Catmegz

We bought a new house!  It's a couple miles south of where we are now, with 2700 sq. feet and a 3-car garage!  Hopefully we can fit all our stuff in there.  ;-) 

Check out the pictures at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/catmegz/sets/72157604720360309/

We're definitely going to miss our cool neighbors here, but we're hoping they'll come visit us a lot!

William is a big fan of chicken fajitas.  It's pretty much all he'll order when we go to a Mexican restaurant, and it's how he decides if the restaurant deserves and repeat visit.  :-D

I know there are Fajita seasoning packets available in the supermarket, but I figured it couldn't be that hard and looked up a recipe on the internet.  One of my favorite food blogs, Simply Recipes, had a yummy looking Steak Fajitas recipe (how can you go wrong with lime juice, cilantro and jalepeno??) so I ran with that, using chicken instead of the steak.


Steak/Chicken Fajitas (by Simply Recipes, additional comments by Megan)

1 lb flank or skirt steak (I used 2 large chicken breasts)
1 large onion (I used a sweet onion, since they're available right now)
2 large bell peppers  (I used red and green)

Alternative way to slice an onion: 

1. First, find the end with the roots.  Slice off the end right next to the roots, so they are removed while taking as little of the onion as possible.  This should leave you with a thicker part at the base of the onion, where all the layers come together. 
   
2. Second, turn the onion over and slice off the top. 
   
3. Third, cut the onion in half, going through the middle of the root end and the top.  If it helps you to visualize, think of cutting straight down through all the rings, leaving half-moon shapes.  If you can see the nice, concentric rings after making your cut, turn your next onion 90 degrees and try again.  It should look something like this, but flat, with a bit more root on the end:   
   
4. Four, peel off the outer layers of the onion until you're left with just whole, juicy layers.  You should now have two halves of an onion, with part of the root end attached to each.  This is important, because it helps keep the slices together until you're ready to separate them.
5. Place one half on the cutting board, with the root end facing you.  You should be able to see the lines running from the top of the onion to the bottom.  Use these as guides to cut from the outside edge into the center, making very thin wedges, each with a piece of the root at one end.
6. Once all the wedges are sliced, you can cut off the root end and discard it, leaving you with beautiful sliver-shaped onions. 
   
7. I know it sounds complicated, but once you try it a couple times, it'll make sense.  The hardes part for me is always cutting the first couple thin wedges - your knife blade is almost parallel to the board and it's hard to aim for the exact center of the onion.  Good luck!
   

Marinade:
Juice of 1 lime  (I used about 2 limes worth of juice - about 4 Tbsp juice)
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled, minced  (Garlic presses are great!)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin  (I used about 1 tsp)
1/2 fresh Jalapeño pepper, seeded, ribs removed, finely chopped (I always use gloves when handling peppers)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, including stems  (I just got a big bunch of cilantro, roughly cut the tops off and chopped them - probably 1/4-1/3 cup)
(I also added about 1/2 tsp kosher salt)

1 Mix all marinade ingredients. Set the steak in the marinade and let it sit at least an hour, the longer the better.  (I sliced the chicken into strips before marinating)

2 Heat to high heat a large cast iron pan or griddle. Add a teaspoon of olive oil to the pan. Add the steak, frying on each side for 3 minutes, or to desired doneness. 3 minutes per side will yield approximately medium rare doneness for an average cut of flank steak. If pan starts to smoke too much, reduce the heat to medium high. We want the steak browned, not burned. Remove from pan and let sit for 5 minutes.   (I didn't worry about timing the chicken - it takes about that long to cook the onions and peppers.  I added a bunch of the marinade to the pan with the chicken, and left it in there after the chicken was removed so that the flavor would permeate the dish. )

3 Reduce the pan heat to medium high. Add a little more oil to the pan if necessary. Add the onions, bell peppers. Cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes, until the onions are slightly translucent.

4 Slice the meat against the grain into thin slices. If you slice the meat at a slanted angle, you will be able to get your slices pretty thin. Flank steak is flavorful but can be a little tough, so thin slices will really help make it easier to eat.  (I skipped this step, since I had sliced the chicken before marinating it)

5 Serve immediately with shredded cheese, salsa, shredded iceberg lettuce, sour cream, guacamole and warm flour tortillas. (Hint for warming tortillas - put in microwave over a slightly damp paper towel for 20 seconds on high heat.)

I served my fajitas with some black beans (from a can, heated in a bowl in the microwave) and rice.



Lime and Cilantro Rice (by Megan):
I got the idea for this when I tasted the rice at a local restaurant called Chipotle.  They are a make-your-burrito-to-order place that has some pretty high-quality ingredients.  I used Basmati rice, since that's what was in my cupboard, but you can use just about any rice, although I'd avoid the sticky types.  Check the directions for the right ration of water to rice.  For basmati, it's 1 part rice to 2 parts water.  I used 1 cup rice and 2 cups water and got about 3 cups total cooked rice.

1 cup Basmati Rice
2 cups Water
1 tsp Salt
2 Tbsp chopped Cilantro
2-3 Tbsp Lime Juice

1. Put the water in a saucepan with a sprinkle of salt (I used about 1 tsp) and bring to a boil
2. Add the rice and bring water back to a boil.
3. Reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent rice from lumping together
   
4. Cover the pot and put over very low heat or place in a 250 degree oven.
5. Check the cooking directions for a general idea of how long the rice should cook.  I find it's generally 30-45 minutes.  DO NOT OPEN THE POT for most of this time.  The steam will escape; the temperature will lower, and your rice may not cook correctly.  I usually check around 35 minutes to see how it's doing.
6. Once the rice is done, fluff it with a fork and mix in the cilantro and lime juice to taste. 
   
7. Adjust seasoning with extra salt, if needed.

So, I'm going to try and start posting entries on some of the food I'm making.  It'll be interesting - maybe not to most, but it'll help me critique what I'm doing and tighten up some recipes.  :-D  I'll try to use descriptive titles, so you can easily skip it if you want to.

I've posted our pictures from Hawaii up at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/catmegz/sets/72157604578897250

I miss it already....

I've been slow to post, but here are the details from William's proposal:

We were midway through our recent trip to Hawaii, when we took the car and headed over to the east coast of the island.  We wandered along the coastline, stopping to take pictures, until we reached the vantage point for Blowhole.  Blowhole is a spot where the lava tubes are positioned such that when the tide comes in right, the water will spout up out of the rocks rather spectacularly.  The tides weren't with us today, but it was still beautiful. 

After a while, the people cleared out and we were alone, watching the waves.  It was at that point that William pulled this little box out of his pocket and said, "I love you.  Will you marry me?"

Surprise. Shock. OMG. Try it on. Tear up a little. Kiss/Hug William.

Me: "You asked me on April Fool's Day?"

William: "Yeah! It was my backup plan in case you said No.  Pretty cool, huh?"