El Toro Tacos Review

My parents frequent this taco stand on State Street by the Sears parking lot. My biggest dilemma when I would pull up to this place was which one to go to since there were two stand. One night Karl and I even got a couple of tacos from each stand to compare and be fair. Well, come to find out they are owned by the same people.

The good:
-Mega authentic Mexican food
-My steak and chicken tacos were so flavorful and delicious
-If you are an authentic food junkie you can try the crazy stuff like tongue
-My mom's quesadilla was perfectly comforting
-Nice workers that are very good at hand signals and facial expressions when you don't understand Spanish
-Some college age English speaking girls that are obsessed with the place that answered all my silly questions (that is how I know that the same owners run both stands and that lengua means tongue- they said it is delicious. Um, maybe next time, right?). Granted they may not be eating there when you to but, hey, you never know.
-The price! Two tacos for $1.50. The (big) quesadilla was $3.
-All the great fixin's to make your tacos, crunchy, spicy, limey, tastey...

The okays:
-I was kind of nervous to walk up to the stand until college girl made me feel not so out of place. You have to be kind of daring... This ain't no Taco Bell (although some may argue that you have to be pretty daring to go to Taco Bell).
-You have to eat it outside or in your car or I guess if you have self control (which I don't) you could take it home to eat it.

Go for the experience. I dare you.

Fish Tacos kind of Recipe

I took my car into the Toyota Dealership to get my 45,000 mile check up. They told me it would take 90 minutes. Since my kids were home with Karl, I loaded my bag with 2 books, a magazine, snacks and what not and decided to take advantage of my hour and a half of alone time. Ever since I became a mom, as long as I know my kids are in good hands, things like waiting rooms, dentist visits, grocery store visits, etc. have become mini vacations for me. So, there I was in the waiting room, setting up camp and I notice that the TV is set really loud to cartoons. Out of the 7 people in there, non of them were kids so I mustered up all my courage and asked if anyone minded if I changed the channel. They all seemed relieved for the change. No one would suggest any channels so I went straight to my favorite... Food Network. No shame, I bet those men wish they would have spoken up. They had a free popcorn and hot chocolate (I love free stuff, almost no matter what it is) so I was chowing, reading my cupcake cookbook, and watching Tyler Florence make fish tacos. That is where my dinner was inspired...

Simple (Ghetto Style) Fish Tacos

I say ghetto because instead of frying up beautiful fish like Tyler, I dipped into the Costco Sized bag of fish sticks that my friend dropped off on my door step when she was purging her house of non Weight Watcher friendly foods.

Ingredients:

• Tortillas- corn or flour (I made mine with half whole wheat, the recipe wasn't good enough to share so I will keep working on it and share a good one when I find one. If you have one, please share.)
• Fish sticks
• Shredded cabbage
• Salsa (fresh is best)
• Cilantro
• Sour Cream
• Creamy dressing from Cafe Rio (yes, I went there for lunch, it was a very good day) or something similiar. The cilantro lime dressing is also good on them.

Prepare the fish sticks according to directions. Warm or cook the tortillas. Assemble the tacos with the ingredients that you like.

I served them the Mexican Rice and cucumber slices.

Samuel ate three tacos! He cracked us up. After we finished the meal Karl said, "This marks the first time you have ever made fish sticks." And after how fast and easy that meal was, probably not the last.

Mexican Rice Recipe

When I taught school in Chicago it was in a mostly Mexican community. Karl used to tease me that I would come home with a Mexican accent. Every Friday the faculty would have breakfast and different teachers would sign up to bring a dish. I think that is where I developed my love for authentic Mexican food. Elisa, my mentor teacher, and great friend, taught me how to make a few Mexican dishes. This rice is one of the things she taught me. My recipe has changed over time and I mostly blame it on my bad memory, but I always think of her when I make it.

Mexican Rice

Ingredients:

• 2 cups long grain white rice (I recently used brown. If you do, add more water and more time)
• 2 T. canola oil (or whatever oil your arteries prefer)
• 2 large tomatoes (or three medium, or 4 Roma, or... you get the point)
• Enough chicken bullion powder or cubes to make 4 cups liquid (it depends on what brand you use)
• 2 cloves garlic- crushed (I use the diced stuff in a bottle. I apologize to the garlic purists out there)
• 1 t. Adobo (A seasoning that is in the spice aisle with a yellow label and blue lid, I use it for anything I want to taste Mexican)

Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water for about 3 minutes (I seriously don't know why but I made this step easier by sticking the in my Pyrex measuring cup, adding water up to 4 cups and putting it in the microwave for 3 minutes). Add the tomatoes and the water your boiled them in to a blender or food processor. The total amount should measure 4 cups. Add the bullion, garlic and Adobo. Blend until the tomato is no longer chunky. Follow all the blending hot stuff in a blender precautions please.

