Tex-Mex Stuffed Peppers

I have this thing about recipes...I have a really hard time using them, specifically the part that obliges me to follow a specific list of steps and, particularly, instructions.  I like to just go free-form and use what I have, rather than try to shop for obscure ingredients or buy more food when I have plenty at home. This at times leads to great success, as with many Rachel Ray recipes--she's creative as all get out, but her recipes never seem to be tested or fully thought out, but rather hastily thrown together.  As a result, they often seem unbalanced, under-seasoned, or just plain incorrect.  Other times...well, we've had to throw out a few meals here and there. 

Usually, though, I'm much more comfortable just going AWOL and freestylin' it.  If I know I want to make something in particular, I'll usually browse a bunch of collected recipes online or in cookbooks, and then either write up my own with certain elements from each that I like, or just use the knowledge gained as inspiration while I go at it in the kitchen. 

These stuffed peppers, on the other hand, were a mere idea that was rounded out by whatever I found in the fridge.  I knew I wanted to do some sort of stuffed pepper or relleno, so I bought poblano peppers last time i was at the store.  I cooked up a bunch of brown rice earlier in the week (side note: i love keeping cooked rice in the fridge. You can use it for so much without having to cook & cool--stuffings, fried rices, rice salads, etc), so I knew that would be a component.  I had lots of miscellaneous veggies and greens in the fridge--zucchini, kale, mushrooms, carrots--and knew I could stuff a good number of them into a pepper. 

Despite the crappy camera phone's washed out colors and unappetizing tones, this turned out so good, I'm now writing a recipe for it.  It is one of those insanely healthy meals--mostly veggies, a good assortment of colorful veg, very little fat, whole grains--but the part i like is that it doesn't TASTE healthy at all!  Recipe after the jump. 

Trying New Things in 3, 2, ...

Chalk this one up on the "why haven't I made this yet" category:

Asian Noodle Salad
(Thanks Pioneer Woman)

It has everything I like--asian flavors, check.  cold noodles, check (love pasta salads).  cilantro, big check.  tons of veggies thrown in, check.  Gorgeous, check.

Posting it for the good of the order, and to remind myself to try new recipes!  don't just make the same old shtuff over and over and over...

That said, I'm 99% sure I'm making my famous southwestern turkey burgers tomorrow...I'll try new things later.

What's Spanish for Soup?

 The idea of cold soup really freaks me out. Something just seems...wrong...about it. Yet I'm inexplicably drawn to it. I have recipes torn out for cold watermelon soup and cucumber soup, and even a chilled dessert berry soup. I suppose when you really think about it, there isn't a good reason that soup is supposed to be warm...except that it's supposed to be warm, dang it!  That's just the way it is!

When I get over these bizarre battles waged between warring factions inside my head, I realize that, freaky though it may be (and I blame vichyssoise) they're actually pretty good.  Especially during the summer, when similarly inexplicable soup cravings come knocking, and I'm forced to answer them.

I visited Spain in high school, and there I had a bowl of simple gazpacho that was served with a cutting board of different chopped up veggies, cheese, croutons, and the like. It was perhaps the perfect meal--a base of sweet, tangy, richly orange, smoothly blended tomato soup to which you could add any number of things, making eat bite more perfect than the last.  Since then, my nostalgia for that trip, and plenty of bad versions of gazpacho, have convinced me that it's hard to find a good one state-side.  More often than not I get a bowl of what seems to be salsa, or chunky V8, or just any other gross image you can think of. (Although Emilios, if my memory serves me at all, does a great little bowl.)

But a recipe from a Martha Stewart I ripped out last summer looked, at least, a lot like what I remembered.  It was a fairly straightforward recipe, but of course I can't make it that simple.  Instead of crustless, day-old bread, I just used a loaf I bought that day, and maybe took the crusts off half, cause I'm lazy.  I didn't make the croutons, either, cause I like to dip hunks of bread into soup, warm or cold. Used regular cuke, not english, and didn't have sherry vinegar so I used rice vinegar instead (wine might have been a better substitution).  And I used like, less than 1/2 of the oil it called for.  And it's still delicious! Since I don't have a blender, just a cuisinart, it could have been smoother, but after a few bites I just didn't care.

