Cinco de Mayo Fish Tacos with Secret Sauce

Fish tacos have to be one of my favorite Mexican dishes. Generally when you order them, the fish is fried which don't get me wrong, I enjoy but the majority of the time my stomach cannot handle fried food and I mean, do I REALLY need to be eating fried food? Probably not. For this recipe, the fish can be cooked in the oven or on the bbq. It sets itself apart with a secret (not so secret anymore) sauce that completes the taco. 

With Cinco de Mayo coming up, I only thought it would only be appropriate to share the recipe! What are your plans for Cinco de Mayo? Let me know what you think, enjoy!

Fish Tacos with Secret Sauce

Serves: 4

MARINADE:

2 lb. Tilapia fillets (you can easily substitute your favorite white fish)

1/4 avocado oil (or other light neutral oil like olive oil)

1 tbsp. honey

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp. pepper

3 limes juiced 

1/4 c. chopped cilantro

TACO TOPPINGS:

1 pkg. flour or corn tortillas (small taco size)

2 Limes

1 Bunch Cilantro

1 pkg. Shredded Cabbage (or you can buy cabbage and shred your own, I hate the mess it makes so I buy it in the package).

2 Avocados

SECRET SAUCE:

2 limes (juiced)

1/2 c. mayonnaise

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 tbps. + tsp. Tapatio

DIRECTIONS:

Mix all of the marinade ingredients together and pour into ziplock bag with rinsed fish. Place in refrigerator and let marinade for at least an hour (can marinade overnight). Now is also the best time to make the secret sauce because the longer it sits in the refrigerator the better it tastes. Whisk all of the sauce ingredients together in a bowl, cover and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour. 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and line baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove fish from ziplock, place on baking sheet and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until fish is done (it should feel firm like the back of your hand if you poked it). If you are cooking on the bbq double wrap in a foil pouch and place bbq over medium heat for 20-30 minutes. (Varies depending upon bbq.) 

While the fish is baking prepare your toppings; cut the limes into wedges, finishing chopping the remaining cilantro, slice avocado into wedges and shred cabbage. 

Once the fish has cooled, place on a plate and flake into small chunks. Layer your tortilla (I like to warm up the tortillas first. Wrap in a damp paper towel and microwave for 45 seconds and they will steam) with fish, cabbage, avocado and cilantro. Top with secret sauce and enjoy!

DO NOT make these tacos without making the Secret Sauce. Trust Me.

Yummmmm!!! Serve up with a margarita on the rocks and you are set!

Maedell's Black Eyed Pea Salad Recipe

I will never turn down a home cooked meal from Travis's grandma, Maedell. She is easily one of my favorite cooks and is always entertaining. Her meals are simple and no fuss, just like her. She cooks everything from memory and even if you had one of her recipes, it would never taste as good as when she makes it. 

Maedell is almost 90 years old but you would never guess it. She is feisty and says whatever is on her mind, sometimes maybe even when she should not. She grew up in the South so naturally I like the majority of her food. Travis likes to joke that she lives off of Dr.Pepper, Twinkies, salt and butter. If she is 90 years old and only has glaucoma, I am not going to feel bad about drinking an occasional Dr.Pepper and always buttering my biscuit. 

If you are eating a meal at Maedell's you can guarantee these things will always be there: veggie/relish tray, biscuits, sugar cookies, ham and/or fried chicken, and black eyed pea salad. I always have a couple helpings of her black eyed pea salad. I love it so much I decided to try my hand at making it and I think I came pretty close, although I know it will never taste exactly like hers. 

You can serve this salad with fried chicken and ham, like Maedell, with the pulled pork recipe I shared last week or just eat it by itself as a meal. 

Black Eyed Pea Salad Recipe

2 cans black eyed peas rinsed
1 c. chopped white onion
1/2 c. (heaping) chopped red pepper
1/2 c. (heaping) chopped celery
2/3 c. red wine vinegar
1/3 c. neutral oil
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

Drain and rinse black eyed peas and place in a bowl. Finely chop onion, red pepper and celery and add to beans. Whisk together vinegar, oil, salt and pepper. Pour over salad and mix all together. Cover with saran wrap and let sit in the fridge overnight. Serve cold. 

This recipe consists of basically dicing, so it comes together quickly. Make sure you aren't going too quickly though... you do not want to lose a finger!

And then dice the pepper. I love all the colors in this salad!

Red or green onions can also work in a pinch.

Black Eyed Peas...not to be confused with the great millennial band. I really wish they would make a comeback.

I am pretty sure Maedell uses plain white vinegar in her salad. I love red wine vinegar though so that is what I used.

Toss it all together and chill in the fridge overnight. It gets better the longer it sits!

Enjoy!

World's EASIEST Pulled Pork Recipe

I love pork products. Bacon, breakfast sausage, ham, pork chops, pork roast. You name it and it if comes from a piggie I probably love it. (minus pig ears, feet and pork rinds, those don't even count though). Pulled pork is no exception to my list of swine favorites. Pulled pork gets it name from the way it is shredded, by taking two forks and "pulling" the meat apart. Most often it is cooked long and slow on a smoker but I make mine a much easier way and I promise you won't even miss the smokey flavoring. 

I feel a little ridiculous posting this recipe because it is so dang easy and kind of obvious. However, if you have yet to discover the magic of making pulled pork in your crock pot let me take the next couple minutes and enlighten you. From my brief guesstimations from the million times I have made this, it takes about ten minutes of your time. Everyone has ten minutes to spare to make a home cooked meal, right?!? If not, then you probably have some other things you should be focusing on than crock pot meals. 

Generally when I make this I do not put any kind of sauce on it until the very end. Sometimes I use BBQ sauce, other times I use it in tacos and top with chili verde (my favorite) or sometimes I just like to eat it plain! It is so versatil,e the options are endless with what you can do with it!

Let me know what you end up using the pulled pork for once you make it!

World's Easiest Pulled Pork Recipe

2 -2.5 lb. Pork Shoulder Roast
1 tbsp. + 1 tsp. Kosher Salt
1 tsp. pepper
BBQ Sauce of Your Choice

Place pork shoulder roast in crock pot and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Set crock pot to low setting and cook for 5 hours. DO NOT open the lid during this time, the heat will escape. Just let it do it's thang. After 5 hours, remove from crock pot, place on cutting board and let rest for 10 minutes. Once it has rested and slightly cooled, begin to pull the pork by placing one large fork in the roast to hold and using the other to shred the meat. Discard any chunks or fat. DO NOT drain any of the drippings from the crock pot. Toss the pulled pork back into the crock pot, stir thoroughly and cook for another two hours on low. Use atop hamburger buns with your favorite BBQ sauce, inside a tortilla with chile verde for a taco or any other way you may like!

This is so easy. Plug in your crockpot.

Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.

Set on low.

Cook for five hours.

Shred and toss back into pan with drippings for another two hours.

Voila! The easiest pulled pork EVER.