Foodie Fight #2: Honey-Mustard and Lemon Greek Skewers with Hummus Dipping Sauce

Hey, there. So my time in Prescott has been winding down as I get ready to move to Tucson in a couple weeks. I'm really excited, but at the same time really bummed because moving means quitting my job which I LOVE and leaving a lot of people behind. The good news is, though, there are a lot of people that will be down there with me! Not to mention my own room, a 24 hr pool, and hopefully a nice kitchen to cook in :)

I've been busy working and doing as many summery things as possible, so I've been cooking less. I still check out each week's new foodie fight ingredients, but haven't been inspired enough to sign up. This week, though, I said "to hell with it" and signed up for battle skewers even though a. I don't have a grill, b. I have very few recipes that involve skewers or meat (which seems to be what most people expect to be skewered) and c. the weekend I'd have to cook coincided with my sister and her boyfriend visiting, a film festival, and a couple rad parties. Despite all this, I signed up and on a Sunday afternoon after 5 hours of sleep and a very unfocused shopping trip I got to cooking my idea- Greek Skewers.

Sesame-Seared Tuna and Tempura Papaya Sushi with Spicy Sesame Sauce and Papaya Chutney

Quite a title, eh? SO. Remember that foodie fights thing I told you about like... 2 days ago? Well, guess who snagged a spot on the battle...um... kitchen this week? That's right, baby. After missing my chance last week, I made sure to be all over the sign-ups this week, even though I had no idea what to create with the ingredients- sesame seeds and starfruit. After a bit of thinking I came up with a sushi idea, but alas! No starfruit was to be found. Luckily Dan and Nick saw that starfruit availability might be an issue, so they decided to allow papaya as a substitute. I've never cooked with papaya, but they've been in every grocery store recently- so what better time to go ahead and try them out? Papaya slid into starfruit's spot in my mental recipes without a problem, and what was manifested was pretty darn spectacular.

Honey-Glazed 'Chicken' Enchiladas

Ok. It's been a while. I know. I have no excuses. Well, I do, but none that can explain away over a month of silence. What can I say? I'm just busy! I've been in Arizona for almost a month and a half now, and I've been trying to squeeze as much out of the gorgeous desert summer as I can. I even managed to find an awesome summer job, working as a server/counter girl for an super-cool pizza joint downtown. When I'm not there, I'm camping, swimming, seeing old friends, or cooking... and forgetting to take pictures of it so I can post it. Thing is... the apartment kitchen is a little cramped for all the stunning food photography that I feel a proper blog post is worthy of. But there I go making excuses again. Honestly though, how do those famous food bloggers do it? I feel like they all live in their own perfect world where it's always spring time, there are farmers markets everyday, no one has to work and everyone has endless funds. Maybe I'll get there someday, but for now I'll just have to cope with my minimum wage job, tiny apartment, and elusive free-time.