Had a bowl for lunch today with some of the cut-off crusts, a baby bell cheese, and two more delicious plums.

Both the original recipe and my small changes are after the jump.

Plum Lucky

English muffin, toasted, spread with a teensy bit of peanut butter and jelly, with two mini yellow plums. I don't remember the variety--something that started with an "s".  I'm sure that's very helpful to all you plum enthusiasts out there.

I suppose I am a plum enthusiast.  A friend once told me he'd never tasted a plum (seriously, never?  a plum isn't an odd sort of fruit, is it?  perhaps he grew up in prehistoric antarctica)  For me, though, it's been all plums all summer long since before I can remember.  They're up along the top of my fruit food chain, along with pears, nectarines, and cherries.  At the farmer's market this weekend the plums were out in full force, and one vendor had probably six varieties all lined up in cute little rows....how do you choose among the plums?  Sweet, juicy flesh and tart skin combine into the most perfect fruit. And I like to suck on the pits, too.  You know, that last sentence taken out of context could easily have come from a Harlequin bodice-ripper novel with Fabio on the cover...

Having said "plum enthusiast," now I have to picture what a plum enthusiast would do with their time and how they would celebrate their love for plums.  Tree-climbing festival? (Top plum wins!)  Plum-mashing contest? (on second thought, that internet video makes me rethink this train of thought...)  Perhaps I'll just stick to celebrating the humble plum the way the Korean do---by making it into plum wine.

Or, paraphrasing Mitch Hedburg, I don't want to be known as a plum enthusiast.  I'm just a girl who likes plums.

I love summer, part duex

Is there anything more beautiful than a knobby, ugly heirloom tomato?  If the outside scares you, just slice one open and see the world of seeds and veins of color that run through it.  These babies are grown for flavor, not appearance.  The difference between these is marked--I can't eat most supermarket tomatoes even on sandwiches, as they're so mealy and sour and, well, just icky.  But these, these I can't stop eating--plain, with a bit of salt, or drizzled with olive oil and fruity balsamic vinegar and, well, it's just about as good as it gets. 

We ate these alongside some grilled bbq chicken and some stovetop beans, but really these are the stars of my show. 

This week's haul

1 bunch beets (for the parents arriving this weekend!)
1 bunch carrots
1 bunch rainbow chard
1 lb red potatoes
1 head garlic

After having to work through last week's pickup and missing out on the bounty, it really feels good to have veggies in my fridge again!  While wandering through the farmer's market I also picked up a pint of blueberries, a pound of heirloom tomatoes, and a pint of tart yellow plums.  I love summer!

I grilled last week

But friends, let me tell you...I was not meant to work over 15 days without a day off!  SERIOUSLY!  I mean, come on.  I barely cooked, I barely slept, I barely resembled human for over two weeks, and all that I can think about now that I'm finally in teh warm afterglow of a true weekend is...I need a vacation!  One short month....

Anyway, I did manage to turn the grill on sometime last week during our prolonged 98-degree+humid heat spell.  Because nothing quite says summer like burgers, and if it's going to be sauna-like outside then I say let's celebrate it!  It will be in teh negatives, snowy and ice-covered before we know it, which makes a little sweat not quite so bad after all.

These weren't special burgers, just some leftover hand-formed patties I had frozen a while back, plus some vinegared cucumbers and grilled summer squash sliced that were tossed with chipotle oil and seasoned salt.  Damn, but doen't that just look like summer?

Now, if I only knew why I've been craving soup for the last two weeks...perhaps gazpacho is in order!

You must eat here on Sunday

You must.  Or don't, because then I'd have to wait in line.  I like it about 1/2 empty, as it currently seems to always be, because it doesn't get loud and you get better service--and food.  Although if the 1/2 emptiness is going to lead to out-of-business-ness, then GO! NOW!  Just not too often, or I may have to throw a fork at you.  It's happened before.

Moving on...

