Avo Cado

When I first moved in with my old roommate, Avo Cado was her profile name on a popular networking site (that has since lost its appeal). I'm a bit embarrassed to say, but it actually took me a little while to put one and one together and realize that it was the word avocado split in two. How silly of me. Needless to say, she loved avocados and was the one who introduced me to this absolutely delicious treat; an avocado shake! I am now a loyal disciple.

You are probably making a face at this point (as is the case for most people when this is mentioned), but trust me, it's delicious. Well, if you don't like avocados you may not find it delicious, but if you don't like avocados, then you're just plain crazy. It seems people have trouble fathoming an avocado being used in a sweet way, but I learned it's actually the more common way to use it in many Asian countries.

Just remember, you can't say "No, thank you" until you try something!

Avocado Shake

In the past, I've made it using vanilla ice cream, but when researching it a few months ago, found this is the correct way to do it.

Ingredients:

1 ripe avocado

1 cup milk (the higher the fat the better the taste)

2 cups ice

1/4-1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk (depending on how sweet you like it)

Mix all ingredients together in a blender. Enjoy!

Another Weekly Meal Plan

I've got another meal plan for you (although I am aware that there's a good chance I'm the only one who is going to use it). This is a good one! I haven't made any of them - but I just know it's going to be good! I've been out of town for the better part of the last month or two and am ready to get back to some good home cooking.

It seems that the time and effort I put into making a shopping/pantry list wasn't necessary since it sounds like the few of you who made anything only did one or two of the recipes.

Since the last meal plan, I've been into looking up different food/cooking blogs. There are tons and tons out there! So hard to be discriminatory when everything looks good. My bookmarks list increased dramatically. I find it cool to know (and see evidence) that there are lots of passionate cooks out there, maybe because I don't find myself surrounded by many. So hopefully this menu inspires a few of you who look at cooking as more of a chore.

1st Meal: Vegetarian

From Satisfied

Black Pepper Cornmeal Tarts with Heirloom Tomatoes

Get the Recipe

I love heirloom tomatoes! There's something about the colors that are so enticing. They are really only around this time of year, so don't miss out. Most good grocery stores should have a small selection or the farmer's market would be a good way to go. They can be pricey, but just consider that this is your "meat" for the meal. If you can't find them, I'm sure this would work with regular tomatoes (but definitely won't look as pretty).

2nd Meal: Meat and Potatoes (comfort food)

From What We're Eating

Chipotle Glazed Meatloaf

Get the Recipe

I think meatloaf has a bad rap. I think a lot of people have had a lot of bad meatloaf. My mother makes a great meatloaf so I grew up with tasting the good kind. In my short cooking experience, I've tried to make meatloaf on a few occasions (each time with a different recipe) and it just never turns out that great. I'm hoping this one is a winner. Look for the chipotle in adobo sauce in the hispanic/mexican food section of the grocery store.

I'm going to serve it with this mashed potatoes recipe from Lick My Spoon. It looks delish! And this recipe for roasted carrots from Simply Recipes although I may switch the rosemary out for a different seasoning that would go better with the other two dishes.

3rd Meal: Pasta/Italian

From What We're Eating

Baked Rigatoni with Turkey Bolognese

Get the Recipe

Bolognese is like a trigger word for me or something. Anytime I see it on a menu, I want to order it. In the true definition of the sauce, it would need to include mushrooms, ham, vegetables, beef, and tomato paste. I don't think this recipe has all of those, but it should still be good.

4th Meal: Weekend/Outdoor Food

From Satisfied

Pulled Chicken Sliders with BlackBerry Chipotle Sauce

Get the Recipe

Can you say YUM! I'm excited for this one. Instead of chicken, I'm actually going to make them with boneless country ribs (pork) that I have in the freezer. Hopefully it won't change the dynamics of it. I'm going to try out the liquid smoke thing and see how that goes.

I'll serve this with the Cilantro Lime Slaw listed in the same post (although I may be the only one who eats it) and also with...

Creamed Corn with Bacon and Rosemary

From Pinch My Salt

Get the Recipe

I've only had creamed corn out of a can, so I'm thinking that a homemade version will be pretty awesome, plus you can't go wrong with adding bacon.

I'll post my updates as I make these recipes. Happy Cooking!

Twilight Fever!

Watch out! We've got a little vampire girl on our hands this summer.
Let's just say she was very excited about Eclipse coming out.

