nuts … ah well, you get the idea.
If you are serving this at a party or get together (they’d be marvelous for a brunch, don’t you think?), rather than making them all up like this, you could also serve the bagels with the cream cheese and bowl of fruit on the side and let the guests do the work of putting them together. But if you’re making them for a big crowd, you’ll need to double or triple the recipe …
Maple Ginger Fruit Crostini with Basil
- 3 Tablespoons maple syrup
- 3 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated
- 1 Tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
- 3 oz. light cream cheese
- Blueberry bagels (or other fruity bagels), sliced & toasted (or sugar cookies or snickerdoodles … just please, don’t use French Bread like I did …)
- 3 cups mixed fruit, chopped into little pieces (I used honeydew melon, blueberries, pineapple, and strawberries)
- A few fresh basil leaves, for garnish
- Toasted nuts, if you like. I think walnuts or pecans would be nice on these …
Mix the maple syrup, ginger and basil together. Take 2 Tablespoons of the syrup mixture and mix it in with the cream cheese. Mix the rest in with the fruit.
Toast the bagels, spread with the sweet ginger basil cream cheese, and top with fruit. (If you’re using cookies, I suppose there’s no need for toasting …) Garnish with fresh basil leaves and a few toasted nuts (if you’ve decided you want nuts).
P.S. You might notice I added a watermark to my images … I will be doing that from now on, just because, well, they are my images and I work hard on them. I really love it when people share my pictures and recipes, but I don’t like it when people post my words and/or pictures as if they had taken / written them. If you like my photos or recipes, please share, but just mention that it’s from Sumptuous Spoonfuls and give me a link back to my blog, okay? Thanks for understanding …
This recipe was shared at Everyday Mom’s Meals, Scrumptious Sundays, Weekend Potluck, Moosewood Monday, Tuesday Talent Show and Totally Tasty Tuesdays.
Rainbow Symphony Fruit Salad with Walnuts & Feta
on Wild Greens with a Honey Citrus Poppyseed Dressing
We made rainbow fruit kebabs for my daughter’s birthday party. Both of her parties, in fact (one for her school friends, one for her dance friends). The second party was smaller, so now my fridge is filled with fruit. Fruit in literally all the colors of the rainbow.
That just screams for a salad, doesn’t it?
Now, you could arrange all these pretty fruits over the greens in the shape of a rainbow I suppose. I just wanted a sprinkle of fruit amongst my greens, though. And a crunchy nut flavor with some salty, creamy cheese. The best part of this salad, I think, was each time I encountered a new fruit, the taste was a little different. But the greens, the dressing, the cheese and the walnuts held it all together so it was a constant symphony of taste with changing fruit highlights. Sort of like different singers singing the same melody, or different instruments playing the same tune. It felt a little like listening to a really good orchestra playing a beautiful piece of music … like being at the Symphony.
Rainbow Symphony Fruit Salad on Wild Greens
with Toasted Walnuts & Feta Cheese
- Greens of your choice (I used dandelion greens.)
- Fresh blueberries
- Honeydew melon
- Chopped fresh pineapple
- Fresh orange, peeled and cut into chunks
- Fresh strawberries
- Toasted walnuts
- Feta cheese
Fill your salad bowl most of the way with greens. Tuck the fruits in amongst the greens, sprinkle with a few toasted walnuts and a bit of crumbled feta cheese. Drizzle with Honey Citrus Poppyseed Dressing.
Honey Citrus Poppyseed Dressing
Okay this isn’t really a NEW salad dressing recipe … it’s a salad dressing transformation. I wanted that honey lemon, but I also wanted a bit of creaminess, a bit more sweet citrus taste, and some poppyseeds, so I just added them. I think you could get away with using the Honey Lemon Ginger White Wine Vinaigrette as is. Or you could go a different direction and just add some honey to the orange juice, yogurt and poppyseeds.
- 1 Tablespoon Honey Lemon Ginger White Wine Vinaigrette
- 1 Tablespoon fresh squeezed orange juice
- 1 Tablespoon plain yogurt
- 1/2 teaspoon poppyseeds
Mix all ingredients and drizzle over the salad.
Enjoy the symphony.
This recipe was shared at Mealtime Mondays, Totally Tasty Tuesdays, Trick or Treat Tuesdays, and Tastetastic Thursdays.