Branch 27 opened in the hood a little over a year ago in an old branch of the Chicago public library.  Since they opened in 2009, they've gone through two menus, and, I believe, are on their third menu and second chef.  While the dinner menu's newest incarnation takes it a step up, cuisine-wise -- from elevated American comfort food (burgers, sandwiches, predictable entrees) to internally-influenced, meat-centric courses (pork rilletes, brazilian seafood stew, grilled 'cowboy' ribeye) -- I must admit to missing menu's previous the casual vibe.  What can I say?  Sandwiches are my favorite food, and while I fully recognize a more talented and creative chef is now helming the kitchen, I'd like to be able to get a dinner for under $15 there, a feat no longer possible.

But, to solve the dillema, in steps brunch.  I'm not usually a brunch person--brunch menus tend to be fairly standard, as is the fare that ensues from them. I'm a savory, real-food-in-the-morning typa girl, and dainty fruit plates and oatmeal aren't what I go to restaurants to eat.  That's why I usually prefer diners to brunch spots--you won't get anything out-of-the-ordinary at a diner, but you'll at least get real food from real people, with a minimum of strollers and yuppies interfering with my paper, coffee and hangover. 

Oh, but Branch 27 knows how to do brunch for real people (click the link for the menu).  Real people who like to eat interesting interpretations without having to save up for a month to do so. Southern-fried pork belly with cheddar grits and sausage gravy?  Seriously, man, how could you not want to eat that!  Biscuits and gravy, a diner staple, is spun into a new being with Southern gumbo gravy and grilled shrimp--all of a sudden, it seems much more appealing.

I had the Chilaquiles, the fried tortilla, red sauce, chorizo and egg scramble, and almost keeled over from how delicious it was--spicy but not too hot, large pieces of perhaps house-made chorizo, and perfectly poached eggs perched sumptiously on top.  Is there anythign more fun than poking your fork's tines into the runny yolk of a poached egg and watching the food below get bathed in sunny deliciousness?  A friend E had the above-mentioned pork belly--a small portion, thank god, since it's all necessary ingredients for a coronary on one plate--and it was good, and somehow not nearly as rich as you'd think.  Sissy got the french toast, and I'll be damned if it wasn't the best thing on the table--chewy, crispy sourdough, just sweet enough, tempered with bitter candied orange peel and lightly coated with the cream cheese anglaise...DAMN but I all of a sudden like sweets for breakfast!

What I liked even more than the food (the bloody mary?  my intended answer, but do yourself a favor and order it.  the fact that it comes with a full-blown meal-on-a-stick is only one selling point; the house-made mix and spicy, strong flavors should seal the deal) was that they had clearly addressed some issues that we had last time we at brunch here.  The bloody maries were much better--gone was the bitter undertaste, pronounced was the southwestern spiciness and, perhaps, a hint of chipotle smoke.  The hash browns, previously thin, sad little shredded potato paties, were nowhere to be found, having been replaced with dark-brown, caramelized and salted quartered new potatoes, fried and plated in their own miniature cast-iron pans.  More, please.  Much more.

We may be going back on Sunday...so watch out, internet.  Cause more raves are sure to come.

And she's back!

Last week really put a damper on my best intentions.  I worked out all of ONCE all last week, I cooked dinner perhaps twice, and let's just say that I didn't entirely resist the cookies and chocolate croissants that beckoned from every catering platter in every room of every meeting I attended.  Damn those professional pastry chefs and their evil plans for world domination...or just domination of my waistline, which grew an inch or so last week.  I blame all the salt--when you don't cook for yourself, it's nearly impossible to keep tabs on salt consumption, leading me to feel a bit pickled, bloated, and dehydrated...

But, all that said, at least I did work out once, and while i may have eaten a cookie I didn't eat any chips, cheese, or mayo (aside from a tuna sandwich one day) ... and I maintain that working 12-hour days, hauling ass around a huge hotel from meeting to meeting, and the stress that all of that work entails probably did a fair job in burning a few extra calories.  Still, though I made an effort not to just give in to the fatty that lives in my brain, it's really remarkable how much worse you feel when you are eating food you don't normally eat--tons of carbs, tons of salt, too few green veggies and fruit.  And just too much of everything, probably. 