Don't be alarmed! She actually just looks like that after eating...

THIS!

Strawberries and Dumplings

Sounds interesting, right?

I saw it here and had to try it out. Super easy and quite delish!

Strawberry season is about over, but this could definitely work with any type of berries or other juicy fruit. Dumplings sound difficult, but with this recipe they couldn't be easier. The only alteration is that I would have added a little bit of sugar to the dough recipe to give them just a touch of sweetness. As you can see from the first picture, it was a winner at our house.

Meal Plan Update P2

I made the remaining dishes from my meal plan over the last couple days and will post my pics and thoughts. It's cool to see that at least a couple of you out there have tried some of them - but I'd love to hear about anyone else's experiences.

I have to say that the stuffed zucchini wasn't my favorite. It definitely had potential, but seemed to be missing some flavor. I will admit that I don't think I cut the potatoes small enough so they were still a little hard for my liking after cooking for the allotted time. Also, as I was making it, I realized that the middle parts of the zucchini that you remove are never added back into the recipe. This seemed a little strange to me. What are you supposed to do with all those good innards? So I chopped them up a little and added them to the pan a little before I added in the tomatoes. Maybe that ruined them, but I don't think so. My sister said she tried these with mashed potatoes and I think that may be the way to go here.

The stewed chicken was also not as good as I was hoping it would be. You never know with those Food Network recipes. Sometimes they are great and sometimes they can flop (okay it wasn't a flop but still). It was actually pretty easy to put together which you wouldn't think with the long ingredient list. Basically, everything is mixed together with the chicken to marinate overnight and the next day you don't have much left to do besides let it cook. My biggest complaint is that it was too oily. You could definitely cut down the amount of oil you brown the chicken in from 1/3 cup to 1/4 cup and maybe even less. When it was finished, I was skimming off quite a bit of oil. Also, it was a little too soupy. I would have preferred a thicker sauce. Did anyone else try this one??

I was a little apprehensive about the steak with the romesco sauce just because it didn't look like something that I would normally make - or maybe it didn't sound as appealing. I'm not sure. However, the sauce was really delicious and simple to put together. After I made it, I tasted a bit while the steaks were broiling and wasn't sure if I liked it - but once you put some on the meat it's quite fantastic. I'm sure it would be equally good with other types of meat - pork loin or chicken for example. I used sirloin instead of skirt steak for mine because it was a lot less expensive and as you can see from the picture, it got a little well done due to a thermometer that broke during the cooking process. =( But that's another story. I have some extra sauce left, and think I'll mix it with some marina and put it over pasta. If you haven't already, give this recipe a try, especially the sauce.

P.S. Those are sweet potato fries (my fav) but as you can see are not orange. It would seem you can't find orange sweet potatoes here in Oregon anymore; maybe they are trying to distinguish themselves from yams. Is it like this for anyone else?

My favorite recipe of the meal plan was the salmon burgers followed by the steak with romesco sauce. Now that the meal plan updates are done, I've got quite a few summer fruit desserts to share so be prepared. I can't decide if I should do one big post with them all or split them up into a few posts. Any thoughts?

Meal Plan Update P1

Have you tried any of the recipes yet?? So far I've done two of them and both were quite yummy. Here are my pics - not as great as the original ones sadly - but it shows they are doable!

The breakfast pizza should actually be classified as the fast and easy recipe. I substituted the bacon for some pancetta that I needed to use and didn't have any scallions, so I used a leek and sauteed it with the pancetta to soften it. I used store bought crust and because of that there are just a couple of minor adjustments that need to be made. First, make sure you roll/flatten the crust thin. On her recipe, the baking time is around 10 minutes but the dough package will tell you at least 13. I wanted to make sure the dough was cooked through so I did the 13 minutes and by that point the eggs yolks weren't quite as soft as I would have preferred. So next time, I'd make sure the crust was thinner so I could cut the baking time by a few minutes. But it was still good.



The salmon burgers were not so fast. They are supposedly a 30 minute meal - but it took closer to an hour for me. However, they were fantastic! Mark really loved them. Make sure you get the right amount of the mayo mixture in with the salmon. I think I put a little too much in and so the patties were really soft and hard to get into the pan without having them fall apart. But once they were cooked, they stayed together quite well. Also, it says to cook on med-high heat, but the butter does burn pretty easy so I would put it on med and cook 4-5 min per side (vs. 3-4). Yum, yum. Definitely give these a try!