Category Archives: Recipes

Tequila Lime Grilled Catfish and a Watermelon Margarita

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catfish

If you happened across my holiday themed “Low-Carb Mistletoe Margarita” recipe, you know that I have a love/hate relationship with Tequila taking me back years, to a dive bar in Mexico when I fought for my life against a Cobra and a salty bartender who served me snake juice.  You can read all about that story here.  But I digress.  It’s National Tequila Day, y’all!  Time to celebrate with my new fave Tequila….Casa Noble.

casa noble

Before we get into the delish factor, let’s get real scientific about the hooch.  By their nature, blanco tequilas, also called silver tequila, is considered the purest.  These are clear, essentially unaged tequilas, unlike reposados, which spend 2 to 12 months in oak barrels, and añejos, which are generally aged 1 to 4 years in oak.

According to gizmodo.com “Virtually all tequila distilleries take the ordinario (first run) and distill it a second time. Casa Noble is one of the few that distills it a third time. Either way, what comes out is tequila blanco aka “silver” or “white,” though Casa Noble calls theirs “crystal,” for whatever reason. It tastes, essentially, like what you’re going to end up drinking if you buy a bottle of tequila blanco, except it’s stronger. It comes out of the still at 57-percent alcohol by volume. Enough water is then added to bring it down to 40-percent ABV for bottling.”

That translates to MUCHO BUENO.

I used Casa Noble in 2 Tequila based recipes in honor of National Tequila Day– Tequila Lime Grilled Catfish with Chunky Pico de Gallo and a refreshing Watermelon Margarita.  I did NOT slam shots.  But if you do, you’ll be pleased that there is a smooth finish with a kick in the ass at the end that screams, “MAS TEQUILA!!!”

watermelon marg

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Tequila Lime Grilled Catfish with Pico de Gallo and Watermelon Margarita

Ingredients

    For the fish
  • 2 catfish fillets
  • 1/4 cup Casa Noble Tequila
  • juice from 1 lime
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp coriander
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne
  • 1 Tb butter
  • 1 Tb olive or canola oil
    • For the pico de gallo
  • 2 tomatoes diced
  • 1 jalapeno diced
  • 1/4 red onion diced
  • handful of cilantro chopped
  • juice from 1/2 a lime
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt plus more to taste
  • Cotija cheese
    • For the Margarita
  • 2 shots Casa Noble Tequila
  • 1 1/2 cups fresh watermelon
  • Juice from 1 lime
  • 1/2 cup seltzer water (I like using Lime LaCroix)
  • 1-2 cups ice

Instructions

    For the catfish
  1. Mix together Casa Noble and spices in a flat casserole dish.
  2. Cover the fish with the marinade and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  3. Pat dry the fish and heat up a frying pan with butter and oil on medium/high heat.
  4. Grill fish for about 5 minutes on one side, then flip and continue grilling for another 5 minutes until cooked through.
    5. For the Pico de Gallo
  5. Fold the ingredients together and top onto fish.
  6. Sprinkle cotija cheese over everything and enjoy!
    7. For the Watermelon Margarita
  7. Put ingredients in blender and blend till frothy!
  8. You can rim your margarita glass with salt, sugar or a combo of both.
https://whatsonparkersplate.flywheelsites.com/2014/07/tequila-lime-grilled-catfish-and-a-watermelon-margarita/

*Disclaimer:  All of the opinions and recipes in this post are mine.  Casa Noble supplied the product for this review but did not influence the content.

Video: Low Carb Bacon Bowls Stuffed With Caeser Salad

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bacon bowlBacon bowls?  Wha-what??  Oh yes, lovelies.  This is my idea of low carb perfection!  And you don’t need anything fancy to make them– just some bacon, tinfoil and a muffin tin.  The caeser salad is absolutely fabulous—  extra garlicky by design, but if you don’t want the kick, you can just cut down a bit on the garlic.  This is major delish– and major WOW factor if you’re serving dinner to guests.  Edible bacon bowls stuffed with caeser?  You’re welcome.

