When Pizza Night Turns Into Mexican Night

I had announced our plans for Pizza Night on the morning blog, spent 30 min carefully plotting the grocery list, waited for Hubby to finish working on his latest Jeep obsession (laying down on the soaking wet ground to work on it, I might add), and then waited 5 extra minutes for a couple of teenagers to put their shoes on because they had breathlessly asked, "canigotothestorewithyoupleasehuh?"

No prob, I had it all under control!

We cruised through the store parking lot once before determining that particular store was too crowded for our liking. We decided to head off to Fresh Market down the street. Much less crowded, even if it does smell a little fishy... maybe because it does smell a little fishy? Somewhere between store A and store B, we no longer wanted pizza night. It was unanimously agreed that Mexican night sounded SO much better! So I grabbed my carefully planned grocery list and my trusty gel pen and got to work on a new list right there in the Fresh Market parking lot.

Sweet!

With renewed interest we headed home to cook up a storm. We had planned on making guacamole, beef burritos, chicken burritos, chicken enchiladas, all served with chile verde, beans and rice and margaritas for us grown ups... the kids had cactus coolers. And just because I still had it stuck in my head, I wanted to make the spring greens raspberry walnut salad with raspberry vinaigrette dressing. I didn't really care that it wasn't exactly Mexican fare!

Before you think we're on a different orbit, I know that is a freakishly huge amount of food. We had heard a rumor that my brother and his family were coming to visit, AND we love to cook.  That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

I prepared the salad, the beef and the cheese enchiladas while Hubby made the guacamole, chile verde, the beans and rice, and the chicken for the burritos. I was also the mixologist for the night and I happen to think my margaritas were pretty nom!

Spring Mix salad with craisins and walnuts, dressed with a raspberry vinaigrette that I bought in a bottle but then added half and half plus Dijon mustard to make it perfect.

Hubby's famous guacamole. I talk him into adding a smidge of lime juice when he makes it for extra freshness.

I recently learned a bartender's secret to margaritas... use frozen Limeaid concentrate instead of margarita mix. It tastes so much better that way! We also add Triple Sec (Just a splash) and a dash of lime juice. Nom!

Hubby thought I was nutso when I told him I wanted it all on one platter for a picture. Seriously, this is too much food for even two people! But I wanted to pretend I was in a Mexican restaurant.. with jumbo size portions apparently. Haha!

Here's a cross section of the burritos. Hubby made the shredded chicken by adding picante sauce and just a hint of salt.I made the beef with enchilada seasoning and added a can of nacho cheese sauce and half an onion. You can't see it in the pictures, but the burritos were smothered in Hubby's special chile verde.  It was really tasty!

I forced him to hold still and pose for me because he was blurry in all of the other action shots I attempted. 

 I should have taken a picture of the heaps of dishes that needed to be washed when we were through! But we had a great time singing, dancing, laughing and being our silly selves! My favorite little brother and his family did come over later and they enjoyed the feast with us. It was a fantastic evening and we were drained by the time we finally put our feet up.. at 10pm! But the best part is that we didn't have to cook a single thing yesterday because we have burritos a plenty left over!

Winging It Breakfast

While snuggling the Hubby this morning, he drowsily suggested that I fix him a "big breakfast."

Hunh.

Although I love to oblige my guy by tantalizing his taste buds first thing in the morning, I was fairly certain the grocery fairy had not paid me a visit in the middle of the night, which meant I was out of almost everything even remotely breakfast related.

In less than two minutes, my brain had completed the mental inventory of my pantry stock and although the resources were limited, I had an idea that I just might be able to pull something together. It would definitely be another "something out of nothing" creation, but my family is fond of those challenges.

Recently I made a homemade "bisquick" mix when I discovered during dinner prep that I was out of the friendly yellow box mix which I usually rely on for quick soup dumplings. Because I had made more than I needed at the time, I had stored the rest in airtight containers in the pantry. Perfect! A quick search of the freezer also turned up some leftover Italian sausage from one of Hubby's famous pizza nights and I added it to my growing pile of breakfast ingredients. I was on a mission to make some delectable biscuits with sausage gravy... A favorite treat that my family has not had for a long time. 

