Mom’s Perfect Posole

Every year as long as I can remember, we ate Posole for New Years. It’s a Southwestern New Year’s staple. I’ve been sick so it had to wait until today.

I am not a pig eater. There are only 2 items I eat with pork though, and those items MUST have pork (funny how that works, huh?): Posole and Tamales.

A note on the Posole: If you live in the Southwest, you can find it easily. Out east I have to settle for the canned version. It takes less time to make this way, but there’s something to be said for the real stuff! I always forget to have it shipped and end up using the can

Mom’s Perfect Posole with New Mexico Red Chile

For Red chile:

Chile pods: place on a cookie sheet; broil for 30-40 seconds, take out seeds and stems.

Put in a blender with 1 Tbsp minced garlic and 1 Tbsp salt. Turn on blender add water to pancake consistency.

Make a roux: 1 Tbsp butter, 1 Tbsp flour, 1 Tbsp water. Add to paste

Posole:

Posole (real- must be soaked overnight; LARGE can- open, rinse and add to pot)

Pork chops (I like boneless, but the marrow in the bone gives more pork flavor), I cube 7 or 8 small ones

1 onion, sliced thin

Seasoning: garlic powder, onion powder, oregano ( I use Mexican oregano, it’s smokier), salt, cumin,  and of course Adobo seasoning

Brown the pork in a small amount of oil. Add seasoning and onions. Dredge in 2 Tsbp flour. Add rinsed/soaked posole and water to cover. Add red chile in portions; you can always add more later….you can’t subtract it (My dudes can’t handle much heat in food. I add more to my own portions). The seasonings are to taste as well. I add small bits at a time. Bring to a boil and simmer (soaked posole 5-6 hrs; canned, only 2). We eat it with tortillas.

Homemade Stuffing

I work at an Italian restaurant and my boss gives great advice. I can ask him how to cook anything.

This is incredibly simple

Cut bread into cubes or chunks. Toast on 350 for 10; or until toasted. Melt  half a stick of butter (1/2 cup) in a saucepan and sautee diced onions and celery ’til tender.  Throw in bread with some chicken (or Turkey) stock (gauge off of how much bread crumbs you have. You don’t want mush) and your favorite seasonings. That’s it. I’ll throw mine in the oven to crunch it up too (I stuff my bird with whole onions and apples.

Navy Bean Tuna Salad

Navy Bean Tuna Salad

Dry Navy Beans (1/2 bag), or any white bean will do

2 small cans tuna (drained well)

1 stalk celery (diced)

¼ of a small onion or a bunch of green onion (diced)

4 Tbsp oil

1/8-1/4 cup of lemon juice (I love lemon, I use the latter)

A pinch of each:

Minced garlic

Cilantro bunch

Basil

Adobo seasoning

Crushed red peppers

Onion powder

Sea salt

Black pepper

Lemon pepper

Wash the beans, put in a pot and cook for 3 hours. Rinse well (no more foam) and put in fridge to cool. I do this the night before and cool overnight (or you could take the easy way out and buy 2 cans of white beans, rinse well and cool. (cooling the beans makes them stiffer and they don’t mush together while mixing).

In a small bowl (I use a coffee mug) put oil, lemon juice and seasonings. Whip with a fork or whisk. Pour over cooled beans.

Fluff tuna with a fork and put in the bean bowl. Add celery and onions.

Marinate in fridge for a couple hours. I like mine over a bed of greens or leaf spinach, but its good as is too. Then…..eat it!

Leftover Turkey Chili with Beans

Here’s what we did with the rest of the leftover Thanksgiving turkey. I love my crock pot!

Leftover Turkey Chili with Beans

1 small bag dry red beans (you could use any bean, I don’t like kidney beans), mine were soaked overnight in water

shredded leftover turkey

2 cups water

1/4 of an onion

2 tomatoes (which we had leftover from the Turkey Tacos), diced

Cumin ,Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Adobo seasoning, Red Pepper flakes, Red Chile Powder, Cilantro

now throw it all in a crock pot. Mine cooked on low for 12 hours.

Serve with cornbread (I like jiffy because it’s inexpensive and can be made non-dairy) and add toppings if you want: cheese, sour cream, green onions….whatever you like on your chili.

