Incredible Fast Food

This place is a revolution in fast food. Delicious, healthful, fresh food- fast! Steve Ells, the guy who started this chain of awesome, deliciousness runs his restaurants based on the philosophy, Food With Integrity. I will quote his actual statement which is printed on every menu. Its just too important not to read. "Chipotle is a pioneer in changing the way people think about and eat fast food. Armed with our philosophy of Food With Integrity, we take pride in sourcing as many of our high quality ingredients as we can from local and family farmers who are committed to sustainably raising antibiotic and hormone-free meats and organic vegetables. Food With Integrity is not merely a marketing slogan or a philosophy. It is an active process of working back along the food chain. It is a deeper level of thinking, consideration, and comprehension than just the word"fresh." It means going beyond distributors to discover how our vegetables are grown, and being cognizant of how our pigs, cows, and chickens are raised. It is a philosophy solidly based on a foundation of not exploiting animals, the environment, or people."  How simple and wonderful. This is something we all should be doing! Someone please tell me why McDonald's can't live by this philosophy??? I think greed is the answer. People always say that eating organically is too expensive. Well, the most expensive thing on the Chipotle menu is $6.50. Which is about the same price of any large value meal on McDonald's menu. We had to drive 70 miles to eat here, but if you happen to  live near a Chipotle give it a try you will not be disappointed. 

Look! They are actually making food!

Here is my food, I ordered the tacos and they actually make them when you order them. 

The finished product, that was quickly devoured. Two tacos with black beans and carnitas the naturally raised pork. One taco with pinto beans and barbacoa, naturally raised beef braised then shredded mmmmmm. 

Our order of chips and guacamole so good! Your chips come in a bag but the fella made a nice presentation of our order. 

Heaven wrapped in a flour tortilla! 

All the menus are printed on recycled paper. This guy walks the walk.  Changing the world one taco at a time!

The fella ordered a burrito with the barbacoa ( shredded braised beef) without beans. I don't know why he doesn't like them, but I'm not complaining. He ate a burrito and guacamole!

Cheese Please

Hey guys, I am currently working on making some home made ricotta cheese. Apparently it is quite easy to make, it just needs about a day to sit. So, as soon as I have my final product, I will post it as fast as my not- so- little fingers can type. Lets cross our fingers it comes out at least as tasty as a watery tub of Polly-O.  Wish me luck!

A Quick Lunch....Or Dinner

Just a few ingredients keep you and your stomach away from a tasty and healthy meal. This little number only takes about a minute longer than the time it takes your pasta to cook. When the fella is eating his favorite eggs and hash on a saturday afternoon, this is what I make. He won't eat it (so more for me) and I don't feel bad for eating 3 bowls of it. This is a recipe based on what you have on hand, but has two basic principles use some kind of vegetable and whole wheat pasta. Today I have arugula and rotini and used half a box of each of these. No good can come of it when I make a whole box of pasta. Ok, lets get this party started shall we? 

Here we have the stars of the luncheon show, arugula and pasta.  When your pasta is finished cooking let it sit in the colander for a minute while you add the arugula to the hot pot with some oil salt, pepper and red pepper flakes (if you can take the heat.) Let it wilt down just a bit. Throw your cooked pasta on top of the arugula and add just a bit more oil and give it a stir.  To beef up on the veggie count I added half a bag of steamed peas in with the arugula. 

TA DAAA! 10 minutes later you have something really good to eat, with little to no effort. Top off your bowl of goodness with some good parmesan cheese and start shoveling or politely savoring every bite. 

Milk, of the Nutty Variety

This stuff is delicious. I stumbled upon this tasty treat during a stroll through Target. I've seen the commercials and have even tried the original Silk Almond Milk, but this stuff....wow.  It is so thick, rich, chocolaty, and simply delightful. It has a hint of almond flavor, far less distinct than the non-choclate version. I am not a fan of milk, at all but this is absolutely wonderful. This tasty bev offers way more calcium than regular milk, which I am trying to consume more of these days. I know these freaky, new fangled food items might seem weird but this is soooo good. Try it and let me know what you think. It goes without saying that I am definitely not being paid to comment about Silk's Almond Milk, I wish! 

Mmmmm going, going....

