The Super Secret Taco House

So... I probably shouldn't blog about this... because it's probably illegal... but oh well!! haha

Here it goes... there is a house, in a neighborhood in my city, that has a secret restaurant on their back porch. The people that run the restaurant (and most of their customers) don't speak English but they serve the best tacos that I have EVER eaten!!! I know, this sounds crazy... and probably dangerous... but believe me, if you tasted their tacos, you would understand that it's worth the risk! We call this place the "Super Secret Taco House" and we go there almost every weekend... because they are only open on the weekends. The people that run the place have real weekday jobs and they just do this for extra money on the weekends. SO MUCH FUN.

Anyway, I struggle with craving those tacos on weekdays when I can't have them. So, I wanted to find a recipe for REAL Mexican tacos that could get me through when I have a weekday craving. I found this recipe for "Chorizo-Potato Tacos" and although they are no match for the "Super Secret Taco House" tacos, they were pretty darn good! :)

Chorizo-Potato Tacos

Ingredients:

2 medium red-skinned potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes

Kosher salt

2 T. vegetable oil

1 medium yellow squash, diced

freshly ground pepper

8 oz. fresh chorizo, casings removed

2 medium tomatoes, diced

1 scallion, minced

1 jalapeno pepper, minced

1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

8 corn tortillas (we used flour)

1/4 cup crumbled Cotija or Feta cheese

sour cream and/or guacamole for serving

Directions:

Put the potatoes in a microwave safe bowl, add 1/2 cup water and season with salt. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the vegetable oil in a skillet over high heat, then add the squash and cook until browned but still crisp, 3 to 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and transfer to a bowl. Add the sausage to the skillet and cook, breaking it up with a spoon, until it begins to brown, about five minutes. Add the potatoes and cooking water and cook, tossing, until the potatoes are browned and the sausage is cooked through, 5 to 6 more minutes. Season with salt.

Combine the tomatoes, scallion, cilantro and jalapeno in a bowl and season with salt. Warm the tortillas and fill with the squash and chorizo mixtures and top with the cheese and salsa. Top with sour cream and/or guacamole, if desired.

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We didn't have any side dishes with our tacos, because that's how they do it at the "Super Secret Taco House" but we did have special drinks! At the taco house, you have the choice of either the biggest bottled Coke that you have ever seen (Evan's choice) or several different flavors of Jarritos, which is a Mexican soda. In order to make our meal complete, I stopped by a Mexican grocery store and found a giant bottled Coke and a pineapple Jarritos (my favorite!).

Don't you wonder if there's a "Super Secret Taco House" in your city??

Easter Dinner

I know, I know... I'm a bad blogger. Let's pretend that I'm a fabulous blogger and that I haven't taken a 7-8 month break! This time around I'm going to do things a bit different... I still plan to blog about recipes but I don't want to limit myself so much because I may just have a few other things that I want to talk about! So here we go... this one is a bit about food and little bit about another love of mine- parties (which of course go hand in hand with food!).

For Easter this year, Evan and I invited his family to our house for dinner. This was my first time to host a family holiday celebration at my own house and I was nervous but very excited at the same time! I worked all week on the table decor and the menu. I decided that I wanted a rustic/garden feel for the table and a pretty light menu to match!

This is how the table turned out:

And this was the menu:

Grilled Pork Tenderloin

Skillet Cream style Corn (for my sis-in-law, it's her fav!)

Glazed Carrots

Fresh Green Beans

Cloverleaf Dinner Rolls

Carrot Cake

In order not to make myself go crazy (a lesson I learned from my previous blog failure! haha) I am not going to post all 6 of those recipes... at least not all in the same post! Tonight I am going to give you the recipe for the marinade I used on the tenderloin and the recipe for Paula Deen's grandmother's Carrot Cake (now you know it's good!).

Pork Tenderloin Marinade

Ingredients:

1/2 cup peanut oil

1/3 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

3 T. lemon juice

2 T. Worcestershire sauce

1 clove garlic crushed

1 T. chopped fresh parsley

1 T. dry mustard

1 1/2 t. black pepper

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together and poor over tenderloins. Marinate for at least an hour. *Note: this recipe is for two pork tenderloins (they are packaged two in a package).

