South of the Border

Hi everyone- I hope all is well on the home front. Things have literally been crazy for me over the past few days. I think I need about 4 mores hours added to the day to get everything I want to get done, done. Anyone else feeling me on this or what??

I didn’t work on Monday but it was back to work for me yesterday. I woke up early for 50 glorious minutes of Yoga-Pilates Fusion and a Chocolate Cherry Bomb Shake. Twas a nice and relaxing way to start the work week.

I’m not positive, but I might be addicted to this smoothie/shake. It’s amazing!

Although, the hummus sandwich I had for lunch was just as yummy. It kind of reminded me of my award-winning Veggie Stuffed Hummus Sandwich, which I need to make again sometime soon!

This one had Rudi’s Spelt Ancient Grain bread toasted with olive hummus, tomato slices, sprouts, and cucumbers. The hummus and veggies were tasty, but the buttery and seedy bread was what made the sandwich. I enjoyed each bite! So much so, I made the exact same thing for lunch today – only I wasn’t able to toast the bread because our power was out for a few hours! It’s back on now so it’s all good.

After work I had a little food-blogger fun by meeting up with Stephanie, Rebekah, and Stephanie’s mom (the photographer) for a Cinco De Mayo inspired Cooking Demo at our local Whole Foods.

Nothing beats a blogger meetup with free (MEXICAN) food and beer!

Jesse, the super cool chef that hosts the WF Cooking Demos each month, extracted lime juice and combined it with the Cerveza Pacifico Clara, a Mexican- Pilsner style beer; then added quite a bit of salt to the mix.

I typically like Mexican cervezas, but the mixture was a bit to salty for my tastes. I think I would have like the beer with a little lime juice sans the salt.

On the Menu

• Guacamole
• Mango Jicama Salsa
• Tilapia Ceviche
• Ancho Sauce
• Sour Cream Sauce
• Flank Steak Tacos
• Churros

The ceviche, which is simply raw seafood marinated in citrus was combined with the mango jicama salsa and served it with chips.

I’ve only ever had ceviche one time before (actually when we were in California a couple weeks ago) and learned that the juice of limes or lemons chemically “cooks” the fish. The coolest part is that ceviche can be made with many types of seafood from tuna, grouper, red snapper, shrimp, or lobster. It’s a cool and refreshing dish perfect for an appetizer or light dinner on a warm evening.

See the super simple recipe that Jesse followed or check out this yummy looking shrimp ceviche from Simply Recipes.

Ceviche

• 1 lb mild white fish
• 1 tbsp. salt
• Juice of 4 limes

Dice fish and mix with lime juice and salt. Let the mixture marinate for 3-4 hours in the fridge. Drain and mix with salsa of your choice.

The freshly made guacamole was a bit hit as well. But that goes without saying because guac is one of my favorite items at Mexican restaurants.

Word of advice, guacamole is nice texture wise if you mash it by hand and forgo processing it in a food processor. I know from experience that if you’re going to use the VitaMix for guacamole preparation you shouldn’t leave it on for more than 30 seconds or you’ll end up with avocado soup. Don’t get me wrong, avocado soup is nice too but not exactly what I’m going for when I made guacmole. I like to get a chunk of avocado ever now and again

Flank steak tacos for the meat eaters

They looked prettier than the ceviche tacos that were prepared for the pescatarians in the house so I took a photo.

My taco was stuffed to the brim with deliciousness- ceviche, mango salsa, adobo sauce, and guac!! The adobo sauce was a fun item as well. Jesse taught us the ins and outs of rehydrating peppers and what exactly to do with a tomatillo [toh-MAH-tee-YO] . Jesse unhusked the tomatillos and roasted them whole for use in the ancho sauce he served on our tacos, which awesome.

I’d seen tomatillos in the store, but never tasted or cooked with one!

source  

Turns out this husked veggie is part of the tomato family and is typically cooked but can be eaten raw. We tasted it raw last night and it’s texture is semi crunchy like an unripe tomato (who would have guessed that?) and is quite tart – almost a mix between the flavor of a sour green grape and a granny smith apple. These babies are a staple in Mexican cooking and are typically used in salsa verde, marinades, sauces, and stews.

Overall, this cooking demo was one of my favorites. I learned a ton and got to hang out with some awesome ladies. Definitely my description of a great evening.  If you’re interested you can see the others I attended by clicking here or here.

A bit of housekeeping:

The 10 day challenge that Jacquie and I embarked on ends today . Of course, I’ve eaten some things that weren’t part of the plan, but overall I think I’m back in my normal grove of healthy eating and that’s all I was really looking to do so I’m happy with the progress. I’m still hoping to make my 25th year my fittest yet so I’m definitely planning to continue with my healthy eating initiative. I’ll also be working with a personal trainer so I have the exercise part covered as well! Here’s to making my goal a reality!!

And lastly, what you’ve all been waiting for, the winner of ThrivNP crew shirt is comment #88 – Congrats Meghann!

Please shoot me an email and you’re new crew shirt will be on it’s way!!

Thanks for reading my friends. I feel as though I’ve been all over the place lately so please stick around. I promise I’ll have lots of fun stuff to share in the next few weeks.

-Brittany

PS – Happy Modern Family Day!

Tagged as: Chocolate Cherry Bomb Shake, hummus sandwich, Mexcian Cuisine, whole foods cooking demo