As a young girl, whenever we visited Old Town’s Bazaar Del Mundo, I remember stepping foot into a little bakery and walking out with a warm churro, bathed in cinnamon sugar and wrapped in white paper.
I remember that and the toy store, Gepetto’s.
As I got older, my memories switched to margaritas and pozole with fresh flour tortillas from Old Town Mexican Café.
Man it’s been windy up in these parts last night and today…
branches litter the ground and the power went out in the middle of the night. I awoke at 5:37am to find the Bose blinking 12:01 and the printer restarting so I immediately knew we’d lost power sometime during the night.
I woke little missy up at 7:00am and she was tearful and complaining of her neck hurting again. Ugh! We took a trip to Dr. Y yesterday and all was fine ~ no temp, tonsils were a bit red and inflamed and her right lymph node was a little enlarged, but no antibiotic was prescribed or anything. She even wanted to go to school on the way home….I made the mistake of letting her ride her new pink Razor in the backyard for a bit yesterday afternoon when she SHOULD have been resting….”I’m all better now, Mama!” How many times have we heard that? Shame on me.
We had this for Easter Brunch and it was yummy. I substituted fresh basil and used mozzarella instead of the colby-jack. The frozen pie crusts at Trader Joe’s are great ~ super duper light & flaky. Highly, highly recommend.
If you’re like me, you have the best intentions with the reusable shopping bags.
We own like 50 of them.
But 10 are here. 10 there. 5 over yonder. 7 in the garage. 3 in the pantry.
But ZERO in the car when you need them.
I’m getting better. I unload the groceries, fold up the bags and return them to the coche, pronto!
Especially since Ralphs gives points for using them with the rewards card ~ LOVE that.
But points or no points, we all should be using them. I tend to forget them when I go to Target {which is A LOT} and I am going to be better about that. They’re certainly not just for groceries.
If you don’t want to make your own, just grab some at your local Trader Joe’s….this stuff is unbelieveable! We tried it for the first time last weekend and I’m still thinking about it. I’m starting to read labels more and if I remember correctly, I could pronounce and comprehend what 99.9% of the ingredients were. Goes great with their pita crisps with sea salt….or they sell tiny soft pita bread rounds that would also pair well with this spread.
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So remember to turn off the lights when not in use, combine errands to save gas, reduce, reuse, recycle, walk or bike to school, work or the store, drink out of reusable bottles, zap the ziplocs and use washable plastic containers instead, take a shorter shower, make sure your trash goes IN the trash can {can I just tell you that I HATE when people litter! Not that any of you floppers do, but I’m just sayin’. Hate it! Like I have seen people cleaning out their cars at stop lights and tossing Burger King trash out the window!!!!! Ugh! Hate, hate, hate!} and don’t forget your cloth shopping bags! 😉
Most of all, get outside, enjoy the sunshine and LOVE our Mother Earth.
Every weekday morning I fall out of bed at 6am and head downstairs to start the COFFEE and get lunches together.
It’s like Groundhog Day.
Do not pass GO, do not collect $200….go straight to the coffee pot!
We brew a strong pot of coffee around here. Say I’m making 10 cups, I use 9 heaping scoops of French roast.
While Mr. Coffee is doin’ his thing, I assemble the lunches and then sit {quietly} and have my first cup before the dogs are fed, and the kids wake up, and Jay comes down.
The first couple sips are heaven…aren’t they? Nice and hot. Sweetened with just the right amount of Splenda and creamer.
I am a cream & sugar type a gal. Wish I could take it as it is straight outta the pot, but I use 1 Splenda and about 2 tbsp creamer.
This morning I tried my new find….Bailey’s Irish Creme ~ Creme Brulee
It’s like 40 calories per tablespoon so I went easy, but it’s delish! All the flavor of Bailey’s, but without the alcohol, of course. It was a nice departure from our usual Cofeemate fat free Hazelnut or French Vanilla.
Speaking of French Vanilla, I also picked up this and will try it tomorrow:
Seriously, if there is a new coffee creamer out and I spy it, I’m all over it.
Other creamers that have passed the test: Lucerne {from Vons/Safeway} and the new{ish} Trader Joe’s version.
I do not care for any of the International Delights, however. There is an aftertaste or something with every. single. flavor. Bummer too, because they just came out with Almond Joy……
Also, I like to brew extra in the morning, refrigerate the leftover and have it {on the rocks} as an afternoon pick-me-up.
If I’m out and about I’ll swing through the Starbucks drive-thru and get a venti extra, extra ice americano with 2 Splendas and a splash of half-n-half {same thing from Peet’s if I’m willing to actually get out of the car!} or a sugar free hazelnut iced coffee from The Golden Arches.
I guess that’s about it for my daily coffee ritual.
Hope your Wednesday starts with your hands cradling a nice, HOT cuppa Joe!
It was SO easy to make…I had all ingredients on-hand. I did substitute brown sugar, however.
I also marinated some veggies {red & orange pepper, squash, zucchini & onion} in the teriyaki sauce and Jay grilled those as well. I made some quinoa, chopped up the grilled veggies and added those in.
I highly recommend making this sauce. It can be used on all sorts of meats & fish and would be great basted on some burgers!
