Summer is busy with outdoor activities and road trips. Which means there is not always a lot of time to go elaborate on making dinner.

You want a dish that light, easy to make and of course, delicious!

Everyone enjoyed the yellowtail tuna from Wild Planet Foods- which is what I happen to have on hand. Through pure experience the quality of the fish that Wild Planet Foods offers is as good as my buying fresh without the hassle of prep.

So, I grab my yellowtail tuna and see what else I’ve got. I’ve got some limes and lemons. I’m going citrus!

A trip through Google with the ingredients I have sends me to a recipe for citrus and ginger- the twist is, heavy cream!

I blanch my julienne citrus zests of my limes and lemons

I will also need a couple of tablespoons each of olive oil, green onions, diced tomatoes, and julienned ginger. Yes- that is red wine that you see, we need 3 ounces of the wine. About 4-6 ounces of the heavy cream, along with 1-2 ounces of lime juice for the citrus splash.

Let’s begin putting it all together. I’ve got the oven preheating at 400degrees. As it’s preheating I dice and julienne

Time to combine the wine, the heavy cream slowly. In the original recipe the fish is fresh filleted, excess oil removed; my diced and julienned vegetables go into the same pan. The liquid mixture follows into the pan and reduced followed by butter as the splash of lime.

Since I’ve started with the prepared tuna, I will combine everything and bake it.

So my fillets go into the baking pan, I sprinkle the citrus and vegetables. The cream sauce goes on, along with the butter and always of lime.

Colorful and flavorful, it took about 10-15 minutes for the liquid mixture to marry with the fish.

A little French bread toast on the side to compliment.

Thank you for Wild Planet Foods generosity in sharing their yellowtail tuna in making this dinner possible!

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There’s something about the the light and aura that comes from the moon that moves us all. From all those old werewolf scary movies to the sheer beauty and romance of its glow.

What if you could capture that magical glow anytime you wanted?

In cooperation with Tomoson LLC, they introduced to me the Moon Lamp. I’m intrigued….

I was so curious about it when the box arrived

Time to take a look inside.

Oooo…….

So there’s the stand and it’s charger.

The stand is really easy to assemble.

I like that I can charge it through my laptop. Easy to understand the instructions. Can’t wait to try it out, does something different per tap.

So I turn it on- what a glow!! I like Gru I’m Despicable Me- hahaha!!

So with the first tap, it’s like a white glow.

The second tap gives off a almost yellowish glow. The color always reminds me of when the moon looks super big in the sky like a enormous sugar cookie!! At the third tap it begins it color changing sequence. It’s so beautiful!!!

I’ve played with so much, I should probably recharge it.

It’s so captivating that my daughter is trying to finagle it going in her room. I think I better keep this on my nightstand before it mysteriously disappears!!

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My family and I love trying new foods, were pretty adventurous when it comes to food. But when comes to cooking a new cuisine we take small steps.

We love Greek food! I was totally in the mood to try to make a dish, that wasn’t a Greek salad! Time to go to the next step. I was looking for something light and could include the beautiful tomatoes that are here this season.

A friend of mine mentioned that she had seen a recipe from Jamie Oliver that featured mackerel called, mackerel plaki.

It seems it’s a simple recipe that includes carrots, tomatoes, onions, a few spices, and of course mackerel, not to mention there’s white wine involved!!

Courtesy of Wild Planet Foods, I’ve got some great mackerel to use.

So I’m all set. I use my peeler to create thins carrot slices, thin onion slices. Rough chopping the tomatoes so you can enjoy the flavor

Next is layering all the flavors. Fish fillets first, on goes the carrots, onions, tomatoes, garlic (I ran through a press) and some bay leaves. Don’t forget to season with the usual salt and pepper. Give it a drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil. Lastly is the parsley, it original recipe calls for chopped fresh parsley, since I did not have that at hand I opted for a light sprinkle of dried parsley. For the finale to wrap it all up together is a squeeze of a fresh lemon, drizzle of white wine and a smidge of water.

I’ve got the oven ready at 350 degrees. Into the oven it goes. It doesn’t take long because the mackerel has been prepared perfectly by Wild Planet.

Thank you Wild Plant Foods for your generosity and support!!

Stay tuned for more fun foods!

In the wonderful box I received from Wild Planet Foods I saw Yellowtail Tuna.

So I’ve heard of yellowtail tuna- hamachi! But, I’ve never seen it in a can.

I love tuna!! Canned, sushi, sashimi, grilled, steamed; so versatile!

A friend said that she had this yummy Pan-grilled citrus yellowtail. And I wondered, could that be adapted at home in the oven.

So, let’s get some of the ingredients together. With a little research I’ll need some fresh lime juice, lemon juice, soy sauce, fresh ginger, and sesame seed oil. Mixing it together will form a marinade for the tuna.

So I set the tuna in the marinade, but not for too long. I arranged it into my baking pan with just a smidge of the marinade so it won’t be too dry. I kept the oven at about 375 so I could keep an eye on it.

