Amarillito Mole Chicken

I tried this recipe for Amarillito Mole and thought it was really great.  Some Mole recipes are really extensive.  I've avoided making Mole like the plague because of the mile long ingredient list, but when I watched Pati's  "Cinnamon" episode, she made it look so easy.

I live in South Texas so, being close to the border and all, I have easy access to all sorts of authentic Mexican flavors.  Here are some pictures of the chilis used in this recipe...

The top Chili is The Guajillo or Chili Cascavel.  The bottom Chili is the Ancho.

Here is an image of the tomatillos, tomato, and Chilis simmering away.

This is the Corn Masa Flour.  There were several varities  on the shelf  and I was confused about this being "instant", but Ms. Pati mentioned Maseca so I'm pretty sure this is it.

Here are the little dumplings...

This is the blended sauce.  I let it sit in the blender while I browned the chicken and sauteed the onion.

The end product was so flavorful.  We served it with a dollop of Oaxaquena Crema and a toasted Masa chip. 

I'm sharing @ Foodie Friday hosted by Designs by Gollum

Tequila, Mexican Cream and Chipotle Shrimp

Flipping channels, I landed on an episode of Pati's Mexican Table, the other day, and was instantly drawn in by her delicious accent.  This particular episode featured various recipes incorporating Cinnamon.  I was intrigued.  I googled her when the show was up to look over her recipes.

If you like Mexican food, her's is a good page to view.  I tried this recipe and thought it was divine.

These are the pictures of the Tequila Cream & Chipotle Shrimp...so tasty!  I'll post pictures and the recipe for her Amarillito Mole Chicken later on; that, too, was wonderful.  I hope you enjoy browsing her recipes and find some new ones to add to your week.

The Interogation

Hay is for Horses...

and rules are for mules?!  Eh?  It rhymed and that's about all I got for you on this sweltering Monday so to begin, let's just jump right in.

I think about blogging a lot.  Why do people do it?  Why do I only have 21 followers after posting almost daily for a year (and thank you, thank you, thank you to those faithful twenty-one who do)?  How do I get more followers?  Who made up the "rules" of blogging, anyway?  And how did they get those clicky tabs across the top of their page?  WHATDOESITALLMEAN?  Agghhh!

Not long ago, I read a post about the do's and don'ts of blogging which set my mind into questioning mode.  I've seen similar posts over the past year.  Heck I'd even googled articles on how to increase my traffic (who hasn't?).  But this particular post made me uncomfortable.  I thought about it and asked, "Why? Why do I care so much?"

Then I quickly began writing this post AND THEN I saved it as a draft and didn't touch it again.  Until today.  Today, I read Michael Lee West's post about "Finding time to Blog." and decided that I should just put my thoughts out their because, "Hey, it's my blog!"  One comment in Ms. West's post was chiefly responsible in my decision to say, "the heck with it."  She said, "Blog because you love it."

That simple.

Some may tell you not to have music playing on your page because it will turn readers off, but if you love it and it bespeaks the essence of you, I say, "Go for it!"  There's got to be other readers out their who love that music, too.

Some may tell you not to get political.  I say, "Whatever floats your boat."

Some may say not to clutter your page with wall paper.  Cutest Blog on the Block cravers, yeah, I'm talking to you.  I say decorate your blog like you'd decorate your home.  If plain white walls don't show your personality, then let that sparkling personality shine through.

To heck with those rules.  Do what you love to do.  Don't feel guilty if you skipped on a blog-hop or missed a week of posting or forgot to link back on a swap.  Don't let it become a chore or else you're blog will become a bore (I rhymed again...like how I snuck that one in there?)

I may not have all the answers or hoards of followers, but I'll tell you what I do...I have a love for my little blog with no stress and strings attached.  It's not the best-for-you gourmet food and riveting commentary.  Shoot, half of the time, the pictures are skewed, but I'd be writing anyway whether here or in a spiral notebook or two.  I'm glad to see when someone has popped on my page and maybe even left a comment, but that's not the reason I blog.  I simply blog because I want to.  Somehow, sending my thoughts out into the world excites me, like anything could happen.  Anyone could read it.

What's your point of view?

Chocolate & Strawberry Bread Pudding

Big Sissy had the pleasure of having a cousin stay for a sleepover.  Though, Big Sissy fell asleep by 10pm.  At 11pm, Cousin Naomi came into the living room and hinted around about being bored and mentioned dessert because she knows her Aunt will use any excuse to make one ; )  After some serious consideration, here's what we came up with.   

Naomi's Bread Pudding (she loved this being named after her...was so proud!):

2 cups stale bread cubes (I use King Hawaiian sweet dinner rolls)

4 cups scalded milk

¾ cup of granulated sugar

1 tbsp butter

¼ tsp salt

4 eggs slightly beaten

1 tsp. vanilla

½ to 1 cup s;iced fresh strawberries sprinkled with Cinnamon sugar
1/4 cup chocolate chunks sprinkled across the top
Garnish with sweetened whipped cream, chocolate sauce, and mint.  Viola.

Soak bread in milk for 5 minutes. Add sugar, butter, salt, eggs, and vanilla.

Mix well and transfer to a one and a half quart baking dish. Set baking dish in a water bath (a larger pan of shallow water) and bake for one (1) hour at 350 degrees.

We started by washing our hands and our berries.

