You Can Get With This, Or You Can Get With That

Dressed up frozen pizza

My mate and I have gone full circle with frozen pizza vs pizzeria slices.  Money wise, if you have left over toppings lying around, frozen is cheaper and super easy to dress up and call it dinner.  BUT; My argument was since we have a local awesome pizzeria that sells slices near enough to spit at, we're better off paying slightly more and getting fresher ingredients, much better tasting crust, sauce and toppings.  Calorie wise, it might be a wash but health wise, fresh is better.  They use better cheese, lots of fresh vegetables and the crust is hand tossed and doesn't include any preservatives.  There are however, fresh frozen varieties but again, the sauce is better, there is no sugar added, a pizzeria a much better option.  Finally, only after confirming with Google AI would he believe my argument.  Not Ray's here I come!

Also, who wants to put the oven on its hottest temperature setting as we begin to see high heat days?

I See Your True Colors Shining Thru

Shrimp Tacos with Pink Pineapple Guacamole

Spring arrived in all her glory by way of colorful flowers and fresh fruit vegetables at the market.  A pink pineapple  appeared without warning as I peeled away the outer layer and discovered it's pale pink flesh.  Turns out this is a genetically modified product courtesy of Del Monte.  Allegedly made more nutritious and longer lasting by a guy in a lab.

However, I would be fine if it were better than the original. Spoiler Alert! For me, it's not.  It's sweeter and doesn't have that slight sour tang of the yellow pineapple, and in turn lost its burst of freshness somehow, falls a bit flat on the taste-buds.  Do we really believe we can do better than nature?  However, the appearance is lovely and it served well, I just had to add more heat and lime juice to balance all the sweet.

Instead of separate salsa and guac, I combined the two to make a creamy, fruity, limey guacamole to top my spicy, crunchy shrimp tacos.  Carrying on the America's Test Kitchen tradition, I baked the shells with Oaxaca cheese before topping and folding quickly.  A genius way to make way more tacos than you should rightly eat at one sitting. 

Come Pick Me Up, Come Take Me Out

Supporting local businesses!  Yeah, that's the ticket to indulging in take-out lunch specials on days when you could cook but you just can't bring yourself to do it.  You want to eat healthy, but you also want some indulgence.  You planned to plan ahead but you waited too long and now your stomach is making the choices.  If you cohabitate, this is a very familiar place to be.  One hopes the other will 'figure out the meal', so you wait it out and both come up with zeroes.  Grouchy and famished, decision-making can then turn dark.

This is the perfect time to surrender, admit you have no power and order out.  Of course you can still make semi-appropriate choices, like these vegetable heavy bowls (mine had glass noodles underneath, which are heavenly in their light sauce) from Yori Bowl.  Sure, I was weaker and chose the Korean fried chicken chunks in a delicious sauce while P went for the Spicy Pork.  I try not to have food regret, which is a delicate balance, because I also try not to get heavy in weight, as my short frame can't handle much extra stomach bulge or else I begin to feel constricted and lethargic.  

If your biggest problem is that you can't figure out what to eat for lunch, you must remind yourself that life is still pretty effing great.