Feline Friday: Outdoor Edition
We took the cats outside for the first time and they got some sunshine on their little faces!
Mexican Chickpea Salad
I found this recipe for Easy Mexican Chickpea Salad on Vegangela through Pinterest and just in time! It is definitely salad weather in the Northeast this week. I made a double batch (two cans of chickpeas) and it is a good thing since I couldn’t keep my spoon out of the dish while I was preparing dinner.
Mexican Chickpea Salad
Ingredients
- 1 can chickpeas
- 1 large tomato, chopped
- 3 whole green onions, sliced
- ¼ cup finely chopped cilantro
- 1 avocado, diced
- 2 tbsp vegetable or olive oil
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp cumin
- ¼ tsp chili powder
- ¼ tsp salt
Instructions
1. In a bowl, whisk the oil, lemon juice, cumin, chili powder, and salt.
2. Rise and drain the chickpeas, and add to the bowl.
3. Add tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and toss until combined. Gently stir in the avocado.
4. Serve right away or refrigerate.
Enjoy!
2012 in review
I thought this was pretty cool to see that even though I barely posted, people from 56 countries visited my blog! Maybe in 2013 I’ll resurrect this!
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 2,100 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 4 years to get that many views.
My Cats Love Me
Post-5k photos with the cats. Don’t they look thrilled?
An Early 4th of July
I ended up sick and on the sofa for most of today so it turns out the baseball game we went to yesterday was my 4th of July celebration. We headed to an Iron Pigs game last night because my husband had a meeting in his employer’s suite before the game. I didn’t take any photos of my food which is unusual for me!
Ryan Howard is rehabbing at the Iron Pigs before he goes back to the Phillies and he hit a home run!
After the game there was a little “competition” by some famous strong men. It was…interesting. An odd event to tack on at the end of the game but fun to see.
There were fireworks after the game. They were longer than the usual fireworks they set off every Friday after the game and pretty cool! I had fun playing with the manual settings on the camera.
Happy 4th of July!
Memorial Day 2012
It has become a tradition for Tim and I to have our families over on Memorial Day for a barbeque. Despite being out of town the day before I insisted that we carry on with tradition.
I made some homemade salsa and my mother in law brought veggies and dip but all went unphotographed. For dinner there was tomato, mozzarella,and basil pasta salad, black bean and corn salad, coleslaw Tim’s sister and brother-in-law brought, potato salad my mom made, corn on the cob and hotdogs and my mom’s hamburgers. Yum.
Then dessert! Blondies with ice cream and fruit salad.
Okay that looks lame and small but it wasn’t, blondies rock! I’m so glad we managed to do everything we wanted on Memorial Day weekend. Despite being very hot for the third straight year it turned out to be a great day!
Look Who is Back!
A few friends have been gently reminding me that it has been months since I posted so I’m going to try to get back to it!
We went on a one day road trip to visit my first college roommate last weekend! This was of particular note because she is 33 weeks pregnant (32 at the time). I promised her the pictures would end up on the blog!
And last, a photo with my favorite picnic guest…
This must be the one day I didn’t take any pictures of my food! I’m sure you’ll be seeing more bumpdates and baby photos in the future!
Restaurant Week
Last week my husband and I did something totally out of character – we went out to eat not once but twice! Bethlehem was holding its restaurant week where restaurants offer prix fixe menus. They’re generally a good deal to encourage people to get out and try them! Tim and I knew we wanted to hit up a favorite restaurant that was closed on Sunday so we decided to go there on Monday. On Sunday though we were having trouble finding a restaurant to go to that was open! We ended up at Bethlehem Brew Works even though we’ve been to Allentown Brew Works a few times and to the Bethlehem location for drinks many times.
I chose the BREWschetta as my appetizer and Tim got the spinach artichoke dip. We had plans to share but we each ended up liking what we ordered the best. I loved the balsamic in the bruschetta.
The vegetarian entree was a little boring – lasagna – but tasty! We took most of our entrees home since we knew dessert was coming!
Pot du creme au chocolot for dessert! Look at that oozing chocolate! I actually liked the more solid top.
We left Brew Works feeling STUFFED.
The next night we headed to a favorite of ours, Cactus Blue, for Mexican food. First up was red chilaquiles which are not usually on their menu but Wikipedia told me ahead of time would be tortilla chips simmered in salsa. It was topped with lettuce, onions, queso fresco, and sour cream and it was so good! I think Cactus Blue needs to add this to their menu!
For my entree I had a veggie chimichanga which was good but I prefer the burrito since it is mostly the same thing but not fried.
This dessert was the highlight of all of restaurant week – chocolate bread pudding!
We never get dessert so maybe I’m just out of practice but this was totally delicious and something I’d save room for in the future.
Although we didn’t try any completely new restaurants during restaurant week we did get to try some totally new dishes. We’re looking forward to trying some nearby restaurants during Allentown’s restaurant month this March! In the meantime I’ve sworn off eating out while we save up!
Feline Friday
For a little change of pace on Feline Friday – these are not my cats!
These photos from black cat auditions in 1961 are amazing.
Stacked Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas
Thanks to Pinterest I found this great recipe in a couple minutes before I ran out the door last weekend. Stacked Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas was a hit at our house!
Stacked Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas [from Perry’s Plate]
Ingredients:
1 poblano chile, cut into matchsticks
2 red bell peppers, cut into matchsticks [we don’t like peppers so I used two small zucchinis instead]
1/2 head of cauliflower, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1 small sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 medium onion, halved and slivered
1 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen
3 T heat-safe oil like grapeseed or coconut [olive oil over here]
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
2 garlic cloves, minced
salt and black pepper
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 cups homemade or store bought salsa/pico de gallo
2 ounces baby spinach leaves (about 2 big handfuls)
9-10 corn tortillas, halved (try making homemade tortillas!)
2 cups shredded cheese (I used a cheddar-Monterey Jack blend) [I may have used colby-jack, honestly can’t remember]
sour cream and thinly sliced scallions (green onions) for garnish, if desired
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly oil a large shallow roasting pan or rimmed cookie sheet.
Place poblanos, red bell peppers, cauliflower, sweet potato, onion, and corn kernels onto cookie sheet. Drizzle olive oil and sprinkle the cumin and minced garlic over top. Add a generous pinch or two of salt and black pepper, then use your hands to mix everything together. After everything is coated well, spread the vegetables evenly in the pan. Roast for 30-40 minutes until vegetables are tender and begin to brown in spots. Stir or shake the pan every 10 minutes for even roasting. Remove pan from oven and reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
Prepare an 8x8x2 or 9x9x2-inch square baking pan with nonstick spray. In a small bowl, stir the cilantro into the salsa. Spread 1/4 cup of salsa into the bottom of the baking pan. Add a layer of tortilla pieces, to completely cover the salsa. Top with 1/3 of the vegetables, a handful of spinach, and 1/3 of the cheese. Make a second layer of tortilla, salsa, vegetables, spinach, and cheese. Top with with a layer of tortillas, salsa, vegetables, and cheese. Cover with aluminum foil.
Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes, until cheese is melted and everything is heated through.
Let it sit for 5 minutes and cut into squares. Serve with sour cream and a sprinkle of sliced scallions. [Skipped this in favor of more salsa.]
I had a lot of trouble fitting this into an 8×8 pan so if you have a 9×9 I’d recommend it! I was mounding everything up and hoping it wouldn’t fall to the dark depths of the bottom of the oven. This was a nice winter casserole type dish while still being light and mostly vegetables! I am definitely making a double batch next time because I was disappointed when the leftovers ran out!
sweetandtwisted 