Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Tonights dinner was pulled pork sandwiches, but hold up, don't get too excited. It was pulled pork from Trader Joes and their broccoli coleslaw. It's one of Austi's favorite meals and I had to wait until tonight to eat it since he could be home early.

But alas, the one night he comes home early, he isn't hungry... he swallows it anyways. Not much for being able to really enjoy it. But I can tell you it was really good and super easy to make.

I mixed the coleslaw with goddess dressing, sriracha and pepper. Piled it all on a sprouted sesame seed bun with a little side of arugula.

I don't think Aust has room for the dessert I made today :(
Too bad because its a peach crumble.
Oh well...More for me.

-K

Another Monday Veggie Dinner

This week I was lucky enough to get my hands on some zucchini flowers at the farmers market and I couldn't wait to cook with them. I had just had Eveleigh's version of stuffed squash blossoms loved it. I'm not really sure what they put in them but it was light and delicious.

So as an appetizer for dinner I made Fried Ricotta and basil stuffed blossoms sprinkled with some sea salt. It was good. We brought some over to the neighbors who agreed that they were pretty darn good :)

I think the best part about the blossoms were the base of the flower that had both the delicate texture of the blossom but the base of a zucchini.

For our main course I made Black eye pea wraps with a homemade Arból chili sour cream. Ingredients for this wrap were:

-black eye peas

-red onion

-tomato

-zucchini

-arugula

-garlic

-arbol chili

-sour cream

-asiago cheese

-whole wheat tortilla with flaxseed

Austin actually liked it! I win :)

Probably not something I would make again, but I'll probably make something similar to it next time. Maybe substitute black beans for black eyed peas, add some sautéed veggies... oooo...possibly eggplant? I could see this going a whole other direction with curry powder...

Till next time!

-K

Snack Time

So this posting is a little late but oh well, I wanted to share with you another Snack Time.

I wanted to make something different for the boys and thought I might class it up by making something nice. Naturally I think bacon...boys like bacon. Fact ;)
Then I remembered something Austin and I ate at Café Sevilla in Downtown San Diego when we lived there. A cute Spanish Tapas restaurant with Flamenco dancers during dinner and salsa dancing and reggaeton in the basement after 8pm. We ate there a few times and I fell in love with their Bacon Wrapped Dates stuffed with blue cheese cooked in apple cider vinegar. And that's exactly what I made them :)

I know they kinda look like cockroaches wrapped in bacon but hey, they tasted great. I really need to get a better camera...

And you can't make the Bacon wrapped Dates without having Sangria~ So I made a simple sangria with cut-up apples, oranges, and lemons with a few bottles of Pinot Noir. I put out some wine glasses and we had a nice ol' time taking a little break and playing some fooseball.

A successful snack time once again :)
Till next time!

-K

Vegetarian Dinner

Stepping back and looking what I eat every week, I noticed that Austin and I eat some kind of meat at least 5 days a week. That's a lot of meat. And it's not like we need to eat that much meat. I feel like we eat it because it's filling and...well...it tastes good.

So we decided to start off with making Mondays "Veggie Day". Slowly we will incorporate more vegetarian meals into our diet so that we might have meat 2 days a week. Not only does it save money, (I spent $40 on 2 lbs of organic free-range ground turkey!) but it's also better for the environment. That does not mean however that this will turn into a vegetarian blog...I plan on making pineapple pulled pork next week...It's just going to be a healthier blog :) Come on, be happy for me~ The fat kid in me is having a hard time with this.

It's gonna be tough because it's been a part of our diets for so long. But I think it will be a healthy thing to do for a while. As tough as it is going to be, tonight's vegetarian meal was SO good :)

I made a simple Israeli Couscous Salad filled with colorful veggies from my garden and the farmer's market. I insist you try it because it's quick and easy and you can save the leftovers for lunch!