Heat the oil in a frying pan that has fitted lid. Heat the rice in the oil on medium high until it starts to brown but not burn. Carefully add the tomato liquid. It may spatter (is that a word?). Bring to boil, stir, cover, and reduce heat to low or medium low. Wait about 10-15 minutes until the liquid is gone. Check. If rice is still hard, pile it into a mountain type shape and cover again. Add more water if necessary.

This makes a lot, so you can freeze it, share it, or just eat it all week like we do. Brown rice works but I didn't like it as much. I just do it so I can feel better about all the other crap I eat.

Embroidered Onesies

I started embroidering onesies and selling them at a childrens store in Chicago where people would actually pay for handmade stuff. Here, in UT, I just make it for friends and family since no one really pays for this stuff because they all make it themselves. I like to personalize them when I can. The hardest thing is to come up with cute but not too cute stuff for boys. Any suggestions?

Can You Tell the Difference Between These Two?

I went to the movies with some friends to see a chick flick (Made of Honor) that we all thought our husbands would never want to see. Usually when I go to the movies I like to do the whole popcorn and M&M thing. But, I had just had a huge cheesy lasagna meal, followed by brownie pudding cake, followed by brownies, fruit salad, and spinach dip at a jewelry party. I was all filled up. I also felt guilty spending so much on treats if my whole family wasn't there to enjoy it. So, I got just a Vitamin Water. It was $4.25! I understand the whole movie theater mark up thing but it kind of hurt when I stopped by the nearby Macey's after the movie was over and the same stuff was $1. I got a bottle and am drinking it right now. I seriously think it doesn't taste as good. It is missing that certain flavor that I loved at the movie theater... perhaps the name of the flavor is, "atmoshphere."

I commited a foodie sin

I took Trax with the kids (5 and under are free!) down to Karl's work, he hopped on and we went down to Gateway. We were super hungry and were getting desperate. So we ended up eating at... Costa Vida. I said, "That is lame that we came all the way downtown and ate at Costa Vida." He agreed. We will plan better next time.
No offense to the Costa Vida fans. It is just that I am a Cafe Rio person myself and how about the number of Costa Vidas we probably passed to get down town.

So, can you help me out? Where do you like to go when you are down town? Kids or no kids suggestions are welcome.

Hagermann's Bakehouse Cafe Review

Hagermann's Bakehouse Cafe
684 East 11400 South
Draper


So, I texted Paula, and said, "I feel like a delicious lunch, do you want to meet me somewhere?" and accidently sent it to Karl. This is the second time I have accidently invited Karl to lunch when I meant to meet up with Paula. Whoops! Karl said, "So, did you get a delicious lunch?"

After looking at our choices and we chose Hagermann's Bakehouse Cafe.
The Goods:
-While trying to figure out what to order, Samuel climbs up on a chair and peers over the counter to the sandwich maker guy. The guy gives Samuel a chocolate chip cookie. I love places that realize that being nice to your customers is way better than being stingy and stupid.
-My Turkey Pomodoro sandwich was so so so delicious.
-My Tomato Bisque was as fabulous as Citta (I will do a mega positive review on that someday). I loved loved loved it.
-Cool people, like the above mentioned sanwich making cookie giver, and cool atmosphere. Not too fru fru, not too sterile.
The Okays:
-I got some soup to go (yes, I loved it that much) because when I was eating it I thought, this would be so yummy over pasta. I paid for the "bowl" size and I got the "cup" size. I didn't realize until I got home. Believe me, I really missed those four ounces. It was so good over pasta. Eva, my spice phobe, even loved it.
-Samuel ate, mostly Sun Chips (he was so proud of his chips he wanted me to take a picture. I just liked the way his eyes and lips looked in this photo, a cookie and a tiny bit of soup for lunch. Not so healthy, but I made up for at dinner.

