Carne Asada and Leftover Breakfast Casserole

We went down to Mexico this past Labor Day weekend. And successfully came back with all of our heads. I was super worried about going down, and did hours of research on the internet. But thankfully, we had an amazing trip with no problems. We went to Las Gaviotas, which is a housing community in between Ensenada and Rosarito in the Mexican state of Baja California Norte.

We rented a 3 bedroom house, about 3 rows up the hill from the ocean (about a 3 minute walk to beach area), for $159 a night! It was awesome. We brought all of our own food, and pretty much didn't leave the gated community the whole time. It was super fun and very relaxing.

As we were cooking one of our meals, we started talking about how people often don't know what to do with leftovers. I happen to be the queen of leftovers. I love them, and love coming up with new ideas of what to turn last night's dinner into. For dinner that night, we were having carne asada and chicken tacos, with sides of black beans, refried beans, and guacamole.

Before I get into the leftovers, I have to mention a new place I heard about: El Toro Gourmet Meats. Apparently, it's a full-on meat market with amazing cuts of meat AND pre-marinated meats. They are famous for their carne asada, and I have to say after trying it this weekend, it lived up to the hype. The chicken was amazing too. I am a meat snob (my next blog will be named "No Rubber Meat for Me, Please"). Both the chicken and carne were super lean and tender. I will be going there often.

So anyway, if I have to put a recipe on here for tacos, I will kill myself. C'mon people: meat, tortillas, toppings. Not difficult.

BUT, the leftovers for this were something I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with. So many options. So little time.


Cheesy Factor (1 no cheese, 10 all cheese): 1 or 6 (copious amounts of cheese optional, but recommended)
Dummy Factor (1 easiest, 10 hardest): 1
Time Factor (1 shortest, 10 longest): 1

Taco Night Leftovers Breakfast Casserole
Leftovers from taco night (beans, meat, toppings)
Eggs
Jalapenos
Hot Sauce

Scramble eggs or egg whites. While eggs are cooking, arrange in a bowl leftover meat, beans, cheese, chopped onion, chopped jalapeno. In saute pan or microwave, heat meat mixture up until meat hot and cheese melted. On plate, put meat mixture, then scrambled eggs, top with cilantro, salsa, and hot sauce. OPTIONAL: take everything on plate, and put into tortilla for breakfast burrito.

This doesn't sound all that amazing, as I read it, but trust me, it was a delicious Mexican breakfast. And healthy too. If you don't go overboard on the cheese that is. But I don't know how to do that. You could even make this casserole into nacho toppings on tortilla chips! So many options. So little time. 

Guinness

We are getting a puppy! I am SOOOO excited. She is a Maltese and Shih-Tzu mix (both are good for James, since he has allergies). We have decided to name her Guinness (appropriately) and she is only 6 weeks old right now, so we can't pick her up until next week. I can't wait! I've already ordered her 2 University of Michigan food dishes, a little Michigan bandanna to wear on game-days, and a giant towel for her to play on that says "Guinness". (Random side note: I have been searching for other pet-type things from the Guinness webstore, and they have NONE. It's very strange to me.)

Anyway, I want everyone to meet her. Even though she has nothing to do with food. Except to Filipinos, according to my in-laws, who I have instructed to not even come close to considering her food when they baby-sit. Joking. Kind of.

My mom's reaction was the best: "She's really cute. But that's not much of a video. She isn't really doing anything." Ha! What is supposed to do?! She's a newborn. And she was wet from a bath, freezing, and very very sleepy. I happen to think she's great. And that the video is great. So take that!

Corn on the Cob From the Fair.....BUTTER

I heard a rumor that this was the last year that "they" were going to have the OC Fair??? Please tell me it isn't true! Not only is it the only time that I eat whatever I want for entire evening, but we have seen some amazing concerts there too. Last year we saw Ziggy Marley, year before was Steve Miller Band, year before Pato Banton. I really hope they don't get rid of both the fair and the concert arena. Sad.

I love fair food. Most of it. Some of it is just flat out weird. Like chocolate covered bacon. Or fried butter. My stomach is churning just thinking about it. James ate fried Oreos this year and told me they were delicious, but that sounds awful to me as well. I did, however, eat a fried White Castle once. It was delicious. And then awful. I do LOVE the BBQ at the fair too. But if there is one fair food that takes the cake for me.....it's the CORN!

I don't know what it is about this corn that is oh so delicious. But I have a few ideas I would like to put to the test. A) It's grilled in the husk. I have yet to master this task. B) It's dunked in a bucket of hot hot butter. I feel like I can rub enough butter on mine to get the same effect. C) There is a table of condiments and toppings to put on. I, too, can have these condiments.


Cheesy Factor (1 no cheese, 10 all cheese): 1 or 2 (optional cheese)
Dummy Factor (1 easiest, 10 hardest): 2
Time Factor (1 shortest, 10 longest): 2

Hot-Buttered Grilled Corn
4 ears of corn
1 stick of butter
Salt/Pepper
Cayenne Pepper
Garlic Salt
Parmesan Cheese
Tinfoil

Pre-heat grill. Shuck corn and place in a piece of tinfoil that is large enough to wrap around corn and seal tight. On the inside of each sheet of tinfoil, smear large amounts of butter. Then season the butter with salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic salt, and Parmesan cheese (also could use mayo, lemon pepper, cajun, etc.). Then wrap tinfoil around corn so that all the toppings are corn-side in. Make sure tinfoil is sealed closed or at least over-lapped some, so that butter doesn't spill out when melted. Place corn on grill and grill for 20-25 minutes, or until cooked through.  

So let's be honest, I have no idea how long to cook corn. It feels like about 20-30 minutes when I do it. But one thing I learned: start the corn early, before anything else. It will stay super super hot in the tinfoil long after you take it off the grill, so you can't really make it too early.

I'm sure there are other ways to grill corn. I'm sure they are good. But this is the way I do it because I like the toppings and butter to be sealed in with the corn. And I like grilled corn. And aside from having a bucket of butter on the stove that I can dip my corn in, this is a pretty decent alternate without killing our arteries TOO much. Ha!