Eat Your Veggies

A caramalized onion, bacon, vegetable, and 2 cheese tart

2009-11-03T21:45:00.000-06:00

Last week, I unexpectedly recieved a 20 dollar bill. Well, a 200 peso bill to be exact. It came from a friend who all of a sudden remembered that I had lent her 200 pesos a couple months ago. I told her there was no need to pay me back, but she insisted, and in times like these, I can really use all the money I can get. Except, instead of using it to give to my boyfriend to cover my half of the expenses of the $500 dollar stove he put on his credit card, I was browsing Wal-mart and found some cherry tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes are hard to come by in central Mexico, so I thought ok, I have to pick these up. While continuing to browse, I was thinking about what I could use these little guys for, when I found myself in the cheese section. I picked up a hunk of parmesan and looked at the price tag. $120 pesos...about $10.50. "Hmm," I thought as I set it in the cart, "120 pesos + 30 pesos for the cherry tomatoes leaves me $50 pesos. I think I'll pick up some bacon while I'm at it." The bacon cost $30, leaving me with $20. I thought I did good, because I hadn't spent all of themoney. And then I got to the checkout counter and couldnt resist buying a couple packs of peanut m&ms. I know, I know...I'm awful with money, but at least the tart I made was so delicious that I felt a little less guilty ;)

layer 1...a basic savory pie crust

layer 2...carmalized onion, crumbled bacon, sauteed zucchini

layer 3...mozzarella and tomato slices

layer 4...grated parmesan and cherry tomatoes

bake at 375 until crust is done (about 25-30 minutes for me)

salad with figs, jamon serrano and bleu cheese dressing

2009-10-21T19:11:00.000-05:00

I made this delicious salad the other day when I was stuck with no food in the house (the day I made the pumpkin spice smoothie in the post below) and it was really really good. The neighbor has a fig tree that hangs in my yard and I cut a couple off (with permission of course), chopped up some black olives and washed some lettuce and mixed it all together with a bleu cheese dressing. My boyfriend was apprehensive at first to try it ("fruit? in salad??") but I added some jamon serrano to his salad as an incentive and he ate it right up. I even got a compliment out of him on how good the "fruit" was in salad.

Pumpkin Spice Smoothie

2009-10-16T14:45:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I was stuck in my house all day with hardly any food ( i havent been shopping in 2 weeks!) and I was really craving something sweet. I rummaged through my fridge and in the freezer i found some frozen bananas (i freeze them to use them in banana bread or smoothies). i had somemilk i needed to use up, so i thought "ok, I'll just make a banana smoothie" but then my eye caught something in the verrrry back of my freezer. A tupperware of pumpkin puree! I talked about pumpkin puree in my pumpkin bread post (here) and i had been saving the leftover puree from the bread to make a pumpkin pie. However, over the last week or so, I have seen so many pumpkin recipes i want to try, and walmart (the only place i can buy pumpkins here in Mexico) is all out and the produce manager told me they probably wouldnt be stocking anymore. I was faced with a difficult decision...save the puree for a pie, or try delicious-looking pumpkin bar recipe... In the end, the pie won. I've been craving pumpkin pie for over a year now, and so into the freezer it was for my pumpkin puree.

But yesterday, when I saw that puree sitting in the back of the freezer, I decided that taking just a tablespoon or two wouldnt matter.
Pumpkin Smoothie

1.5 c milk
1/2 small banana cut in thin rounds (you could leave this out if you wanted to)
about 2-3 tbsp pumpkin puree (I just threw mine in frozen)
1tbsp sugar (more or less to taste)
pinch or 2 of cinnamon, nutmeg and any other spices you like in your pumpkin pie

Blend all ingredients together and enjoy.

Homemade pumpkin puree

2009-10-05T10:23:00.007-05:00

I won't lie. Making pumpkin puree from a real pumpkin is a lot of work. First you have to scoop out all the guts. You have to do a really good job of this, because who wants stringy stuff in their delicious pumpkin treats?? (set the seeds aside to roast later.)After its cleaned, you have to cut the pumpkin in large chunks (since mine was small as I only bought half a pumpkin from the store, I just cut it in half again.) Then, you have to roast it for about an hour. When it cools, you have to scoop out all the flesh and puree it ( I used a blender because I don't have a food processor.) When all that is taken care of, if you used a small pumpkin like me, you're left with about 6 cups of pumpkin puree, which means of course, that you have to make pumpkin bread.

For my pumpkin bread, I used this as a base recipe, but tweaked it a little. Also I halved the recipe, to make just 1 loaf )

for 1 loaf:

about 1 1/2 c pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup buttermilk (or milk mixed with vinegar ...3 parts milk to 1 part vinegar)
1/3 cup water
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease loaf pan

In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, milk, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.
Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

a gift from Italy....

