Serrano's

My guy and I are slowly eating our way around the city and its Mexican food establishments. We have tried El Sol de Mexico, La Estacion, The Spot (tex-mex flair) and recently we checked out Serrano's.

I had been to Serrano's once before with my friend Tiffany and we both really enjoyed our meals. I had a watermelon margarita that was amazing - so refreshing and unique. I knew that I wanted to come back again soon.


I told my guy about this place and how it's off the beaten path but the parking lot is always full of cars. We tried to go here on Cinco de Mayo but the parking lot was completely filled and we would have to wait too long to eat. But that didn't mean we weren't planning to never try again.

We finally made it to Serrano's a few weeks later and had a wonderful dinner. They sat us at a high top table in the bar and gave us some chips and salsa to start. I love homemade chips and these were nice and crispy. The salsa had a mild kick, but was very good.

The menu had plenty of options and it was hard to slim it down. I chose the chicken enchiladas. I was very excited that it came with a side of guacamole as it's not often you get it on your plate. The chicken enchiladas were scrumptious - plenty of flavor in the meat AND plenty of meat. This enchilada was huge! The guacamole and sour cream helped calm my palate a bit with the red sauce. It wasn't overly spicy, but you know me and my sensitive buds.

My guy chose the Tilapia tacos and loved them. The fish was seasoned well but it didn't overpower the flavor. We both agreed the rice was a little bland but we really enjoyed ourselves.

I think we would return. They have a nice patio outside to grab a cocktail on a warm night. And being close to the freeway, this would be a nice meeting point for me with my friends that live all over the five-county area.

El Sol de Mexico

My guy and I live on opposite ends of the great city of Waukesha. When I head to his place after work, I drive past El Sol de Mexico on Broadway. It has intrigued me for a while and I have heard good things about the place. I asked my guy if he ever ate there and he hadn't but was up for trying it sometime.

So one evening before we ran some errands, we checked the place out. The front parking lot is a little odd if you come from west, as all the front spots angle the other direction. It was after I squeezed into a spot that I saw they had additional parking around the back of the building. (You wouldn't see that coming from the west though.)

We walked in and noticed the fun decor. The walls are painted bright yellow and blue with decorations throughout the restaurant. We were sat at a booth near the front and I was facing the bar area in the back that looks like a nice area. The kitchen is behind the register area and the middle area of the restaurant is a lot of tables that can accommodate parties of any size.

Chips and salsa were brought to us while we perused the menu. The menu has a ton of options so it  was really hard to come to a decision. Prices were very reasonable, so my guy decided to get a Pina Colada and guacamole and chips to start. The Pina Colada was delicious (coming from a girl that doesn't particularly like coconut).

And the guacamole was scrumptious. It tasted like it was whipped and had fresh cilantro. I really enjoyed this treat with the homemade chips.

For my entree, I decided to go with chicken flautas. It's something that I typically order and I wanted to see how it compared to others in the city. Three crunchy flautas arrived with sour cream, lettuce and tomatoes on top. I was really excited to see the side of guacamole as well The flautas were a little tough to cut through with my knife but they tasted great. The chicken had great flavor. The refried beans were really good  - they were light and fluffy. Unfortunately the rice was really bland, so I didn't eat it.

My guy went for the chicken fajitas and they arrived very hot and sizzling, but not chicken. They brought him beef. He decided not to complain as it smelled wonderful and he was rather hungry.

 Check out this video of the sizzle.

The fajitas came with sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes, the heavenly guacamole, rice and beans and flour tortillas (corn tortillas can be ordered as well). My guy concurred on the rice but enjoyed the rest of his meal. I sampled a bite of his fajita meat and it was pretty good. The meat was well seasoned.

The food was great and we definitely will come back. My guy did wish his order would have come right because the restaurant wasn't busy so it should have been easy to remember what we each wanted. But overall we left with happy bellies and will probably come back again.

La Estacion is still my favorite in town, but I haven't been to Casa Ole, Margaritas, La Fuente, (have been to the Milwaukee one) or El Palmar yet. Serrano's is good but a little pricier, Plaza Garibaldi is decent, Taco Amigo is great for a quick bite at lunch. (Casa del Rio was my favorite - the seafood enchiladas were amazing!)

Qdoba Smothered Burritos

I was contacted by the Roaring Forks restaurant group and asked if I was interested in trying the new smothered burritos from Qdoba and sharing my thoughts on my blog. I didn't have to think long about that because I have a love-love relationship with Qdoba. The three cheese queso nachos might possibly be my go-to meal and I can't get over their chips! I taste a hint of lime on them and it's really refreshing.

My guy and I stopped into Qdoba for lunch and went all in on two smothered burritos, guacamole and chips and beverages- you know, a nice light lunch!

