Kaboom!

In a further quest for good health, I bought a spaghetti squash.  I actually really like spaghetti squash, but don't buy it often 'cause I'm the only one that does!  I usually serve it with tomato sauce and half the amount of spaghetti than I usually have.  (Less carbs that way) It's also really good with just some butter, salt and pepper. 

So anyway, I did what I usually do:  poke a bunch of holes in it with a sharp knife and then microwave it whole.  I've heard of people cutting it in half, putting it face-down in a pan with a little water and baking it, but uncooked spaghetti squash can be VERY difficult to cut in half.  Out of the microwave, you can cut it in half easily, remove the seeds with a spoon and then scrape the flesh into "spaghetti strands."  Apparently, I didn't cut enough holes in it, because Brian was feeding the baby and heard it explode in the microwave!  Three seconds later, the timer went off, indicating that it was finished cooking.  What a mess!   Salvageable though, and delicious.  :)

Hooray! Grill's fixed.

The title of this blog says it all!  It turns out that we could purchase new burners for our grill, which has been out of commission for a couple of months.  (It's bad when the flames come outside the grill!)  I will gladly take a $40 fix over buying an expensive new gas grill ANY day!

So far, we've had grilled hot dogs, steak, kielbasa, and some potatoes and corn in foil packets.  Welcome back!  :) 

All-American Steak Fajita

As with many, many other things in our house, our Fajita Night has now been AltonBrown-ized!

He recently had an entire show dedicated to tacos.  I didn't watch it, but you know Brian did.  And if I had to guess, I'm sure that AB is totally against the little packet of seasoning that comes in a taco kit.  Or against taco kits at all.  That's ok, because I'm not crazy about them either.  That packet....not so much flavor and way too much sodium.  Recently I had just been adding diced onion and a little cumin to the meat.  However, this taco concoction rocks!  I know it's for tacos, but it really jazzes up steak fajitas. 

We used Taco Potion #19 (AB's recipe), skirt steak, onions and green/orange bell peppers.  Then for topping time:  Brian likes 'em crunchy so what's crunchy?  Leftover broccoli slaw!  It really added something.  I also put sliced avocado on mine.  Finish with some colby-jack cheese and voila!  A masterpiece!

I am so looking forward to my leftovers lunch at work today!

The Almighty Egg

Today's breakfast is brought to you by the incredible egg. My favorite-- A spinach and colby jack omelet. add some leftover chili potatoes from last night pork chop dinner and today is officially started out right!

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Midwest Eats

Vacation food is always a good blog topic, and this trip to Wisconsin is no exception.

First let me say, that Wisconsin exceeded my expectations in many ways.  I now have a great appreciation for "America's Dairyland." * Wisconsin cheese is awesome!  We went on vacation with another family (the fabulous Ratties)  and there were nine of us total.  Well, eight of us were eating regular food, Sean wasn't up for it yet.  :)  So we did a little grocery shopping and the first thing to take me by surprise is the cheese selection at the deli counter.  Wow!!  And my friend said that their selection was limited! 

Two more "Wisconsin and Midwest" things that I experienced was Cheese Curds, and Culver's.  Cheese curds....I don't know what I was thinking that they were but essentially they taste like mozzarella sticks.  Sometimes they surprise you and instead of mozzarella it's cheddar.  Culver's is a burger and frozen custard joint native to the Midwest.  Their burgers are fantastic, and I really enjoyed my frozen custard.  Brian however, did not enjoy his as much since I brought him home some and it was more of a milkshake, it had melted so much. 

But the best things that I tried were in Lake Geneva.  We went to "The Newport of the Midwest" for a day and grabbed a quick bite to eat before getting on a ferry to see the sights that Lake Geneva had to offer.  I got a "Chicago Style" hot dog:  dog and bun, mustard, relish, onion, spicy peppers, pickle, tomatoes and celery salt.  I thought that it seemed like a lot of stuff to pile onto a dog, so I got mine without tomato.  WOW!!!!  The relish is this atomic-green color, and the peppers certainly are spicy!  The only thing I would change about it is to chop up the pickle and peppers so that it was easier to eat.  And next time, I'll be sure to eat it with tomatoes.  So good!  Our friend Scott said that in the Midwest, it's all about the Chicago Dog.  All the convenience stores and restuarants have the fixings to make an official Chicago Dog!

The other thing was an ice cream shop voted "Wisconsin's Best" for 33 years at the Wisconsin State Fair.  They had so many unique flavors of ice cream.  I settled on the "Fat Elvis" which is banana ice cream with a peanut butter ripple and chocolate chips.  Ahhhhh......a delicious way to end the day.

All in all, I loved Wisconsin.  But if I lived there, I'd have a serious issue:  too much good food!!!!!

*and for it being America's Dairyland, for all the farmland that I saw in Wisconsin, I didn't see even one cow.  Where are they hiding them??  :)

Summer Salad

In a quest to eat more fruits and veggies and having an empty fridge post-vacation (minus the rotten chinese food and spaghetti in the back) , I started fresh at the grocery store yesterday.  Came home with peaches, plums and nectarines.  And that thing that always tastes better in a restaurant than in your own home....salad. 

I love salad.  The Asian Chicken Salad I had from the Ninety-Nine on Saturday night was excellent.  However, when it comes to making salad at home, I'm not so good about it.  I thought about it carefully at the grocery store and I think I've figured it out:  I just get bag-o-salad or iceberg lettuce and then just chop whatever I have on hand and call it salad.  And a salad it is, albeit a mediocre one.  But if you put some thought into it...maybe it could be so much better?  I also got to thinking about dressing.  I mean c'mon, it's just not right that salad dressing has more calories than a cheeseburger! 

I came home with ingredients and an idea.  I ended up with a dreamy salad:  Romaine, hardboiled egg (which I usually am not crazy about but this was good) tomato, cucumber, REAL bacon pieces that I cooked up special, sliced red onion and light honey mustard dressing.  (Newman's Own, has a little kick and it doesn't taste "light" at all)  Now THAT'S a salad!  So good in fact, I tossed some chicken strips on it this morning and brought it to work for lunch.  Happiness is....a plan that comes together.  Can't wait for another new creation.