Fish Tacos

I've already admitted to loving Mexican food and being obsessed about cilantro, so it really shouldn't be that big of a surprise that when I decided to do another fish-based blend, I couldn't stop thinking about fish tacos!  I've made fish tacos before, but never quite been happy with the sauce, so this time I found one on Pinterest with a delicious sounding cilantro & lime sauce.

Table
It's a simplified version of this recipe from Our Best Bites.  I don't really have the time or inclination to do my own deep frying, so I just bought fish nuggets.  Yes, that's right... I bought fish nuggets.  But they were pretty good - and I bought them from Trader Joes - that makes them more healthy, right?  Well, either way, it was a lot easier than battering and frying.

Similarly, I also don't deep fry my shells.  Definitely not for everyday dinners.  I like just plain flour tortillas that are a little bit warmed up.

I bought cole slaw mix and fresh salsa from the produce section to also simplify things.  And because I live in New England, where the Latino population is typically not Mexican, there is no Cotija or Queso Fresco at my grocery store.  Instead I just used crumbled goat cheese - pre-crumbled, of course.  I gotta make things a little easy on myself, you know?

The real key to this recipe is the super duper delicious sauce - Creamy Lime-Cilantro Dressing.  Yes, cilantro and lime is a match made in heaven, and this sauce does not disappoint.  And it was definitely easy to make - I actually used my Blendtec to blend this up.  I love, love, love it.  It definitely made the fish tacos delicious, and you better believe I'll be doing these fish tacos again - if only so I can taste the dressing another time.

Tube
First, a note on blending: I've slightly altered my blending technique based on some comments I've read from other people that blend.  We've had some really foamy blends - which translates into extra air in my son's tummy, and he often has a tough time managing his burping anyway.  So I've started blending everything but the milk and kefir on #4 - that's the Blendtec button for "Whole Juice".  I do the whole juice cycle twice, and then add the milk and kefir and pulse it 3 or 4 times.  It has really helped make it a lot less foamy.  And in turn, my blends have come out a little more calorie dense - which is a good thing.

After making the dinner, this is a pretty quick blend.  It's basically 2 fully filled tacos plus a couple of extra tortilla shells.  Then I also added some fruit to the blend - today it was bananas and berries.

Here's the blenderized g-tube recipe:

Whole Milk	1 cup
flavored Kefir - 1% milkfat	1/2 cup
orange juice	1/2 cup
tortillas - small flour	4
battered fish nuggets (TJ's)	4 pc (4 oz)
coleslaw mix	1 cup
salsa, fresh	2 T
cilantro-lime dressing	2 T
crumbled goat cheese	2T
banana	1/2 small
mixed frozen berries	3/4 cup
corn oil	2 T
Children's Multivitamin	1/2 tablet
calcium chews supplement	1/2 chew
Volume (oz)	34
Cal/oz	37.4
Cal/cc	1.2
% Fat	22%
% Carbohydrates	61%
% Protein	17%

Beef Tacos with Roasted Red Peppers

When I was young, one of my sisters would only eat a couple different meals, one of which was tacos, so needless to say, we ate a lot of tacos growing up.  Mexican food is definitely a favorite in my family.  And I think my all time favorite flavor is cilantro + lime.  So this blend definitely includes cilantro!  Morty might not taste it, but I can't help myself.  Plus, there is a farmer at our farmer's market that sells a bunch of cilantro for $1.  What a deal - and I can't let it go to waste.

Table:
The recipe for this dinner came from the June 2012 Real Simple magazine.  I would link the recipe here, but I don't think it's been added to their website yet.  Basically, it's a beef/onions/corn base with all the appropriate spices, and garlicky red peppers roasted in the oven on the side (we actually just ate these laid on top of the meat, a la the picture above).  Then you add all the regular taco toppings - salsa, grated cheese, avocado...  It looks like a lot of ingredients, but it really wasn't anything particularly fancy.  I did make my own salsa this week, with some tomatoes that a neighbor was kind enough to give me.  (another great use for the BlendTec)  And you can bet that I added plenty of cilantro & lime to that salsa.  I also have a jalapeno in the salsa...  It didn't seem to bother Morty.  You can definitely leave it out if the blenderized diet you're making needs to be less spicy.

Tube:
For this g-tube blend, I pretty much made an extra taco and threw it in the blender.  I added an extra shell for carbs/calories and more peppers for the vitamins.  I also put in mango & bananas because they seem like appropriate complement!  With the previous success of adding a small amount of cheese to the blend, I kept that in here too.  The avocado also added some nice calories and fat.  It also made the blend real "smooth".  This was such a great smelling blend!  That may stem from my love of all Mexican food.

Here's the blenderized g-tube recipe:

Whole Milk	1 cup
flavored Kefir - 1% milkfat	1/2 cup
orange juice	1/2 cup
wheat tortillas, fajita style	2
ground beef taco mix	2.5 oz
red pepper, oven roasted	1/2 pepper
salsa, fresh	2 T
cilantro	2 T
avocado	1/4 fruit
grated Mexican cheese blend	2T
banana	1/2 small
mango	140 g
corn oil	2 T
Children's Multivitamin	1/2 tablet
calcium chews supplement	1/2 chew
Volume (oz)	36
Cal/oz	37.3
Cal/cc	1.2
% Fat	23%
% Carbohydrates	57%
% Protein	20%