A quick and easy Mexican fix

Week 8  (February 23, 2010)
This Wednesday was turning out to be a busy one. I worked late, went to the gym and had to prepare a potluck item for Thursday, so I needed a quick and easy recipe for tonight's dinner. Since we occasionally like to have breakfast for dinner, I found a recipe for skillet-poached huevos rancheros. Let me tell you, this was the easiest and quickest thing to make ever!

All you need is a skillet and three main ingredients for this dish: eggs, your favorite salsa and black beans.

Then you cover it for a few minutes and the steam poaches the eggs! Amazing!

Garnish (or not) with a sprinkle of cheese, sour cream, cilantro and green onions. Voilà, the dish is done. This took less than 10 minutes to make and was pretty darn yummy. We rated it an average of 7.5 (Mayra: 7, Geoffrey: 8).

Doesn't this sound awesome??

I am not a runner, but this event would make me one for a few weeks. Doesn't it sounds like so much fun???

Who's with me;)

Mardi Gras and Gumbo

Week 7  (February 16, 2010)
Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lenten season for me, and since we are planning on attending church that night, we decided to move our cooking night to Tuesday. Tuesday also happens to be Mardi Gras and what better way to celebrate it but with some New Orleans fare! Since Geoffrey is still wounded, I decided I was going to cook and picked out a recipe for Chicken and Sausage Gumbo. However, Geoffrey felt well enough to cook, so he took over the kitchen. I was his sous chef:)

I picked this recipe because 1) it didn't involve okra (which I sometimes like, but sometimes can't get over its slimy texture), 2) it didn't contain seafood and 3) we had most of the ingredients on hand. It was also interesting that this recipe didn't call for a roux, Geoffrey just had to brown the flour. 

Next, he chopped the "holy trinity" of vegetables: onion, celery and bell peppers. Didn't he do a good job? Geoffrey has become a master chopper!

While the gumbo was simmering, I made the cornbread and opened our last bottle of wine for the next 40 days and 40 nights (we are giving up alcohol for Lent this year). We thought a special bottle was in order, so opened the Top Chef Quickfire Chardonnay we received for Christmas from the Carroll's. It was delicious and paired well with gumbo (thanks again Zack and Sarah!)!



We rated this recipe an average of 7 (Mayra: 7 , Geoffrey: 7). It was easy-ish to make, didn't require too many crazy ingredients and can be made ahead of time for a potluck or dinner party. At first we thought it could have used a little more flavor and figured this was due to it being a Cooking Light recipe, but when we had it as leftovers over the next few days, we found that the flavors definitely marinated more and the gumbo got tastier.  Note: we use Crystal Hot Sauce for this recipe and topped off our dish with a few extra dashes.

Hope everyone had a wonderfully sinful Mardi Gras!

Crème Brûlée French Toast

Week 6  (February 10, 2010 make-up)
The past couple of Wednesday's have been busy for us, so we've had to "make-up" our new recipe night. I decided to try out a recipe for a new breakfast item since breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. And, because it was Valentine's Day weekend, I chose something sweet and decided to try a new french toast recipe.

The lucky recipe: Crème Brûlée French Toast! Doesn't that sound divine??! It combines two of my favorite things-- crème brûlée and french toast. How could this recipe go wrong? (spoiler alert: it doesn't!)

I ran into 2 hurdles with this one. First, I wanted to use a fresh baked brioche from my favorite patisserie, Patisserie Phillipe, but when I dropped by on Saturday they were sold out. I was able to get a loaf on the next day, which also happened to be Valentine's Day.

The second hurdle was that the recipe called for an overnight soak and since I wanted to make this for Valentine's Day breakfast, I didn't have enough time. I contemplated forgoing the overnight soak, but decided to delay Valentine's Day breakfast for the next day and not skip the step.

Alterations to the recipe: I decided that 1 cup of brown sugar and 1 stick of butter was *too* much sugar and butter for 2 people so I halved that part of the recipe and eliminated the corn syrup. I also reduced the half and half to 1 cup. Next, I didn't have Grand Marnier so I substituted it with Cointreau (still orange based). I used a different type of bread and did not cut off the crusts. And finally, I added a few dashes of cinnamon.

