Tacos al Pastor

We made tacos al pastor last night. I got a Rick Bayless book for Christmas and it caught my eye as I was flipping through it. I found some sirloin cut pork chops on sale at United. Rick said to use pork shoulder and slice it yourself but ya know gotta shop the sales. I made a marinade with canned chipotles, brown sugar, red wine vinegar, sliced white onions, garlic, olive oil, 1 can of pineapple S/P. And let them marinate for about 5 hours. Jon grilled them on a charcoal fire along with the pineapple and onions we fished out of the marinade (not sure if that's health code appropriate but I didn't think about that till just now) Any way I sliced the pork and put it on tortillas, with the onions and pineapple a good heaping teaspoon of guacamole,and down the hatch. YUMMY! Slightly spicy with sweet and savory. We didn't even bother with any sides, it was a winner recipe.

Tonight is refrigerator clean out so probably some version of soup and a tomato cuke salad.

OK so a few things. Dinner at the Maldo house sounds good. I am feeling better and have to say 1. That the red velvet concrete sounds yummy! And don't you have a reason to indulge now? :) 2. I am disturbed by a piece of information that I know you already knew. That is that the USDA says that you only have to have 40% beef in a product to call it meat?!?!? WTF?? Seriously I may not eat fast food again. I have to say that I have not had Taco Bell in years, but now I question alot of my other hamburger choices.

So the only thing I have cooked this week are sloppy joes/french fries and I had 2 chicken breasts in my fridge so I made this enchilada casserole. Green enchilada sauce in the bottom of the pan, I cooked the chicken breasts in the oven with some adobo seasoning, chopped it up and mixed it with sour cream, green chiles, black beans and then layered that in a casserole dish with corn tortillas and cheese. However, I am the only one eating it. I have hit a wall with the girls. I too do not want to be a short order cook, but the struggle each night is so frustrating!

Also, do you do some sort of dessert every night. The girls seem to expect it and I try to limit it, but Rudy uses it as a tool to get them to eat. I don't want to continue that habit.

OK enough of my rant, tomorrow night we will have gyoza and rice for dinner with vegetables. At least I know the girls will eat the rice and some of the veg.

Broccoli Rapini

I know you don't like bitter greens so not sure why I'm sharing it but it was dinner last night. I browned bacon then added garlic paste (thanks to my fancy plate) red bell peppers, red pepper flakes, and then threw in two bunches of chopped rapini.  I cooked it with chicken stock for about 5 minutes and the tossed with pasta, olive oil and lemon juice and zest. Of course meat free (bacon doesn't count) is not an option so I threw some leftover diced chicken in Jon's bowl. Tony just ate lemony buttered noodles with shredded parm and a side of cauliflower -frozen then microwaved. I claim not to be a short order cook yet all three of us had different meals...

I have some ground beef to contend with tonight so we'll see what I can come up with.

I realized I never officially answered your question about taco seasoning so here goes. I like salt, pepper, and granulated garlic on everything. Then for tacos, I add onion powder, cumin, a shot of tomato paste (if I happen to have some -Jon never adds it) and then chicken stock and let everything simmer together for 10-15 minutes.

Love you.  Hope you are feeling better.

Shredded cheese

I just thought I would share my latest money saving tip... We eat alot of cheese here, as a snack or in the dozens of burritos, quesedillas, or scrambled eggs we eat weekly and I usually buy convience cheese products either preshredded or cubed. But for the last 2 weeks I have bought a 2# block of cheese and spent 5 minutes cutting or shredding it put it in a plastic bag and it is ready to use. It probably really only saves me a few dollars each grocery trip but it only takes 2 minutes with the shred blade of the food processor, and it somehow tases better and melts better.

Brisket and chicken wings

Yesterday Jon tried to smoke a brisket but it was so windy he gave up after about two hours of fighting with it. So I wrapped it in plastic and then foil and stuck it in the oven for about 8 hours. It was slightly smokey but really tender. I made a tomato cucumber salad, a pot of beans, and some mac and cheese to go with it. The mac was sort of an afterthought and really bad for you. I had a small chunk of Velveeta, heavy cream, shredded cheddar, and half a stick of butter. But I used the enriched omega 3 pasta!!

I sort of feel like this doubles as a food diary so I must confess earlier in the afternoon Tony and I went for ice cream and I had a red velvet concrete -Vanilla ice cream mixed with red velvet cake and fresh raspberries, then they swirled in cream cheese frosting ribbons, and chocolate chips. Hello why has no one done this before, it was bliss

Tonight we are having chicken wings...Not my choice but Jon requested it so I will oblige...Maybe I will be having a salad tonight which is probably a good idea considering the fat party I had yesterday.

Love you!

