Hawaiian Coconut and Macadamia Nut Salmon with Coconut Lime Sauce

Well it's been awhile since I posted any regular meals. The whole foods,  natural eating plan is going wonderful, but boy oh boy do I miss cooking things like this. This meal didn't quite fit into my doctors eating plan for me, so tonight when I knew my daughter would be here for dinner, I decided to make something special for her and my hubby. I'm glad I did, because they both thoroughly enjoyed this. I will "fess" up that I took a very small bite just to see if it tasted good. Yes it sure did!! It felt so amazing to let my creative juices flow and put together a great meal again, as it's been quite awhile since I have cooked anything very fancy, beyond basic meats, veggies etc. So be patient with me and I will try to post every once in awhile when I make something special for visiting family members and friends.

I know this picture is not very great. But it will have to do, as hungry family members are not to be kept waiting just to get a decent shot of dinner ;)

For the Salmon:
1 ex. lg Salmon fillet
1/4 cup macadamia nuts, chopped
10 wheat thins, crushed
1/8 cup Panko (Japanese bread crumbs, sold at most grocery stores)
3 Tbsp flour
1 egg, beaten

1/8 cup vegetable oil or cooking the fish 

For the Lime Sauce:
 1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp flour
Zest of medium lime
1 large lime, juiced
1/8 tsp lemon pepper
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp sugar
* 1 1/2 Tbsp unsweetened, shredded, coconut (see note at bottom of recipe)
7 ounces coconut milk ( I used the canned as it's a little thicker than the one from the deli department)

 Be sure to have the lime sauce ingredients all ready to go as you will be making the sauce while the fish is cooking and it doesn't take very long to cook the salmon.

For the Salmon:
In a medium bowl, mix together the macadamia nuts, wheat thins and panko bread crumbs. Mix them together well. Pour out onto a plate ( I would suggest a paper plate for less dish washing later on). Set aside.

On another plate (again paper plates work well here) place your flour and set aside.

In a small bowl, beat the egg. Pout into a shallow dish that you will be able to dip the salmon into. Set aside.

Clean your salmon and pat dry with a paper towel. Dredge the salmon in the flour, making sure to coat all sides, then into the egg wash, again coating all sides of the salmon, then into the macadamia mixture, coating all sides with the mixture. Set the fish on a plate while you are heating your oil.

Heat 1/8 cup canola or vegetable oil in a skillet. Make sure it's good and hot before you add the salmon. Place the salmon in the hot oil and cook on both sides, until it's cooked all the way through. It's hard to give a time for this because the size and thickness of salmon fillets differ so much. When you think it's done, test the edge with a fork. If it flakes away easily, your salmon is cooked through.
While the salmon is cooking, prepare your lime sauce.


For the Lime Sauce:
In a small or med saucepan, melt butter. Add the flour and stir. This will look lumpy and clumpy, that's ok. You are basically making a roux (pronounced ROO, which is a thickening agent for sauces).
After that's stirred together, stir in the lime zest, lime juice, lemon pepper, salt, onion powder, sugar and shredded coconut. Stir together. Don't worry this will still be super thick and clumpy. Now add the coconut milk. Stir together and press out any lumps, with the back of the spoon, as you stir. Cook until thick and bubbly. Cook for one additional minute.
Pour the heated sauce over the salmon and enjoy!!

 *You can substitute sweetened, shredded, coconut if you would like, I think it actually would taste good, but I stuck with the unsweetened for this attempt.

Swirled Lime Meringue Cookies

If you could have heard the conversation that transpired over these cookies, you would have laughed. I had these cookies sitting out after I had baked them. My hubby comes in and actually says to me "Is that pepper on those cookies"? My answer "oh my goodness no, are you serious...pepper on cookies?" He proceeds to say "Well you do put some crazy things together and they generally come out tasting great." So I told him that it was green colored sugar on the cookies and we both had a good laugh.

 I found a recipe for swirled meringue cookies on marthastewart.com but after looking in my pantry and realizing that I ran out of vanilla a few days ago, I had to come up with something different. So I substituted lime for the vanilla and lime zest for the orange zest in the original recipe. They actually turned out great. The texture may not have been perfectly "meringuey" (Is that a word?...well it is now) but the refreshing lime taste made these wonderful. I suppose because of the added lime juice, they are a little more "chewy" then traditional meringue, but I would definitely make these again.

3 large egg whites, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
Lime juice (half of one small lime)
Large pinch of salt
Large pinch of cream of tartar
1 teaspoon fresh lime zest
Green, gel-paste food coloring


Preheat oven to 200°  Combine egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl. Add the lime juice. Set the  bowl over a pot of simmering water, and stir until sugar dissolves and mixture is warm, about 3 minutes. Add salt and cream of tartar.Beat with a mixer on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form and meringue is mostly cooled, about 8 minutes. Add in the lime zest and mix together. Using a small paintbrush, paint 3 vertical stripes of green food coloring inside a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch round tip.  Using a spoon, fill the bag with meringue, and pipe circular shapes 2 inches apart on a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet.  As you finish piping the circle, swirl the tip off in a circular motion. Bake meringues until crisp on the outside but still soft inside, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool completely.