2009-09-28T13:21:00.004-05:00

This gorgeous hunk of pecorino was given to us by out Italian neighbors who just returned from their latest trip back home to visit their grandson. As I type this Im eating a huge chunk and its amazing! Pecorino has always been my favorite cheese, and Im already thinking of all the ways I can use this. Any suggestions on what to pair it with are welcome ;)

chile manzano

2009-09-23T10:24:00.003-05:00

Let me introduce you all to the chile manzano. This little guy may be tiny, but he packs a lot of heat. With a rating of about 30,000 on the Scoville heat scale, the manzano chile makes even my boyfriend (lover of all things spicy) break a sweat. He claims it doesnt, but last night when he ate it in a stirfry I made, I saw him wipe his brow when he thought I wasnt looking.

An interesting fact about the chile manzano: it has black seeds. At first, I thought my boyfriend's aunt had given me rotting chiles, but after some research online, I was assured that they are supposed to be black.

French toast sandwiches..a good late night snack

2009-09-21T09:21:00.002-05:00

For the past couple of weeks, I have really been craving French toast...but I didnt have any maple syrup to put on top. I kept forgetting and forgetting to get it everytime I went to the store. Then finally last night I jsut couldnt take it anymore and made my boyfriend take me to the store just to get it so i could make my French toast.
He complained a bit about having to go out at 9:30 pm ust to get some maple syrup, but when all was said and done, he didnt regret taking me, and he raved about his banana-cream cheese stuffed French toast "sandwich."

This was really easy. You just make basic French toast in a skillet and then spread the filling between to slices. For the filling I mixed some cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and sliced bananas. Top with maple syrup and powdered sugar.

The best biscuits and gravy I've ever had!

2009-09-16T23:50:00.003-05:00

Ok so my gravy I'm sure wasn't the greatest ever, but to me, after about a year of not having biscuits and gravy, it tasted pretty damn amazing.

Here in Mexico we dont have anything like bisquik. I had never found refrigerated biscuits either....until last Monday. Last Monday I actually had time to leisurely browse through all the aisles of the new Walmart here, and in the refrigerated section, hidden behind tubs of margerine, I found a lone tube of buttermilk biscuits. I freaked! The poor people in Walmart probably thought I was crazy, but I was so happy. I told my bf that I had to buy them, even though they were kind of pricey (I mean $4 for a tube of biscuits??? come on...). But I had to have them.

I know what you're thinking. Refrigerated biscuits?? Why when you could just make your own? I know, I know. I dont buy many pre-packaged things for a couple reasons. Homemade just tastes better, and also in Mexico there arent nearly as many pre-packed foods as in America. Well, none that I want to make, anyway.

However, when it comes to biscuits, I'm lazy. I dont know why, but I just dont like to make them. I'd prefer to buy tubes.

Anyways, I love biscuits and gravy, so I knew I would have to use the biscuits for that. Besides, my boyfriend had never had it, and I really wanted him to try it.

I made a quick bacon gravy with some turkey bacon that I needed to use up. The biscuits and gravy tasted wonderful! Exactly what I had been craving, and my boyfriend loved it as well.

And im awful at posting recipes on here because I never really measure anything, but I'll try to give correct measurements.

6 slices of bacon
2-3 tbsp butter
2-3 tbsp flour
1 c milk ( mixed it with half a cube of chicken buillon)
salt and pepper to taste

cook bacon until crispy. drain on paper towels.
melt 2 or 3 tbsp butter in the same skillet you used for bacon.
whisk in 2 or 3 tbsp flour (depends on how thick you want your gravy. Remember you can always add extra milk if its too thick).
When flour and butter have cooked about 1 minutes, add milk and salt and pepper.
Crumble a few slices of the bacon into the mixture.
Simmer till it reaches desired thickness.

lime pomegranate bars

2009-09-10T19:46:00.002-05:00

My FIL brought home a huge bag of pomegranates yesterday (called granadas here in Mexico) and my MIL gave me a few to take home. Since after about 1 pomegranate I'm sick of them, I browsed Tastespotting for a bread or something to put them in to use them up. I came across NoFearEntertaining's lemon pomegranate bars. In Mexico I have yet to see a yellow lemon, so I had to use key limes, but the bars still turned out amazing!

baked zucchini chips

2009-09-07T20:54:00.000-05:00

I started another diet today, and wanted a healthy side for my chicken breast, so I made some baked zucchini chips.

they're totally easy and totally scrumptious.

2-3 zucchinis, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds (or thinner if you want them crispier)
3/4 c bread crumbs (you can use seasoned ones or add your own seasongs. I add salt, pepper, and cheese)
2 egg whites

Preheat oven to 450ºf
Dip zucchini slices in eggwhites and then into bread crumbs.
Put slices on a greased baking sheet.
Bake 15-20 minutes, turning over half way through.

layers, layers and more layers...

