My First Award!!

Fat Tuesday: The Mexican Way!

A few years ago my husband’s cousin had visited us for the week of Mardi Gras. Being that they are both from Louisiana and grew up with a very strong background of traditions, he decided to make us a classic Mardi Gras meal. Thus the tradition in our household began to cook a yummy meal on Fat Tuesday.

I am still learning the art of cooking Louisiana cuisine, so I decided to go with a meal I have some expertise in…Mexican!

I had some inspiration for my recipes from a great cookbook that my brother in laws girlfriend got me (Hey Amanda!) Williams-Sonoma Mexican. There are a lot of great family friendly recipes in this book.

I started by making homemade tortilla chips. I had a pack of tortillas that was about to expire and really did not want to throw them away. (Caution: These are not diet friendly but it would not be fat Tuesday without them)
Ingredients:
1 Package of Whole Wheat Tortilla
Canola Oil for the deep frying
Sea Salt

I poured about an inch of the canola oil into a deep, heavy frying pan and heat over medium heat. Add a handful of wedges and fry, tossing them with a slotted spoon, until they are crisp and lightly golden.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a paper towel to drain. Repeat with the remaining wedges. Season them with sea salt, if desired.

When the chips were doing there thing in the frying pan I started to work on my Carne Asada Steak. I will have to warn you I went completely Rachael Ray on this recipe. I basically looked in my pantry, pulled out my Tex-Mex spices, and made a yummy marinade. I did not measure a thing!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pound of Flank Steak

Marinade:
Olive Oil
Taco Seasoning
Dried Cilantro (I did not have extra fresh)
Sweetened Lime Juice
Garlic

The how to:

I put the flank steak and marinade ingredients into a handy gallon size ziplock baggie and let it do its thing for 1 hour.

I placed marinated meat onto a broiler pan and placed the pan in the oven under the broiler. I flipped the meat at the 8 minute mark.

I let the steak rest for about 5 minutes and than cut it into nice sized chunks.

The girls gave this steak two thumbs up!

I also had a Guacamole “kit” from Stew Leonards. It was a much more affordable way to buy the guacamole ingredients.
I prepared the ingredients and pul
sed in my incredible food processor.
It could have used one more avocado but it was good!

Everyone was very satisfied with this dinner. It was just enough. Here is my nice celebratory plate.

There is a great giveaway over at Missy Maintains.

Country Bob’s Giveaway!!!!!

A good book, eats, and friends. What could be better than that!

I had a much better day today despite this being my first day back after a week long vacation.

I started with a yummy bowl of Overnight Oats.
1/2 Cup of Oats
1/2 Cup of Milk
Sprinkle of Cinnamon
Blueberries
1 tbsp of almonds

I let the oats sit overnight and in the morning microwave for 2 minutes.

For a snack today I had grapes and Mini Baybel Cheese.

Lunch was a very filling salad.

My salad has LF Turkey roll ups, Feta, Bell Pepper Mix, Cukes, and a few dried Cherries.

I had a mid-afternoon snack of a Starbucks Vanilla Rooibos Tea Latte. I love the taste of this particular drink especially on a cold day like today.

Tonight was my monthly book club meeting. We have quite a lovely group of ladies now and I always have a good time.

Tonight’s read was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and
Annie Barrows.

It was a great book. I think what I liked best about this book was the characters. The authors did such a great job with character development that I felt like I was a member of the Potato Peel Society. This is a definite recommendation for anyone looking for a great piece of literature to read.

We had dinner at PF Chang’s. I had never been there before so I was really excited! I had looked at the menu before hand and had some helpful hints from some friends.

I decided on the Gluten Free Singapore Street Noodles. They were great!

I even had leftovers for the hubby!

We also had chopsticks lessons!

This is a book club trying to use chopsticks…LOL!

We ended with a sweet treat of a shot of desert. I chose Red Velvet Cake. It was divine!
Tomorrow I will be back to cooking some Mardi Gras treats!

Happy Monday!

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