Grandmama Hiers's Carrot Cake

(Paula Deen's recipe taken from "The Lady and Sons" cookbook):

Cake Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

2 t. baking soda

2 t. cinnamon

1 t. salt

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

3 cups grated carrots

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans (optional- but highly recommended!)

Cake Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add eggs and vegetable oil and mix well; add carrots and pecans. Pour into three 9-inch round greased, floured pans. Bake for approximately 40 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes. Remove from pans, place on wax paper, and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Frosting Ingredients:

One 8 ounce pkg. cream cheese

8 T. butter

One 16 ounce box powdered sugar

1 t. vanilla

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Frosting Directions:

Combine all ingredients except for nuts and beat until fluffy. Stir in nuts. Frost cake.

Here are a few other pics from the event:

Some of the side dishes.

The "cake table."

My hubby: the master griller at our house!

Jack says, "Come back tomorrow night!! My mom promises to post again!"

Margarita Pork Tenderloin, Grilled Corn on the Cob with Garlic- Chive Butter and Almond Blueberry Cookies

Last night we had margarita pork tenderloin, grilled corn on the cob with garlic-chive butter, fried okra and almond blueberry cookies... They were all wonderful! They were also all pretty easy for me to make because it was all grill work... which is Evan's job! haha Here are the recipes... and a few pictures of our little man, Jack, who always lays in the kitchen floor and watches us while we cook. I think he really wanted us to take his picture last night because he was being exceptionally cute!

I found the Margarita Pork Tenderloin recipe in the newest edition of Ultimate Southern Living cookbooks. The recipe made A LOT of pork tenderloin but that's ok because I plan to use it in another meal soon... I'll be sure to let you know what I come up with! Here's the recipe...

Margarita Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients:

3 garlic cloves, minced
1 green onion, minced
1/2 jalapeno pepper, minced
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 1/2 tablespoons tequila
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
2 (1 lb.) pork tenderloins

Directions

Combine first 10 ingredients in a shallow dish or large zip-top freezer bag. Cut pork diagonally into 1-inch-thick slices, and add to tequila mixture. Cover or seal, and chill 1 hour, turning occasionally. Remove pork from marinade, discarding marinade. Grill, covered with grill lid, over high heat (400-500 degrees) 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until meat thermometer inserted into thickest portion registers 160 degrees.

I also found the recipe for grilled corn on the cob with garlic-chive butter in the same Southern Living cookbook. The recipe calls for 6 ears of corn but if there aren't that many of you, just cut the recipe in half... that's what we did! It was delicious... but isn't anything with that much butter and/or garlic??

Grilled Corn on the Cob with Garlic-Chive Butter

Ingredients

6 ears fresh corn with husks
1/2 cup butter or margarine softened
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh chives

Directions

Pull back corn husks; remove and discard silks. Pull husks over corn. Cover corn with water; let stand 1 hour (this keeps husks from burning). Drain. Stir together butter, garlic and chives. Grill corn, without grill lid, over medium heat (300-350 degrees) 20 minutes or until tender, turning often. Remove husks. Spread desired amount of butter mixture over corn.

Finally, the Almond Blueberry cookies! These are a recipe from Giada De Laurentis that I found on the Food Network website. I just really wanted to make something with fresh berries because they are so summery! This was a very good recipe- the sweetness of the cookie, the tartness of the blueberries and the crunch of the almonds made a great combination- I'll definitely be making it again soon!

Almond Blueberry Cookies

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1/4 to 1/3 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 teaspoons lemon zest, about 1 lemon
1/2 cup chopped almonds, toasted
1 cup frozen blueberries, thawed and drained (I used fresh berries)

Directions

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. In another medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar using a hand mixer. Add egg and beat to incorporate. Add milk, almond extract and lemon zest. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Fold in the almonds, then the blueberries. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Using two small spoons, dollop mix onto cookie sheets. Bake until golden brown around the edges, about 15 minutes. Cool the cookies on a wire rack.