Freezer Burritos

Hello!

This is the second time I have made these spectacular freezer burritos from Shutterbean. They are great because 1. they actually reheat well (unlike many frozen burritos, in my opinion), 2. you can customize them, and 3. you can make them in different sizes.

Check out my assembly line above clockwise from the top:

-a mix of black beans and low-fat refried beans (1 can of each) plus a bunch of spices (cumin, salt, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, and tumeric, I think)

-homemade corn salsa

(-water--for me, not the burritos)

(-remotes since I tend to watch food network while I cook)

-tortillas. I use enchilada size tortillas since I don't like eating an entire burrito at once. This way they're smaller and you can eat half for a snack or all for a meal

-nonfat greek yogurt which I use instead of sour cream

-fresh lime, tomatoes, and onion

-tin foil, 2 sheets, ready and waiting

-cheese -- this time I got a pre-shredded "mexican blend" because I hate grating cheese

-rice made with a pinch of chili powder, a can of chopped tomatoes, 1 glove of garlic (minced), and a pinch of cumin. This was the coolest thing that I learned from Shutterbean: add things to your rice cooker! SO. EXCITING. And more on that soon.

A close up. You can really add whatever you like/dislike. I don't really love cilantro, but most people would have that nicely chopped on their cutting board. Other things to add: hot sauce, veggies (I may try corn and zucchini next time), meat, etc!

Ready? Set? Go! Proportions are the hardest part of this for me--I tend to over-fill my tortillas. Still, I got the hang of it, mostly, by the time I was finished. Also: I got I think 8-10 burritos out of all of this (with bigger tortillas you wouldn't make as many) but I have lots of leftover salsa.

Burrito time! I spared you the photos of my horribly rolled burritos. I can't roll them. Sad, sad story for me. Luckily, freezing them mostly solves this problem.

Once frozen, remove tinfoil, wrap in a damp paper towel and heat in the microwave for 2-3 min. Enjoy with more nonfat greek yogurt and salsa!

Layered Salad

Salads are one of those things that I really don't make very often. I like them, don't get me wrong, but since I don't usually like just lettuce and dressing for a meal, I can't justify buying all of the ingredients. I love Caesar salads, but they aren't the most healthy or nutritious option in the salad world. I don't like nuts or carrots, which are easy additions to bulk up salads, and I never eat enough lettuce before it goes bad. However, I think I've found a way to eat more salads! I discovered my new favorite salad about a month ago when I was searching for a light summer meal that I could prep ahead of time. I came across an Asian steak salad and was immediately intrigued. It was fantastic. More on that later once I recreate it and take some photos, though.

This got me thinking about other ways to bulk up salads besides with meat. I have the Epicurious ap on my phone (and I'm obsessed!) so I typed in "summer," "salad," and "dinner" into the search categories and discovered this one. Well, my version is variation of the actual salad since I substituted artichoke hearts for olives and left out the fennel since I didn't have any). Anyway, what I love about this salad is that you can make it ahead of time (you're supposed to!) and it's unusual and filling enough to be a lovely dinner.

Layered Salad
as adapted from Epicurious

-1 heads of lettuce. I used a variety of greens but it calls for romaine.
-6-8 oz garbanzo beans (3/4 of a can, or more or less to taste)
-8 artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
-3 tomatoes, chopped (or 8 oz or so cherry tomatoes sliced in half)
-1 zucchini*, thinly sliced. I used a mandoline.

Dressing:
-1 head roasted garlic
-1 tsp olive oil
-1/2 c mayo
-1/4 c buttermilk
-2-3 T chopped, fresh basil
-salt/pepper to taste


In a large bowl, place the lettuce (washed and torn into bite-sized pieces), top with garbanzo beans, then artichoke hearts, then tomatoes, and finally, cover the entire top of the salad with zucchini, overlapping so you can't see anything underneath.


(*this is how you know how much to use. Slice part of the zucchini and start layering it, and stop when the salad is covered) Top with dressing and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 8. Toss and serve.

Dressing: blend all ingredients. Note: there will be more dressing than you need, most likely.

Woodies on the Warf

I went to this event for the first time ever to take some photos for my mom. While I don't really care much about cars, I was pleasantly surprised by these and enjoyed myself more than expected.


Matching cars! So cute! I might have been able to squeeze into the little one but I didn't think it would be the best idea to try...

Great color and I loved the front of it.


The engine of one...in good condition probably.

My favorite hood ornament, hands down.


Another cool hood ornament and nice grill.


They had about every color car you could possible think of. Including eggplant (not pictured, sorry).


Woody bugs! Below is the back of the VW woody, complete with surfboard.

Bermuda #2

Now that I have the rest of the Bermuda photos, I can actually show you the deliciousness that was Bermuda High Tea as well as some other meals. So here goes:

Baby brother is very pleased with our set of rum snacks. Bottom plate: cream puffs, lemon mousse with chocolate shells, rum truffles. Middle plate: shrimp po'boy (great), crab salads in mini brioches, bloody mary shooters, spinach roll ups, smoked salmon on rye (delish). Top plate: macaroons, scones (not pictured/already devoured).

The season tray that my parents split. Bottom plate: cheesecake squares (phenomenal), fruit mousse Napoleon things, lemon or lime cream (not pictured), something else that wasn't pictured. Middle plate: roast beef roll ups, frittata, shrimp in mini croissants (delish), cucumber shooters (barely pictured), something else (barely pictured). Top plate: meringues, scones (not pictured/already devoured).

Spiked coffee with an unusual fruit liqueur that I can't remember the name of with a rock candy sugar swizzle stick.

Beef carpaccio at one of the Fairmont Southampton's restaurants.

A caprese salad at the same place as above. This lovely presentation is one I'm dying to replicate once I get my hands on some big, heirloom tomatoes!

As you can see, the food was delicious. We had some fantastic fish dishes that of course I forgot to take photos of. Naturally. On every family vacation my brother and I each get to pick out a souvenir. Luckily, we still get to pretend we're little kids and each got something. I'm not sure what he chose but I got a Bermuda teatime cookbook. I'm very excited to make some snacks from it and will hopefully be doing so soon. In the meantime, I'm stuck with a frightening amount of zucchini, but more on that in the next few posts.

Bermuda

My baby brother graduated from Dartmouth and in celebration (both for actually getting him packed up and out of the dorm on time and for graduating in four years) we took a quick family vacation to Bermuda. I had no idea how close Bermuda was to Boston. Just a quick, two-hour flight later and you're on a tropical island with turquoise ocean and pink sand beaches. Yes, they are really pink, but more on that later.

Lovely, right? Our last night there was a couple sharing a bottle of champagne in one of these love seat chair things watching the sunset. Pretty perfect. My favorite part about Bermuda, besides the obvious sun and warm water, was how formal it was. I've been to the Caribbean before, as well as Hawaii and various other tropical places, but this was a different feel. The hotel we stayed in hosted a happy hour every Friday evening and describing it will better explain what I mean by "formal." I love happy hour since it signals affordable food and drinks, and usually, a younger crowd. In Portland and really everywhere else in the US, it means a variety of people--business types in suits just out of the office, college kids in jeans and tshirts meeting friends over a PBR, etc. You could wear a studded leather jacket or a suit jacket and be just fine. Not here. Almost all of the guys/men were wearing Bermuda shorts (basically suit shorts), button down shirts or well-ironed polos, suit jackets, knee socks, and dress shoes, and the many of the girls were in cocktail dresses! at 5 in the afternoon on a Friday! A slight difference, to say the least.


This was our hotel. It was pink to match the sand. The sand (sadly) wasn't hot pink or anything, but it definitely had a distinct salmon-colored tinge. Our hotel wasn't on the beach and you had to ferry to another hotel across the bay to get to the beach so I failed to get pictures. Yeah, fail.


More hotel views. I could have stayed longer, certainly. The other best part was the High Tea we had upon arrival. You could chose between the seasonal food selection and the rum one and then pick your choice of tea. It was phenomenal. More on the that later once I snag photos from my mom's camera! For now, a few more Bermuda photos:

Bailey's Coffee

If it's really cold and wet out, and you're tired and just want something cozy to drink, get a bailey's coffee. It's just coffee with bailey's in it. I add sugar to this (yes, I know someone is cringing in horror right now but I really don't like bitter things). In other words, this is my substitute for an Irish coffee--perfect for those of us who don't really like the taste of coffee, or anything else that is bitter!

Bailey's Coffee:

-1 mug of black coffee
-1 shot of bailey's
-a few packets of sugar

And only two months later...

Yes, I know, I know, I've been dreadfully behind on this thing. I can explain! I'm not in Portland anymore!

So here's what happened: I just haven't been finding anything in Portland. At all. So when my roommate suddenly got a job in San Francisco, I figured that instead of trying to find a new place, it made more sense to move home for a bit and reevaluate things. After moving out June 1 I drove up to Seattle for a long weekend to do some job hunting and networking there, drove back to PDX and flew out a few days later for baby brother's graduation. Graduation was the expected combination of hectic and great, and from there my family flew off to Bermuda! After a few days there, I flew back to Portland, picked up my car and zoomed on home (but don't worry, Mom, I didn't speed!).

Having been back in California for about 2 weeks now, I'm finally settled and organized. As you may imagine, I've been a bit scatterbrained with all the travel.

California has been pretty fabulous so far. I've missed the sun more than I realized. I'm lucky to have a great house, a big kitchen (complete with dishwasher and disposal!!), and a gorgeous garden! I'm getting really spoiled by all the fresh fruit and herbs right outside. In my opinion, that's the best kind of spoiled to be.

So for at least the next little bit, expect recipes with lots of limes, plums, and lemons (since we have an abundance on hand), as well as grilled things since I have a gas grill here.