 

 

Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey Tacos with Spanish Rice Recipe

Ok….we had to really get creative in order to liven up the turkey leftovers.  We’ve been trying to come up with different ideas all week. Tomorrow we are trying Turkey Chili Con Carne (Chili Beans) with Jiffy corn bread. I had everything in my cabinet but the sour cream and guac, (which some people insisted on) and the corn tortillas.

 

Leftover Turkey Tacos with Spanish Rice

Ingredients:

Turkey Tacos

Leftover turkey, shredded

Minced garlic

¼ Onion, diced

Taco seasoning (you could buy it or make it)*see recipe below*

Rice:

Rice instant or leftover

½ can tomato sauce (I used a big can and froze the rest for later)

½ onion diced

Cilantro (fresh or dried)

Toppings (optional):

Cheese

Sour Cream

Guacamole

Onion (the rest of the one we were cooking with), diced

Tomato, diced

Lettuce, chopped

I never realized how simple it was to make Spanish rice. I had it all within my reach too. We used leftover steamed white rice from our Turkey Sinagang dinner last night. Put in a cup of water, half a small can tomato sauce, a little sautéed onion, sautéed minced garlic, and cilantro (we used the dried herbs that she from her garden in New Mexico, but I would use fresh as well). We let it simmer for about 10 minutes.  I wanted to throw in some green bell pepper but we didn’t have one and my friend is not a fan of them. I’ll try it next time.

We mixed homemade taco seasoning* into a cup of water and threw it on the skillet with the already heating turkey, sautéed minced garlic and onions.

We chopped up some tomatoes, onions and cooked green chiles (you could substitute Rotel for the tomatoes and green chile as well) for toppings on our tacos. Adding sour cream and guacamole was optional.

We fried up corn tortillas for the taco wrap in oil for less than a minute each

All together it only took us about 20.

 

*My homemade taco seasoning (stuff I always have in my cabinet):

1 TBSP cumin

1TBSP of Chile powder  (I use powdered New Mexico red chile , but you can use any chile powder)

A  pinch of garlic powder

A  pinch of Adobo seasoning,

Pumpkin Mousse Cheesecake

I finally got a full day off with my best friend, so we decided to make the desserts (I got this recipe from the Rachel Ray site) for our Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow and spend the rest of the day with Hubby and Nephew (my son didn’t want to go). We went to see the new Twilight movie, Breaking Dawn Part 2 and hit our favorite burrito restaurant.

When we started the dessert we had plenty of time to finish before leaving for the movie. But, we hit a couple speed bumps.

My son had used the last of the milk, after Nephew made a smoothie as well, and I was unaware that we had no backup (I am non-dairy, I don’t always pay attention to milk). So we had to stop and go to the store. Then we got confused and were baking the wrong part (we put the pumpkin part in instead of the cheesecake part, which ended up ruining the crusts). So we had to abandon ship before we missed the movie.

We stopped to buy new pie crusts on the way home to save time and when we got home went straight to work. We decided to rewhip both the mousse and the cheesecake part. We made a non-dairy version too.  We had both desserts in the oven at the same time so it took longer (I made a note on the recipe). We also didn’t feel good about leaving the pumpkin mousse uncooked with raw egg whites, so we cooked that as well.

Pumpkin Mousse Cake (off the Rachel Ray Website)

Ingredients

For the Crust

1/2 cup (1 stick) melted unsalted butter, plus more, unmelted, for pan

1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup sugar

For the Cheesecake

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature

2 large eggs

3/4 cup sugar

For the Pumpkin Mousse

1 (1/4-ounce) envelope gelatin

1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin puree

3 large egg yolks

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3 large egg whites

Directions

Make the crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine melted butter, graham cracker crumbs, and sugar; stir until well combined. Press graham cracker mixture into bottom of prepared baking dish in an even layer; set aside.

Make the cheesecake: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk together cream cheese, eggs, and sugar until fluffy. Spread cheesecake mixture over crust in baking dish. Transfer to oven and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.

Make the mousse: Fill a small bowl or liquid measuring cup with 1/4 cup water; sprinkle gelatin over top and let soften. In a large heatproof bowl, mix together pumpkin, egg yolks, 1/2 cup sugar, milk, salt, and cinnamon. Set bowl over (but not touching) simmering water; whisk pumpkin mixture until thickened, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove bowl from heat and whisk in gelatin

mixture. Let cool to room temperature.

