Vegetable fajitas on the run

The work continues. They were doing painting and inspections, etc. so I was in the way even just sitting at my desk. 

I popped the dogs in the car and headed out to do errands. 

When 11am rolled around I was getting hungry since I ate breakfast so early.

I decided to head to a local taqueria.

It is a cute little place but during lunch time it can get really crowded as the workers from the many office building in the area flock in to get their burrito/taco fix.

 

I ordered the vegetarian fajitas.

It came with a really huge whole wheat tortilla but it turned out way to messy to try to eat taco style with a tortilla that big. I ended up just eating the veggies straight out of the takeout container.

The failed taco attempt.

It also came with tortilla chips but I skipped those. I did give each of the dogs a tortilla chip.

Connor is not much of a gentleman when it comes to taking treats - he is a grabber.

Abby, on the other hand, is very gentle.

Here she is gently holding onto her chip while she patiently waits for me to take the picture.

I should have ordered one of the smaller plates - I only managed to finish about 1/3 of the portion and I will probably end up having to toss the rest((((
 
I am hoping that this is the last day of the work for the inside of my apartment. And I am REALLY hoping that they did put insulation around the pipes - as they said they would - otherwise I will have the joy of hearing my neighbors every time they run the faucet, use the shower or flush the toilet (Ewww).

 

Almost there

Seasoned black beans over rice.

It is good to know I am not alone in my cleaning hysteria.

This morning, while I was making a billion trips to the dumpster, I kept passing my neighbors. It turns out that 3 of them stayed home today to finish clearing their patios and they were all frantic. Panic is always more fun practiced en masse.

It would be easier if we could leave some stuff on the patio but since they need to re-pour the concrete, everything has to be removed. I am sure you were desperate to know that.

I stopped at lunchtime for some sustenance. I had these ingredients on hand:

Garlic, onion, black beans and chopped tomatoes.

I also had a half a packet of this spice mix:

In a deep skillet I added 1/4 chopped yellow onion and 2 cloves of chopped garlic with some olive oil on medium heat.

After the onions started to soften, I added in the garlic and 2 teaspoons of the spice packet. 

Then I added 1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed and 1 1/2 cups of the chopped tomatoes. I also shredded one carrot and added that along with 1 cup of water into the skillet. While I let that simmer I put 1 cup of rice in a sauce pan to simmer.

I think it turned out well :-)

My lunch portion was heavy on the spiced black beans and light on the rice. The portion pictured above is one I made to photograph. It just looked better with more rice:-)

*Had to pause for a bit - it started to rain and I had to scramble to get the couple of boxes I have left in under the overhang*

Since the beans turned out so well I am including the recipe.


Spicy black beans


Ingredients: 

1 15oz. can of black beans, drained and rinsed.
1 1/2 cup of chopped tomatoes
1  cup of water
2 Tbsp. of nutritional yeast
1/4 yellow onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp. of chili spice mix
2 tsp. of Rotel tomatoes and green chilies
1/4 tsp. of oregano
1 carrot, shredded
2 tsp. of olive oil


Directions:

Add the olive oil to a pan on medium heat. Add the chopped onion to the pan and let it cook until softened (about 5 minutes). Toss in the minced garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. 

Next the black beans go into the skillet along with the tomatoes, chili spice mix, oregano, Rotel tomatoes and chilies, the shredded carrot, nutritional yeast and the water.

Let this simmer for at least 20 minutes so that the flavors marry together. Keep an eye on the pan and add more water if the mixture is starting to look dry. 

Serve over cooked rice (white or brown - your choice) with some sour cream or shredded cheese - or both!

Enjoy! 

I ate what??

The first stop on my outing today was:

The hunt begins for Kenmore U vacuum bags.

They were out at Sears - this Sears store is closing soon so their supply was sparse.

Then I was forced to go to Walmart. Which is not my favorite place since it is giant moving diorama of what is wrong with American consumerism. But the people watching is always fun.


I finally found some vacuum bags and then I was heading to the checkout stand when I spotted this:

Yeah, it's things like dried beef on a shelf that make me slightly scared about shopping at Walmart.


Then I remembered my Mom used to feed us creamed chipped beef on toast which uses the above pictured dried beef. Yikes, some childhood memories are made to be forgotten.

I pass by this on the way home so I had to stop in - 

And I picked up this for lunch - 

It was very tasty!

And I didn't bother to read the ingredients which was a good thing because after I finished eating and I was uploading the photos I noticed this - 

Those little white things with the eyeballs? Yup, those are the anchovies.

Would I have gobbled it down with as much enthusiasm if I realized I was chomping on teeny tiny baby fish? Probably not. But at least I got more fish in my diet:-)


And I did successfully re-register with the Y so I will be hitting the gym tomorrow - Woot!

