Better Mexican

Wedding, work, work, work, wedding, stuff, improv, work, wedding...

Nick and I finally reconnected with Ali and Jason a few Sundays ago at La Fonda. I've been to La Fonda before, but have only had their pork chops (which are quite tasty). This time I ordered chicken tacos on corn tortillas. I was expecting a typical taco involving meat, veggies, salsa. This one came out with some sort of chipotle mayo. It really didn't do it for me. While the drinks (margaritas and mojitos) were quite good, my heart longed for a better Mexican food experience.

Monday I got to work on a quesadilla that would ease pain of bad Mexican. I turned to the staples or my refrigerator. They turned out quite well- crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside.

Spinach Quesadillas & Corn Salad Using Fridge Staples
* Bag of shredded reduced fat Mexican blend cheese
* Corn tortillas
* Bag of spinach (or whatever you have left over)
* Chicken breast, cut into thin strips or squares
* 1 clove of garlic, crushed
* Can of corn
* Can or diced tomatoes
* 1 jalapenos, diced, seeding optional
* 3 tablespoons EVOO
* reduced fat sour (optional)

Preheat the broiler while you are preparing the remaining items.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the EVOO in a skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken, and cook until cooked through, about 5 minutes. While the chicken is cooking, make the corn salad.

When the chicken has cooked through, set aside. Drain any remaining juices. Add 1 tablespoon EVOO. Add the garlic, crushed, and cook for 1 minute. Add the spinach and cook, turning it every so often with a spoon, until it is wilted.

Meanwhile, lightly brush each side of the corn tortilla with some of the EVOO, and place half of them on a baking sheet. Set aside the other half to use as the tops. Spoon the cooked spinach onto each of the quesadillas. Add the shredded cheese onto the tortilla to taste. Top the quesadillas off with the remaining tortillas.

Place the baking sheet in the broiler for 1 minute. Flip the quesadilla and cook for 1 more minute, or until both sides are crispy. Enjoy, seasoned with the corn salad or a salsa of your choice.

Corn Salad
Open the 2 cans. Drain the juice out of the corn, and drain the majority of the juice out of the tomatoes. Combine in a bowl with the jalapeno. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Adding cilantro is a bonus.

It's Not Green Beer, but It's Still Good.

Tonight we made a delicious Irish-inspired dinner in the spirit of Saint Patrick. I do love America's drinking holidays. Everyone celebrates being Irish once a year and then, two months later, being Mexican. I venture to guess that most people have no idea what either holiday is actually for. I find this amusing. Before we move onto the actual food part, let's learn a little bit about St. Patrick's Day, just in case there is a party pooper who questions your Irishness on Wednesday. (I mean, everyone IS Irish on St. Patrick's Day.)

FACT: St. Patrick's Day is the feast day of St. Patrick. It's a public holiday in Ireland, celebrated on the 17th of March. The 18th of March might as well be a holiday everywhere St. Pat's is celebrated, since most celebrators are hung over the next day.

FACT: The original color associated with the holiday, according to Wikipedia, was blue, not green. Green came about because of the association St. Patrick made between the holy trinity and shamrocks. Maybe people shouldn't be pinched if they don't wear green, after all.

FACT: This holiday was often celebrated as a one day break from Lent, where drinking was allowed. Hence the debauchery we celebrate today.

Whatever Your Luck American-Style Bangers and Mash
6 medium-sized red potatoes (Or white. Whatever suits your fancy.)
1 cup chicken broth (They come in convenient little mini-cartons now!)
1/4 stick butter (Remember: if it tastes good, it has butter in it.)
1-2 garlic cloves, minced (Or none at all. Whatever.)
1 package of the sausage of your choice (Bangers are beef sausage, for those desiring to keep it real.)
1 small or 3/4 medium white onion, chopped (Chewing gun really helps prevent tears.)
1 can or jar of beets (You might need 2 if you are a beet lover at heart.)
1 bag of salad (I told you this was easy.)
Feta crumbles (Tastes great with beets, but I'm sure it's not Irish.)
Walnuts (Optional)
salt and pepper (To taste)
Whatever salad dressing you like (I like vinaigrette.)

Start by cutting the (clean) potatoes into small pieces. Toss them into a large pot of water. Bring them to a boil and boil them until they are soft enough to mash.

While the potatoes are cooking, get your salad together. Drain the beets, and cut them into smaller bites (if desired). Toss them into your salad bowl with the feta crumbles and walnuts.
Start the sausages. We used the Foreman Grill, but you could pan fry them with the onions or grill the outside. Warm EVOO in a frying pan over medium heat. Saute your onions for about 10 minutes in the pan, or until they are soft.

By this point, the potatoes should be finished cooking. Drain the water out of the pot and transfer the potatoes into a bowl for mashing. Add the butter. Mash the potatoes until they are reduced to tiny pieces. The butter should melt into them while they are hot. Add the garlic and gradually add the stock, whipping the potatoes with a hand-held mixer. Salt and pepper them to taste.

Leftover Salmon Salad

I find myself thinking to myself, "If I just had 10 more minutes, I'd ____________." Today is my last day of clinical, and I'm at a therapy place 5 minutes from my house. We had a patient cancel because she had chest pain, so my lunch break got extended to 1.5 hours. Magic. I am at my house, having cleaned the interior of my car, started a load of laundry, and washed a few dirty dishes. With a few leftovers in my refrigerator, I made a pretty amazing lunch.

Leftover Salmon Salad
* 1/2 a bag of Butter Lettuce mix (salad in a bag)
* 1/2lbs of leftover cooked salmon
* 1 avocado, quite ripe
* tomato remnant OR 1 pinch of sun dried tomatoes
* Parmesan cheese (or whatever cheese you have) sprinkled liberally, any way you have it
* 1 hard boiled egg (you might have to fix one, but your eggs could be near expiring!)
* 1 big pinch of sunflower seeds
* small pinch of leftover dill (or whatever fresh herbs might be lying around)
* EVOO or Italian salad dressing

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!