The List: Xoco

What's The List about? Click here!

Last December, Bossyboots and I visited Rick Bayless' Topolobampo.  YUM!  Because I'm a Rick Bayless fan, his more casual restaurant Xoco was also on my "to visit" restaurant list and I made that happen just recently.  Xoco is a breakfast and lunch joint modelled after mexican street food.  Tortas make up a major part of their menu, and their buzzy items are their in-house chocolate and churros.  See some lunchy proof:

I started with the cubana torta - Smoked Maple Creek pork loin and bacon, black beans, avocado, artisan Jack cheese, chipotle mustard.  Aaaaaaaand I had to finish with the churros, for more than obvious reasons.

Overall, it was bit a of a heavy lunch for me, but SO delicious.  I highly recommend Xoco for a scrumptious lunch (go early, the line goes out the door!!!), but schedule yourself a light dinner - you'll thank me!  Highly recommended.

XOCO - 449 North Clark Street (enter on Illinois St.), Chicago, IL 60654

Attack of the Helmet Nachos

Recently, my mom and one of my sisters flew up for a big Chicago weekend!  We spent a lot of time hanging out, and the big event of the weekend was to take them to their very first Cubs game.  Wrigley is one of the USA's most historic and famous ballparks, and any baseball fan wants to make that visit, regardless of the Cubs, who are really, really - really - good at biffing a win.

I must admit, it's completely obvious that we're related...

Ok, so Wrigley introduced a brand new concession item a couple years ago... Helmet Nachos.  Yes, you read that right.  It's $15 and is exactly what it sounds like:

Need a closer look? Ooooooooooook...

Don't be scurred, Billie Sue!

I am pretty certain that there's an entire bag of chips in that helmet.  One time, I was a part of a 12(ish)-person group at Wrigley.  We ordered ONE of these heart attack inducing numbers, and we couldn't even finish it - so our tiny group taking this on was a quite a feat, especially when my mom had to be all heart-conscious and refuse to help us eat it!  By the time you get to the bottom, the chips are all soggy, but you eat them anyway.  Hey, we're already gross by eating a freaking helmet full of fake cheese - might as well seal the deal! 

Here's Billie Sue's review of said Helmet Nachos.  Kindly ignore my highly annoying voice.

Now, I want to know... what's the grossest guilty pleasure at your hometown ballpark?

Because You Need These Pickles

Happy 4th of July!  I hope you are all enjoying a wonderful day spent with family, friends, and tasty BBQ.

In honor of the holiday, I'm going to post a recipe that you need.  Yes, need.  If you're a pickle-lover, make these pickles right away.  You'll never buy lamesauce storebought pickles again!  It's so easy - I knock out six jars in under 15 minutes, and they keep in the fridge until you've eaten them all.  Cheaper than storebought, too.

Mmm delicious...

OK, let's get to pickling...

PANTOMIME PICKLES

*Pickling is not one of those things where there are exact measurements - you're going to have to access your loosey goosey free-and-easy side.  It's not baking - you won't ruin anything!  Also, this is not a tutorial in canning.  I just stick mine in the fridge.  They last a long time, but I also eat a lot of pickles. :)

Ingredients:

• Fresh dill pickles (labelled as such at your grocery store in the produce section - I buy mine from my neighborhood mom-n-pop produce stand.)
• Multiple glass jars (I like quart-size Masons)
• 3 cups distilled white vinegar
• 3 cups water
• 2T + 2tsp sea salt
• 2T sugar
• Fresh dill (just buy a package, enough to drop @3 sticks/spears/sprigs into each jar)
• Pickling spice (enough to drop about a tsp into each jar)
• Mustard seed (enough to drop about a tsp into each jar)
• Fresh garlic, sliced (enough to drop about 1-3 sliced cloves into each jar)

Instructions:

1. Make sure your glass jars are squeaky clean.
2. Cut your dill pickles into either spears or slices and distribute them into your jars.
3. In each jar, place 3 sticks of dill, a tsp of pickling spices, a tsp of mustard seed, and then 1-3 sliced garlic cloves.  Use your discretion as to how much you want in there - my numbers are just a guideline.
4. Make your brine!  In a large pot, stir together your vinegar, water, sea salt, and sugar.  Bring to a boil and make sure the sugar and salt is dissolved into the mixture.  Let it boil for about 2 minutes, then remove from heat.
5. While still hot, fill your jars with the brine!  Be careful not to overflow, but make sure the pickles are covered completely with the brine.
6. Allow the jars to cool until it's ok to cap 'em, then stick them in the fridge!  

The pickles will start to taste pickly 24 hours later, but I like to give mine 72 hours for them to reach full flavor.

Enjoy!

Cleansing via Cooler

A couple weeks ago, I got in touch with my inner hippie and underwent a cleanse.  You know, one of those no solid food for several days cleanses.  The crazy people cleanse.

I kid. I kid.

I never saw myself as someone who'd do the whole cleanse thing.  I'm a pretty practical person who eats average food.  And by average I mean that I eat meat, I cook, I indulge in unhealthy foods sometimes.  I don't usually do fad diets - I work out regularly.  To me, my thought was always... why spend exorbitant amounts of money just to be hungry all the time?  And I really didn't see any concrete evidence that cleanses do anything physically helpful.  

Anyway, back in January, several of my friends did the Cooler Cleanse...

...and they RAVED about it.  So much so that they pretty much evangelized for the program.  Now, I may be a skeptical person by nature, but I am a chump for new experiences.  If I haven't done it, I want to do it ASAP.  Except sky diving - I'll experience that from the ground. (!)

So, I decided to quit being a naysayer and just try it.  After all, I can't dog something I've never tried, right?  I judge people that criticize things they've never experienced themselves.  Experience teaches you many things that Google just can't translate.  

