Jenn Dolari @dolari@driveinsaturday.org

Homemade tacos for breakfast? Don't mind of I do!

Thoughts Before Bed

The reflection I see is not me, but the reflection I see is nicer than me, so therefore the reflection I see I will let be me.

I was talking with a friend about dancing.

The only times I've ever really been to dance clubs was to help Amy run her Amnesty International benefits...and even then, I was just relegated to transportation (SHE HAS A PICKUP!) and taking covers (and counting attendance).

Not that I minded. It's just that I never dance. Don't have a thing against it, but dancing always felt like a celebration of your body. Showing it off. And I've never been happy with mine, so I just don't feel good doing it.

But I like watching people dance. A few years ago I went to a show where friends were performing...I just sat in the corner drawing people dancing. But I had a good time doing it.

But there's times when I see people just enjoying moving their body almsot casually, and wish I could feel that.

This Week's Fancy Pants Meal #2 - Weeknight Skillet Fajitas

Since the layoff, I've only been doing one "fancy" meal a week to save money. While my parents were here, they left some meat in the freezer for me from home. In order to save money, I dug through it to see what I could find.

I found 1 1/2 pounds of fajitas and decided on this recipe I'd made some time ago for a second fancy meal. Made for a very good one. It's got a slow heat to it, but mild. I'm guessing that depends on the hot sauce you cook this in (I used Tapatio). The fajitas aren't "crispy-charred" but that's because it's done in a skillet versus a grill, but still have a good flavor to the meat. It's a good quick tasty unique meal for a weeknight.

The instructions I'm posting include homemade tortillas. Feel free to grab some grocery store ones if you're not wanting to make your own.

# Weeknight Skillet Fajitas

America's Test Kitchen: Let's Get Cooking
6.0 servings of two tacos

2.0 whole red bell peppers
1.0 whole red onion
1.5 pounds flank steak
salt (to taste)
pepper (to taste)
2.0 tbsp vegetable oil
2.0 tbsp fresh lime juice
2.0 tbsp water (onions)
1.0 tsp chili powder
1.0 tsp hot sauce
0.5 tsp cumin
0.5 tsp salt (onions)
2.25 cups flour
0.5625 tbsp salt (tortillas)
0.375 tbsp baking powder
0.375 cup shortening
0.75 cup hot water (tortillas)

Tortillas
1 - Hand mix the flour, salt for the tortillas, baking powder, shortening and water for the tortillas at once in a large mixing bowl until dough just comes together.
2 - Remove from the bowl and roll and knead dough on a flat surface until it's got a bumpy slightly tacky texture.
3 - Return the dough to the bowl and let it sit, covered by a damp cloth, for up to 8 hours (at least 30 minutes).
4 - Remove from the bowl and roll and knead dough on a flat surface until it's got a smooth and still slightly tacky texture.
5 - Return the dough to the bowl and let it sit, covered by a damp cloth, for five minutes.
6 - Break the dough into the number of rolls needed.
7 - Roll out each ball with rolling pin into flat round tortillas, as thin as you like.
8 - Cook on a griddle on high heat. Flip when tiny brown marks appear on the bottom side, about thirty seconds.
9 - Take tortilla off the griddle just as it begins to smoke. Repeat steps 7-9 as necessary.

Fajitas
10 - Trim 1/2 inch from the top and bottom of the pepper including the stem.
11 - Slice the pepper from top to bottom into several pieces that will sit flat on the cutting board.
12 - Trim the white ribs on the interior of each piece and remove any remaining seeds.
13 - Cut the pepper into thin strips
14 - After the onion has been halved and peeled, cut the onion pole to pole into thin slices.
15 - Pat the steak dry with paper towels, then season with salt and pepper.
16 - Heat half the of the oil in a 12 inch skillet over medoim high heat until just smoking.
17 - Brown the steak on the first side, about five minutes.
18 - Flip the steak over, and continue to cook to the desired doneness, 3 to 6 minutes.
19 - Transfer to a large plate and drizzle with 2 tbsp lime juice. Tent with foil and let rest for 10 mintues.
20 - Add the remaining the oil to the skillet and return to medium-high heat until shimmering.
21 - Add the onion, bell peppers, water, chili powder, hot sauce, cumin and salt for the onions.
22 - Cook, scraping up any brown bits until the onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a serving bowl.
23 - Slice the steak very thin across the grain.
24 - Arrange the beef on a platter and serve.

6 servings of 2 tacos

Calories 521
Total Fat 22g
Total Carbohydrate 41g
Protein 29g

#thisweeksmeals #cooking

"Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should!"

