All I want when it’s cold and stormy outside is to eat soup. Hearty soup. This one fits the bill. It’s so simple and gets thick from the corn tortillas that melt in the soup as it cooks. I usually use leftover chicken that I already have cooked - you can also use rotisserie from the grocery store.

This also is perfect with a margarita in the middle of the summer. We have those summer days in Seattle when it is absolutely a soup night. This is your soup for that night.

Tortilla Soup

Serves 4

½ jalapeno, seeded and diced

1 medium onion, finely diced

1 dried ancho chili pepper

1 clove of garlic, chopped

2-4 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon paprika

28oz can diced tomatoes

6 cups vegetable stock

1 can black beans, drained

1 cup corn (fresh cooked or frozen)

2 cups shredded chicken

6 corn tortillas

½ cup canola oil

1 avocado, sliced

1 lime, cut into wedges

½ cup sour cream

STEP 1

In a large stock-pot, cook jalapeno, onion, and garlic in oil (enough to cover the bottom of the pan) with dried chili until onion is translucent.  Add spices and cook until fragrant about one minute. 

STEP 2

Pour in tomatoes and stock and bring to a boil.  Add 4 tortillas and cook until tortillas are soft.  Remove dried chili. 

STEP 3

Using a blender or an immersion blender, puree the soup until smooth. 

STEP 4

Pour in beans, corn, and chicken and return to a boil.

STEP 5

Heat canola oil in a frying pan and place the remaining two tortillas in the hot oil.  Cook quickly until crispy on both sides.  Let cool on a paper towel.  Slice and serve on top of the soup with avocado and sour cream.

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Shake a Margarita

I think this is literally the world’s best margarita. It’s super simple and the perfect tequila refresher!

Click here

In Seattle, our window to grow tomatoes is short. If you don’t have your plants in the ground by early May, there’s no chance you’ll have very many ripe tomatoes. And then if it’s a cool summer, a rainy summer, or just a short summer, then you’re also out of luck. It’s a real risk to be a tomato farmer in the Pacific Northwest.

But totally one worth taking if you love tomatoes.

There’s a sunny side to this short season - green tomatoes! They are quite similar to tomatillos. So one year I tried making this salsa verde from our green tomatoes and I was pleasantly surprised at how delish it is! It’s just like when it’s made with tomatillos. And since I have a proliferation of green tomatoes - I can make a whole bunch of this to save for the winter.

Usually I freeze this sauce once it’s made. I have been known to can it as well, but that can be challenging. So why not just freeze it?!

Do you love Pork Verde as much as I do?! Here’s an easy weeknight dinner ready to go. Just defrost the sauce, simmer the pork in the sauce and serve with rice and beans.

green tomato salsa verde

5 pounds green tomatoes

2 jalapenos, sliced

1 large (or 2 small) onions, peeled and sliced

5 cloves garlic, peeled

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large bunch cilantro

2 teaspoons cumin

1/2 cup chicken stock

salt

STEP 1

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Chop the tomatoes into even pieces and spread them on a baking sheet. Add the onions, garlic and jalapeño to the sheet. Pour the oil over the top of everything and toss gently. Sprinkle with a healthy amount of salt. Pop it into the oven. Roast about 20 minutes until bubbly and toasty brown.

STEP 2

When the tomatoes are bubbly and getting a tiny bit brown on the edges, pull them from the oven. Scoop the entire pan of tomatoes, onions, jalapeños and garlic into a blender. Add the broth, cilantro, cumin and a bit more salt. Blend well.

STEP 3

Pour it over chicken, pork, or veggies. Or freeze for up to a few months! If you’re into canning, you can can this and keep it in the pantry.

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I never saw the allure of fat asparagus. The skinny ones seemed much more fancy, the fat ones seemed too meaty. Then I got to have dinner with Alice Waters - yes, that Alice Waters - and she was going on about how much she loves fat asparagus. So it seemed worth a shot.

You guys, we have been missing out. Fat asparagus is where it’s at! And what’s amazing is that it is as meaty and tender as you’d hope. It works brilliantly as a meat substitute in these tacos. I’ve had it in tamales as well - amazing! It ‘s totally worth trying the giant ones.

If you live in the Pacific Northwest, then you know the good ones are coming in from eastern Washington right now. Scoop them up while you can! You won’t regret it.