Tropical Trail Mix Granola
I am SOoooo into homemade granola! I love love love love LOVE it! Ideas for different granola flavors are bouncing around in my head like crazy. The idea for this tropical granola sprung from a peanut butter trail mix cookie I used to make with tropical trail mix (come to think of it, I need to make those cookies again sometime for the blog …)
But not today … nope no siree bob … Today it’s time for GRANOLA! The perfect sweet healthy snack to munch on when you need a little boost of energy. That wonderful crunchy mix that is so welcome sprinkled on yogurt … or in a bowl with fruit and milk. This granola is chock full of tropical fruits, so you don’t need to even add any more fruit … unless, of course, you want to. It is awfully good with a couple fresh strawberries tossed in.
You are going to love this stuff. I just know it.
Tropical Trail Mix Granola
Dry ingredients:
- 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
- 3/4 cup peanuts
- 3/4 pecans
- 4 cups old fashioned oats
- 1/4 cup flaxmeal or flax seeds
- 1/4 cup wheat bran or wheat germ
- 1 very ripe banana
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup peanut butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger powder
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt (optional … you can lower the amount of salt or leave it out for a low-sodium granola)
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 cups mixed dried tropical fruit pieces (pineapple, coconut, mango, banana chips, etc.)
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. In a large bowl, mix the oats, flax, wheat bran and nuts. Set aside.
- In a separate small bowl, mash the banana very well until it’s smooth (not too lumpy). Put the banana in a small saucepan with the maple syrup, and other wet ingredients. Heat over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture is hot and bubbly. Stir in the honey and remove from heat.
- Pour the hot sweet sticky banana mixture over the nutty oat mixture in the bowl. Stir it all up until it’s well mixed.
- Spread all this wonderful stuff out into a thin layer on a large jellyroll pan (or other big flat baking pan with an edge to it). Set it in the oven and bake for about an hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. It should be browned to a lovely brown color and smelling fantastic. You can taste a little sample to see if it’s crunchy enough. If it’s not, bake it a little longer.
- Let the granola cool for a bit before stirring in the fruit. Store in an airtight container. It will keep for about a month or so. There’s NO way mine is going to last that long …
This recipe was shared on Totally Tasty Tuesdays and Newlyweds Recipe Linky.
Rainbow Fruit Kebabs
My daughter had a sleepover birthday party last night. We like to have at least one healthy food at her birthday parties … and it usually involves fruit. This year I suggested rainbow fruit kebabs. My girl wasn’t too excited about the idea until I showed her a picture. Then she was sold.
These were a huge hit with the girls at the party. They were gone in an instant. Somehow the fruit in a bowl just didn’t have the same appeal … well, food is always more fun on a stick, right?
These are super simple. All you need are fruit chunks for each color of the rainbow and some skewer sticks. Put the fruit on a stick in the order of the rainbow. Arrange them in a fan to make a rainbow.
We used:
- Purple: red grapes
- Blue: Blueberries
- Green: Honeydew melon
- Yellow: Pineapple
- Orange: Cantaloupe
- Red: Strawberries
This recipe was shared at Crazy Sweet Tuesdays, Totally Tasty Tuesdays, Thursday’s Treasures and Fit & Fabulous Fridays.
Banana Colada Ice Cream with Spiced Fruit Compote
The other day I was cruising around the blogosphere when I saw some coconut ice cream … I’m not much of a fan of that dried shredded coconut, but I love the flavor of coconut … and I thought: wouldn’t coconut ice cream be dreamy? Or better yet, coconut RUM ice cream? Oh and then you could go a step further and make it pina colada ice cream.
I didn’t want all the fat and sugar from the recipe I saw so I made up my own. It’s fruity with that creamy coconut taste and an underlying hint of banana … because frozen bananas have a luscious creaminess to them that no other fruit can quite attain.
And just for good measure (and a little color!) I added some more fruit on top.
Banana Colada Ice Cream
- 2 cups fat free half and half
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 frozen bananas
- 1/2 of a can of light coconut juice
- 1/4 cup pineapple orange juice concentrate
- 3 Tablespoons of coconut rum
Directions:
- In a medium saucepan, mix half & half & sugar. Heat, stirring frequently, until small bubbles form at the edge of the pan.
- In a separate bowl, beat the egg with a whisk or mixer until frothy.
- Slowly drizzle a stream of the hot cream mixture (about 1 cup of it) into the egg, whisking or beating constantly.
- Gradually add the egg mixture back into the remaining hot cream mixture in the saucepan, whisking as you go.
- Cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until mixture thickens slightly and is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon–roughly 5 minutes.
- Pour the hot mixture into a blender with the vanilla, frozen bananas, pineapple orange juice concentrate and coconut rum. Blend until smooth.
- Put the mixture in the fridge until cool. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
- Serve topped with the honey spiced fruit compote
Honey Spiced Fruit Compote
This makes a small batch of fruit compote, just enough for about 2-3 servings, depending on how much fruit you pile on and how big your servings are. Mix up the fruits if you like — pineapple or mango would be wonderful too.