2009-09-06T16:36:00.000-05:00

I have these neighbors here in Mexico. The husband is Italian and the wife is Romanian. The man, Giuseppe, is a really good suit maker (I'm sure that has a name), and travels all over the world working in factories that make men's clothes, and abotu 4 years ago, they ended up here in Pachuca. They've lived in Italy, Korea, Portugal and alot more places that I cant recall at the moment, and that makes for a really hard time understanding the man talk. He mixes Portugese, Italian, Spanish and English, and I'm lucky if I understand half of what he says. The wife speaks Spanish pretty well, so I can understand her. Anyways, they are the nicest people and they have us over to dinner alot. The lady, Mariana, is an AMAZING cook! She makes all kinds of delicious Romanian and Italian food for us.
A couple weeks ago, we had a dinner to celebrate Giuseppe's birthday and Mariana made an overwhelming amount of food. She sent us home with huge plates of left overs, and this was what I ate for breakfast the next day:

The first layer is a delicious, flaky, homemade puff pastry. The second, a layer of thick cut bacon.
For the third layer, we have shredded carrots and leek. And right in the middle, we have juicy, mouthwatering pork loin.
Man, was this good. I cant even begin to explain how good. I have yet to get the full recipe from my neighbor, but i have the basic idea of how she makes it. She just basically wraps everything in the puff pastry she makes and then bakes it till the pork loin is done. She also makes something similar with a baguette. She hollows out the baguette, wraps the pork loin in bacon, and then stuffs it into the bread and bakes it until the pork is done.

calabazas asadas/ grilled zukes and an explanation.

2009-09-01T17:44:00.000-05:00

So i've been away awhile.
I was in training for three weeks to get a job as an english teacher at a school here in Pachuca. It was a very rigorous training as they have their own methhodology of teaching, and i barely had enough time to do anything else, especially cook. but after 3 weeks of this training, i began to realize that they were making a lot of false promises, and to make a long story short, I will not be working there. I will stick to teaching the Korean children that ive been teaching for the last 3 years.

anyways, on a brighter note, I was given more zucchinis by MIL and my FIL taught me a great new way to prepare them:

Just drizzle on some olive oil, sprinkle with S&P, throw them on a hot comal till they char, and voila! Delicious grilled zukes!

I think Ive mentioned comals before. They are basically a removable iron plate that come on stoves here in Mexico. They are used to warm tortillas, grill tomatoes for salsa, and to heat various other things.

big zucchini, baby zucchini

zukes on the comal

zukes in all their grilled goodness...

2009-08-24T19:28:00.000-05:00

Long time no blog!!!!!

sorry about that!

ive had a lot on my plate right now. i got a new job as an english teacher at a school but my visa has expired so im trying to figure out what i need to d0 to fix that. plus ive been in training everyday for 3 weeks for the new job, but that ends soon.

So regular posting should begin again soon!!!

forgotten cookies

2009-08-08T10:16:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, my boyfriend and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary. man, these 3 years have gone by so fast. He took me to a Brasilian restaurant to celebrate. I ate so much that I never want to see meat again.

I made forgotten cookies the other day but didnt get to post them, because a friend had a baby (!) and I was with her all day.

my boyfriend and the baby

I got the recipe for forgotten cookies from my roomie when I was studying in Guadalajara. She had to make something American to take to her Spanish class, and she decided on these. They were sooo hard to make because we had no electric mixer and had to take turns mixing the egg whites by hand. And then, when we went to take the cookies of they tray the next day, we realized we hadnt greased it. We had to use a knife to get them off, and our host mom got really mad when she saw the tray because it was all scratched up. oops...

2 egg whites
2/3 cup white sugar
1 pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Gradually add sugar, continuing to beat until whites form stiff peaks. Fold in the vanilla and chocolate chips. Spoon onto the prepared cookie sheets.
Put the cookies into the preheated oven, shut the door and turn off the oven . Let cookies sit in the turned off oven for 5 to 6 hours or overnight.

BBQ...and the end of a diet :(

2009-08-05T10:02:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm sad to say that my boyfriend's diet lasted all of 12 hours.

He got home from work Monday and pulled out another one of those giant tortas that i posted about the other day from his lap top case and dug in. He about 3/4 of it and washed it down with 2 glasses of sprite.

Yesterday I made some pulled chicken BBQ sandwiches with zucchini chips and a lite apple crisp in hopes that all that would fill him up, but it didnt. A couple hours later his parents invited us over because some friends of the family dropped by, and my bf chowed down on about 10 chalupas. A chalupa is fried corn dough toppd with lettuce, salsa, chicken, and radish.

But anyways! Sorry for the rant. I really dont know what to do about him. I guess it's just a decision he will have to make for himself, but in the mean time i can continue to cook healthy meals for him. sigh.

You can find my BBQ recipe here. The buns were homemade, but nothing to write home about, so I wont bore you with the recipe.

swiss chard with wild mushrooms

2009-08-03T21:22:00.000-05:00

My mother in law gave me some weird looking mushrooms the other day. Anyone have any idea what kind they are??

I dont like mushrooms, as I have previously stated, but in light of my boyfriend's new diet, I decided to put them to good use. I had some swiss chard (called acelgas here in Mexico) that I needed to use up, so i just sauteed that with some garlic, salt and the mushrooms. My boy friend loved it!

