Home Cooked Meal

Recipe/Something I Love: Somewhat of a random post today. A couple of things I want to cover, first a home cooked meal. There is nothing I love more than a delicious meal at mi casa and what makes it better is when my hubby and I both work on it. Last night he handled the grill and cooked to perfection a well marinated tri-tip. {Click here and then on the cuts poster to learn where it comes from-hint: sirloin} I just love how tender and juicy it is. Also grilled were several green onions and asparagus that were drizzled with EVOO/garlic salt/pepper/kosher salt. My favorite! I love asparagus all the time but on the grill is the best-in my mind.

Peeked at my recipe book looking for a side dish to make and opted for a new one. I of course adapted the recipe since that's what I do. It was from an Everyday Food Mag I believe and frankly, right now I don't even remember the name of it. The gist is: take some frozen corn in a bowl {I ran mine under cold water first to thaw since the meat was about 5 minutes from coming off the grill} toss in evoo, white wine vinegar, mince a couple green onions and toss in, season with salt and pepper. Voila! I found it super refreshing and almost summer-y. The recipe they had called for fresh tarragon as well but I threw that out the window along with the measurements, seriously the recipe was for 8 servings...I eyed what I thought was appropriate for 2-4.

 

Finally, another thrown together side dish...I was full of veggies since I currently don't have a salad box in the fridge-but will be preparing one tonight. I had 4 colorful bell peppers from the farmers market that runs every Tuesday in downtown Yuma {that's where the asparagus also came from} thought I would toss in the skillet with an onion and cook up with my standard combo: evoo/garlic salt/pepper/kosher salt--those 4 things might just bring world peace. Anyway, it was too pretty of an ensemble to not take a picture...

Best of all all three things were great leftovers for my lunch today...of which I just ate as I type this on my lunch break. Final thought, see what the peppers are in? Yeah, that's right it's my cast iron skillet my parents gifted me for Christmas. It's a 12" Lodge Logic pre-seasoned skillet and an all around Olympic medalist if you ask me. No joke, my hubby uses it almost everyday...maybe it's because it's storage spot happens to be on the stove top or because it's easy to clean--wait that's not it because he isn't an amazing dishwasher--hmm must be because he loves it.**UPDATE: I came home yesterday and my hubby made a meal in the cast iron and cleaned it already without me knowing--insert foot in mouth now**

Blog Alert

Something I love: Oh how I've fallen for blog land. I could get lost for days reading about anything and everything. My favorites include things about cooking, decorating, rural/ranch/ag life, etc. Today I must share with you some new treasures.

I must thank Petie at The Pie Ranch and Pickled Peach Cafe for introducing me to Paint, Decorate, Design on the Cheap. She has great knowledge and ideas but why I love her the most is for introducing Dreamy Whites to me. *sigh* You have GOT to check her out. You can read all about her, but her house and her story is amazing. I'm so excited she's joined the blogging community and can't wait to see what other ideas I can "borrow" from her for my own house.

Finally I have to give a shout out to my sister's blog La Ranchita today especially she posted something that fires me up!

Have a delightful Thursday...it's raining in Arizona so just trying to soak it all up!

Point Loma Seafood

Dining Destination: I now have 2 places that I MUST, no I need to eat at every time I go to San Diego. The first is World Famous and now Point Loma Seafoods. My hubby+I and two other couples headed to SD for a concert this past weekend and after a failed attempt to eat lunch at Nobu Sushi in the Hard Rock Hotel {it was closed for lunch...I failed to look at the hours of operation before my poor friend Holly drove around the Gaslamp quarter for 20 minutes + looking for parking while Charger fans were EVERYWHERE, sorry about that} based on a recommendation we headed to Point Loma Seafoods which is sort of like the king of seafood delis.

It was hopping with people ordering the bestest and freshest fish. We all went with sandwiches served on sourdough with their special homemade tartar sauce. Between 4 of us {yes the trip included 6 people but the 2 poor souls stayed parked where they were and ended up eating sushi at Ra} we had the crab cake sandwich, scallops sandwich {I'm getting this next time--it was phenomenal!}, clam sandwich and crab sandwich. All of us were extremely pleased with the price/portion and most of all the TASTE!

