Tagged with magazine mondays

Homemade Filet-O-Fish

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This year our household made a decision to decrease our meat intake. This means leading a mostly pescatarian lifestyle. I’m particularly choosy when it comes to seafood. It’s amazing and one of my favorite things to eat when done well. The other side of the coin being that it is so easy to mess up and boy have I been burned in the past.

250px-McD-Filet-O-Fish I have never liked fish sandwiches. Sure, I ate fish sticks when I was growing up, and I eat fish & chips now, but I have never ordered fish at a fast food restaurant.

Why would you order something when it looks like this? –>

These homemade sandwiches use a sustainable fish and are much healthier than what you’d find at a fast food restaurant. You can make these as healthy or indulgent as you choose. Swap the bun out for whole wheat and toss with a side of baked chips, or go all out and slather it with cheese and eat with some french fries. I like these sandwiches with a little bit of green on the top and a nice schmear of wasabi mayonnaise on one bun to give it a little spice. The mayonnaise, which I picked up at our local Trader Joe’s, is a modernized version of tartar sauce. Feel free to omit it or replace with the traditional tartar sauce if that’s your preference.

A Slice of Paradise: Hawaiian Banana Bread

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Banana bread, like Zucchini Bread, is basically an excuse to eat cake for breakfast. Because of the addition of fruit, a slice of this bread can be justified at any time of day.

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I completely overlooked this article about Julia’s Banana Bread in the March issue of Bon Appétit until I saw it pop up on fellow hapa foodie Erica’s blog Cannella Vita. After reading her post, I rummaged through the magazine and read the article and was convinced to attempt the recipe.

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My family is from Maui and the first time we visited Hawai’i we made the trek down the road to Hana. I remember seeing this green shack, but didn’t know that it hid delicious treats. Next time I go to Maui (for my honeymoon!), I’ll be sure to stop by Julia’s to try some banana bread. My hometown, Pai’a, is the “last stop” on the way to Hana, so I have absolutely no excuse.

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This banana bread is a great slice of comfort in the cold, chilly mornings of Winter (when the recipe was originally posted in Bon Appétit), but it works equally as well on the sticky summer days we’ve been having recently.

I sprinkled the top of the bread with some raw sugar I picked up the last time I was in Hawai’i and added in some whole wheat flour to boost the healthiness so that it’s even easier to justify that second slice. The bread looks even more inviting on this tie-died, honu printed sarong I picked up from Pai’a when we were there last.

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Black Bean Burgers from Everyday Food


I recently made these burgers with my boyfriend in an effort to eat healthier and use up some breadcrumbs. The burger itself tasted pretty good, but didn’t hold up well in the pan when cooking. The outside was crispy and colored like a burger, but the outside was still mushy even after flattening the patty, cooking it longer than the recipe stated, and making smaller patties. This is a good base recipe, and it might taste better if refrigerated to firm up before cooking.

The original recipe is on Everyday Food’s website–I won’t post it here since we followed it line-by-line other than halving it. The original reason for the recipe in the magazine was to use up a big leftover pot of beans several different ways, so it’d be worth checking out the whole feature! We just used canned beans instead of the ones used in this recipe.

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Sriracha and Wasabi Deviled Eggs from Food & Wine

In November 2010’s Food & Wine magazine there was a great article about an Asian-American Thanksgiving that included recipes such as Soy-Sauce-and-Honey-Glazed Turkey, Sweet-and-Spicy Sesame Walnuts, Cranberry, Ginger and Orange Chutney, Red-Miso-Glazed Carrots, Smashed Sweet Potatoes with Five-Spice Marshmallows, and Sticky-Rice Dressing. I really empathized with the article, written by Joanne Chang, a first-generation Asian-American married to a meat-and-potatoes East-Coaster. Right from the beginning, I knew I was going to like this feature.

I must have been around 10 when I realized that my Thanksgivings were not quite like everyone else’s.

Before recycling the magazine, I ripped out every single page related to this feature and tucked them away for safe-keeping. Sure enough, soon after I boiled up a big batch of eggs to make these Sriracha-Wasabi Deviled Eggs. These eggs are a marriage between Chinese Tea Eggs and traditional American picnic fare. I brewed them too long in the marinade so they were extra salty, but otherwise were a nice, rich snack. The only problem? A plate full of deviled eggs and only two people to eat them! Sad to say, I don’t think that deviled eggs keep long in the fridge, especially after plating them. But, I definitely recommend this for an appetizer for a group of people with more adventurous taste buds.

Have you heard of “Magazine Mondays“? It’s an informal round-up of recipes reproduced from magazines, by Cream Puffs in Venice. Just like me, she has a heap of magazines and this non-event event gives incentive to delve into the cooking magazines that seem to pile up and to justify their continued purchase. I always enjoy seeing what magazines people are reading and what they’re making from them. This is my first time participating in Magazine Mondays and I hope to be contributing more in the future!