What's For Dinner?

Two Recipes and a Sale

Get it? Like Four Weddings and a Funeral? Ok, I’m a nerd.

Let’s get to it, shall we?

First of all, a big huge welcome goes out to all my new readers! Thanks for stopping by and reading! Feel free to de-lurk and leave comments so that I may follow your blog as well (if you have one). I don’t bite! Those of you coming over from Peas and Thank You, you’ll find that while my blog isn’t vegetarian or vegan, I usually give modifications to my recipes to make them such. Thanks again for stopping by!

Next, I have another chili recipe for you… see, I have this “thing” with trying to make the perfect pot of chili, and I’m getting there, but I’m not quite there yet. This last recipe was well, meaty. VERY meaty. Like, almost 3 lbs. of meat meaty. But it was delicious (do I ever say that something wasn’t delicious?) and could easily be halved and part of the meat could be cut out.

My recipe is based off this recipe for Paleo Chili found here.

Very Meaty Paleo Chili

Ingredients

1.5 lb. lean ground beef (90%)

1.5 lb. lean stew meat

1 medium onion, diced

1 large can crushed tomatoes

1 can ro-tel (or other tomatoes with jalapeños)

1 can salsa verde (I used Herdez brand)

2 c. beef stock

2 Tbsp. olive oil

2 tsp. minced garlic

2 Tbsp. ground cumin

4-5 Tbsp. chili powder

1 tsp. garlic powder.

Directions

Heat the oil in a large pot. Add the stew meat a bit at a time to brown the outside. Don’t worry about cooking it through, as you’ll add it back in. Remove the stew meat, then add the onion and cook until translucent. Then, add the beef stock, bring to a boil and reduce by half. Add the ground beef, return the stew meat to the pot, and add the remaining ingredients and stir well. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer a few hours.

Adam added some beans to his chili, and I gotta say, I really did miss them in this dish. He said it was great though! My bowl had no beans.

Tonight, I opted for a more veggie-friendly meal with a bit of chicken stir fried with spinach, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, sriracha, and a bit of teriyaki sauce. I also roasted some brussels sprouts and red pepper strips. Ok, so that wasn’t really a recipe, but I’m going to call it one for now!

Last but not least, something I think you’ll ALL be interested in: cheap and gorgeous kitchen gadgets! For this week and this week only (until 3/9) I’m offering this beautiful oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper set from my OpenSky shop for 50% off!

See, the two carafes are for oil and vinegar (the larger for vinegar, I’d say) and the carved wooden base doubles as a pinch bowl for cracked pepper and salt, perfect for dressing a salad in style. Just visit this special sale link or click on the picture of the oil and vinegar set above, and enter your email address, and you’ll be emailed the coupon good for use in my OpenSky shop. Feel free to check out the other great stuff I have there as well, including the multi-tasking EnviTote.

Happy shopping!

Have a wonderful Wednesday, I’m off to watch Biggest Loser and eat some dark chocolate. Oh the irony…

Technorati Tags: Asian, beef, EnviTote, OpenSky, paleo, recipe, red meat, sale, simple recipe, spicy

13 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, March 2nd 2010 | Tags: Asian, beef, EnviTote, OpenSky, paleo, recipe, red meat, sale, simple recipe, spicy
Posted in Asian, Mexican/Latin, beef, chicken/turkey, simple recipe

Smoky and Roasty

Happy Wednesday!

I’ve come to really enjoy Wednesday evenings because I know that there are only two more wake-ups until the weekend! I hate that Adam has class so late, but I get to watch garbage TV for a few hours, read quietly, or cook stuff I’m not sure he’ll like. Usually, that ends up being something like the stuffed kabochas from last week, or something with an inordinate amount of vegetables and mushrooms.

Today’s dinner though, I thought might be a risk since it’s pretty tomato-y, but there’s no doubt that the leftovers will be consumed soon.

I had no idea how this would turn out. I had some idea in my head of what I wanted it to be, but I didn’t know if it would work…

Oh did it work!

