Post hike Mexican food at El Chupacabra

After all that exertion, we were ready for some food. Kevin found a Mexican restaurant near the townhouse that had vegan options. Also, it was called El Chupacabra, so we HAD to go. They use Daiya cheese and Gardein meats but unlike a lot of places, they actually further flavor the Gardein with their own sauces.

I had the Gardein chicken enchiladas in a green sauce.

This was a huge plate of food. I could not finish it even after all the hiking. In addition to the cheeziness on top, there was plenty of melty Daiya inside with the Gardein. Happy tummy.

I’m not sure if Kevin got a burrito or chimachanga, but here it is.

And, they had an awesome jukebox.

We desperately need a Mexican restaurant here that has fake meats and Daiya. But I’d settle for just the Daiya. But for now we have to settle for creating our own deliciousness at potlucks.

Poblanos, Quinoa and Beans

Normally I really like this recipe for Stuffed Poblano Chilies with Garlic Mashed Potatoes. Wow, I guess I’ve been making it for almost 15 years. Sometimes I’ll mix some chorizo with the mashed potatoes. This time I threw a bunch of kale in with the potatoes towards the end of the cooking time. So back to the “normally” qualification up top. I got some weird poblanos. They’re hot. Just stinging hot. Serrano hot but without the flavor that normally comes with a pepper. So I’ve been eating them, but haven’t really enjoyed them as much as usual.

Now this Mexican Quinoa was another story. It’s a very easy side dish and it can easily be varied by using different salsas. I used Whole Foods’ store brand of chipotle salsa. This was perfect.

The beans are just some pintos that were hanging out in my freezer from a big batch made in the slow cooker. Originally the were going to be turned into refried beans, but I got lazy when it turned out Kevin wasn’t going to be home for dinner and just put them on my plate as is.

Lots of brown food, but better for you brown food.

 

Oh, look, another Mexican potluck…

Apparently we can’t stop with the Mexican potlucks. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. This time we crammed everyone into my house. It’s so not set up for entertaining. Weren’t those 50’s folks having cocktail parties and serving various things in aspic? Well, they didn’t consider that when building this house, for sure.

Albondigas soup? Oh, yes.

Starting at noon, Mexican deep dish pizza, street corn (in the foil), mango jicama salad (peeking out under the chips), tamale, diablo enchilada (butthurt special!) and guacamole.

Ice cream and cinnamon fried yum. Holy crap!

Texican NOMfest

Look at me all bloggin’ like I didn’t neglect the hell out of this thing for a year or more. Sadly Godaddy was hosting my blog AND my domain registration. At least now Kevin’s hosting my blog over on Dreamhost with his stuff and I’ll just move my domain when it expires. Oh, and I’ll remember, just like an elephant.

I hear there are people who don’t really care much about food and just eat whatever. I don’t know any of those people. So we get together and have these amazing potlucks. The latest had a Texican theme. Eating started pretty much immediately after we arrived.

First course: Frito Pie and a White Sangria (one of my contributions)

And here’s the spread. And this isn’t even everything.

Dranks:

Redneck caviar, stuffed jalapeƱos:

Jicama salad with cilantro on the side for the haters (also my contribution)

Chilimac

Fixin’s

Tamale, taquito (I think) and guacamole

Sampling chilimac, redneck caviar and a stuffed poblano

Did we save room for dessert? No, but that didn’t stop us. Chocolate flan, Mexican wedding cookie, sopapilla

And all vegan, of course. Okay, time to go finish the patriotic as fuck cake I made for tonight’s potluck. Oy.

Burrito in a bowl

One of my lunches this weekend was a burrito bowl from Willy’s Mexicana Grill. There are a bunch of these all over metro Atlanta. We don’t go here often, but it’s cheap, filling, and fairly healthy food. Plus they have a nice tofu. I skip the salsa they have behind the counter and use the ones they have on the salsa bar. They have more flavor.