A Few of my Favorite Things!

It feels like forever since the last time I blogged, so I thought I'd dedicate this post to the things that I've made, but never blogged about! And also some of my favorite eats around Santa Barbara!

I had gotten a bunch of great cherry tomatoes and wanted to make a tomato sauce, but didn't get that much to make it, so I divided them up into different meals. This stir fry I made with onions, shallots, garlic, crimini mushrooms, cubed pork loin, bursted tomatoes, and coconut water. My aunt had given me a ton of large Zico coconut water and besides drinking them (I'm more into drinking coconut water from a real coconut), I decided to cook with it! With this stir fry, I paired it with a garlic quinoa&brown rice. This meal is really good on a cold nigh because it's warm and filling. The acidity from the tomatoes rounded out the spices and balsamic vinegar that I added.

Tomato pork with garlic brown rice and quinoa

The next thing I made was a turkey bolognese in a tomato sauce with almost bursted tomatoes. Super simple and a quick dish to make! As usual, I put sauteed garlic, onions, and shallots, sliced button mushrooms, lean turkey, semi bursted tomatoes with cellentani pasta. I LOVE the shape of this pasta..I can't get over it. It's just so....cute!! These cherry tomatoes bursted in your mouth and were sweeter than the ones before. But good thing I added a little fish sauce for umami and saltiness since I didn't add any salt.

Turkey Bolognese. Love how the tomatoes burst in my mouth!

One thing I hate is to buy Vietnamese spring rolls because I know I can make them at home, although I can't roll it that well/it always comes out larger than what the rice paper can hold. And this time was no exception, however, it's still delicious and light! In my roll, I put romaine lettuce, green onion, slow roasted pork loin at 275degrees and seasoned with ground black pepper, garlic, and Japanese seasoned dried chilies, rice noodles, and lastly shrimp. I wanted to fat to drip and meld into the pork, but then I turned the broiler on to give it a crispy texture.

Baked and Broiled Pork for the Spring Rolls!

I had some hot house tomatoes that were getting pretty ripe, so to give the roll an extra freshness, I made a salsa with red onion, green onions, lime juice, garlic powder and ground black pepper. And I also made a spicy peanut sauce with crunchy peanut butter, water, hoisin sauce, sambal, fish sauce, and balsamic vinegar.

Shrimp and Pork spring roll with salsa and peanut sauxe

One night I felt like eating something reallly bad, so I made cheesy, beefy filled cresent rolls. I never had Pillsbury anything and DAMN. They are SO good. It makes me want to try ALL Pillsbury baked good products BUT I am going to refrain myself. I used leftover taco beef and added some more onions, garlic, and shallots and stuffed it into the crescent and put salsa con queso..(the one in a jar, I know),  on top of the beef and rolled them up! I would say that crescent shaped rolls may have not been the best vehicle to roll them up in because they're not that large, but they still turned out REALLY good. If you ever want to eat something bad, that is it.

Golden, flaky, fluffy deliciousness

Blurry, but oozy gooey cheese and seasoned ground beef. YUM.

I have more things I've made but never posted, but I don't wanna bore anyone! Moving onto some good eats in Santa Barbara!

Beautiful Santa Barbara!

Sushi Teri is one of my go-to sushi restaurants in Santa Barbara and we ALWAYS get a volcano cake. It's salmon wrapped around sticky rice and topped off with scallops and baked. They finish it off with teriyaki sauce and  squeeze of lemon juice. DELICIOUS.

Volcano Cake

We also get a variation of a couple rolls, a chirashi bowl, and a spicy tuna bowl. The fish is always fresh, but the service is not always on point.

Chirashi bowl

Couple of rolls

Spicy Tuna Bowl

Another great place I recently discovered for lunch is Sunnyside Deli and Market. There are a lot of sandwich places in Santa Barbara, and there's not many that I like because I don't think the price is worth it. I don't know if it's normal for sandwiches to cost around $9.50-$12.00, but if I'm paying that, I want it to be a damn good sandwich. However, I've finally found Sunnyside! Most sandwiches here are $9.50 and you can also make your own. I went and made my own with pastrami, roast beef, jack cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onion, pepperonchinis and jalapenos on ciabetta bread for $9.50. There's also a ton of aiolis, condiments you can add, but I like my sandwiches without. It's one of the first sandwiches that just taste SUPER good. The meat isn't fatty, produce is fresh, and the bread is fresh. You can taste every single item in the sandwich and it's super flavorful without all the condiments. Can't wait to go back!

Build Your Own Sandwich - Ciabatta, Pastrami, Capicola, Pepper Jack Cheese and Garlic Jalapeno aioli

A great brunch place for the weekend is Paradise Cafe. When I went, we wanted to get breakfast, but unfortunately they ran out of what I wanted, so we ordered lunch. The prices are pretty reasonable from $12-$18. I ordered the Oak Grilled Salmon filet and got half salad and half fries and my other half ordered the Ortega Burger with jack cheese and pasilla peppers. I ordered my salmon to be cooked medium without any butter or salt, but with slices of lemon. The salmon came out PERFECT. The oak gave the fish a great smoky flavor and the lemon enhanced its flavor even more and it was cooked perfectly.

Salmon lunch. Simple and fresh!

The burger is very simple as you can see, but the patty packed great flavor. I was surprised at how good the burger was for being so simple. Thinking about it makes me want their burger...the patty was just that good.

The best burgers are simple and flavorful. This was one of them!

I have been cooking so expect some upcoming posts soon! 

Until Next Time!

CheFelicia