Well, it's over, and though I haven't had a day off in 2 weeks (almost....I'm exaggerating to gain sympathy, internet, so let me play my world's smallest violin for just a little longer), and though I missed my CSA pickup this week (tears!  I had to work through the pickup window), I did finally make it to the grocery store for the first time this month, meaning I can once again start cooking...and A doesn't have to eat a whole bag of salted peanuts in the shell for lunch again, as he did on Sunday. 

So what did I eat for lunch today?  ....Au Bon Pain.  Wait a second...didn't I just spend three paragraphs ranting about eating restaurant and prepared food, and now that I have real ingredients I go and eat leftover Au Bon Pain?  Yes, reader, I did.  Do you know why?  It's a word puzzle. FInd the word that explains why.

Leftover.  You did it!  Yes, I could not let leftovers be thrown away (nor could I miss a free lunch) so when yesterday's meeting ended, I scavenged 1/2 a grilled chicken pesto sandwich with lettuce, tomato, red peppers & feta, and filled up a tupperware with some leftover salad (romaine, radicchio, tomatoes & cukes).  A pickle somehow found its way into my lunch bag too.  No, I don't remember saying anything about eating too much salt.  

Tomorrow I leave again for a trip to DC, where cuz and I will rendezvous for dinner of either fondue or Ethiopian...will I be brave enough to take photos in public where somebody possibly could be watching me?  Wait and see, internet.  Wait and see.

Hotel Food, day two

Work meetings continue...

But buffet lunches are fun!  Hotel food is never the greatest, in my experience, but there is just something I love about a buffet---sheer volume of food, of course; all the choices, all the many dishes to sample; trying to strategically organize the plate to allow as much to fit on it as physics allow. It's endlessly entertaining...and delicious.

Trying to eat healthily at a hotel buffet, however, poses many more challenges.  Yes, large vat of mayonnaise, cheese platter and salami tray, I see you all.  But my 1/2 slice of whole-wheat bread, dijon mustard and smoked turkey don't need any of your glamor right now.  Potato salad, chicken salad, oh how I adore thee...but just a tiny scoop of you will have to do, since I have to give the majority of my plate to the greens and veggies--mixed baby greens, sliced cukes, radishes, carrots and cherry tomatoes, with a bit of balsamic vinaigrette.  See--not too bad.

I may have eaten a cookie, although since nobody saw me do it did it even really happen?

I cheated...

Do you ever feel like when you take a cooking shortcut that you "cheated"?  I feel like that whenever I use a shortcut.  Not that I'm an "everything from scratch" type person at all....but I'm leaning that way.  I mean, I made homemade oreos once, and I feel bad using jarred pasta sauce, and I'm thisclose to swearing off jarred salsa forever, realizing how incredibly easy it is and how much more delicious it can be than the canned stuff.

Anyway, so after a long work day I realized I not only had no idea what to make for dinner, but I also had no groceries. But I had some CSA greens, I had some leftover pizza dough, and I had a smoked mozzerella spread that I knew would never get used.  Combining the three would capitalize on my miserly, waste not philosophy...but would it be good?

Also, a bit of an experiment was held vis-a-vis pasta sauce making.  I love cream sauce, but have no business eating pasta with cream sauce (got enough fat and calories padding my middle already).  I figured I could mix some milk, chicken broth, a spoonful of the smoked mozzerella spread, and some cornstarch in a bowl, then pour it over the hot pasta and veg to thicken it up and "fake" a cream sauce.  Lo and behold, it worked!  Maybe not as silky and smooth as a full-fat version, but nearly fat-free makes me forgive the texture issue.

Sauteed garlic, CSA wild red onions, CSA kale (not sure which variety), and sliced cremini mushrooms in olive oil/butter; added the pasta and sauce mix, which instantly thickened.  It was so easy....

Leftover pizza dough was rolled out, thinly spread with butter, then topped with chopped garlic and parmesan cheese and rolled up jelly-roll style.  After rising an hour, 20 minutes at 400 degrees resulted in a fairly decent garlic bread roll.