Swiss chard with Wild Mushrooms (for 1):

1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp oil
a couple handfuls of swiss chard
about a cup of sliced mushrooms

sautee garlic and musrooms in oil.
add in swiss chard and sautee until wilted

Stuffed peppers...the start of a diet!

2009-08-03T19:28:00.000-05:00

Today, my boyfriend finally agreed to start a diet with me. I've been trying to get him to eat better for a long time. It's not that he eats alot of bad stuff. He eats relatively good foods, he just eats so much. He's a big guy (6'2'', 220 lbs) and I like how he looks, but its his health I'm concerned about.

But so far so good. Today was the first day in 3 years that I saw him eat meal without 4 slices of bread! I just hope he sticks with this diet.

I knew I had to make something healthy and filling, so I decided on stuffed bell peppers. They filled him up all right!

Stuffed Bell Peppers (for 2):

2 big bell peppers (whatever color you like)
1.5 - 2 c cooked rice (depends on how big your peppers are) I cooked my rice with tomatoes to give it a nice flavor
4-5 slices turkey bacon
.5 c black beans
diced onion and minced garlic (however much you want)
salt and pepper to taste

Cut peppers either in half or cut the tops off. I cut mine in half length-wise.
Devein peppers.
Sautee onions, garlic, and bacon a few minutes. Add beans and cooked rice, and sautee a couple minutes more. Season with Salt and pepper.
fill peppers and pop in the oven at 375ºf for 25-30 minutes. ( you can add cheese on top if you are so inclined)

apple scones

2009-07-31T11:41:00.000-05:00

Its been about a week since I've baked anything sweet, and I was going through withdrawls. I havent been shopping this week, so the only fruit I had on hand were some bananas and a green apple. I bake alot with bananas and I wanted something different so I knew I had to do something with the apple.
But what could I bake with jsut one apple??
Cinnamon Apple Scones of course! With one apple I could get 12 delicious, moist scones!
These were great!

Cinnamon Apple Scones:

2 cups flour
1/4 + 1/8c sugar ( i add the extra sugar to cut some of the baking powderish salty-ness)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup cold butter, chopped in small cubes
1/2 c milk
1 tsp cinnamon ( I always add more)
1 green apple, peeled, cored, and diced

Mix dry ingredients, then cut in butter till mixture is crumby.
Add milk and apple and stir until you have a moist dough.
knead gently and separate the dough in two parts. On a greased baking sheet, pat the dough into circles.
Cut each circle into six parts.
Brush the tops with milk and sprinkle on extra cinnamon and sugar

What is this monstrous thing?

2009-07-31T11:21:00.000-05:00

its a torta de la central.
In other words, its an enormous sandwich my boyfriend bought at the bus station (central) this mornig at 4 am after a night at the bar. He only ate half of it, and said I could have the other half. I asked him what it had on it, and he said he didnt know, but that it was called a niña rica. I disected it this morning and found that it contains in no particular order:

mayo
milanesa- a breaded, fried meat fillet
avocado
sachicha- hot dogs
some other kind of thin red meat that tasted a little like pepperoni...
queso oaxaca
onions
tomato

I took a bite of it (minus the hot dogs and mayo...eww) and was surprised that it was delicious. One bite turned into another and another until I had finished the darn thing. :\

pork and zucchini soup in a boule bread bowl

2009-07-29T19:17:00.000-05:00

Here in Pachuca, we've been having ridiculous weather...no surprise there. Yesterday, at noon, it was about 87°f and sunny. Then out of nowhere, by 3 pm, it had cooled down to 50°f and it was pouring rain. My boyfriend has been feeling a little under the weather due to these crazy changes, so in anticipation that today would also be cold, I decided to surprise him with something he had never even heard of before...soup in a bread bowl.

Then it was 85 all day.

But it didnt matter; he appreciated the soup, it was delicious, and the bread turned out great.

Since i didnt have days to make sourdough, i settled on the master boule from Artisan Bread. Considering I had about 4 hours to make it, i was worried it wouldnt rise enough, but it did, and was yummy, although a little flatter than i would've liked. Oh well, it still worked for the bread bowl. The only changes I made were adding some basil and thyme, and since I dont have a pizza stone, I baked it on a plain old cookie tray.

The soup I made was a delicious pork-zucchini (I still have zucchini from my father-in-law coming out of my ears!).

boule

boule again

bread bowl

pork soup in bread bowl

a simple salad of red lettuce and mustard vinaigrette

Pork Zucchini Soup (for 3-4)
Note--these are all estimates. I never really measure. Add more or less to taste:

3/4 - 1 pound pork meat, cut in chunks (the cut I used said pulpa pernil...i dont know what that is in spanish or english... I assume its from the back part of the pig) but basically you just need stew meat.
2 zucchinis (sliced .5 inch thick)
1 small green bell pepper, diced
1 onion, roughly chopped ( i like chunks)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 serrano chile, seeded and minced (optional. i didnt seed the pepper and it was pretty spicy)
2 cups chicken stock
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp cream
1/4 c milk
salt and pepper to taste