We got in line to order and a sample of what a smothered burrito looked like was on the counter. I told the smiley employee that I was going to dive into one of those and she explained it to me before starting the production.

She explained that the smothered burrito is more like an enchilada where all hot things go on the inside and cold items on the outside, minus the outside smother. She also shared that they were offering a queso version of the smothered burrito. The new sauces are Red Bold Chile, Smoky Chipotle Cream and Tangy Verde.

Because of my love for the Queso, I chose that option and we went to town making my burrito. Here are all the options in making the burrito.

Inside:
Whole Wheat or Flour Tortilla
Cilantro Lime White or Brown Rice
Black or Pinto Beans
Grilled Steak, Grilled Chicken, Pulled Pork, Seasoned Ground Beef, or Shredded Beef
Smoky Chipotle Cream, Bold Red Chile, Tangy Verde or Queso Smother

Outside:
Smoky Chipotle Cream, Bold Red Chile, Tangy Verde or Queso Smother (this doesn't have to be the same as what you put inside!)
Pico de Gallo, Salsa Verde, Roasted Chile Corn, Salsa Roja, Fiery Habanero Salsa
Sour Cream
Guacamole
Shredded Cheese
Lettuce

My burrito:
Flour Tortilla, Cilantro Lime White Rice, Black Beans, Grilled Chicken, Queso Smother both inside and out, shredded cheese, sour cream and pico de gallo.


My Guy went with a very similar burrito but with the Smoky Chipotle Cream Smother inside and out, and guac on the side.

They don't wrap these burritos in foil like their other ones, because of the sauces, so they are served on a plate. 

Because we didn't think those were going to fill us up (HAHA), we ordered guacamole and chips too!

Qdoba has those interesting Coca-Cola soda machines where you pick your type of soda (Coca-Cola, Mello-Yello, etc.) and then can add different flavors to it. I went with a Diet Cherry Coke and my guy went with Cherry Mello-Yello. The machines are unique and a little touchy with the buttons, but I love the end result of the soda with a little extra flavor.

 We grabbed a table and dug in!

The burritos were very large, as most Qdoba burritos are. But I think the addition of the sauce really brought them to a new level. I love the extra flavor and have I said enough about how much I love the queso yet. The meat itself is seasoned really well, but mixing it with some cheese, always makes it better. (My true Wisconsinite flare is really showing isn't it?) I can't believe it, but I dominated that burrito. And I even had room for some of the chips and guacamole. Qdoba has their guacamole perfected and it is divine! I could eat just that and chips for lunch and be very satisfied!

It definitely was more like an enchilada with the sauce on it. This makes it a bit longer of an eating process than a regular burrito because you are using a knife and fork, instead of just your mouth from the foil wrap! Nothing wrong with taking your time to eat, but I can see that being a negative for some that like a meal on the go. (I could never eat one of their burritos on the road as they are just way to big to manage for me. But I have seen some friends manage it with no issues.)

Overall, these were very filling and quite tasty. I would like to try another sauce sometime and maybe even change it up with one sauce on the outside and another on the inside. Woah - crazy talk I know. I recommend you try this sometime too! But go there very hungry!

Roaring Forks (Qdoba) provided me compensation for a post featuring their product, but the review is my own honest opinion of the product.

La Estacion Dinner

When you want Mexican food and you are in Waukesha, there are quite a few options. But the one that comes to mind first for me is La Estacion. It's the one that I have been to the most and has consistently delicious food.

My guy and I went there a few Fridays ago before the Art Crawl and we were pleasantly surprised that we got a table right away. The place was hopping with people, but the tables were being cleared quickly to get the next groups in.

They sat us in the main dining room and although the train cars are a great dining experience too, this time of year, they can be a little chilly, so I liked our spot. Our server greeted us quickly and brought over some chips, salsa and water for us to start on while we mulled over the menu.

I am a character of habit and like to get the same types of Mexican food (but at different restaurants). La Estacion's flautas are my favorite in town so I ordered those with chicken. I couldn't remember if I usually ordered the corn or flour tortillas so I went with corn and my guy ordered the shrimp fajitas with corn shells.

We also ordered margaritas - raspberry blended for me and a regular on the rocks for my guy. 

While our meals were being prepared, we munched on the chips and salsa - probably something I love a lot about Mexican restaurants is that fact that they make fresh chips and salsa for my dining pleasure. Homemade chips are the best! And we sipped our drinks....they make them strong at La Estacion!

The food came out pretty quickly and smelled amazing. As soon as my plate was put in front of me, I knew I wouldn't be able to eat it all: four stuffed flautas with lettuce, tomatoes and sour cream on top, rice, beans and scrumptious guacamole on the side.

