Category Archives: Recipes

Pasta Carbonara ~

Head over to Mennonite Girls Can Cook for the recipe.

I’m happy to report my son got Katie and me off the couch last night and we walked over to the local high school and had some exercise. Mostly I walked while Katie and Josh did some jogging and running around the track. After the football squads ended their practices we played a little soccer. I managed to record 7245 steps.

 I hope to get walking back into my normal routine. I have already changed up the way I eat and since June 12th I’ve manged to drop 13 pounds and boy does my body appreciate it. I’ve got another 10 pounds to lose before I shop for a Mother of the Bride dress.

Chalupa or Carnitas

 

This is a recipe that cooks for several hours so start it earlier in the day. You can enjoy a few meals during your week with the yield from this recipe.
Chalupa
Ingredients:

  • 1 pound pinto beans
  • 3 pounds boneless pork
  • 6 cups water
  • 1/2 cup onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 Tablespoons chili powder
  • 1 Tablespoon cumin seeds
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 Tablespoon salt
  • 1- 4 ounce can of diced jalapenos (if you like a little heat) or…
  • 1- 6 ounce can of diced green chilies
  • 1/2 – 1 cup Pace Picante sauce (or any brand of Mexican sauce/salsa available in your area)

Method:

  1. Put all ingredients in dutch oven or crock pot.
  2. Cover and simmer about 5 hours or until roast falls apart and the beans are soft.
  3. Uncover shred the meat and cook to thicken to desired consistency.
  4. If using a crock pot cook on low for 8-9 hours.
  5. Check after 5 hours to make sure the beans haven’t absorbed all the liquid.
  6. Add 1 cup water at a time if you need to.
  7. After the meat is cooked and beans are soft shred the pork.
  8. Enjoy this meat with corn or flour tortillas and with toppings of your choice.

This would also work well wrapped in a small flour tortilla and deep fried. I’ve seen Chalupas on Mexican Restaurant menus served in this deep fried form.

This is a recipe that cooks for several hours so start it earlier in the day. You can enjoy a few meals during your week with the yield from this recipe.

This is a slightly different recipe.

Chalupas or Carnitas

1 lb. pinto beans
3 lbs. boneless pork shoulder or butt
5 cups water
1 cup orange juice (pulp free)
1/2 cup onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons chili powder
1 Tablespoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 Tablespoon salt
1- 4 oz. can of diced jalapenos (if you like a little heat) or…
1- 6 oz. can of diced green chilies
1/2 – 1 cup Pace Picante sauce (or any brand of Mexican sauce/salsa available in your area)

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in pan and sear boneless pork on all sides. Put all ingredients in dutch oven or crock pot, placing the seared meat on top. Cover and simmer about 5 hours or until roast falls apart and the beans are soft. Uncover shred the meat and cook to thicken to desired consistency. If using a crock pot cook on low for 8-9 hours. Check after 5 hours to make sure the beans haven’t absorbed all the liquid. Add 1 cup water at a time if you need to. After the meat is cooked and beans are soft shred the pork.

 

Polenta with Mushroom Sauce ~

Click over to the Mennonite Girls Can Cook Blog to get this recipe…

A while back we ordered an appetizer at a restaurant that I wanted to duplicate. I had never cooked anything with Polenta before so this was a fun adventure.

First you will want to cook the mushroom sauce and then you will saute the Polenta cakes assemble and serve.

Mushroom Sauce:

  • 2 shallots sliced thinly
  • 3 Tablespoons butter
  • 8 ounces sliced mushrooms
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 clove garlic minced
  • 1/2 Cup dry white wine
  • 6 ounces cream
  • 1/4 cup Gorgonzola cheese (optional)
  • 2 fresh sprigs of thyme to yield 1-2 teaspoons thyme leaves
  • Polenta
  • Olive oil
  • 2 Tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley to garnish.

Mushroom Sauce:

  1. Melt the butter over a medium low heat in a medium sized saucepan.
  2. Add the sliced shallots and saute for 3 – 4 minutes.
  3. Add the garlic and saute for another 2 minutes.
  4. Add the sliced mushrooms and season with salt and pepper.
  5. Stir all of the ingredients together and cook until the mushrooms have softened and darkened in color.
  6. Turn the heat up on the stove and pour in the white wine.
  7. Stir the ingredients and cook until the wine has reduced by two-thirds.
  8. Turn the heat down and stir in the cream and heat through. If you are using the Gorgonzola cheese stir it in now and heat through.
  9. Stir in the thyme.

Polenta:

  1. Cut the Polenta into 1/2 inch thick rounds.
  2. Heat pan with Olive oil and saute Polenta over medium heat for approximately 4 minutes per side or until golden brown and crisp on the surface.
  3. To serve pour a little mushroom sauce on a serving plate.
  4. Arrange 2 slices of Polenta on the sauce and then pour more sauce over and sprinkle fresh chopped parsley to garnish.

Other ways to serve Polenta: With a zesty spaghetti sauce of your choice. I’ve also seen it served fried in small cubes and used in place of croutons on a salad.
Polenta is available in grocery stores in the states. I purchased this chub of Polenta at Trader Joe’s. In reading up about Polenta you can make your own using cornmeal. If you are interested in doing that just google “How to Make Polenta”. As you can see from my photo I just bought the chub that has been prepared already.
Note: This mushroom sauce would be lovely over a steak or on a baked potato.

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:

  1. Combine all ingredients in a 1-gallon ziploc bag.
  2. Add meat, seal and massage marinade into meat.
  3. 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.
  4. Grill to medium rare for beef and of course for chicken till it’s cooked thoroughly.
  5. 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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

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.

 

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.

Apple Walnut Crisp

Ingredient:

  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1-1/4 cups rolled oats
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup melted butter
  • 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
  • 3 cups apples – peeled, cored, then sliced or chopped
  • 1/3 cup white sugar
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  2. Lightly grease an 8 inch square pan.
  3. Combine brown sugar, oats, flour, nuts, and butter in large bowl.
  4. Place half of this crumb mixture into pan and press down.
  5. Cover this layer evenly with apples.
  6. Sprinkle the apples with the white sugar and cinnamon.
  7. Top with remaining crumb mixture.
  8. Bake in preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve with whipped cream or ice cream and enjoy!