A breakfast present - salmon onigiri

In my usual trend of only occasionally eating breakfast foods for breakfast, I pulled out the one treat I had left over from my trip to Nijiya.

Salmon onigiri!

If you haven't eaten this before - I am going to give you the walkthrough.

The sheet of nori is actually packaged separately from the rice.

The rice ball is stuffed with delicious cooked salmon.

If your rice ball is cold from sitting in the fridge like mine was, you can pop it in the microwave for a few seconds to bring it up to room temperature. It is much tastier when it isn't cold IMO.

Then you need to take the nori out of the package.

And wrap up the rice ball with the nori - almost like you were wrapping a present.

Ta da! A lovely breakfast present:-)

I also had tea and a packet of blueberries. *warning* the picture came out blurry ((

Here is a better picture of the blueberries if you are curious.

Happy May Day everyone!

Feel free to frolic around the Maypole if you have one handy in your back yard :-)

I can never get enough Tom Kha Gai

I took the dogs for a long walk this morning even though I feel bereft without my Garmin. But I am holding out hope that I will find it sometime this weekend.

I was heading home after finishing my errands, contemplating what I would make for lunch, when I spotted this great whole-in-the-wall Thai restaurant.

I couldn't resist stopping in and ordering some of my favorite soup for take-away.

 

Tom Kha Gai soup

This soup is rich and just the tiniest bit spicy with juicy chunks of chicken, onion, cilantro, lemon grass and mushrooms.

I could drink a gallon of this soup! 


The sides were just as delicious:

Steamed rice and green papaya salad.

You need to see a close up of the papaya salad.

Shredded green papaya, carrot, green bean, tomato, peanut, garlic and lime juice.

 All in all, a wonderful lunch!

 Guess what else I picked up while I was out?

New dish towels!

Aren't they bright and cheery? I am withholding them from the kitchen until it is finished being organized.

I think this makes me a passive/aggressive kitchen owner...

Tonight I am going to try and remake a dish my favorite restaurant took off their menu years ago.

See y'all later!

Nice to know

This morning I made 2 cups of brown rice and while I was cheerily chopping up mushrooms and collard greens to add to the pot - I cut my finger.

It was bloody. It was horrific. I will spare you a picture of the mangled digit.

Did the dogs rush over in concern? Nope. As I stumbled around looking for band-aids - they sighed (my interpretation - "Well, crud, breakfast is going to take forever now...) and went back to bed. 

It is nice to know that if I ever bleed out they won't let it interfere with catching some shuteye. 

The mushrooms and greens pre bloody incident

Despite the dogs shocking lack of interest in my well being they got this for breakfast.

 
Brown rice with greens and mushrooms with broiled Halibut. I know it seems strange to feed the dogs this stuff - but truth be told - the fish was about to turn bad and I didn't want to eat it - but for the dogs? It is a delicacy. 

I poached one of the farm stand eggs and placed it on top of a bed of rice.

 

 While it looks yummy just the way it is - I ate it like this.

 The addition of a dash of blue cheese and some black pepper resulted in perfection!

 Happy Saturday!!

Nori rice balls!

What do you do with left over rice, tuna and nori? You make nori rice balls. 

Abby's happy face - she gets to have fish two meals in a row!!

 First you start out with the basics - nori and some warm water.

I normally use the flat sheets of nori (the kind used for rolling sushi) which works much better - but all I had on hand were these seasoned nori strips.

Then I took a handful of rice and made a divot in the center - then I put a dollop of the tuna mixture in the middle. 

A little more rice to cover up the tuna.

 Then dip a strip of nori in the warm water. 

 Wait a few seconds until you see the nori start to shrink in size - shake off the excess water and start to shape it over the rice.

 The end result looked like this:

 The smaller one is the dog size nori ball. 

How many bites did it take to get to the luscious tuna goodness??

Just one ;-)


For the humans I recommend some low sodium soy sauce for dipping.

Once More With Feeling

Trying this blogging thing one more time. Hopefully this time I will be more disciplined about posting.

I made some bean/rice cakes for breakfast. I started off with a few key ingredients.

Firm tofu, refried beans, rice, basil, garlic powder,  and sage. Oops, I forgot to add the cooked brown rice in that picture but you get the idea. And the spice jar that I thoughtfully obscured from view is the powdered garlic :-)

I mushed everything together and in the end came up with this.

 I put a bit of extra salsa on top. I used one that has a smoky flavor (my preference) but any old salsa would do. I added some orange slices which were an amazing shade of red/orange. The version I made yesterday turned out better - but alas no photos of that - which included an egg and panko breadcrumbs - the flavor and texture was much better with that version.

The dogs were out of luck with this meal since my beasts + beans is a very bad and odoriferous combination.:-)