Is Next Weekend Really Labor Day!?!?

Life has been pretty busy lately!! It seems that we have had alot to celebrate in the month of August, weddings, and babies, and birthdays, oh my! So since things have been busy (did I mention I have not even unpacked since our last trip to Dallas for a wedding--Why unpack when you are going back the next weekend?) I have not been cooking much at home! Ben is playing catch-up at work and I have been spending alot of time in front of the TV watching the rangers (can't wait to see them in person Friday--Ben's early birthday gift!) with a salad, or some other non-recipe worthy meal! So long story short, I stumbled upon a great blog from my old TCU pal Kasie! The blog is absolutely precious and laugh out loud funny, and one of her posts was easy banana "icecream"! I had some frozen bananas hanging out and decided to try it last night and WOW, DELICIOUS! Who woulda thunk you could make ice-cream in a matter of seconds!? So please click on her blog below for a step-by-step recipe for the delicious and easy recipe for Banana "Ice-Cream"  and enjoy your last week and a half before it's September, c-ra-zay.

http://lullabydiaries.blogspot.com/2011/07/banana-ice-cream.html

Easy Entertaining

This past weekend, we celebrated my friend Ashley's Bachelorette Party, CONGRATS!! I decided to bring a few easy snacks that help feed a crowd, one of which was my Cold pasta salad.  I mentioned this salad in one of my first posts, but I wasn't taking pictures back then so I decided this would be a good addition.  This is the dressing for any cold pasta salad, and in the salad, you can add your preference of small pastas, and veggies.  I used orzo with green onion, tomatoes, black olives, and sun dried tomatoes.  This crowd pleaser will actually feed the crowd and won't cramp your budget! Enjoy!!

 Start with 1 cup of red wine vinegar (or if you don't have enough, you can combine vinegars, I used 3/4c redwine vinegar and 1/4c balsalmic vinegar)

 3/4c good olive oil

 2 tbs dijon mustard

 2tbs sugar (or agave nectar, or honey)

 Add a 3/4tsp salt and 1/2tsp pepper and Whisk all ingredients together! I would not pour the entire dressing over your pasta salad. Instead, I would combine your pasta and veggies and then add about half of the dressing and stir, continue to add dressing to your own taste! (I used just over half this recipe, the rest can be used as a regular dressing on lettuce!)

Cold Pasta Salad Dressing

1 c red wine vinegar

3/4c extra virgin olive oil

2tbs dijon mustard

2tbs sugar

3/4tsp salt

1/2tsp pepper

Whisk all together and serve over cold pasta and veggies!



How the Garcias do Greek

Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who emailed me their fabulous recipes! I am BEYOND excited to try them out!! I still cannot believe I actually have people reading this blog--much less take the time to email me their great ideas!! Many thanks to you all!! So last night, Ben and I decided to make Greek food.  Greek is certainly a genre of food we don't try much--especially now that I am a vegan, but when I found the Babaganoush recipe I figured a Greek theme would be worth taking a stab at!  We decided on an orzo greek pasta, baba ganoush, and toasted pita--can you sam YUM!? This recipe also allowed me to use alot of the fresh veggies Ben brought home--cucumbers, green onion, eggplant, and garlic! This meal reminded me that thinking outside the box is good, and also that Ben will surprise you and eat more unusual things than you give him credit for!! I realize that this is not some perfect rendition of a Greek meal but as people say, "It's Greek to me!!"  So Kali Orexi Fili Mou!! (aka Bon Appetite my friend)

Babaganoush

Prick your eggplant with a fork then put on a cooking sheet and bake in the oven on 450 for about 25 minutes, check about every 10 and turn your egg plant so one side does not get more cooked than the rest. I got this method of roasting the eggplant from Elie Krieger on Food Network.

While the eggplant cooks, make your tahini mixture in a blender or food processor. Start with about three cloves of garlic chopped (I clearly used ALOT of garlic b/c we love garlic--but it was alittle much...)

Add 1/4c of tahini

add the juice of two lemons and a teaspoon of salt

Pulse in the food processor until smoothe....

Once your eggplant looks about like this....cut it in half lengthwise

and scrape out the pulp, do not use the skin

and add to your mixture in the food processor

until it looks like this! You can enjoy this alone with pita or pita chips!

Now for the Greek Orzo Salad

Start by heating 3tbs olive oil on medium heat and add about 5 cloves of garlic chopped....cook for approx 10 minutes and do not let the garlic burn or get crisp.

Now add, 1/4c sundried tomatoes, chopped black olives, cucumber, and green onion

once the vegetables have softened, add two teaspoons of balsalmic vinegar...

Add your cooked orzo (orzo is just a rice shaped pasta, certainly any other small pasta would work in this recipe)

And one freshly squeezed lemon

 Serve with toasted pita bread and Enjoy Greek the Garcia way!

Babaganoush

1 medium eggplant

3-4 garlic cloves chopped

1/4c tahini

2 lemons juiced

1tsp salt

Start by preheating your oven to 450 degrees. Using a fork, poke holes in your eggplant then put on a cooking sheet and bake in the oven for approx 25 minutes, turning as you cook so that all sides get roasted.  While eggplant is roasted, add garlic, tahini, lemons, and salt to a food processor or blender and blend until smoothe.  Once the egglant is done, slice in half and using a spoon get out the pulp, leaving the charred skin behind.  Add pulp to food processor and blend until smoothe, serve with pita/pita chips.

