Category Archives: Recipes

Carne Asada

 

Today is Cinco de Mayo and I wanted to share a Mexican Recipe with you. In elementary school growing up in the Los Angeles area of Southern California we would always have a celebration at school on this day. We learned the Mexican Hat Dance and enjoyed performing it at our assembly. Cinco de Mayo is a date of  importance for the Mexican and Chicano communities. It marks the victory of the Mexican Army over the French at the Battle of Puebla. Although the Mexican army was eventually defeated, the “Batalla de Puebla” came to represent a symbol of Mexican unity and patriotism. With this victory, Mexico demonstrated to the world that Mexico and all of Latin America were willing to defend themselves of any foreign intervention. Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico’s Independence Day, September 16, 1810 is. Cinco de Mayo is celebrated on a much larger scale in the U.S.A. than in Mexico.

 

 Carne Asada (or Pollo Asada)

A great marinade for steak! You can even use it for chicken for Pollo Asada. Use skirt steak or flap meat, but any thin cut steak would work. I used what is called Flank Steak here in the Washington State. This recipe is for up to 4 pounds of meat. Cook time does NOT include marinating time. You can use 4 pounds of chicken breast meat also.

Ingredients:

1 –  lime juiced
1 –  lemon juiced
1/2 cup orange Juice
2 tablespoons chili powder
1-l/2 tablespoons dried oregano leaves
2 tablespoons ground cumin
5 cloves of garlic chopped
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 Bunch Cilantro, chopped (not stems)

Method:

Combine all ingredients in a 1-gallon ziploc bag.

Add meat, seal and massage marinade into meat.

Marinate in bag for up to 24 hours, turning and massaging frequently. 4-6 hours for beef and 2-4 hours for chicken would work fine, also.

Grill to medium rare for beef and of course for chicken till it’s cooked thoroughly.

Serve whole, sliced, or diced for tacos or burritos! Serve with beans, rice, corn tortillas and guacamole.

Because it wasn’t grilling weather I cooked this under the broiler for 8 minutes on each side and it was well done. If you like meat that is medium rare adjust the cooking time.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with blurred out versions and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Pico de Gallo

 

This is a simple recipe with a wonderful fresh addition to any Mexican dish you make. It’s great for an appetizer with chips. You can also add avocado chunks to it for an extra depth of flavor.

This is a very simple recipe.

Equal parts diced onion, tomato, and chopped cilantro leaves. Add one jalapeno pepper finely diced. Make sure you seed the jalapeno pepper. Add juice from one half or a whole lime. Salt and Pepper to taste. I also added 1/2 teaspoon sugar.

If you start with more than 1 cup onion, tomato and cilantro you might want to add more jalapeno. It really depends on how hot you like your Pico de Gallo.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with blurred out versions and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Fulfilling Promises…

When I showed you the cake for our daughter’s birthday a couple weeks ago I promised to share the recipe. I have shared this recipe on my blog before but I’m posting it again. This cake is a family favorite. When I asked my daughter what she’d like for her birthday cake she requested this one.

The photo below was added in 2022 and is from our daughter’s birthday party in December of 2021. She’s still requesting this cake.

Applesauce Spice Cake

1 pkg. yellow cake mix
1 pkg. 4 serving size Jello instant vanilla pudding
4 eggs
1 cup applesauce
1/2 C. water
1/4 C. oil
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. all-spice (optional)
1/2 cup raisins, finely chopped (optional)

Combine all ingredients in large mixing bowl of electric mixer and blend then beat at medium for 4 minutes. Pour into well greased and floured 10 inch tube or fluted tube pan. (I’ve used a bundt cake pan and angel food cake pan). Bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. DO NOT UNDERBAKE. Cool in pan for 15 min. remove and cool on rack. When the cake has cooled and before I serve it I give it a dusting of powdered sugar.

When I went out to purchase ingredients for the cake I forgot to buy applesauce. I didn’t want to make another trip to the store so I checked my cupboard and found a jar of spiced pear butter that my friend Sandy from the Reluctant Entertainer gifted me when we met for dinner earlier this year. Here’s her recipe for Sweet Spiced Apple Butter which looks just like the Pear butter.  Since the pears were already spiced nicely I omitted the spices from the recipe and just added the jar of goodness to the recipe. It turned out very nice and the spices were just right. Thank you Sandy!