Success, indeed, on the most meager (ok, CSA veggies and leftover gourmet spreads aren't exactly meager...) of ingredients.  Photos were taken, but are still residing on a camera, so forgive me for leaving you to wait for them.

One thing I love about work meetings

FOOD BUFFETS!

Seriously, when do I ever have this many kinds of fruit in my fridge?  Honeydew, muskmelon, watermelon, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, pineapple and grapes.  Breakfast of champions!  And eating all this fruit will, hopefully, prevent me from breaking into the chocolate croissants, bagels, and muffins that are awaiting me just a long-arm's reach from my desk....

I guess the food is a comfort to me as I embark on my busiest, longest, stressiest, most annoying work week....and weekend. 

And, Internet, remind me why I looked at my camera last night and DIDN'T take a picture of the NYC-style barbecue pizza with sauteed creminis, wild red onions, green pepper, and basil that I made last night.  Or the CSA veggie-filled salad of red and green leaf lettuce, sliced radishes hard boiled egg, wild onion tops, and chipotle croutons (homemade!  croutons are the easiest thing to make, and they're so much better than boxed!) that went with it.  I was hungry, and it was really dark in the kitchen, and I just didn't feel like getting all my stuff out.  But it was soo delicious, internet friends.  You really missed out. 

Wunder Fudzen

Isn't she pretty?  God, there is just something about pizza.  Call it a flatbread, call it a pie, call it deep-dish, call it cracker-crust, call it 'za (or please don't because that's just really lame)---it's so alluring.  I don't know that it's possible for me to dislike pizza, any pizza, even really bad pizza.  It's one of those things, like dumplings, I think (oh, the wonder of the dumpling; extant in all cultures; universally delicious) that are good even when they're baaaad.  

I had a hunk of defrosted pizza dough in the fridge for about a week, and it wasn't as springy and fluffy and gorgeous as it once had been, and it certainly wouldn't stretch (hahaha) far enough to feed two for dinner.  But I also had chicken marinating in a tuscan marinade, and I was at a loss at how to get pizza to be a side dish for chicken and zucchini. 

Then, I discovered, just call it a Mediterranean flatbread--problem solved!

I grilled the chicken (skewered) and some thick zucchini slices, then moved them to the top rack to keep warm.  I had stretched the dough into two 7" rounds, well floured, and brushed one side with olive oil.  Throw the oiled side on the grill and let it go for a minute or two, rotating and checking for hotspots and over-char.  The dough will cook (and burn) really fast.  Once one side is cooked, remove from the grill and place raw-side down on an oiled cookie sheet.  Top the cooked side and throw the uncooked, now oiled side back on the grill; close the lid until cheese is melted and the the crust is crisp.


The key, I find, is using a dry dough, small rounds, and very light toppings. You don't want wet dough at all--it will fall through the grates before it has time to toughen up.  Bigger rounds are too hard to maneuver on the grill.  And you only have a few precious minutes once the pizzas are topped to cook them, so go really, really easy on the toppings.  I used bit of mozzerella, 3-4 halved tomato slices, torn basil, chopped kalamatas (on one) and a sprinkle of feta.

Aren't they pretty?

Zucchini Lasagna

Zucchini lasagna...how does it sound to you?  When I first heard it, I was intrigued, because I grew up eating my mom's spinach lasagna, and never knew that veggies in lasagna was akin to sacrelige among some people.

The original idea for this recipe came from a coworker's mom, in a simpler form, but I changed it a bit--including the introduction of noodles.  When I made it sans noodles, you literally had to drain the pieces--not appetizing at all, although it tasted great!  The zucchini lightens up what can be a really heavy-tasting dish into something, while not light, per se, is much easier to stomach on a warm, late summer evening.

It is built much like a simple lasagna--noodles, cheese, sauce.  No fancy bechamel--this version doesn't even have you make your own tomato sauce, but if you're so inclined then do so!  In fact, making sauce is so simple I'm ashamed to sometimes be lazy enough to buy the store-bought stuff...but when inspiration for what to cook for dinner cannot be found, I'm always glad to have a jar of it in the cupboard.

Recipe after the jump!