Dredge pork in flour (i season my flour with s&p and basil)
brown in stock pot. remove from pot.
to pot, add 1.5 tbsp oil and sautee onion, garlic, and chile. return pork to pot and add zucchini and bell pepper. Sautee a couple minutes.
Meanwhile heat stock, milk, cream and cornstarch. When warm, add to pot. Simmer about an hour, until meat is tender.
Season to taste.

chocolate cherry banana muffins

2009-07-20T22:44:00.000-05:00

I was fortunate enough to get my hands on exactly 14 cherries yesterday, which here in Mexico is a very hard thing to do. Cherries are only sold in 1 out of hundreds of stalls at the market I go to and they cost about 10 dollars a pound. My inlaws went yesterday and bought a pound and gave me ... well, 14. now i figured i could eat them all myself in 5 minutes, or i could bake them in something and share them and make them last longer. I went with the latter.
I decided on a muffin, using a recipe i have previously posted ( here ). All i did was pit and cut up the cherries and add them to the mix, no other changes. They were scrumptious!

pizza margherita

2009-07-20T22:39:00.000-05:00

My fiance finshed a coaching class he was taking for the past few months, and his classmates organized a picnic to celebrate. He volunteered for me to make pizza, and forgot to tell me until we were in the car on the way home from a night club at 3:30 am the morning of the picnic.

Now when I make pizza for people other than myself and him, i like to make my dough ahead of time in case anything goes wrong the day of and i have to start over (i have problems with yeast...it doesnt like me). But on this day, I just had to hope for the best. LUckily my crust turned out and all was well with the world.

Pizza Margherita:

1 can whole tomatoes
oregano, salt, pepper
minced onion and garlic (however much you like)
oil
fresh basil
mozzarella
thinly sliced tomotaes

Sautee onion and garlic in oil. Meanwhile in a blender or food processor, blend tomatoes with their juice until you have chunks (or you could coarsely chop with a knife). Add to onions. Season with salt, pepper, and oregano. simmer a couple minutes.
put on top of your favorite pizza crust, and top with mozzarella nad thinly sliced tomatoes. Bake about 20 minutes or until crust is done (at the temp your crust recipe calls for). When you take the pizza out, put on the basil and...

taaa-daaa...you have pizza margherita!

(this yummy pancetta was for another pizza that i made...pancetta and portobello pizza!)

crema de setas y calabazas

2009-07-12T16:09:00.000-05:00

My inlaws went out of town today for about a week and asked my fiance and me to stay at their house to take care of their dog while they are gone. When we stay at their place, obviously we make ourselves at home and eat whatever they have, and luckily two days before they left they went to the farmers market so I have kitchen full of fresh veggies to cook with this week!

While going through the veggies to get inspiration for meals for the week, I came across these setas, or wild mushrooms, and knew i had to make some kind of soup for my fiance with them. He adores them. Now a couple posts ago i talked about how i hate mold and i really dont like mushrooms, because they look like mold. But these setas are so white and clean and pure looking that i dont mind eating them...I actually liked them.

Crema de calabaza y setas (4 servings)

2 cups hot water
1 chicken stock
1 can evaporated milk
2-3 chopped zucchinis (I used round zucchinis that my FIL grows in his fields...YUM!)
1.5 c chopped mushrooms (use the mushrooms of your choice)
salt and pepper to taste
chopped onion and garlic (I never measure, put in as much as you want)

sautee onion and garlic in a tbsp of oil about five minutes. Add water, stock, zucchini, and mushrooms. Simmer until zucchini is tender.
Add evaporated milk, and puree.
return to stovetop and reheat until the soup thickens. Season to taste.

other mexican things

2009-07-11T17:42:00.000-05:00

here are some other delicious mexican foods that i am lucky enough to get to eat on a regular basis.

First up we have enchiladas. These are NOT your run-of-the-mill TexMex enchiladas, nor are they the cream-topped enchiladas suizas. These come from the state of Hidalgo, where I live. They are basically a corn tortilla stuffed with some kind of egg-chile-tomato mixture and then fried in a thin layer of oil. I have not learned to make these in the 3 years i have been eating them (which is probably a good thing, because if i knew how i would make them every day.)

enchiladas

Next there is queso Oaxaca, a cheese that comes from, well, Oaxaca. Its got a consistency like that of...string cheese; its easy to pull apart and actually tastes similar to string cheese. I cant find any other way to describe it, really.

queso Oaxaca

These beauties are tamales wrapped in acelgas (swiss chard). My fiance's grandma makes them, and has offered to teach me, but i just havent made time. but as with the enchiladas, its probably good that i havent learned, or else i would be eating way to much of them. These are just one of many, many types of tamales. These particular ones are served with a salsa roja thats not spicy.

These are flor de calabaza, or zucchini flower. it has a very bitter taste, and i dont particularly like it, but my mother-in-law uses it a lot for soups or to fill quesadillas or empanadas.

