My 2 Year Adventure, week 59: Chicken and guacamole tacos

Week 59:
  Today I made chicken tacos. They were supposed to be tostadas but my local grocery store doesn't sell tostada shells. Instead of using tostada shells (fried, flat, corn tortillas) I just used regular corn tortillas and made them into tacos. 
  Once again, my "talent" returns to wreak havoc. The avocado I picked for my guacamole was super green. Mashing it was supposed to be easy but I could only get the fruit to a decent consistency with a mix of stabbing, mashing, and all sorts of other violent actions. I feel like that could be a new form of anger management, just take your anger out on an avacoado. 
  Despite my awful produce selections, the guacamole was decent. My favorite element was the salsa but although I added a tablespoon of jalapeno pepper, I still didn't quite get a kick.
  The chicken was just oven roasted then shredded and tossed with some lime juice and paprika. I think I over cooked it a little, maybe 2 minutes overdone so it was a little dry. 

  Overall my family gave it a 7.75/10 and that's a pretty 

decent score. 

See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :)

My 2 Year Adventure, week 57: Salmon burgers

Week 57:
  Today I made Salmon burgers. What started off as a nice piece of salmon soon got mangled and dismembered in the food processor. 1/4 pound got mixed with Dijon and grapefruit rind (originally intended to be lemon) and got turned into paste. The other 3/4 pound got coarsely chopped with tarragon, shallots, salt, and pepper. The 2 salmon mixes combines and created 4 beautiful patties. Those hopped on the grill and the burgers were topped off with honey and arugula. There were meant to be onions as well but my dad decided to pickle the remainder of the onion so there was none for me to use. This dish was really simple and easy and my family gave it a 8.5/10. 

  

 See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :) 

My 2 Year Adventure, week 56: Asian-style veggie rolls

Week 56:
  So compared to yesterday's meal, today was a much lower strain on the budget. This dish was super fun to make and only cost me $13.31. The rolls are mostly prep work and then they're a breeze. I filled the rolls with lettuce, bean treads (a.k.a. cellophane noodles), bean sprouts, carrot, mint, cilantro, and green onions. The rice paper was pretty easy to handle and I only tore one sheet really badly. The sauce was pretty good. It had a lot of flavors and it was really well balanced. Overall, my parents gave the dish a 7.5/10.

 

See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :) 

My 2 Year Adventure, week 55: Spicy chipotle shrimp salad with an avacado, mango, and pinapple salad/ lattice-topped blackberry cobbler

Week 55:
  Today I made 2 kinds of salad. Firstly, I made a shrimp salad and then to top it off, I made a fruit salad (well, made with fruit). The shrimp salad was the main component though and it tasted pretty good. The only problem was that my local grocery store doesn't sell canned chiles, so I just used chile powder instead of an actual chipotle chile. The problem was mainly with the complementary salad. I think I've mentioned this before, but I genuinely believe I have a talent for picking the greenest fruit possible and then convincing myself that it's super ripe. The mango was soooooooo sour, I was actually kind of tough to eat. Despite my fruit issues my parents gave the dish a 7.5/10. 
 

 

  Secondly, I made a cobbler. Blackberries aren't exactly in season so they were a little on the expensive side. However, when blackberries start coming in by the truckload, this will be a very common dessert at home. This dish gave me the opportunity to test out my new mini food possessor, which was recently given to me as a gift. I ground up some almonds for the dough and it turned out pretty well. The dessert was great. I hadn't done a lattice top in a while so I kind of cheaped out. Instead on doing the traditional, over, under, over, under, I just did the vertical strips first and then placed the horizontal ones on top. It was very good and the only thing lacking was some ice cream. My parents gave it a 9/10 and I have to say, I agree. 

 

See you nest time internet! Love, Alexa :)

My 2 Year Adventure, week 54: Sheep's-milk yogurt cheesecakes with grilled figs and pistachios

Week 54: 
  Today I made cheesecake. It was meant to be a couple mini cheesecakes but I didn't have the molds I needed. So I just doubled the recipe and made a 9-inch cake. Next problem: My local grocery store doesn't sell figs or sheep's milk yogurt. The figs weren't essential so that's ok but I just used regular yogurt instead of the sheep's milk stuff. When I was making the cheesecake I realized I had no lemons. I decided to improvise by using 50% grapefruit juice, 50% water and then I added some sugar and I guess it worked out well.... In the end the result was pretty good, bland, but the consistency was very yogurty. I might attempt it again but I doubt it.
 

See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :)