Meatless Wednesdays: Vegetarian Tacos

Lots of people make New Year's Resolutions and probably the most common one has to do with losing weight or eating healthier or exercising.  So in an effort to jump on this band wagon ourselves, we have decided to have at least one meal a week that is vegetarian.  We've come a along way since Yumma Yumma first started almost a year and a half ago.  When I started this blog Superking and I were pesca-vegetarians...meaning the only meat we ate was fish and seafood.  While we still aim to be animal welfare-and-environmentally-conscious by choosing organic and local whenever we can, we have definitely broadened our horizons on the meat front, always looking for the strange and unique.

Now we've come full-circle...almost...not getting any younger and wanting to be healthier we have introduced Meatless Wednesdays into our lives.  I really wanted it to be Meatless Mondays because I love alliterations but the Monday thing wasn't working out so well with our crazy schedules. So Meatless Wednesday it is.

Our first go-round at a meatless meal was vegetarian tacos.  Some people might wonder what are you going to put in a taco thats not meat and still have it be filling? One of my favorite fast-food restaurants (and one of the handful I actually still go to) is Chipotle.  I love their tacos and burrito bowls and all their fresh ingredients.  And what's the best form of flattery? Be a copy cat! 

I tried to mimic their rice (which I love) by cooking plain white rice, then adding a chipotle lime finishing butter from the grocery store, a squeeze of lime, and a few sprigs of fresh cilantro.  A little different twist with the butter but it added a nice little kick. Cilantro and lime...you can never go wrong with that!

I picked up a couple small avocados and made some fresh guacamole with a little chopped red onion, fresh cilantro, another squeeze of lime.

We also whipped up a batch of pico de gallo (of which you can see my full recipe for here). Diced roma tomatoes, chopped red onion, whatever kind of peppers you like (I used yellow Hungarian wax peppers and green anaheim, neither of which are very spicy because I'm a spice whimp but I always get Superking a jalapeno on the side which he can then add himself), salt and pepper, cumin, garlic (freshly minced if possible or garlic powder is fine), and of course cilantro and lime.

We also had black beans and vegetarian refried beans, soft shell tacos and hard shell tacos.  Since we had both kinds of shells we made double decker tacos.  Take the soft shell, slather on a layer of refried beans, wrap it around the hard shell.  Not only is this yummy, it protects the hard taco since it will inevitably break when you put the toppings in, but it won't matter because the soft shell layer with the beans will still hold it all together.

Fill the shell with some rice, black beans, pico de gallo, guacamole or sour cream, a little shredded cheese ( a great white sharp cheddar works well), and dig right in!! Believe me, with all those flavors you won't miss the meat!

Lamb Fries

WARNING:  This blog post is rated PG-13 and may not be suitable for all audiences.  Please avoid if you have heart trouble, weak stomach, or fainting spells. Proceed with caution if you are vegetarian, vegan, or experience general queasiness or unwellness. This post is not for the faint of heart or stomach or other unnamed parts.
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Lamb fries...if you have never heard of these, they are not what they sound like.  If you have heard of them, you may have an inkling what this post will be about.  You might imagine some strips of juicy lamb meat fresh off the grill, possibly in kabob form.  You might imagine some type of french fry served with lamb meat or juices from lamb meat.  On all accounts you'd be wrong. Dead wrong. Painfully dead wrong.

Lamb fries are essentially lamb testicles. Yes, you read that right. Lamb testicles...take a second to let that sink in... And yes, we cooked some and yes, we even ate some.  Here was our experience...

We were wandering around the farmers market one Saturday when lo and behold we stopped in at one of the meat vendors and saw a sign advertising lamb fries. "Hmmm, whats that?" we innocently wondered.  Superking asks the vendor, "Is that what I think it is?"  The vendor, with a knowing grin and giggle, replies, "Yep, those are lamb testicles!" Superking looks at me and says, "I've got to try those."

We bring them home and decide to fry them up. You take anything, cover it in seasonings and breadcrumbs, then fry it in oil, it can't taste too bad. Right?? 

WARNING: Graphic photos approaching...

with the sac...

de-sacked...

Superking begins the preparation by removing the membrane or sac around the testicles. He wants me to take pictures as he does so.  I decide that I will quickly take one picture at a time then wait in the living room until he needs another picture.  I have to admit my stomach was not in agreement with watching the preparation.

Don't they look like a bunch of little brains?

or some weird science experiment...

thinly sliced and patted dry

Superking slices the "fries" thinly, dips them in an egg wash, and dredges them in panko bread crumbs and seasonings.  Then into the hot oily frying pan they go!  Boy do they make quite a pop in that hot oil! They cook up quickly and we carefully remove each one when they are golden brown and place them on paper towels to soak up the excess oil.

Superking really enjoyed them.  And even me, honestly they weren't bad.  We served them with a dollop of hot pepper jelly we had purchased from the farmers market also, which was really delicious and added a lot of flavor to the lamb fries.  The lamb fries themselves have a very mild flavor and a texture similar to cooked tofu or possibly a piece of tender chicken.  I personally had a hard time getting past the idea of it all. And after about 4 or 5, I just couldn't stomach them any more.  But when it was all said and done, they really were more tasty than I expected. I'm glad I experienced them but I don't think I'll ever want to experience them again.  I'll leave that to Superking.

How about you, readers? Would you try them? Or have you tried them? I'd love to hear your experiences!

Salsa Steak Tacos

Of course everyone knows that one of the great things about summer is all the wonderful produce you can get and all the lovely fresh dishes you can make with that produce.  Last week, Superking and I combined such great fresh veggies with one of our new favorites pastimes...grilling.

We had picked up a couple nice steaks from the Organic Butcher and were trying to decide what to do with them when I remembered I had picked up some ingredients to make fresh salsa.  Bingo! Salsa Steak Tacos!

Though technically I think what I make is more like pico de gallo or salsa fresca because its more chunky fresh veggies rather than a tomatoey sauce used as a dip. Pico de gallo usually consists of tomatoes, onion, and a mixture of chilis or peppers. 

I usually like to use Roma tomatoes or tomatoes-on-the-vine because they have a nice fresh tomato flavor though you can use just about any kind of tomato as long as its fresh and still firm. Slice and dice each tomato into small chunks. Depending on how much you want to make, 3 or 4 small tomatoes makes plenty for  2 people to share over a couple meals. 

Superking and I love red onion. I feel like we use it in almost every recipe.  It adds a little spicy flavor when its diced up fresh which is a nice addition to a salsa, especially if you don't want a lot of heat but you do want a lot of flavor. 

Chilis or peppers...you can use whatever kind you want.  I personally can't handle a lot of heat so I stick to the Anaheim peppers, sometimes a little green bell pepper, or poblanos.  All these peppers add a good peppery flavor without a lot of heat.  The Anaheim are probably my favorite.  And its the closest thing to a hot pepper that I can actually enjoy (but they're not hot at all).  Sometimes I'll get a few hot ones for Superking to add to his own portion of salsa since he likes the heat...jalapenos and fresnos are good if want a little heat but still want to enjoy the other flavors. If you're just really into the hotness and don't care about flavor but want to burn all your tastebuds off, go for habaneros, scotch bonnets, or (God forbid) the ghost peppers.  Any way you slice it, whatever kind of peppers you use is up to your personal tastes and heat-tolerance.  Use one or two or six.

Once my three main ingredients are chopped and diced, I chop a few big clumps of cilantro. I love cilantro! Its aroma is just intoxicating and invigorating.  Another important ingredient for this recipe is lime juice. I usually get a couple limes, and squeeze a half of one (or sometimes a whole one) into the salsa and save the rest to squeeze over my finished dish just before I take a bite. Then I add a sprinkling of salt and pepper and cumin over the veggies and stir it all up.  Heres where you get to do a taste test to see if its seasoned properly and has the right ratio of tomato to onion to pepper to lime etc. And then take a big whiff...the spices, the herbs, the cumin, the peppers...it should smell amazing like you just want to dive right in the bowl!

We pulled our steaks off the grill and sliced them thinly before putting the meat onto a soft warm flour tortilla.  We topped the steak with a couple spoonfuls of our freshly made pico de gallo salsa and some finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese, maybe another squeeze of lime and a cilantro leaf to make it look pretty. Voila! Simple spicy salsa steak tacos!

Mom's Garden

Before these last few weeks of summer fade away, I must share some lovely summer adventures we've had.  A few weeks ago, Superking and I went out to visit my parents who live in the mountains of northern Virginia countryside.  They have about 10 acres of woods just above the beautiful flowing Shenandoah River.  My dad is an avid outdoorsman and has been in the building industry in one aspect or another for most of his life.  My mom is a country girl at heart. They designed and built their own house up there in their own little quiet paradise.

One of the things my mom loves to do is gardening.  And she's always had a knack for it too. I, on the other hand, have the Black Thumb of Death when it comes to all plants, be they fruit, veg, or flower, with the exception of weeds.  If it was acceptable to grow weeds and make them look nice, I would be the Queen.

Anywho...as my mom took us on a little tour of her garden, it was bursting with greens and reds and yellows everywhere we looked.  Just about anything you can imagine growing in a garden, it was there.  Tomatoes (so many tomatoes of all different kinds), cabbages, squash, carrots, strawberries, peppers of various kinds, herbs, cucumbers. They even tried to grow peanuts but they didn't turn out so well unfortunately.  But everything else was vibrant and colorful.

my mom being goofy

one of their dogs, Buddy or Bella?

And she doesn't use any kind of pesticides either. So it doesn't get much more local and organic than that!

For our lovely dinner we had with them, my mom used plenty of her yummy produce in our meal, including this delicious tomato salad.  Beautiful red and orange cherry tomatoes mixed with a tangy balsamic vinagrette and fresh herbs and chunks of creamy mozzarella cheese. It was sweet and tangy and juicy; a perfect companion to a good juicy steak hot off the grill.

We also had luscious strawberries stuffed with a marscapone cream cheese and dipped in chocolate for dessert.  I could've eaten the whole plate they were so yummy!

And before we left we stuffed our pockets with as many tomatoes (even green ones...another post to come) and peppers and squash and cucumbers and honey (yes they have their own beehive too...again another post to come) as we could carry away!  Can't wait to share some more recipes with you from Mom's Garden!!

beehive full of bees and fresh honey!!

 

Happy Summer!