Fat Asparagus Tacos

Serves 4

1 bunch really fat asparagus

3 avocados

1 tomato, chopped

¼ cup queso fresco, crumbled

1 can black beans or 2 cups beans, soaked

1 white onion sliced thin

1 bell pepper, sliced thin

8 tortillas

2 tbs cumin

¼ cup chili powder

salt

pepper

2 clove garlic, crushed

¼ cup pepitas

1 jalapeno

2 lime, juiced

½ cup greek yogurt

STEP 1

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Toss asparagus, bell pepper, and onions with 1 tbs cumin, 2 tbs chili powder, salt & pepper, garlic, and lemon juice.  Roast in the oven until tender.

STEP 2

In a blender, combine 1 avocado, 1 jalapeno, 1 clove garlic, the juice of 1 lime, and ½ cup greek yogurt.  Blend until smooth.  If it gets stuck, add 2 tbs milk. 

STEP 3

In a sauce pan, heat up the beans and add 1 tbs cumin and the remaining chili powder.  Season with salt and pepper as needed.

STEP 4

Scoop vegetables onto warm tortillas.  Top with beans, queso, pepitas, chopped tomatoes, and spicy avocado cream

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Taco night is everyone’s favorite night. Every once in a while I change it up and do something a little different. I like these because we are trying our best (as adults) to be low carb. Eliminating the tortillas is one tiny step towards being a little healthier. Or at least feeling a little less bloated.

The other hot tip for a dinner like this is to make two of the flank steaks. Steak number 2 doesn’t get sliced right away. Wrap it in foil then pop it in the fridge. TOMORROW night you can have a steak salad that takes a few minutes to make - or my steak sandwiches (link here) so you can take them to the baseball game, volleyball game, or whatever other sports your kids are dragging you to.

Fajita Lettuce Cups

1 pound flank steak

1 large onion, sliced (about 1 ½ cups)

1 large red bell pepper, sliced

1 large green bell pepper, sliced

4 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped

½ cup chili powder

¼ cup cumin

1 teaspoon red chili flakes

1 teaspoon oregano

1 head butter lettuce

8 oz queso fresco

1 avocado

1 bunch cilantro

1 lime, cut into wedges

salsa

salt and pepper

olive oil

STEP 1

Preheat broiler to 500 degrees. 

In a small bowl combine 2 cloves garlic, ¼ cup chili powder, 2 tablespoons cumin, red chili flakes, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper with two tablespoons olive oil.  Rub both sides of the steak place on a broiler pan or on a cooling rack set inside of a rimmed cookie sheet. 

STEP 2

Pop the steak in the oven and watch it carefully.  Cook 5 minutes on one side then flip it over.  Cook an additional 5-8 minutes depending on how thick your steak is.  Cook until internal temperature reads 135 degrees on a meat thermometer.  Cover with foil and let rest.

STEP 3

In a large skillet heat two tablespoons olive oil and add remaining chili powder, cumin, garlic and oregano.  When the pan is sizzling hot, add bell pepper and onion and cook quickly turning the entire time to coat with spices.  After about five minutes – or until the pepper and onions are soft - remove from heat. 

STEP 4

Slice steak and serve with butter lettuce cups, queso fresco, avocado, cilantro, lime wedges and salsa or hot sauce.

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Who doesn’t love a churro!?! We’ve made them before but they’re messy and greasy. So I stick to cookies. And churro cookies seemed like the perfect way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo!

So you’re going to say - aren’t these just a snickerdoodle? Well, kind of. But also these are crispier on the outside and smooshy on the inside which makes them an amped up version of a snickerdoodle - which in my opinion makes them a Churro Cookie! Also, isn’t a fun name 90% of making something fun?

Churro Cookies

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

2 tablespoons milk

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

STEP 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter and 1 cup sugar until smooth. Add egg and vanilla and whip on high until light and fluffy.

STEP 2

Combine together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cream of tartar and add it to the butter mixture. Beat until mostly incorporated. It will be a dry mixture.

STEP 3

Slowly add the milk to the mixture and incorporate until the batter becomes smooth and blends together. If it still seems dry, add another teaspoon of milk.

STEP 4

Scoop batter into balls and roll through the cinnamon and sugar mixture. Bake 10-12 minutes until brown on the edges. Let cool slightly before moving the cookies to a cooling rack.

