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Big S Farms Salsa Redeemed, or Making The Most of a Tortilla Disaster

2 weekends ago we bought some whole wheat tortillas to make breakfast burritos…it was a good thing there were only two of us eating.  There was a note on the package saying they pack their tortillas when they are fresh and still warm, so there may be some sticking together.  I shrugged it off when I read it, but THEY WERE NOT KIDDING.  We only managed to salvage two whole tortillas for burritos.  The rest were practically glued together and impossible to pry apart without tearing.  So much for more filled-tortilla meals after that. 

To make up for the disaster and not waste the tortillas (which were pretty tasty at least!), I concocted one of my favorite things, a CASSEROLE!

Tortilla-Fail Turned Taco Casserole

• 1/2 pound ground beef
• 1/2 large onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 4 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 tb minced garlic
• 1 package fajita seasoning or taco seasoning
• Salt, Pepper, chili powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, hot sauce (Big S Farms!) to taste
• 1 cup water or broth
• 1 can pinto beans
• 1 1/2 cups salsa (Big S Farms Smoke on Mountain! Yum!)
• A giant pile of tortillas, shredded/torn/cut/involuntarily turned into medium-sized pieces
• Shredded mexican-type cheese

1. Brown ground beef in a large pan.  Remove beef, leaving just a little bit of fat to cook onion, pepper, carrots and garlic until soft and translucent.
2. Add seasoning packet, spices, water, beans and salsa.  Simmer over medium heat until it gets nice and thick.  As it heats, taste a couple times to adjust seasoning to your own spiciness.
3. While the meat mixture is cooking, spread tortilla pieces on a baking sheet and coat with cooking spray and toast in a 350 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes or until they’re a bit brown and crispy (check on them to make sure they aren’t burning). 
4. Combine the meat and the tortillas in a large casserole dish coated with cooking spray.  It will take a little bit of work to get it evenly mixed…I mixed it in the casserole dish and the tortillas really wanted to clump together.  It would probably work better to dump the tortillas into the pan with the beef little by little and mix until they’re all coated with flavorful sauce.
5. Top casserole with cheese and bake at 350 degrees until everything is bubbly and the cheese starts to brown. 

We served over shredded lettuce with some fresh chopped tomatoes and sour cream.  SO filling and amazing.  Matt had it for lunch leftovers yesterday and completely forgot the lettuce and sour cream (we are out of tomatoes).  He said it was still delicious! I’m having it for lunch today, but will definitely be adding the lettuce because otherwise I would be tempted to eat way too much of the yummy part and end up with an over-full tummy from lunch.  No fun when you’re trying to get work done! 

Here are some pictures, some fuzzy (grrr), some great.  Also, note the return of Big S Farms salsa…I was completely right…it worked really really well in this dish! Can’t wait to open up one of the spicier ones!

αυγά rancheros?

First up, Santana teaches Matt how to do push ups! No matter what she is doing, if Matt tries to exercise in the middle of the living room, she POUNCES!  Her whole body wiggles and wags along with her tail and she looks happier than ever while bounding across the room to run under him, lick his face, pounce in front of him, and just generally play along with this super fun game of pushups!  It is crazy adorable and we love her for it!  This morning we decided she is the perfect dog for us because of her quirky awesomeness…and we concluded that this is because she is the dog-version of our favorite schvester, Dori.  They are puppy/person soulmates, for sure.

  

Second, some yummy giveaways:

Erin at I Walk In This World is giving away a ton of Mr. Kracker products and asking about whole foods.  Whole foods! Hooray!

Over in Jackson’s World you can enter a giveaway for some Holey Donuts….I need these. Anytime they send me an email, I spend most of the day debating whether or not I need some mail-order donuts. 

Can we count Holey Donuts as a Wholey Food? I think so. 

Ok, enough drooling…on to some cooking.  I have a few meals backlogged that I want to post, but will just spread them out over a few days.  First up, a Greek-inspired breakfast (we have been on a Mediterranean kick lately, I guess).

You all know about my recent obsession with mexi-breakfasts.  I usually get really excited when there are huevos rancheros on a menu…I love the mix of the runny fried egg, creamy beans, crunchy tortilla, spicy salsa…it’s all wonderful for me.

We had leftover gyro meat from an amazing meal we shared from  Mr.. Gyro in Greenwood (this place is SPECTACULAR), and I turned it into a greeky rancheros type thing.  I may need a suggestion for a title for this meal, since all of my ideas have been pretty lame. 