And there it is! Showing off that the yellowtail tuna is a tuna that is not the same as all the other tunas!!

I thank Wild Planer Foods for their generosity in sending their amazing products and giving me the opportunity to try it. And the privilege to share my honest and true reviews with my family, friends and followers.

What do you think of when you hear “mackerel”? Ok, ok, aside from the late 60’s “Batman and Robin” tv show, with Robin and his quips; you don’t think much of this fish.

In other countries they have special dishes featuring this little fish. What about here?

We know it’s there, but admittedly as a creature of habit- tuna has been a go to.

Recently Wild Planet Foods shared with me their canned wild mackerel. I was excited to receive the box of goodies. As I unpack the box, I find myself looking at the box of mackerel

For some reason the smaller the fish the more we hesitate. Keep in mind though that this little fish is packed with Omega 3 and protein.

I’d like to try something simple but will compliment the fish not “spoil” it.

Because Wild Planet Foods is the closest to being just like fresh from the market, I’m thinking maybe broiled?

Got it! Broiled Spanish Mackerel-

Now this is a super simple one, all you need are lemons, a little paprika, of course salt and pepper

So I lined up my fillets gave them a sprinkle of paprika and then the lemons

I didn’t add any olive oil, the mackerel was canned in extra virgin olive oil.

Best part if this is that it only takes a few minutes in the broiler and it’s done!

It was light, but meaty at the same time. There was no “fishy” smell or taste. Just a clean fish taste.

This could make a great appetizer, tapas!!!

When the saying, “Time flies” feels like an understatement……

We recently celebrated our son’s high school graduation!! What a mix of emotions! On one hand we’re so proud of all he’s accomplished and how he’s grown to such a great young man. Then you step back and think how did it go from him playing with his LEGO’s in the little red wagon to walking across the stage receiving his diploma!!!

As you guessed there was a party with family and friends gathered. Food, and fun!!

We like to do a lot of our own cooking and baking. With that being said, we also take pride in the ingredients we use. A favorite brand of mine to bake with is Miss Jones Baking Co., good clean ingredients with now hydrogenated oil or trans fat- and no artificial flavors!!

I wanted to provide a sweet treat that was easy to eat. Cookies are always a “handy” treat. So many flavor choices…Now I don’t know about you, but Confetti pop sounds like fun!

Lets get baking!

I’m sure you saw the lollipop sticks… let’s say the “pop” in confetti pop led to the inspiration of making cookie lollipops- why not??

Since I was already using my cookie scoop, I gave them and extra roll to give a firmer cookie ball and inserted the lollipop stick.

The cook time stays the same as listed on the directions.

Pulled them out of the oven, so far so good- they didn’t fall off the stick.

Festive, but not done yet!!

I was distracted by chocolate. I dipped just one side of the cookies. I have something different planned for the other side.

Need to commemorate the day!

Here’s the finished product

What fun it was to bake these! And super easy! You might say that I cheated by not doing it from scratch. But with Miss Jones Baking Co. and the care they put into their products, it’s as if I did!!

Thank you to Miss Jones Baking Co. for generously sharing their product with me and allowing me to share on my blog my honest feedback after trying it!

Summer is finally here!! The season that we look forward to.

Why?

It’s the season where we can take it slow. School is out so no need to set that alarm clock early. The days are longer giving more time to either get things done, or just chill by the pool or on the back porch.

I know at some point the kids will complain that they’re bored. That’s when you brush up on your board game library. And have I got a game for you!

Telestrations !! Brought to you by USAopoly. What’s so great about this game? It maybe cliche to say, the the fun is endless. Lots of laughing, great for different ages.

But what is it you ask…. the best way for me to describe it? It is two classic games in one. Remember back in the day when a typical party game was playing “telephone”? Where you started off with “Mary had a little lamb”, and end up with “Mary dances with a kitten and a lamb”. It’s part “telephone” and part Pictionary. But no expert art experience required. Which is good since I’m lucky I can draw a stick figure!!!

And there you have it- two games that on their own leave you in stitches. Can you imagine the riot of laughter when you put them together.

The game comes in two sizes, an 8 player and a 12 player. Good clean fun so it’s great for all ages. And you can play at anytime, with not a ton of small pieces so you can play almost anywhere.

I was fortunate enough to receive the 12 player Telestrations from USAopoly and Tryazon, to try it out.

Go figure! After giving it a trial run- it became part of a sleepover!

Ok… they were practicing before the other girls arrived!

How about a casual get together just chilling on the deck?

You know a game is a keeper when everyone can play together!! Though, I’m not sure what happened that the Dads got edged out. Oh well…..

Where can you find Telestrations? On the USAopoly website of course!

http://www.usaopoly.com

Want to be part of a great community where you get to give honest feedback and try out something new?

Join http://www.tryazon.com like I did.

**The Telestrations game was sent to me compliments of USAopoly and Tryazon for the purpose of trying, testing, and sharing their product. All reviews and opinions are solely mine and those who participated in the trial. All of which are pure and organic, never a “copy and paste” review or company generated.