The old standby

So I roasted the two chicken I had in my refrigerator. Just simple oil, salt, pepper, and garlic. Lately I have been cutting the backs out and snapping the keil bone and kindof flattening the chicken out. They seem to cook a bit faster and I am able to make stock with the backs and wings. Then tonight Jon shredded the chicken down, cooked some rice (with my homemade stock) and added frozen peas and carrots. Its made quite often here at the maldo house, it is simple but fast which is exactly what I needed on this Thursday night.

Oh yeah about an hour before I came home I had a plate of cheesefries....Naughty naughty!

So last night Rudy made tacos! I had to work and we are trying to get him in the kitchen more. Rudy's tacos consist of browned meat, no seasoning in taco shells with cheese and salsa. But I can't complain because at least he cooked. He doesn't like the prepackaged taco seasoning and I can't blame him so any combination of spices you can recommend he would greatly appreciate! Tonight I am going simple with carbonara. Who doesn't love bacon, eggs, and cheese!

I am going to try gnocchi in a couple of weeks with a friend. I have a recipe from Mad Hungry and hope it turns out well. I am looking forward to using the ricer which as I understand it is key. I had never heard of a french gnocchi version.

Lets talk about your visitors!

Pot roast and failed gnocchi

Slacker indeed... Lets just say I had surprise visitors this week. All is back to normal now and I spent the day cooking for the week. Tonight we had pot roast. I love pot roast! I am a firm believer in chuck making the best roast ever. But my real favorite part of pot roast is the carrots and gravy. I think everyone else eats the carrots because they have to but I LOVE them. They are sweet and beefy and yes I drink the broth right from the bowl.

On to the gnocchi -I have made good gnocchi in the past and thought I knew what I was doing until I was reading Julias MTAFC and she uses pate a choux with her riced potatoes. WHAT! WHY? a little research and come to find out the french found a way to perfect gnocchi (or so I read) Anyway bottom line is my ratios of potatoes to choux paste must have been off because they ended up disintegrating in my boiling water, both batches...1 hour wasted!  I think I have time tomorrow at work to try again and weigh the potatoes this time, because I cannot believe Julia would publish something that fails.

I guess I was in a soup mood cause I cooked beans and green soup along with Mexican beef and potatoes (version of caldo)  I have two whole chickens that I will try to tackle tomorrow...

OK slacker!

Last night we had a quick version of shepherd's pie. beef, mushrooms, carrots, onions, garlic and peas for the base mixed with some tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce. Covered with the smoothest heavenly mashed potatoes. (I love my ricer!)

Tonight I am making everyone eat the leftovers from this week. I am tired of having to do it myself.

Love you!

So last night for dinner I made roast chicken with potatoes. But the potatoes were the star of dinner. I took russet potatoes and I sliced them about 1-2 inches thick. Boiled them for about 15 min. then drained and shook the pan a few times to "fluff" them salt, pepper a little olive oil and put them on the pan with the chicken @450 for about an hour. The potatoes were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Different from your basic roasted potato. Got the idea from our buddy Martha.

Tonight we are having chicken pot pie.

Love you!

You always have good practical questions, so ask away.

A torta is basically a sandwich on great crusty bread with savory Mexican fillings. In fact I think this could be a great food truck option. (or grilled cheese or tacos)

I love lentils! I usually make a hearty soup with carrots, celery onions and equal parts chicken stock and beef stock, and a bit of butter to offset all the healthfullness! Or I like a cold lentil salad. Cook the lentils until just tender, if you overcook them they get too mushy, fine for soup but ugly for salad. Then i take the warm, drained lentils and add Italian dressing (homemade or store bought) Crumbled crispy bacon or shredded smoked chicken, scallions, roasted red peppers, and feta cheese or whatever is available. I like it on a bed of fresh baby spinach and it's so healthy I can't stand it! Whatever veggies you have around will work.

We had chicken and rice soup and Jon topped it off with twin cronnie sandwiches! If my camera would have been charged I would have taken a pic for the maiden recipe post. Probably better that way, so now I will beg the question what's for tomorrows dinner? I better make it blog worthy!

What's for Dinner Sister!: Blog is up

What's for Dinner Sister!: Blog is up: "Yay!! For my sister who I adore. Excited to see where this goes, and enjoy all the delicious food we will share."

This is a test

So excited to start! I may use this blog to pick your brain, like what goes in a torta?

I have a bag of lentils in my pantry that i would really like to use. It is supposed to get cold here this weekend so I was thinking of making this white bean stew that I saw on Smitten Kitchen today. (Have you checked out that site)

So last night we had Qdoba. Long day of working, violin lessons and a sick Jhai. So now I am trying to figure out what is for dinner tonight sister.

Blog is up

Yay!!
For my sister who I adore. Excited to see where this goes, and enjoy all the delicious food we will share.