Recipe for Smoky Tomatillo Sauce

My friends make the most amazing herb sauces to go with grilled meats.  One is a cilantro flavor bomb and the other is an amazing lime and tomatillo sauce.  I need to get the recipes, but in the mean time, I came up with my own flavor bomb-if you love cumin, you’ll love this sauce.  We had it with grilled pork chops the other night and it was amazing!  The ground nuts add a pleasant twist!

Time: 5 minutes plus chilling time

Yield: 1 ½ cups

Ingredients:

• 1 can, 12 oz, whole tomatillos, drained
• ½ cup cilantro leaves
• Juice of ½ lemon or lime
• 2 tsp smoked cumin (I’m sure it would be good with regular cumin too)
• ½ cup roasted almonds
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Place all ingredients in food processor and process until well combined.
• Chill for one hour before serving.

I’m gazing at the left over sauce and coming up with all kinds of ideas to use it.  I’ll let you know my favorites!  Do you make any herb sauces?  Please share!

Printable Recipe

Recipe for Oven Baked Fish Tacos

In the never ending quest for good fish dishes, this fish taco meal was a winner.  I chose to bake the fish instead of frying it and liked it a lot.  It would probably be faster to fry it, but would also add some calories from the oil that would be absorbed.  It was great with a side of my Cilantro Rice. 

Recipe for Cilantro Rice



Here’s a great way to bump up the flavor in rice.  You can use brown or white rice and this goes especially well with Mexican food. 

Makes 4 servings, each approximately 96 calories, 0 grams fat,  22 grams carbs, 0 grams fiber, 2 grams protein, 3 WW Points+

Recipe for Chile Lime Shrimp Naan Wraps

Here is a delicious, quick, and filling meal with less than 400 calories.  I just love the whole wheat naan that WF Markets is carrying so I'm always looking for ways to use them.   I used frozen shrimp, defrosted.  This would be great when fresh shrimp are available.

Recipe for Spice-Crusted Salmon with Ginger-Cilantro Yogurt Sauce

Do you need to get back on a healthy meal plan after Thanksgiving?  This is the recipe to help you get started.  I had a beautiful piece of salmon for our fish night and had marked this recipe from Bon Appétit.  It’s a great work night recipe or any other night when you want to get dinner on the table in 30 minutes.  I’ve made only a very few changes from the original.

2 servings, each approximately 325 calories, 14 grams fat, 3.5 grams carbs, 45 grams protein

Great Guacamole!

A few days ago, I finally ripened up a couple of avocados that I had sitting around.  I've been enjoying the avocado salad dressing I made and today I made up a quick batch of guacamole for our cocktail time snack.  (Check out the salad dressing post for how to ripen avocados).

This is super easy, very tasty and satisfying.  You can use fresh deli salsa in place of the tomatoes and onion if you'd like.  Just be sure to drain it really well.   I keep the seed from the avocado in the container to help keep oxidation at bay (it doesn't hurt anything if it oxidizes, but it is more appealing to have nice bright green/yellow guacamole rather than dull brown).

BTW, I had this cilantro for over 2 weeks.  I kept meaning to use it but...  I clipped half an inch off the bottom of the stems and stuck the rest in a glass of water in the fridge and changed out the water every 4-5 days.  This works well for most herbs, especially if they are pretty fresh when you get them.