Monday, December 14

We got started this morning after a free breakfast at the hotel.  The town of Wilcox, AZ has a sign that says apples and a cider mill, but a noticible lack of apple trees.  Not sure where they are getting the apples to sell and press, but next time we go through, I would love to stop by the cider mill (I LOVE apple cider!).

We stopped for lunch at Chick-fil-A in Las Cruces, NM. We love when we can get our hands on some great chicken nuggets and chicken strips. We very much enjoyed this. Love the lemonade!
I took some pictures in New Mexico of some beautiful landscapes, but they are on the other camera's card and so, you will just have to wait - the pictures were just outside of Arey Derry.  Cool name, at least.
 
If you know your New Mexico geography, you noticed, that Arey Derry is north of Las Cruces.  Yes, defying logic, we drove north for most of the day and turned back east at Albuquerque.  When you are on a mission, you are on a mission. 
 
We stopped for dinner in Santa Rosa, New Mexico to check out a spot recommended by both my dad and my uncle.  They are known for searching out great Mexican food and sharing their insights with others.  We were not disappointed.  The place (Joseph's)  is just off old Route 66 and has been serving customers since 1952.  The food was fabulous.  And for those of you who have lived in California too long, it had FLAVOR!  It was a little on the spicy side.  We will stop here again and try the other items on the menu we found appealing.  Here's the evidence:
 
 

Drew's meal: Beef Taco, Beef Tamale, Cheese Enchilads, the "extras"

my meal: Blue Corn Cheese Enchildadas with the "extras"

Joseph's (it was in the low 40's outside...ahhh)

 
Having finished dinner we set out not knowing exactly where we were going to stop.  I guess the temptation of sleeping under the Texas sky was too much for us and we ended up in Amarillo.  It is good to be home. 

Check back tomorrow for pictures from "the snow"! 

Sunday, December 13th - Wilcox, AZ

Everything in the last few weeks has led to this day.  The day we leave to go to Texas for Christmas for the first time as a married couple.  We are beyond excited!  So, instead of regretting the lack of updates on this blog for a while, I shall let you in on our little travelogue.

Road Trip Log, Day 1:

Got started a little late despite waking up an hour before my husband to get "everything" done.  Will that ever happen?
Left town to "Goodbye to You" on the radio, how appropriate. 

Drew said "our God watches out for us on all the small things"  - what a way to begin a road trip - in praise of the one who watches over it!
11:54 - discussion of the definition of the word supplant - pretty sure I was right on that one, not that it matters.

2:28 - Victor Hugo located - Chandler, AZ - success!
6:37 - Wilcox, AZ - to bed early and at it again tomorrow.

Those of you wanting to know what we ate...junk!  My stomach is not happy with me for my recent dining choices.   Will be attempting to improve this during this trip.  Pictures and reveiws of food fit to discuss in the future days.

Recipes Unrelated

The last couple of days have included cooking and eating, but I have had a hard time getting my thoughts together regarding the results.  Here we go (in no particular thought pattern):

Saturday:

To the dreaded slow-cooker, I added a questionable recipe. 
Fish in the slow-cooker...I have done it and now I won't need to do that again.  There is really no way to know exactly when it is ready and the recipe I used was less than desirable in the flavor department. 

Sunday:
Guests over (Drew's parents).
In a complete change of pace for me, I got somewhat intimidated by the planned recipe and decided to go with a tried on true recipe. 
Chicken and Dumplings done a la Sandra Lee (who I find mostly annoying...for a number of reasons, one of which includes her recipes actually tasting good). 
The other recipe did the whole thing from scratch and for some reason intimidated me. 
While thinking about this at length (I have nothing else to fill my days), I realized it was because I have never had chicken and dumplings other than the ones by Sandra Lee.  When I was a child, the word "dumpling" disturbed me and I refused to even try this dish. 
The Chicken and Dumplings turned out very nice and I recommend them heartily to anyone who, unlike me, is fine with the word "dumpling" and its implications.

Also made Pumpkin Spice Bars (Christmas with Southern Living 2009) for dessert.  These were somewhat disappointing.

This was ironic because it was the Chicken and Dumplings I was concerned would not meet the standard of Sandra Lee (and thus the other recipe was tossed).  I was really looking forward to the Pumpkin dessert.
There is another pumpkin bar recipe I have made a couple of times in the last couple of years and it is phenomenal.  This one, not as much.  I would have rather had the other.
While thinking about disappointing desserts (again...nothing to fill my days), I started realizing that dessert is something you don't mess with. 
I really can't have dessert every day because of the calories and so if I want dessert, it is going to have to be something tried and true, something to look forward to, something to talk about.
This is magnified when dining out.  In addition to the caloric intake factor, there is an expense to consider.  This is the reason I don't order dessert at most restaurants.  I don't want to be disappointed and a brownie with ice cream on top is not usually worth my time.  The list of must have dine-out desserts for me is extremely small...sad!