- 1 kiwi fruit, peeled and chopped
- 5 – 7 strawberries, tops removed and chopped
- 1/2 Tablespoon honey
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- A dash of each: nutmeg and ground ginger
- 1 banana, peeled and sliced
Mix all the ingredients and let sit for 15 minutes or so or until the fruits start juicing a bit. Pour over the frozen ice cream.
This recipe was shared on Newlyweds Recipe Linky, Melt in your Mouth Mondays, Full Plate Thursdays, A Crafty Cook’s April Link Party, and Fit & Fabulous Fridays.
Thai-Style Barbecued Chicken Salad
Even as I was eating my Thai Chicken Pizza the other night, I began dreaming of this salad. The flavors on that pizza were just screaming to be thrown over some pretty greens and doused in that amazing Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce. Add some pineapple, a bit of celery, and some chopped peanuts and ooh what a beautiful summer salad. I forgot I was actually going to throw in some carrots, but didn’t miss them until after I inhaled the salad, but if I did this again I would …
Thai-Style Barbecued Chicken Salad
For the chicken:
- Boneless, skinless chicken breasts (1 per person)
- Plain nonfat yogurt and/or buttermilk for marinading the chicken
- Red Robin Seasoning (or your favorite seasoned salt)
- Granulated garlic (or chopped garlic cloves)
For the salad:
- Mixed organic greens
- Chopped fresh pineapple
- Chopped fresh celery
- Red onion, thinly sliced
- Carrot, thinly sliced (if desired) or carrot “ribbons” would be lovely too
- Peanuts, toasted and roughly chopped
- Fresh cilantro leaves
- Thai Peanut Sauce (super simple recipe here!)
Marinade the chicken in yogurt or buttermilk. I used about half yogurt, half buttermilk. (No, I didn’t measure it, just poured it into a bowl till it looked like about the right amount to cover my chicken.) Then I added some granulated garlic and Red Robin seasoning until it tasted good. Then I added the chicken and let it marinade for an hour. Or two. I don’t know exactly how long …
Heat up your grill and put the chicken on there and cook it up till the juices run clear when you pierce the chicken with a knife.
Slice up that lovely hot chicken.
Pile the greens on your salad plate(s), then top with pineapple, celery, onion, carrots and cilantro leaves. Arrange the chicken on the greens and drizzle with the Thai Peanut Sauce, then sprinkle with nuts and a few more cilantro leaves.
Enjoy!
This recipe was shared at Fit & Fabulous Fridays, Weekend Potluck, Strut your Stuff Saturday, Recipe Lion Spring Blog Hop, and Real Housewives Recipe Roundup.
Pineapple Peach Yogurt Parfait
with honey and lime and homemade maple cranberry granola …
The great thing about having granola in the house is you can make pretty parfaits with it. All you need is some fruit and some yogurt and a pretty glass to put it in. It can be for breakfast or dessert or even a mid-day snack. A little something pretty to dress up your day and make you feel good inside.
Pineapple Peach Yogurt Parfait
- 1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt (regular or Greek-style … whatever you prefer)
- 2 – 4 teaspoons honey
- sprinkle of nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon or so of vanilla
- Juice and zest of 1/4 of a lime
- Pineapple chunks
- Peach slices
- Granola (I used my maple cranberry granola: recipe here)
Mix the yogurt, honey, vanilla and nutmeg together in a small bowl. Layer fruit, yogurt, and granola in a pretty glass. I did fruit, then yogurt, then granola, then repeated, ending with granola on top and garnished with a couple chunks of fruit and a slice of lime.
Pineapple Arugula Salad with Goat Cheese & Walnuts
and a minted honey lime yogurt dressing
This is a super simple salad, but these flavors together are just divine!
Pineapple Arugula Salad with Toasted Walnuts & Goat Cheese
- Spinach Arugula Mix
- Fresh pineapple chunks
- Goat cheese crumbles
- Walnuts, toasted
Cover the plate/bowl with spinach & arugula. Arrange the other ingredients on top and drizzle with the honey lime yogurt dressing.
Minted Honey Lime Yogurt Salad Dressing
- 1/4 cup plain nonfat yogurt
- 1/2 teaspoon dried mint leaves (or if you have fresh, even better!)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons honey
- Juice and zest from 1/2 a lime
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This recipe was shared at Midnight Maniac Meatless Mondays, Totally Tasty Tuesdays, Midweek Fiesta, and Tastetastic/It’s a Keeper Thursdays, Fit & Fabulous Fridays, These Chicks Cooked Whole Foods Recipe Swap and Nutritious & Delicious Potluck Party.
