22 Cookie Challenge and Bitchen Salads

In prep for a bigger cause I am in need of local guinie pigs.  If you are a cookie lover I need you for taste testing.  Yes. This does include consuming cookies.

I have a particular set of chocolate cookies that I make that make people feel happy.  Nothing in them but love and baking ingredients :)  With that being said I am going to do a little.. well a lot.. of experimenting.  I will be testing 22 new flavors with a surprise add-ins (chocolate chips, fruit, nuts).  As part of my exploration of food this is my next mission. 

Mission:  Make 22 different cookies with different, that make sense, add-ins and or icing/topping. 

This is where you come in.  I will make cookies at least once every week/week and a half.  I will need to hand them out to you guinie pigs and request your feedback and suggestions :) 

With that being said LET ME KNOW! you know how to get a hold.

The second part to this is for every new kind of cookie combo I make I will make a salad to um, er.. counter all that amazing cookieness.  I of course will be taste testing the cookies.. AND salads of course :)

So here's to divine cookie soul searching and rolling bowls of lettuce with in season veggies and smart dressings :)

Eating Check up: Eating like shit lately.
Fix: I am dedicating myself to learning the Asanas of Ashtanga Yoga through traditional Vinyasa Count.  I feel very driven to this.  My yoga experience has pandered across the years.. college was a concentration on the asanas (poses).  No flow.  Home practice was always asanas slow paced.  Then I went to Sumit's Yoga, Vinyasa Power Flow, and had my ass handed to me.  I left that class soaking wet, bendy, tiered, but felt like I could move a friggin building.  After that I was pretty much hooked on the flow.  Sumit's is very fast paced.  If I had know the asanas I would have probably dug the fuck out of it.  SO thats what brings me to this.  My current pactice is home based.  I usually do a flow with asanas at my pace.  I try to hold each asana for 5 breaths.  I like the way my heart races when the flow is added in after each asana is added.  My friend Kim is putting a sequence together for me too and I can't wait!  Second part of the fix is transitioning back to eating better. Sounds stupid with the cookies right? Not if I am giving majority of them away for taste testing?  Finally finding a facet again :)

Ash

Enchilada Fetish

A plate: Three Red Rolled Melty Cheese Enchiladas topped with Shredded Iceberg Lettuce, Sour Cream, and a side of Frijoles, Arroz Rojo and Sopas with honey.

Being born in Albuquerque, a very large part of the culture is food. Amazing food.  Since moving to Arizona I crave a GREAT red chile or green chile sauce.  Not chili gravy (wtf?).  Due to the 464 mile difference, I have had some of the food here.  I have yet to find an amazing green chile sauce out here.  Most versions are diluted tomatillo sauces or washed chile.  I do have to say though, that I have become a rather large red chile fan over the past few years.  My nana would spread it on a piece of toast, eggs, or hashbrowns for breakfast.  Now I can't get enough of red chile.  This brings me to my love affair for the past oohh 3 years?  Pretty much since I met Dustin. Red Chile Sauce.  Phoenix is peppered with little Mexican Food joints that I swear put crack in their red enchilada sauces.  The first time I had a bean and rice burrito enchilada style I was in heaven.  The sauce.  Man. 

Most enchilada styles that I can purchase here in Arizona are super watered down.  Barely coats the corn tortilla and end up dry.  I read somewhere about doing enchiladas with small flour tortillas, I have only ever seen corn tortillas used, I think I will stick to the og.  I have been working with some red chile puree from ABQ Tortilla Company (on 15th ave and Thatcher) to make Chile Colorado Sauce.  The recipe is coming from Bueno Foods Website.  I am hoping that this will be a step closer to the red sauce that has captured my stomach.  I love me some enchiladas.  If I could I probably could have it for dinner ever evening.  It is a combo of all of my favorite things.  Tortilla, Cheese, Beans, Rice, Sour Cream, Iceburg Lettuce..I'm the extra lettuce kid.. :)

I've also gotten into doing my own taco shells.  Corn tortillas heated up in hot oil to cook a bit, take them out and hang them over an edge, I use a square bowl.  Let them cool and load.  Amazing.

