Noshing = moshing?

Whenever I read the word "nosh" or "noshing" I automatically think of "moshing." You know, the slam-dancing or mosh pit type stuff from 90s rock concerts. You know, where a bunch of dudes push each other around in a circle. Funny.

My foodie interpretation of "noshing" is melding a bunch of flavors and textures to create something delicious. Since today is Memorial Day and I found myself without BBQ plans, I decided to make some festive nachos.

Giggity.

I picked up some fancy-sounding cheese... Sargento 'Authentic Mexican' Artisan blend featuring an all-star lineup of cheeses I can't pronounce well. I opted for the full-fat cheese vs. the reduced fat blend that I usually buy, because a) it's a Holiday and b) when it comes to full fat cheese, a little bit goes a long way.

With some no-salt tortilla chips as base, I added 1/3 cup of canned, rinsed then heated black beans. Nuking these in the microwave is key in order to avoid soggy chips and get the cheese to melt the ideal way. The beans add antioxidants, also?

Topped off with 1/4 cup of the fancy cheese, and a few olive slices for good measure... all together heated for about 30 seconds. Et voila:

Damn good.

What good are nachos without beer?

This Fat Tire had been calling my name from the fridge all afternoon.

Oh yeah, and salsa.

Spicy verde and medium tomato did the trick.

Next time I am going to try nuking some thawed from frozen, chopped spinach along with the beans and seasoning with hot sauce. Sounds good, no? Some fresh, chopped tomato would have been great as well. Cilantro? Avocado? The options are endless.

Happy Memorial Day, people!

Have you heard... the bird's the word?

What a weekend! It feels like Friday and that hectic workday were a long time ago. It's back to the grind tomorrow, ugh. 

Zak and I are relaxing and watching Family Guy - yep, the one with 'Surfin' Bird'. Hilarious.

Friday evening was great... the movie event that my work produced was awesome! Tons of people came out and the movie area was packed. I had to coordinate some stuff until about 9PM, after which I promptly tore into my organic yogurt / blueberries / Alterra granola combo snack I had been looking forward to. It was icy cold from being in a cooler all afternoon / evening, delicious and very satisfying. After this, Zak and I headed to Tracy Chapman @ the Pabst, then stopped at Blackbird bar in Bay View before calling it a night. Quick thanks to Yvonne, Melissa, Raul, Marcus, Tim, Kyle, Dori & Milan for hanging out.

Saturday was very busy! We started with a cookout at my coworker Matt's house, for his fiancee Sara's birthday. I had some chips, guac and black bean salsa... but the highlight for me was Sara's awesome Key Lime cupcakes. 

Soooooo good. The frosting was perfection.

After the cookout, I headed to a picnic at a park for my friend Sarah's bachelorette party! Here I am with Sarah, and my friend Erica (maid of honor). These two are dear friends of mine and together we caused lots of trouble in High School ;-)

Didn't photograph my food, but I brought a Boca burger and enjoyed it with a slice of Pepperjack Sargento cheese. There were other great picnic eats: pasta salad, vinegar potato salad, taco dips and tortilla chips, brownies. After this, us gals headed to Downtown Milwaukee to Victor's, a fun nightclub. Sarah wanted to keep her bachelorette low-key, she didn't want a party veil or any "flair." We shrieked when the DJ announced "Congrats to SARAH!" and burned up the dance floor. A great time! 

Sunday = a great food day. I started off with an egg and veggie scramble, homemade hash browns and toast a la Zak...

Later, more of that great Alterra granola and organic Stonyfield yogurt with watermelon chunks...

Zak and I headed to Woodman's for some grocery shopping. We stocked up on the basics and I purchased some new Larabars to try out... Key Lime Pie and Cashew Cookie. While shopping, I saw some cremini mushrooms and some Rocky Rococo's sauce and got inspired for dinner... His and Hers pizzas!

My pizza had spinach, red peppers, broccoli, black olives, lots of sauteed mushrooms and 1/2 feta cheese, 1/2 soy mozzarella. I had 1/4 of my pizza, it was really good.

I opened up some Charles Shaw Shiraz... classy ;-) I enjoyed one glass.

About an hour later I tapped into some dairy-free ice cream! I tried out some Soy Delicious Purely Decadent dessert in Mocha Almond Fudge. It was divine!

Creamy, with a great mocha flavor and little pieces of almonds. The fudge sauce tasted a bit artificial, but I got over that pretty quickly. I just checked out the Soy Delicious website and it looks like they have some coupons available! Sweet. 

What's your favorite frozen dessert? I LOVE Tofutti's "Cuties" treats and love me some Skinny Cow cones as well.

I'm off to prepare some work and get my takealong food set for tomorrow. Goodnight!

What's your favorite type of meal to bring to the office?

Happy Cows? Please.

Hello there - been a short while - no worries though! I've been out of town and have a ton of things to talk about... will get to that eventually.

In the meantime - I have a rant - what is up with all of this California Cheese? I think it's crap. Living in Wisconsin, I have a privileged cheese palate when it comes to what's available at the grocery stores. What really 'grinds my gears' (like my Family Guy reference?) is when I see the California Cheese commercials on television, they are so dumb! Wisconsin cows are 'Happy' too... not to mention that with our plethora of WISCONSIN-produced cheese options, we are lessening our carbon footprint by eating locally-produced products. So I think these California Cheese / Dairy Council people should save their freaking dough and market to a state that has a lack of great dairy products. Capeche?

I am a true cheese fan... I love my camembert, brie, smoked gouda, muenster, pecorino (thanks Annie), parmesan, feta, gorgonzola, alpine Swiss... I love 'em all. Fresh cheese curds? You'd better believe I dive in when they are available. I can't always afford to cough up the dough for such pricey cheeses, and that's why when I go cheap... I have my favorites.

There is simply no better value in a supermarket, than Sargento Cheese. I shop at Pick N' Save mainly, and they seem to always have a Sargento product on special, so it's not only friendly on my palate but on my bank account as well. My favorite product is the Reduced-Fat Pepperjack Cheese Slices, which are a great addition to an avocado and tomato sandwhich or just plain on their own aside some apple slices. As the only cheese eater in my house, it's nice to have the convenient slices vs. buying a brick and only eating half before it goes bad.

Sargento also started to market their Salad Finishers, most of them have bacon or chicken however the Cranberry Pecan product looks to be amazing for us vegetarians. I am going to watch for a coupon on these.

Anyway - thanks for reading my random cheese rant... more soon!