I will start by saying that we do not plan every detail for our trips, do not take tours and often leave a little room for a change in itinerary but our upcoming Portugal and Spain trip is a bit unplanned. Delta moved up our return flight from Paris which cancelled our Lisbon to Paris so now we need to figure out how we are getting from point A to point B.
I figured this would take an hour or two and we would need some Spanish snacks to make it though this tedious task. Mike picked up some chorizo, rosemary olive oil bread, olives, and some Spanish cheeses and we put together our dinner.
With four guide books in front of us, some scratch paper and a bottle of good Spanish wine we got to work sketching out an initial itinerary. We think we had a good plan in place with where we would be on which days and how we would see the cities we wanted to see.
The wine of choice was a 2007 Rioja from Baron De Barbon
Mike called Delta and was able to make a few changes to our return and rerouted us through Amsterdam on the way home instead of Paris and we keep our business class seats. Now don’t go thinking we are spending major $$$$ on this because we used miles for these business class seats and there is NO WAY I was going to give these up. Mike and I have worked hard to earn those miles and use them to our utmost advantage, he didn’t travel every week for 13 years so Delta could mess with those miles!
The countdown is on! We leave the 19th and I can not wait 
I often forget how easy frittata’s are to make. They can be the best dish to use up all those veggies that are about to go bad and a satisfying meal for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
There are thousands of combinations and all you need is a base of a half dozen eggs, vegetables, cheese and some fresh herbs. My favorite frittata has tomatoes, broccoli, scallions, monterey jack cheese, garlic, tomatoes and of course bacon.
Ingredients
7 Eggs
1/4 cup heavy cream
3 slices bacon
1/2 cup chopped broccoli
5 scallions, finely diced
1/2 cup monterey jack cheese
1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes with garlic
Salt/Pepper
Directions
- Turn broiler to High.
- Cook bacon 4-5 minutes until crisp. Remove from pan and get rid of the grease.
- Add the broccoli and scallions and cook 2-3 minutes. Add in the can of tomatoes and stir until incorporated.
- Combine the eggs, cream, cheese, salt/pepper in a bowl and whisk until incorporated. Pour egg mixture into pan with broccoli, add bacon back in and cook 2-3 minutes until about 1/4 set.
- Place skillet in oven and cook for 5-6 minutes about 6 inches from broiler until eggs are set and the top is golden brown.
Frittata’s are an easy meal for a busy weeknight or a great brunch treat. It’s up to you to come up with your favorite combinations.
Wine Pairing: 2009 Grigio Luna Pinot Grigio
This was a light, crisp wine with very noticeable flavors of pear. This retails for $8-$11 a bottle and is a nice everyday white.
I thought long and hard about an entry I wanted to make for a recipe contest I saw on Food Network. I Googled, I asked coworkers and I pursued the grocery store.
After stopping at the grocery store on my way home and picking up 3 free bottles of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce and all the ingredients for black bean burgers I was ready to go. I spent 20 minutes trying to figure out the &$%*#&@^ flip cam so you could see me and the ingredients 
I finally somewhat figured it out and got cooking.
Ingredients
10 ounces of mushrooms, I used portobello, cremini, oyster and shitake
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 jalapeno
3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp ancho chili Powder
1 tsp cumin
3/4 cup Panko bread crumbs
1 egg
Salt/Pepper
Whole Wheat Buns
Corn Salsa
Directions
- Add beans, chopped mushrooms, jalapeno, Worcestershire, chili powder, cumin and salt/pepper until combined.
- Add breadcrumbs and eggs and process
- Form 4-5 patties and cook for 5 minutes on each side over medium high heat.
- Top with a bit of corn salsa
I really liked this burger, very filling and it would also make a good veggies dip since none of the ingredients need to be cooked.
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