Smoky Chili Chicken

Serves 3

Ingredients

3 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

4 strips bacon, cut into small pieces

1 large can whole tomatoes

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 Tbsp. chili powder

1 tsp. onion powder

1/2 tsp. red chili flakes

Directions

Heat a saucepan and add the bacon. Allow it to cook until crispy, then add the chicken and stir well. Then, add the spices, stirring to coat the chicken. Let the spices sear onto the chicken a little, then add the can of tomatoes and stir well. Cover and simmer about 45 minutes, then uncovered for about 15 minutes to allow it to thicken.

HO-LY-GOODNESS this was delicious. I seriously almost typed “Serves 1″ in the recipe because I want to go eat the rest of it. The bacon lent a smokey flavor to the chili powder and tomatoes, which almost tasted like chiles in adobo. I topped my bowl with some aged white cheddar, sour cream, and half an avocado… oh I want more now! I’m really glad I need to type recipes out for you all, because otherwise, I don’t know that I’d remember what I did! Like the recipe? Don’t forget to Spring It!

I also made some roasted asparagus that were apparently alive on their little plate because EVERY picture was blurry. This was the best I got:

See? They were moving, I swear!!

They were delicious though… moving or not.

Make sure you enter the SkinMD Natural Giveaway! It runs until Friday and as of right now, your chances are pretty good!

Also, I just want to give a special shout out to my OpenSky fairy, Lindsay… HI LINDSAY!

Look for more OpenSky posts in the next couple days!!

Have a great rest of your night, and a fabulous Thursday!

Technorati Tags: bacon, chili, Mexican, OpenSky, recipe, simple recipe, soup, spicy, vegetables

22 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, February 24th 2010 | Tags: bacon, chili, Mexican, OpenSky, recipe, simple recipe, soup, spicy, vegetables
Posted in Mexican/Latin, chicken/turkey, simple recipe

Gadget Week: Rice Cooker

I’m unofficially dubbing this week “Gadget Week”, in which I will introduce myself and you to some of the lovely and fancy kitchen gadgets we received for our wedding, hopefully concluding with the behemoth that is our 5.5 qt. artisan KitchenAid mixer.

Yesterday I introduced you to our lovely (yet sort of intimidating) mandoline. The mandoline was something that always fascinated me, but I never thought I’d be “enough of a cook” to own, let alone use one. Today’s gadget is one that I have always wanted, but never could justify. Why have a rice cooker? Uncle Ben’s makes completely passable “quick rice” and boil-in-bag is just a convenience I had to indulge many a time in bouts of laziness or well…laziness. When I started my last adventure into losing weight, I was introduced to many different grains, all of which could be cooked either on the stove top, in the microwave, or in a rice cooker.

Wait, what? You mean I can make my steel-cut oats in the rice cooker? And quinoa? Those dopey little balls don’t have to go all over the kitchen? Yes, other grains could be cooked in the rice cooker! Then my wanting started. It took years of messy microwaves, burned and ruined pans, and finally the prospect of a wedding registry that got me truly thinking about getting one. It was one of those things we registered for but never in a million years thought we’d get. My amazing coworkers pooled together for our work wedding shower and, among other things, got us the rice cooker! It sat in the box until last week, and when I removed it, I was amazed at how pretty it is… just look:

It’s stainless steel. It has a non-stick insert. It has a steaming basket to set on top of the insert to steam veggies and/or meat while cooking rice. It senses when the rice is done and (this is key for me) TURNS OFF and enters “warm” mode. I was in love.

Last week, I copied Iowa Girl and made some homemade burrito bowls with her recipe for cilantro-lime rice and after one failed attempt in the rice cooker, made some decent rice. Today though? The rice was perfect. It was fluffy, perfectly cooked, and made…yep, another burrito bowl dinner.

Can you see the grainy goodness? See how they’re separated and not sticky? See how they’re not burned?! THAT is the wonder that is our rice cooker.

In other news, my finger injury from last week also seems to be healing well, and I can now get away without having a fluorescent purple band-aid on it. And I ran the spelling bee today. The winning word was “brigadier”, and not one student there knew what that was.

So my question for you: what’s your most coveted, in your dream kitchen, must-have-someday kitchen gadget? I have just about all of mine now… all I need now is my dream kitchen!

Have a great Wednesday!