GONE!

Caesar Dressing (A Healthy Version)

My best friend Sarah and I love Jamie Oliver. I remember lying on her bedroom floor in high school while we proclaimed how cute his accent was and how good his food looked, as he drove around on his little vespa from place to place making his recipes. I still love him today, especially this food revolution he is on. I totally support his crusade to teach Americans about good food, where this food comes from, and healthy, easy, delicious recipes. Americans eat horribly, we could use the simple wisdom this wonderful Brit has to offer.  I know the world is busy, but I think its time we take a cue from the Europeans and put down all of the gadgets we find so necessary to possess, sit down and enjoy a meal. Preferably with some people you love, and preferably at least once a day.  We can all start with a tasty and healthier version of the classic caesar salad. It takes about 15 minutes and makes enough to nicely coat 2 heads of romaine. Though the recipe calls for just one large head.
1/3 cup low-fat or nonfat Greek-style yogurt
2 anchovy fillets mashed
1 garlic clove mashed
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup freshly grated parmigiano reggiano cheese
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 large head of romaine lettuce torn into bite sized pieces

Here are your ingredients. Unfortunately I live in the middle of nowhere, and this is the best parmesan cheese I can get my hands on. Oh how I long to live near a Whole Foods again. But, it did the trick.

Lemon juice, garlic, and anchovies. 

In a small bowl whisk the yogurt with the anchovies, garlic, lemon juice and worcestershire sauce. 

Whisk in the oil

And the parmesan cheese

Season with salt and pepper

In a large bowl, toss the romaine with half the dressing and the remaining cheese. Serve, passing the remaining dressing at the table.

Joy! In a Styrofoam box

Few things are more joyous to receive via the U.S. postal service than this glorious Styrofoam box I came across today, filled with boxes upon boxes of pure deliciousness. Ladies and gentleman we have Omaha Steaks! Thank God for grandmothers who love their grandsons. This special delivery came today as an early birthday present for the fella. It may as well have been my birthday, I'm thrilled. We are now the proud, soon to be consumers of filet mignon, bacon wrapped filets, hot dogs, burgers, pork chops, pot roast, steak tips, au gratin potatoes, and even apple tartlets. 

Tonight I made some steak tips and caesar salad with homemade dressing, the recipe coming from the wonderful Jamie Oliver, I'll be sharing that go round with you all tomorrow. I'm not a huge fan of steak tips and would never order them at a restaurant, where more often than not you are presented with a pile of cow chopped in to bits, resembling and tasting like tire tread. No thank you. But, the Omaha steak tips are unbelievably tender and tasty. A tip, if you will, of beef heaven. All I can say is, thank you grammy!

Even Bo was excited about the delivery. Thats about as close as he is gonna get to tasting any of it! 

Valentine Brownies

Is it just me, or does martha stewart have a way of making you feel bad about yourself? She has these fabulous recipes, and fabulous photos of these recipes (and hundreds of millions of dollars, but thats beside the point) and mine never seem to measure up. This seems a bitter way to start a post about valentines day but, ugh does she get to me! I used her brownie recipe from the Baking Handbook and they came out fine. I will admit I am a much better cook than I am a baker but, I still love to do it. My finished product just never looks like hers. I digress.... these brownies are very tasty and came out looking pretty good. With a little help from a heart shaped cookie cutter, they will be a lovely sweet treat for your valentine. Hopefully you have more than one or you'll end up eating the whole batch like me!  And Here we have Martha Stewart's Fudgy Chocolate Brownies. Valentine style.
You need:

1 stick unsalted butter, plus more for pan

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
11/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Your Ingredients.

Melt the butter and chocolate in a bowl over simmering water. 

Prepare your pan with butter and flour.

After the chocolate, butter mixture cools (about 10-15 mins) add the sugar.

Stir it. 

Add eggs mixing well after each addition. 

Add the vanilla.

Fold in the flour and salt. Careful not to over mix.

Pour the brownie mixture into the prepared pan. 

Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes. Until a toothpick comes out just about clean. Don't over bake it will continue to cook for a bit out of the oven.  

Grab you heart shaped cookie/brownie cutter and start making some magic!

Voila! Heart shaped brownies for your valentine.