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I can’t think of another drink that makes you think about a celebration like a margarita. We spend an unusual amount of time drinking or thinking about margaritas especially when we are in Palm Springs - which was quite often before COVID shut down our travel plans.

I used to think they were fairly complicated to make, but I think that’s because store bought margarita mix is so sweet and gross and when you get them at a restaurant, they are delish! I assumed I was doing something wrong until I figured out it was the store bought margarita mix that was all wrong. When we discovered Tommy’s Margarita Mix, our life changed. It made me realize we were over complicating things and I started a deep dive on the margarita.

As with all historied and popular beverages, the origins of the margarita are not definite. I’m so entertained by these stories. Every famous cocktails seems to have one and I can’t help but wonder if there was just a trend starting and the “original margarita” started in multiple places around the same time? If you’re curious what the stories are, they are pretty good.

One stays that the margarita was created in Galveston, Texas in 1948 for the singer Peggy Lee (Peggy being a nickname for Margaret and thus the “margarita”). The bartender created a riff on a current classic - The Daisy - using tequila instead of the gin or brandy it called for and named his “new cocktail” for her. I like this story but there’s no way it’s right. Mostly because there are rumors of the drink as early as 1937.

Here’s what I think. In the 1920’s and early 30’s prohibition was real and really reduced the amount of American booze on the market. Mexico did not have prohibition and continued making tequila through the era, which means it was readily available to bootleggers - especially those in California and Texas.

The Daisy was a popular cocktail - a shaken drink made with brandy or gin mixed with lemon juice and orange cordial. They would shake it over ice and serve it in a martini glass with sugar on the rim. If you were going to replace the gin or brandy with tequila you’d have to make a few adjustments. Tequila was commonly consumed with salt and lime, so switching the lemon for lime and the sugar for salt is a natural swap and suddenly you have a margarita.

The first published record of the margarita was in 1953 in Esquire Magazine. In that, they mix 1 ounce of tequila, a dash of triple sec, and the juice of 1/2 a lime. Then the drink is strained into a coupe glass where the edge has been rubbed with lime and dipped in salt.

In the name of research, I have spent the last few months thinking about margaritas, making margaritas and drinking margaritas. It was all so I could report to you on the best, most authentic way to consume this classic beverage. It was a tough job, but someone had to do it.

The most authentic margarita is ridiculously simple. Here’s how I make it:

Margarita

makes one drink

1 ounce blanco tequila

1 dash triple sec

juice of 1/2 a lime

lime wedges

coarse sea salt

STEP 1

Rub the ridge of one glass with the lime and dip half of the rim in salt. If you dip the whole thing, you can end up with a mouth full of salt and no one needs bloated fingers tomorrow. Fill the glass with ice and set aside.

STEP 2

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, pour tequila, triple sec and lime. Shake aggressively for a few seconds. Strain the cocktail into the salted glass. Squeeze a lime wedge over the top and serve.

ALTERNATIVLY

I often will not fill the glass with ice in the beginning, but pour the ice the cocktail was shaken with into my glass. There’s a little melt that happens when you shake and I like to capture all of the flavors. But it’s not traditional, so you do you.

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This almost feels like cheating because I can’t think of a faster dinner than fish tacos. Mostly because you literally can’t cook fish very long. It’s like two minutes on each side. The longest part of this dinner is cracking into the avocado.

Fast Fish Tacos

Serves 4

STEP 1

In a small bowl, mix together chili powder, cumin, cayenne, paprika, and garlic.  Rub spice mixture over fish on the side without skin or both sides if the fish is skinless. 

STEP 2

In a large bowl, toss cabbage, radishes, lime zest and juice until well combined.  Set aside.  

STEP 3

Heat a cast iron skillet over high heat.  Pour a thin layer of oil in the bottom of the pan to cover the entire bottom.  Lay fish carefully into the pan, skin side up and cook 2 minutes.  Flip fish over and cook another 2-3 minutes until cooked through.  

STEP 4

Lay fish pieces in a warmed tortilla and top with cabbage slaw.  Serve with chopped cilantro, avocado, and sour cream.  

Note: Tilapia is a common fish for fish tacos, but it’s not always the best choice.  If you purchase tilapia, make sure it was raised in the US or Canada.  Other white fish options are easily found – wild caught is best.

