Taco night!!

Every now and then we get cravings for some tacos (and not from Taco Bell). Last night we had chicken with tomatillos tacos. It was pretty easy to make and tasting pretty darn good, if I may say so!

For the sauce:
Set the oven to broil. Place on a baking sheet: 6 tomatillos cut in half, 1 jalapeno cut in half lenth-wise, and 4 garlic cloves whole. Drizzle with canola oil and salt/pepper and place in broiler. Broil for about 10 minutes (or until veggies start to brown) and flip over and continue broiling for about 5 more minutes. Meanwhile, in a blender put in 1/4 cup chopped green onions, 1/2 cup chopped cilantro, 1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley, zest and juice of 2 limes, and 1 tablespoon of honey. Mix together. Add tomatillos, garlic, and jalapeno (you can take the seeds out if you wish, but I like it spicy!) to the blender and puree all ingredients together. Store in fridge until use (you can make this ahead of time, which is why this makes for an easy weeknight meal).

For the chicken:
Place 3 boneless, skinless chicken breast in a crock pot with 2 tablespoons siracha sauce, 3 cloves of garlic, and enough chicken stock to just cover the chicken. Cook on low until chicken is falling apart (about 6 hours...or while you're at work for the day).

For the tacos:
We used low-carb soft-taco shells, but of course you can use whichever variety you life. In a frying pan, take the chicken out of the crock pot (without the liquid) and put in pan and add the tomatillo sauce. Cook on low until sauce is warm and chicken is shredded. Now it's taco time. Top it with whatever ingredients you like (I prefer tomatoes, cilantro, and goat cheese). It's also good with a creama fresca (sour cream with cayenne, lime zest and juice, and a little siracha or chipotle sauce).

Grilled dinner

Ryan and I have tried to experiment with a lot of different "healthy" foods and clearly the best way for us to eat healthy is to make sure everything is flavorful. Tonight we withstood the awful heat and grilled out in the driveway. After a quick trip to Publix (seems like we make a lot of these!) we had all the ingredients we needed. We made grilled vegetable ratatouille, grilled parmesan crusted corn, and chili-rubbed rib eye. It was all pretty good!

For the veggies:
In a bowl, mix together 3 minced garlic cloves, two tablespoons chopped Italian parsley, 1 tablespoon chopped basil, the zest and juice of one lemon and 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil. Pour mixture in a large bowl and set aside. Pre-heat the grill to pretty darn hot. Chop into big pieces (I cut lengthwise)- one eggplant, two zucchini, one squash, and two onions. Place on a baking sheet and drizzle with one tablespoon of canola or olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place the onion slices on the hottest part of the grill since they'll take the longest, and then arrange the rest of the veggies on the grill. Grill for about 5 minutes per side with the lid on. Once all the veggies are cooked, chop into bite size pieces and put in bowl with dressing. Toss to combine and enjoy!

For the corn:
Take the husk and silk of off the fresh corn. Place corn directly on grill (no oil necessary). Cook until each part of the corn is lightly browned. Meanwhile, melt 1 tablespoon unsalted butter and grated 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese onto a plate. Using a brush, brush the melted butter over the corn and then roll the buttered corn in the parmesan until completely covered. Yum :)

For the steak:
In a bowl, mix together 1 tablespoon each of onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, and ground corriander. Take the steaks (you could use whatever type of steak you prefer, we got boneless rib-eye largely in part because they were on sale) and drizzle with canola oil and then using hands, rub in spice mixture. Let steaks marinate at room temperature with oil and spices for about 10 minutes before grilling. Ever grill is different, but our's is about 7 minute per side for medium-rare. Let sit after cooking for about 5 minutes before serving.

This turned out to be a really yummy dinner, not bad for a Wednesday night (although for some reason, both Ryan and I are totally craving McDonalds too)!

Homemade salad dressings

One of my greatest struggles with eating healthier was salads. I really do like salads (assuming of course they have lots of goodies on them), but I've never really found a salad dressing that I liked (well besides triple chunky blue cheese, but then that totally defeats the purpose!). My mom was always really good about making her own salad dressing (back when balsamic vinegar was still considered very gourmet), and she passed along her skills to me. In fact, when I was growing up (and still today), making the salads and dressings became my job. I wanted to share a few quick easy dressings that I use all the time. There's nothing wrong with store bought dressing, I just prefer to make my own so I know exactly how much oil is in it and that there's no hidden evils (sugar, palm oil, etc.).

