Summer Grilled Veggie Tacos + Strawberry, Lime, Basil Salsa
You may have noticed that things were a little quite around here last week, I had a recipe ready but typing with a creature crawling all over you isn’t that simple, I didn’t even get a chance to send out my bi-weekly newsletter. There is only one precious, tail wagging, face licking buddy to blame…Mr. Chunky-man (his nick name, or big man) Solomon! So puppies…those buggers are a lot of work, let me tell you. We knew signing up for a puppy was going to be a lot different than the ease of our Chai-man (aka little-man, our kitty) he practically came trained. Seriously we showed him his litter box, his food dishes and then he seemingly trained us to his liking! He kinda runs stuff around here.
But Mr. Solomon came with a whole other agenda and an agenda we were not exactly prepared or versed on. I don’t want to compare getting Solomon to having a child because I know having a baby is a whole lot different (don’t worry real baby Momma’s you guys rule at this thing called life) than a puppy but I feel like we have kind of just been thrown into toddler hood without the training wheels.
Last week my eyes barely opened, I am not sure if I even washed my hair, I am sure that I wore the same set of clothes for 3 (maybe four, oh god) days, I wasn’t sure if it was morning or night sometimes, it took me an hour to put the groceries away while I ran from the bedroom to the living room to the bathroom back to the kitchen, put one egg in the fridge and then did it all over again.
3:30 am were the first few days of wake up calls, this weekend to our pleasure and delight it moved up to 4:30 am. I am hoping to get to 5, life would be perfect, 4:30 is a bit much even for this morning girl.
Albeit the mess and confusion and no you can’t chew that, no not my hair either, please put the computer cord down, yes that also includes my cell phone swirling’s I couldn’t be any more in love with this sweet old soul face.
We started puppy training on Sunday and he shined and totally made us proud and I think he might be the smartest little guy I know. He is also the sweetest, most gentle, kind hearted, just wants to cuddle and play and have his tummy rubbed. We are crate training and I sooth him to sleep with kisses and tummy rubs each night and he laps it up, overall he has us wrapped around his finger too but what can ya do ;)
Summer has officially pre started here on the west coast. The weather has been amazing; the past few weekends have been some of the hottest I can remember in a while. With the warmth comes an abundance of summer fruits and veggies and the grill gets dusted off and heated up.
On Saturday Paul and I took Solomon on a drive to our favourite side of the road market stands to pick up some organic seasonal veggies and the plumpest, sweetest strawberries just freshly picked. Then I came up with these tacos and lunch was served in a matter of 30 minutes.
These tacos are spicy and sweet mixed with the perfect amount of creaminess through thegoat cheese and avocado. To skip the spice add less cayenne and jalapeno.
summer grilled veggie tacos + strawberry, lime, basil salsa
tacos
1 zucchini thinly sliced length wise
a large bundle of asparagus
5 mini sweet bell peppers
1 package of corn tortillas
2 avocados
cherry tomatoes
goat cheese
veggie marinade
3 tbsp of olive oil
1 tsp of chili powder
½ tsp of cumin
½ tsp of cayenne
the juice of one lime
salt and pepper to taste
strawberry salsa
2 cups of fresh strawberries
1 small red onion
¼ cup of fresh basil
½ jalapeno
juice of half a lime
splash of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
directions
Mix up the marinade ingredients and set aside.
Cut the strawberries and chop the onion into small pieces, mince the basil and jalapeno, add to a small bowl. Juice half a lime and add with a splash of olive oil and salt and pepper, drizzle over the strawberry mixture and place salsa in the fridge until ready to serve.
Thinly slice the zucchini length wise and add to a bowl with the asparagus and whole peppers. Drizzle the marinade over the veggies and take out to the grill.
On medium/low heat add the peppers to the grill first as they take the longest to get the char that you are looking for. When the peppers are close to being finished (5-8 minutes) add the zucchini and asparagus, they will only take a few minutes on each side.
Warm your tortillas up on the grill and start assembling; add some grilled veggies (slice the peppers after you have charred them on the grill), strawberry salsa, a few slices of avocado, some cut cherry tomatoes, a sprinkle of goat cheese, a squeeze of fresh lime and serve.