My guy's fajitas came with enough plates and dishes to feed a family of 6. The poor dishwasher has so much extra work from all the fajita lovers. Sizzling shrimp, onions and peppers came on a metal plate and the smell was actually mouth-watering. Then they dropped off the dinner plate, tortilla warmer, and rice, beans, lettuce, sour cream, and guacamole on another plate.

And then we dug in. My flautas were great, but after biting in, I rememberd that I like flour tortillas better for them. These were really crunchy and more like taquitos - still really great. The chefs at La Estacion know how to season their meats to make them plenty tasty without overpowering the dish. I then sampled a shrimp from my guy's plate and WOW - it was spectacular, and just the perfect tender texture for scrumptious shrimp. And the fajita sauce was PHENOMENAL. My guy wants me to learn how to make it so I think this might be one of my next copycat recipes to try. We both couldn't get over how good it was.

There wasn't a scrap of shrimp left on his plate, but he too agreed that next time he would get flour tortillas. Heck, skip the tortillas and just eat the shrimp!

I told him that I have enjoyed La Estacion's brunch with my friend Tiffany and that for the buffet, there is also a shrimp station among other scrumptious eats, and it was really good then. So basically if you want amazingly flavored, perfectly cooked shrimp, you need to go to La Estacion in Waukesha! Not to mention great drinks, specials and a fun atmosphere.

Healthy Living Week 5

Well, here we are just about a week shy of my finale of my Healthy Living experiment and I have to say that I am feeling really good about myself. Sure there are areas that I have not perfected and areas that I epically failed at (dang diet soda!) but I do think that I have definitely made a conscious effort to think before I put something in my body for nutrition reasons.

Besides eating two Doritos chips off my boyfriend's son's plate at a cookout, I have not had a potato chip since Lent began. And I can say that I honestly don't miss them. Tortilla chips are another story but even those I haven't indulged on :)

I have really worked to bring down my portion size and make responsible decisions when it came to what I have ate and drank in the last few weeks.

I got in a 2 mile run last week Thursday. It was a little brisk, but I had to take off my gloves by the end as my hands were overheating. It wasn't a speedy run, but a run is still a run.

Friday I tried to make some Vegan Pumpkin muffins and banana bread to take to my boyfriend and his kiddos and had some pretty epic baking fails. Completely cooked on the top, raw on the bottom.Waaa. waaa (sad trumpet)

My mom and I deduced the cause to be that my oven only has one coil on the top and so the bottom of my oven doesn't warm as evening. So I'm essentially baking food from the top down instead of evenly around. We are going to work on some things to divert the heat better in my oven so I can bake some yummy treats and not waste food. Otherwise, I'll be in the market for a new oven soon if this doesn't work.

Saturday I met my boyfriend's kids for the first time and we started the day getting his middle kid fitted for a batting glove and baseball mit. Then off to Chuck E Cheese's where we all acted like a bunch of kids. I did enjoy a piece of pizza but mainly stuck to the salad bar. His boys actually eat rather healthy too and wanted salad instead of pizza. Some pizza was even leftover because they all liked salad so much. I got schooled in basketball against Tim's oldest but it was still a fun time. 

Sunday I came home early because Tim got called into work. I decided to try out protein powder pancakes and was a huge fan. A few different blogs that I follow (Run, Eat, Repeat and Blogilates) have talked about how yummy protein powder pancakes are but I was skeptical.

Besides the fact that the mix is rather gooey at first, these were delicious! I used 2 scoops of vanilla protein powder and 1 egg. I added just a bit of water and this made three nice sized pancakes. I added chocolate chips to the last pancake and the only issue is that the pancake starts out rather thin and eventually puffs up when you flip it. So the chocolate started to melt in the pan before the pancake was done. No syrup necessary, just a little bit of margarine and they were sweet enough. Highly recommend making these!

And now for the main event meal of the week - Mojito Shrimp tacos! I found the recipe a while back on Pinterest, but it's really from this blog.

Here are my modifications to the recipe: I used precooked shrimp, so I had to make sure I didn't turn them into chewy rubberbands by overcooking them on the grill. They really just need to get heated through.

The tortillas I bought didn't work, so I threw together some jasmine rice, salsa, cumin and onion to make Mexican rice and served it over that. It was really delicious. The mango really added the sweet flavor that I was looking for to make this meal different than other Mexican dishes.

And lastly - I have continued my "Oatmeal in the morning" routine and have almost finished all of Katie's Gourmet Instant Oatmeals. Just in time for me to get more at the Farmer's Markets. More on her oatmeal soon on the blog :)

Healthy Living Week 1

Week one of healthy eating has come to a close and I briefly wanted to share with you how it's going.

SPECTACULAR

That's about the best word I can sum up to tell you how I'm feeling about things.

1) I haven't had a soda (minus two mixed drinks made with Dt. 7up instead of seltzer) and I think that is realy helping. I have replaced soda with seltzer, flavored water (like Crystal Light) and iced tea. 