Lemon Vinaigrette:
Whisk together the juice of one lemon, 1/2 tablespoon red wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (this is where it's worth the money to spend, since you'll be eating the oil "raw"), and a pinch of kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Optional- add in 1/2 garlic clove. Whisk until combined, it will become a dark yellow color and be thicker. (This is the one in the picture). Goes great with a crunchy lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and sliced parmesan (BJ's has a great deal right now on good quality Italian parmesan).

Creamy Balsamic Vinaigrette:
Whisk 1 tablespoon mayo, 1/2 tablespoon dijon or deli mustard, 1 tablespoon balsamic vinaigrette, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and a pinch of salt and pepper. This will be a thicker dressing and is good on chicken as well as salad. It goes great on a baby spinach salad with goat cheese, carmelized onions, and strawberries.

Garlic Vinaigrette:
This is Ryan's favorite! Whisk together a finely minced garlic clove, 1 tablespoon red wine (or champagne) vinegar, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and a pinch of salt and pepper. The garlic is potent, but makes for a delicious salad! Goes great with romaine or even iceberg.

Lunch is served!

This is a quick and easy meal that tastes good and is healthy! I got inspiration from the ingredients from Jillian Michaels Master Your Metabolism book,it's a great book that talks about the relationship between metabolism and hormones.

Pita:
Slice a whole wheat or low-carb pita in half (keep the other half for lunch tomorrow!), and put in the microwave for about 5-10 seconds to make more pliable and easier to stuff. I stuff my pita with a little bit of cream cheese (in place of mayo), Boar's Head ever-roast chicken breast, halved cherry tomotoes, sliced cucumber, and alfalfa sprouts (or lettuce). You can really sub out whatever veggies you want. I just try to make sure there's more vegetables than meat or cheese. With my pita, I'm having baby carrots and store-bought hummus (it's easy to make at home, but easier to buy!)

Us...healthy? saving money??

Okay, so we did get to enjoy an extravagent vacation the first week of our summer, but since then we have been keeping it low key and trying to focus on losing weight, eating healthy, and saving money. Like most people of our generation, we love to go out to eat (clearly)! But the reality of being a teacher (i.e. no summer paychecks) has set in and we had to re-work our priorities. We also have a long term goal of one day having a baby, and we need to get healthier before that can happen. I am proud to say that Ryan has met his goal weight and I am on my way there (20 lbs down). Instead of focusing on traveling and restaurants, I will try to post some of the healthier (and every now and then, not so healthy!) recipes we've been making. Lately our diet consists of an apple and milk for breakfast, a salad or pita for lunch, and some sort of chicken or lean beef for dinner. Originally we tried to only eat organic vegetables and chicken, but unfortunately our lack of funds has cut down on that, but we're trying! So for now, our focus is on each other, getting healthy, exercising, and Sadie! PS. Have we mentioned how much we love our dog?!?

Miami Beach

(pictures- Michael Genuine, BLT Steak, Living room at W, and view from Plunge at Ganesvoort)
After Lebron signed with the Heat, I figured I should go check it out too..just kidding! My mom had to renew her passport and had to go down so she asked me to join her for a night. We got a great deal at the Ganesvoort hotel right on the beach in Miami. It was a great hotel, but not quite 5 stars. Everyone there was European and very snazzy! We started our afternoon with cocktails and swimming at the rooftop plunge pool. Afterwards we got changed and walked to the W and enjoyed the best drinks of our lives at Living room. I had a blueberry fizz and my mom had a cucumber margarita. We had dinner at BLK Steak (a great restaurant, but totally dead!). I had the tuna tartare for my appetizer and NY strip for entree. It came with the most delicious popovers. Too bad I was trying to watch my carb intake, otherwise I would've eaten about a dozen of those things! My mom had the rib eye and creamed spinach. It was enough food I was able to take the leftovers home for Ryan! Afterwards we went back to Plunge and watched as a thunderstorm rolled in off of the Atlantic. It was spectacular! The next day I went to the infinity pool that overlooked the ocean. We had lunch at Michael's Genuine in the design district (I had a falaffel and my mom had a Korean style barbeque sandwich...both were really good). I totally want to go back next time I'm in Miami. It was a quick trip but lots of fun!

Bartolotta, take two!

