Fajita Stuffing

My family always has turkey and stuffing for Thanksgiving and Christmas, so I like to mix it up a little bit with the type of stuffing we use.  Tonight, my husband and I did a trial run with a rice-based stuffing.  It's way easier to make than using bread crumbs, and there's nothing better than the combination of rice and turkey broth.  In honor of Christmas, we used red and green bell peppers.  If you were making this for Thanksgiving, I'd suggest using yellow and orange bell peppers.  Enjoy!

Fajita Stuffing

Ingredients:
1 c dry brown rice
2.5 c water
3 tsp low sodium chicken boullion
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 large white onion, chopped
1/2 c frozen corn kernals

Method:
Put the rice, water and boullion in a pot.  Stir to combine.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low.  Cover the pot.  Let simmer for about 45 minutes or until water is absorbed.

Meanwhile, saute the bell pepper, onion and corn in a frying pan until the onion is caramelized.

Mix the rice with the veggies, and you're done...unless (like me) you're using this mixture to stuff a turkey!  Fill the turkey cavity with as much stuffing as will fit and cook using the directions for the turkey.

I use a Butterball turkey and a Butterball turkey-size baking bag.  To make the skin extra crisp, separate the skin from the meat with your hang and shove a few pieces of butter under the skin.  Yum!

Follow the directions on the baking bag to cook the turkey, and dinner is served!

Happy eating!

Maraca's

Last night, my husband and I had dinner at Maraca's Mexican Cantina & Grill in Palm Springs.  It was really cold out, almost freezing (low 40s), when we arrived, so we chose to sit inside.  It looked like most of their seating was outside, and some people were actually eating out there huddled by heat lamps.  No thanks!

We were seated at a booth towards the back of the restaurant, and chips and salsa quickly arrived at our table.  The chips were warm and salty, but not too salty or too greasy.  The salsa was good.  It had a lot of onion chopped up in it, which I liked.  I don't like it when salsa is all tomato and hardly any other flavor.  It had kind of a smoky flavor with a little heat to it too, but not too much.

We looked over the menu.  I decided to order the Sizzling Fajitas, which is described on the menu as "Your choice of meat or vegetables charbroiled with red and green bell peppers and sweet onion served on a sizzling platter.  Served with guacamole, pico de gallo, refried beans and flour tortillas."  I chose Steak for the meat, and the platter was indeed sizzling!















I was impressed with the amount of food.  However, I was not impressed with the meat.  It tasted chewy and flavorless.  I thought it was probably just over or under cooked, but my husband said it was probably an inexpensive piece of meat, and he agreed that it wasn't very good.  I loved the flavor of the peppers and onions though.  There's really nothing much more delicious than a caramelized onion.  I ended up picking around the meat and just eating the veggies.  My husband was really hungry, so he ate the meat for me.  The beans and rice were okay.  I liked that the beans had a little cheese on them and that the rice had some tomatoes and corn kernels mixed in.  The tortillas were okay, but nothing special.  I'd never order steak fajitas here again.  Maybe the chicken's better.


My husband ordered the same 3-item combo he ordered a  couple nights ago at Las Casuelas Terraza: a shredded beef taco, a cheese enchilada and a carnitas tamale which came with sides of rice, beans and a sweet corn cake.  He said that the sweet corn cake is better at Chevy's, and the combo at Las Casuelas Terraza overall just tasted better.  It meal was good though; just not amazing.  I tasted a bite of the enchilada and tamale, and I thought it just tasted bland.

In the end, when looking for a Mexican restaurant to eat at in Palm Springs, I'd choose Las Casuelas Terraza, but the chips and salsa definitely win at Maraca's.

Happy eating!

Las Casuelas Terraza

My husband and I are in Palm Springs for a few days, and our first night here, we decided to try a Mexican restaurant near our hotel called Las Casuelas Terraza.  It sounded authentic, and we're always in the mood for Mexican food.

The restaurant seems huge!  We walked through multiple rooms to get to a room where we were finally seated.  Tip for the ladies, you may want to stay away from wearing heels that don't have a lot of traction.  I almost fell twice in my high heel boots.  The heel just couldn't find anything to grip on the slippery floor.  I would say I'm just klutzy or something, but I had no problem walking down the sidewalk.  On the way out of the restaurant, I walked on the ball of my foot to avoid sliding.

Anyway, the decor makes you feel like you're in Mexico.  The wooden chairs are very hard and uncomfortable, so we asked to move to a booth.  the padded seat and back was much better.

They brought out chips and salsa right away.  I prefer the salsa at Chevy's, but this had a nice spicy kick to it that kept me going back for more.  Otherwise, I would've said it was too tomatoey.