2) I have been working out and it's paying off already. I checked out a few DVDs from the library and completed one of them so far. I also found a few workouts on Pinterest and did some squats, pushups, crunches and jumping jacks. I definitely want to increase the length I hold a plank for! That is an additional goal for the next few weeks.

3) I went running!!! It felt so amazing to get back at it after a forced hiatus due to Polar Vortex after Polar Vortex! But I ran up in Appleton and pushed out 2.36 miles without a lot of pain or wheezing. The time wasn't pretty but at least I did it right?

Then I ran on Monday here when it was 50 degrees out. I had to be really careful as there were puddles everywhere, but I made the best of it and had a blast. Again, not a great time but I did it.

Notice the left shoe is darker - soaked!

4) I made plenty of food on Sunday to get me through the week and I'll share two of those recipes now with you. Making food in advance is a great idea. I have a variety for the week and don't get so bored with my choices.

5) I realized that I don't need chips and dip while I am having a few drinks. Popcorn and veggies do the trick as well. They keep the hands busy in between trying to win at Kings Corners, trying to one-up each other with the best song with can find on YouTube, sing along horribly to said songs and enjoying a drink or two.

Looking forward to another week of feeling great, eating healthy, shedding pounds and toning up.

Taco Casserole - idea taken from my cousin using all her leftovers to make an easy dinner.

1 lb. Ground Turkey
1/2 medium onion, finely choppped
3 mini sweet peppers, chopped (or half a red/orange/green pepper)
1 packet Taco Seasoning - low sodium preferred
2/3 cup water
1 tsp. cumin
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup salsa
1 can mexican corn, drained

1 cup uncooked quinoa, cooked to directions on package
3/4 cup cheese, divided
3 dashes of green chile sauce (or any of your favorite hot sauces)

In a large skillet, cook ground turkey over medium high heat until cooked thru. Drain off any grease. Add taco seasoning, cumin, chile sauce, water, onions and peppers and simmer until onions are soft (about 5 minutes)

In a large mixing bowl, add beans, salsa, mexican corn, quinoa and 1/4 cup cheese and mix together. Add the turkey meat mixture and cooked quinoa and stir together.

Transfer contents to a large casserole dish and sprinkle remaining cheese over the top. Cover and place in oven at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until cheese has melted and edges are bubbling.

Makes 6 servings.



Pasta with Asparagus, Cherry Tomatoes and Shrimp
adapted from here

Instead of Penne Pasta, I used Tofu Shirataki noodles. They have always made me curious and now I am a HUGE fan. They taste identical to regular pasta. You do need to rinse them and dry them very thoroughly and then cut them up. But for 20 calories and 3g of carbs per serving, you cannot go wrong!

I only had 1 cup of cherry tomatoes, so I chopped up a Roma and added it to the mix.

And I didn't have fresh basil, so I used Penzey's Pasta Sprinkle and some dried basil in the sauce.

After I finished the recipe and plated, I quickly pan grilled some shrimp with salt, pepper and garlic and placed them on top of the pasta dish.

Voila!

Makes 4 servings but you might need two bags of noodles if you are really into having them in the meal.

Plaza Garibaldi - Pewaukee

Plaza Garibaldi is technically in Pewaukee, but I consider it still Waukesha as it's so close to my new home. After a night of painting and trimming and electrical rewiring, I treated my parents to dinner and we chose this place.

It's at the end of a strip mall on Silvernail and rumor has it, it's in a former Culver's. But you wouldn't know that from the dining room too much. The decor is warm colors and large wooden pillars. Only a glance into the kitchen revealed the signature blue and white tile of a Culver's (and maybe the chairs).  It was all decked out for the holidays too!

We were promptly greeted by a friendly server and brought chips and two types of salsa. The hot was pretty hot so I stuck to the mild that had just enough kick to keep me coming back for more. My dad and I just stuck to the beer menu but there were other options as well.

The menu is endless with so many amazing options, it took a long time to decide.

Mom went for the chicken flautas and I can't believe how many were in the serving! She said they were perfectly crisp and only left one uneaten for me to take home.

Dad went for his favorite - the taco salad with chicken, and he said it was really good. There was nothing left on his plate so I will take his word for it.

And I went for my favorite the chicken chimichangas. I could only eat one, but it was so delicious. The chicken is well seasoned as were the beans. Both my mom and I couldn't get over how yummy and fresh the guacamole was. My rice was a little cold but I'm not a huge rice fan anyways so I left most of it behind.

The service was great and there were quite a few other tables of families in the restaurant when we were there.

I don't really know too much about this place as the website is very basic and the Facebook page hasn't been touched for almost a year. But if you are in the area and looking for a quick Mexican dish, I suggest you stop by :)