Technorati Tags: chicken, family, gadgets, Mexican, recipe, school, simple recipe, spicy

20 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, January 19th 2010 | Tags: chicken, family, gadgets, Mexican, recipe, school, simple recipe, spicy
Posted in Mexican/Latin, chicken/turkey, family, simple recipe

Knockoff

I had a rough morning. During one of my first classes of the day, the long-arm stapler I had in my room jammed. The first 3 times it happened, no problem… I unjammed it and the kids stapled their projects. The 4th time though, no such luck. The spring or something ricocheted the top of the stapler open which then smushed my left index finger.

It hurt, but I didn’t realize how badly it was cut until a student said “Um… Mrs. R? (I still can’t get used to that) You’re bleeding, like, a lot.” CRAP! I was! There’s about a 1 cm chunk of skin thats super damaged and gross, and a bruise a-forming. I kept saying all day I had a fight with the stapler and I lost. Since my left index finger is messed up, and I type properly, please excuse any type-os. I would’ve rather it been a red Swingline stapler…

In any case, tonight’s planned dinner was inspired by one of my favorite bloggers, Iowa Girl Eats (who, as a matter of fact, is giving away Amy’s Organics products) when she made her homemade Chipotle bowl. I love Chipotle, and as a matter of fact, a Chipotle post was one of my first posts ever! I’ve attempted a few times to make Chipotle knockoffs, but it always ended up tasting super “healthy”. I put together a few recipes into this glorious bowl:

Recipe 1: Cilantro Lime Rice (a la Iowa Girl Eats)

Cook rice (I made 2 cups of uncooked rice for 4 cooked cups of rice. HOORAY leftovers!). Add 1/3 c. chopped cilantro, the juice of one and a half limes, and 1 Tbsp. butter. Mix well, keep warm.

Recipe 2: Chili-Lime Chicken

Marinate boneless skinless chicken breasts in the juice of 3 limes, 2 Tbsp. chili powder, 1 Tbsp. olive oil, 1/2 Tbsp. garlic powder. Cook thoroughly and chop into bite-sized pieces.

Recipe 3: Spicy Black Beans

Heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil in a small pot. Add 1/2 an onion, diced small. Add one can of drained black beans, 1 Tbsp. chili powder, and 1/2 tsp. red chili flakes. Simmer a minute, then add 1 c. broth. Simmer another few minutes. Keep warm.

In my grandma’s surprise bowl, I assembled: 3/4 c. cilantro lime rice, one chopped chicken breast, 1/2 c. black beans, 1/4 c. fresh salsa from the local market, 2 Tbsp. reduced fat cheese, 2 Tbsp. fat free sour cream, 1/2 chopped avocado

I was so sad when this was gone…it was even better than the last Chipotle bowl I had, and I knew that all the ingredients were fresh and healthy! I have a smaller one packed for lunch tomorrow, and Adam definitely enjoyed it as well.

I rounded out my meal with a small treat of 1/2 c. of reduced fat pumpkin ice cream with a few chocolate chips in my tiny CaliBowl:

I’m on a bit of a delay with Biggest Loser tonight, and looking forward to getting to bed early! Have a great night!

Technorati Tags: chicken, dinner, food, fun, Mexican, simple recipe, spicy

15 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, January 12th 2010 | Tags: chicken, dinner, food, fun, Mexican, simple recipe, spicy
Posted in Mexican/Latin, chicken/turkey, simple recipe

Birds of a Feather

About a month ago, I got an email from Christina who writes the fantastic blog Dinner at Christina’s about having a Chicagoland blogger potluck sometime in September, and I of course jumped at the chance! I love meeting other bloggers, and I also love cooking for other people, so it was the kind of event that just appeals to me.

We agreed on the date, and set out arranging carpools and what we were bringing. I decided to bring a crockpot full of my Chicken Chili Blanco as well as buffalo chicken dip. I packed up the car with my hot crockpot and ingredients for the dip, and set out to pick up Michelle from Lucky Taste Buds. We then hit the road to Christina’s house where we met up with her and Biz from Biggest Diabetic Loser.

We of course immediately started setting up our dishes…and the spread was AMAZING!! I put together my dip, which does not photograph well:

Christina had made a pitcher of delicious sangria, as well as a pitcher of water with fresh lemon. I had plenty of both!