And finally we have guacamole made in a molcajete. A molcajete is a stone mortar and pestle. Guacamole from a molcajete tastes soooo much better than guacamole from a blender or food processor.

sopes de huitlacoche

2009-07-11T16:41:00.000-05:00

Today I was in a Mexican food mood. I wanted sopes. A sope is basically this:
Its like a corn tortilla, but thicker and oval shaped and topped with beans, meat, chicken, whatever you want, really. I told my boyfriend my idea and he agreed that sopes sounded good. But he had a special request...he wanted sopes de huitlacoche. BLECH!!!
For those of you who havent had the pleasure (insert sarcastic snarl here) of trying huitlacoche, I will enlighten you as to what it is.
Its basically corn mold. In the US its considered a plague, but here in Mexico its a really expensive delicacy. I tried one eensie weensie bite once that I couldnt even chew, and i will never try it again. Its not that it was bad, necessarily...it tastes pretty much like dirt or mushrooms. Its the fact that its mold. I have a mold phobia. it really disgusts me. I'm ok eating cheese, because it doesnt really look like gross disgusting mold that grows in damp bathrooms, but unfortunately huitlacoche does:
My mother-in-law had given us some a couple weeks ago, so I decided to oblige my boyfriend. I mean, its not like i was the one who had to pay upwards of $15 for the stuff.

So we went to the tortilleria and bought the handmade sope bases. When we got home I heated them on the comal (a cast iron plate...they come built in on stoves in Mexico), and filled them with huitlacoche for him, beans for me, queso oaxaca, and salsa. YUM!!

Brownies...

2009-07-03T11:55:00.000-05:00

...not from a box!

Yesterday I decided to try my hand at homemade brownies. Thank goodness i did. these were amazing! My fiance, who had never before had brownies in his life, said they were one of the best things he had ever tasted.

Heres the recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Best-Brownies/Detail.aspx

The only thing I didnt add was honey to the icing, because i dont have any at the moment, so i added another tsp of vanilla and a little milk.

Soba Noodles

2009-07-03T11:23:00.000-05:00

yesterday was one of those days. You know, the kind where you have absolutely no inspiration, but you have to make something, because you have people depending on you to eat.

So, I got out my recipe folder and while waiting for something to jump out at me, I found a recipe for eggdrop soup i had been wanting to try. I had some soba noodles, so I thought I'd make a meal of it.

Im glad I did. The soup and the noodles were delicious!

eggdrop soup (for 2):

3-4 cups of water
.5 tbsp bouillon
2 tbsp soy sauce
handful chopped chives
2 eggs
salt to taste

Bring first 4 ingredients to a boil slowly
Add lightly beaten eggs in a slow stream and cook for one minute

Soba noodles:

Cook soba noodles according to package.
meanwhile, blanch some broccoli.
In a skillet, sautee onion, garlic, broccoli, and chicken cutlets (I cut mine in strips).
Add one cup chicken stock, 1 tsp cornstarch, 2 tbsp soy sauce and cook a few minutes until sauce begins to thicken.
Add the noodles to the sauce.

My first fried egg...

2009-07-01T21:23:00.000-05:00

...was quite easy to make. it turned out perfectly, according to my fiance (I dont like eggs, so I wouldnt know).

However, the 2nd fried egg that I attempted to make for him, was not so easy. It ended up in the trash because the yolk broke. But its all good, because on a ¨diet¨anyway and this morning he had a fried egg and fried skillet potatoes.

Since many of you know how to fry an egg, i will spare you the details, but the skillet potatoes were really good, so I'll leave the recipe.

Skillet potatoes (this recipe is for one or two):

1 potato, doesnt matter what kind, diced in 1/2 inch cubes
some chopped onion and garlic, however much you like (I never measure)
salt, pepper, and paprika (again as much as you like. Start with a little and add more to taste.)

Saute onions and garlic in 1-2 tbsp oil.
Add potatoes, salt, pepper, and paprika to the pan and stir. cover and cook 10-15 minutes until potatoes are tender.
uncover and turn up heat to medium high. cook a few more minutes, stirring occasionally until lightly browned.

Watermelon granita

2009-07-01T08:27:00.000-05:00

On Sunday my mother in law gave me a beautiful, round, ripe watermelon. I told her that she shouldnt beacuse we probably wouldnt eat it, but she insisted, saying that i could make an agua fresca or cut it up for breakfast in the mornings for my fiance like she does for her family. (seriously this woman is up every morning squeezing fresh orange juice and peeling papaya, mango and watermelon for breakfast.)

Since I knew that wasnt going to be happening in my house, i figured i had to find something to do with this watermelon. So i decided upon a cool, delicious granita, as yesterday was extremely hot.

granitas are very simple to make.
look:

5 c seedless watermelon chunks
1/2c sugar
2 tbsp lime juice
Puree watermelon in blender.
Stir sugar and lime juice into puree and stir about 2 minutes to make sure sugar dissolves.
pour into shallow baking dish and freeze 30 minutes. take it out and scrape the sides with a fork to get the snowcone like texture and put back in freezer.
repeat every 30 minutes for about 4 hours.

and voila.