1.5 lbs white fish; rock fish, red snapper or halibut

2 tbs chili powder

2 tsp cumin

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

½ teaspoon paprika

1 clove garlic, grated

1 head cabbage, finely shredded

6 radishes, finely sliced

2 limes, juiced and zested

2 avocado

1 bunch cilantro

½ cup sour cream

2 tbs canola oil

corn tortillas for serving

hot sauce

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For Cinco de Mayo, Lars and I made these phenomenal watermelon cocktails that I know you will love too. Lars made one sans tequila since he’s a child - and mine was filled with a delightful splash of tequila. Lars said his was amazing and mine smelled bad. So it’s working. I’m still a good parent.

Watermelon Margarita

3-4 cups chopped watermelon

1/4 cup lime juice

zest of 1 lime

Blanco tequila

STEP 1

In a blender, turn the watermelon into juice. Add in the lime zest and blend another second.

STEP 2

Pour 2 ounces Blanco Tequila into a glass full of ice. Top with 3-4 ounces of watermelon. Drizzle a teaspoon (or so) of lime juice onto the top of the drink. Garnish with wedges of lime and watermelon.

The best brunch I know is the Huevos Rancheros at Norma's in Palm Springs.  You can read everything I like to do with my family on this blog post here.  If you aren't planning a trip to the desert soon, then make these Huevos Rancheros at home - they were inspired by Norma's but I added a boat load of sausage to jazz things up.  

SKILLET HUEVOS RANCHEROS

serves 4

STEP 1

Cook onion and chorizo together in a skillet until chorizo is cooked through and onion is soft.  Stir in black beans.

STEP 2

Lay one tortilla in a large skillet and top with sliced cheese.  Add the other tortilla on top of the cheese and cook 2-3 minutes over high heat until tortilla is crispy on the bottom.  Remove from heat.

STEP 3

Pour chorizo mixture over top the tortilla sprinkle tomato over top and create four small ‘wells’ in the toppings.  Crack and egg into each of the wells. 

STEP 4

Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes until egg whites have set completely but yolks are still tender.  Top with sour cream, avocado, and cilantro to serve.  Add some hot sauce too!

2 large ‘burrito style’ tortillas

8 oz jack cheese, thinly sliced

1 can black beans, drained

1 lb chorizo

½ yellow onion, sliced

2 large tomatoes, chopped

4 eggs

1 avocado

½ cup sour cream

½ cup cilantro, chopped

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I'm going to tell you the honest truth here, I came up with this idea on Seis de Mayo.  That's right, the day AFTER the day when Mexican party ideas are big.  The day AFTER all of my friends posted amazing Mexican inspired projects.

But then I decided that it's always time for a fiesta.  And what better way to fancy up Taco Tuesday than with a kitchy tablecloth?  And if you make this now, then when Cinco de Mayo rolls around, all you have to do is pull it out of the cabinet!

This is the perfect tablecloth for kids to help make.  My own opted out... But it's really just a few bottles of spray fabric paint from the craft store and you're in business.

You'll need

1 cotton tablecloth

2 packages Picado Papers (preferably plastic coated variety)

4-6 colors spray fabric paint

Masking tape

Step 1 ::

Wash, dry, and lightly iron the tablecloth

Step 2 ::

Layout cloth on a large, flat, washable surface

Step 3 ::

Measure the width of your table mark it out on the center of the cloth with the tape (I used blue tape)

Step 4 ::

 Begin the banner at the edge of masking tape mark and "drape" it across the front of the cloth.  Repeat on the other side.

Step 5 ::

Spray the paint on the banners carefully until all banners are sprayed and the paint is heavily applied.

Step 6 ::

 Remove the banners very carefully - it may take two people to lift it straight up.

Step 7 ::

Follow paint instructions for setting the paint and enjoy!

This project is part of a series of projects that I'm doing all summer with my friends!  Check out their blogs for more fun summer projects each Wednesday! 

And don't forget to check out the last month of projects ::  

Mosaic Stepping Stones DIY by Lulu the Baker

Weeknight Barbecue by Alexandra Hedin

Sharpie Dyed Tee Shirts by Pars Caeli

A Bug Habitat by Classic Play

Mini Masterpieces by Lulu the Baker

Memoir Boxes by Pars Caeli

Friendship Bracelets by Classic Play

Marble Shaving Cream Paper by Lulu the Baker