Flavorful & Burn

Flavorful - full of flavor; delectable.

February 22, 2009

Late yesterday it finally dawned on me that I had no picture for the day, so I had to take another dinner picture. On my viewer on my camera it didn't look very good, so I was glad to see when I uploaded it that the colors were so pretty and the olive oil and vinegar made everything so shiny! This is one of my most favorite things to eat. It is healthy (how unlike me!) and super fast. It is THE BEST in the summer and late fall when the garden is over flowing and you can make everything fresh from your very own garden. I chop up a cucumber, tomatoes (grape tomatoes in this instance) and onion. This time I used green onions, but I frequently use very thinly sliced red onion. Then I drizzle the whole thing with extra virgin olive oil, rice wine vinegar, fresh ground pepper and course sea salt. So yummy! I have my friend, Trevor, to thank for this recipe.

Burn - An injury produced by fire, heat or steam.

February 23, 2009

I spent the whole afternoon making dinner for today. Our Monday dinner is like unto anyone else's Sunday dinner, a very big deal. I had planned on making chicken enchiladas. I wasn't very happy with the enchilada sauce I mixed up last time I made enchiladas, so I went with a cream sauce this time. This involved the making of a rue, which always scares me because it always tastes so flour-y. I was told recently to stir the butter and flour constantly for a least one full minute and it would help with that. So I did that, stirred it constantly, and it was looking beautiful. You must understand that sour cream is a staple of mine, and I ALWAYS have it on hand. Except today. I don't remember when I used it up, but I was out. So there I am with a beautiful rue, waiting for sour cream. I have no sour cream. I had to substitute (YIKES!), so I threw in some Cream of Chicken soup and finished the recipe as outlined. It turned out really good - really thick and tasty and I was pleased. I also made up some pico de gallo. Another one of my staples is green chilies - so naturally I was out of those too. Therefore my pico was a little bit bland, but still yummy. I added some extra garlic to try to compensate some in the flavor, but it was still a little bland. We also had green salad, and I planned to make some ranch dressing, but as stated before, NO SOUR CREAM!!! I actually had cream cheese on hand, but no sour cream. How crazy is that?? So I told you that long story just to tell you this one: I burned my hand. Somehow, getting the enchiladas out of the oven I got my hand too close to the 2nd pan when I was removing the first. Stupid! It hurt for quite a long time for such a small burn, and I got some neosporin on it quickly, too. See - it's true. No good deed ever goes unpunished.

So the moral of all this is that if any of you see me at the grocery store this weekend, please, please, PLEASE make sure that sour cream and green chilies are in my basket.