Corn Tortilla Chicken Tacos

1/2 to 1 lb  (less or more) Chicken, Turkey, Fish, or Beef 

6-10 Corn Tortillas (less or more)

Oil to Cook Tortillas

Tomato Diced

Shredded Iceburg Lettuce

Onion Diced

Gaucamole

Sour Cream

Shredded Cheese

Green/Red Chile

Cilantro Diced

Seasoning for meat

Cook chicken until well done in spice or marinade of choice, Dustin and I use a chicken fajita from Fresh and Easy.  Once cooked set aside and keep warm.  Next use the oil to cook the corn tortillas.  Let cook to when they start to firm, once starting to get firm set over an edge of something.  Edge of a container, food stand, taco rack you can guy at walmart.  Let cool to form to taco shape.  Once cooled load with chicken and toppings. Enjoy :D

Critical Thinking

I did some soul searching today, well actually a lot over the past year.  The concentration of it has only been the past few weeks.  I look back at my life over the past few years and I feel happy, but indifferent.  I have been graduated for 7 years.  I have my Associates degree, I am working on my Bachelors, and after I want to pursue my Masters.  Not exactly on the time scale I had in mind, but shit everything happens for a reason.  I think I finally realized I need to stop being the fish trying to swim up stream fighting the current and really just go with the fucking flow.  I fight to be heard, to be acknowledged.. maybe all for the wrong reasons.  I have this diluted idea of who I think I am vs. who I really am.  To be honest, the person I think I am sucks.  It is a combo of all of the qualities I think I need and want, yet I am the farthest away from who I am, inside.  My husband is probably the only person that really gets a constant glimpse of who I am, the happy me, and he gets a heavy does of the fucked up one too.  Which sucks.  He's a strong man<3.  I had a long conversation with my Aunt Lynn a week ago.  She said something that stuck. (and made me feel so much better). I feel like I'm in transition. From being a young kid to being a married woman that wants to have babies, watch them grow with my husband, and experience life.  "Those are the signs of a transition. Go with it. Don't fight it."  I'm very good at fighting things like that.  Learning to let go is easier said than done, but why fight it anymore.  I could choose to live my life wound tight as a fuck as the next person that is on the verge of breaking, or I could just let go. I could spend a lot of time evaluating who is this and who that is... but in the end I know I have an amazing husband, a strong as hell family, and some tight friendships.

Time to take a deep breath and jump :)



PS:  I made two crockpots of posole today... pix to follow

Sandwich Experiemnt

So after baking the wheat bread yesterday I finally sliced a few off today.  Much to my husband's dismay (he jumped the gun on dinner) I smeared two slices with pesto spiked miracle whip, lined both sides with just sliced mozzarella from my costco brick, some pepper roasted turkey breast, plenty of tomato, and put it in a pan to melt the cheese.  Flipped. Melted a little more.  Sliced in half and consumed.  The look on Dustin's face when I came back from the kitchen was hilarious.  He of course had a bite.  :D

So I must say that the bread so far has been a success.  It def is a more nutty deep chewy wheat loaf.  It did call for 1/2 cup honey.  When it was baking there was a faint honey smell.  I warmed a small piece last night and drizzled it with honey.  I'm convinced honey makes pretty much everything better.  I think the only place you can have sopapillas con honey w/ your dinner is in NM.  Here in AZ it's a dessert served under ice cream or covered in whipping cream.  If they only knew! Honey and a warm sopapilla. 

Speaking of Sopapillas, Dustin and I are having Chris and Laura over for dinner!  Im making non-meat cheese enchiladas (i loooove enchiladas) with red rice and a small mexican salad.  I'm thinking maybe for dessert either Sopapillas or cookies. We will see :) 

I've made sopapillas once, for Cinco De Mayo of 07.  They actually turned out pretty damn good. 

I'm off to find something sweet to counter the savory!

Ash

100 Percent Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread..

From Scratch..

Tonight I made the lovely teryaki chicken bowls with the Pineapple Infused Yuri Yuri Sauce.. I think I like the orginal yuri yuri unit.  But still yummy :)  Brown Rice with chicken breasts cooked in a wok in peanut oil and a bit of extra virgin olive oil.  I just salt and pepper the chicken and throw them in.  Once chicken has cooked through, remove and place in microwave to stay warm.  Veggies Tonight: Broccoli, Carrots, Onions, Snow Peas, and White Squash.  Then dumped the chicken back in and poured sauce on and let it continue to simmer :)  Man it was yummy.. and makes awesome left overs too.










But onto my bread.. part of that amazing sourdough I posted previously from the Artisan Bread in 5min a Day from MotherEarthNews.com.

The 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread...
 

<3 Ash

Purple Childhood

So Dustin and I are only eating red meat once a month and tonight was our steak night :D  Steak, mashed taters, green beans, and green chile sour dough.  Oh and this amazing stuff we all used to have mustaches of as kids.  PURPLE KOOLAID.  There really is something about koolaid that is yummy.  The taters are pretty amazing too.

Dustin's Quick Mashed Taters

We used red potatoes, but you can use any kind you like!  Boil the potatoes until a fork will eaisliy go through.  Drain and put into a large bowl.  Add 2-4 tbsps of Butter to the potatoes and start rough mashing with a fork.  Add about 3-4 tbsps sour cream and half a block of neufechel cream (the low fat cream cheese).  Salt and pepper her, continue to mash/mix together and consume!! 

