Mexico Memories!

Well, we kept our "Mexican Theme" going last night with Taco Salads.  But instead of posting the same picture of the same salad, I thought I'd post something a little more fun and theme appropriate!  About 2 years ago we were on a cruise with Scott's family and one of the stops was in Cozumel.  And what else would we do in Mexico but...

...A Mexican Cooking Class!! :)

We made a three course meal, complete with a never ending flow of Pina Coladas!  OLE, INDEED! :)

We started with Sopes, which are little cakes made of corn flour, water & salt.  You rolled the dough and flattened them in a tortilla press, as the lovely Scott is presenting here: 

Then we tossed them on the griddle till they were nice & crisp!

We topped them with a mixture of sauteed chorizo & potato, lettuce and sour cream...and even got to decorate our plates with the sour cream:)  These were soooooooooooooo delicious!!!!!!!!!!

Then we got started on our main course...but not before a Pina Colada refill:)  Those things were just soooooooooooooo darn good!!!!  (probably only 2nd to the Coladas we had in Racies in San Juan!) 

Next we made poblano peppers stuffed with corn, zucchini, onions and beans as our side dish, and tilapia in a mango sauce as our main dish....

We also decorated our dishes for our main course....

Although it was more so we didn't get our plates mixed up, rather than just letting our artistic "talents" shine;)  Here were all of our plates being loaded up for the final cooking...easy to mix up without our mango-sauce decorated dishes, right??

And finally, our dessert!  We made rice pudding and lime cookies and then formed them into a little tower:)  Our decorations WAY outsized our actual dessert;) hahahahhahahaa....

And of course, what would a proper Mexican cooking class be without a tequila shot??  Notice how the ENTIRE staff came out to partake in that one:)  hahahaha...

Afterwards, we headed upstairs to settle in and enjoy our creations:)  We started with a roll with garlic butter...

Then our awesome sopes, and finally our main course!!  YUMMMMMMM!!!!  (and that wasn't the pina coladas talkin!!:)

I even attempted to make my own sopes LAST cinco de mayo!  This time with pulled chicken, black beans and avocado sour cream.  (And Costa Rican Melon/Cilantro salad...per Agua Azul)  I think our teacher, Luis, would be proud his recipes lived on past the class:) hahahahahahahahaha

So, there ya go...cooking Mexican IN Mexico:)  Couldn't have been a better trip for me! :)  Hope you enjoyed that MORE than a picture of salad:) hahahahhahahahaha...

Have a good day...OLE!! :)

From "France" to Mexico....

Well, I think we spanned the global gap with our meals today:)  hahahahahhahahaha...starting with our Extreme French Toast Bread!  Look how yummy!  The sweet bread was swirled with cinnamon and studded with morsels of DARK chocolate...delicious!!!

Sunday Morning breakfast dejour!  :)   After breakfast, I got myself straight into Zumba class;) hahahahahah....

So Cinco De Mayo is Wednesday and I, being the lover of THEMES, always makes some Mexicana for that day.  Well, this year, it's apparently turned into a week long EVENT in our house, since we found a bunch of different recipes we wanted to try out this week! ;)  I technically could have a whole years worth,  just with this book alone:

And in skimming though the 365 recipes, I came across this one that sounded intriguing:

Now, ask me if EITHER of us would have tried out this stew a few years ago, I would have said you were crazy!  But we figured we LIKED all of the things going INTO the stew...so why not??  (although Scott did think it was funny that we were going to have something called a "tablecloth stainer" for dinner:)

We started by searing up 1 pound of cubed pork.  After the pork was seared, it went into the slow cooker with 2 cubed sweet potatoes....

Next, I made the sauce: starting with 1/4 cup almonds, which I toasted & threw in the blender.  Next, in the pot I added a teaspoon of oil, 3 cloves of garlic, a half an onion and 5 chopped up tomatoes and these spices...(I LOVEEEEEEEE "sweet" spices in savory dishes)...

I cooked the tomatoes for a few minutes and then transferred them to a blender, along with the almonds.  I pureed them for a few minutes until it made a smooth, rich sauce... almonds & tomatoes: who knew??? :)

We threw the sauce in the slow cooker, along with the pork & sweet potatoes and let them cook on low for 3 1/2 hours.  For the last half hour in the slow cooker, we threw in some chopped pineapple & sauteed plantains....(and some leftover black beans)

Now, never mind the fact that we waited until the FIRST really HOT day of the year to make STEW....but this was soooooooooooo delicious!  Scott LOVED it!

Oddly enough, my favorite part of this stew was the little surprise of pineapple that you got ever so often.  It made me wish I threw some more in!  The savory pork mixed with the sweet potato, plantains & pineapple in the almondy/tomato sauce was a perfect dinner!  Two (well, four) thumbs up!! :) 

Ahhhh...and in case you were curious...we did, in fact, get that extra "treat" on Saturday night.  My favorite that I could NEVER pass up: The Bent Spoon Ice Cream.  And I couldn't even narrow it down to 2 flavors, so I caved and got THREE: Ricotta, Peanut Butter & Coconut.  UGH! TO DIE FOR!  I loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee THE BENT SPOON!!! :) 

Oh, well...it was QUITE a tasty weekend  but all good things must come to an end:(  And after a sunny and gorgeous weekend, we're met with a rainy Monday!  Is there anything worse???  Oh well...have a good day wherever you are!! :)

To Market, to Market...

Today started bright and early!  We were excited for the day and anxious to get movin early, so we brewed up some coffee to go and headed out...

We were SUPER excited to make our first stop, since it was a location on the "Top 20 Jersey Foods to Try Before you Die" List:  McMillan's Bakery in Westmont..