Tequila Lime Shrimp

As many of you know who read this blog, this has been a stressful week. If I was a drinker, this dinner might have just ended up being "lime shrimp" because I would have consumed the entire bottle of tequilla. I guess it's a good thing that I don't really drink, because the tequilla added quite an abundance of awesome flavor to this dish. The hubby also loved it and it's a good thing because when I'm stressed, I don't eat much and after tasting 3 of the shrimp and saying how much I loved them...I was done for the night. So he got to eat a lot, and I mean a lot of shrimp! I will definitely be making these again when I am up to eating more of them.

Recipe Source: Tequilla Lime Shrimp

1 tablespoon oil
1/2 small onion(chopped)
2 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 jalapeno (chopped)
1 teaspoon cumin
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined

 1/4 cup tequila
1/4 cup lime juice
zest of two limes
salt and pepper
1 handful cilantro, chopped

Heat the oil in a pan. Add the onion and saute until tender, about 3-5 minutes. Add the garlic, jalapeno and cumin and saute about 1 minute. Add the shrimp and tequila and cook until the shrimp are pink, about 2 minutes per side. Add the lime juice, zest, salt, pepper and cilantro. 

*If I had enough time I would have served this with cilantro lime rice. That would make a great accompaniment to this dish.

Coconut and Macadamia Crusted Mahi Mahi with a Lemon/Lime Butter Sauce

All this dinner needed was a swaying palm tree, a pina colada and some hula dancers to make me feel like I was in Hawaii. The neighbor's lawn mower, his dog barking and the motorcycle going up and down the street definitely did not lend itself to a Hawaiian ambiance. So I closed my eyes and pictured it all in my head. Oh wait....I definitely do NOT want the picture of me in a bikini in my head. *sigh*
Way to ruin a perfectly good dream!
Now, back to the reason I am writing. This dinner was so scrumptious. It was light, all the flavors worked so well together and the hubby and I loved it! This will positively be made again at our house. This just might be one of my most favorite seafood recipes. So for those of you who like coconut, lemon, macadamia nuts and fish...this ones for you!!

This recipe is for two pieces of Mahi Mahi:

For the fish:

10 saltine crackers, crushed finely
1/4 cup macadamia nuts (chopped finely)
1/6 cup unsweetened, shredded coconut (make sure it's unsweetened)
1/4 cup flour
1 egg, beaten
Olive oil for cooking fish

For the Sauce:

2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
2 tsp Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped

1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Peel from one medium lemon, zested
Peel from one lime, zested
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup heavy cream
Juice from one lemon
Juice from one lime

To prepare the fish: Place the crushed saltine crackers, the chopped nuts and the coconut together in a bowl. Mix together well. Place the flour in a separate bowl. Place the beaten egg in another bowl. Rinse your fish and pat it dry with a paper towel. First dip the fish into the flour and coat on all sides. Then dip the coated fish into the egg and then into the cracker mixture. Make sure to coat it on all sides.
Heat oil in a  cooking pan until it is hot. Cook the breaded fish in the oil until it is cooked through. Serve with sauce. Place the sauce under the fish and on top of the fish, so every bite has sauce!

To prepare the sauce: Place the butter in a pan and melt it completely over a low-med fire. Stir in the flour, parsley, salt, pepper, and the peels from the lemon and the lime. Stir together. Mix in the milk and the cream and cook for about a minute until it thickens up. Then stir in the juices from the lemon and the lime. Cook for about another minute or two on low heat. Keep warm until time to serve it over the fish.

Chicken Tacos with Avocado Cream Sauce and Lime Slaw

Have you ever wished after you eat dinner that there was room for more? That's how I felt after eating these tacos tonight. They were very easy to make, super yummy and definitely were filling! I love how the taste of lime is present in all the different toppings. This is one of those that makes the "Will definitely make again list."

 For the chicken:
1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts, cut into strips 
1 1/2  teaspoon ancho chile powder 
1 teaspoon garlic salt 
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin 


For the avocado cream sauce:
1/2 teaspoon lime zest
4 Tbsp fresh lime juice
 1/2 cup light sour cream  
4 Tbsp milk  
1avocado, diced

For the Slaw:
1 Tbsp lime juice
2 cups packaged cole slaw 
1/2 cup sliced green onions  
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 jalapeno, diced (you can leave this out if you don't like your food spicy) 
1 tablespoon olive oil 
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 tsp pepper 

corn tortillas
*extra limes if desired for squeezing onto the tacos 

Heat a large skillet over high heat. Sprinkle chicken with chile powder, garlic salt, and cumin. Rub into the chicken. Cook the chicken in the skillet for 5 minutes, or until it's cooked through.

In a blender, combine lime zest, 4 tablespoons of lime juice, sour cream, milk and avocado.Mix until smooth. Set aside.

In a bowl, combine 1 Tbsp lime juice, slaw, green onions, cilantro, oil, salt and pepper. Toss to coat.

Fry the tortillas in oil until crispy. Place chicken in the tortilla. Add avocado cream sauce and slaw to the top of each taco. Squeeze extra lime juice on them if so desired!

Recipe adapted from myrecipes.com