White Chicky Chili

I'm lucky to have almost in-laws whose green thumbs and prolific garden keep me supplied with all sorts of chiles, tomatoes, zuchinnis, squashes, and pumpkins, among other goodies.  Combined with my CSA share, I always have a fridge stocked full of veggies in the summer that give me an "exciting" challenge every night...exciting if you're a nerd, like me, or if you, also like me, must fight the urge to deep-fry and cover in cheese everything in sight...

As the days of "what do I do with 10 zucchini" draw nearer, I'm going to post a few recipes today that feature, let's say, creative uses for this otherwise bland veg.  Plus, I want to post a bunch of my original and adapted recipes up here so I  have a good way to locate them...right now they're in an amalgamation of hard drives, google documents, work computers, and scraps of stained, crumpled-up paper.  Not the most conducive to cooking when you're uninspired and looking for "that one thing I made that one time..."

This was an unqualified success.  Born in a late summer moment of desperation, when I had 3 kinds of chiles from the garden, pounds and pounds of zucchini from both the garden and the farm, a crisper drawer full of greens that were past wilted, and a few chicken odds n ends...this became a meal we still talk about, and every time I go out to A's parent's house I scout the garden eagerly awaiting the budding peppers.  Recipe after the jump.

Hot Digggidy Dinner

My expertise in meal planning became very apparent yesterday, as I had planned to make a veggie-loaded Ministrone Soup and Margherita Flatbread on the hottest, most humid day of the year.  As A pointed out, just what you want on the hottest, humidest day--the oven cranked up as high as it will go with a pizza stone in it while a huge pot of boiling liquid simmers away on the stove.

Reluctantly, I agreed it was best to change plans.  But what to do with the three large bunches of greens in the fridge?  For a while I've been wanting to try a version of the Italian classic side dish of escarole & white beans.  Since substitution and messing around doesn't really phase me at all (a trait I get from my kitchen wizard father, whose concoctions range from amazingly delicious to downright strange...) I figured I could make some substantial concoction wiht kale, chard and pinto beans (i was out of cannellis).

I softened some onion and garlic in a large pot, then added leftover sweet italian chicken sausage to brown.  Deglazed the pan with white wine, then stirred in about 6 cups (or more) of roughly chopped greens and maybe 3/4 cup chicken stock to braise. 

Verdict?  Delicious!  Greens are oh-so-healthy, but can be very bitter, tough and too earthy for to enjoy.  The braising makes them really tender, and the simple flavors extruded from the meat gives them a richness that tempers the earthiness. I honestly wasn't expecting to like this that much--I expected it to be a more dutiful way to eat a healthy vegetable and lean protein (beans).  But we both really enjoyed it!  We used it as a side for pita sandwiches, but I bet this could be a main course pretty easily, or served over rice/noodles as well.   Recipe after the jump.

Because I'm awesome

Or cheap, but let's go with awesome....I saw my leftover chicken breast as not just a reheatable, but a puzzle piece just waiting to be fit into a whole new meal.  And also because I'm awesome/cheap, I decided that one small chicken breast (minus 3 bites, due to a late night fridge forage by A) could easily make two sandwiches.  And, decidedly because I'm awesome, I left one of said sandwhiches for A to eat today, because he is a growing boy and all (although the CSA radishes I put on it got a nose-up-turn in disgust, but I can't be blamed for helping him to eat his veggies!)

I sliced the chicken breast horizontally, on a slight diagonal, to make 4 oblong pieces that would fit on a sub-like bun (or leftover trader joe's whole wheat hotdog buns, whichever you had on hand...guess which I used for my sandwiches?).  I spread both sides of the bread with ripe avocado (i read a tip to use it in place of mayo for healthier fats and veggie creaminess).  Except A's, who got low-fat mayo instead (avocados make his mouth itch!).  Layered on lettuce, radishes, and some of the poblano strips out of the chorizo potato cake (if some chorizo stuck to the strips, nobody had to know...), then the chicken, then smashed the roll halves together!

