Grilled Veggie Fajitas

One of my all time favorite meals are vegetable fajitas. Fresh veggies coming together with soft homemade tortillas, salsa and guacamole is divine and the summer is one of the best times to indulge since the vegetables are fresh and plentiful.

I like to use a cast iron skillet to cook the vegetables. It keeps the marinade from putting out the fire! It also helps keep them from drying out.

Fresh tortillas are so much better than store bought. When I moved to Austin from San Antonio I realized that fresh made tortillas are very hard to find! My husband and I are tortilla snobs, so I had to start making my own. Store bought just isn’t the same as the fluffy and rich ones you can make at home!

Here’s the tried and true recipe I use. (not my own)
Ingredients:

2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of vegetable oil
3/4 cups of warm milk (regular or I use almond milk)

Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and oil. Slowly add the warm milk.
Stir until a loose, sticky ball is formed. Knead for two minutes on a floured surface. Dough should be firm and soft. Place dough in a bowl and cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap for 20 minutes. After the dough has rested, break off eight sections, roll them into balls in your hands, place on a plate (make sure they aren’t touching) and then cover balls with damp cloth or plastic wrap for 10 minutes. (It’s very important to let the dough rest, otherwise it will be like elastic and won’t roll out to a proper thickness and shape.)
After dough has rested, one at a time place a dough ball on a floured surface, pat it out into a four-inch circle, and then roll with a rolling pin from the center until it’s thin and about eight inches in diameter. (If you roll out pie crusts you’ll have no problem with this.) Don’t over work the dough, or it’ll be stiff. Keep rolled-out tortillas covered until ready to cook. In a dry iron skillet or comal heated on high, cook the tortilla about thirty seconds on each side. It should start to puff a bit when it’s done. Keep cooked tortillas covered wrapped in a napkin until ready to eat. Can be reheated in a dry iron skillet, over your gas-burner flame or in the oven wrapped in foil. While you probably won’t have any leftovers, you can store in the fridge tightly wrapped in foil or plastic for a day or so.

 

Pair these with some fresh made guacamole and salsa and you’ll be set. I made some recently for my sister-in-law and her boyfriend (who’s an avid meat eater) and he said “I usually miss meat in meals, but this is so good I feel like I’m not missing anything!”

Back to School Lunches

As the new school year is about to start, many parents  are wondering, “What will my child be eating?”. There has been a lot of controversy lately over school lunches and their nutritional content. When I was in school, lunches weren’t so great – french fries, dehydrated mashed potatoes, and cold vegetables with no flavor were the norm.

But if you’re willing to put in a little effort, you and your kids can make healthy and delicious meals at home. Bento boxes, much like American style lunch boxes, come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes and have many different cool characters on them.  Some even have smaller containers that fit inside for different types of foods.  Once your child has selected their favorite bento box, it’s time to go to town!

I recommend checking out some bento blogs online (like this one) to get an some ideas on how to arrange bentos and what foods stay fresh throughout the day. Kids have the disadvantage that they normally don’t have refrigerators or microwaves to keep and prepare their food, but there are alternatives. Using ice packs or thermos’ are a good option.

You and your child can make it an evening routine to make their bento for the next day. This is a great way to teach kids about different foods and they’ll be excited about showing off to their friends. So help your kids ditch bland, unhealthy school food and embrace the art of bento boxes!

Below are some links to my favorite sites that have bento boxes and meals.

bento boxes and accessories:

JBox (warning some areas of the site are NSFW)
Laptop Lunches
Or search ebay

You can also find bentos at your local Japanese or Asian Markets.

bento blogs:

Lunch in a Box
Vegan Lunch Box
Just Bento

Onigiri and Miso Soup

Today for lunch I decided to use my onigiri shaper to make some onigiri (rice balls) to go with some leftover miso soup. It was my first time using it and it worked really well! Just fill it full of rice, press down on the lid, then pop out.

The meal turned out to be simple, yummy, and filling!

Since I made plain onigiri I ate it with a little wasabi and soy sauce.

Soy Protein Shake

Some have been wondering, if I make such good food for lunch and dinner, what do I have for breakfast? Well almost every day I have a soy protein shake. They are wonderfully delicious and nutritious. I use Whole Foods brand Soy Protein Shake in both chocolate and vanilla flavors. First I add some vanilla soy milk, then a banana broken into pieces, then half a scoop each of the chocolate and vanilla shake mix and blend well. Today I had some strawberries that needed to be eaten, so I threw a couple of those in there too.

What do you have for breakfast?