Chicken Tortilla Soup & Guacamole Bruschetta

I recently began renting space at a co-working location called the Coop. Today, one of the gals from the design firm that owns the space, along with her fiance, cooked lunch for everyone in the office. This was the result. The soup was good, and would have been perfect with some salted tortilla chips. However, the blue corn tortillas were low-sodium, and so the soup wasn't quite salty enough.

The guacamole bruschetta, on the other hand, was perfect. The Italian bread was sliced thin and toasted til it was crunchy. The guacamole was just chunky enough to be bruschetta-like, without feeling like you got a mouth full of avocado and nothing else. Thanks to Tessa and Dorian for their great cooking!

Pizza Dinner

Tonight, we went to Fiore's, the corner store, and picked up some of their pizza dough. See, they make a good pizza there (I've had it a number of times myself), but there's just something about creating your own.

After struggling a bit to roll out the dough into a somewhat circular shape, the wife and I took some time making a sauce from some tomato paste, tomato sauce, and fresh basil and rosemary. Then we chopped onion, mushroom, pepper, spinach, and garlic, spreading them liberally over the sauce. Finally, a layer of pepperoni followed by a pile of mozzarella cheese.

The whole thing was nearly dome-shaped, which you can't really tell from the photo because of the angle. It was practically a deep-dish pizza, although the crust doesn't come up the sides at all. In all honesty, we overdid the toppings, and some of the veggies in the middle were undercooked as a result. But it was still fun to make and even more fun to eat!

Peppercorn Tuna

After skipping lunch today because of work demands and not-much-in-the-pantry syndrome, I was ready for a really quality dinner. The wife and I picked up some 10 oz ahi tuna steaks from CostCo while grocery shopping, and I cooked one of my favorite fish recipes--cracked peppercorn tuna (recipe below).

To go along with the tuna, I steamed some broccoli (a bit overdone, I'm afraid) and cooked some rice.

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Cracked Peppercorn Tuna

2 8-10 oz Ahi Tuna Steaks
3 Tablespoons whole black peppercorns
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 Tablespoons safflower oil

1. Season the tuna steaks with the salt and cayenne pepper. (Season to taste--the teaspoon measure is just a guideline.)

2. In a medium skillet, heat the safflower oil over medium-high heat (olive oil can be substituted, but it has a much lower smoke point, so you'll have to pay attention to the heat). Once the oil is hot, put the peppercorns in and stir occasionally til they pop, about 4 minutes.

3. Put the tuna steaks on top of the peppercorns in the skillet. Cook until the steaks are medium-well (about 5 minutes each side). An easy way to tell when the steaks are done is when the tuna turns flaky all the way through.

4. I prefer to eat the tuna with the peppercorns on the fish, but some of my friends have said it's too peppery, so I guess you can scrape them off if you find it too spicy.

Poached Egg

It's snowy this morning in the Ukrainian Village--the perfect kind of day for a hot breakfast.

A quick way to get hot protein into your body is to crack an egg into a ramekin and stick it in the microwave for a bit. (You'll have to play with the time to figure out how long to cook it for your desired consistency and based on your microwave. For me, 1:05 makes a good poached egg, with a solid white and a slightly runny yolk.) You'll end up with a great poached egg in about a minute.

Today, I got my favorite quick breakfast--a soft poached egg.

Leftovers for Dinner...Again

Forgot to take photos before I ate--I was hungry!

But it was the (leftover) fajita chicken again.

On the side, we had a romaine lettuce salad with tomato, olive oil, goat cheese, and fresh basil. Quite good. With the leftover pasta, I might make a pasta salad for lunch tomorrow...

Leftover Chicken Fajitas

I cannot think of a good way to make leftovers look good, presentation-wise. Any ideas?

Banana Nut Bread

A couple days ago, Annie made some banana out bread to save some bananas that were overripe. I'll post the recipe when I get back to the house.

In addition, I had my fix of caffeine, via Dark Matter Coffee's Flyin' J blend. (Dark Matter coffee beans are for sale (and brewed) at Star Lounge, and used at Kith and Kin, Browntrout, Alinea and The Drawing Room.)

Fajitas for lunch

Homemade Fajita-style chicken with onion and bell peppers on corn tortillas. Also, we made guacamole on the side. Delish!