She also made some of the Pioneer Woman’s jalapeno poppers with bacon, and a croissant wrapped baked brie… again, i had plenty of both

There was a gorgeous veggie tray:

Michelle made a delicious Asian-inspired whole wheat pasta salad with a sesame-miso dressing, a recipe I’ll be stealing very soon!

Biz made a delicious pizza with homemade crust, red peppers, pepperoni, her amazing homemade sauce, and a mixture of goat cheese and mozzarella, and then a topping of fresh basil:

Then, Christina brought out the zucchini pie, a recipe that’s apparently so secret, she had to delete the email that included it!

I was so full at this point that I didn’t even have a bowl of my chili! In case you forgot what it looked like, here’s a recycled picture:

I feel terrible that I didn’t bring anything for the other women because I left with so many foodie goodies! Michelle had made us all goodie bags, Biz gave us each a jar of her tomato sauce, and Christina not only opened her house to us, but gave us a huge store of the homemade sausage she made with her dad. I can’t wait to try it all!

Thank you SO much for an amazingly fun day ladies! We’ll have to do something again soon!

Oh… I’m forgetting something, aren’t I? The winner of the HUGE cheese giveaway! I used random.org to determine a winner, using only the comments on the post. There were a whopping 191 entries to win the cheese tasting party!! I’m so thrilled that there was so much interest for my little contest, and a HUGE thank you to Alouette Cheese for the opportunity.

What, you want to know who won? Funny thing: the first number that came up was my own pingback to my post…and since I can’t win my own contest, the winner is:

KRISTIN FROM IOWA GIRL EATS!!! Ill send you an email to get your information and I’ll forward it to the company. Congratulations!!!

I’m off to enjoy some of Michelle’s banana cashew bread with some Turtle Mountain coconut milk ice cream…

Have a great Monday!

Technorati Tags: appetizer, blogging, chili, friends, giveaway, potluck, spicy

23 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, September 20th 2009 | Tags: appetizer, blogging, chili, friends, giveaway, potluck, spicy
Posted in Italian, Mexican/Latin, contest/giveaway, friends, giveaway, simple recipe

Mucho Pollo

Remember a couple weeks ago when I bought 10 lbs of bone-in chicken? I decided to cook the rest of it today so that we could have plain shredded chicken to eat in a variety of meals throughout the week.

How did I cook it you may ask?

Two words: Crock Pot

I put 5 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts into my crockpot. I added some garlic powder, some oregano, some salt and pepper, and cooked them on low for 8 hours. When we got home from the movies tonight (we saw Inglorious Basterds which I loved) we had a crockpot full of fall-off-the-bone chicken. It was a good thing too, because my light lunch was hours ago and I was getting über-crabby. Once shredding it off the bone, and discarding the skin, we were left with a large serving bowl with at least 3 dinners worth of shredded chicken!

I promptly made some chicken into a delicious wrap with avocado, salsa, and some reduced-fat colby-jack cheese. I toasted it lightly on both sides, and dug in.

Adam’s wrap was a bit different, as it had barbecue sauce and the same chicken and cheese. We are currently enjoying something sent to us by the POM fairy:

I got this lovely sample of POMx Teas and Adam and I are sharing the Pomegranate Blackberry one (on the left) and its quite tasty. There’s a great blackberry flavor, and the pomegranate in it lends a nice tartness. Adam drank the Pomegranate Wildberry White Light Tea last night, and said “It was like a nice take on fruit punch, without being too sweet…yet still having enough flavor to be interesting. I highly recommend it.” I’m interested to try the others!

It’s already almost my bedtime, and I was just reminded that tomorrow is a jeans day at work (thanks Heidi!) which will cut a good 20 minutes off my morning routine. I’m looking forward to the extra little bit of sleep, which is always needed on a Monday morning.

I hope you all have a fantastic Monday, and get excited…there’s a HUGE giveaway a-comin’!

Technorati Tags: cheese, chicken, dinner, food, Mexican, simple recipe, spicy, wrap

14 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, September 13th 2009 | Tags: cheese, chicken, dinner, food, Mexican, simple recipe, spicy, wrap
Posted in chicken/turkey, simple recipe

Mac + Chili + Winner

There are so many bloggers who have been talking about how the cooler weather means one thing, and one thing only: Chili.

