Lisa's Culinary Atrocities

I found some pre-made whole wheat pizza dough at Trader Joe’s (swear I don’t work there) and thought, hmmmm…I can do a lot with this!

Thought I’d make a pretzel.  Nope, didn’t work—too stretchy shrinky.  I’ll have to do that one from scratch some other time.

So what I did do, and do well if I may say so, is make little breads.  Since it was pizza dough the breads were dense, but that’s not a bad thing!

I decided to make 2 little loaves:  Black and White Sesame Seed and Rosemary:

I chose rosemary because I had some Pecorino Toscano cheese that I knew would pair well with it, and after consulting with Deano (mentioned in an earlier post, aka the KING of all things wine), I (we) decided to keep the Italian theme by choosing a 2008 Caravaggio Montepulciano d’Abruzzo.

I also made an olive oil concoction with rosemary and black volcanic salt for dipping.  Delicious and oh-so-simple.

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Seriously, happiness throughout every cell right now.  On my daily trip to Trader Joe’s a few days ago they were sampling their new Soy Chorizo. Whoa—so surprisingly good.  No stranger to vegan food, or tasty animals these days (sorry), this product is not to be missed.  While I prefer to be meatless most of the time (and especially since my husband is vegan) I am wary of vegan products because they are still processed.  This one, however, has only a handful of ingredients:

–>TVP (texturized soy protein), water, soy oil, distilled vinegar, salt, spices, red pepper and garlic.

SOLD!  So tonight I decided to make soft tacos with the Soyrizo (thanks Deano), homemade pico-de-gallo and micro-greens. Cheese added, I am sure would also be fantastic.

I made my taco’s mini, surprise.

For the Pico de Gallo chop separately and combine:

-4 plum tomatoes (I used about a cup or so of cherry tomatoes)

-5 green onions

-1/2 cup fresh cilantro

-3 peppers, seeded (I used one red, one orange, one yellow–adds a bit of a sweetness that contrasts the spicy soyrizo nicely)

-a good squeeze of lime juice.-fold together and let sit in the refrigerator for about an hour.

After a few glasses of wine, heat up your soyrizo (remove casing first…it’s the consistency of ground beef) and make some fan-tasty tacos!

*Pairs sensationally with Trader Joe’s 2009 Grower’s Reserve Zinfandel (thanks for the recommendation Deano—it was PERFECT.) Which, by the way, if you ever need ANY information about ANYTHING wine or food related, Deano Sandoval at Trader Joe’s NW is your guy. Not only is he a wonderful man and talented artist, but he will not disappoint your taste buds. Going to create a new tag, just for him!