Tequila of the Month: Herradura

Horns Up Flight at the Inn

Spicy Chickpeas and Eggplant...Yum!

A bit of a Mexican-Indian-Italian Fusion. My favorite cuisines!

The inspiration for this dish was two beautiful eggplants left from the last two weeks of my CSA box and a couple other miscellaneous unused veggies from this week's box (one red onion, two over ripe tomatoes, and a bunch of cilantro). My older children would have probably been happy with a cheesy slathered eggplant parmigiana dish but I wanted to try something different. Honestly, the gluten free baked "fried" zucchini with nutritional yeast cheese was a flop the week before. So, this dish had to be good or my family would be wary of  Mom's next adventure. It also had to be "Julia-friendly" due to my youngest daughter's multiple food allergies. I remembered making a curried cauliflower with chick peas that turned out great so I thought I'd add some of what I enjoyed about the curry recipe. This is what I ended up with. It turned out amazing, so I thought I'd share it with you.

 Ingredients

*  two beautiful egg plants from my CSA box (roasted, skinned and cubed)
* 1 red onion (would have happily used more)
* 1 large clove of garlic, minced plus a left over piece of roasted garlic
* 1.5 tablespoons of curry powder
* 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
* 1 can of chick peas (drained)
* tablespoon of lime juice
* couple pinches of salt
* couple shakes of crushed red pepper
* Cholula Hot Sauce (my favorite hot sauce!)
* two tablespoons of vegan margarine (so Julia could eat it. Real butter would have been good too.)
* two overripe tomatoes cubed (just because I had them)
* bunch of fresh cilantro

My on the fly procedure
My beautiful eggplants were roasted for 45 minutes at 400. While waiting for the eggplants to cool so I could handle them, I sauteed my red onion until browned in olive oil. I like onions so I would have used more but this was what I had. After reducing the heat to medium in went the garlic, curry powder, and tomato paste. I stirred it all until the onions were well coated. Next to join the party were the chick peas, a quarter cup of water, lime juice, salt, crushed black pepper, and a few dashes of cholula hot sauce.These goodies shimmered for about five minutes with an occasional stir. Then, I put in two tablespoons of Earth Balance Dairy free Soy free butter. More simmering and stirring until the butter melted (Earth Balance doesn't melt as quickly as regular butter.) I put a few more dashes of Cholula, a couple shakes of crushed red pepper, and a bunch of chopped cilantro.  I had to careful with my Grace. She doesn't enjoy spicy food like the rest of us. Yummy!!!

This dish is so flavorful. Even if you don't like eggplant you may want to try it. The  Eggplant could easily be traded for whatever veggies you have on hand: potatoes, zucchini, cauliflower. It would be great served over rice or quinoa or with baked shredded chicken. However, we ate it as is for lunch before we went to my best friend's birthday pool party where we gorged on hot dogs, hamburgers, potato chips and birthday cake for dinner (when in Rome).  But, hey....we had a healthy lunch anyway.  I would make this again in a heart beat (and I will with other veggies). I also suggested to John that we adapt it to accompany one of our off  menu specials at the Franklin Inn. 

First Stop on Ride for Ryan (West Coast Style) - August 28th

The First Stop before the 2013 Ride for Ryan (West Coast Style) is Wednesday, August 28th, at the Franklin Inn Mexican Restaurant. Bring this coupon to the Inn between 11am and 9pm and 20% of your bill will be donated to the Ryan Diviney Special Needs Trust.  You can enjoy a nice meal and help a family in need.  

 Our event coordinates with the efforts of John Maletta (and friends) who are raising money for the fund with their third annual Ride for Ryan at the beginning of September. In just three weeks, this kind-hearted pack of guys will be bicycling the mountains of the Pacific Coast Highway in California to raise funds for Ryan Diviney. The riding crew, led by John Maletta, also includes Scot Reed, George Gardner, Joe Maletta, Chris Clegg, and Gerry Durishan. It's 267 miles from the San Francisco area to San Luis Obispo in southern California. The cyclists will be making this trip in 5 days and are motivated by Ryan's needs and your generous support.

