Defying Expectations

Like many places, San Diego has different areas where certain ethnicities are more prevalent than other areas. Last week on our Farmer's Market exploration Thatbaby and I headed to a part of the town that I usually consider to be very Mexican.

So you can imagine my surprise when we pulled into the parking lot of a large Asian market. It started to make a little more sense to me when I thought about it, after all, my favorite Thai restaurant was almost literally across the street.

This farmer's market was different than the typical markets I've been too. Of course they had the usual suspects - oranges, apples, eggs, etc. But there were also stands and stands of atypical farmer's market finds like bitter melon, daikon radishes, and lots of Asian greens. Not that you would know that by looking at my haul.

My $16 haul included:

• 1 ginormous bag of oranges (which is still in the trunk of my car. Hey - you try lugging around a baby and bags of groceries!)
• strawberries
• figs - totally wasn't expecting these! It's been a couple of weeks since I've seen them in the markets, but they're impossible to resist.
• eggplants
• onions
• corn
• cucumber
• string beans

Given the amount of produce I brought home, you would expect to see some of it featured in the recipe I'm posting. But there you'd be wrong. Because aside from the strawberries and fruit, most of the produce is actually sitting around waiting for Thanksgiving to be over. For when I've eaten my fill of mashed potatoes and heavy starchy sides. Instead I'll give you one of those impossibly quick and easy meals that is perfect for when your kitchen has become overrun with all the Thanksgiving prep. It's equally fabulous for when you too are sick and tired of turkey and stuffing.

Thatboy and I made a meal of these little taco bites - ground beef cooked with my own personal "taco seasoning". The kick of the ground chipotle powder and the extra kick from the salsa over go over well in Thathouse. But these little finger-friendly treats work well as appetizers for guests or snacks for kids. And, between you and I, they're the perfect way to use up leftover wonton wrappers you may have hanging around your home.

Taco Bites
20 won ton wrappers
1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp chipotle chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 cup salsa
1/2 cup monterey jack cheese, shredded

1. Preheat oven to 350. Press won ton wrappers into a muffin tin so that they form little cups.
2. Brown ground beef in pan over medium heat.
   
3. Add cumin, onion powder, chipotle chili powder, and garlic powder to ground beef and continue to cook until cooked through.
4. Divide ground beef between muffin tins.
5. Top each with scant Tbsp of salsa. Bake for 10 minutes.
6. Sprinkle each taco bite with cheese and bake for 5 more minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly.
   

Dog Day of Summer

Thatdog has a pretty rough life. His typical day goes something like this:
* Wake up. Everyone else is still sleeping. Sniff around. Try to keep busy until the alarm goes off.
* Alarm goes off. Jump up on the bed and roll between the two people in the bed to make sure they get up.
* Go for a run with Thatgirl.
* Breakfast.
* Everybody leaves. Sleep all day.
* Thatgirl and Thatboy come home from work. Quick walk, then they hang out at home all night.

It's pretty boring. We don't do a ton of fun things with Thatdog during the week, and on the weekends we're often running errands without him.

We decided to make it up to him today by making the day (almost) completely about him.

We started out by taking him out to lunch. We headed up to Carlsbad to walk around Carlsbad Village a bit. He loves getting out of the house and getting to smell new smells. We had lunch at a hole in the wall Mexican joint, which means Thatdog gets a couple of chips/some tortilla if he sits nicely and behaves. And he was pretty happy with those chips/pieces of tortilla until Thatboy made the mistake of letting him taste some carnitas. Then Thatdog was no longer content with a piece of chip. Spoiled much?

Next we had to do a quick errand for me - a trip to the Farmer's Market. Since I worked yesterday I couldn't get over to my usual Farmer's Market, so I went to the neighborhood one instead. And this is what $30 gets you at my neighborhood market:

Then we were back on track for Thatdog's day - a trip to the beach. Thatdog LOVES the beach because he gets to run around on the sand and play with other dogs. He's not so keen on the water aspect of the beach and spends a lot of time running away as the tide rolls in.

But today the beach was full of dunes for him to run around in, so he could stay far far away from those scary waves.

We came home so I could get some cooking done and Thatdog could rest up after his big day. Right now he's sprawled out on the floor under the coffee table - his favorite "den." Thatboy and I relaxed and watched the Emmys while we enjoyed some creamy chicken and broccoli. Adding a sauce to broccoli is a surefire way to get Thatboy to eat it - true of many vegetables, and a great way to get a picky vegetable eater to eat his vegetables. Mix in some chicken and you have an entire meal! (I served this with some fried rice - recipe to follow tomorrow. Because for now I have a kitchen to clean and laundry to fold!)

Chicken and Broccoli
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
1 cup milk, warmed
2 Tbsp sherry
1 egg yolk
salt and pepper
1 1/2 cups broccoli, cooked
4 slices of cooked chicken
1/4 cup grated Parmesan

1. Preheat oven to 375. Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the flour until a paste forms.
2. Slowly stir in the hot milk and stir until a thick sauce forms. Bring to a boil.
3. Lower the heat and simmer for 2 more minutes. Add in sherry and egg yolk, stirring.
4. Salt and pepper the sauce to taste.
   
5. Spray a pyrex dish with cooking spray and place broccoli on the bottom.
6. Top broccoli with chicken and spoon the sauce over both.
7. Sprinkle with cheese and bake for 20 minutes.
   

Grape Escape

Thatboy and I have a wedding to attend this weekend, not to mention Thatbrother's upcoming birthday, so I've been spending my lunches running around trying to get things together for the events.

Today I tried to take care of both by heading to the salon for a quick waxing, and picking up a gift for Thatbrother. The errands took me to a part of town with a farmer's market I hadn't ever visited. I think that's probably an omen. So I stopped to pick up some fruit.

This is one of my favorite things about living in California:

Summer grapes. If California is known for one thing, it's probably avocados. But throw in a second thing and you're bound to have someone bring up our fantastic wine. Which comes from grapes. Those same grapes which start showing up at our farmers' markets at the end of the summer. Sweet, juicy, and cheap, they're one of my favorite summer indulgences. Since they're easy to pack in a bag, Thatboy and I carry them around whenever we go out. I sliced a bunch of them up and threw them together with some of the other fruit I picked up (strawberries, watermelon, mango) for a giant fruit salad. Which we ate all of within a few hours of me making it.

Running all over town for these errands definitely reminded me it's still hot and summer. I knew I didn't want to turn on the oven tonight, so a stovetop chicken it was. And I went to my go to sauce - a quick and easy wine reduction. And of course I went with a California wine because of the whole grape thing. I threw in some fresh tomatoes, because they're also perfect at this point of the summer (sweet, juicy, and cheap just like the grapes). And the pièce de résistance was one of those "necessity is the mother of invention" type things. I had made scrambled eggs with mushrooms last week and had some mushrooms that I wasn't sure would last too much longer. So they got chopped up and thrown in too.

Chicken with Mushrooms
whole chicken, cut into eight pieces
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup white wine
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced

1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Brown the chicken and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
2. Remove the chicken from the skillet and add the onion to the pan. Smash the garlic with the side of a knife and throw them in too. Cook until the onion is translucent.
3. Add the chicken back in with the wine, tomato, and mushrooms. Cover the skillet and simmer for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.