fish tacos

I've never been a fish eater, really. I remember eating those fish sticks and fish triangles as a kid but I don't ever remember enjoying it. I decided I needed to get over my aversion to fish since it's so healthy. I started by just taking one bite of Adam's fish whenever he ordered it at a restaurant. I got to the point where I could do that without gagging. Now, I eat tuna sandwiches and will even eat a fish fillet. I can't say it's my favorite food ever but I am ok with it now which is where I wanted to be.

I started making these fish tacos a few months ago and I like them because there's so many other flavors that I don't get overwhelmed with fishiness. I realize they don't look like much in the pic...you can't even see the fish hidden behind all that lettuce.



I use sour cream, lettuce (or cole slaw if I think far enough ahead), beans, fish and my yummy mango chutney on homemade flour tortillas.

mango chutney

I saved this post as a draft almost a week ago, I think because I didn't have the recipe for the chutney in front of me and I wanted to include it...but I never have it when I am ready to sit down and blog. So I will just have to come back another time and include the recipe (which I got from NT).

This recipe caught my eye after we had fish tacos with mango salsa. That was so yummy. So, I got what I needed and made up these 3 jars of mango chutney. The recipe said it would all fit in one jar...they lied. If I had known it was going to be so much, I would have made half of it without onions so Adam could eat some too.

I really think the ginger monster is so cute! Do you see him too?


This is a lacto-fermented food. So you incoluate it with lactic acid (the whey from yogurt) and let it sit on the counter for 3 days. It's bubbly...like soda. So that part I don't like but I don't notice it when I eat it on food.

I grilled some talapia on the George Foreman grill and topped it with some mango chutney. Yum!! Adam said to me, "Ewww, is that your onion chutney?" He has no idea what he's missing. I'll have to make the next batch without onions for him.

I've been making/eating a lot more lacto-fermented foods lately because of the health benefits they have. They loaded with probiotics (as long as you don't cook them) and bacteria for your intestines and colon. Also, I learned that they help break down something in the meat (though off the top of my head I can't recall what it is) that is hard for bodies to digest.

Persimmon brownies and sumac salmon

So, I am still attempting to make more using my foraged goods. Here are two of my latest.

Persimmon brownies. Actually, they are more like spice cake but that's what they were called. I didn't really taste the persimmon in them. It was just a really moist spice cake which I enjoyed.

Here they are. They aren't ripe until they look like they're rotting. They're very mushy. If you eat them before they're ripe, they suck all the moisture right out of your mouth. A very bizzare sensation that I don't like! And in all honesty, I don't actually like the flavor when they are ripe either. I tried making a persimmon sauce, like cranberry sauce but it was gross so I threw it out! Like I said, I couldn't really taste the persimmons in this so I liked it. But since I don't like the flavor of these raw, I don't think I'll bother experimenting anymore with these.

Just in case you wondered, here's the recipe:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 cups persimmon pulp
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/3 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

1. 
   
   1. Cream butter and sugar together; add persimmon pulp, buttermilk and eggs.2. Then add dry ingredients and mix well.3. Pour into 10x12 baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
2. Sumac is a berry that grows on upright bushes. They're a beautiful, deep red. They taste very similar to lemons. The white ones are poisonous though so beware. I ground them in the mortar and pestle but all the seeds stayed intact and try as I might, I couldn't sift them all out so one or two got into the dish. I have since learned that you need to pulverize them in the food processor.

Salmon goes well with lemon so I sprinkled a bunch onto some salmon filets and cooked that...no other ingredients. The juices from the salmon made it look like a red sauce had been poured over it. Simple and not too bad.


So there are a couple things I've been doing with the foods I gathered in the fall. More to come.