Day 2: A photo of your favorite food.

Of course now I'm starving.  Figures.

I'm not generally a rule breaker, but I'm feeling frisky today.  So instead of just one photo of fabulous-ness, I'm going to post four.  I know, I know, so out of character for me.

1. Pasta goodness:  A creation of my mothers that looked simple enough for me to attempt myself.  It then became my go-to meal.  Garlic + onions + ground turkey + mushrooms (optional) + Prego sauce + penne pasta = an amazing meal.  And one of the best parts of this meal is that it usually feeds at least five people, so if I make it for myself I have built-in lunches all week.  Lunches that are looked forward to all week to boot.  In the words of Alton Brown, now that's Good Eats.

 2. Homemade Mac & Cheese:  I think this one should be a given.  C'mon, look at that!  If you're not craving that cheesy goodness, then I'm mildly concerned for your sanity.  The tricky part with this feel-good food is adapting it for my "lactardedness".  I'm semi lactose intolerant.  Fortunately Kraft makes cheese without lactose (Just go with it, asking questions is risky), and they make lactose-free milk now too.  Modern science blows my mind sometimes.

 

3. Chicken Enchiladas:  Specifically from La Hacienda Real, although La Perla is a close second.  Doesn't that look amazing?  For me, Mexican food (in general) trumps all other genres.  I had a lot of time to eat the authentic stuff while I studied abroad in Mexico for three months too.  I know what I'm talking about.  Also, I loved Chilaquiles so much after eating them at my host family's house every Sunday morning, that I figured out how to recreate them back in the states.  Tomatillos, onions, chips, shredded chicken, cheese, and a fried egg on top.  It sounds disgusting, but in truth it's amazing.  Spicy, filling, and actually really easy to make.  Chilaquiles is also touted as a great hangover food-- I don't actually know if that's true, but it's delicious regardless (and the picture doesn't do it justice!)

Enchiladas

Chilaquiles

4. Papa John's Hawaiian Pizza:  No list of my favorite foods would truly be complete without the one food I'm certain I could eat for a lifetime without getting sick of.  Any kind of pizza is okay with me, but Papa John's is still my all-time favorite.  We had one in Keizer when I was growing up and my parent's frequently let me pick the pizza joint in exchange for calling in the order (yeah, I hated doing that, so I expertly convinced my brother to do it for me. Genius.) so we frequently ordered from there.  That is, of course, until they went out of business in Keizer and the nearest one no longer delivered at our house.  Sad, sad day. 

Nine out of ten times I'm going to pick "salt" over "sugar" when I'm hungry.  I love chocolate, but I don't have a terrible sweet tooth.  And if you're looking for other common themes, there's always cheese.  Darn lactardedness.