I had a mostly empty carton of buttermilk that I added to the biscuit mix along with the trace of milk left in the very last jug in the fridge and I even stole Hubby's half-n-half to get the consistency of the dough just right, laughing to myself over the Franken-biscuits in the making.. I seasoned the dough with some garlic salt, parmesan cheese, parsley and cheddar chunks.

In the meantime, I had tossed the sausage in the microwave for a quick defrost and then dumped it into the frying pan as I seasoned it liberally with ground sage. Hubby buys Italian sausage for pizza-making but other than that, I always buy sage flavored sausage because it's just better tasting. But since I was in "beggars can't be choosers" mode, I would have to hope that adding sage to Italian sausage wouldn't be a complete disaster!

At some point during the sausage cooking process, I glanced over at the counter and gasped out loud as I realized I had just used all of the milk products in my fridge to make the biscuit dough. Oh crap! How  was I going to make gravy without any milk??  After briefly contemplating a gravy made with water (gross!), I kindly suggested that one of the teenagers make an emergency run to the nearest convenience store for a gallon of milk. The tantalizing smell in the air was enough to convince the girls to take on the mission of mercy and I continued to work on the biscuits, thinking that the milk would arrive soon.

After the biscuits were in the oven, I decided to start the roux for the gravy... after all, it had been more than 10 minutes since I sent the girls to the store. When I wondered out loud what could be taking them so long with the milk, I was quickly informed that they had not left yet. Wha??  Apparently teenage girls can't even go to the convenience store without getting prettied up!

You know that comedic moment in cartoons when a light bulb appears over the dimwit's head? That's what happened to me as I watched my roux getting darker than I wanted it to be. I remembered all of the canned evaporated milk I had on hand for fudge making. Brilliant! Why did I not think of that in the first place? I quickly opened two cans and I was back in the gravy business!

I had just finished putting the finishing touches on the gravy seasoning when the girls returned with the milk. Uhh... thanks, girls! I told them that they were just in time and they gave me funny looks... it's hard to put anything over on them!

After 25 minutes in the oven, the biscuits were done and I served them with the sausage gravy. It was delish!
(Hubby and I did think the sausage was a bit too spicy, but the girls loved it!)

Another successful "Something out of nothing" breakfast!

We're headed to the store now to get tonight's ingredients for Hubby's deep dish pizza and a cranberry, walnut spring salad with raspberry vinaigrette dressing. YUM!

New Blog, So Excited!

Sweet Hubby and I are full fledged foodies and proud to admit it! When we travel, a dedicated portion of our vacation money always goes toward the food budget because Hubby appreciates good food and loves to experience the local cuisine.

(Remind me to tell you about the $300 dinner we had at Mama's Fish House on Maui!)

Learning food secrets from the locals is an interest that we both share wholeheartedly! In fact, we once flew to New Orleans just to have lunch in the French Quarter. It was on that marathon day-trip that our love for Gumbo was born.  To this day, we continue to expand on our interest for travel and our appreciation for the art of cooking.

You don't have to be a chef to be great in the kitchen! Do you ever go out to a restaurant and deconstruct the excellent food you order? Hubby and I do that All. The. Time!  We analyze what our taste buds are telling us as we categorize the ingredients we can see and try to guess the ones we can taste but not see. If the food is truly divine, you can bet we will go home and try to recreate it!

There are also many, MANY occasions when I find that I am out of almost everything in the pantry and fridge. My family tells me this is when I make my best dishes.
(I hope that isn't an insult to the food I painstakingly shop for and prepare!)
I call these meals "Making something out of nothing."  I thoroughly enjoy the nights when I am forced to get creative to make dinner for my family with the few ingredients I have on hand. I won't tell you that it is always successful, but I've been doing this gig for so long that some tasty favorites have been created in just this way.

This narrative will be our way of sharing our foodie adventures with friends, family and even strangers that may find us here in the bloggerhood. I can't wait to tell you about our gumbo inspired by our trip to New Orleans, clam chowder inspired by Massachusetts and refined after a trip to the Snowbird lodge, tequila chicken tortilla soup completely of our own creation, and many other tasty adventures yet to come.

Pull up a chair, follow our blog, and if you're local then you should definitely come over one night to taste what we're talking about!