monday night dinner

These Black Bean and Rice Cakes are one of our favorite recipes. The cilantro yogurt sauce is a must, so don't opt out of making it. I added some turkey tomatillo tamales and the meal was complete. The kids loved this combination and Elliot kept calling the cakes "cookies." Yum!

We're also prepping the garden for the summer. We converted our cold frame into a raised bed and the greens are loving the warm sun. The kids played with Pebbles (the hermit crab) by hiding her in the collard greens.

tuesday night dinner

We're on this crazy-strict budget and I'm coming up with some pretty creative ways to stretch my food dollar. Last night's dinner was a new one: anything in the freezer/fridge that we could throw together and make somewhat edible. I made some risotto with a bunch a random veggies in the veggie drawer (4 mushrooms, an onion, and 2 carrots), some leftover sweet potato fries from Monday night's meal, and some spinach topped with frozen veggie burgers. It all came together really well and the kids chowed it (which is a plus). What will come out of the freezer tonight?!

Chicken Tamales

I finally learned how to make tamales! This recipe for pork tamales is what I used, but I changed it up a bit. I used chicken instead of pork (1-2 breasts) and I didn't have tomatoes so I added about 2 Tbsp ketchup (don't judge me Latinas!). I also added 2 tsp chili powder and cilantro.

Here's Melany assembling some tamale goodness!

I shot this picture of Diego and Mike working on their laptops. Don't they look so accomplished doing their last few edits on their dissertations? Maybe we'll do another huge batch of these for graduation!

Chicken Soup and Rice

In March the wind blows down the door,

And spills my soup upon the floor.

It laps it up and roars for more!

Blowin' once, blowin' twice, blowin' chicken soup and rice!

It is the first day of Spring and my back yard looks like this...

so I decided to make some chicken soup and rice. Plus, Elliot has been sick with a nasty stomach virus and this soup was his first real food in two days. It was so delicious and perfect comfort food. Here's the recipe:

1.5 lbs skinless split breasts

4 carrots, peeled and diced

4 celery stalks, diced

1 large onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves

2 Tbsp olive oil

8 cups water

1.5 cups white rice

seasonings: salt, pepper, dried thyme, dried parsley, bay leaf

In a large stock pot or dutch oven, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the veggies, 2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1 tsp thyme and 1 tsp parsley and cook until tender.

Add the chicken and cook 5 minutes. Add the water and bay leaf- boil covered for 15-20 minutes until chicken temps at 160 degrees.

Remove chicken. Add rice and cook 15 more minutes, covered. Shred the chicken with a fork and return to soup. Done!

Spring Break Treats

I woke up in a baking mood! I had some mashed potatoes in the fridge and thought they would be delicious in some potato rolls (from the BHG cook book). I was correct- they ARE delicious! I swapped out the milk for water and the shortening for butter and probably should have added more salt.
Then we took the leftover dough from the graham crackers I made Monday and we made some cookie letters, Scrabble style.

We're eating dinner with some friends tonight and I am bringing Irish soda bread and chocolate cupcakes. I'll post those pictures later. What will be in the oven tomorrow?

*this bread was so good! Izzy and Max made it all by themselves! No joke! Izzy measured all the ingredients (Max watched) and they both mixed it all up with their hands (clean hands, of course). All I did was pour it on some parchment paper and stuck it in the oven. Way to go, my little sous chefs!

Graham Crackers

I finally got around to making the graham crackers that I posted about almost a year ago. We were wanting banana airplanes for snack and you can't properly make a banana airplane without graham crackers. I didn't have any in the pantry, so figured I should just try this recipe out. They were so good! I probably should have baked them a few minutes longer so they would be a bit crisper, but no complaints from the kids. I have a little dough left over so I'm going to have the kids cut out alphabet shapes and bake them. Yum!

Arepas!

Disclaimer: this is just a picture I got of the web, but I like that it showed the correct flour to use.

OK...my friend Adriana taught me how to make Venezuelan Arepas the other day and they were amazing! They are basically a delicious corn-flour-patty that you cut in half and stuff with meat, veggies, eggs, beans...you get the idea. We had shredded marinated chicken and then this unreal creamy sauce stuffed in our arepas. Adriana has shared the recipe, so here it is:

Pollo "Esmechao" (That is the Maracucho slang way of saying shredded)
- Chicken Breasts
- Onion
- Green and Yellow Bell Peppers
- Chives
- Leeks
- Minced Garlic
- Parsley
- Tomato
- Chicken Bouillon and Cilantro Bouillon
- Mustard
- Thick Soy Sauce
- Worcestershire Sauce
- Pepper Salt as needed (maybe even a dash of cumin might be good)
- A splash of Chicken Stock to maintain moisture - if needed

Boil/crock pot chicken breasts with the Maracucho Chicken Bouillon I gave you the night before preferably. After it cools, shred the chicken. Cut up all your onion, peppers, and tomatoes sort of in the same proportions, maybe splurge on the onion a bit. Then also cut up the leeks, parsley, mince the garlic.

Stir fry in some canola oil on medium heat, first the onions, then the peppers, leeks, and chives, after add the garlic and parsley with the cilantro bouillon, cover for a little bit until it softens, then add the chicken and season with the rest of the ingredients. Stir everything up. Then cover and simmer while you make the arepas. Add chicken stock if needed to maintain the chicken semi-wet.

Arepas Ingredients:
Harina Pan (The yellow package with the Lady on the front, don't get any other brand! This is the best one... )
Salt
Room Temperature Butter
Warm Water

Preheat oven to 400F
In a medium sized bowl add warm-hot water. Then add room temperature butter, and swirl around with your hands slowly as it melts into the water. Then add salt (and go tasting it, it can be on the slightly saltier side). Then slowly pour some Harina Pan in the water, and mix with hands in a circular motion, until reaching the desired consistency which is a manageable masa but still soft. Let sit for a little bit Like 2-3 minutes.

You can either have a pot boiling and add the formed arepas to it, and save for later.

Fire up the griddle, (put a coating of oil, I don't like it too oily, but put enough so it doesn't stick... use the paper towel method to sweep up excess oil) and place the formed arepas there until there is a nice golden exterior (even a little burning is yummy too), and then place in the oven. Flip over the arepas once or twice... and bake until the arepa say, "Papa" hahahahahahahaha.

Salsa Verde
Remember you can store this in plastic or glass container in the fridge for a little under a month, so feel free to make a big batch.

Ingredients:
- Leeks
- Chives
- Onion
- Parsley
- Celery
- Cilantro Bouillon
- Good amount of garlic
- Mayo (That one you brought with a touch of lime probably made it yummier)
- A touch of mustard
- Salt and Pepper

Put all the veggies and aromatics in the food processor or blender, then add mayonnaise, mustard, salt, cilantro seasoning, and pepper until reaching the consistency. Then store it and enjoy!!

Veggie Beef Stew

This is always good!

1.5 lb pork roast (cut into large chunks)
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup red cooking wine (optional)
1 can beef broth
1 can Italian style diced tomatoes
2 medium red potatoes, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 cup frozen mixed vegetables
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. dried thyme

Season the pork with kosher salt, pepper and Spike (a multi-purpose seasoning).
Heat olive oil in a large metal (non-Teflon) skillet or dutch oven. Add pork and sear on each side about 3-5 minutes.
Remove pork from skillet and place in a large slow cooker (which is turned on HIGH).
Add onion to the hot skillet and cook a few minutes; deglaze pan with wine or a littel beef broth. Add onions to crock pot.
Pour remainder of ingredients over the pork in the crock pot and cook on high for 4 hours (or low 6). Shred pork before serving.