Greek Breakfast Heaven

• 2 pitas
• 1/2 cup cooked chickpeas
• 1/4 of a small onion, chopped
• dried parsley
• 1/4 cup water
• minced garlic
• 3 Tb shredded cheddar cheese
• Leftover Gyro meat
• 4 fried eggs

1. Toast pitas until a little bit crispy
2. While toasting, sauté onion and garlic until soft. Add parsley, water and chickpeas, cooking over medium-high heat until water is mostly absorbed and chickpeas are heated through. Mash chickpeas to desired consistency (I left it fairly chunky).
3. Spread chickpea mash on pitas and sprinkle cheese ton top.  Pop back in the oven for a couple minutes to melt the cheese. 
4. Heat gyro meat.  We just reheated in the microwave for a couple minutes.  Our leftover meat had a little yummy sauce on it, so that got mixed in as well and when it reheated (with a tiny bit of water added to keep it from drying out) it made a really flavorful sauce. 
5. Put the reheated meat and any sauce on top of pitas.
6. Top with fried eggs.  I aim for over-medium.  

YUM!  This was sooo satisfying.  Definitely not a light every-day breakfast.  But a wonderful weekend treat that held us over for quite a while!  We definitely got our protein in for the day! Also note in the second picture how perfectly my two eggs turned out!! The two I made for Matt were not as pretty, but I was pretty pleased with myself for the second batch. 

 

 

Coming soon: Big S Farms Salsa redeemed! Stay tuned!

Family Time Finally!

I mentioned somewhat briefly before that my parents were here last weekend (Friday – Tuesday) and that we had a great time.  This was really just brushing over the entire weekend, which included a TON of eating at new places, hanging out with my mom and dad and Santana being adorably excited to see them.  I was waiting to post any details about the weekend until I got the pictures my dad took.  I wanted to share some of the great shots he got (luckily, we had mostly pretty nice weather).

When my folks got in on Friday, they were exhausted from flying across country all day, so we got lunch at Macaroni Grill and crashed at home and played with Santana until Matt got home.  After my parents went to their hotel in the U-district, Matt and I got a fast dinner and crashed for the night.  A very very uneventful first evening in Seattle.

Saturday was a completely different story! Since my parents’ hotel is located directly next to one of our favorite breakfast places, we splurged (way expensive and HUGE portions) on a fun Saturday breakfast/brunch. 

Portage Bay

Portage Bay is really amazingly wonderful, and it shows in their food.  Their philosophy “Eat like you give a damn”, is seen in their great local, organic, DELICIOUS breakfast choices (we’ve never been for lunch). My dad ordered Banana Foster French Toast, my mom went with a Pork and Apple stuffed omelet and Matt and I shared one of the best omelets I’ve had in a while: Greek Omelet. Pepper bacon, herb-roasted organic onions, organic baby spinach, Greek myzythra cheese, basil pistou. YUM!  It came with their roasted potatoes, which are addictingly wonderful.  We took Dori and her mom here when they were in town, and of course they loved it! We’ve actually only been a few times, since it is such a splurge (and a long wait on the weekends), but if you want to impress visitors in Seattle (or to be impressed if you’re visiting yourself), head to the U-district Portage Bay.  They have a 2nd location on South Lake Union, but we haven’t tried that one yet. 

After breakfast, we crashed at our apartment for a bit again, and I taught my mom and dad how to play Wii bowling.  This was probably one of my favorite parts of their visit because it felt a lot like being home as we got competitive and joking around with each other while we were playing.  Also, my dad is amazing at Wii bowling!! He is extremely particular and precise about things, so once he figured out how to line up the shot, he did really great! In his first time ever playing! Way to go dad!

After relaxing for a while, we headed to Woodinville to visit the Red Hook Ale Brewery.  So fun!  They have a tour there that costs $1 per person…it includes the tour (obviously), plus a mini taster glass, and the equivalent of at least 2 pints of beer samples! I don’t really drink beer (although I tasted all of them from Matt’s glass), but I know when I hear a good deal! $1 just for the little glass (which will be perfect for mini-cocktails) is a good deal, but we also got some fun info about Red Hook’s history and the making of beer in general.  The tour itself was held primarily in a large room with a bar and tap setup.  This is really the only feasible way for them to give the tour to 60-80 people at one time, and it worked pretty well.  Our tour guide (Valerie), was really funny and called some annoying people out for talking the whole time (they eventually snuck out).  Definitely another place to go when visiting the Seattle area, especially if you are a fan of beer!  

My dad got a picture of the outside of the tour/gift shop/restaurant entryway (and Matt and I waiting patiently for our tour)

After the tour, we sat down in The Forecasters Pub, located in the Brewery, for dinner.  My dad got a really yummy chili, my mom had a southwest-type salad, and Matt and I split a pasta dish we weren’t crazy about.  It’s bar food and if we had been in the mood for burgers or something, I probably would have been more impressed, but I was starving by this point, so anything was good. My dad got more pictures!

