Tacopalooza

While browsing through Weshop, Emily and I decided that tacos would make a good summery dinner. We did them pretty basic: refried beans, tofu, roasted veggies (onions, red pepper and squash), shredded cheddar, medium salsa, avocado, and sour cream. It was so good and so easy - a perfect meal to eat on the porch at the end of a beautiful day.


Over the course of dinner, Emily commented that she tends to remake the same simple meal templates over and over without considering other basic template options. The standby that she, and I, and many of our friends go for is roasted veggies + protein + some interesting spice combo + a whole grain (usually brown rice). When we were eating our tacos we realized that it just a simple to prepare and that there infinite directions we could take it. There is no set taco template, but here are some basic components and how they might be varied. I am strapping in for Tacopalooza...now that I have thought of all the variations, I know I am going to be coming back for more!
Tortilla - flour, whole wheat, corn, or you could take a full departure and go for any sort of a wrap (or go without and mix up the fillers as a salad- although you then depart taco-dom)
Protein - chicken, beef, shrimp, fish, tofu, eggs, pork, turkey, beans...
Cheese - the sky is the limit!
Veggies - Ditto. What wouldn't taste good in a tortilla
Salsa - don't be limited by the classic tomato salsa. You can make peach salsa, mango salsa, and probably a whole lot of other salsas given a bit of creativity and enough time to avoid needing the canned convenience
Flavor - lime juice, cilantro and cumin OR ancho chile powder, garlic and salt OR coconut, lime, and cardamom...really there is no end to the possibilities

Happy taco-ing!
Sarah

Shrimp and Gnocci and Spinach, Oh My!

The People Who Ate It:

Every once in awhile I like to schedule one-on-ones with my friends so that we can put all the group dynamics aside and legitimately catch up. Tonight was my date with Grace! Unfortunately, the odds have been stacked against this meeting...we had already rescheduled once and then tonight we only had about an hour of mutual free time. Why are we all so busy? The answer to that question is far beyond the scope of this blog and will probably take years and years of therapy to get down to the bottom of. For now, lets just say that I am happy that my date with Grace worked out.


The Food:
Because of the aforementioned time crunch, we had a very quick dinner. It it is proof that the taste of a bunch of things thrown together is greater than the sum of their parts. The stuff that was thrown in were some prepackaged basil gnocci, shrimp, and a French variety of spinach that is a brilliant purple color. Grace dressed the whole thing up with a marinade made from honey, sumac, chili powder and some other things (Grace, if you see this you should add a clarifying comment to this post!) before we stuck the shrimp and spinach in a 450 degree oven together. Sure it would have been better if we had made the gnocci and all, but it was a perfect meal to catch up over.
We ended the meal with a marvelous chocolate cake that Grace made. More on that later.

A good start!

I am a huge breakfast person! I mean, whats not to love...cereal, eggs, pancakes, waffles, bacon, fruit...all are excellent foods. This morning though, I had to expand my horizons because we were out of eggs, special K, or anything that would be toast-able. This left me with oatmeal. I am not usually a big oatmeal fan because the instant kind is mushy and too sweet. I was converted when I found the silver palate brand of oatmeal. Because it has thicker grains, it really has a nice texture to it. You do have to sacrifice the microwaveable convenience when you switch from the other kind, but trust me - its worth it!
This morning I put a big scoop of maple butter in the bottom of a saucepan and heated it up until it was a liquid. Then I added some chopped apples, and stirred them in the pan until they were deliciously caramelized. To this I added 1/3 cup of oatmeal, 1/3 a cup of raw milk, and 1/3 a cup of water. Once it came up to a boil, I put it down to a simmer and let it bubble away for about 8 minutes. During this time I was able to get dressed and packed for class - - who said cooking from scratch had to be a big drain on efficiency. This smelled so good (and time was ticking away) so I didn't manage to get a picture, but I did have a delicious breakfast and arrive to psych within plenty of time.

Quick Lunch

Since I sometimes only have an hour for lunch, I have gotten pretty good at 15 minute meals.


This is just some mushrooms, onions, garlic and spinach which I sauteed for a few minutes, and then added the leftover brown rice and barley into the pan with an egg, some soy sauce, salt, pepper, ginger and mustard powder. It was pretty good and I had enough time left over to watch an entire episode of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. Yay!