It was a rather impressive lunch-time sandwich, if I do say so myself--and I don't have to, because a coworker commented on it herself!  Flanked by the rest of the leftover chipotle potatoes and some corn salad (recipe after the jump), it was one heck of a southwestern fiesta on my sad little dixie plate. 

Zocalo Restaurant and Tequila Bar

Met good friend/bridesmaid/fellow wino C for dinner at Zocalo last night.  It's a mexican restaurant and tequila bar---both descriptors of which I'm very fond of, tequila being the only liquor i can actually drink straight. 

Yet I managed to resist the 100+ list of reposados, anejos, and blancos---and even the flights and infused tequilas--and instead focus on the food elements of the menu (stage 2 wedding diet prohibits extra alcohol...keep reading to see how well my resistance played out...)

The menu is mexican, but not "americanized" mexican (no burrito in sight) and not entirely authentic either.  I think they are going for slightly upscale versions of mostly familiar mexican items, but with an interesting twist.  Dishes are much more creative than your typical mexican restaurant, and devotees of wet burritos might find the menu to be a bit unfamiliar or unapproachable. Most entrees fell between $12 and $20, making it very affordable, for the city, anyway.

We skipped an appetizer and decided to get drinks instead.  C spent about 10 minutes grilling the waitress on the drink menu--which drink was stronger, which size glass they came in.  It was funny to watch.  I got a cactus pear martini--pear and coconut liquor with pear juice and a lime slice.  Delicious, but more more coconutty than peary.  C liked her margarita--but who doesn't?  However, at least they seem to make them from scratch, not from the overly sweet & sour mix.

C went with the "Tacos N Tequila," three simple tacos (they have several varieties, including lamb barbacoa, pibil pork and ancho-mayo-rubbed halibut) accompanied by red jalepeno salsa and a shot of infused tequila (in her case, it definitely had vanilla and something floral in it).  I got the "Tinga Poblano," two grilled, chipotle-marinated chicken breast halves (boneless and skinless, not my favorite) over a poblano-potato-chorizo cake with avocado crema and queso fresco, accompanied by their homemade corn tortialls.  WOW it was good, even if I could only get through 1 chicken breast and 3 small tortillas. C liked her tacos, though the heat factor of the salsa was a bit much. 

Their homemade tortillas were the star for me--I grew up on flour tortialls and am a newcomer to more authentic corn, thanks to the 1/2 breed A's influence =)  Using them to scoop up the avocado crema and errant bits of chorizo...man, was that fun.  The chicken was an afterthought--but I put leftovers to good use....as you shall see soon.

Verdict?  GO, especially if, like me, you like tequila. 

i has the sads

well, something in my brain isn't working correctly this week.  seasonal? hormonal? who knows what-al? yeah, i feel a bit like my moorings have come unstuck, and i'm just floating around in limbo.  like i alternate between feeling apathy and stress, nothingness and sadness, until one day my brain just snaps itself back into place, or something.  Until then, i'll start crying at insurance commercials, snap at my coworkers for no reason, and just be a zombie to everyone else.  don't you wish you lived with me?

so to start the "snapping my crazy butt out of it" phase, i woke up at 6 (after a tossy, turny, no sleepy night, mind you) and hauled myself off to the gym...but forgot to eat a banana, granola bar, ANYTHING before my boxing boot camp workout...leading to light-headedness, nausea, and an almost-faint about 40 minutes in.  It so messed me up that I didn't feel much like eating anything except 1/2 a roll of tums until about noon--believe me, not feeling like eating is a foreign feeling for this inner fat kid.

Forced myself to eat a couple of english muffin halves (side note: wow, self.  a couple of halves?  could that, perhaps, equate to a WHOLE?  so you ate an english muffin, actually), one with a little butter and jelly, the other with peanut butter.  MMmmmmm....

My mom loves english muffins, usually the cinnamon raisin ones in the red canister or the plain ones in the orange and white box (you see the detail orientation of my childhood mind in this recitation). Except when I got to the store on sunday to buy them there were TWO brands in the orange boxes--one on the shelf, the other in the refrigerated section.  WHICH ONE ARE THEY!!!!?????!!!!!  because buying the wrong brand of english muffin would clearly be a catastrophe of epic proportions, ruining (or slightly altering, depending on your sense of the dramatic) countless (or six) breakfasts to come.

