Meal of the Week

I have an idea for the blog - to feature one thing I made each week that I especially loved as the Meal of the Week. Maybe it will become a regular Saturday post...(and this was originally supposed to post on Saturday, but life got in the way).

This week, we grilled fajita meat for the first time. We have never been too adventurous on the grill, mainly sticking to burgers and sometimes chicken and recently, corn. A few weeks ago my brother told me he had grilled fajitas and used this recipe. Well, we tried it and I have to say it was the BEST meat I have ever made! (Well, technically Travis grilled it but I prepared it and marinated it.)

I had to make a couple of changes to the recipe. They didn't have skirt steak at the store so I used flat iron steak (the butcher's recommended substitute). Also, we don't use soy sauce so I just kinda threw in some balsamic vinegar and red cooking wine.

And I planned to make corn tortillas from scratch. Oh, the tortillas. They did not turn out like they are supposed to. The dough would not stick together at all, and I don't have a tortilla press (well, I have one now!) so they were super-thick anyway. Ahhh, this kind of mishap would have totally thrown me for a loop in the past. But, I decided to roll with it and we ended up with a tortilla-type bread on the side of our meat and veggies. They tasted fine, and Levi certainly didn't complain!

So aside from the meat and tortillas, I cooked bell peppers, mushrooms, and onions, guacamole, and corn on the cob. It was a truly delicious meal. This is how it turned out (and bear with me, I am not a great photographer).

What was YOUR favorite meal of this week? Let me know in the comments!

The one-ingredient rule

I thought I'd stop by and let you know how we are defining "processed."

I guess it could be defined a number of ways - I mean, there are some foods that are processed that are not bad - they just aren't in their original form anymore. Example, raisins. Since they aren't in their original form of grapes, they are technically processed. But they are dried, and nothing is added, so to us, they are ok.

We decided to go by a "one-ingredient" rule. So, if there are any additives at all, we won't buy it.

This will require us to do all of our cooking from scratch! So, if I want sweets or a loaf of bread, I can have it, but I'll have to learn to make it from scratch. (And gluten-free baking is a delicate art...so it may be a while before I dive into it.)

[A side note: I've already found (well, my mom found) a nice alternative to eating half a bag of chocolate chips every day. Chocolate-Covered Katie has a recipe for fudge babies that uses just walnuts, dates, and cacao powder (I use raw). Seriously, they are so good. And they have three ingredients - none of which is sugar - but they are sweet! Love this site...she has so many more recipes to try, too.]

So, cooking from scratch - here we go. The one-ingredient rule is in full effect!

The hardest time to eat healthy

We had a barbeque today. It was a get-together (or support group) for Travis and his Montessori teacher-training classmates. They went through a lot together and now they get to share triumphs and struggles about teaching in the classroom. For some, it is the anxiety of preparing to teach. Whatever the occasion, though, a barbeque is always fun.

We hosted this one at our place, so eating fresh during the barbeque wasn't that hard. We had burgers on the grill (no bun), grilled corn, and berries and watermelon. Juliet grabbed some bread and sausages from some other folks but we're not being too strict with her. The food and company was great and the kids played in the water and sunshine. It was a great time.

Then comes dinner, and we were exhausted and hungry and not wanting to cook. These are the times where it is so convenient to just run to the store to pick something up or order from a restaurant. We haven't been doing much eating out lately, but we have become reliant on the rotisserie chickens from the store. And while that isn't too processed, it is something that I can make myself (for cheaper) so I'd like to stay away from those this year. Anyways...

This is all to say that the hardest times to eat healthy are when you are dead tired and just want something quick and easy. Those are the times when you're tempted to spend a little bit more or eat something a little less healthy. But, if you're dedicated to eating fresh and cheap, it's likely you can find something to eat without going for convenience foods.

Which I did. I ate two bananas and some leftover beans and tortillas (the last of the store-bought ones!). And it was cheap, easy, and tasty.

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This is unrelated, but I wanted to share a picture of our meal from the other night. I don't take great food pictures, so if you're looking for fine photography, you won't find it here. From time to time, though, I will post pictures of food just because it was so yummy.

These are just taco salads, but they were so yummy. It included lettuce from our garden, ground meat, fresh corn cut from the cob, black beans (recipe below), homemade guacamole, and homemade tortilla chips (baked from corn tortillas). They were so yummy! (Did I say that already?)

The black beans recipe is from our friend Laurel and I hope she doesn't mind me posting it. I have always wanted to know how to cook black beans and have them taste good and flavorful, and I think this is the first time I've done it, thanks to her.

Black Beans de Laurel
1.5 cups black beans or 3 cups cooked black beans, salt and pepper to taste, 1 minced red bell pepper, 1 minced medium red onion, .25 cup minced cilantro or parsley and 2 Tbs of red wine vinegar plus more, if needed. All these things are just added together.