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It’s kind of fun to see what kind of things you can make from scratch. I’m almost certain a bottle of teriyaki sauce would contain some unknown and hard-to-pronounce ingredients.
Silhouettes are all the rage these days. I came across this easy tutorial and decided to give it a whirl.
It literally took me 5 minutes…
I’m sure I could’ve taken more time tracing, but I think they turned out pretty decent considering the time it took.
These are the pictures I used:
I literally just used some frames from the garage and cheap-o construction paper. I’d like to eventually spray paint the frames, maybe use some patterned scrapbook pages for the background and re-do their profiles, but these will do for now!
I think Holden’s turned out a little better ~ I had to capture those LONG lashes of his!
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Also, I finally figured out a quick white sangria recipe.
Citrus Ginger Sangria Blanca
One giant bottle {or two regular size bottles} of white wine…I used Chardonnay.
Half of a 2-liter {1-liter} bottle Ginger Ale…I used diet.
1/2 cup triple sec
1 orange, 1 lemon & 1 lime {sliced}
Throw all into a pitcher or beverage dispenser and stir well. It’s best to let the flavors marinate for at least an hour or so. Refrigerate until ready to serve. I like to serve on the rocks.
{I noticed Albertson’s has their own brand of Raspberry Ginger Ale…next time I will try this and add some fresh raspberries}
Grilling up a pork tenderloin with homemade wasabi teriyaki sauce ~ recipe to come.
Thresher shark wasn’t readily available for Fish Taco Friday this week so when I went to the seafood counter the butcher/fish monger suggested “swai” {pronounced sw-eye} for grilling on a cedar plank. I had never heard of it, but he likened it to tilapia and it looked like tilapia, so I said, “Swai not?” ~ I know, bad joke!
I got home and Googled it…basically it’s a farmed river catfish from Asia. Hmmm, I’m not a catfish person, but figured we’d try it anyway. I decided to do an asian inspired marinade ~ 2 tbsp. honey, 2 tbsp. soy and 1 tbsp. toasted sesame oil. {for a pound of fish}
Jay grilled it on a plank along with some red pepper and red onion and I made angel hair coleslaw with rice vinegar, canola oil, sesame oil, brown sugar and fresh ginger {dressing measurements here}.
We just heated our corn tortillas, put a little bed of slaw, grilled peppers & onions, fish and a healthy squeeze of Sriracha.
You know what….they were actually really good ~ reminded me of our favorites from the Kogi Taco Truck!
I love the idea of taking a taco or burrito and mixing it up with asian ingredients. I’d like to try some Korean beef {bulgogi} and use some kim chee instead of a slaw. YUM!
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Happy Saturday and Happy Spring Break for those who are off!
We had 16 eggs that needed to be used. I decided to take 10 of them and do a baked frittata for dinner this evening.
{I was afraid Jay was going to say,”Babe, it’s not Friday…why is there no meat in this meal?”}
No, he wouldn’t {dare} say that, but folks, that’s what was being served up this evening and if you didn’t like it, you know where the nearest Chipotle or Chick-fil-A is.
I also cut up a cantaloupe to go with…..
While I was prepping the frittata, all I heard was whining, whining, whining!
Ugh!
“Holden, don’t do that!”
“Moooom, El-yit threw my monster truck in the trash!”
“Holden hit me!”
“Can we go outside?”
“I wanna go outside…it’s not night time yet!”
“Where’s my lip gloss?”
Ugh!
Why do they always lose it {extra big time} RIGHT when it’s time to get {the vegetarian} dinner started?
Back to the frittata…
Asparagus, Blue Cheese & Caramelized Onion Frittata
You’ll need:
10 eggs
1/2 cup whole milk {that’s all we had, but I’m sure you could use lowfat, skim or even heavy cream!}
1/4 to 1/2 onion, sliced thin
bunch asparagus, cut into 1.5 inch pieces
1/2 cup blue cheese
Salt & Pepper
Start by caramelizing your onions. In a small pan, warm a little butter and olive oil on med-high heat. Add the onions along with just a sprinkle of brown sugar. Stir, stir and stir some more for about 5-7 minutes until they are dark brown, but not burnt. Keep stirring! Let them cool off to the side while you get the rest ready.
Even though the asparagus was pencil thin {which I normally don’t buy} I blanched it anyway to make sure it would be tender enough. Just bring some water to a boil and drop the cut asparagus into the water for about a minute. Then put it in a ice bath {just some ice and water in a bowl} to cool and stop the cooking so that it stays bright and doesn’t overcook.
Whisk the eggs and the milk with some salt & pepper. Add in the caramelized onions, the blue cheese and the asparagus. Pour into a buttered dish {I used an 8X11} and bake at 350* for about 35 minutes.
{I took ours out after about 30, added the whole stalks of asparagus on top and put it back in the oven for about 5 minutes}
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Despite the whining, this meal was delish…even Jay loved it!
And so Spring!
And I FINALLY picked the perfect cantaloupe. Generally I am not very good at picking melons.
Linking up to {What I Whipped Up Wednesday} over at Sugar and Dots. Come over and see what else is being whipped up!
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Have a beautiful Thursday! Looks like it’s going to be gorgeous!