Orzo Greek Pasta

1 1/2 orzo (cooked then drained)

3tbs olive oil

5 garlic cloves chopped

1/4c sundried tomatoes chopped

1/4c c green onion chopped

1/4c black olives chopped

1/4c cucumber chopped

1tsp salt

2tsp balsalmic vinegar

1 lemon squeezed

fresh basil for topping

Cook your pasta according to directions on package.  Preheat a skillet on medium heat with olive oil.  Add garlic and cook for approx 10 minutes until garlic is cooked but not burned.  Add tomatoes, onion, olives, cucumber and salt. Cook for approx 5 minutes until tender.  Add balsalmic vinegar and cook additional five minutes.  Add orzo, lemon juice, and fresh basil. Serve with toasted pita!

 

Coming Soon!!

Yesterday, my husband brought home a bag full of delicious home grown vegetables someone gave him at work, and I can't wait to use them!!Below is the pic of all the delicious goodies, but I haven't quite decided how to cook the eggplant yet....I am thinking Babaganoush--think hummus but with grilled eggplant instead of chickpeas....Not sure about the okra yet either--I know I could fry it, but if you know my family, then you know our history of setting kitchens on fire with fried okra!!! Any suggestions for the veggies below!? I'd love to hear! You can comment by clicking the pencil button below or emailing me at megan.d.garcia@gmail.com Hope to hear from yall and stay tuned!

A Summer Cold....

For a few days now I've had a heck-of-a Summer cold/sore throat/allergy/sinusitis whatever you wanna call it.....so I decided that no matter how hot it is outside, the only thing that cures a sore throat and runny nose is soup or popsicles (at least that's the way my mom always treated this ailment)....and since they don't make vegetable soup flavored popsicles, I decided just to go ahead and make vegetable soup! This recipe was developed a while ago from my Mom's Stew, which I modified by basically adding veggies only! It is great for those days when you don't feel so swell, great for when you need an easy and cheap meal, great when you need leftovers for the week, and great to freeze and eat later (maybe when the weather is cooler!)  You can add whatever combination of veggies you prefer, fresh, frozen, or canned, I used all three!  Hope this cures your illnesses, or at least satisfies you when you're under the weather!

 Chop up three garlic cloves and one medium sized onion, and saute with 2tbs olive oil over medium heat for approx 5 min.

 add 1tsp of garlic salt,ground thyme, chili powder and 1/2tsp red pepper flakes and stir.

 Now add 2 boxes (4 cups per box I believe) of vegetable broth.

 Now add your veggies, I used one bag of mixed veggies, and one bag of corn both frozen.

 And one can of hominy (b/c Ben loves hominy) Feel free to add whatever veggies you like--potatoes, beans, carrots, celery, whatever you want!

TWO 16 ounce cans of tomato sauce. Let all the ingredients come to a boil, then turn heat down to medium/low heat and let simmer, the longer the better. I let mine simmer approx 45 minutes. This can also be done in a crock pot and cook overnight!

 Enjoy....

Vegetable Soup

1 onion diced

3 garlic cloves diced

2tbs olive oil

1tsp garlic salt

1tsp ground thyme

1tsp chili powder

1/2tsp red pepper flakes

2 boxes (8cups) vegetable broth

1package mixed veggies (peas, carrots, green beans, corn) frozen

1 package corn (b/c we love extra corn) frozen

1 can hominy drained

2 16ounce cans Tomato Sauce 

In a soup pot over medium high heat, add olive oil, onion, and garlic.  Let saute for five minutes then add, garlic salt, thyme, chili powder, and red pepper flakes. Next add veggie broth, veggies, and tomato sauce. Always check for seasonings, depending on how salty your broth/tomato sauce is you may need more garlic salt.  Bring to a boil and then reduce to a medium low simmer for approx 45-60 minutes and serve.

Breakfast Tacos!!

So this weekend I was a single lady.  Ben finished the bar (YAY!!) and headed to one of his best friends bachelor trips, a much needed vacation for Ben! Although I always miss him when he's gone, sometimes I enjoy the solitude of not worrying if me waking up at the crack of dawn is going to wake him up, what to watch on Saturday AM tv (although I almost always win because Ben is very sweet and lets me), and lastly what to eat for breakfast that we can agree upon.  So I decided to take this opportunity to do all three, I woke up at 8, watched a Real Housewife re-run that I've already seen, and decided to make these breakfast tacos! They were so good, and definitely hit the spot, hope you enjoy!

Dice your potatoes (I used three and had plenty of leftovers) and put in a pan with two tablespoons olive oil and sprinkle with season salt or salt and pepper.

In another pan slice one white onion and saute with 1tbs olive oil and cook for approx 10 minutes, getting nice and carmelized.

 And in another, make black beans! I made mine using Caroline's black Bean recipe .

 Once your potatoes have browned, cover the pan allowing them to steam and cook more quickly....

 Then combine your cooked onions to your potatoes.

 And assemble your tacos!!!

 Now onto the next most important tasks of the day.....

Is it Friday yet!?!

Breakfast Potatoes

3 baking potatoes peeled and diced

2tbs olive oil

1/2tsp lawrys seasonsalt (or salt and pepper if you don't have season salt)

1 onion sliced

1tbs olive oil

Add potatoes to skillet with olive oil over medium heat. Let throughly brown and then put the lid on so they can steam. Let cook approx 10 minutes. While potatoes are cooking, saute your onions approx 10 minutes on medium high heat. Once all is cooked combine and add to corn tortillas with black beans and your favorite salsa.