For our final dinner, Ryan surprised me with reservations at Bartolotta at the Wynn. We ate here last year and it was fabulous. The weather was so nice we sat outside at one of the gorgeous outside tables overlooking the reflection pool with the Wynn waterfall behind us. They were featuring a Wynn tasting menu, so we decided on that. For appetizer I had seafood ristotto which had lobster, shrimp, clams, and calamari. It was so rich that it could've been enough for my meal! For entree I had Branzino which had a delicious crispy skin. It had a light white wine sauce on top of sauteed vegetables. It was cooked perfectly. For dessert I had a lemon cake with rosemary gelato and a sweet balsamic glaze. Ryan also had the tasting menu that started with pasta and he had a filet for his entree and chocolate cake for dessert. Afterwards we went back to the Wynn/Encore casinos.

Lucky lucky morning!

We woke up refreshed and ready to enjoy our last day in Vegas. We couldn't find any place open for breakfast (more places only do weekend brunch we discovered), so went to the Wynn breakfast buffet. It was a little over the top, but still really good. We hung out in the Encore casino for awhile and discovered that this was to be our lucky day. We quickly earned $100s on the Sex and the City slot machine and turned $10 into $200 on roulette. We couldn't lose! We played for hours, and even won at blackjack. Finally our hunger returned and we walked to the Venetian and ate at Mario Batali's Enoteca. It was very over-priced for simple food (we had a cheese plate, spaghetti and meatballs, and a pizza). The food was good, but not worth $100 and the service was terrible. I was let down, because I had wanted to try this place for a couple years. Next time, I'll stay in the casino!

Love and milkshakes at Mirage

After our taping fiasco, we went back to the hotel and napped for awhile. We walked over to the Mirage and went to the late showing of Love. It was so good. We had heard some negative reviews about it, but we both really enjoyed it. It even made me tear up at the end when they did a John Lennon tribute. Afterwards it was too late to eat at a regular restaurant, but luckily BLT Burger was open. We each had a milkshake (vanilla for me and chocolate for Ryan). They were so delicious! I had a middle-eastern lamb burger with lamb meat, cucumber yogurt sauce and feta cheese. Ryan had a more traditional cheeseburger. They were both really good! Afterwards we hung out for a bit at the Palazzo and then called it an early night.

Mesa Grill

Mesa Grill is the place in Vegas where we've eaten at the most. We've discovered it is defintely better for lunch. I had the cuban burger (all the toppings of a regular cuban sandwich on top of a perfectly medium rare burger, pressed down) and fries and Ryan had the 16 spice chicken salad. They were both really good. Their ice tea is the best anywhere in the world! Afterwards, we were asked to participate in a taping of a new TV show with Bobby Flay and Curtis Stone. We decided what the heck and we went. Well it sucked! We waited in line forever and then got shoved and pushed out of the way everytime we tried to sample the food. So we left!

Taking a break from Vegas...nature please!

After our extravagent dinner at craftsteak and amounts of champagne and wine, we decided to take a break for the morning in search of some nature. Thanks for our irregular sleeping schedule, we woke up at dawn and grabbed our rental car and drove to Red Rock Canyon (about 15 minutes away from the strip). It was really great to see the more residential areas of Las Vegas and the less touristy areas. Red Rock Canyon was absolutely gorgeous. There was a scenic loop with tons of look out points to take pictures. It's hard to believe all this natural beauty is in the same town as all the glitz and glamour. This was probably our favorite part of the trip. After our drive we had "breakfast" at In-&-Out burger...delicious!! We split a burger and fries and it was so delicious, and the cashier was a gator fan (what are the odds!). Next time we're in Vegas, we're definetely going back to Red Rock, maybe bring a picnic this time or rent bikes or something.

Best meal ever...seriously

For being 26 and a teacher, I have had the pleasure to enjoy some really incredible meals. The best of all of them was Sunday June 13th at Craftsteak at the MGM Grand. Right from the start, we knew we were in for a treat when we were seated a secluded canopy table (we could've fit about 10 more people at our table it was so big!). The service was impeccable. We started with champagne and later switched to a delicious pinot noir with dinner. We decided to completely splurge and get the Wagyu beef tasting menu (the American version of Kobe). We were in for an unbelievable meal. Even the bread that was served was incredible. I'll try to remember all that was served to us: red peppers marinated in olive oil, olives, wagyu beef tartare, caesar salad with marinated anchovies, buffalo mozzarella with hazlenuts, wagyu filet mignon, wagyu ny strip, wild mushroom risotto, pureed yukon potatoes, strawberry cake, lava cake, and an assortment of gelatos/sorbets. It was the most insanely delicious meal of our lives (and most expensive!). We ate so much food, we decided to bail on our plans to go to Tabu and went back to our room instead! This is our go-to place for amazing food from now on!