And while we were tempted by a GAGGLE of treats...(did I mention how much I LOVE cupcakes??)...

We knew what we were looking for!  The famous McMillian Cream Donut....(more like a donut taco, if you ask me:)

I get my love of donuts from my Grandmom;), and I can't help but think she would have loveeeeeeeeeedddd these babies!!!!!  Now it's a tough call, seeing as how we have an AMAZING cream donut bakery within a stone's throw of my house, not to mention the DELICIOUS donuts from Beiler's that just MELT in your mouth...but these are pretty comparable!  However, I  do think they take the "presentation" prize, and I loved that it had a few crispy edges;)  But really, the winner here is the cream...cause there is just so darn much of it!...

Kinda reminded me of the Petite Cafe's Stuffed Cupcakes:)  Truth be told, I felt moderately nauseous after all that cream, combined with the fact that it was only 8:15am:)  Who says donuts are breakfast food???

Well, Scott might have, actually...since he also had an (awesome) glaze donut too:)  When in Rome...or Westmont...;)

But this was all just a pit stop to our REAL reason for our road trip this morning:  Opening Day of the Collingswood Farmer's Market!!

True, we have quite a few markets close to our house...but we love little Collingswood, and who can pass up a drive that involves cream donuts??  (or grilled cheese...but more on that for another day;)

We couldn't believe how PACKED it was by 8:30!!  We thought we were going to be one of the first few there! :)

And since it was so crowded, we made a beeline to our favorite bread stand.  They make an AWESOME ciabatta & foccocia...but they always have an awesome specialty bread of the week.  And seeing as how I'm signed up for the Collingswood Market newsletter (does that make me old, or just a dork??:), I knew what the specialty bread of the day was...

And thankfully, we got there before it was SOLD OUT!! :)  "EXTREME FRENCH TOAST" loaf!!!!  This has 'Sunday Morning Breakfast' written ALLLLLLLLL over it;)

Ok, Ok...that's enough carb mentions for one day;)  Now let's get to the REAL beauty of the market:  The EXTRA fresh produce!  Oh, how I've missed thee....

I can't even begin to tell you how heads & tails, above & beyond these berries are from supermarket berries.  They were like a flavor EXPLOSION!!!!  SOOOOOOOO delicious!!!

Herbs: $1....ONE DOLLAR!!!!!  Seriously, someone explain to me why Basil is sold at the Acme for $3.50 for about 4 leaves??? ...

Anyway, so we gathered up our goodies and headed out of the mob scene area, but not before stopping for one of Scott's true market favorites:  Jersey Blueberry Iced Tea...

Talk about LOCAL fabulousness!! :)   (notice the bottle was already empty by the time we got home;)

So we had a pretty good haul for Day 1!!  I already can't wait for fresh peaches and THE CORN TRUCK!! :)

We even managed to snag some fresh salsa & guacamole from our favorite Mexican restaurant, Tortilla Press.  Me thinks they will come in MIGHTY handy this (Cinco De Mayo) week!! :)

And of course, the early bird catches the bread:)  I'm already know I'm going to have visions of cinnamon sugar fairies dancing in my head tonight;)

And after some MUCH needed Power Yoga, I already managed to put some of my goodies to use!  My Green Monster of the day was 1 cup almond milk, 1 scoop vanilla protein powder, 2 handfuls of spinach, a few farm FRESH strawberries and some leftover pineapple...

I will say...it turned out to be one of the oddest shades of green in the history of my Green Monster making...but ehh! you just look past that since it tasted so good! :)

And I knew I couldn't go too long without sampling just A LITTLE bit of that delicious Tortilla Press Guacamole.  It is simply THE BESTTTTTTTTT guacamole EVER!!!! :)

Well, after all that buzzing we're actually going to have a quick pizza for dinner tonight since we're heading out to a show at 7 o'clock.  However, there may still be yet ANOTHER good treat on the horizon;)  Oyyy...I think I should go run around the block about 12 times!! :)  Have a great afternoon!!!! :)

Meatball Melties..

My March edition of Rachael Ray's magazine came (unintentionally) in pretty handy this week...as it had both the recipe for the Mole Chili from Tuesday and our dinner from last night....

Meatball Melties!  Ok, who are we kidding??  These are actually just meatball parm sandwiches, but if RR wants to call them melties, that's OK with me....(better than calling them "sammies"...ugh!)

I'm excited to have any excuse to run through Trader Joe's, and yesterday's excuse was to pick up some odds and ends for dinner.  Starting with rolls for the burgers.  And I was super happy when I found these rolls because they were super soft and squishy...

However, I failed to notice the reason WHY they were so squishy....

Opppssss, COMPLETELY missed that whole "Bake at Home" part!  Scott asked me if they were cooked and I said "PSHHH!  YEAH, THEY'RE COOKED"  Opps! :)  (and I was wondering why they were so white!! :)  So onto the grill these went too..... ;)

However, their SLIGHTLY undercooked center was the perfect excuse to remove a bit of the excess bread, and it ended up making a perfect holder for my diced tomato "ketchup" ;)

We thought we'd have a small treat and a simple "side" all in one, in the form of TJ's "Hawaiian Style" Potato Chips.  I am NOT a fan of baked potato chips, so it was fun to treat myself with the real deal on this extremely rare occasion! :) 

And finally, this pineapple looked too good to pass up! :)

So overall, a really good and fun Friday night dinner!!  Yummy burgers, crunchy chips and super sweet pineapple!  Yum!

I already have so much to post for you from our morning adventures:)  Stay tuned;)...