Telling food stories, one kitchen at a time
Honestly though. A tailgate slider doesn’t need to be this fancy. You could very easily make the meat patties, melt some cheese on top, throw it on a little bun, and just add ketchup.
That’s how I ate the thing on Saturday and it was about the most fantastic slider I’ve ever tasted. I mean, heavenly. Like, I closed my eyes and lifted by face toward the heavens and smiled as tears of joyful food love ran down my face.
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The. Ultimate. Sandwich.
[If you’ve been waiting, here is the Chipotle Mayo.]
This sandwich is pretty much stolen from The Porch. All I did was add an egg, which isn’t even an original idea, and then I added a letter E to change the name.
I wanted to change the name to The cBALTrEcMgsB, but that’s just not pronounceable.
BALTE, by the way, is pronounced “bahlt.” Or “bawlt” if you’re Southern.
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This is my last peach recipe of the summer! Are you weeping with me? Shed tears for one minute only because juicy summer peaches may almost be behind us, but we’ve got juicy summer tomatoes ready to step in!
In other news: my teeth are doing okay. I felt well enough on Friday to lay by the pool and get sunburnt. And felt well enough on Saturday to go camping. (And by camping, I mean that I arrived at a campsite, couldn’t figure out how to hang up my borrowed hammock, got even more sunburnt, and 12 hours later my carpool drove home. And just to be clear, it’s not a “girly thing” – one in my carpool was a male and one was a dog. It’s just that we all have a great appreciation for showers, beds, and air conditioning.) And I haven’t taken pain medication in three days. So you could say I’m doing just fine.
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The phrase ‘Easy as Cajun Chicken and Grapefruit Lettuce Cups’ was coined after this exact recipe. I’m obsessed with this quick, healthy, minimal-heat-required recipe and you will soon be too.
Is it summer yet? Is it, is it, is it?
I’m ready!
I’m at the beach this week, so I suppose this is my summer.
Ya know, adulthood isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Remember the days when you got 10 weeks of summer vacation? Remember how much you looked forward to that? The excitement… The anticipation… All the planning and daydreaming of what the summer would bring… Fun! Trouble! Romance!
I mean, I still do all that daydreaming… There’s just no summer vacation attached to it…
This is the second year I’ve done a personal beach week. I’m lucky — my parents have a beach condo, so no planning ahead required and no expenses accrued.
When I skip down here for a weekend, yes, I definitely bring a friend and plan to have a little fun! But this week is about peace, quiet, rest, and relaxation. I did invite Dad (he’s the other quiet member of the family), but he declined. Umm… and be glad you aren’t here Dad — I have literally taken over the place. My stuff is EVERYWHERE. I’m dreading cleaning up in the morning.
In my normal life, I’m pulled in so many directions. Working eight+ hours a day, blogging, kickball team, tennis team, gym, side job, family occasions, girls’ nights… it all builds up until… I need to either implode or decompress. So here I am. At my personal beach week. Decompressing.
And it just so happens, one of my favorite ways to decompress is to create in the kitchen! Plus, after my freckled skin was burnt on Day 1, spending time indoors looking at the ocean is quite an attractive idea.
I’m a bit obsessed with grapefruit right now. I’m not sure why. Maybe because it’s pink. And pink = pretty. I’m also obsessed with quick, healthy, minimal-heat-required meals. And I’m obsessed with these inexpensive marcona almonds from Aldi. And that, my friends, is how a good recipe is born. Obsession A + Obsession B + Obsession C. That is the key. Easy as pie Cajun Chicken and Grapefruit Lettuce Cups.
I made five of these. I’ve eaten two. It took me exactly 4 1/2 bites to eat two of the lettuce cups. 1/2 a bite for all those little drippings that dripped out the side and that I wiped up with my finger (and then licked, of course). That means, I’ve got six bites waiting for me in the fridge and my stomach is a’growlin’.
Here’s what I like about Cajun Chicken and Grapefruit Lettuce Cups:
You are 15 minutes away from eating some of these, but I’m only 15 seconds away, so pardon me…
Easy as Cajun Chicken and Grapefruit Lettuce Cups was coined after this exact recipe. I'm obsessed with this quick, healthy, minimal-heat-required recipe and you will soon be too.
March Madness is still in full swing. Remind me what sport we’re watching? Is it college or pro? Who’s winning?
As a Carolina grad, ignoring the March Madness hype is a heinous crime. So, all my Tarheel friends, please stop reading here and skip to the recipe below —
(I’ve just never been big on basketball. Shhh… Don’t let them know.)
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Forgive me, for I have too many pictures and too few words.
This is the first food I photographed with my *new* camera lens.
It was <3 <3 <3 at first click. Let’s just take a second to look at this beautiful asparagus and how clear and clean the little tender tops are with such a perfect fade into the distance. That, friends, is my new Nikon 35mm f/1.8 lens.
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The gooey, juicy, cheesy Classic Pastrami Reuben is deceptively quick and easy to make. It’s basically a grilled cheese plus a few extra flavor-filled toppings. Perfect for St. Patrick’s Day, or course, and also perfect on any other day of the year.
My pipes froze over the weekend. But thankfully I had a batch of this Spiced Pork Posole ready to zap in the microwave.
It may not have been enough to thaw the pipes, but it unfroze my soul.
Just kidding. My soul is pretty warm-fuzzy.
An FYI about frozen pipes — they are not fun. I returned from work one day, got undressed for a post-work rinse, which takes a lot of courage since my house is not exactly winterized (single-pane windows, thermostat set to 65…). I turn on the bathtub faucet only to be met with a quick spit of water, a few gurgly sounds, and then a puff of dust. (There probably wasn’t dust — I might have conjured that bit in my imagination.)
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