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Low Carb Bacon Bowls Stuffed With Caeser Salad

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Ingredients

    For the bacon bowls
  • 3 slices of bacon for each bacon bowl
  • Muffin tins
    • For the Caeser salad
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 4 anchovy filets
  • 4 garlic cloves (if you don’t want it this garlicky, reduce to 2 garlic cloves)
  • 1 Tb Dijon mustard
  • 2 Tb water
  • Juice from ½ lemon
  • ¼ cup fresh grated parmesan (plus a little extra to top on salad)
  • Fresh grated pepper
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • Romaine lettuce

Instructions

    For the bacon bowls
  1. Take large muffin tins, turn upside down and coat with tin foil.
  2. Cut one slice of bacon in half and lay over first muffin cup. Put the second half over the first half so it forms an "X".
  3. Repeat with another slice of bacon cut in half so you have covered the outside of the muffin cup with a "bacon star."
  4. Wrap a third piece of bacon around the outside of the muffin cup.
  5. Repeat with more bacon for additional bacon bowls.
  6. Bake at 400 for 20-30 minutes (watch to see if they are getting crispy.)
  7. Take out of oven, slip bacon bowls off muffin cups and place INSIDE muffin tins. Bake for another 5 minutes to crisp up the inside of the bacon bowls.
    8. For the Caeser salad
  8. In food processor, blend egg yolks, anchovies, mustard, water, lemon juice and parmesan cheese. While food processor is on, add 1/2 cup olive oil to emulsify.
  9. Toss dressing with romaine and add cracked pepper and extra parmesan.
  10. Fill bacon bowls with caeser salad.
https://whatsonparkersplate.flywheelsites.com/2014/07/video-low-carb-bacon-bowls-stuffed-with-caeser-salad/

Grandmom’s Fruit Crisp

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crispMy Dad’s mother, whom we called “Grandmom,” was smart, thrifty and always imaginative… It’s still the stuff of Parker family legend that once she made a party dress out of a trash bag and then wowed the crowd at the yacht club dance with her ingenious creation!  She was the only person who would stay up late and watch horror movies with me– Stephen King’s Carrie was our favorite.

Grandmom and Me

As a little girl, I loved riding on the back of her bike and going to Bay Village on Long Beach Island to a bakery for Elephant Ears.  It was a treat I relished— and one-on-one time with Grandmom was priceless.  She never enjoyed cooking the way my other grandmother did— but she had one dish that was an absolute show stopper: Blueberry Crisp.  This is modified from her recipe to use peaches, but combining some blueberries in there would be divine!  This just TASTES like summer. There’s nothing like a bite of warm, melt-in-your-mouth peaches with a crispy, sweet crust.  Grandmom would be proud.

Grandmom in Kitchen

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Peach Crisp

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Ingredients

  • 6 peaches (peeled and pitted)
  • ½ lemon zested
  • Juice from ½ lemon
  • 1 Tb brandy
  • Pinch kosher salt
  • 1 cup white sugar (plus ¼ cup for peach mixture)
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (plus 2 Tb flour for peach mixture)
  • 2 sticks butter cut into pieces

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter the inside of a casserole dish.
  2. Put peaches in a bowl and combine ¼ cup with sugar, brandy, lemon zest, lemon juice, 2 Tb flour and kosher salt. Toss well. Pour the peaches into the baking dish.
  3. Combine 1 cup white sugar, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 ½ cup flour and 2 sticks of butter in the food processor with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle evenly on top of peaches bake for one hour until top is browned and juices are bubbly. Serve immediately!
https://whatsonparkersplate.flywheelsites.com/2014/07/grandmoms-fruit-crisp/

 

Brats, Apples and Taters in a Creamy Mustard Sauce

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Brats in sauce

I love Brats!  (As long as kids aren’t involved!)  This is a super low maintenance meal that is ultra-budget friendly!  I’m putting together a week of “budget meals” and this is one– more on how much it all costs next week when I add up my grocery tally….

And, I love when I don’t have to cook extra veggies— it’s all thrown in together and tastes fabulous.  I decided to add the creamy mustard sauce because everything looked a little dry without some saucy-sauce.  The hint of sweet with the savory mustard and the sour of the sauerkraut was THE BOMB.  Initially, when I served it to JP, he said, “Um, honey, there’s nothing I hate more than sauerkraut….”  MMMMK.

Well, he ended up licking his plate and going back for seconds.  And thirds.

Winner, winner, Brats for dinner!