In the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Add remaining 1/4 cup sugar and continue whisking until medium peaks form. Fold into cooled pumpkin mixture. Spread pumpkin mixture over cheesecake; Cover and transfer to refrigerator until set, at least 8 hours and up to overnight.

I added this:  If two pies are made they will not cook in 20 it was about 15 minutes extra. Then we added the pumpkin mix and put in the oven for 16 minutes on 350 still

 

Brussel Sprouts Recipe

Here’s another veggie recipe. It’s kinda funny…..I didn’t even know I liked brussel sprouts. Here’s the funny part; my teenage son turned me on to them. It’s a simple recipe, but it’s oh, so tasty

Lemon, Garlic Brussel Sprouts:

1 container of brussel sprouts

handful of fresh green beans (you can use canned too)

a spoonful of minced garlic

3 splashes of lemon juice (or more if you like lemon)

lemon pepper seasoning

Adobo seasoning (of course)

A splash of oil for sauteeing (sesame oil makes it super tasty)

Wash and quarter sprouts. Throw them in a skillet with the other ingredients. Toss together. Sautee until golden brown. It takes sprouts a bit to get tender. Approximately 20 min

Veggie Stuffed Bell Peppers

I’m really proud of this one. Yesterday, Hubby said to me, “Let’s grill tomorrow……oh, wait, you can’t have meat. What about veggie stuffed bell peppers”. (Hubby missed his calling; he should’ve been a chef……or a professional ice cream taster. But that’s a different story).

I am a huge fan of bell peppers…peppers of any kind actually. I grew up in New Mexico and Arizona so peppers and chile are a staple.

I’m SO making these again!

Veggie Stuffed Bell Peppers

5 bell peppers (I used green. Try to get flat bottom fat guys, they stand and stuff better)

1 Pkg. mushrooms (finely chopped)

a handful of Red onion diced

a handful of white onion (you like my measuring system?)

1 can of greens (I used mixed)

1 can diced tomato (always read labels for ingredients. sometimes the manufacturers use sugars)

1/2 cup(ish) tomato sauce

To taste: Adobo seasoning, celery salt, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, oregano (I like Mexican oregano), red pepper flakes, green chile powder (if you know me you can bum some).

or any seasoning you like (I like my food spicy)

Wash and cut the veggies (I use a vinegar bath for all produce: 1/4 cup vinegar in a sinkful of cold water for 10 minutes). slice off the top of the peppers and gut. Save the top for a lid. in a bowl mix everything else. Stuff the peppers. Hubby  grilled them today, but they can be put in the oven too. I would preheat to 400 and bake them for 45 min.

Dijon Beef Stew

This stuff is the BOMB! I’m making it for the dudes tonight. I’m doing the 7 day detox project so I don’t get any this time 😦

Dijon Beef Stew Recipe

Ingredients:

A pckg of stew meat

1 Tbs. oil to brown the meat (season with salt, pepper, Adobo seasoning [my fav])

1/4 of a med onion (chopped)

2 Tbs. flour or thickener

2 c beef broth  (I always make my own)

a big squirt of dijon or deli mustard

mushrooms (optional)

a can of green beans or a hanful of fresh ones

chopped carrots (any veggies can be added whatever you like)

a splash of red wine

Directions:

Saute meat in oil in a large skillet that has a lid, or a Dutch oven is fine. Dredge the meat with thickener. Add onions and cook till onions done and beef browned. Add broth and mustard and other veggies. Simmer, partially covered for 2-3 hours till meat tender. Sauté mushrooms in butter for 5 min, and add wine. Bring to boil and add to stew.

Black Bean Sweet Potato Chili

I found this one Pinterest. It came out pretty good.

Black Bean Sweet Potato Chili
1 lb. ground turkey
1 sweet potato
1 onion
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can of black beans (I don’t buy canned, I soak dry beans overnight)
2 cups of water
1 chili seasoning packet (I use powdered New Mexico Chile)

Brown Turkey in a skillet (I season with Adobo seasoning and sautee my onions with the meat)Throw it all in the crock pot on high for 4-6 hours. Spoon into bowl and top with sour cream and shredded cheese.