Maletta says, "We are spearheading this very special effort for the son of my old college roommate and I am asking you to consider helping us. Thanks to you, we’ve raised over $15,000 for Ryan’s medical care in the first two Ride For Ryan events."  

Ryan Diviney was viciously attacked by strangers in a convenience store parking lot 3+ years ago and has remained in an eyes-open coma since the attack. The Diviney family is responsible for his around-the-clock medical care and the medical bills remain extremely crushing to their finances. They have established a Special Needs Trust for Ryan that allows you to donate to the Trust and assures that every penny of your donation will go directly to his medical care.  You can read more about Ryan at www.ryansrally.org, including links to TV stories and newspaper articles.

If you can't see the gang off by visiting the Franklin Inn on Wednesday, August 28th, you can still donate.  No pledge is too small.  Make your check payable to the Ryan Diviney Special Needs Trust and send them c/o John Maletta 2306 Salem Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15237 or you can donate online at www.ryansrally.org.

If you'd like to know more about the first two Rides for Ryan, visit these links: Ride for Ryan 2012 and Ride for Ryan 2011.

John Maletta asks that you please pass this information on to your family, friends and co-workers too. Your assistance is greatly appreciated! Thank you so much!

An Abundance of Greens!

No.  This is not a post about the next special at the Franklin Inn.  I just wanted to share in case there are a few like-minded folks out there among our patrons interested in learning, sharing, and experimenting with locally grown produce (and the health benefits). I have a blast with my CSA box and my trips to the wonderful local farms we have here in the North Hills. Some times my experiments fit with the Franklin Inn's Mexican theme. Check out the Strawberry Jalapeno Salsa recipe here. Other times, not so much.

With a ton of parsley (curly and flat leaf), spinach and various lettuces and mixed greens from my first two boxes and not much time to cook, I pulled out my handy dandy Vitamix (which I still love and is not collecting dust as was predicted by some.....).  First, I made a spinach and parsley pesto. I threw all the spinach and parsley into my Vitamix with olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and fresh squeezed lemon juice. A brilliant green paste formed.  Why no cheese or pine nuts? Dairy and nut allergies in my family.  Grated cheese goes on the table for those who can partake of it. Sometimes I add sunflower seeds to pesto but being ill-prepared due to recent commitment overload (can you relate?) I had none on hand.

I then looked at all the bags of lettuce and field greens. I could not bare to make another salad this week. I put the romaine in the fridge since that will keep longer and tossed all the other lettuce and mixed field greens into the Vitamix with, once again, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. This time I added some fresh rosemary too. I wished that I hadn't used all the parsley in the spinach pesto at this point but oh well.  It tasted pretty good....like lettuce.....but not like mushy slimy lettuce....like fresh lively lettuce.  I have no idea yet what I will do with this lettuce pesto.  It is in the fridge. Any ideas? Maybe I'll freeze it and add it to soup or sauce in the middle of the winter for a taste of spring. I'm open to suggestions. There's always the green smoothie option. The spinach parsley pesto was used for dinner last night.  I tossed it with rice pasta and John grilled chicken breasts. A little pesto goes a long way so I am putting the rest in the freezer as well to enjoy at a later date.

A mysterious bag of greens with pretty little purple flowers was also in this week's CSA box. I had no idea what the heck these flower laden viney greens were or how to use them.  Don from Kretschmann Organic Farm quickly answered my inquiry via his Facebook page. Pea Greens! Huh. Something new. That's fun! A quick Google search assured me that these pea greens were okay for cooking so I sauteed a scallion and garlic in olive oil, added the pea greens to the mix, and topped them off with fresh squeezed lemon, salt and pepper. I also couldn't resist a couple shakes of Cholula Sauce. Wow.  They were delicious. My initial reaction was that it tasted close to spinach.  As we munched on them and discussed who among us liked them (everyone but my son, Joey, who dislikes most veggies), Grace decided that the pea greens kind of tasted like asparagus. Ya. I definitely could taste that too. The main stems, leaves and flowers were great but the very thin viney stems were like chewing on hay. Next time I will snip them off before cooking.