The Crème Brûlée French Toast came out DELICIOUS! It was such an easy recipe and would be great for a brunch party or for when you have overnight guests. Our rating for this recipe was 8.5 (Mayra: 8, Geoffrey: 9*).

*Geoffrey later mentioned to me that he would have rated it a 10, but after I mentioned that the topping was made of only brown sugar and butter, he got disgusted and "could only taste the butter" thereafter. I only tasted the caramely deliciousness!

Valentine's Day (the day, not the movie)

So I (and in turn Geoffrey) am a celebrator of all things, including Valentine's Day (which also happens to be Herbert's "birthday") but for some reason this year we didn't make any plans and didn't really feel like making any. We knew it was a three-day weekend and that Valentine's Day was on a Sunday, so there was all kinds of possibilities open to us. We made plans for the day before (golf for Geoffrey and a friend's Anti-Valentine's party for me and then watching the Blind Side--FINALLY!-- together) and for the day after (take our passport pictures and watch Crazy Heart), but nothing for Sunday. Last minute I decided I would make Valentine's breakfast (and also use this opportunity as my new recipe of the week), but that too fell through when the french toast recipe required an overnight soak and Patisserie Philippe ran out of brioche loaves. So we spent Sunday just like all Sundays-- in our pjs and watching TV.

However, the Universe had made plans for us, which made me wonder if Geoffrey and I have precognitive abilities. Geoffrey still had a soccer game in the afternoon, so he went. I decided to stay home and catch up on Ugly Betty (in its final season, fyi). About an hour later I receive a phone call from Geoffrey, calmly telling me that he hurt his knee and was carried off the field. Since he was so calm, I didn't worry at first. But then he gave me the story. He went up for a header (which he won) and landed awkardly on his right foot, causing his right knee to "pop out of place and then back in". He was down on the field for a couple of minutes, not able to move and eventually his teammates carried him off. He couldn't tell if there was swelling or not, but only felt the pain. I decided we should take him to see a doctor, just to be safe. So I threw on some clothes, grabbed an ice pack and advil and called the taxi to take me to the field. As we were driving to Urgent Care, we found out it was closed. Our other option was to go to the ER. So we spent the next 3.5 hours in Kaiser's emergency room (well, I spent it waiting, playing Solitaire and probably being exposed to H1N1 while Geoffrey was poked and prodded and pushed around in a gurney). The good news is that Geoffrey did not break anything but he cannot exercise for at least 2 weeks (puts a wrench in the marathon training!) and he still has to go see an orthopedic surgeon for follow-up.

At this point we are starving, Geoffrey is hobbling and I need a shower (to wash off all the germs from the ER). We decide the best way to spend the rest of Valentine's Day was to order Thai take out (my favorite), watch a movie (District 9 on Netflix) and open a nice bottle of champagne (thanks Caroline and Kenneth!). It was a perfect ending to a semi-dramatic day.

Who Dat?

Well, there is no updated recipe review for Week 5 (yet). Geoffrey and I had to prepare for our trip to Los Angeles and for our last minute Super Bowl party, which we scheduled for exactly 1.5 hours after we landed at SFO. Great planning, I know. But it all came together and we were able to enjoy the Super Bowl with lots of junk food, beer and good company! The game was exciting, the commericals not so much. I won the second quarter square's game, so $10 went into my pocket. AND, the team I was rooting for (btw, the only one at our party)--The Saint's --won, so I was happy about that! If only the Monday after the Super Bowl was a national holiday, that would have been a great end to a wonderful weekend!

P.S. We'll try to catch up with our new recipe a week challenge this week/weekend.

Yay Sandy!

She was officially nominated for an Oscar today for her role in the Blind Side. Sadly, I still have not seen it, but will do so by the end of the week! Join me in cheering her on!

"Is this where you were "cream of corn"?"
""Queen of Corn," honey. Three years runnin'. A feat unsurpassed in the history of Smithville."