I totally recommend this place. I noticed after I went that there is a buy one get one free coupon in the happenings book.

My mom's cupcakes

My mom made these cupcakes for Mothers Day. She put these little purple and white flowers on them and dusted them with powdered sugar. I don't know if she is so hip that she made totally "in" cupcakes or if she is even hipper and doesn't know she is being hip. Anyways, pretty, huh?

Orchid review

Saturday night the family ventured out to a new place, Orchid.

The goods:
-Karl and I were able to have a quiet dinner.
-The cool dishes the food came in.
-Samuel and Eva liked it.
-The mango smoothie with the tapioca things that we took home.

The okays:
-Samuel and Eva like it because it was so mega sweet. The Three Flavored Chicken and the Pad Thai were so sugared.
-The prices. It seemed like they were trying to go all fancy with small portions and high prices. I say you have to do quality or quantity or both but you have to have at least one of these.

I wouldn't really recommend this place. Not so great.

The Pie Review

After living in Chicago my pizza world was totally opened up. Instead of being totally disgusted by all the non-Chicago mediocre pizzas, I just put them all in different categories. Like, Chicago's stuffed pizza is under the, "This is the best grease and white flour I have ever tasted" category. Little Ceasars is under the, "This is the only thing to eat and waiting 7 hours until the next decent meal is out of the question" category. Pizza Hut is under the, "Oops, I ordered this again because I forgot that I didn't like it when I ordered it 10 years ago" category. So, I am quite happy with all pizzas. One of my latest favorites is the Greek pizza from the Pie. It has Gyro meat, Tomatos, Feta and other Greekish stuff on it. For a party their gigantic 23" pizza is a huge hit. Every time we order we are amazed at how big it is. I cut carrots and cauliflower so I wouldn't feel so guilty about eating so much grease. Have you seen these yellow carrots? I got them from Harmons and was more excited about them than anyone else in my family.

Fruit snacks made out of ... FRUIT!

Courtney and I have been best friends for a bijillion years. Topics we talk about have evolved from what we are going to wear to prom, to where we are going to live the next year in college, to where in the world we are going to travel the next fall, to where we are going to go on our missions, to where we are going to get married, to where we are going to buy our homes, to how to put our kids to bed, to well, um, dehydrating. I wanted to start dehydrating, researched which brand to buy (the Excalibur got the best reviews), and asked Courtney if she wanted to share. So, even though we live 25 minutes, it has worked out well.
I started out with strawberries and apples. I got the strawberries on mega sale and didn't want to do jam because of all the sugar (never mind that I eat enough sugar in one molten lava chocolate dessert to make an entire jar of jam). Granny smiths are my favorite because of the tang when they are dried.

Wash, dry and slice. I am a kitchen gadget nerd. The little scoopie thing takes the stems and any blemishes out the the strawberries without taking out any of the good stuff. The melon baller works well to takes the seed part out of the apple halves, and like the scoopie thing leaves the good stuff. The knife is a Miracle Blade III, one of my favorite, "as seen on TV" purchases. Jenn, one of my favorite people of all time, told me about this knife. It really works

.
Line them up. The kids can help with this.

The kids are "stealing" the fruit. It made me happy to have them so excited about something good for them.

This is what is looks like after several hours in the dehydrator. The instructions say "7 to 12 hours." Not a minute more, not a minute less.

This jars are on the counter and every once in a while the kids will grab some. It also helps for when I want to just eat something and this is ready to grab.

Flour Girls and Dough Boys

We heard about this place from Annie and decided to check it our for ourselves before we went to the Tulip Festival.

The Goods about this trip:
-Great company- You can see Lillie, Kristi, and Courtney.
-Super tasty bread- as you can see by their name that bread is their specialty. I brought home an asiago loaf and it was super chewy, cheesy and delicious.
-The play kitchen in the corner-Hooray

for being able to order while all 5 kids cram into a plastic play kitchen.
-My Chicken Pesto Sandwich- I kept saying, "This chicken is so good!" In a world of so much mediocre chicken breast it is nice to see a flavorful moist one.
-The bookshelf of books- some for sell and to Eva's

delight, some to read.

