Chile Verde

If any of you have know me for a while, you may already know that when I get bored or I am having a stressful day. I do not call a friend and talk about it, I simply cook. I have used cooking as a way to express my feelings and cook with soul. Everything taste so much better when it is cooked with a little TLC and soul. Cooking has always been an outlet to let out all my frustration and joy. It is funny it is the one thing that will relax me when I just want to scream at the top of my lungs. Some of my best dishes have came out of those bad days! Here is a delicious recipe that came after my grandfather passed away. Green chille was his favorite. I never had the chance to say goodbye to my grandpa and felt really guilty for that. It was 2 am in the morning when I woke up to my mom crying and running down the stairs. She had just recived the call from the nursing home that my grandpa had passed away in his sleep. Not being able to sleep from the devestating news and the emptiness I felt. I sat in the kitchen remembering the good times I had with my grandpa and all the meals I had prepared for him. I sat there thinking of his favorite meals. One of them being chile verde. I got up from my kitchen table and went to the fridge and said grandpa tonight I wil prepare some chile verde and eat it with you. I cried the whole time I was making it. When it was all done I sat down and invited my sister to join me. Together we cried and in the end smiled because my grandpa would have really loved the green chille.

On a lighter note this is also the dish I prepared for my husband on our first date. A stomach in the key to a mans heart ladies :) After our first date I inharrited the name chile verde from his friends :)

1 pound of cubed beef

3 idaho potatoes peeled and cut into bite size pieces

7 jalapenos

5 tomatoes

1 medium chopped onion

1 clove of minced garlic

1 teaspoon of crushed cummin

1 teaspoon of salt

In a comal roast the jalapenos and tomatoes add in a ziplock bag while you peel and cut the potatoes. PLacing the jalapenos and tomatoes in a bag will allow them to cook more with steam and intensify the flavor.

In a skillet cook the meat until no longer pink. Drain the liquied and add potatoes and cook for about 5 minutes, then add the onions. It is very important to add salt when you add the potatoes because if you do not it will tast blant. Contimue to cook an stir until the onion is see through and potatoes are cooked. Set aside.

Peel the skin off the jalapenos and tomatoes. You might want to use cooking gloved so that you do not get spicy on your hands. I typically just peel them under cold water so that my fingers do not get spicy.

Once the jalapenos and tomatoes are all peeled remove the stems from the jalapenos.

Add the jalapenos, tomatoes, garlic, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 cup of water to the blender.

Very Important Setting that you must use on your blender for this recipe to work:

Once it is all in the blender press the pulse setting about 3-4 times. This will allow a course chop and get a perfer consitancy of what the green chille should be.

Once you make your green sauce add to the meat and potatoe skillet. Add 1 teaspoon of crushed cummin and simmer for about 8 minutes.

There you have it the one recipe that got me through my sorrow and made me a bride :)

Veggie Enchiladas for my veggie lovers :)

This is a really delicious meal :) I once had a fundraiser and volunteered to bring in something that would sell. So I made about 8 cassaroles of my veggie enchiladas. A lady at the fund raiser had one bite and was hooked! She was the first to try them and ended up buying 4 of the casaroles :) I was only selling them by the plate and the lady said she had family coming in and had no time to cook. She called me the following week asking me if I could come live with her :)


24oz tub of sour cream
2 cans of mixed vegtables
1 can of corn
3 zuchini's
40 corn tortillas
1 bag of shredded mixed monterrey and cheddar cheese

Preperation:
Drain water out of the canned mixed vegtables and corn and add to a mixing bowl.
Cut zuchini in bite sizes pieces and cook until tender. Mix the veggies and zuchini.

In a skillet add 1 table spoon of oil and cook tortillas on both sides.
Set Tortillas aside to cool.

Once the tortillas are cooled. Place tortilla in your hand and hold like a taco. Place the following in the middle in this order: sour cream, mixed veggies and cheese. Roll 20 and place on a 9x13 baking dish. Once the baking dish is full spread a layer of sour cream on top and cheese. Stack the reaminder of the 20 enchiladas on top. Spread another layer of sour cream and cover with cheese.

Note: the more sour cream you place in between the layers and top layer the better they will hold.

Pre-heat oven to 375
bake covered for 35 minutes.

Brandon's Taquitos and Guacamole

1 pound of shredded beef ( Costco has a really good selection if you do not want to shredd your own)

You can also use shredded chicken :)

garlic salt

2 table spoons of black pepper

Guerrerro corn tortillas

toothpicks

Tip for easy cleaning before making the taquitos. Cover your work station with alluminum foil. This will allow you to have clean counter tops when you are all done and can just throw away the alluminum foil.

Preperation. Shredd the beef very thinly and add about 2 table spoons of black pepper to season.

In a comal heat desired tortillas on both sides. You do not want to over cook the tortillas just cook them enought to bend.

Note: if you place the tortillas on top of each other and cover them they will get soggy.

In a skillet heat about 3 cups of vegtable oil. Keep at medium high heat.

To roll the Taquitos:

Take a tortilla and place a desired amount of beef and roll. You want to make sure that you roll the taquitos this will prevent from too much oil to get into them. Put a toothpick in between to keep them from openning in the oil.

Cook about 4-6 at a time in the skillet depending on the size. Cook until they are golden brown. As you take them out put them on a baking dish with paper towels to drain out the oil. While they are still hot sprinkle desired garlic salt on top. You may put them in the oven to keep warm.

Guacamole:

5 avocados

1 teaspoon of salt

1 cup of low fat cottage cheese

Take the pit out of the avocados and dissgard.

With a potato smasher smash the avocados until you get the consistancy you would like. Add salt and cottage cheese after wards.

An walla there you have it, a simply dish that is a crowd pleaser!

As you may have read from my blog, I love to cook! One of this days I will be on the foodnetwork and sharing recipes with Paula Deen :) She is my favorite because she is a silly lady who loves her butter! LOL I will post some recipes on here that have been chosen by friends as their favorite dish :)