Friendly Fajitas

Alayna called me to tell me to come home because she was having a dinner party but sadly I had to tell her I was on the LIRR headed to a house with a pool and secret hiding closets.

Still I was sad I missed it. And I was REALLY sad when I saw these pictures. How good does this look? Mexican & Vegetarian wonders!

By the way, sorry I have to interject. Are Alayna and I the only ones on earth who watch "I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here?" We started watching because all the shows we used to watch during soup night had their season finales. I just want to give a shout out right now to Holly and Sanjaya. My new all time favorite couple. I'm not kidding. I think Holly might be kicked off because she can't drink the Dung Beetle Nut daiquiri that fast and Alayna can testify that I'm sort of teary-eyed.

Right. This meal is NOT made of Dung Beetle Nuts. So there's that.
Okay friends, lets eat!

AMAZING FAJITAS OF AMAZINGNESS (AKA PORTOBELLA MUSHROOMS)

• first wrap your tortillas (the big kind) in a slightly damp, clean dishtowel and heat the oven to 250, popping them in on a cookie sheet, so that they get warm without getting dry
  
• slice up 6-8 cloves of garlic and coarsely chop about half a red onion and saute in olive oil, adding a couple of red (hot) peppers, chili powder, AND, the secret ingredient, a couple of shakes of CINNAMON
  
• add a sliced up zucchini, cut into 1/2s or 1/4s and cover pot (keep covered through-out)
  
• add about 3 mushrooms (I keep everything but the very end of the stem) cut into pinky width slices
• add in half a pepper each of red, yellow and green (or any combination)
• once everything is cooked through, take out your tortillas and serve with shredded sharp cheddar cheese and the guac!

GUACAMOLEEEE

• cut two avocados into fourths, then slice the fourths and pop the avocado out into a bowl
• finely dice 4-6 cloves of garlic and throw in
• finely dice about 2 pinky-wide rings of red onion and toss them in too!
• do the same to about 1/2 a red pepper
• and some plum or cherry tomatoes
• toss in some coarsely chopped cilantro while you're at it (some people... eg, Bagel, dislike cilantro... apparently it can taste like soap to people with certain genes, so you might want to get a gene check on your guests before they come)
• squeeze the juice from 2 limes into your bowl
• add some salt and pepper
• now MASH! or make your nearest available, most hyper-est guest do it if you are too lazy to cook before people get to your house because you are a collaborative person who like sharing in the experience, as well as the food ;)

PLATANOS MADUROS

• get the blackest plantains you can find (the blacker they are, the sweeter, which means more caramelized awesomeness)
• slice into pointer finger thickness, and place into the frying pan of olive oil while the oil heats up
• flip fairly frequently so that they don't get burnt and take out when they're a nice golden brown (or black for more carmelizyness)
• can be served plain, or with fresh goat cheese. both are delicious. one is fancier.

Oooh, Alayna, nice plate!

Summer Starter Dinner

What a lovely dinner we have for you! It's a super light and healthy but a highly satisfying meal. I'm a pretty big fan. This dinner was sparked because Lindsay had flown in from London for the weekend... I pretty much just mentioned that because it sounds so cool... Which was fun and overshadowed the fact that our dearest third mate Kate was moving out. Off to sunnier skies and better produce. Sigh. 

It also came out that Kate had no idea Friday Dinner's blog exists which was hard for me to understand as I'm pretty sure it's the only thing Alayna I talk about, minus the cat. 

Okay, ready, set, go: 

Baked Salmon, Arugula Awesome, Mango, Strawberry & Mint Salad, AND CousCous Crazy

I know, what exciting names! And four courses! But it's so easy. What a dream. Read on.

Lauren Cook, a mango and Alayna. Whipping together the fruit/mint salad. Lauren, I have to admit, is still the winner for most enthusiastic Monday Soup fan. The competition is on-going, but Lauren is doing pretty darn well. (Example: Opening the door for Gavin and introducing herself this way: "Hi, I'm Lauren, you may recognize me from the Monday Soup's blog."

This has nothing to do with dinner. I'm just showing off my dress. 

Slicing the mangoes.

Setting the table! So many goblets!

Eating!!

Here We Go:

Baked Salmon:

Put salmon in a pyrex dish. Squeeze fresh lemon juice onto the salmon, and then sprinkle with thyme. Cook at 375 for about 30 min. When fish is cooked through, it should flake away easily with a fork and be a consistent pink color all the way through.

CousCous Crazy:

Make couscous according to instructions. Once it is cooked through, add a handful of chopped parsley, about half a red onion (chopped), 2 roma tomatoes (chopped) and chopped red pepper (about half a pepper). Stir in a big bowl and serve.

Arugula Awesome:

Cut a large gala (or other type... preferably crispy!) apple into bite size slices and put onto a bed of arugula. Shred parmesean-romano cheese on top (i like a lot). For salad dressing, mix the juice from half a lemon, about a spoonful of honey, and a tiny splash of olive oil (about 1tsp)... mix well and then toss into salad. The lemon will keep the apple slices from browning so you can make ahead.

Mango, Strawberry & Mint Salad:

Wash and cut up mangoes, strawberries and mint. Mix them in a bowl. Delicious.

For dessert we had Rhubarb Crisp, thanks to Lindsay's magic. Lindsay add the recipe as a comment to this post so we can all copy the recipe and eat that wonderful thing again. Thank you.

That is the end of Rhubarb Crisp.

I'll leave you with a series I call, "How I look when I describe the stabbing I witnessed on our street yesterday."