Auntie scalding the milk

...waiting

and posing

cooling

beaming

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Fresh Fig Cookies

So our Fig tree has been producing dozens of little Figs and, for the life of me, I didn't know what to do with them...not enough for preserves, too many for a salad.  So, I decided to bake.  I'm really glad I stumbled upon this recipe.  These cookies are really good.

• Ingredients:
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 egg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 cup chopped fresh figs
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
2. Cream sugar and shortening and add beaten egg.
3. Sift dry ingredients and blend with creamed mixture. Fold in figs and nuts.
4. Drop by spoonfuls on greased sheet. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

Nutritional Information 

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 155 | Total Fat: 6.1g | Cholesterol: 12mg

**Recipe found on allrecipes.com.

The Stand Off

As the wizard in the Wizard of Oz might say, "Pay no attention to that mess behind the kitty."  Okay, maybe Mr. Fleming would not have such a line worked in ; )

This picture captures a good portion of what I witness between George & Louise in a day.  Whoever moves first, gets chased!

A Sampling of Mom's Art

Here are various works done by my Mom.  She works in Oil, Pastels, Acrylics.  Please forgive the glare from my flash.  I'm not skilled in taking pictures  : )

If you're interested in purchasing a piece of art, please let me know and I will pass the word along. All are originals, prices are up to my Mom.

Pictures from the Weekend & Traveling Corpus Christi

First off, I hope y'all had a lovely weekend.  As you may have read, I had a decadent dinner planned for Father's Day, but I have a confession.  I'm a novice at Fried Chicken.  Gasp!  I know.  I know...a southern girl who doesn't know how to fry chicken.  It's not that I didn't know how.  Believe me.  I've read tons about it.  It's just that all that reading kind of built it up in my mind.  What with all of Fried Chicken's glorious praise, I was afraid of messing things up.  Well, I sucked it up and went for it last night and I'm really glad I did.  Hubby enjoyed his Father's Day dinner a bunch.

Here are some pics of our meals yesterday...

Here's the breakfast in bed

and here's the Fried Chicken dinner

For the chicken, I loosely followed this recipe...only difference is that I soaked the pieces of meat in an icy cold salt water brine for an hour before patting them dry and proceeding with the rest of the recipe.  The flavor was great and the meat was so moist.  I look forward to trying it again.

Since we had time between breakfast and supper, we decided to run some errands and on the way grab a bite for lunch.  It was a windy day on the bay as it often is so we skipped the beach.  We tried out this little eatery, Harrison's Landing, on the T-heads of the bayfront.  I LOVED it.  If you're ever in Corpus Christi, I would recommend it as a fun place to eat, relax, and watch the boats .  We dined to live music, had an appetizer, dessert, and a drink for under $40 bucks.  Who doesn't love that!?



Hubs enjoying his Shrimp Cocktail in Remoulade Sauce



He managed to snag a shrimp before I could snap the pic : )



Caprese Salad

What you will need:

Tomatoes, home growns taste best
Fresh Basil leafs
Whole Milk Mozzarella
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Kosher Salt and cracked Black Pepper to taste

Get creative in how you serve it.  Stack up alternating slices of cheese and tomato, dice them up, or fan them out on a plate; doesn't matter because the taste will be great.  For the picture you see, I was serving just me (this was my lunch, perfect on a hot summer day).  I sliced up one tomato, a few slices of cheese and a small handful of Basil leaves.  I sprinkled with oil & vinegar, and salt & pepper, and viola!  Caprese Salad!

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Happy Father's Day

THANK YOU, DAD!  We love you.

Getting Ready for Breakfast in Bed (Blackberry Muffins)

Tomorrow is Father's Day (I'm sure I need not remind you) and we are gearing up.  Yesterday, my neighbor brought two containers full of fresh blackberries so I poked around on the net to see what recipes I could whip up.  Hubs mentioned muffins and so I had the idea to serve him breakfast in bed on the big day.  On the menu will be a cup of Community Coffee's Hazelnut Roast, Blackberry Muffins served with Saint Paula's (Patron Saint of Southern Cuisine) Blackberry Compound Butter, and fruit salad.  I hope Dad enjoys it.  Bebe already signed the Father's Day card (only got a little of the ink on herself) and I've already wrapped the presents.

Here's the recipe I found for muffins on a fellow blogger's page.  The muffins turned out great!  I'm looking forward to trying out more tasty treats from this Ms. Judy's page and I hope you'll do the same : )

Blackberry Muffins

1 cup buttermilk (could use regular milk)

1/4 cup oil (I use Canola)

4 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

2 eggs

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt                         

1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring

1 1/2 cups fresh blackberries (could use frozen)

  In a mixing bowl, add milk, oil, eggs, melted butter,  vanilla and sugars.  Mix well with mixer.   Add in flours, salt, soda, and baking powder and continue mixing. Fold in blackberries. Spray a muffin pan and fill each cup almost to the brim. Bake in preheated 400 degree oven about 25 minutes. Let cool in pan about 10 minutes.   Makes 12 muffins.  Enjoy!- Recipe courtesy of Judy @ A Southern Lady Cooks.

 

For our supper menu, I'll fry chicken and serve it with a Pea Salad and Squash Casserole,.  Banana Pudding will be for dessert.  I think we will eat supper after the beach, don't want to be walking around with a "food baby" showing.