Sunday was GORGEOUS.  The sun was shining and it wasn’t raining…we took advantage of the weather and the four of us walked with Santana up to the 74th Street Ale House.  We weren’t planning on stopping there, but we were all getting hungry after poking our heads in little stores along the way and working up an appetite.  Since it was so nice, we grabbed two outdoor tables and tied Santana next to us.  She fussed the entire time, but I fed her some of my mom’s potato chips and she was pleased.  She loves to snack just like I do! 

My dad got the blackened salmon sandwich and my mom had a Reuben (there was an article taped to the window saying that this was the best Reuben in Seattle!). 

Matt and I split a soup and salad combo, with caesar salad and the 74th St Gumbo.  From their website:

Based on an old New Orleans recipe, we feel this is the best Gumbo anywhere. "Hot and Spicy", it consists of baby shrimp, roasted chicken, fresh Cascioppo Brothers andouille sausage, onions, tomatoes and green peppers. Served on a bed of "Dirty Rice" and garnished with pickled okra. Accompanied by freshed sliced Essential Bakery rustic white bread.

It was pretty yummy, with a nice spice to it.  I also stole a bunch of my mom chips (for me and Santana).  A great lunch!

My parents were really full, and still on East coast time.  So Matt and I were on our own for dinner and got a quickie rotisserie chicken and had macaroni AND potato salad on the side (my mom and I spent the afternoon making these…LOVE comfort food from home!)

While we were walking, my dad took some pictures of the area:

        

On Monday, Matt had to work and I took a vacation day to show my folks Pike Place Market.  Even though it was not as busy as it would have been on the weekend, it was still pretty packed.  We didn’t stay long, but my dad took lots of pictures and we ate at Lowell’s in the market, where all three of us had Lowell’s Famous Fish & Chips – 4 Pieces of Hand Breaded Alaskan Cod, Fried Golden and Served with Cole Slaw and French Fries, Tartar Sauce and Lemon Wedges.  Malt Vinegar on the Side. Very crunchy and tasty ! But a huge meal! 

The highway right next to the market.

Me glaring at and my mom ignoring my dad’s picture attempts.

Park sleepers                     

Lots of color in the market…  

     

            As you can see, my mom and I are not amused by the idea of standing in the middle of the road for a picture with the Pike Place sign.  I normally complain about people doing this when I’m down there!

Since their flight was leaving super early Tuesday morning, we took them to a hotel by the airport Monday after Matt got home, and Matt and I just had sandwiches for dinner later that night. 

Such a great weekend!  Santana was super excited to see them, and got just as excited each day when they came back over!  I hadn’t seen my mom since last June and my dad since August…the longest I’ve ever gone without being home, so it was such a nice, relaxing weekend to have them here.  I can’t wait until I get to head back to NY for a visit!

Click over to Santana’s blog post about the weekend to see the adorable puppy pictures my dad took!

Big S Farms Salsa arrival!

Thanks to Missy’s great salsa recipe contest a couple weeks ago, I received a big box full of spiciness on Wednesday! I didn’t get a picture of the box, but it was pretty great…one huge box, full of packing peanuts, with a much smaller box packed inside. Inside this wonderful smaller box…3 jars of salsa and 3 bottles of hot sauce (and some recipe cards)!! Thanks to Vance from Big S Farms!

I am crazy about salsa…if there are tortilla chips and salsa in the house, I will probably want to snack on them. If I snack on them, they will probably disappear. I’m ok with this. It’s delicious! On the Big S Farms website, they describe their Gourmet Habanero sauces and salsas:

Our habanero sauces and salsas are crafted with a perfect balance of heat and flavor to make the perfect taste treat for even the most discerning palate. Each product is made with all natural habanero varieties and ingredients.

I’m contemplating a big Mexican feast this weekend, since I have so much salsa and hot sauce on hand. Perhaps perhaps perhaps. As I try all the varieties, I will definitely be reviewing them here and letting you know how I used them in my meals!

However, we already have two jars of salsa open in our fridge (one we bought a while back and one my parents had at their hotel when they were in town). It seems silly with two half-eaten salsas already on hand to open another jar. But it was new! We had to try it!

So we chose the Medium salsa for a blind taste test of salsa brands!! Matt and I are big fans of taste tests…does anyone remember when Diet 7up had a promo where you could fill out a form online and get a can of diet 7up, sprite zero, and diet sierra mist delivered to you? It was 2 years ago, I think? Anyway, we were EXTREMELY excited about this, and ran to the computer to fill out the form as soon as we saw the commercial. I don’t even think we had to talk about it…the commercial ended, we looked at each other, and we ran to the computer.