Monday
Today was the first day I woke up and was cold.  It was one of those days!  This meant soup. 
So, I got started on PC's Creamy Harvest Soup.  This involved roasting various fall veggies, pureeing them, adding cream, and serving. 

It was not that bad, but not that great.  Drew said, it didn't have" much flavor."  I agreed with him that it was mild. 

There you have it.  You are caught up in the kitchen.  And in the meantime the Mavs have won the last two games, tonight's had the best ending of the season.  A cold-ish day and a win - can't beat that!

Carne Asada Tacos

Today was a special treat!  Drew had most of the day off for Veteran's Day and so we celebrated by going to lunch, watching an episode of House (we are almost caught up!), and taking a nap (ok...so we didn't do that last one).  We also stopped by the grocery store and picked up the stuff for tonight's dinner.  Even the checker could tell what we were making.  I don't know what else people would buy flap meat to make.  I got the recipe from Cooking Light's November 09 issue.  It is officially called Carne Asada Taco with Avocado Pico de Gallo. 

This one jumped off the page for me because I have been on a particular food quest for a while now (I think it has been 6 years).  A little restaurant in Houston  (Silvia's Enchilada Kitchen) serves an appetizer called Picomole.  It is phenomenal (not an overstatement).  You would think creating a facsimile of this dish would be quite easy - take pico de gallo and throw some avocado in there.  You would think, as I did...wrong.  There is some sort of secret spice in there.  We spoke with Silvia and she would not relent.   Oh well, the search continues. 
Let's start at the beginning on this one:
I got the marinade for the beef going a little early today - all the better, if you ask me.  The recipe calls for a 3 hour marinade, I think we did it for 5.  This is a great weeknight meal because the marinade takes only a few minutes to get together and can sit in the fridge for a while. 
After my LONG nap today, I got up and turned on the double burner griddle and heated up the grill press (innagural use, PC).  While those got searing hot, I prepped the Avocado Pico de Gallo and tasted it.  Not bad, not bad. It is not quite the standard of Silvia, but it was a nice flavor combination. 

The prep for the meat could not be easier and the result is a tender and flavorful taco meat.  I served this with some Ranch Style beans and flour tortillas.  Good dinner, easy prep! 

Medi-Madness

Tonight's menu was somewhat in the Mediterranean genre.  It included Mediterranean chicken kebabs and a Cauliflower dish with Feta and Tomatoes (both from Christmas with Southern Living 2009).  I will introduce this review by stating a little known fact about me:  I could easily be Greek - I can eat a plate of almost any type of olive in seconds flat and I am sort of obsessed with feta cheese.  I love all things Greek!  I will further introduce this review by stating a (most likely) more well-known fact about Drew: He hates feta cheese and warm olives.  I know both of these things and tonight's menu tells you who won out in my menu plan this time.  They can't all be for Drew, can they?  In my defense, there was something that he does enjoy thrown in there, too.  He has not gone hungry, I assure you. 
With that introduction, here goes the review: 

The kebabs are a good weeknight menu choice for us.  I did not include the bell peppers, because Drew is not a big bell pepper eater.  I also cheated a little on this one by using a bottled Italian dressing to marinade these for 30 minutes, instead of making the marinade.  I do realize that this is the wrong thing to do when reveiwing a recipe, but I was at the store shopping by memory (never a good idea for me - I forgot at least 3 ingredients for this recipe).  The marinade worked and the chicken was very tender.  I grilled these on the George Foreman grill (which hadn't seen use in a while - George was happy to oblige).   

While the chicken was marinating in the fridge, I turned on the oven got some potatoes going.  I used the mandoline discussed just recently, with much better results (thanks, Becky, for the tip). 

Then I got started in the cauliflower dish.  For this recipe, you parboil the cauliflower and then let them hang out in a colander for a few minutes while you get red onion going in a skillet, then you add the cauliflower, the tomatoes and the feta to the mix and heat and serve (garnish with the kalamatas).  It is straight-forward and I enjoyed the results.  This could not be said of Drew, he refused to try it because of the "smell" of the cheese. 

So there, you have it, my small contribution to the enjoyment of all things Greek.  Maybe some day Drew will change his mind about the feta - he doesn't know what he is missing! 

Mavs 121 Rockets 103 - OH YEAH!