Taco Tuesday

I needed a quick dinner, with leftovers for the next two days at work. It was Monday night. What better than Taco Tuesday on Monday Night?

Taco Tuesday for Any Night 1 package ground beef
red pepper flakes to taste
cumin to taste
1 clove garlic
leftover green bell pepper (about 1/2 of a pepper)
leftover onion (about 1/2 an onion)
1 jar Whole Foods 365 brand salsa
1 package Whole Foods 365 brand taco shells
Goat cheese crumbles (or whatever you cheese your heart desires)
olive oil

Brown the meat in a large skillet, with the garlic, red pepper flakes, and cumin. Set aside. Using a teaspoon of olive oil, cook the veggies.

Make a taco with the meat, pepper/onion mixture, salsa, and cheese. Enjoy the fiesta in your mouth!

Sausage with Vegetable Saute with Egg

I had to figure out what to do with that package of sausages that didn't make it onto the grill, so I halved this recipe and enjoyed it! Four forks!

Bon Appétit | May 1995

Alain Cohen and Selma Brown Morrow

Called chakchouka, this specialty is perfect for brunch, lunch or even a quick supper.Traditionally, it is prepared with a slender, spicy beef or lamb merguez sausage, and a soft bread is used in place of a fork to "grab and eat".

Servings: Serves 6.

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Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound hot Italian sausages, cut into 1-inch lengths
2 medium-size red-skinned potatoes, unpeeled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 medium onions, chopped
2 green bell peppers, chopped
1 jalapeño chili, chopped
4 medium tomatoes, seeded, chopped
1/2 cup water
6 eggs

Preparation

Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausages, potatoes, onions, bell peppers and chili and sauté until vegetables begin to soften, about 10 minutes. Add tomatoes and 1/2 cup water and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium, cover skillet and simmer until vegetables are tender and sausage is cooked through, about 15 minutes. Uncover skillet; simmer until sauce is thick, about 8 minutes. One at a time, crack eggshells and drop eggs onto sausage mixture, spacing evenly. Cover and cook until egg whites are set and yolks still feel soft to touch, about 4 minutes. Serve immediately.

Pesto Chicken

I love the restaurant The Real Chow Baby, and their G-F pesto-peanut sauce. I haven't been to Chow Baby in *confession* almost a year. There is a strange curse with whoever I go with- I don't see the people I eat with (except for Melissa and Jamie, two of my best friends) afterward, as evidenced by:

1. Post my car accident, in May 2007, I went with Melissa and Crystal. Crystal and I didn't hang
out until the end of August, 2008.
2. Melissa, Derek, Lawyer Boy, and I went on a double date. Lawyer Boy and I stopped seeing
each other soon after (after just a few weeks), and Melissa just broke up with Derek a few
months ago.
3. Jamie, The Professor, Climber Man, and I went on a double date. A few weeks later, Jamie
dumped The Professor, and Climber Man and I split up. (Both were short-lived relationships.)

Naturally, I can't take Nick there. Well, maybe I will at some point, since I think we could break the curse. My pesto cravings would not subside last week, so I took to desperate measures and visited the Farmer's Market. Here is my pesto, minus the Chow Baby's peanut. I put it over chicken, mixed it with tomato sauce over pasta, ate it out of the container, and thought about dipping bread into it. Tell me what you do with yours.

Liv's Emergency Pesto
2 cups fresh basil leaves
3 cloves garlic
1 cup parsley
2/3 cup pine nuts
Extra Virgin olive oil, +/- 1 cup

Separate your ingredients into two batches. Put one half in the blender at a time until a paste-like substance is created. I used enough olive oil to barely cover the blades of the blender. If you like your pesto thick, I highly recommend titrating your oil.

Store it in an easily accessible container- this pesto is so good, you'll think about eating it as a midnight snack. You can also freeze it for future emergencies!

Mali Restaurant

It's a muggy evening in the Virginia Highlands, where the humidity feels like a wool coat over my shoulders. I walk up the stairs and into Mali, asking for a table for two, inside, please. Following the cordial host across the wood floors, past the warm wall of windows, to our table. I have a nice view of other dinner parties- a mix of a family with small children, a trendy mother and her teenage daughter, and an array of other tables relaxing over colorful plates of Thai food.

Trendy music plays in the background as I study the vast menu. My date orders Thai, I opt for sushi. The sushi menu has a few traditional rolls, but the majority of the rolls are clever combinations of traditional sushi flavors. Their sushi fare is not kin to the strange (and often absurd) medleys of wild flavors, frying, baking, and smothering in sauces. Instead, I found my dinner to be delightful and original. I may even declare it the best sushi I've had in Atlanta thus far.

G-F Cider

Original Sin Cider: Gluten-free

Most everbody else's cider I've found is G-F! :)

Here is what the Green Mountain Beverage Co., the makers of Strongbow, sent to me is response to my question about their G-F-ness

Hello Olivia,

Thank you for your interest in our ciders.

We have received many emails just like yours. Due to the volume of the emails we had our ciders tested for Gluten.

Woodchuck Draft Ciders (all styles)– Gluten Free

Cider Jack (all styles)– Gluten Free

Woodpecker – Gluten Free

Strongbow – currently gluten free - Please see below*

*Green Mountain Beverage is the importer of Strongbow English Cider into the US from H.P. Bulmers in Hereford England. This means that we do not produce the liquid here in Middlebury, VT and do not have control of the recipe/ingredients. Due to this it is hard for us to say that Strongbow will always be gluten free. We have had it tested and will continue to test all of our products periodically.