We didn’t see the package for a while…and when we did, we had mostly forgotten about it. I went to UPS to pick it up and since it was a package, I had to open it right away…I called Matt from the car, VERY excited. Not only that, they were whole cans of soda! I got 3 cans of soda in the mail! Awesome! He was just as pumped, and we soon were blind taste testing away!

We set up a pretty elaborate scheme with 6 cups. Each of us filled up the others’ cups and marked them with a sticker on the bottom. The taste test revealed some interesting results. From best to worst, Matt’s choice was: Sierra Mist, 7up, Sprite. Mine was: Sprite, 7up, Sierra Mist. We had reverse preferences! My favorite part is that despite the fact that this was a 7up promo, neither of us preferred the Diet 7up over both of the others…promo failed!

Needless to say, Matt was up for a salsa taste test.

I set the test up like this (sorry for the fuzziness):

6 chips, 3 salsas (Big S Farms Smoke on the Mountain, Trader Joe’s Medium Salsa, San Juan Salsa Mild), 1 glass of water.

First, Matt closed his eyes while I fed him the salsas in a random order and then I recorded his preferences. Then Matt fed me the salsa in a different random order…I had to turn around because I am really bad at keeping my eyes closed for things like this.

THE RESULTS (from most to least favorite):
Matt: Big S Farms, San Juan Salsa, Trader Joe’s
Mallory: Trader Joe’s, San Juan Salsa, Big S Farms

We are reversed again!! I think this is hilarious.

I was sad that I didn’t like the Big S Farms salsa! It had a strong flavor that I couldn’t pinpoint and I just wouldn’t be able to snack on that! I think I preferred the TJ’s because it is the thinnest and simplest, without a lot of “fresh” flavors…this sounds strange, but I grew up snacking on this kind of salsa, and it’s the one I can eat with tortilla chips for hours on end because it’s so addicting. I think the Big S Farms will be ridiculously better in meals, and I can’t wait to try it out! We both agreed that we liked the San Juan Salsa brand…we used this in our breakfast burritos over the weekend and it looks homemade…chunky and finely diced (similar to a salsa I made recently). Matt said his top two were really close to one another, almost tied…and I really enjoy the San Juan Salsa, I just couldn’t snack on it on a regular basis.

No matter what my fussy salsa taste buds think, Big S Farms won the Matt Taste Test! Hopefully he will snack on it, and at least I know he will love it when I use it to make some Mexican food! Have you tried Big S Farms? If not, click over to their site  to order your own or find some recipe suggestions! I can’t wait to see how its unique flavor works with other things, especially when heated up! (This makes me consider another taste test…salsa con queso dip! Matt, can I count you in?)

Falafeleftovers

I love leftovers! I am extremely satisfied by using up random bits of leftover things throughout the week and get really frustrated when food is wasted or spoils. So last night’s dinner was very fulfilling for me.

When we made falafel from scratch the other day, Matt had 3 patties for lunch the next day, and we froze the last four for later use. Tuesday, I took them out of the freezer and defrosted them in the fridge, and then popped them in the toaster oven to heat up while I put together the rest of dinner, which largely came from our CSA box this week!

Falafel Chop Salad

• 1 head Red Leaf Lettuce, washed and torn
• Salad Dressing to Coat (we used parmesan pepper or something like that)
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 medium cucumber, chopped
• ¼ small white onion, chopped
• ¼ block Beecher’s Flagship cheddar, chopped
• 2 small pitas
• Olive oil
• Garlic powder
• Onion powder
• Italian seasoning
• Grated Parmesan
• 4 leftover falafel patties 

1. Toss lettuce with dressing, just enough to coat lightly. Split between two plates and top with veggies and cheddar.
2. Brush pitas with a light coating of olive oil and garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, and parmesan to taste. Place these on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees until toasty (10-20 minutes…keep your eye on them!). Remove from oven, let cool for a minute, then quarter.
3. Toast falafel patties on a tray in the toaster over until warmed through and re-crisped.
4. Serve salad topped with crumbled falafel and pita crisps on the side.

Super easy! I topped each of my pieces of pita with a heaping pile of lettuce and veggies and cheese and ate like a mini open-faced sandwich. So delicious and really satisfying for our tummies…also very very filling. We debated putting some leftover black beans (from breakfast burritos this past weekend) on the salad as well, but I’m glad we didn’t, since I probably wouldn’t have finished.

Matt gets no carrots because of his OAS… stupid allergies! Also, speaking of Matt, he did an adorably wonderful post about the Mallory Color Guessing Game, which he made for me when we started dating and he taught me hexadecimal! Fun!