My aunt and uncle (Hi Betty and Phil!) have family in Arizona, and on their holiday trip picked pounds upon pounds of grapefruits, lemons, and oranges, generously sharing the bounty. We ate many, many and had plenty more grapefruits to make marmalade! Delightfully delicious. I added some rye whiskey to a few and wow-ie, best friends in a jar.

I love me a gyro, but, for the longest time, struggled to make my own taste like the twirl on a spit restaurant variety. I am pleased to report I finally got it right. The key? Add waaaay more oregano and thyme than you think will do the trick. I also pulverized some almond flour crackers to nail the texture. A Greek salad win!

Way back in our first apartment days, we loved to eat at this little local joint called Z-Teca (It is now Q-Doba and not at all the same). My favorite all-the-things burrito thereabouts was a poblano pesto. We had ample frozen poblanos from Farmer Greg’s summer season, and I got to making my closest (and runniest) memory of it.

We simmered it with cauliflower rice and topped it with smoked scallops for a Mexican flag beautiful lunch, accompanied by roasted pepper tomato soup. Um, y e s.

Barely visible white bean and green chile soup, topped with cilantro, green onion, and jalapeno.

Smoked pork shoulder (with whizzed red & green poblanos and a touch of o.j.), pintos, and cilantro lime slaw. Southwestern flavors pretty much rule our roost, friends.

Ground chicken, zaatar, golden raisin, dried cherry, jalapeno, and carrot skillet. We served it over spinach and red lettuce.

A similar blend of Mediterranean flavors, mixed with zoodles and cabbage, with homemade pitas. Sometimes you just gotta.

More Southwestern foodstuffs: butternut squash “queso”, cauliflower lime rice, pintos, and pulled chicken. Oh, and prickly pear margaritas (scroll here for the recipe) from the fruits I harvested this fall. Woot!

Smoked chicken tacos and smoky white beans!