If you have any questions please let me know.

Thank you,

Green Mountain Beverage

G-F Hotdogs Via the Grill

My boyfriend mentioned a while back how there is nothing better than a grilled hot dog. I don't remember the last time I had a hot dog. I know I just got out of the habit of eating them. I went about finding one that claims to be G-F and found Applewood Farms to have G-F hot dogs and sausages. Post-Falcon's game, I warmed up the grill and threw a few dogs down, along with some onions (I LOVE grilled onions).

Our Ratings, on a Scale of 1-10
Nick's Rating: 7
Olivia's Rating: 8

Next grilling project: Sausages

Bento Box Art

Coolest bento boxes ever!
http://fiveprime.org/hivemind/Tags/bento

Thursdays with Erin and Jack

One of my good friends, Erin, had a baby a month ago. The first week I got to visit the new family in the hospital- it is adjoined to the rehab hospital Erin and I work in. I've never thought a new baby looks like Mom or Dad, but Jack looks just like Erin's husband to me.

Since Erin has been at home, I don't see her when I'm at work. Weekly visits have been good for the more-or-less monotonous breast-feeding schedule Erin and Jack are on, and it keeps us in touch. Seeing little Jack over the first month of life is ah-mazing. He changes week to week. He's grown so much, and I have the notion that his eyes might turn green.

Last Thursday, another fellow co-worker (Jamie, pictured with Jack to the right) and I went over to see Erin and Jack, and brought along lunch fixings. I had settled in my mind on pan-fried chicken and Greek salad. In Publix, Jamie thought guac and chips would be good. (I personally thought the guac was delicious over the chicken.) The Greek Salad is a quick, simple recipe one of my non-cooking friends made up for a pot-luck I hosted eons ago. It is so good, it doesn't even need dressing!


Melissa's Simple Greek Salad * Hearts of romaine, cut into preferred bite size (you can buy them in the bag at the store)
* 1 small or medium-sized onion, chopped (I used a sweet vidalia)
* 1 tomato or 3 Roma tomatoes, chopped
* 1 can of banana peppers, chopped (optional)
* Sheep's milk cheese (you want the kind that crumbles and is in it's juices)

Combine the veggies in a large salad bowl. When you open the container of sheep cheese, drizzle some some of the juice over salad. Add the sheep cheese in crumbles. Serve and enjoy!

Korean Food Family Night

There is this place off of Buford Highway I frequented (pre-Celiac Disease) a place called Tofu House. Some of you out there might avoid it because it looks shady, the "Korean Waffle House," but there was nothing better than going at 11pm for some fabulous Korean food. I loved snacking on Kimchi while watching the old Korean guy watching the news in a language I didn't understand or read; I made conjectures about the other assortment of people who braved Buford Highway at unusual weeknight hours in the dim fluorescent lights of the restaurant. The last time I went there was not too long after my diagnosis, when my immune system was waging a war against my intestines. I definitely lost the battle of late-night Korean spare ribs VS immunology. So, it's been 5 long years since I've had Korean food.

My dad's girlfriend is a wonderful Korean woman. She is a walking ray of sunshine, and has brightened my father's life since they met. A few months ago, Dad's girlfriend, bored from her short stint of retirement, bought the restaurant on the first floor of the office building my father works in. He's been a regular since then. Dad's girlfriend was delighted to know my father loved Korean food, and couldn't wait for my boyfriend and I to join them for dinner at a restaurant she used to work at in Marietta. Tonight was the night.

I was very nervous- I've been burned a few hundred times by Asian restaurants who swear up and down there is no wheat or soy in their food; however, I really trust Dad and Kim. For dinner I had a fried flounder (fall off the bone divine), and the normal assortment of Korean dishes set on the table (kimchi and sprouts being my favorites). I usually know pretty fast how the food is going to go over, and thus far I have felt flawless. I was so happy to spend time with Dad and Kim, finally meet her adorable grandson, and enjoy delicious Korean food with my honey.

Food 101

Another couple my boyfriend and I hang out with wanted to try Food 101 before a housewarming party. I think Ali was quite satisfied with her cheese plate (the goat cheese was really amazing), my boyfriend loved his prosciutto wrapped dates (I loved one of them, too), and we all enjoyed our entrees. The waitress knew right away what I was hinting at with my menu picks- she asked if I ate gluten-free. Our waitress decided something in the rice might not have been G-F, and brought her concern to me. (She could have just not cared and served it anyway.) She definitely got extra points for not killing me x2. The environment was nice, and it wasn't too terribly crowded. I definitely have to add this to my top restaurant picks. Props to Ali for finding this one!

Fast Food

Before white water rafting yesterday, we went to Steak and Shake. (The "we" is 5 other males and I.) Steak and shake is okay, but the only thing I get is a pair of naked burger patties. On the way back, we stopped at Wendy's. I gave up on fast food when I got diagnosed, about 5 years ago. Lo and behold! Wendy's has their nutritional information, including what allergens each part of a meal contains. Impressive. I thought I'd try it out, and ate a 1/4 burger patty. I was fine after, but my concern is that on a busy day, who is making sure the allergen-containing and allergen-free foods aren't mixing together?