Faijita Night!

I'm trying to cook healthy since our 10 days of feasting in NYC. So, tonight's meal was faijitas, made from all organic produce, and our organic grass fed beef we buy from our friend.

I marinated a flat iron steak in a mixture of beer, lime juice, chipotles in adobo sauce, chili powder, and salt, and let that marinade for about 30 minutes.

Next, I chopped up organic red and green peppers, garlic, jalepenos, and an avocado.

I sauteed the garlic in some coconut oil, then added the peppers along with a little bit of beer:



I also cut some organic roma tomatoes half wise, sprinkled olive oil and kosher salt on them, and put them cut side up on the grill to char them and give them a smokey flavor:



Scott grilled the steak for 5 minutes and then let it rest for another 5 to maintain it's juices:



Meanwhile, I made up a couple different sauces for the faijitas. I made a sweet corn, jalepeno, chipotle pepper, black bean, tomato relish and sauteed it in a little coconut oil to just get it melty and warm



Beans and corn do not look pretty in pictures! But it tasted dang good!

I also made a sauce using chipotles in adobo sauce, fresh cilantro (just a small bunch as this I feel this brightens the dish but I don't love the taste of cilantro), beer, chili powder, garlic powder, kosher salt, and lime juice

Here is the chipotle sauce, avocado, sour cream, fresh cilantro, ready to be used for toppings:


I then chopped up the steak and added it to the pan with the peppers to let the flavors meld a little:



When the whole wheat tortillas were warm, we took them out of the oven, and then it was time to assemble:

Tortilla, sour cream, corn and bean mixture:



Topped by the Faijita meat, peppers, chipotle sauce, and grilled tomatoes:



Avocados topped it off



Now for the best part- eating it!



Mmm! Muy bueno!

Home again!

Sunday July 10

Well, we are back home to Louisville, safe and sound. While I do love NYC, I am always glad to be back to our house, which feels like a mansion after the tiny Cupboard we have lived in the past 10 days.

To celebrate being home, I decided to cook a healthy dinner.



Amy picked us up from the airport this morning, and brought me 2 yellow squash from her aunts garden. That was my inspiration to make a light summer pasta dish with yellow squash, fresh basil, tomatoes, ground beef, and parmesan.
To honor the fabulous Pioneer Woman, I'm posting this blog in her famous step by step picture style.
First, I browned 1 lb of ground beef:


Then I drained it, even though it was hardly necessary as the beef is so lean


After wiping any residual oil out of the pan, I then added olive oil and sauteed garlic



Next I got my pasta water boiling and cooked the pasta






While that was cooking, I chopped up my 2 yellow squash



And then when the garlic started to brown, I added the squash to
the pan



I then added about a cup of white wine, and half a cup of chicken broth to the squash



I let that simmer for about 5 minutes, then added diced tomatoes (from a can, because sadly the ones I'm growing are not ripe yet)
I also in added the beef:


I let all that simmer for about 5 minutes more, then I added the al dente cooked pasta




Here is a secret ingredient I've finally started using when cooking pasta dishes- a reserved cup of the pasta water



Adding this really gives the dish an Umami texture; very comforting!
Also, another secret I've recently picked up is to add a couple pats of cold butter to the dish after the pasta and water have been added



If you are not using any milk, adding the butter will give the dish that creaminess that dairy always adds
Speaking of dairy, I then added some fresh Parmasean cheese


And some fresh basil



And then add a little extra Parmasean to your plate :)


Yum o!



This dish turned out light and fresh tasting, yet very flavorful and comforting.
Mmm! Make it yourself- it's delish!

Day #10

Saturday- our last day!
Brunch at Corsino






Olive tapenade crostini, and cauliflower, parmesan and pine nut crostini


Baked eggs with tomatoes, basil and parmesan


Dude. This was seriously amazing!


Truffled egg toast with cheese and asparagus


Each got a free Bellini for checking in on foursquare!


Free ones taste the best!


After brunch, we packed, and took all our purchases to the UPS store to ship home for us. We have started doing this in the past couple years since we never check bags when we travel. It's still cheaper to ship home a 50 lb box by UPS than it is to check 2 bags 4 times at the airport. And UPS will not lose your stuff like the airlines can. So, this option is a no brainer for us!

Later on, we went to a free wine tasting at Union Sq Wine Shop. In honor of Bastille day, they had all French wine to taste.



We were shocked at the crowd- it was absolutely packed! We realized why it was so crazy there when we got in the tasting room- there were over 30 wines to taste! All for free! I've never heard of such a huge wine tasting!








Since that is an insane amount of wine to taste, we chose about half that amount. It was fun despite the crowd.

Next we decided we needed a snack, so we went to one of our favorite places, Terrior. They have the best tapas; we have never had a dish there we didn't like!
Scott got his favorite, Beet Risotto balls with Gorgonzola cheese:



Yeah, buddy!


I usually get the veal and ricotta meatballs or the sage leaf wrapped lamb sausage, but decided to try something new this time, Tonnato and Celery Brushetta



Tonnato is a Sicilian tuna fish dish, and it was delicious!


The menu here is great; so eclectic with the most interesting foods.


We walked home and finished packing, then got ready for dinner






We walked a few blocks to dinner to this restaurant called Takashi, a Yakiniku restaurant. This is Japanese for "cooking grilled meat" that is cooked by the diners at the table. The only thing they serve is sustainably raised beef from a few select farms- perfect!






There are 2 types of beef you could get: raw, or to be grilled tableside. We had both kinds. For an appetizer, we had raw beef achilles tendon in ponzu sauce:


Even though the thought of this was a little gross, the taste definitely was not! It was slightly chewy and had a delicious light beefy flavor. Very good!


Oh, and before the tendon, they gave us complimentary snacks to enjoy:



From left to right: garlicky bean sprouts, spicy kimchi, and cabbage with a white miso sauce. This is a classic example of why the Japanese are not fat. This is their type of appetizer, pickled vegetables, while us Americans graze on rolls and bread baskets with a processed margarine spread. We could learn a lot from them!
So here is what we ordered to grill:
Scott got a plate of offal, which was beef heart, liver, 1st stomach, 4th stomach, and sweetbreads (thymus gland)
Yep, pretty gross! But he loved it all except the stomachs- said they were too chewy.








I am not quite as adventurous, so I got the Kobe beef short rib



And also the beef belly






We cooked each piece 1-2 minutes per side. I really liked the belly, but the short ribs were a little too fatty. My favorite of all were the sweetbreads- they are so tender and flavorful.
All in all we had a fun time grilling our own food and trying new adventurous foods, but neither of us felt the meal was outstanding. But a vey fun experience and a fun ending to a wonderful trip!

Good bye New York, we'll see you again soon!