For the record, I’ve never added the raisins to this recipe. My family prefers it without.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

My Reuben we’re calling Rebekah…

 

 

The traditional Reuben Sandwich is made with Corned Beef, sauerkraut, Swiss Cheese, Thousand Island dressing or Russian Dressing. This past weekend Dear wanted a Reuben sandwich. We had pastrami on hand so we decided to make our Reuben a Rebekah Sandwich. We hear a Rachel Sandwich substitutes Pastrami for Corned Beef and coleslaw for the sauerkraut. Here’s our tasty yummy good to the last bite Rebekah with Pastrami, Sauerkraut, Swiss Cheese, mustard, and Thousand Island Dressing. Another thing we decided to try was to heat the pastrami in the skillet with the Swiss on top and the sauerkraut on the side. When they heated through we loaded the bread and grilled it.

 

To see a different version of the Reuben Sandwich click over to Kathy’s on the Mennonite Girls Can Cook Blog.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Apple Walnut Crisp…

I went out to my apple tree and picked a few apples…

 

Then I tweaked a few apple crisp recipes and I’m happy with the result.

 

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

She is Strangely Silent…

 

I’m headed East over the mountains on an overnight with this cute guy. Don’t tell my husband! Oh wait…that is my husband.

 

 

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

I Tried to Sell this…

…but no one wanted to buy it and now I’m glad it didn’t sell.

 

This salad bowl was hard to store at the condo so I thought I should sell it at our garage sale. It didn’t sell and I realized here at the house I had the space to store it comfortably. It really looks nice with a good salad in it don’t you think?

This Greek salad has 3 pickling cucumbers, 1 green bell pepper, a cup of grape tomatoes cut in half, 1/2 cup of garbanzo beans, 1/4 cup feta, and 1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives, and 1/2 cup of finely sliced red onion, 3 T. chopped fresh mint and 1/4 cup Italian parsley chopped. The dressing is 3 tablespoons Olive oil, juice of 1 lemon, 1 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp. salt. 1/4 tsp. pepper and a clove of garlic crushed and all whisked together.

Enjoy your Wednesday.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Tortellini, Meatball, Spinach Soup!

Wanted to share this yummy easy soup with the Foodie Friday Crowd. Visit Gollum at Designs by Gollum to see more great recipes and food.

 

When I saw this soup on Connie’s blog Practicing Theology I knew it was going to taste good. I made it tonight and umm umm good it is! Thank you to Connie for sharing the recipe here.

 

Ingredients: 2 quarts of chicken broth, 1 jar spaghetti sauce, 1 package frozen meatballs, 1 package frozen spinach, 1 package frozen tortellini, 1 can chopped tomatoes.

Bring broth and spaghetti sauce to a boil and then add remaining ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes.

I used fresh chicken rosemary tortellini so I put them in 15 minutes into the simmer stage. I used a can of chopped tomatoes with green chilis and it added a nice kick. I bought some nice fresh bread to go with the soup and really enjoyed it to the last drop!!

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

Turning Poor Planning into an Opportunity…

This was a guest post on 4 Reluctant Entertainers earlier in August. I’m having computer issues which I hope won’t be on going or fatal and since this post was ready to go with a good recipe to link to I decided to re-post it on my blog now.

I was thrilled to be a guest poster for Sandy at 4 Reluctant Entertainers a week or so ago. I think I started reading Sandy’s blog before I even had a blog. I was raised by a mom who modeled hospitality. The fresh ideas I learn from 4 Reluctant Entertainers blog are an inspiration to me. Sandy and I live in neighboring states when I’m in California at the condo or in Washington at my home. Someday I’m hoping to meet Sandy face to face if not on this earth then in our mansion in heaven.

I have a Blueberry Bush at my home in Washington and I picked some fresh blueberries and decided to make muffins. I got all the dry ingredients together, then I got the wet ingredients ready only to realize we were all out of eggs. The oven was preheated the trays were ready so what to do? I trekked over to my neighbors in my slippers and comfies and asked to please borrow an egg. She was very gracious and invited me in and gave me an egg. I got to meet her 16 month old granddaughter who she was caring for, also.

After the muffins were baked and out of the oven. I picked out two and trekked over to my neighbors again and offered her the 2 muffins. She was delighted and said I could borrow an egg anytime. I was happy to receive from my neighbor and bless her in return. My poor planning turned into an opportunity to keep connected with my neighbor.

The recipe I used for these Blueberry Muffins can be found here.

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.