Chipotle Goat Cheese "Caprese-style" Salad

Serves 4

The other night, I had some leftover goat cheese and a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce from another couple of recipes I will post soon.  I decided to make my own little version of a Caprese salad!  This is such a quick and easy recipe - perfect for a night when you don't have a lot of time to cook, or when you need to take an app to a party, but need more time to get primped and pretty! ;) 

Ingredients:

• 4-5 medium GOOD, ripe tomatoes, cut into 1/2-3/4" slices
• About 2.5 oz. goat cheese, softened
• Can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce - use 1 chipotle pepper, deseeded and finely chopped (about 1 tbsp.)
• A few onions from can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, finely chopped (optional)
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Fresh dill and sea salt for finishing

Directions:

In a small bowl, mix together goat cheese, chipotle pepper, onions, and black pepper (to taste).  Arrange tomatoes on a pretty serving plate.  Scoop a dollop of the chipotle goat cheese mixture onto the middle of each tomato.  Top with sprigs of fresh dill, and sprinkle with desired amount of sea salt. Yum! :)

Simple Ceviche

This recipe is from a friend of my family's that is from the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico... It is absolutely the best ceviche I've ever had, and to make it even more exciting - it's one of the easiest things I've ever made!

You will need:

• The freshest fish you can find. Redfish is amazing, so is Grouper or Red Snapper, but really any light white fish will do. Make sure that it doesn't smell 'fishy' at all.
• Lots of lemons to juice.
• Vidalia Onion (or white onion)
• 1 Datil Pepper (or any other hot pepper you can find...jalepeno, fingerhot, etc.)
• Fresh Cilantro
• Sea Salt & Cracked Black Pepper

Directions:

Cut fish into pieces about the size of the end of your thumb. Dice onion. Slice hot pepper into tiny slivers (you don't have to use the whole pepper). Place onion, hot pepper & fish pieces into a small shallow dish (2:1 fish to onion ratio). Squeeze lemon juice to just cover the mixture. Sprinkle with salt & pepper. Mix & let sit till the fish is starting to turn white. Meanwhile, wash & soak the cilantro. When fish is turning white, mix again. Lightly massage & finely chop cilantro. When fish is completely white, mix-in cilantro and sprinkle with a little more salt & pepper. Serve with saltine crackers or tortilla chips. Enjoy!!!!

Note: Seriously, this is one of the best recipes I've ever made. After you've made it a couple of times, you'll probably want to experiment a little bit. You can use scallops, octopus, shrimp... Just make sure that any seafood you use is SUPER fresh. Also, it's fun to add chopped garlic, diced tomatoes, bell peppers, etc. Have fun! Let me know what you think in the comments!