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Brats, Apples and Taters in a Creamy Mustard Sauce

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Ingredients

  • 1 Tb canola oil
  • pinch of kosher salt and pepper
  • 1 Tb butter
  • 4 Bratwurst cut into quarters and split open
  • 1 medium onion cut into rings
  • 1 red bell pepper cut into thin slices
  • 1 cup sauerkraut
  • 1 Granny Smith apple peeled and sliced
  • 1/3 cup chicken stock
  • 1/3 cup heavy cream
  • 1 Tb dijon mustard
  • 1 Tb honey
  • 1 Idaho baking potato peeled and diced

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400
  2. Drizzle oil on potato pieces and put in oven to roast for 15 minutes. Flip over and roast another 15 minutes.
  3. While potatoes are roasting, saute Bratwurst, red pepper slices, apple slices and onion rings in butter until onion is soft and starts to caramelize, about 10 minutes.
  4. Add chicken stock, cream, mustard and honey to combine.
  5. Add sauerkraut.
  6. Stir sauce to thicken and until Brats are cooked through, another 10 minutes or so.
  7. Serve over roasted potatoes.
https://whatsonparkersplate.flywheelsites.com/2014/07/brats-apples-and-taters-in-a-creamy-mustard-sauce/

 

 

 

Bourbon Peach Parfaits and Handcrafted Wooden Platters

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peach segmentA couple weeks back, I was on AMHQ with Sam Champion and the gang, talking about peaches!  It’s a new segment I’ll be doing called, “What’s in Season?”  Scroll down for the delish bourbon peach parfait recipe…

Notice those gorgeous wooden serving trays?  They’re hand made by my talented friend, Michael Courts. They are $260 for a set of three. Check out www.mcmeubel.com for his incredible work.

trays 1

traysHere’s the segment if y’all missed it!

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Bourbon Peach Parfaits

Ingredients

    For the peaches:
  • 4 peaches peeled and diced
  • 1/4 cup bourbon
  • 1 stick butter
  • 1 cup brown sugar
    • For the whipped marscapone:
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 Tb vanilla
  • 2 (8oz) containers of marscapone cheese
  • 2 Tb honey or agave nectar
    • For the pecans:
  • 1 pound package of pecan pieces
  • 4 Tb butter
  • 2 Tb brown sugar
  • 1 Tb cumin
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt

Instructions

    For the peaches:
  1. Bring bourbon to a boil in a small saucepan. Add butter and melt down. Add sugar and stir to combine. Stir peaches into bourbon sugar mixture to fully coat. Drain peaches. Chill in fridge.
    2. For the whipped marscapone:
  2. Using a hand mixer, whip heavy whipping creams until soft peaks form. Scoop in both packages of marscapone with vanilla and honey or agave and continue to whip together until combined and smooth.
    3. For the pecans:
  3. Melt butter in small sauce pan and stir in brown sugar, cumin, salt and cayenne. Stir in pecans and coat and let simmer on low in pan for 10 minutes. Spread coated pecans on baking sheet to dry.
    4. To assemble:
  4. At the bottom of clear glass, layer peaches, cream and candied pecans two to three times, starting with peaches and ending with pecans so there are layers of delish!
https://whatsonparkersplate.flywheelsites.com/2014/07/bourbon-peach-parfaits-and-handcrafted-wooden-platters/

 

Chicken and White Bean Yum Yum Over Corn Bread

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chx bean gravyTurn Chicken salad into Chicken WHAT???

Yup.  The delish started out as this…Scrumptious chicken salad with fresh cherries and toasted almonds….It’s very similar to my turkey cranberry salad-– just use chicken instead of turkey (I dice up rotisserie chicken to cut down on cooking time) and instead of cranberry, toss in some fresh chopped cherries and almonds.  Divine.

chicken salad croissants

But who wants to eat chicken salad for leftovers….AGAIN?  Not this girl.  And since chicken salad does not freeze well, I wanted to turn it into a hot meal that’s a stick to yer ribs kinda dinner for my man.

So, I whipped up what is, in essence, a chicken pot pie filling that’s spooned over my homemade jalapeño cornbread.   The addition of cannellini beans really adds to the body of the sauce– making it really rich and hearty.  I would also serve this over Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Shells-— they’re fabulous for a savory chicken pot pie type dish!

Super easy.  Soooo delish.

