Noelle likes Good Food

When Nicole and I made our Mexican dinner on Wednesday we had some tomatillos that we didn't use. Nicole graciously sent them home with me. What else was I to do? When life hands you tomatillos, make salsa.  It turned out brilliantly and I have been putting it on everything. I took some jalapenos, tomatillos, and garlic and roasted them in a nonstick pan. Then I threw all that into the blender with cilantro, lime juice, and some salt. It is SPICY, but oh so good! You know how much I already love sauces, but this one is special. It has a fantastic blend of heat, tang, and vibrance. I put it into a recycled Kombucha bottle, and I have already used up half of it. Spicy Tomatillo Salsa 5 Tomatillos 3 Cloves Garlic 3 Jalapenos (it is really spicy, so use less for a more mild salsa) 1 Lime, juiced 1/2 bunch of cilantro pinch of salt Take tomatillos, garlic, and jalapenos and roast in a nonstick pan until dark brown on all sides. Place in blender with the cilantro, lime jui...

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope today is a special day filled with good food, family, and fellowship. Chris and I slept in, made breakfast together and are chilling out until we head over to the Fuller's for Thanksgiving dinner. Today is not only special for the traditions and family, but also for the memories of last year. My husband and I got married the day after Thanksgiving last year. We spent the day working on favors for the reception, planning seating charts, inviting last minute guests, finalizing details, working on decorations, and last but not least making Thanksgiving dinner. This year has flown by, and we are back to the same holiday but as completely different people. I am thankful for the great memories, for my family, for my husband, and for this time of year to focus and celebrate the things for which we are grateful. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures, but I want to tell you about last night. My twin sister Nicole and I planned a Mexican Fiesta for the fa...

I'm sorry I have not posted recently. I have been lacking inspiration and we've been eating leftovers. You know, it's been hard since I got back from Mexico. It's like I can't remember the things that used to keep me busy and interested. I have been sinking into a hole of loneliness, boredom and apathy, and have been wasting my days on the computer, just filling time. I have fallen back into the bad habit of emotional bingeing on junk food. I haven't been happy, and I don't know how I got here. Then, I had a revelation yesterday. I have been fighting physically against these emotions and bad habits and failing miserably. I am failing because I failed to realize that this war isn't in the physical, it is spiritual. I don't like to admit this, but a weakness of mine is depending on circumstances for the quality of my relationship with God. When I was serving on the mission field surrounded by strong Christian brothers and sisters it was easy to b...

I love food. What a surprise, right? I also love eating food from other cultures and one of my favorite cuisines is Mexican food. I greatly enjoy freshly made corn tortillas, all the different types of salsa, beans, pico de gallo, jicama, etc...  Like I said in my post yesterday, Nicole took me to two of the communities where she has been working. In their culture, if they are having guests they will feed you. So, the first house we went to, in the first community, they were eating a late breakfast and they invited us to eat with them. They had a big pot of soup or 'caldo' on the stove that they dished into bowls. Then we squeezed some lime juice and spooned some spicy salsa into our soup. I enjoyed that meal very much.  Here is the family's mortar and pestle and they made 'salsa' out of dried chilies, roasted tomatoes, and a pinch of salt. It is spicy, but incredibly flavorful and tasted great in our soup. Now that I have a mortar and pestle I am going to make t...

For those of you that haven't heard, I had the privilege of flying to Guadalajara, Mexico for ten days to visit my sister. I just got back on Monday. It was such an incredible trip, I don't know if I can fit it all into one post. So, I will write about where we went and what we did in this post. Tomorrow I will write about all the wonderful food we ate :). You can't go to Mexico without eating some fabulous food! My twin sister is a missionary and has been living in Guadalajara for about 4 years now. She is working with YWAM and has a passion for reaching communities through relationship and discipleship. I went down to visit her as well has help her with a missions conference she was putting together. In YWAM (which stands for Youth With A Mission) they have campuses all around the world. They live in community with the other missionaries in dorms and houses, with community kitchens, offices, etc...  It is a wonderful organization that has trained countless young people a...

I found out about this "Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger" event about 2 months ago and knew I wanted to join. Sea at the Book of Yum has been hosting it. For anyone that enjoys reading gluten-free food blogs you can 'adopt' one of them and pick a recipe or two to try out. Then you write about it and talk about the person or blog that you chose. You can click here to see all the adoptions for this month. At the end of the month Sea will compile all of those posts and recipes where you can see what experiments and adoptions others have made. I thought it was a fabulous way of creating community in the blogosphere and I am so excited to be able to join this month. I was selfish and chose Sea, the amazingly talented woman hosting this event. I haven't been reading her blog for very long, but I greatly enjoy the culture, variety, and creativity she puts into the food she makes. I am a big fan of trying crazy new foods and foods from other cuisines and cultures. She tak...