I can't wait to see and taste next week's produce.  Any suggestions for all these beautiful spring greens? I'd love to hear about them. Thanks!

Julia’s Allergy-free Birthday Cake

Julia’s Allergy-free Birthday Cake
Adapted from her Grandma Mimi’s (Sue Cibula) famous birthday cake recipe that she makes for everyone’s birthday parties. It’s a tradition in the Cibula family. Enjoy!

• 3 Cups flour (We like Tom Sawyer All purpose wheat-free for Julia but if you don’t have allergies it is an amazing cake with regular all purpose flour!)
• 2 Cups Sugar
• 6 Tbsp cocoa
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup of olive oil
• l2 tbsp white vinegar (recipe says white but I use whatever I have red, balsamic, etc. Always turns out great.)
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups cold water

• Mix dry ingredients.
• Make 3 holes - oil, vinegar, vanilla
  (I do it even though it doesn't seem to make a difference....they end up merging!)
• Pour water over it all.
• Beat well.
• Bake 30-35 minutes @ 350 (the cupcakes are about 20 minutes.)
note: I think it is better to slightly undercook than over cook. The cake is moister.

Variations: We sometimes add Enjoy Life Dairy-free chocolate chips at the end before baking.
Mexican Cake: Add cinnamon, a pinch of crushed black pepper and chile pepper (ancho or cayenne pepper works well). Bananas are good too.

Julia proud of her birthday cupcakes. A couple years ago we baked these for her to take to preschool.   Dairy-free, wheat free, peanut free soy free, etc. etc. What the other kids don't know won't hurt them!!!

We love Books!

“When I have a little money, I buy books; and if I have any left,
I buy food and clothes.”― Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus

Don't worry! You won't need to be nude or hungry to enjoy a good book.  I have two great opportunities for you to acquire great books for free or next to free and both are for great causes.

1. Bread for Books Program for Northland Library.  We are happy to be participating in this program once again to help the library continue service to our community for FREE. Print out and bring this voucher to the Inn Tuesdays in June (4, 11, 18, 25) and we'll donate 20% of your bill to Northland Library in support of their great services. My family has enjoyed many trips to the library and I'm sure you have as well.  If you never made a trip to Northland, please do so soon. You'll fall in love with the library too! Read the post I wrote last time we participated for more information: http://www.franklininnmexicanrestaurant.blogspot.com/2011/09/when-was-your-last-visit-to-library.html

John helping with book sale setup.

2. Anchorpoint Annual Used Book Sale.  This is the biggest and best book sale in the area and it happens next week! June 10 - 14 at the Shoppes at Northway.  You'll be able to peruse over 40,000 new and used books sorted into 20 categories. All are $2.50 or less.  The best part is that you'll be able to enjoy great reads cheap while you are helping the uninsured and under insured get the professional counseling they need.  You'll also be making it possible for at-risk children to get tutoring that parents may otherwise not be able to afford for them. Visit their website for more details: www.anchorpointcounselingministry.org.

Book lovers!...Join us at the Franklin Inn Tuesdays in June in support of the Northland Public Library and for Anchorpoint's Annual Used Book Sale so that we may help them continue their work of hope and healing for our hurting neighbors.

Fiesta Mexicana this Friday

Do you have dinner plans yet for Friday Night?

Fiesta Mexicana Taco Night

Friday, May 17 - 5-8pm

Heritage Church

2262 Rochester Road, Franklin Park PA 15237

Tickets: $15 in advance or $20 at the door

Our daughter, Grace (I can't believe she's a teen now!), is actively involved in a youth group. Tomorrow the youth group is holding an all-you can-eat taco night in Heritage Church's Fellowship Hall. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door.  The proceeds benefit the kids' local mission trip via the Pittsburgh Project to repair the homes of our vulnerable neighbors.

