Weekend fun !

It was raining like crazy yesterday, but we had already planned to buy the remaining plants for the garden, so we did ! The very big garden is one of the ways we eat like gourmets every day of the week. This year we have the old stand-bys, and a couple of experimental newcomers as well...

We have roma tomatoes, for Ray's sauce and for salads during the summer, regular big boys for salsa, and a few heirlooms just for fun. Two tomatillo plants for green salsa and one cherry tomato (fun to eat right off the plant while working in the garden)complete the tomato selections. We have three green and three red bell peppers, 7 jalapeno plants, 1 thai pepper and 1 habanero. Then, we purchased some brussel sprouts, as we have found we enjoy them roasted with a little olive oil, bacon and balsamic vinegar.

Fresh herbs will be grown in 3 window boxes, we have: thyme, rosemary, cilantro, oregano, tarragon, basil and parsley. We are started some mixed greens and spinach in window boxes a couple of weeks ago, and we are just about ready to harvest a microgreen salad already ! We still have seeds to plant for potatoes, carrots, golden beets, celery root, watercress, scallions, and..whew ! Did I forget anything ?

So, in spite of the rainy start, we are off and running with the garden. Watch for the "fresh from the garden recipes" to follow !

Leftovers

This, unfortunately, is what happens when you cook too many nights in a row, for just two people. We had what my friend Marianna calls "bottom of the box" dinner. But, it's probably a little different at our house than it would be at yours.

We had used some of Ray's homemade marinara on Sunday with our cioppino (which was a special treat, really too much money to spend on a weekly, or even monthly basis). We had extracted the 4 meatballs we had frozen with the marinara, and Ray made a meatball sub for himself for dinner. YUM ! Not sure what else he ate, but he was supposedly "grazing" while I was at Bell Choir.

I had a leftover Ukranian sausage, that we had earlier in the week. Lunch tomorrow will be something simple, turkey and pepperjack sandwiches with roasted red peppers on flatbread. Thinking of my famous brie stuffed burgers for tomorrow night !

Day One on the Blog-Steak Fajitas for Dinner

So, here is my blog, and something of a diary of the foodie days and nights in our house.
I LOVE to cook. In fact, it is a stress reliever for me, so the more stress, the more cooking. My boyfriend thinks he has gained 20 pounds in the last year, partly due to stress, but let's face it...food is good !

So, I am attempting to explain how we are able to eat really good food, for lunch and dinner, most days of the week, and still have time for hobbies, chores, and time together.

Tonight, we had steak fajitas, which are really very little work at all, provided you have the ingredients on hand. That is one of the rules I follow to make our dinners complete each night. I shop on the weekend for the entire week, so I had everything on hand.

I admit, I forgot to take the steak out of the freezer last night. So, I took it out this morning,and thawed during the day. Ray put it in the marinade (just some simple bottled Mojo sauce from the Mexican market)when he got home. If you have the vacuum sealer/marinade dish, even better. I came home, grabbed a beer, ate some brie and crackers. Then I cut up some peppers (1/2 red, 1 jalapeno) one onion sliced thin, drizzled with olive oil, salt and ground red pepper, and wrapped in a double layer of foil. Then, just toss them all on the grill. I put a little grill seasoning on the steak, and grilled to medium rare. I put the tortillas on for the last 2 minutes, on the upper rack, just to get them warm and toasty.

Dinner is ready ! Sour cream, shredded cheese and some homemade canned salsa (more on canning later), and honey says dinner is "outstanding". Hardly any work at all !

Always make a little extra for lunch tomorrow. We make fajita nachos, which we can heat up at work. Every one will be jealous !