BBQ

2009-06-27T09:48:00.000-05:00

ok ok, i know my last post complained about the weather here in pachuca, but yesterday, it decided to surprise us and stay at a decent temperature all day, so to celebrate, I made barbeque chicken wraps, and a cool, refreshing salad.

barbeque sauce is totally easy to make. What i do is start with a base recipe, and then add more based on taste.

1c ketchup
3/4c water
1/4c vinager (I used cider vinager)
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1tbsp sugar
salt and pepper
dash hot sauce
1/2c diced onion

Simmer everything in a sauce pan for 20 minutes and voila. Of course you could leave it simmering longer to let the flavors mix more or you could leave it in the refrigerator over night before simmering.

gnocchi in tomato sauce.

2009-06-27T09:34:00.000-05:00

Aaah, there's nothing better than a steaming plate of gnocchi on these...cold, rainy, windy JUNE afternoons. Wait what? ¨shouldnt it be hot outside?¨you ask. Well in most normal places the answer would be yes. But Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico is not normal.
We start the day in lovely Pahuca at about 89 degrees F at 10 am, and by 3 pm the temperature has dropped to about 50 and there's hail. needless to say, my fiance and I are constantly sick due to these drastic changes, so I ocassionally like to make stews, or casseroles, or other hot meals, like this gnocchi to keep us warm.

oreo truffles

2009-06-22T11:59:00.000-05:00

the oh-so-famous oreo truffles that probably everyone and their grandmothers have made. so its not original, but who cares? Its delicious. i was in charge of the main dish and dessert for father's day, and I really didnt want to make a pie or cake. i wanted something simple, yet tasty. These definitely fit the bill.

ahh yes, on to the lesson.
kitchen lesson #2: if you dont have a food processor or rolling pin and need to crush a package of cookies, find an empty vodka bottle and get your boyfriend to crush them.

you learn something new everyday right?

2009-06-20T08:46:00.000-05:00

that's why I have decided to bring a new concept to my blog. for every post, I will put a lesson that I learned that day in the kitchen.

so for lesson numero 1.

my boyfriend had no idea what gravy was. Here in mexico people dont really eat gravy. So, I decided to make a gravy with some fresh fennel that I found at the market. now, most people use fennel bulbs, or fennel stalks, but rarely do people use the fronds. this was my first time buying fennel and they only sold me the fronds, so i had no choice.

well, on to the lesson. in mixing the ingredients for the gravy, i left the whisk in the bowl and turned my back for one second. in that one second, the whisk managed to tip the bowl over and the liquid went EVERYWHERE. After i had just spent 2 hours cleaning my kitchen. So i had to start from scratch (but it was well worth it.)

Lesson #1: do NOT leave a whisk that is heaver than the flimsy bowl that holds the ingredients in the flimsy bowl that holds the ingredients. it WILL tip over and make a mess.

mustard coated porkchops and wild rice with fennel gravy

for the gravy:
(2-3 servings)

1 c chicken stock
1 tsp lemon juice
palmful of fennel fronds, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, minced
dash or two of worcstershire sauce
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
salt and pepper to taste

mix all ingredients, except butter (yes, i mixed the flour in with liquid and did not stir it into the melted butter. and my recipe turned out fine)
melt butter (preferably in the pan you cooked the chops in so can deglaze it)
add liquid mixture to saucepan and stir. simmer on very low heat, stirring ocassionally until thickened (wont take long).
serve over pork chops

tequila lime chicken fajita salad

2009-06-17T17:27:00.000-05:00

whew...thats a mouthful.

apology pie

2009-06-16T12:11:00.000-05:00

After arguing all weekend with your fiancé and you're finally ready to make the peace, this is what you do. You make a big hearty steak-n-potato apology pot pie. You load a pie crust up with tender meat, sliced potatoes, and lots of onions. Throw in a little zucchini for good measure and put a tiny heart made of dough in the center and voilà! You're forgiven! Works everytime.

1pound sirloin cut in cubes (or you could use stew meat)
Flour (to lightly coat meat)
Salt and pepper (to season meat)
1-2 potatoes diced or thinly sliced, however you prefer
A handful of diced zucchini
1 medium onion, sliced
2 c beef stock
9 inch pie crust

Preheat oven to 400F.
In a bag mix flour, salt, and pepper.
Add meat and shake to coat.
Brown meat with onions. Add stock and lower heat.
Simmer for 30 min or until meat is tender.
Add potatoes and zucchini and simmer another 10 minutes.
Spoon everything into pie shell ( don't forget to put the little dough heart in the center
Bake 30 min or until crust is done.

