Category Archives: Lunch

Quinoa à la Megan

A few weeks ago, one of my besties came over for “just a glass of wine.” I have learned, in the past year living in West Texas, that “just a glass” means “just a bottle.” Per person. Well, since we always snack when we drink (boozing justifies eating), she brought over a snack. It was a hodge podge of ingredients that she had in the fridge, but it was tastyyyy. She made a cous-cous with tomatoes, lemon juice and thyme. We actually didn’t eat it that night, but it was refreshing and delightful the next afternoon. I’ve adapted it here to be a little healthier (quinoa vs cous-cous). It cures a hangover and works great as a lunch dish!

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Yum. Also delish with any other grain or substitute

  • Quinoa (however much you want). At HEB in Midland, they actually sell frozen cooked quinoa, which has no added ingredients, so I bought that in order to save a pan
  • 1 package of cherub tomatoes, roasted. (cut them in half, drizzle a little olive oil, s&p, and roast on 225 degrees for 3.5 hours). Do this in advance, obviously
  • 5-6 sprigs of thyme, remove leaves from stem and chop roughly
  • 1.5 tbs olive oil
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced

Literally, just combine all the ingredients. You cannot mess this up. Add any veggies or herbs you have that you need to use up.

I still cannot recall where we ate dinner last night…prob Whataburger.

peace.

Poblano Salsa and Pasta Cialis. Uhh, I mean Salad

I am literally sitting in front of the TV with my laptop trying not to throw up. Is there anything worse beside male hormone commercials? I’m currently watching a commercial for Axiron (the sick ass testosterone loaded deodorant for men), and grossed out by them filming a dad taking his daughter to college. Like how sicked out would you be if your pops got a boner while he was unloading your freshman year wardrobe. BARF. Side note—Cialis totally has it wrong—if you took an ED pill, wouldn’t you be in the same bathtub as your significant other? I guess old people do it differently? I’m confused.

Diptic

ANYWAYS. I sat down to give y’all two super easy recipes that I made today. I a bunch of veggies in the fridge that won’t be good after the weekend, and we have a bday party tomorrow, so I’m donesky with cooking for the week after tonight. The things I have are….

  • Avocado
  • Grape tomatoes
  • Cilantro
  • Basil
  • Arugula
  • Garlic
  • Mozzarella-block not shreds
  • Poblanos
  • Jalapeños (from my garden that I picked b/c they were ripe)
  • Red bell peppers (also from my garden)

So, we are making a pasta salad that actually gets better after a day, and a roasted poblano avocado salsa.

For the pasta, get a big bowl and put about ¼ cup of olive oil at the bottom, as well as 1 cup of black olives with some of the juice. I don’t like olives very much, but the olives in this give a ton of flavor and are easy to avoid. Add in 3 cloves of minced garlic, sliced grape tomatoes, chopped basil and chopped arugula. Cube up some mozzarella cheese-cut it yourself, don’t use shreds—it makes a difference. Add in whatever cooked pasta you want. For this one, I used quinoa pasta because I’ve had it in my pantry for a while. It tastes fine, but really the best is just good ole’ fashioned white penne. Salt and pepper to taste. I make this at night, and then serve with salad or sandys for lunch the next day.

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For the roasted poblano salsa but the following in your blender—3 jalapeños (2 without seeds, 1 with seeds), juice of 1 lime, 3 cloves garlic, ¼ cup chopped green onion, 2 avocados, and 3 roasted poblanos. Add a generous amount of salt. I would start with about 2 tbs of olive oil and ¼ cup of water as well. Blend it all together. If you want it thinner, add water and blend until you have the consistency you want.

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That’s it for tonight. And now the Erectile Dysfunction commercial with the grown man wearing a baseball jersey is on. Here’s a hint, buddy. Stop dressing like a little leaguer and maybe your wife will take off her mock turtleneck. I just don’t understand old people.

Cafe Pacific Review-Dallas

Café Pacific

So Café Pacific has been a Dallas staple for forever, and we used to go all the time for family birthdays/special occasions, etc. Well, one time they turned me away because I was wearing shorts (they were dressy shorts, and I had heels on), but regardless, I had boycotted them until last weekend. We landed in Dallas for the TX-OU game around 11, and my father in law wanted to grab lunch. I suggested Mia’s because I wanted to grub down, but he countered me with Café Pacific. I wasn’t going to tell him I wasn’t fond of their dress code, after all, he was picking up the tab, so I made a call and made sure that we wouldn’t be turned away for wearing jeans. Jeans are apparently ok at lunchtime. Whatever.  So we got there and got a few awkward stares  from the ever annoying “ladies who lunch in three piece suits—but who don’t work—so why are you in a three piece power lady suit”. I hate them. Anyways, we sat down and I assumed we would all be drinking so I ordered my usual noon-time bevvy some Sav-B. When Craw and his dad didn’t order drinks, I considered retracting my order-but hey, I just wanted to look cool, so I held strong. And didn’t hesitate to order another…

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sav-b and sweet potato strings

 

We ordered and neither of them ordered an app, so naturally I had a minor fatty panic attack and ordered mussels for the table. They were cooked with coconut milk and Thai spices with garlic and were incredible. I thought I hated all things coconut, but after tasting the mussels at Malai, which I think are cooked with coconut milk, I decided it isn’t too strong of a flavor.

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At lunch, Café Pacific has a pick two special, and I chose the Chinese Chicken Salad and a cup of black bean soup. Both were delish, and shit, managed to combine a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc with Thai flavored mussels, Mexican flavored soup, and a Chinese salad. I went around the world in less than an hour, and never had to leave my seat. The other two got fish tacos and another combo, but I won. I reverse my ill feelings towards Café P, but think I’ll stick to lunch there. Order the Chinese Chicken Salad—it really is delish.

dark photo-but black bean soup and chicken salad

dark photo-but black bean soup and chicken salad