Israeli Couscous Salad
Israeli couscous
Vegetable Stock
Carrot (diced)
Red onion (diced)
Beets (diced)
Beet leaves (diced)
Rainbow Chard (thinly chopped)
Garlic (minced)
Avocado (diced)
Cucumber (diced)
Snap Peas (diced)
Mint (minced)
Apple Cider Vinegar (2 tsp.)
Salt
Pepper

1. Cook the Israeli couscous in Vegetable stock as directed and set aside.
2. Sauté garlic and carrots until slightly soft, then add beet leaves and red onion. Sauté until beet leaves are wilted. Set aside to cool.
3. Throw all other veggies into a large bowl with mint, mix lightly. Add Couscous and sautéed vegetables.
4. Add salt, pepper, and vinegar to taste.

Enjoy guys!!

-K

Carmageddon Party

What a crazy weekend eh? Everyone was freaking out about the 405 closure and didn't want to get stuck in traffic...wait...what traffic. It was like heaven, there were only a handful of cars on the road and the 405 had never been more empty.

Christina and I stuck to the westside and went hiking with Loren, Jina, and Devon up to Westridge. The trail was full of hills and and the view was amazing. We got a great work out and came back caked in dirt. Christina and I rode our bikes down to the beach to take a cool dip in the ocean. We hit reset, caught a few waves, and took a nap on the beach.

What could make a day like that better? Well, nothing except for having friends over for a BBQ, which is exactly what we did :)

I apologize now for not taking more pictures. I have a slight dilemma and that is that I don't have an actual camera. I use my cellphone to take pictures. Once I have a camera, I promise you the pictures will be worth looking at.

Austin and Christina made this awesome decoration for our party, very creative.

I made appetizers which included Teriyaki Tofu Summer Rolls with a Spicy Peanut Sauce and Christina made an amazing avocado and tomato salad that was to die for. Ari made a special homemade Mac n Cheese recipe that his mom used and it was gone before I got thirds :)

We ended the night with a drunken game of Connect Four and more of Austin's awesome craft (crack) cocktails.
What a wonderful Saturday.

-K

Snack Time

Today's snack time was Mini Sliders with organic beef, tomatoes, red onions, lettuce, cheese, mustard and ketchup. BAM!

Christina is coming this weekend and I am very excited. We both love good food and good times~
-K

Salmon Chimichurri and Baby Zucchinis

Today's dinner was great~
Super excited that it tasted as good as I thought it would be!
I made a brown rice, black beans, corn with lemon juice stir-fry to accompany my pan seared salmon.
The chimichurri gave the salmon a nice fresh herby taste and the lemon in the rice made it a light and refreshing meal for a hot day. I may have slightly over cooked the zucchini :p But oh well. It was still delicious.
I paired our meal with a light beer and I couldn't be happier.

Austin made me a turkey burger to take to work tomorrow. I'm gonna grab some fresh arugula from the garden, dice up some avocado, tomatoes, add homemade pickled red onions and make a nice salad. I can't wait~

-K

Up Da Butt Chicken

Tonight we had our friend Kwesi over for dinner. Both of the boys spent all day working hard on their projects.

Tonight's dinner was Oven-roasted Up-da-butt chicken.
I would love to do this on a grill but ours doesn't fit a whole chicken standing upright.
I set the wire rack on the very bottom, covered a pyrex pan with foil and sat the chicken on a half can of beer with garlic inside. I smeared the chicken with a butter rub and popped it in the oven for 45 minutes.
Sooo good.

We ate the chicken with a side of wild rice and arugula~

I am studying for my CSET that's coming up this weekend. It's a 5 hour test and I hope to god I pass. I won't be concocting anything special until Sunday because like a good girl; I will be studying :)

Till then,
K

Happy 3rd of July!!!