I ordered the Terraza Mexican Chopped Salad, which is described on the menu as "Romaine lettuce with grilled chicken, bacon, tomato, avocado, olives, red onion, bell pepper, jicama, cilantro and Monterey Jack cheese, topped with tortilla strips.  Served with crushed red pepper vinaigrette or your choice of dressing."  They had me as "crushed red pepper vinaigrette."  I asked for the dressing on the side, just to make sure it wasn't too soggy (see my review for Lala's), and the waiter said that it comes on the side.  Perfect.  I was surprised at the size of the salad.  I expected something about twice as big.  The flavor was amazing.  The chicken had a great char-grilled flavor, and combined with the bacon and the dressing, the salad was really delicious.  I guess it could've used more lettuce though.  There was one huge romaine lettuce leaf on the bottom of the small plate, which I ended up cutting up and eating with the rest of the salad.  I'm used to Cheesecake Factory-size entree salads at restaurants, so even though the flavor was great, I didn't feel like I got the value I expected for the price of the entree.

My husband ordered a 3-item combination plate.  He chose to get a shredded beef taco, a cheese enchilada and a carnitas tamale.  It was served with rice and choice of beans.  He chose something similar to refried, but they called them something else.  It wasn't the best Mexican food he'd ever had, but it was good.  The ingredients seemed like quality ingredients, but there just wasn't anything special about it.

If it were the only restaurant in town, we might go back, but since there are many more options, next time we'd try to find something a little more amazing.

Happy eating!

Palms Thai

A couple weeks ago, my husband and I met some friends at a play in Hollywood.  Afterwards, we all walked over to Palms Thai for dinner.  We had never eaten there before.  It was late and a Saturday night, but there was plenty of seating.  I'm a cat person, so I noticed all the cat decor.

My husband and I had been been wanting to go to a Thai restaurant for awhile, so we were excited to order.  To drink, I just got water, but my husband got a Thai Iced Tea which I tasted.  It was really good!  It tasted a lot like a cold chai tea latte.

For meals, I ordered the Combination Fried Rice which was described on the menu as "Fried Rice with a combination of beef, pork, chicken, shrimp, egg, tomato, onion, and green onion."  I'm usually not a rice person, but it sounded good, and it sounded like something my husband and I could share.  He loves rice.

My husband ordered the Chicken Yellow Curry which was described on the menu as "Sweet yellow coconut cream curry with chicken and sliced potato."  The waitress asked him how spicy he wanted it, and he said "spicy."

We're used to Indian curry, so we didn't recognize our order when it was brought to the table.  It looked like soup.  Their were 7 of us at the table, and the server just set the bowl on the table and didn't know who it belonged to.  Eventually we figured out that it was the curry.  The potatoes were in huge chunks, not exactly sliced.  It had some heat to it, which was nice.

My husband and I shared both meals.  We put the fried rice on our plate and spooned the curry over it.  The flavors went really well together.

Everyone else at the table seemed to enjoy their order as well.  One couple ordered a side of rice for 50 cents, and they brought out a huge dish of white rice; it was definitely a good value!

Overall, it was a fun time with friends, but I think we'd try a different Thai restaurant next time.  I'm not sure if all Thai curry is supposed to be soupy, but I'd have to try it somewhere else to know.  It had been years since I'd had Thai food last, but I always thought of it as similar to Chinese food but with peanut sauce.  I only saw one or two things on the huge menu that had peanut sauce, which was disappointing.

If you're in Hollywood and want a reasonably priced meal, this isn't a bad place to check out.  It has a huge menu, plenty of seating and prompt service.

Happy eating!

Turkey & Roasted Veggie Frittata

'Tis the season to eat turkey and more turkey.  You've probably already seen my blog post "12 Recipe Ideas for Thanksgiving Leftovers," but I have one more recipe to add to the mix.

I've had a couple turkey sandwiches by now, and we had some eggs we needed to use up, so tonight, we made a Turkey & Roasted Veggie Frittata with a side of Baked Sweet Potato Fries and the Everyday Salad.  Lots of veggies.  Lots of festive Fall flavors.  Very cheesy.  Definitely delicious.  Only 200 calories per piece.  Enjoy!

Ready to Broil

Turkey & Roasted Veggie Frittata
Serves: 4 (8 pieces, 2 pieces each)

Ingredients:
2 bell peppers, chopped
1/2 large white onion, chopped
1/4 c chives, chopped
8 eggs
1/2 c water
6 oz shredded cheddar cheese
7 oz turkey, chopped
1 tsp chipotle Tabasco (if desired)
TexJoy or salt & pepper, to taste

Method:
Put the peppers, onions and chives in a cast iron skillet and cook over medium heat until caramelized.

Ready to Eat

Mix eggs, water and Tabasco.  Add turkey and cheese.  Pour over veggies.  Sprinkle generously with TexJoy or salt & pepper.

Cover the skillet and let the frittata cook until almost set.

Put the skillet under the broiler, uncovered, for 3-5 minutes or until completely set.

To serve, you can invert onto a serving plate or cut and serve directly from the pan.

Happy eating!