Granted, I eat chili all year round, but fall chili is really something special. There’s something about eating spicy chili with a cool cheese and sour cream topping while the air is a bit cooler that just screams football, changing leaves, and the start of school.

Since I wanted to do something a bit different for my first fall chili, I decided to make a household favorite: Chili Mac. Adam’s been begging for it for a while now, so I figured that on his first day of school (his graduate classes started today!) I’d make him a favorite dinner.

The recipe is simple, as many of mine are, and it’s perfect to make on a Monday to pack for lunches the rest of the week.

Chili Mac

Ingredients

1 lb. extra-lean ground beef or turkey (this recipe is also great meatless)

2 small onions, diced

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 large (32 oz.) can light red kidney beans

1 large can dark red kidney beans

1 large can crushed tomatoes

1 small can (15 oz) diced tomatoes with green chiles

3 Tbsp. chili powder

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 box whole wheat pasta

water as needed

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a large pot, and add the onions. Cook until lightly browned and then add the ground beef. Cook until browned and then add the beans, crushed tomatoes, chili and garlic powders. Simmer a few minutes, then add the pasta. Add enough water to just cover the pasta, stir well, and simmer until the pasta is done. Serve with a topping of cheese and sour cream.

This was nice and spicy, and after the aggravating grocery shopping trip I had today (where I got all the way finished only to find out the store didn’t take credit cards, only debit. Ended up at a different, more expensive store.) I needed the comfort food. I topped my serving with some Trader Joes soy cheese, and some fat free sour cream.

The whole pot looked so pretty cooking away:

I also found an interesting treat at the grocery store (well, the 2nd grocery store) that I can’t wait to try:

Scoopable tart frozen yogurt! I’ll try it tonight and report back.

After using random.org to determine a winner of the 91 entries in the Tropical Traditions raw honey giveaway, I came up with:

Comment number 27 is:

Whitney in Chicago!

You’ll get an email from me requesting the information Tropical Traditions needs to send you your raw honey. Congratulations!

I think that just about covers everything! Recipe: check! Photos: Check! Raw honey winner: Check! OH! One more thing…

A very happy birthday to my favorite lobsterplacemat

Love you girlie!

Have a wonderful evening and a great Tuesday!

Technorati Tags: beef, birthday, chili, friends, giveaway, Mexican, simple recipe, spicy

12 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, August 31st 2009 | Tags: beef, birthday, chili, friends, giveaway, Mexican, simple recipe, spicy
Posted in beef, friends, giveaway, simple recipe

Full Circle

A mere 11 weeks ago, I said goodbye to my students on the last day of school, eager for a busy and hot summer at camp. I was right about one thing: the summer was busy! We had only a few super hot days, and more days where the pool was closed because it was too cold out. It rained a ton, and we got to see 4 movies when the weather got really bad.

Now, the weather is just how I remember it being when I would head back down to college every fall… a slight bite in the air in the morning, warm sun in the afternoon, and cool evenings perfect for sitting on our roof drinking Boone’s… The change in the weather means only one thing: it’s time to go back to school. In some ways, I’m ready. It will be nice to spend time doing what I love doing, though I’ll miss the outdoor time I had all summer, as my classroom has no windows. Or air conditioning.

I did spend the last few days making the most of my time off. Friday, Adam and I went to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago for the day, and then I had dinner with my friend for her birthday. There were margaritas (of which I couldn’t get a picture), tableside-prepared guacamole, and the best enchiladas de mole I’ve ever had!

Then, Saturday I spent the day with Lizz and a few other people at the Bristol Renaissance Faire! Needless to say, it was amazing people-watching complete with amazing eats!! Some of the signs made me laugh:

But most of it was just delicious. Lizz and I shared an artichoke and turkey leg, and we got some crispy veggies for everyone to share:

That was one freaking hot turkey leg!! Delicious too!

Then yesterday evening we went to not one, but TWO birthday parties! At one, we were fed well, and at the other we drank well… let’s just say my tummy was mad at me this morning!