It has been amazing having my husband home the whole weekend and for whole days.  When he was working at courtsey he literly maybe had 4-5 days off total a week and by the time he got home he was so tiered.. I missed him a lot!  Now I have my partner in crime back ;)  Having meals with him and going places together is awesome.  We went and saw Salt yesterday and had dindin.  It was nice having a date night more recently then two weeks ago!  None of which was his fault, he is a champion and works his ass off to support us while I'm in school <3  Now with the new job he will never miss a football sunday (yay its almost football time!!), have every other saturday off and we can actually go CAMPING!!! I have been wanting to go camping this whole summer and now we have the ability to do it.  Also our 1st wedding anniversary is coming up!

Trouble time! <3 Love him so much.

Ash!

Rain and Sandwiches

It rained today. Finally.  First time since April.  It was at a point where it was so hot in the summer a wet down was needed.. only trade off? INSANE humidity.  I figured the last summer here would be a punisher ;) 

For most people that know me they know that I Love Cheese.  Its my dad's fault.   He is an avid cheese eater too.  My brother also.  Its funny.  When we are both home and dad had a block of cheese out and some triskets.. my brother and I have this funny way of gravitating to the table and dad just automatically starts handling triskets and cheese to you.  Cheese Rocks.  I wish I could say I'm partial to one kind but I'm far from that.  From the Extra Sharpness of a Beautiful block of Cheddar to a creamy,crumbly strong feta, to a soft brie with fruit perseves ontop with crackers.  So when it comes to making a sandwich cheese, to me, is key.  My dad and I both like the mustard,tomatoe, spinach, avacado tortilla unit.  I love avocados.  Fuck mayo compared to the amazingness of avocado.  I know many disagree, my husband, that mayo or miricle whip is the stuff.  I saw how it was made. I'm good.


My top 3 sandwiches to Make at Home:

A sandwich, I learned to make at my very first job, was called the Baja Chicken.  I call it the Amazing Jamba Juice Sandwich haha ;).

2-3 Chicken Breasts Par-boiled and cut into strips
1 can of pineapple juice
munster cheese sliced
saffron mayo
mushrooms
tomatoes
red onions
avocado
salt and pepper
I loaf Cibatta Bread

Simmer chicken in pineapple juice either in a small crock pot on high for 2 hours or in a sauce pan for 1 hour on low to med-low.  Turning continuously.  This allows the chicken to soak up the pineapple taste which gives a great flavor with the other ingredients.

One chicken is ready start to pull the other ingredients together.  Slice the onions thin, the tomatoes, and the mushrooms.  Cut the loaf of bread in half horizontally (like they do at subway).  Smear the mayo on both sides of the bread.  Next layer the strips of chicken on the bread along the length.  Cover with slices of Munster cheese.  On the other half of the bread put the tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, and salt/pepper.  Lay these two pieces of bread on a foil lined cooking sheet (easy clean up) and put in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted.  Once done pull out of over and let set for a few minutes while you slice the avocado.  Place avocado on chicken side, place other half on top and slice into 3 inch sections.  This will feed a few people :)  rip Del Norte Jamba Juice

2: Good ole Fashioned Tuna sandwich.  I currently do have to say that subway has the most amazing tuna I've had.  I'm sure its the crack they put in there but man.. once it gets hot outside all I want is a foot long tuna on honey oat with the works. I love extra lettuce.  If tuna is done at home and I"m not the one that made it (which means I don't know how much mayo is realllly in there) I will eat it.. maybe.. lol!  But in ref to the cheese and avocado. ya. put that one my tuna unit.  I love the extra veggies.

3: This is a time true sandwich at its finest. In my opinion of course.. but ya.

Tortilla
slice of any amazing cheese (currently it is slices off a block of mozzarella..yes.)
yellow mustard
roma tomato
onion
spinach
avocado
pepper

Squirt some yellow mustard on a tortilla. Layer with cheese, tomato, onion, spinach, pepper, and avocado, role that beast up and enjoy. No meat needed.  Good poly- fat form the avocado, antioxes from the spinach, lip form the tomato, calcium form the cheese, and tortilla.. well thats a carbo :) I have this for lunch a lot.  It's filling and is a combo of some of my fav ingredients.  So I end up happy!

One really awesome breakfast unit this week.  Cottage cheese with strawberries and bananas with either coffee or constant comment tea. Super yum.  Working on the breakfast options and things to make.  Key: actually having breakfast.  Now that bbkf has a better job (yes!!) we get to have all three meals together now!  I've started writing down all of my fav recipes that I like to make.  I want to add more recipes.  I like to look online, see what others are doing, and maybe adjust it to my taste.  One big thing that I want to conquer is fish.  I'm talking ahiahi, salmon, and others.  I want to incorp fish into our diet because it is a great source of protein with little to no fat.  Plus get more of those good fats.

Its stopped raining for now..Listening to Black Carl. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. (check itunes)

ash..