The tacos for this delicious event are donated by the Franklin Inn Mexican Restaurant (Of Course!). You will also have an opportunity to participate in a cake raffle and maybe win a delicious cake or pie donated by local bakeries/bakers.  My sister, Robin, won this awesome Sombrero Cake by The Mike McAleer Bakery. Unfortunately, she did not share it with me! She took it home and shared it with other family members! She did tell me that it tasted as great as it looked. Thanks Robin!!!

Come on out and help the kids help those who lack the resources or the physical ability to make home repairs on their own. Fill your belly with good food, help our kids to experience the thrills of serving others, and make a difference for people in need.  How great is that?

 

See the flyer below for more details.  We hope you can join us.

It's Here!

 

Our kitchen crew is busy roasting chiles, dicing and slicing for some great special features as well as your Inn Favorites.  John has agreed to open the bar an hour early to accommodate our Penguin's fans. We have all those fun tattoos and such while supplies last.  Our friends at Pretzel Crazy dropped off samples of their Chipotle Loco pretzels for you to sample (also while supplies last).  If you get to taste one, stop by their fan page and let them know about it.  

Make sure you fill out our customer survey.  We crave your feedback!  We will choose from among the surveys for prizes including a free sopaipillas every week from now until Fiestas Patrias
Other cool prizes too. (Fiestas Patrias is the actual Mexican Independence Day in September.)

Featured Drinks:

Chris’s 7 Fruit Fiesta Sangria
Chocolate, Pineapple or Fiery Pepper Margarita
Strawberry or Mango Mojitos

“El” Tequila Flight:
 El Jimador (Blanco), El Mayor (Reposado), El Tesoro (Anejo)

Appetizers & Soups 
Hand-rolled tamales: Chicken or Pork
Hand-made Empanadas: Chicken or Pork
Tortilla Soup • Gazpacho

 Entree Features
Entrees served with two sides (except Diablo Rellenos). We have Stir fry green beans today!

Carne Asada
Flat Iron Steak marinaded in our homemade seasoning blend and grilled to your liking. Served with chopped onion, fresh cilantro and pico de gallo.  15.95

Diablo Rellenos
Fresh roasted poblano peppers stuffed with chorizo & potato. Topped with melted Jack and salsa. Served with rice. 14.95 

Wahoo Fish Tacos
Wahoo fish pan seared in cilantro butter and topped with Napa cabbage slaw. 13.95

Taquitos Dinner
Spiced chicken & cheese rolled in a corn tortilla, deep-fried crispy with a chipotle ranch dipping sauce. 13.95

Dessert Features
• John’s Homemade Ice Cream Chocolate Chile or Butter Pecan
• Chocolate or Caramel Flan
Other yummy desserts.  Ask your server for a suggestion.
 

How we made our Seven Fruit Fiesta Sangria

Or,  Adventures in Sangria Making

Our general manager, Chris Ribarchak (CCR1) decided to create a new sangria recipe in celebration of Cinco De Mayo this weekend.  With the help of his apprentice (CCR2), Chris produced a delicious Seven Fruit Fiesta Sangria.  Here's a peak behind the scenes.

1. A shopping trip to the Strip was planned a few days in advance on a beautiful morning. 

2.  Each piece of fruit was carefully inspected for quality.

3. Once the fruit passed quality control and the CCRs were satisfied, the fruit purchases were finalized.

4. Picking fruit and walking around the Strip was hard work. A donut break was in order.

5.  CCR1 got his work space ready...

6. Alas, CCR2 isn't allowed to play with knives, he had to visit Aunt Wendy for the next step.

7. While CCR1 did a lot of chopping...

8. CCR2 had some important work of his own to do along with cousin, Julia. Franklin Inn kids are "cheap" labor.






















9. Then, it was time to return to the Inn to finish paper work and check on CCR1's progress

 

10. The Sangria was looking good! Now it needs to rest until Friday.

Yahoo! It is Friday! Come and enjoy the fruits of their labor. It is tasty!