 Please read their history on the site, it's a great little read. And if you ever just want to buy your own and prepare at home it's also a great place, check out this case of fresh fish! {only a sliver of what they had to offer...}

Dun-da-dun-dun--dunnnn: Mystery Rolls

Recipe: Yep, I stole this recipe. But I've done it so much I definitely feel like the owner of it. I have learned it from none other than P-Dub {Pioneer Woman}. Mystery rolls are a big hit at my house either as appetizer or side dish. They are melt in your mouth nuggets of bread covered delightfully in butter and blue cheese.

So easy to make just with 3 ingredients-1 can of Pillsbury biscuits, 1 stick of butter, little pile of  blue cheese. {You decide how much cheese you want, I like to make sure it's enough} Melt your butter and cheese on a rimmed baking sheet at 350 for about 5-6 minutes. While it's melting cut your biscuits in half and half again to quarter them. Toss in melted madness and bake for 8-10 minutes. When I double the recipe I must bake a little longer.

And of course, this goes without saying this is low-fat and low-cal:)

Bible in 90 Days

Something I Love: It's true I love my Lord and Savior. I've embarked on a challenge that I have never tried before...reading the bible in 90 days. Yeah that's right, not 100 not in a year--3 sets of 30 days. It's part of a blogging/internet group I found at Mom's Toolbox and I'm really excited to partake in this adventure. I've always wanted to read the whole thing through and gain more knowledge about the word of God. At 12 pages a day in a specially printed bible {it has stopping and starting points-but you can use a regular one too}I'm trekking along. Currently I'm in Exodus but will soon be jumping into Leviticus because the challenge started on the 1st but my bible didn't come in till Tuesday the 5th so I'm working on catching up! Now that I'm wholly committed to reading it in it's entirety and I've bitten the bullet, as I go along I may post now and then about my thoughts, challenges and joys. For more information on the Bible in 90 Days check out their website it's full of lots of info!

Jar Spatula

Something I love: I want to give every person who has a kitchen 2 of these. Seriously they're one of my best friends in the kitchen. I don't only use them to get the last of the sauce from a jar but in almost any project that involves stirring or mixing. Very handy dandy and all around the bomb dot com. I got mine from Crate and Barrel for $3.95. I strongly encourage you to try them out!

Eggplant & Lamb

Recipe: One of my top 3 favorite meals of all time, right here in the house. It's an eggplant lamb dish that is to die for...at least in my opinion. My mamacita has made this for years and it's something I crave and requested a lot so now being a somewhat grown up I've decided to make it myself. Another funny story is one time my mom sent me with some for my then fiance' so that he had a nice home cooked meal in his bachelor pad while living in Wellton alone...sadly it never made it to him. Pretty much I justified it in my mind that it wasn't still going to be good by the time I drove it down there so I ate it in Buckeye...I have finally recovered from my sin though because I made it for him, he loved it, I loved it and we are still happily married!

It's super easy and here are the details:

1. Take 1 Lg. Eggplant {I did 2 medium ones-ish}, peeled and cut into 1/2" rounds. Sprinkle both sides with salt and let sit 15 minutes.

2. Dice one medium onion and 1 clove of garlic and brown with one pound ground lamb. {Fortunately I can get my hands on ground lamb from family but I actually bought this one at Wally World--I know I couldn't believe they were carrying American Lamb}. Mix with 1 can of cream of mushroom soup and 1 can of water. {again I think I did more of 3/4 can}

3. Get a pan good and ready to brown your eggplant {the recipe I see says butter but I'm pretty sure I used vegetable oil}. Pat your sliced eggplant in flour, then eggs {2 beaten}, then flour and brown in pan both sides.

4. In a 9x13 pan I alternated layers of eggplant with the sauce/meat mixture and baked covered for roughly 20-25 minutes at 375. I then uncovered topped with a few bread crumbs and some parmesan cheese and baked uncovered for about 5-10 minutes.

I apologize if this is not user friendly because I cook with a lot of flexibility and "ish" that and this. I had misplaced my recipe my mom copied for me and she literally read me over the phone the gist of it and I did it so I think you can too! The best part is it came out exactly like my mother's and that's all I really wanted.