The Okays about this trip:
-My salad was good but not fantastic.
-Samuel ended up on top of the play kitchen several times. I wanted to pretend like he wasn't mine but he kept saying, "Mommy, look!" Oh, and we were in Utah county so the it kind of gets obvious as to who the little Asian kid belongs to. This was not the restaraunt's fault, though.
-I ordered a ham and cheese roll for the kids and Samuel didn't like it and stole my delicious sandwich. I still need to instill the fear of messing with my food in him.
-Kind of far for me, but yes, I do realize that people in American Fork need a yummy place of their own.

Pho Green Papaya

Included in my passion for eating, along with cooking, is eating out. This has been my latest crave. We found this place called Pho Green Papaya when we were on our way to our favorite pho (a Vietnamese noodle soup) place, Pho Hoa. I like it because you can get the great taste and price of all the semi scary dives but the atmosphere is non scary. It is Vietnamese and Thai and a little bit of a few other asian flavors. I am not the authentic food police but you definately won't find chicken chow mein here. I love their presentation, the food comes out in funky dishes that somehow make the food taste better. The best part is that my kids like the food there. They always polish off the Chicken Satay (basically chicken on a stick) and love the noodles. My favorite thing there is the mango dessert (I can't remember the official name. I always just say, "Can we have two mango desserts, please?"). It is a sticky rice with coconut milk and mango. We always end up fighting for the last pieces of mango (my kids don't like the sweet sticky rice). I didn't like the pho here as much as Pho Hoa but I there have been several dishes there that I loved. They have this lunch and dinner set where you choose two main dishes and then you get rice, pot stickers, soup, and salad. It comes out in this cool tray and now I wish I would have just taken a picture of it to show you. I love having a little bit of everything. It is at 2000 W 3500 S in West Valley. This may be scary for some but I for sure acquired the taste for this place.

Quinoa Salad

Paula, a super good cook, took this photo the first time I made it

Southwest Quinoa Chopped Salad with Chicken and Creamy Salsa Dressing

Kami is one of my "Settlers" friends. When we can, a group of us play Settler of Catan on Thursday afternoon while our kids play. We laugh at how when we first started Samuel used to sit in his high chair and quietly and happily eat Cheerios. Almost three years later Samuel sure has changed. Kami told me about this great salad that she got at Wildoats. I found their recipe on line. I love to make the whole batch and keep it in the fridge for those times when I am so hungry that I either eat something lame or something delicious and healthy like this. Samuel loves this salad and I love that he loves it because it is all healthy stuff in it. Eva... not so much. Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is a seed that you can cook just like you cook rice. You can buy it in a box or in bulk at the health food store.

I made this for Women's Conference and packed a container for all five of us. It was a hit.

Total Time: 25 minutes Serves: 6 (6 REALLY hungry people, it makes a ton)

1 c. organic quinoa

1 tsp. sea salt

1 c. Wild Oats Medium Salsa (I used whatever kind I had)

1/4 c. organic sour cream or plain yogurt (I tried it both ways. There is so much flavor you don't miss the fat when you use yogurt.)

3 Tbsp. chopped cilantro

2 tsp. Wild Oats Extra Virgin Olive Oil

juice and zest of one lime

sea salt to taste

2 c. rotisserie chicken, chopped into bite-sized pieces

1 c. Wild Oats Organic Black Beans, rinsed (I used the whole can of store brand low sodium, what else are you going to do with the 20 beans left over after you measure out 1 cup?)

1/2 organic red or orange bell pepper, diced

2 ears corn or 1 c. Wild Oats Super Sweet Organic Corn, thawed

1 avocado, chopped

1 large, ripe organic tomato, chopped

1 large head organic romaine, chopped

chopped cilantro and lime wedges for garnish

Bring 1 1/2 cups of cold water to a boil. Place quinoa in a fine mesh strainer and rinse thoroughly under cold water. Place quinoa and salt in boiling water. Bring back to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for about 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let sit covered for about 5 minutes. Drain quinoa in fine mesh strainer and set aside to cool. (I skipped all of this, bought pre-rinsed quinoa and cooked it in the rice cooker exactly like I cook rice).

Place salsa, sour cream, cilantro, olive oil, lime juice and zest in a blender. Pulse until smooth. Season with salt. Place in refrigerator to chill.

Toss cooled quinoa with chicken, beans, pepper, corn, avocado and tomato. Add just enough dressing to coat evenly. Divide romaine on six plates and top with quinoa salad mixture. Garnish with wedges of fresh lime and cilantro.