This serves about four, unless you are like my boyfriend. Then it serves about 1 and a half.

calabazas with chile and lime

2009-06-16T12:02:00.000-05:00

since i still had calabazas left over from making stuffed calabazas the other day, i decided to try them in a new way.
In Mexico many people put chili powder and lime juice on all kinds of raw vegetables...carrots, cucumber, jicama, etc. I had never eaten a raw calabaza before and thought this would be an excellent way to try it. boy was i right. my fiance devoured this! It was sooo refreshing because yesterday was ridiculously hot.

banana bread muffins

2009-06-16T11:41:00.000-05:00

banana bread muffins. this recipe comes from my great grandmother from norway. its actually for a loaf of plain banana bread, but i decided to add cocoa powder ( because i was so excited that i finally found it here in mexico last week) and make muffins.

these were absolutely delicious. I had to give most of them to the kids i teach so i wouldnt eat them all.

grandma ronnies banana bread: (in italics are the changes i made)

2 1/4 c flour (minus 2 tablespoons)
2/3 c butter
1 1/2 c sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
3 tbsp milk, 1 tbsp vinager
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
5 very ripe, cold bananas

preheat oven to 375. mix milk and vinager and let sit at least 5 minutes
cream butter and sugar.
add eggs, milk, vanilla and bananas and mix (you will probably have a few banana chunks)
mix dry ingredients (including cocoa powder) in a seperate bowl and slowly add to the banana mixture.
pour in a loaf pan (or in this case, greased muffin tins.) for loaf bake for 1 hour, for muffins about 20-25 minutes.

peach chipotle salsa

2009-06-16T10:27:00.000-05:00

Long time no blog. The cord to my Mac charger is completely fried so Im unable to charge my laptop, so i am writing this from my inlaws house.

now on to the important stuff. aka cumin encrusted porkchops with peach chipotle salsa.
this was really, really good. my botfriend, who isnt a huge fan of cumin (he says it reminds him of american food like chile's and tgi friday's and how it all tastes the same) even liked this.
the only thing is that you ahve to taste the peaches and teh lime juice first to make sure they arent too sour. i learned this the hard way and had to make a new batch of this salsa.

for the porkchops:

coat pork chops lightly with olive oil
season with salt and pepper and then rub with cumin
pan fry or grill

for the salsa:

dice 2 peaches and 2 tbsp chipotle peppers.
mix with 1 tbsp (or more) lime juice
season with sugar if too sour.

Totopostes.

2009-06-10T19:16:00.000-05:00

These totopostes, which are very, very thin tortillas made of masa that has been finely ground, come from the town of San Andres Tuxtla, Veracruz, my mother-in-law's hometown. They taste exquisite with black beans seasond with epazote, cheese, and salsa. Too bad my boyfriend ate them before i could take a picture of the prepared totopostes.

snickerdoo....well, crunchy cinnamon cookies.

2009-06-09T10:41:00.000-05:00

I can not call these cookies snickerdoodles. They are not puffy nor do they have that crackled top that i love about my grandmother's snickerdoodles. No, these are flat and crunchy and, well, not snickerdoodley. Going through the list of ingredients before making this recipe, I knew these wouldnt turn out like I hoped. I believe it was because the lack of cream of tartar that the recipe called for. Here in Mexico, I have yet to find cream of tartar. or maybe it was jsut that i left them in the oven too long. ( i didnt make them for me, i made them for my inlaws, who dont like chewy cookies.) but at any rate these are not my fave cookies, although my FIL devours them.

2 3/4c flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
1c butter
1.5 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
cinnamon and sugar for topping

Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in medium bowl.
cream butter and sugar and add eggs in 1 at a time. add vanilla and beat in. beat in the flour mixture gradually.
roll in balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet (I greased it anyways)
dip the bottom of a glass in cinnamon and sugar mixture and press onto cookies to coat and flatten.
bake at 4oo farenheit for 8-10 minutes
give to father in laws that like crucnhy cookies.

A birthday pie post!

2009-06-05T16:18:00.000-05:00

My fiance turned 26 the other day, and we had a dinner for him at his parents' house. I was put on pie duty and I decided to get a little creative.

Apple pie (that under the 26 is a clover-the name of my boyfriend's band)

blackberry pie

the birthday boy and I

here is the pie crust recipe. It's a very flaky butter crust. So simple and sooo good!

Blackberry pie filling:

3.5 cups blackberries
1/2 c white sugar
3 tbsp cornstarch

Mix everything in a bowl and spoon into pie shell.
Bake at 375 for 25 minutes. (its as easy as that!)

First Post!

2009-06-04T11:04:00.000-05:00

Well, this is my first post, but definitely not my first blog. I've had other food blogs that have fallen by the wayside, but I promise this one won't. I have decided that I will stick with this one.

So a little introduction is in order I suppose.

I'm Amber, I'm 21, and I live in Mexico. I'm engaged and cooking is my great passion. I hope you enjoy the recipes/pictures I post.

I've decided to bestow the honor of being the subject of the first post to these delectable quiches. As these pictures are about a month old, I am sad to say that I have lost the recipe, which is truly a shame because these were delicious! (I'll keep searching, and if I find it I'll be sure to post it.)

(portobello, onion, and spinach; poblano, red pepper, spinach and ham)