Blackened "Halibut" with Avocado Cream Sauce

So I've learned something since living on the West Coast… (hopefully more than one thing, but we'll see.)

Apparently fish have "seasons"

As in, halibut is not always available whenever the mood should strike. And if you can find it, it will be super frozen, small, and expensive.

My dad asked the fish monger (his words, not mine) what a good alternative was and she suggested Basa. So we used that instead and now that's two things I've learned.

Well wouldja look at that.

You can look at it again here.

I have a surprise for you guys...

Can you tell what it is?

I got a new camera!!

Sort of.

Michael is letting me borrow his nice camera so I can take better quality bad pictures of the food I make. Uh soo nice! I definitely give him permission to marry my sister now.

This is the basa soaking in milk. Apparently this takes the fishy taste/smell away. 

It looked pretty gross but I think it worked.

Cremaaaaa

See what I mean about bad pictures with a good camera?

I have gotten better, I promise (kind of)

And we'll end it with three not really good pictures of me trying to figure out how to make it look good at different angles.

So it was also around this time that I learned that blackened basically just meant burnt spices. I guess that's three things I learned, just with this one meal. I am such a liar.

This was actually really good. I don't really like fish and this was something I'd make and eat again. Basically anything with a yummy sauce is good so that didn't hurt. The recipe for the cream made way too much so you could probably cut it in half. Unless, like us, you decide that you want to put it on sandwiches for the next few days. Then go right ahead! We skipped the cilantro, garlic salt (we don't have it and didn't buy it) and also used regular yogurt instead of greek. Meh.

Stuck to the script: like pretty good. like 95%

Slow Cooker Coconut Curry Chicken

I totally thought I had posted about this already. Oops!

Look at that delicious little montage!

Find the recipe here

I swear this is out of order and I made this ages ago...

There was actually no method to go along with the ingredients of this recipe. However, there was a picture of a bunch of stuff in a food processor. I was skeptical at first until I realized I didn't need to chop the shallot and garlic. Wahoo!

Spoiler alert: Mom cut up and put the chicken in. (I hate touching raw meat)

Magical color changing sauce!

Now with peas!

OK this was not a bad "recipe". It was kind of like a light butter chicken with no butter and coconut instead. I actually might try putting a little cream in it next time. Not as coconut-y as I thought it was going to be, which is good or bad depending on your feelings of coconut. I might even want to use the whole onion the recipe called for. Obviously the most frustrating part of this recipe was that there wasn't really a recipe. So we were guessing for the most part. The biggest "guess" in this recipe was when to add the cornstarch. We thought it was probably a thickening ingredient so we added it close to the end of the cook time, maybe with about 15 minutes to go. Anyway it definitely made for a nice "Indian" dinner that you can set and forget.  It's probably not my favorite, but easy and yummy enough to put in the rotation. 

Stuck to the script: 100%?  except for I used a shallot instead of an onion. Obviously. Shallots are awesome. Hard to tell when there's no instructions!

Macaroni and Cheese with Butternut Squash

Most times I am pretty bummed out that my husband is so far away from me (to put it lightly). Having the opportunity to make this delicious meal without him whining about how much he hates butternut squash (seriously?!) is not one of them. 

All hail Martha and her glorious food creations.

Usually I would have used (lactose-free) milk, but we just had soy. Also, Superstore sells bulk pasta! Whaaaaaat?!

This is the very second time I've ever measured out pasta amounts.

I first made this recipe during my Montessori training time and since then have really not looked at the recipe. I just kind of "remembered" how to do it. Looking at it for the blog, I realized I have been just boiling the squash in water instead of a broth-milk combo. Meh. It was about the same either way.

I guess I skipped a couple parts. This is of everything except the breadcrumbs.

Post oven. I probably would have waited a bit longer to take it out I think.

Yummy! 

This was just as delicious as I remembered. I can't really describe why I like this recipe so much. It's so creamy and cheesy, and yet a little sweet almost from the squash. If you like butternut squash and cheese, then this is pretty much the perfect combination. It also makes really super good leftovers. Which is convenient because this makes a lot. As I said before, I usually forgot to boil the squash in broth and milk and nothing bad happened. I also have used an entire (small-ish) squash instead of measuring out the required amount and nothing bad happened. Although, the squash taste was obviously a bit stronger, which was fine by me. I have also messed with adding or omitting different cheeses. One time I'm sure I forgot to add ricotta and I think it still turned out ok. What I'm trying to say is, you have to try pretty hard to mess this one up. 

Stuck to the script: 100% yay!