Finally, I navigated my browser on over to the Cooler Cleanse website to order.  My intention had been to go big or go home and do the 5-day cleanse; however, they only start cleanses on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (due to shipping time and the juices are time-sensitive).  My schedule just wouldn't allow me to accommodate a 5-day cleanse due to many weekend social engagements.  I'm brave, but not brave enough to tote weird, labelled juices to my friends' birthday parties.  I can freely admit that.

So, 3-day cleanse it was!  The $73 in shipping kind of made me black out in shock for a moment, but... oh well.  The daily charge for the juices is actually cheaper than many other cleanse programs.  Once I hit "confirm", I was committed!  

On a Tuesday morning in February, a big box full of chilled juices arrived at my doorstep.  The juices are all raw and hard-pressed - you have to start your cleanse right away in order to preserve their nutritional value, since there are no preservatives.  The juices are numbered 1-6, and you drink them in order - one juice every two hours.  Daily, you are consuming less than 1,100 calories via the juices.

Here's my review of the juices:

Juices #1 and #3 (you drink this juice twice daily): ESSENTIAL GREEN

Essential Green is delicious - it's kind of like Naked's Green Monster.  I was surprised to find that I really, really loved this one, in spite of the scary green color.  It tastes like a lemony glass of fresh.

Juice #2 : GRAPEFRUIT AND MINT

As might be expected, this was my favorite drink, and I downed it in 5 minutes flat every day.  People that are new to cleansing do better with the fruity juices - also expected.  I'm a newbie, what can I say.

Juice #4: COCONUT WATER

Oh my god, coconut water is the worst.  You hear coconut and you think delicious - it's a cruel practical joke, people.  It took me a good 2.5 hours to drink this on the first day.  Bossyboots tried a sip and immediately called me crazy for drinking it.  The funny thing is that I only hated it on the first day.  The second day of drinking this was easier, and on the last day, I had no problem drinking it at a normal pace.  Hint: squeeze fresh lime into it (Thanks HisBirdiesNest for the tip!)

Juice #5: ESSENTIAL RED

This juice was super tangy, and I enjoyed it.  The taste is similar to Essential Green, but the tang is definitely ramped up.  Thumbs up.

Juice #6: ALMOND NUT MILK

The idea behind this drink seems to be "milkshake".  I am a milk drinker, but this was a strange drink for me because it comes from nuts, vanilla beans, and dates.  I am used to skim cow's milk, and this was just very different for me.  The taste is good, but it took me a minute to get used to the odor that comes off of the milk.  Again, good taste - I just had a hard time with the smell.  It was by no means a coconut water experience, however.

Every day, I drank my juices, and I didn't cheat once.  I stuck to the program religiously.  You want to know the truly crazy thing?  I loved Cooler Cleanse!  I wasn't hungry once, even though I know that's hard to believe.  Not once did I have tummy rumbles.  I felt energetic and alert, and I lost a few pounds.

My takeaway?  I was kind of surprised at the results.  In the weeks after my cleanse, I am much more aware of overeating.  Sugar and starches in particular don't taste so great to me anymore.  While juicing, I was impressed by how CLEAR the tastes were.  That grapefruit juice tasted exactly like a turbo grapefruit, unhampered by extra sugar.  My experience was definitely eye-opening.  

Like many people, I definitely have an emotional eating side to me.  While on the cleanse, that option to eat mindlessly was taken away from me - I have to say it was kinda nice.  The times that I thought "Oh I'm hungry"... after a moment I realized that I WASN'T really hungry.  My stomach wasn't feeling hungry; my heart was.  

Would I do this again?  Heck, yes.  Next time, I'd like to go for the 5-day cleanse and see how that goes.  I'm actually thinking about buying myself a juicer and doing regular cleanses on my own.  Consider this skeptic converted.  Viva la juice!

*This is not a sponsored post; I just had a great experience and wanted to share it with you all!

Sometimes You Just Do the Best You Can

As you read on Monday, last week I was super duper sick.  If you're a longtime reader of this blog, you know that I don't eat many processed foods.  Usually, I spend my Sunday afternoons cooking up all my meals for the week - I portion my cooking into single-serve Gladware and then stash everything in my fridge.  Then, Monday through Friday, I can just grab and go!  This has been a great strategy for me because...

1. I have VERY little free time during the week - cooking?  Not going to happen.
2. Cooking ahead keeps me in fresh, healthy foods so that I make it through my week without dragging.
3. I avoid the processed food trap.  To be honest, now that I've gone without much processed food for so long, it often makes me sick on the occasions where I get stuck eating it.  I do not like food-from-a-box.  It's gross.  Yes, I'm a food snob, if eating a real egg rather than fake eggs makes me a snob, then fine.  FINE!  :)

However, sometimes I can't cook on the weekends!  I have a very, very busy life (just like you guys!), and I believe you have to MAKE time for the important stuff, but sometimes, you just can't get everything in, right?  

So - it's weeks like these where I have to compromise.  This week, I'm eating oatmeal w/berries for breakfast, sandwiches and fruit for lunch, and then deli-made soups and Amy's Organics box dinners at night.  For me, I've found Amy's dinners to taste the best, even though they are definitely processed and have high sodium.  I feel like box dinners are usually unsatisfying, yucky tasting, and have lots of sodium.  Amy's at least tastes good - sort of (SORT OF) like I made it myself.  You can't get around the high sodium, but I guess you can't have it all!  They are also one of the few box dinners that doesn't give me a stomachache.

I guess my point in writing this post is to say that sometimes I think we have to go easy on ourselves when we need it most.  This weekend, I needed to rest in bed with funny movies rather than cook.  And really, that's ok - I'll just load up extra on the steamed broccoli next week.  :)