Nacho Night!

We both had the kind of day that just called out for Nachos and Margaritas... and so it was!

We sprayed down some foil with nonstick spray, folded up the edges to make not so little boats, then piled on the chips, cheese, beans, taco meat, tomatoes & salsa. Popped our foil boats onto a baking sheet and broiled those puppies until the chips smelled toasty and the cheese was bubbling! Added hot sauce, sour cream, & cilantro. Supper fast and most definitely needed! The Mike's Margaritas were the perfect accompaniment and the al fresco dining a delight. 

Gotta love good friends, tasty grub, and summer nights!

Vietnamese Goodness!

Tonight we made Five Spice Chicken Bahn Mi Lettuce Wraps and they were SOOOO stinking good! Fresh and spicy. Totally YUM YUM YUM! Washed down with a perfectly chilled White Zin, and you have a perfect summer meal!

Marinated Carrots
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup distilled white vinegar
¼ teaspoon salt
3 cups carrot—cut into matchstick-size pieces

Mix 1st 3 ingredients in a medium bowl. Add carrots and allow to sit, covered for at least 1 hour.

Five Spice Marinated Chicken
1/4 cup soy sauce
6 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons minced sweet onion
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons five spice powder
8 large skinless boneless chicken tenders

Toss all ingredients into a gallon sized ziplock bag. Seal and squish to fully coat all chicken pieces. Let marinate for a minimum of 1 hour. Cook or grill until golden and cooked through. Allow to rest for 10 - 15 minutes. Slice at an angle.

Spicy Lime Mayonnaise
¼ cup favorite mayo
2 packets True Lime (or juice from 1 lime)
Sriracha hot sauce (to taste)

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Additional Ingredients
1 -2 heads romaine lettuce hearts, separated
1 English hothouse cucumber, cut into ¼ inch thick slices
fresh cilantro sprigs
2 jalapeno chilies, thinly sliced

Assembly
Take two lettuce leaves and use them taco style for all your fillings. Start with a slather of the Lime Mayo, then pile on the marinated carrots, cucumber slices, jalapeno slices, 5 spice chicken and cilantro. Eat. Enjoy. Repeat.

Hope you love it like we did!

~Megan

Soup...It's What We Needed!

Okay, I apologize; the lack of posting is MY FAULT. Mea culpa. :)

A few weeks ago, we decided we needed a "lighter fare" for supper, so we thought Minestrone soup would be great. Somewhere along the way, we realized that Minestrone was the inspiration for the soup (and, it still had an Italian flair), but as usual, we created our own masterpiece.

Italian Meatball Soup:

Meatballs:

1.5 lbs ground turkey

3/4 cup quick oats

1 cup milk

T. or so each: onion powder, garlic powder, thyme, parsley

Worcestershire

2 T. olive oil

S & P to taste

* Shape into balls and line up on cookie sheet. Place in a preheated 375* oven for 20-ish minutes - until cooked through.

* We recommend using a small ice-cream scoop to make the meatballs - it helps to guarantee uniform cooking.

* Also, another tip: to double check your seasonings, pinch off a small bit of the meat mixture, and cook it up in a skillet. It'll cook in no time, and you'll be sure you have the spices correct. :)

(This is how we knew we needed to add more salt.)

Soup

2 cartons chicken stock

1 bag TJ's mixed frozen veggies

1 cup-ish frozen chopped spinach

Cannelini beans

cooked lentils

shredded cabbage

1 can diced canned tomatoes

1 big pinch red pepper flakes

2 cloves garlic sliced thin

salt to taste

* Add all soup ingredients to a pot and allow to simmer 20 - 30 minutes. Add cooked meatballs to a bowl and ladle veggie soup over meatballs. Eat. Enjoy. Yum.

Dessert: Grilled Stone Fruit

This is one of my (Aym's) favorite "fake-out" dessert. "Fake out" because it seems so impressive, when really, it's beyond easy.

1/2 peach and 1/2 plum per person (or more, if you want to)

Heat your griddle pan to hot, spray with cooking spray, and grill the fruit (cut-side down) until slumpy and warm. We served this with Megan's "Holy Cow, This Should Be Illegal" Butterscotch Sauce and Whipped Cream. YUM.

More posts coming soon! Once I get my slacker-tushy in gear.

Updates coming soon...

Experimental Soup Night

Megan here... tonight I was on my own in the kitchen.  It's kind of dangerous to leave me alone in the kitchen with no specific idea of what I am going to make to eat... you NEVER know what my crazy little brain will conceive!   Tonight was no exception.  I had bulk breakfast sausage leftover from making biscuits and gravy the other morning and some shredded lettuce beginning to wilt - also a left over, this time from fish tacos, some stock and some lentils... sounded like soup to me! When I served it up, my hubby said "This is good! Really good.  You need to post this on the blog." So here you go. 


Sausage Soup
4 oz. breakfast sausage (not in links, if that is what you have, remove it from the casings prior to cooking)
2 cups shredded lettuce (any green would work - spinach, kale, spring salad mix)
1 carton chicken stock
6 baby carrots, sliced thin
1 cup cooked lentils
3 fat cloves of garlic, sliced thin
2 t. lemon pepper
salt to taste


In a 4 qt or larger pot, crumble sausage and cook until lightly browned.  Add the shredded lettuce and stir along with the cooked sausage until the lettuce begins to wilt.  Add the chicken stock.  Add your carrots slices.  Cook over medium high heat until carrots are tender, about 8 minutes. At this point I grabbed my immersion blender and whizzed everything together. If you don't have a stick blender, you could just leave everything chunky and make this a more rustic soup.  Next I added the lentils and garlic slices (I have a basic mandolin I use to get thin, even slices for the carrots and garlic). Finally the lemon pepper and salt.  I served this in large deep soup bowls and drizzled with a nice fruity extra virgin olive oil. 

Soup before blending.

Served with really yummy olive oil dribbled on top.

We enjoyed this soup thoroughly and I know it will become a regular in our house!  I might try mixing up the ingredients next time... bacon instead of the sausage, and spinach instead of the lettuce and maybe orzo instead of the lentils... sounds like another experiment to me!

~Megan~