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Chicken and White Bean Yum Yum Over Corn Bread

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Ingredients

  • 1-2 cups leftover chicken salad
  • 1/2 onion diced
  • 4 Tb butter
  • 5 Tb all purpose flour
  • 2 cups chicken stock
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1 can cannellini beans drained
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Melt butter in large sauce pan and add diced onion.
  2. Saute on medium heat until onion is soft, about 5 minutes.
  3. Add in flour and stir until combined with butter and becomes like a thick paste.
  4. Add chicken stock and stir until sauce thickens on medium heat.
  5. Once consistency is like a thick gravy, add buttermilk. (You can use heavy cream if you don't have buttermilk on hand) If you don't want sauce as thick, add more chicken stock until you get the desired consistency.
  6. Add chicken salad and drained beans. Stir to combine.
  7. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  8. Spoon over cornbread.
https://whatsonparkersplate.flywheelsites.com/2014/07/chicken-and-white-bean-yum-yum-over-corn-bread/

Bacon Beef Burger with Bacon and more BACON

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bacon burgerYour resident Bacon Babe here….with a Bacon Beef Burger topped with, what else….BACON!!

All you need is a food processor to chop up 5-6 pieces of thick cut bacon and fold it into your favorite ground beef mixture.  Put it on the grill and BAM.  Bacon delish inside your burger and ON your burger.

inside bacon burger

Your 4th of July BBQ will be all bacon-y delish!

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Bacon Beef Burger with Bacon and more BACON

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Ingredients

  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 5-6 pieces of thick cut bacon plus more pieces for topping on burger
  • your favorite cheese
  • kosher salt and pepper

Instructions

  1. Pulse 5-6 pieces of bacon in food processor and fold into ground beef.
  2. Form patties, sprinkle kosher salt and pepper on and grill until desired temperature.
  3. Top with cheese and more bacon!
https://whatsonparkersplate.flywheelsites.com/2014/07/bacon-beef-burger-with-bacon-and-more-bacon/

 

Beach Bag Winner Announced!

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Hannah winnerCongratulations to Hannah Pfoutz Grieco!

I asked y’all to submit a pic with a body part that you love— and a few sentences why…This incredible Mom to 3, mega-half marathoner (soon to be marathoner) and super cool chick submitted this:

“It’s so easy to be frustrated, trying to lose the baby weight.  But after baby #3 was born, I found a new love of running!  And for the first time in my life, I am starting to love my thighs.  These quads will carry me through my first marathon this October!” 

CONGRATS HANNAH!

And here’s another reminder of what the goods are inside the beach bag!

Your “Toes in the Sand Basket” includes:

Trio of Parrano Cheeses–  Parrano Originale:  I love the smooth, creamy finish.  This cheese lasted about 11 seconds before it was totally inhaled.   Hollandse Chevre:  Um, hello buttery delish!  Put this on a cracker with some Pâté and OMG! Melkbus 149: This is my favorite of the three and totes melt-in-your-mouth decadence.  Ridiculously good.

Simply Balanced Apple Slices: These freeze dried fruits have the crunch factor that I crave!  Super healthy and a great substitute for chips—and this snack won’t wreck your bikini diet!

Neutragena Ultra Sheer Body Mist – A girl’s got to protect her skin!  This is the best protection against UVA-aging and UVB-burning rays in a spray that’s super light and isn’t greasy.  Plus, it’s sweatproof and is easy to apply….

Gleam Body Radiance:  Developed by superstar makeup artist Melanie Mills who headed up the makeup department for Dancing With the Stars….Now she’s bottled her beautiful bronze for the masses—and it’s incredible.  Adding a little “gleam” to your sun kissed bod never looked so good!

O.N.E. Coconut water:  Low in calories, naturally fat- and cholesterol free, more potassium than four bananas, and super hydrating— coconut water is loaded with benefits. It’s also a great thirst quencher when you’re lounging in the sand!

Beach Accessories- Towel, Frisbee, oversized beach hat: Gotta have a Frisbee on the beach to show off that gorg bod!  When you’re ready to relax, sport an oversized, stylish hat on your lush beach towel.

Cameron Diaz’s The Body Book:  One of my favorite actresses, Cameron Diaz, tells an inspiring personal story backed by science about the mind/body connection.  A must-have beach read!

Guenoc Cabernet: One of my fave big reds! Hints of vanilla and black cherry make this a perfect pairing with Parrano cheeses…or, turn it into a pitcher of delish Sangria with fresh fruit.