We had an awesome BBQ party on Sunday the 3rd and showcased some awesome food from the talented Chef Loren, Chef Christina, Chef Uncle -D, Chef K, and craft cocktail extraordinaire Austin.
Loren made an amazing citrus quinoa with feta cheese that was light and refreshing and chocolate chip zucchini bread that was like crack. So perfectly moist that the chocolate chips wanted to stay melted. I had at least a quarter of the cake.
Chef Christina brought a fresh fruit salad with a perfect balance of summer fruits to keep you energized through the day.

 Chef Uncle-D made burgers from scratch and were beautifully grilled and complemented with caramelized onion and mushrooms. He also made a fresh crushed watermelon vodka drink that was very popular with the ladies :)

 Chef K (that's me :) ...) made a white sangria infused with strawberries, blueberries, and pineapple cut into shapes of stars, an english pea with spinach and pesto pasta salad, and dijon fingerling potatoes with chili peppers and sriacha. And Flag Cake!

Craft cocktails that went like hotcakes throughout the day and far into the night were carefully crafted by Austin. Some of the concoctions he created were a Moscow Mule, Jalapeño Colonel, Darkest storms, Mojito, Gold Rush, Kentucky Colonel, and Cucumber Day Spas. All of his ingredients were freshly muddled and garnished with mint or candied ginger. I am a lucky girl!!! Spoiled actually~

Many others brought delicious food and filled our table with chips, dip and booze. Thanks guys!!

But what made the BBQ a success was the amazing people that came. We are very lucky to be surrounded by the coolest people who all get along with each other. Thank you everyone that came to the BBQ!!! I heard some interesting conversations and even saw some numbers being exchanged.
So instead of showcasing food today on my blog, I wanted to show some of the faces that made yesterday what it was :)

I'm going to throw yesterday's BBQ into the success pile of my life. It was splendid.

Dinner with Danny and Austin

After a very long debate on whether or not we wanted to go out to dinner, I decided to make dinner with whatever we had left in the fridge. We're getting to the nitty-gritty now... leftovers are now becoming a challenge. It's like the t.v. show Chopped, four ingredients and make something spectacular.

Well, with what I found in the fridge, this is what I decided to create.

1st course: Yesterday's homemade pasta (now ramen) and a simple soup stock with green onions
*This was a hit with Danny, he loved the simplicity of the soup and the texture of the noodles. "I think this is the best ramen I've ever had, this might be better than ramen."

2nd course: Jalapeño Pepper stuffed with goat cheese and pan seared ham.
*Another hit but had Austin running around the kitchen scouring for bread and water. This antic continued for several minutes until I fed him a bellpepper stuffed with goat cheese. He was fine after that :)
*Sorry I only got the prep pic.

Main course: Trader Joe's Chicken Gyoza over a bed of arugula from the garden with a rice vinegar, soy sauce and hot chili oil. With a side of veggie and ham fried brown rice.
*Let's just say there are no leftovers.

Tomorrow we're having a Happy 3rd of July BBQ and Beach party. If I'm not wasted, I'll take pictures :)

Grilled Chicken Salad and Basil Lemonade

Ahh...Saturday. The start of a very nice 3 day July 4th weekend.
I have absolutely nothing planned today and that was apparent when 2 o'clock rolled around and I realized I was hungry.

I meandered over to the fridge and stood in front of it with the door wide open, looking at all the leftover bits and pieces of veggies and ingredients from the past week.

"I want something light, like a salad... but I want some protein...and definitely want to use up this homemade pasta we made last night...hmmm. What to make?"

What came out of my fridge and onto my plate was an arugula salad with thinly sliced red onion, yellow bell pepper, tomato, crimini mushrooms, cucumbers with a smoked paprika english pea and grilled chicken. I made a quick oregano and lemon vinaigrette to drizzle over the salad.
On the side I made fresh pasta with sun-dried tomato, basil, and parmesan cheese.

Last but not least I made a basil lemonade from the garden, twas divine.

Now I think it's time for a nap :)
Hope you are all doing something like that today.

-K