Tacos with Corn Salsa, Margarita(s), and New Shoes

I don't care what anyone says; I love Katy Perry's pink hair.  

Also, reading In Style was how I spent my evening.

I wasn't planning on blogging this week. I was in New Jersey and New York over the weekend, and I basically didn't sleep so I am in recovery mode (read: ordering pizza and concocting raggameals not fit for publishing).


Actually, I had planned on writing about the food I ate in New York City, but my phone died so I couldn't take any pictures except one of roasted peanuts I bought from a street vendor. As delicious as they are, I don't think I can build a post around roasted peanuts. Okay, fine, here's the picture.

But, Wednesday I went to the farmers market with Kate, and when I saw the huge barrel of corn priced at 5 for $2, I knew I needed to buy some. I haven't eaten much corn this summer because there hasn't been much of it around. In fact, I think the only corn I have eaten was in the sweet corn tomalito I made a couple weeks ago.


With my 5 ears of corn in hand, I quickly chose poblano peppers, heirloom cherry tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, and cilantro for a corn salsa. I had leftover pizza at home, so I made some corn salsa yesterday to eat some with chips, and made easy ground beef tacos for dinner tonight.


I also made a margarita (we will see if that becomes plural) because this morning a friend at work planted the seed in my brain to do so. The margarita recipe is below, but if you are older than 16 and you don't know how to make one, I highly recommend you re-evaluate the choices you have made in your life up until now.  Seriously.  


Oh, and as I was making my margarita, I looked down and realized I still had my shoes on from work. Usually I take off my shoes the instant I walk in the door, but today for whatever reason, I've been tromping around in these brand new Sam Edelman wedges I snagged at the Rack last week. So, per Santina's request, here's a picture of my new shoes getting busy in the kitchen. I always rest my foot on the towel bar as I cook. (No I don't.)

Nasty raw blister on my heel courtesy of being cute instead of comfortable as I spend an entire day walking around NYC.

Margarita 
2 parts tequila
1 parts lime juice
1 part triple sec


Put all ingredients in a shaker with 3 - 4 cubes ice, shake, pour into a glass with a salted rim and garnish with a slice or round of lime.


Corn Salsa
5 ears of corn
2 poblano peppers
2 jalapeno peppers
1 pint cherry tomatoes, each tomato cut in half, or 1 large tomato, diced
A bunch of cilantro
2 limes


1.  This recipe is tastiest, in my opinion, if you roast the corn on a grill. I did not do so because I am lazy, but if you want to do so, peel back the husks, remove the silks, then close the husks again. Soak the ears in water for ~20 minutes, then place on the grill and grill until they're done. Move them around and rotate them, obviously. If you burn them badly, you grilled them too long. If the kernels aren't soft and a little blackened, you didn't grill them long enough.


If you're lazy like me, just remove the husks and silks and boil the corn in water for a couple minutes.


You can roast the poblanos on the grill too, or if you aren't using the grill method, roast them under the broiler until the skins are blackened. Then put them either in a sealed paper bag or in a bowl covered with plastic wrap and let them cool ~20 minutes. You can roast the jalapenos in the same way, if you want.

2. Once the corn is cooked in whatever method you chose, cut the kernels off the cob. Place kernels in a large bowl.

3. Once the peppers have cooled, remove the skin, de-seed them, and dice them. Dice up the jalapeno too, whether you roasted it or not.

4. Add the peppers and the halved tomatoes to the corn.


5. The cilantro is probably prettiest if you pick the leaves off the stems and add to the salsa that way, but the stems actually have really good flavor. I usually just tear up the top quarter or so of each sprig. Add as much cilantro as you want. I love cilantro, so I added a lot.


6. Squeeze lime juice over everything and mix.


7. Eat!


I am not going to put a recipe for tacos.  The tacos I made tonight are nothing special: browned ground beef piled in a corn tortilla with corn salsa, regular salsa, cheddar cheese, and sour cream.  Delicious, but how am I supposed to tell you how to make that?

Bon appetit.

Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

Not every night can be night of dinner from scratch, but every night needs to be a night of eating meat.  I have mentioned before that I am down to cuts that are a little harder to deal with... except for the ground beef.  A quick check of my cupboards confirmed that I had a jar of marinara and pasta, so spaghetti (well, angel hair) and meat sauce it was.

