Weekend Foodie Warriors – Take 43!

Hello hello, again, Foodie Friends 🙂 Hope you had a great weekend! For this edition of Foodie Adventures, join us at Mac’s Speed Shop for our Friday Night date, a recap of Mother’s Day last weekend with mom, two brand new recipes from our Colombian Puree Project, and making homemade lasagna!

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Jamie and I love to wind down after the end of a week by getting some takeout or dining at a new restaurant (pre-COVID-19, of course). Usually, we try to have date night earlier in the week, but it just didn’t work out that way last week. About once a month, I’ll get these crazy migraines that make me sensitive to light, sounds, smells, and my head feels like it’s in a vice grip. Definitely not fun and I’m lucky it only happens occasionally, however, trying to edit photos or write a blog in that state is nearly impossible.

So because of that, we’ll just be a week behind today, time is funny when you’re quarentined, isn’t it? The days all start to blur together. 😂 If I don’t have a work meeting I’m preparing for on a certain day, my brain just thinks it’s a Tuesday or Thursday.

Okay, so as I was saying before, one of Jamie’s favorite places to eat downtown is Mac’s Speed Shop, and we were debating eating on their patio, but the wait was so long we decided to get takeout instead.

We both got a sandwich called the “Porktacular” – which included “Pulled Pork, Pimento Cheese, Bacon, and Fried onions on a Potato Ciabatta roll with a Chipotle Aioli and VTX BBQ Sauce”.

Let me tell you all, if you don’t know already, I’m a sucker for some pimento cheese (*gestures wildly to website name above 😁*), even with my lactose intolerance. We also got these amazing fried pickles, probably some of my favorites we’ve had so far. Like sweet potato fries, there are certain items I will try eating everywhere to compare them to if I get the chance, and this is one of those foods.

If you haven’t already, definitely go check out Mac’s, everything there is fantastic!!

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So I snuck up to North Carolina to go visit with mom and my grandma for Mother’s Day and I’m so glad I went.

My mom has been going gluten free for a while now, and we made my (British, mind you) Grandma Nancy’s famous scone recipe, but gluten free this time! These pictured above were local blueberry and brown sugar scones, which were absolutely delish!

What I don’t have pictures of is my sis and I trying to put my mom’s present (a new desk chair) together. This was all around midnight on Saturday, down the hall, while trying not to wake her up. She has a few chairs that she sits on to sew, and the one she sits on most is super old and almost falling apart. She was so excited when she opened this gift and sat on it for the rest of the morning; had great back support too, which is always a big plus!

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One of the other things I did over Mother’s Day weekend was tackle one of the more unique purees Ximena from Wislla Distributions sent me, the naranjilla. This fruit is a citrus native to the mountains of Colombia, and tastes almost like what would happen if you crossed a grapefruit with a cherry tomato. Super wicked tart and citrusy – so this was a perfect thing to add to recipes that contained sugar.

Check out that recipe here! https://pimentoandprose.com/recipes/recipe/microwave-lemon-curd/

Of course, like with the lemon curd, you could sub the puree out with orange juice, lemon juice, mango nectar, or another mixed fruit juices of choice! That recipe is here (did I mention it tastes great with some rum in it too? 🍹): https://pimentoandprose.com/recipes/recipe/tropical-tanager-tea/

There are two other, more savory recipes coming out later this week using the naranjilla, so stay tuned!! 👌🙌👩🏻‍🍳

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One of my favorite things to do is play fridge roulette and try to make meals out of whatever is in my fridge or pantry at the time. This weeknight recipe started with some ground beef I had taken out of the freezer, some lasagna noodles I had in the pantry, and goat cheese.

Now I very easily could have put my recipe for lasagna on here, but I think what is a cooler idea is what you could use to substitute typical lasagna ingredients in a pinch.

A regular lasagna requires only a few things:

• Some kind of layered pasta (usually lasagna noodles)
• Sauce (usually tomato)
• Filling (whether this be meat, veggies, or some combo of the two)
• and Cheese!

The table below can be read in two different ways. From left to right, it will give you substitutions for a single ingredient, or top to bottom, it will give you new recipes or combinations to try based on what you might have as leftovers in your fridge:

Original Versions	Option #1 – “Philly” Style	Option #2 – “Not Your Momma’s (Greek) Lasagna”	Option #3 – “France” Inspired	Option #4 – “Southern” Style
Layered Pasta (lasagna)	Bowtie pasta	Zucchini noodles/strips	Penne pasta	Macaroni pasta
Sauce (tomato)	Bechamel sauce	Pesto sauce	Alfredo sauce	BBQ sauce
Filling (Meat, veggies, some combo)	Ground beef, peppers, garlic, and onions	Ground turkey, Oven roasted peppers, cherry tomatoes, and eggplant	Vegetarian with mushrooms, spinach, and garlic	Pulled/shredded Chicken or pork, onions & garlic
Cheese	Ricotta, Provolone, Mozz.	Feta cheese, Gruyere, Parm/Asiago	Garlic & herb soft goat cheese, Goat cheddar shreds	Pimento cheese, Cheddar shreds

The “Philly” style is my take on if a Philly cheesesteak and a lasagna had a baby. The “Greek” one is inspired by some of my favorite flavors from my adventures with Greek food festivals. The “France” one is inspired by flavors and dishes I tried when I visited in October. Finally, the “Southern” one is an homage to my new roots as a Greenvillian!

What are some of your favorite flavor combinations? Would you try any of these above? Shout out in the comments!

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So how was your weekend Foodie Friends? Do you have any recipe ideas for our new purée project? Sound out in the comments below to let us know your suggestions of what dishes to make or places we should visit next. As always, feel free to like, comment, & share 🤗