As winter ends, and what a winter it was, I look in the mirror and have noticed I have a few extra pounds I would like to shed. Noel came up with an idea...eat salads. There is a reason I married this woman, she's wicked smaht!! But how do I make a salad that I a self-proclaimed "meatatarian" would want to eat? So in the next two days I will make a salad and blog about them. That's right people you will get a back to back salad blog post.
PART 1 Taco Salad
Last night [Tuesday] Noel and I finally get to go grocery shopping, we usually make a morning out of it, but this week we were busy Sunday. First we go to Red Bone in Somerville for some "BBQ". My mom taught me if you have nothing nice to say don't say anything at all. The water came in a mason jar as did Noel's Coke. That's cool, right? The sausage we got was good but as soon as I get my Kitchen Aid Mixer I will be able to make the same thing. SIDE NOTE I GOT A KITCHEN AID MIXER, I GOT A KITCHEN AID MIXER. It is the the best of the best kitchen tools and I CAN NOT wait to get all the attachments!!! Back to our late week grocery trip. Since it was 8pm Tuesday night we decided we only had the energy to go to Shaws, even for our produce. Sorry Russo's I feel like I have cheated on you once again and I hang my head in shame. We wanted to make simple meals this week since Sunday is Easter Sunday and I will be cooking Easter dinner. I figured what is easier than Tacos from a Taco kit? Well Noel reminds me that I am look to lose some inches from the winter gut. Thanks Honey I love you too! So I figured it would be better to make a taco salad. Brilliant. Lettuce(which I bough a pre-mix, come on buy one get one, and hence the two salad post), green pepper, yellow pepper...This already sounds healthy...plus I get my MEAT. Again Homer Simpson "Mmmmmm MEAT". We checked out the spice mix package but it was more than a buck and we have every spice in the package, so I didn't buy one this time. I did pick up large tortilla chips.
Flash Forward to tonight. I get home from work, do some dishes and start cooking my dinner. In a frying pan I put swirl of oil, one large shallot and two minced garlic cloves. Cooked until it smelled good (about a minute or two), then I added the meat. As the meat was cooking I made the spice mixture and cut up a yellow and green pepper(wish I remembered there was a red pepper too. Would have looked better with more color.) and threw them in with the meat.I know wait a second what was in the spice, I wasn't going to leave this out I swear. I mixed pepper flakes, paprika, cayenne pepper, peppadew (what is peppadew? It is a sweet piquante pepper and garlic seasoning I got at Beacon Hill Wine and Gourmet in Melrose), sea salt, green pepper corns, black pepper corns and white pepper corn (thats right I uses the mortar and pestle) fresh herbs,basil, oregano, parsley, sage and thyme. As it finished I realized I was missing tomatoes. Oh the humanity, I didn't have tomatoes. Again my wicked smaht wife comes to the rescue, "Don't you have canned diced tomatoes?". Brilliant, I opened the can, drained some, not all of the juice,tossed it in the meat and cooked for another minute. As that was cooking I tossed the lettuces and chips together, should have cut up the lettuces a little more but cest la vie. I plated lettuces/chip mix, scooped the meat mixture and toped with cheese. Some where there has got to be a healthy meal here. I didn't make a dressing and I drank water. The salad was great a little spicy but good. Noel didn't like the heat but then again she's pretty picky!!
Wait isn't this the love of WINE and cooking. You got me. After the water I drank I got "thirsty" and opened Durnberg Gruner Veltliner Select. If you don't know Gruner it is a white wine from Austria. It's like Pinot Grigio had a baby with Sauvignon Blanc. Dry, crisp with granny smith apple and hints of lemon citrus.. This is a great summer wine, and a must try if you don't already know it!!! This bottle would have gone better with tomorrow nights dinner. This dinner with the meat and spice could have stood up to a red wine like carmenere, malbec or petite sirah or a rose.
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