There is no recipe for this meal.  Okay, for those of you who REALLY don't know how to cook:

Brown the meat in a skillet, pour in the marinara, and stir.  Meanwhile, boil some water and cook the pasta according to the directions on the package.  Drain the pasta, put some on a plate, and put some sauce on top.  Sprinkle on grated parmesan cheese, and you're good to go.

Well, add a glass or two of red wine to accompany your meal, and you are ready to go.  For those of you that can get it, I highly recommend Andrew Rich wines.  Anything he makes is great, but his Pinot Noir is the best value of any Oregon Pinot I have seen.  And it's not only that they are a great value, they are really excellent wine.  Trust me on this.  I am a girl who has drank quite a bit of Oregon Pinot Noir.

Bon appetit.

Mexico Month - Ground Beef and Pickles Tacos

One of my favorite things to do other than cook is shop. In fact, I have often considered featuring both fashion and cooking in this blog, but I really hate taking pictures of myself, let along posting them for all the world (okay, for the 3 people who read this blog) to see.  In a quest to dress well, I read a lot of fashion websites.  My favorite is Style by Santina, of course, but I also love Refinery 29.  I read each of those sites pretty much every day.  


Earlier this week, or maybe not this week but some time recently, I was perusing Refinery 29, and saw an article entitled ground beef and pickle tacos.  I love tacos, I love beef, and I REALLY love pickles, so of course I clicked the link.  Some chef I've never heard of is - I guess - famous for making them at some restaurant in LA I've never heard of.  And he talked to some radio station or something and gave his recipe.  All this information doesn't matter... except the giving the recipe part.


It's pretty rare to discover a great recipe through reading about fashion, let alone a gem like this one.  And during Mexico month?  Perfect.  


I made them tonight for dinner, and my goodness they're good.  Not that I had any doubt, but wow.


1 lb ground beef
2 boiled russet potatoes (I did not include potatoes in mine)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp dry oregano
2 Tbsp paprika
Salt and pepper to taste


8 oz. cheddar cheese, grated
Pickle chips or sandwich pickles
Soft corn tortillas


1.  Cook the ground beef with the dry spices.  Remove from heat and let cool for 30 minutes.
2.  Heat the tortillas then fill with the beef.
3.  Close both ends of the tortilla with toothpicks.
4.  Fry in canola oil about 2 minutes on each side.
5.  Once cooked, place on paper towels, open and add cheese and pickles.
6.  Eat.


I was really worried about the frying part.  I am terrible at frying things, but these were actually really easy.  I put about a 1/2 inch of oil in the skillet, warmed it up, and since you can just lie the taco on its side, it was really easy to fry.  2 minutes on each side was too long, though.  It needed more like a minute and a half or so each side.


Bon appetit.

Go Giants (and a taco bowl)

*** Updated with pictures.  Not much to show for this meal, but I feel like a beef post isn't complete without some raw meat ***


Apparently I can't upload pictures this evening, so I'll tell you about my dinner last night sans-photos and add some later.  But first I must express my excitement about the San Francisco Giants win versus the Phillies tonight (and yesterday for that matter).  I love the Giants.  My mom grew up in the Bay Area as a Giants fan, and all through my childhood, Giants games were on the radio all summer.  They haven't been in the World Series since the fall of my senior year of college (2002), and if they can get one more win, they're in!  GO GIANTS!


Back to food.  I again returned home from work yesterday tired and hungry.  I again walked in my kitchen and looked around at the limited options.  I knew I could hold off on food for a bit, so I decided on a "taco bowl".  I defrosted and cooked some ground beef, made rice, opened a can of Muir Glen diced tomatoes with green chilies, and shredded cheese.  I layered the ingredients in a bowl along with a couple slices of pickled jalepenos on top, and, voila, my dinner.  The taco bowl is one of my standard I-don't-know-what-to-make dinners.  I always have ground beef, rice, and canned tomatoes in the house.


I should mention that what makes this dinner so good is quality ingredients.  The ground beef is from the cow I purchased from 6 Ranch. A friend of mine came over once while I was in the middle of cooking ground beef.  He commented that it must be some really good beef because it smells like steak.  I think that's a pretty good commendation of ground beef! And I always buy Muir Glen organic canned tomatoes. They just taste better to me than other canned tomatoes.  I particularly like to have the fire roasted tomatoes with green chilies on hand because it's almost like a salsa.  It gives good flavor to my taco bowls :)


Bon appetit.