This Week's Fancy Pants Meal #1 - Appulian Broccoli Pasta

Once I go through all my cookbooks, I start looking at my online cooking shows to see what I can pull off them. I'd wanted some pasta for a while, and this looked pretty simple. And it was!

It's funny how much flavor you can pull out from just a few recipes. Some of my recipes are GIGANTIC. But this is simple, tasty and sticks to your ribs.

If you get broccoli withj a lot of stem, I'd highly suggest cutting it up into small pieces before adding to the sauce.

# Appulian Broccoli Pasta

Pasta Grammar
8.0 servings

3.0 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
7.6 ounces Italian sausages (casings removed) (crumbled)
1.0 cup white wine
1.0 tbsp tomato paste
10.0 ounces broccoli
salt (to taste)
12.0 ounces orecchiette pasta

1 - Boil the broccoli in a large pot of salted water for about 15 minutes, or until it is slightly tender but not completely cooked. 2
2 - Drain and set aside for later.
3 - Put a large pot of water on to boil for the pasta and salt it generously.
4 - Meanwhile, heat the olive oil a large pan over medium heat.
5 - Add the sausage and sauté until browned, breaking it up into a crumble as it cooks.
6 - Add the white wine and stir in the tomato paste.
7 - Reduce the heat, bring the wine to a simmer, and cook until the smell of alcohol has dissipated—about 2-3 minutes.
8 - Add the broccoli into the pan and ladle in just enough of the pasta water to get a simmer going (if the wine doesn’t already provide enough liquid).
9 - Cook the broccoli until it is very tender, then mash it into a paste with a fork. If needed, add more pasta water as necessary to maintain moisture.
10 - When the pasta water comes to a rolling boil, add the orrecciette. Boil it for 2 minutes less than the recommended “al dente” cook time.
11 - Meanwhile, salt the broccoli sauce to taste.
12 - When the pasta is cooked, transfer it into the sauce with tongs.
13 - Stir all together over medium/high heat until the pasta is al dente to your taste. Ladle in more pasta water if the sauce is too thick.
14 - Serve immediately, topped with a drizzle of olive oil.

Makes 8 servings at ~37.5g carbs per serving

Calories 327
Total Fat 13g
Total Carbohydrates 37g
Protein 8g

Normally yields 4 servings

#cooking #thisweeksmeals #pastagrammar

Bread Update #4.

Results...inconclusive.

I cut into it, and was dissapointed to see that it was still pretty dense. No real air pocketing, even thought the loaf puffed up instead of out.

I was about to call it, when I sliced a piece and ate it. It's actually not nearly as dense as before. The crumb totally looks dense, but it's fluffy and soft. Again, the taste is fine. Even better with a smidge of butter.

It more "bread" than any other bread I've made before. Maybe I will go ahead and try this again with a white bread, or my struan loaf.

So, instructions say 20 minutes to bake. I KNOW to ignore that, and take the bread out once the top is golden brown and the thump sounds hollowish. This was nicely done in 10 (my oven is way off kilter and is either too hot or too cold).

And it LOOKS like bread. Like...it puffed UP instead of OUT.

I did mess one thing up where I was supposed to steam the bread, so if it's a dryer than I'd like, I'll call that a genuine mistake versus "baking bread is not for you."

But it certainly is looking like I just need to ignore any times given in recipes and just go with what looks best. Which is hard when you're not taught what looks best.

I'm cutting this open when it cools down....

Bread Update #2 - I checked on the bread in after 15 mintues with the poke test. It was already super spread out, and after poking it, none of the pokes sprang back. The instructions said an hour, this had overproofed in 15 minutes.

I was about to chuck the bread and call it "baking bread is not for me" when I figured, well, Why not just reshape it, and check on it every five minutes instead of 15.

So we'll see. I'm gonna really try with these loaves cause if they fail on me, they're likely the last homemade loaves of bread I'm gonna make.

Bread Update #1

So I got some really good advice my last time around, and it's looking more and more like it's super over proofing. So the first test of proofing is using some kind of measured bowl to determine if a loaf has doubled in size.

Instructions said "this should take an hour." Mine doubled in 35 minutes. So. Yeah. Might be overproofing.

I'm in the second stage of ignoring the instructions, which say "let the dough rise for an hour." Instead, I'm using the poke test to put the dough in for baking as soon as the dough springs back slowly.

STAY TUNED.

If you tell me I can only work inside a stringent set of impermeable immutable set of rules, and cannot test, stretch or creatively interpret those rules - I won't be doing that very long.

My fave map guys take on Gerrymandering. Includes my hometowns of San Antonio and Austin...in ONE district!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwBslntC3xg