Lovin’ our Mama’s!
I feel a little spoiled…I am obviously not a mother…but I had a wonderful Mother’s Day (weekend)! I love getting to spend time with family, and this weekend was full of family fun, starting with a Friday night celebration of my wonderful mother in-law! Gavin and I headed to Marietta on Friday afternoon to meet Gavin’s family for dinner at Blueridge Grill…and then headed back to the Tarquinio house to enjoy some mixed berry cobbler and continue celebrating Gavin’s Mom! Dinner was wonderful and it was a lovely way to start the weekend.
The alarm went off a little too early on Saturday morning- but we were anxious to get on the road to Lake Yonah (my parents have a lovely home on the lake) to hang out with my family and spend the weekend in the sun!
After being on the road so much the past few years, Lake Yonah has become on of my favorite places in the world. The water is so peaceful and the mountains are so beautiful. It’s a wonderful place to relax and have lots of fun on the water….BUT in May, the water feels more like ice…so we spent the weekend, reading, hanging out on the dock, and eating lots and lots of food!
We started off our eating extravaganza with Buffalo Chicken Tacos (recipe bellow) and grilled corn…the perfect meal for the start of Summer!
The rest of the afternoon was taken up with reading. I have a slight obsession with James Patterson (even though he writes like 10 books a year and really has someone else writing most of them) being at the lake makes me start craving a good James Patterson book. So, I picked up The Lifegaurd and spent most of the day curled up on the dock.
When dinner time came around, I was super excited because I decided to try to re-create an amazing Cod dish that we had in Brazil. I sliced and diced…made olive tapanade, roasted potatoes and layered veggies…I baked the fish and it looked completely beautiful!
Then, we sat down to dinner, cut into it, took the first bite…and ALL we could taste was CHLORINE! I seriously wanted to cry! I used these beautiful tomatoes and onions that we picked up at a farm stand on the way…and I wanted this dish to be good…so badly…but our fish was contaminated with a horrible taste. My mom stopped on the way to the lake a bought it at an Asian market (which is usually a very reliable place to buy seafood) but for some reason, this batch tasted like chemicals.
So…we ended up eating turkey sandwiches for dinner…BOO!
The next morning, I woke up early to get a start on Mother’s Day brunch. We had biscuits and gravy. Bacon and sausage. Spinach and mushroom baked eggs and blueberry bread! Brunch really is my favorite meal…you can cram so many good things into one meal!
All in all, the weekend was full of good food and beautiful sun and wonderful family. I am so grateful!
1 lb chicken tenders
1 bottle of buffalo sauce
1/2 cup 0% plain greek yogurt
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/4 cup blue cheese crumbles (or laughing cow blue cheese)
1/2 cucumber, chopped
1 teaspoon jalapeno, chopped
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large tomato, seeded and chopped
1/2 head iceberg lettuce, shredded
1 package corn tortillas
For the chicken- Place chicken tenders covered in water in a medium pan, over medium heat and bring to boil. As soon as the water starts to boil reduce the heat to a low and cover the pot. Allow the chicken to cook for about 45 minutes (until it easily shreds).
Drain the water out of the pot and using two forks, shred the chicken. Then, coat the chicken in buffalo sauce (the amount depends on how much spice you like)!
Return the chicken to the pan, cover it and leave it over low heat to stay warm.
For the blue cheese sauce- Combine greek yogurt, crumbled blue and crushed garlic and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a small bowl. Mix well, and set aside.
For the cucumber salsa- Combine diced cucumber, jalapeno, sugar, vinegar, half of the medium onion, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a bowl. Mix well and set aside.
For the tomato salsa-Combine diced tomatoes, the other half of the onion, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a bowl. Mix well and set aside.
Shred the lettuce and warm the tortillas. To assemble to tacos, layer lettuce and chicken on the corn tortilla and then top with cucumber salsa, tomato salsa, and blue cheese dip. Serve with grilled corn…AKA Summer in kernel form!
