potato egg mushroom pepper onion torta

egg, potato, mushroom, pepper, onion, cheese TORTA!

how to morph mushroom fajitas into a potato torta or potato frittata. use the mushroom, pepper, onion mixture leftover from the fajitas to make a delicious anytime meal! serve warm or at room temperature. here’s how:

you’ll need:

leftover mushroom fajitas (see previous post)
8-10 eggs
potatoes, sliced thinly (i used a mandoline)
¼ C cheese - your choice, i used grana padano
2 T sour cream (i was out of half & half)
garlic clove, whole, peeled & smashed
2 T oil
2 T butter

preheat oven to 450℉.

add 2 tablespoons each of oil & butter to a cast iron skillet. add garlic clove to flavor the oil/butter. add potatoes as a thin layer on bottom of skillet. salt & pepper potatoes. cover & cook on med-high for 6 minutes. flip potatoes. cover. let cook for an additional 5 minutes. potatoes should be tender (fully cooked) and beautifully browned.

now, in a large bowl, mix eggs, sour cream (or half & half) salt, pepper & cheese. whisk to incorporate.

put left over mushroom fajitas over potatoes. cover & let heat through, about 1 minutes.

add egg mixture. reduce heat to medium. let eggs set with lid. about 3 minutes.

place skillet into oven for about 8 minutes. watch carefully. cook until just set. do not over cook. if in doubt if the torta is set, open oven and shake. again, do not over cook & do not brown top.

let cool about 20 minutes on stove top. flip torta out on a plate. cut like a pie and serve. YUM.

pre flipped torta

note: a torta is a thick egg and potato cake baked gently in the oven, a spanish omelet of sorts. eat it warm, room temp or cold as a sandwich filling.

mushroom fajitas

mushroom fajitas

mushroom fajitas. delicious & no one had to die. this is an outline of a recipe, use what you have. i cleaned out my fridge after 3 weeks of eating out way too much. here’s how:

you’ll need:

mushrooms (i used shiitake mushrooms & baby portabello)
1 medium onion, sliced into strips
1 red pepper, sliced into strips
1 green pepper. sliced into strips
1 garlic cloves, peeled & smashed
salt
½ teaspoon cumin
veg oil

you’ll do:

remove stem from shiitakes with scissors. (keeps stems to make stock). leave whole if around the size of a quarter. otherwise, cut in half. slice other button style mushrooms. set aside. heat oil in a cast iron skillet. add garlic cloves, this flavors the oil. remove garlic when it browns. add onions & peppers. after about 3 minutes, add the button type sliced mushrooms. after about 2 minutes, add shiitakes. do not add salt. cook & stir frequently until mushrooms are done, about 6 minutes.

season with cumin & salt. set heat to low.

mushroom fajitas

heat tortillas and garnish with salsa, cheese, avocado slices and sour cream.

YUM.

The Secret is out of the Garden: this place SUCKS.

Garden Secrets Vegan/Vegetarian Restaurant & Store? in Hot Springs, AR

the food sucks. if the options are between eating out of a dumpster or eating here, ok, i’d probably choose Garden Secrets, but there is absolutely no other reason to eat there. i was a vegetarian for 10+ years and i frequently prepared meat-free meals. so, let’s start with, it’s not the lack of meat that’s the problem at Garden Secrets. it’s the lack of creativity, the lack of FLAVOR, the lack of ambiance and the lack of a good waitstaff.

let’s start with walking in the door: the room is dark, as in no lights on. there is a pitiful excuse for a “store” that you’ll be standing in. my pantry is better stocked. so, here’s your chance to leave. leave before someone spots you and offers to escort you down the weird ass corridor to the “dining area” which is nothing more than an exterior add-on sun room of an old house. there are about 10 booths. go on, think “oh, a restaurant in an old house, how quaint, how cute.” think that about OTHER restaurants. this ain’t cute.

while listening to sad funeral home tunes, you can peruse the menu. you can look at the SOUPS & SALADS section and see NO SOUPS listed. the menu has salads, burgers, sandwiches, panini, spaghetti & various stir fry.
 

look at the mishmash items and think about how the combination of appetizers and your entree will make you VOMIT. guacamole with beef stir fry anyone?

after a looooooooooooong question & answer session of: do you make your own tea? do you have sweet tea? do you make the sweet tea? the tea came un~tea like and unsweet. on the table STEVIA is offered. no real sugar. we were told to sweeten it ourselves.

BEWARE drink refills are not free.

during your excruciatingly long wait for your order to arrive, you can take that time to look at the DIRTY return vent in the wall or the shitty paint job.
 

the service was odd. servers were not unlike lobotomized zombies. we compared our lunch experience not only to a funeral but to eating at the bar in the Shinning, but hell, we all know that would have been waaaaaaaaay better.

the guacamole appetizer ($5.99) was good. the mushroom panini and minestrone soup ($7.99) were both tasteless & bland. the soup had no depth of flavor.
 

prepare yourself for a wait to pay. NOT b/c there is a queue, they haven’t figured out that the cash register will tally what is punched into it. on a pad next to the register, she tried to figure out, long hand, how much to charge for 3 teas ($6.60).

$36.79 down & still hungry.

so, if you haven’t gotten the message: do yourself a favor and DO NOT GO TO GARDEN SECRETS. the secret is out of the garden: this place SUCKS.

also, it's pretty obvious that the review on urban spoon is phony. NO ONE WOULD GO HERE FOR A CELEBRATION DINNER. ok, maybe JACK TORRANCE.