Mango-Jalapeno Trout and Cilantro-Tomato Corn Salad

Both of these turned out so good! I will definitely be making both again.  Also, they work well together in a meal as each uses 1/2 a bunch of cilantro, and 1/2 a lime.  Keep that in mind if you make both together.


Mango-Jalapeno Trout
2 whole trout, cleaned, and pat dry
1 large jalapeno, seeded and finely diced
4 green onions, sliced thin
1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped
1/2 c. ripe mango, peeled and diced
1 TBS olive oil
1/2 lime, squeezed for juice
garlic salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
This can be done on the grill over medium heat, or in the oven, at 350; either way, preheat.  In a bowl, mix together everything but the fish.  Lay out squares of foil, and spray with non-stick cooking spray.  Lay your fish in diagonally, then stuff each with 1/2 of the mixture.  If it all does not fit, you can put the remainder on the outside of the fish if you wish.  Bring together opposite corners of the foil to form a packet, making sure it is fully sealed.  For oven cooking, place the packets on a cookie sheet, and cook for 30 minutes. For grill cooking, place the foil pack directly on the grill, turning once, for a total of 20 minutes. 

Serves 2, 352.5 calories per serving (assumes 8.5oz fish pre-cooked, skin, head and tail not eaten)

Cilantro-Tomato Corn Salad
2 c. corn kernels (fresh is best, frozen if you must)
1 TBS olive oil
4 Campari tomatoes, chopped
1 jalapeno, de-seeded and finely chopped
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
1/2 lime, juiced
S&P to taste

Mix everything together and call it a day.

Makes about 3 1-cup servings, 85 calories per serving.

Eric dinner: Pasta Roni, Alfredo

As an aside, I had a "moment" with my fish last night as I was prepping.  I guess this is sort of peculiar, and frankly I feel a little funny about putting it out there for everyone to read, but it was kind of a neat feeling.

I was washing and patting my trout dry when I noticed the rainbow sheen glinting off of his scales, and I thought that it looked really lovely.  Then I looked into his clear eyes (this fish was FRESH) and noticed tiny little teeth in his mouth. It occurred to me that it is so easy to forget that the food we eat, which is generally presented as heaping mounds of neatly shaped flesh on colorful plastic trays and wrapped in slick plastic, was once a creature that was alive going about his business.

Don't get me wrong, I am fully cognizant of the fact that humans are the top of the food-chain and we have evolved to find sustenance off of other animals.  I felt no guilt or sadness when pondering the fish.  This was just a moment where I sent my heartfelt thanks out into the cosmos for the life that was given in order to sustain mine.

Top 100 Movies (as of today, anyway)

A friend of mine and I decided it would be a fun exercise to try to list our Top 100 movies.  This is my list.  The first 10 are my top 10 in order, and the unnumbered ones in the bottom almost made the list, but didn't quite cut it.  Everything in the middle is listed in no particular order:


1    The Fifth Element
2     Princess Bride
3    Serenity
4     Dr. Horrible s Sing Along Blog (I am counting this is a movie, even though it was in 3 segments, and only 45   minutes long - BUT its an hour and a half if you count Commentary: The Musial - which I do, making it full length)
5    Labyrinth
6    Monty Python and the Holy Grail
7    Army of Darkness
8    Clerks II
9    The Chronicals of Riddick
10   Repo! The Genetic Opera

and in no particular order:

11    28 Days Later
12    Shawn of the Dead
13    I am Legend (Directors cut)
14    Clerks
15    Mallrats
16    Dogma
17    Chasing Amy
18    Pretty in Pink
19    Sixteen Candles
20    The Dark Crystal
21    Zack and Miri Make a Porno
22    Conan the Barbarian
23    Conan the Destroyer
24    Clash of the Titans
25    Terminator
26    Breakfast Club
27    LOTR 1
28    LOTR 2
29    LOTR 3
30    Harry Potter 1
31    Harry Potter 2
32    Harry Potter 3
33    Harry Potter 4
34    Harry Potter 5
35    Harry Potter 6
36    Shawshank Redemtion
37    The Usual Suspects
38    Star Wars 4
39    Star Wars 5
40    Star Wars 6
41    Pulp Fiction
42    Aliens
43    Singles
44    Monty Python The Meaning of Life
45    History of the World, Part 1
46    Braveheart
47    Fargo
48    Blue Velvet
49    The Sixth Sense
50    Twelve Monkeys
51    Say Anything
52    The Matrix 1
53    Day Watch (Dnevnoi Dozor)
54    Night Watch (Nochnoi Dozor)
55    The Matrix 2
56    Sweeney Todd
57    Dazed and Confused
58    Office Space
59    A Christmas Story
60    Waterworld
61    Underworld 1
62    Underworld 2
63    Underworld 3
64    Terminator II
65    The Jerk
66    Starship Troopers
67    Total Recall
68    Superbad
69    Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist
70    Willow
71    Hot Fuzz
72    Contact
73    Unbreakable
74    Blade
75    Men in Black
76    Independence Day
77    I, Robot
78    Mad Max
79    Mad Max 2
80    The Andromeda Strain
81    Seven
82    The Chronicals of Riddick: Dark Fury
83    Pitch Black
84    Enemy Mine
85    Trading Places
86    Zombieland
87    Stardust
88    Bladerunner
89    The Abyss
90    Minority Report
91    A.I.
92    The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy
93    Spaceballs
94    Time Bandits
95    Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
96    28 weeks later
97    Run, Fatboy, Run
98    Some Kind of Wonderful
99    Dawn of the Dead
100    The City of Lost Children
     Constantine 
    The Doom Generation
    Soylent Green
    Charlotte's Web
    Dragonslayer
    Cloverfield
    The Day After Tomorrow
    The Postman
    Red Dawn
    Raising Arizona
    Wild at Heart

And now my bottom 10 most hated movies (there is 12 or 13 of them but who's counting)

Bruno

Napolean Dynamite

Twilight (and I haven't seen New Moon, nor will I ever, but lets go ahead and count it)
Howard the Duck
Disaster Movie
Mega Shark Vs Giant Octopus
all Saw movies (and if you have seen 1, you have seen them all, so only counting as 1)
The Scorpian King 2
American Pie: The Naked Mile
The Lost Boys: The Tribe

Hamburger Hill
Blackhawk Down

Broiled Scallops and Eggplant w/ Ricotta & Tomato-Basil Relish

Yes, I could have wiped off the plate and made the presentation nicer for the purpose of this blog post, but I was freakin' hungry and could almost not be bothered to even take a photo. This was last night's noms.

Broiled Scallops
1 pound u-10 Sea Scallops
Garlic Salt - to taste
2 TBS butter, melted
fresh squeezed lemon

Rinse and pat scallops dry. Spray the bottom of a shallow baking dish with no-stick spray. Place scallops in the pan, sprinkle with garlic salt, squeeze half a lemon over the lot. Spoon a bit of melted butter over each scallop. Place under high broiler at about the middle rack. Remove once the scallops start browning, about 10 or so minutes. You can serve with some extra butter on the side, but I just squeezed more lemon. Serves 3, (3 scallops/5.3 oz per serving), 394 calories.


"Grilled" Aubergines w/ Fresh Ricotta & "Grilled" Tomato-Basil Relish
('aubergine' is the posh Brit way of saying eggplant.)
for the relish:
6-10 campari tomoatoes, halved
1 TBS olive oil
S&P to taste
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
2 TBS balsamic vinegar
1/4 c. fine chopped fresh basil

Toss tomatoes in a bowl with the olive oil and S&P. Heat a pan on the stove to high heat, and lay the tomatoes in. Reserve left over evoo in the bowl. Leave them alone until they start to brown, then turn them. Remove when the other side browns. You can also grill part or all of the onions at this step in the same pan as the tomatoes. Chop the cooled tomatoes and put back in the bowl you seasoned them in, adding onion, vinegar, and basil. Set aside.

Eggplant and assembly
1 medium eggplant, sliced into 1/2 inch thick rounds (6-8 slices)
1 TBS olive oil
S&P to taste
7 oz skim milk ricotta (1/2 a small tub)
1/4 c. finely chopped parsley

Using a brush, sparingly coat the eggplant slices with the olive oil and season with S&P. Place in a hot pan, and flip when they brown, about 4 minutes per side. Meanwhile, mix ricotta with the parsley and S&P.

To assemble, take 1 slice of eggplant, top with about 1.5 TBS of the ricotta mixture and spread it out, then a healthy dollop of tomato relish on top.

Makes 3 servings (2 slices per serving), 223 calories per serving

Plenty of leftovers for not only my lunch, but also for Cyncha!  Eric's Dinner: nothing, he wasn't feeling well.

It is a pity I haven't been updating. I have had some awesome dinners lately:
Lamb with pear and blackberry chutney
Poached eggs with roasted tomatoes and spinach over toast
Stir fry
Curry
Miso soup
Potlicker greens w/ smoked turkey

And now I rejoined planet organics so mystery veggies every week to figure out what the heck to do with. Good times!