I went with the refrigerated ones, cause mama always kept hers in the fridge.  Score one for puzzle solving!  Or hunger.

Finally, a vegetable...

Yes, I did it!  After a weekend where 90% of my diet consisted of encased meat products or alcohol, I finally did it--ate a vegetable!  Several, in fact.  Made a salad out of my CSA red leaf lettuce (though I forgot the purslane...dang it!), the last of last week's CSA spring onions, sliced cucumbers, and a tiny bit of feta cheese and balsamic dressing.  Some CSA carrots on the side, along with 3 crackers with dijon mustard and baby bell cheese and some little slices of chicken sausage.

So I was congratulating myself on being healthy and realized while typing this that I typed the word "cheese" twice.  Two kinds of cheese in one supposedly healthy lunch. 

Well, you see, it wasn't much cheese--much under an ounce total, I think/hope.  I guess my definition of healthy is just a little different.

In the meantime, I have a boatload of greens--kale and chard, mostly--that I need to use and soon.  Any ideas?  It's hard to be really creative with cooking greens.  I'm thinking maybe a minestrone soup with a bunch of chard in it...we'll see what happens.....hoepfully a recipe to share tomorrow!

Food Confessional

What didn't we eat this weekend?

Started the Fourth of July party on Thursday, hosting an old friend and sissypants for a bbq.  Some Great Lakes witbier and Brooklyn Brewery lager did well to keep us cool on a hot summer evening while the grill worked on smoked chicken sausages, sweet italian sausages, a packet of spicy chipotle potatoes, and shucked sweet corn.  All of which was less than necessary, seeing how we had all commenced to gorge ourselves on chili-cheese dip supplied by sissy and her BF (hormel chili and velveeta: the highest form of dining possible).

Friday we did the gorging at A's parents' house out in the suburbs--hummus, guacamole, cheese, salami, chicago dogs and some incredible spinach/garlic chicken sausages from Caputo's...followed by GIGANTIC strawberry floats in blue glasses, a nice red-white-n-blue way to start the weekend.

Saturday, friends from the burbs came into the city for palomas, a bocce game, and then a bar food feast...Sunday's eating was less epic.  I bet you could say we ate a normal amount of food that day (although we likely consumed an abnormal amount of beer...)  Wait. I take that back.  We went to Piece and split a medium red pie with sausage, spinach and mushrooms.  We did manage to take 4 slices home, so I suppose that could be labeled as restraint.  The people around us seemed to be as much in favor of bingeing as we were--we saw two tables of two normal-sized people order two larges--and a large pizza at piece is roughly the size of a car tire.  It actually made me feel a bit lighter.

Monday, monday....beached it up, welcoming teh day with an ice cream cone before heading to a new diner for breakfasty lunch.  Continued chowing on leftovers all day, some leftover pizza, and watermelon (we've eaten 1/2 a watermelon in 3 days).  It has become disgusting how much food and beer is no longer here because of us.

Moving on....tried to start the day off a little better today.  Got up early, went for a run with pups, then packed a big salad for lunch. After exercise (or, more honestly, anytime) I must have carbs at breakfast, so I breakfasted on the last hard-boiled egg and some leftover potatoes.  Sorta healthy (not a bagel!) but not the whole-grain english muffins I bought, either. At least I was using up some leftovers....

This week's haul

1 bunch sweet orange carrots
1 large head red leaf lettuce
1 small bunch purslane
1 large bunch red russian kale
1 bunch rainbow chard
1 small bunch french breakfast radishes
1 small bunch basil

Another new veggie!  I'd never heard of purslane, but Farmer Julia informed me that it is one of the only vegetables that contains omega-3 fatty acids. See what Wikipedia says about it.  It's a bit tart and even salty, and she advised me to throw it into a salad along with other greens.  SO I made a salad for lunch today...and totally forgot to throw it in. Oh, well.  After a raucus and food-filled 4th of July weekend, I'm much needing to refocus myself on healthy eating and restrained drinking...so all those greens will come in handy!