Days 22-25

You know, I used to think of this blog as something that I had to either do every day, or feel guilty about not doing every day. I feel so much better about it now that I've given myself permission to write every 3 or so days. Way easier. Ahhhh.


Day 22: Breakfast Tacos

I've been looking forward to these things since some time in March.  Something about scrambed eggs, bacon, cheese, salsa, and jalapeno is so satisfying.  Instead of failing at hashbrowns (I've been known to throw tater tots in the oven and call them "hashbrown bites," which I totally agree is cheating), I decided to try making strawberry pancakes. 
There's a cafe around the corner called Common Roots with great food and super coffee.  It's menu changes monthly.  This month, strawberry pancakes with lemon curd has been on the breakfast menu.  I've had them a few times. They are quite tasty.  I wanted to recreate them so that I could eat them whenever I wanted, including after this month when the menu changes again.  Mine weren't nearly as good, but they were still pancakes with strawberries in them and lemon curd on top, which is still pretty darn good.

I got a little fancy with the eggs (we call it "Joshing them up," because it's what Josh would do.)  I'm glad I did.


Joshed-Up Eggs:

ingredients:
6 eggs
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 green pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
dash of milk
shredded cheese (I used monterey jack, but whatever you want. Also, I didn't measure, so I'm just going to guess that it was 1/2 cup)
sprinkle of taco seasoning
salt and pepper to taste


Heat a pan over medium heat. Add a little oil.  Sautee the shit out of the vegetables. Like, they should be really soft and much smaller than they started and it should smell awesome.  In the middle of sauteeing, sprinkle a little taco seasoning over them.  Continue to sautee for even longer.  Take your time.  Enjoy the sautee.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk, season with salt and pepper. 

When they vegetables have been thoroughly sauteed, pour the eggs over the top. Let it sit, undisturbed, until you can see the edges starting to cook.  Then, using a wooden spoon (or whatever utensil you were using to sautee, I don't care), start pulling the edges of the egg mixture towards the center, allowing the uncooked egg to run to the outside. Keep stirring like that.  While you stir those bad boys, and there is still some liquid egg in the pan, add the cheese to the mix.  Keep stirring until it looks like cooked scrambled egg.

Remove from heat.  Put in taco with bacon, jalapeno, salsa, whatever else you want.

OMG, that reminds me! I should give you another recipe. One that has changed my life (admittedly very slightly) since I learned it.

Baked Bacon

or;

Bakedon

Preaheat oven to 400 degrees
Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
Put raw bacon on the parchment, make sure its not touching, but fit as much on there as you can.
Bake bacon for 15-18 minutes, turning once during cooking.  Take it out. If it's not crispy enough yet, put it back in there for a couple minutes until it's just how you like it.

I prefer this method of bacon cooking because it's tidier, requires less of my attention, and the bacon smell clears out of the house quite a bit faster (Look, I love bacon smell as much as the next guy, but it's a little old by dinner time).


Day 23: Thai Beef Tacos

This is another Pinterest recipe. It was good.  There were a lot of ingredients, and you have to marinade the beef for a really long time, so it takes a little planning, but it was worth the hassle.

That's fried rice on the side.  Turns out I
don't know how to make fried rice, so I
had to improvise. It went better than I
expected.

That said, I'm not convinced that mangos are worth the hassle. I like them (if they're ripe) well enough, they're just such a pain in the ass to cut up.  Maybe I'm missing something? Well, anyways, there was a mango salsa on the beef, along with cilantro, crushed peanuts, and sweet chili sauce.

Day 24: Fish Tacos

I don't really want to talk about these. I don't really like cooking with fish because I don't like living in a home that smells like a rancid garbage can. On the other hand, I sure do enjoy fish tacos occasionally. So I tried this recipe from the Feed Zone Cookbook.  It was a simple recipe, mostly just fish chunks covered in flour, taco seasoning, and pepper, then fried for a few minutes.  The result wasn't especially flavorful.  The tacos were filled with fish, rice, black beans, and cilantro.  On the side, marinated mozarella, grape tomatoes, and fresh basil salad on baby spinach.

I am REALLY sorry about how blurry this
picture is. I only took the one picture, and I
didn't notice until I uploaded it how totally
 out of focus it is.

I thought they were totally underwhelming. Derek liked them better than I did, which I think is unusual.

Day 25: RUSTY TACO

GO TO THE RUSTY TACO. It has excellent tacos. There's one in Saint Paul, and (according to the website) a few in Texas. It's one of my favorite places to get tacos. There are, like, 15 or so different tacos to choose from. We had chips and salsa on the side. We sat at the taco bar. We lined our tacos up for the picture.

They cater. I wonder if they will cater our
hypothetical wedding.

I had a roasted pork taco, black bean taco, bbq brisket taco (on the completely correct recommendation of the guy behind the counter) and a fried chicken taco (a personal favorite).  The bbq sauce on the brisket one was suprisingly good.




Seriously, though? Go to Rusty Taco.