On certain holidays where many people like to go out to restaurants, we prefer to stay in and cook something a little out of the ordinary.  For example, on New Year’s Eve, we had mussels.  For Valentine’s Day this year, Dan grilled lobster tails, and we served them with pasta in a very nice setting at our dining room table (where we eat 2.5 meals per year, on average.)  Grilled lobster is absolutely delicious and so easy to prepare —  we should probably make it more often than we do.  But we appreciate having a few special recipes that we save to celebrate important occasions, which is what we think Valentine’s Day is all about:  a day to recognize and do a little something  extra or different for the ones you love.  Continue reading “Grilled Lobster Tails”

Dan is crazy for fish tacos.  He has tried them at pretty much every restaurant that serves them, and it has been his ongoing quest to find the very best fish tacos in Dallas.  We had never made them at home, but after seeing a show with “Sam the Cooking Guy” preparing  this recipe, we were inspired to try making our own.  While I’ve never been a huge fan of fish in any form, I love these fish tacos, and they are now one of my favorite ways to eat fish.  They don’t have any “fishy” taste at all — just very fresh, spicy, tangy and delicious. Continue reading “Fish Tacos”

For the past several years, Dan and I have made it a point to stay in on New Year’s Eve. He cooks something different and maybe a little more extravagant than usual, then we watch a classic movie. It’s a relaxing way to celebrate the end of the year, as well as the end of the usually hectic holiday season. This year, we decided to cook mussels in a champagne broth and watch the movie “Vertigo.”  We had a lovely evening.  Happy New Year! Continue reading ““Engagement Mussels””

For Halloween this year, we wanted to make something that could be cooked ahead of time and would be easy to eat in between answering the door to hand out candy.  We ultimately decided to make gumbo, which Dan hadn’t made in quite a while (and we’ll be honest, the last batch wasn’t our favorite).  Maybe it was a better recipe, or more cooking experience between this night and the prior gumbo, but our Spooky Shrimp and Sausage Gumbo was delicious!  So good that we’re considering having this gumbo be our new Halloween tradition.  Continue reading “{Spooky} Shrimp and Sausage Gumbo”

We are always looking for creative ways to use leftovers as a time-saver during a busy week.  Grilled shrimp is one of our favorite proteins to transmogrify into a new dish, and quesadillas are a simple but delicious meal.  You could also use leftover beef or chicken in your quesadillas, but we like using shrimp because it’s a little different and not something that you can order in just any Tex-Mex restaurant. Continue reading “Shrimp Quesadillas (with leftover shrimp)”

This is one of our favorite weeknight recipes — super fast and absolutely delicious.  We’re trying to introduce more fish into our diets, but this is sometimes a challenge because Kelly does not like most fish dishes.  But Kelly is a huge fan of both tomatoes and olives, and the tilapia in this recipe is light and mild.  On this particular night, we even used some of our own tomatoes from our garden. 

Continue reading “Italian Fish with Tomatoes and Olives”