Today, I got to meet my friend Meghan’s adorable 12-week old baby boy, and even better, I got to hold him for a good 30 minutes!!! And speaking of babies, a HUGE congrats goes out to my good friend Amy and her husband who just had their second baby girl on Friday!

After breakfast, I did what any other teacher would do the day before the first day of meetings… I got my nails and toes done!

**warning toe picture ahead**

Yes, those are blue flowered toes and a sparkly French manicure!

When I got home from getting primped, it hit me: I only got 5 hours of sleep last night…and crap, we needed groceries. Luckily Adam, being the amazing fiancé he is, offered to pick up dinner. (I can’t even tell you all how nice it will be to come home from work and NOT be completely wiped out!) Just like on the first day of camp, tonight, on my last official night of summer, we got Chinese food.

We shared pot stickers:

I got a new favorite, chicken in garlic sauce which was SUPER spicy…and I loved it! I had a bit of brown rice with it too, and there’s enough for me to take for lunch tomorrow!

I’ve got a lovely full belly and I’m just about ready for bed. I can’t believe I have to get up for SCHOOL tomorrow!!

Thank you all so much for your compliments about my new header and layout… I’m glad to see my hard work paid off, and a thank you to ZestyCook for helping me out with some mystery text that wouldn’t go away. On a similar note, have you all seen Gina/fitnessista’s new site? It’s fantastic, but apparently you need to resubscribe on google readers to get her new posts. You wouldn’t want to miss any of Gina’s amazing posts now would you??

I’m going to enjoy my last little bit of summer before I head to bed… have a great night all!

Technorati Tags: Asian, chicken, Chinese, dinner out, school, spicy

25 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, August 23rd 2009 | Tags: Asian, chicken, Chinese, dinner out, school, spicy
Posted in Asian, chicken/turkey, dinner out

The Airportista

About a week ago, while wasting time on Twitter (are you following me yet?) I got a message from Gina, a.k.a. The Fitnessista, saying that she had a 2 hour layover in Chicago on August 6 at 6:45 and could Jenn and I meet up with her? Since I would be able to make it to O’Hare by that time on that day (today, duh) I jumped at the chance! I agreed to meet her, and even though our only option would be to get coffee from a kiosk because of security, we thought it would still be fun.

Then today, when I mentioned to my boss at camp that I had to be at the airport, he suggested that I leave a bit early so I could make it home first. I texted Gina and told her that I’d have some more time, and could I bring her dinner? When I suggested Indian, of course she agreed. She also said that The Pilot would want something a bit more hearty, so I offered to pick up food for him too.

First, I stopped at Portillo’s, a Chicago standby for Italian beef and hot dogs, and picked up a sandwich and salad for The Pilot (I’m calling him The Pilot because I can’t remember if its cool to use his name!). Then I headed to the Indian place nearest to us for food for Gina and me.

After braving the ridiculousness that is the parking garage at O’Hare, I made it into the baggage claim area and met up with Gina and Pilot! I recognized her right away, and we headed off in the baggage claim/terminal area to find a place to sit, eat, and chat. I think we all agreed that we should all live closer to each other! Unfortunately, Jenn couldn’t make it, but she was definitely missed!

I enjoyed my chicken tikka masala (a spicy Indian dish that I adore, complete with a little rice and a side of naan)

Gina had her favorite, Baigan bartha, of which I didn’t get a picture…but she did! And the Pilot completely devoured his authentic Chicago Italian beef sandwich with sweet peppers:

After thoroughly enjoying our meal on the baggage claim bench, chatting about weddings, blogging, food, and tons of other things, we took a picture in front of said bench:

You can’t see him in this picture, but that’s Al Capone on the left over there! Gina gave me this lovely bag before she headed to security to board her next flight:

Inside? Oh only the most delicious raw macaroons ever! There were coconut AND chocolate ones!

Of course I had one of each as soon as I got home. Amazing!

I had so much fun meeting Gina, and I really hope we can hang out again sometime, maybe somewhere a bit more fun than Terminal 1 at O’Hare!

A day wouldn’t be complete without a camper quote of the day, but this one is a bit different as it comes to you in visual form. Today’s craft was beaded necklaces, and some of the beads were plastic letters. My friend’s camper randomly chose a bunch of beads out of the bucket and strung them on her string. Why is this a quote of the day? Well… this girl can’t read yet… and here’s what came out:

Yup… a bead moan.