Isla...great tequila and snacks

After Beijing Noodle, we walked through Bellagio and the new city center. After losing money at Aria's casino, we went to Treasure Island. I'm not a big fan of the hotel/casino but we wanted to pick up our Love tickets at the Mirage, so we decided to walk through TI first. The one thing going for it is an upscale Mexican restaurant called Isla. When we were in NYC, we went to its sister restaurant Pampano. Isla is more casual than Pampano, but they both have wonderful margaritas in common! I had a strawberry margarita, which they prepare more like a mojito and muddle the fresh berries and lime and then add silver tequila and triple sec. We split the guacamole and salsa appetizer (which came with three different types of delicious salsas). We got our last drink to go and headed back to the Palazzo (and enjoyed a bottle of champagne in the room!).

Day 2...snacking our way through mid-day

After our amazing breakfast at Bouchon, we headed down the strip towards Caesar's. We window-shopped through the Forum Shoppes and gambled at Caesar's Palace, working up a small appetite. We decided to check out Beijing Noodle No. 9. When we were in Las Vegas last time (staying at Caesar's), we wanted to eat here but never found the time. We decided to just get the pork and scallion dumplings and go from there. The rest of the menu sounded good, but overpriced for Chinese food. Would I return? Probably not...

Day 2- Bouchon, a must do!

Despite our bellinis and various other cocktails, we were still up at sunrise (darn time change), so this allowed us to get ready and make it to the Venetian for breakfast before the Sunday morning brunch crowds rolled in. It is a bit of a challenge to find Bouchon, but boy are we glad we did! It's tucked away by the pool in the Venezia Tower at the Venetian. I had read a lot of reviews saying that this Thomas Keller restaurant was really outstanding, so I had high hopes for our meal. Even Ryan, who's not a big breakfast person, really enjoyed the food. Believe it or not, the June weather was so gorgeous we sat outside on the patio next to the pool (featured in one of the pictures).
For our breakfast, I had another bellini (I'm beginning to get used to this lifestyle) and the french toast (which is made with a brioche bread and served like bread pudding...it is absolutely the very best thing I've ever had for breakfast...I've literally been dreaming about this!). Ryan had the skillet ham, potatoes, and eggs. He liked his, but regrets not getting the french toast. We ordered profiteroles for dessert, and due to their delay we got complimentary mimosas.
Bottom line, go here and order the french toast!!

Day 1- dinner at Yellowtail

We really hated to leave Petrossian, but our hunger forced us to go meet our reservation across the casino at Yellowtail. We had made reservations about a month in advance, and we still had to wait almost 45 minutes for a table. Once we got to our table the view almost made up for the wait. We were a little disappointed in our experience at Yellowtail. The wine list wasn't that impressive and our waiter seemed bummed that we weren't a table full of bachelorette party-goers. We finally got our food: we started with gyoza and split a few rolls of sushi (California rolls, spicy tuna, yellowtail/scallion roll, and their signature spicy crab with pop rocks instead of row). All of the sushi was good, but by no means spectacular. It ended up being a really expensive dinner, and not really worth the price. Would I return? Probably not. Unfortunately the rest of our evening was full of more disappointments (gelato at Venetian was tastless and Lavo was unimpressive). But we didn't care because we were on vacation and having a great time!

We're in Vegas, now what...drinks and gamble please!

After we unpacked, uncorked a bottle of champagne, and freshened up...we took off to Bellagio to spend our first night. We gambled a bit and then made our way to the Petrossian Bar where we had a fantastic time. We had the most wonderful British bartender (John I believe) and drank sinfully delicious bellinis. We also met a terrific couple from Australia. What started as a quick drink, turned into two hours of bellinis and comparision politics with our new found Australian friends. Petrossian is a really great place to go. You almost forget you're in one of the busiest hotels/casinos. They also had an entertaining piano player. Supposedly they do a wonderful afternoon tea, but we weren't lucky enough to experience that. We really intended to return to Petrossian, but never made our way back.