Tomorrow is Harry Potter day at camp, and I’m going as the Snitch! You know, the little golden ball with silver wings? My friend is going as a Firebolt, and another friend as a bludger. You could say we’re nearly a Quidditch set!

I also just got news that another one of my photos was accepted on Tastespotting! Check it out here!

Happy almost Friday!

Technorati Tags: camp, chicken, friends, spicy, twitter

24 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, August 6th 2009 | Tags: camp, chicken, friends, spicy, twitter
Posted in chicken/turkey, friends

Tacos, Shepherd Style

When Adam and I first started dating, I was generally the one exposing him to new and exciting foods (a.k.a. sushi) and home-cooked things like chicken parmesan. Then, one day, Adam asked me if I’d ever had “tacos al pastor” and, surprisingly, I had to say no! He explained to me that his friend had brought him to a local Mexican restaurant, and had him try these amazing tacos, and we were going to get them for lunch that day. How could I say no?

At the restaurant we went to, the tacos were served simply, in small corn tortillas with only a topping of chopped onions, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime. I had never had a taco quite like it before. The flavors were perfect together, the meat was perfectly spicy, and the onion/cilantro/lime combo was, well, amazing! We frequented the restaurant for quite some time, and then just kind of stopped going. (I swear, this story is going somewhere, I promise!) I tried to recreate the meat one time, and failed miserably. I mean, it was good, but it wasn’t the same.

“Al Pastor” is a Mexican term for tacos “shepherd style”, which means they can a) be eaten in a few bites, b) use local fresh meat, usually pork, and c) the meat is cooked with some sort of sweet liquid, such as juice or fruit. True al pastor recipes are family secrets, and most people just make them by feel, rather than a strict recipe. The other reason it’s so hard to recreate at home is that the meat is usually stacked on a spit, and cooked shwarma-style, a technique brought to Mexico by the Lebanese. (and there’s your food history lesson for the day)

Now, did I recreate a real al pastor recipe for dinner tonight? No. BUT, when we were at our favorite international market today, their fresh meat counter had, for sale in bulk, freshly marinated al pastor pork! I promptly ordered a pound of it and was SO excited! I sent Adam back to the produce section to get cilantro, and I grabbed the freshest tortillas in the place.

When we got home, I heated up a pan, cooked up the meat, heated tortillas, and made the traditional onion/cilantro topping with half a chopped onion, half a bunch of cilantro, the juice of one lime, and about 1/8 tsp. salt. The result? AMAZING!

I could’ve eaten many, many more of these, but instead, we saved enough so I can make a wrap for lunch tomorrow. I love that these tacos are fantastic without sour cream, cheese, or too many other ingredients, but could still be dressed up differently if you wanted. I did find a great-looking al pastor recipe in my research of the history, and you can find that here. I’ll be trying it soon!

Speaking of dressing up, last night, Adam and I went to my friend Nicki’s wedding! (like that segue?) I’m definitely sore today, mostly from dancing a good long while in these bad boys:

They were surprisingly comfortable, but my quads are KILLING me today! We of course, had a great meal and cake, but since I was with mostly work people, I wasn’t exactly comfortable taking photos of the meal. I did enjoy a whopping two drinks, and this marks one of the only times in my life that I’ve had an alcoholic beverage two days in a row. I think Adam and I looked pretty great last night, if I say so myself…

We went a little Big Lebowski with our drinks in this picture.

Earlier today, I met up with my amazing friend Amy and her husband and daughter for a brunch at Cracker Barrel. They were in town for a very short time, and amazingly had some free time, so we decided to meet up! They live about two and a half hours away, and I really wish I could see them more! Love you Amy!

Tomorrow is the start of week 3 of camp, but I’m BOUND AND DETERMINED to actually cook this week! Expect multiple dinner posts from me!

Have a great Sunday night!

Technorati Tags: Mexican, pork, simple recipe, spicy

21 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, June 28th 2009 | Tags: Mexican, pork, simple recipe, spicy
Posted in Mexican/Latin, pork, simple recipe

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