La Comida de Mi Vida (My Life in Food)

This hearty stew brings together many flavors and textures for a very interesting meal.  Serve the stew over white Mexican rice with sour cream and a few slices of avocado and cilantro for a garnish for an eye and tummy pleasing meal.

Ingredients:

1 lb. fresh tomatillos, rinsed and sliced 1/4″ thick

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 lb. boneless top round beef, sliced thinly across the grain

1 tsp. cumin seeds, whole

1 lb. fingerling potatoes or other thin skinned variety, thinly sliced

1 lb. zuccini, trimmed and sliced 1/4″ thick

2 – 10 oz. cans red chili sauce

1 large ripe Haas avocado, pitte, peeled and sliced

4 cups hot cooked rice

Garnish:

Sour cream

Chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

Add oil to a 12 or 14 inch skillet over med-high heat. Place beef and cumin seeds in the pan stirring until the meat is no longer pink (approx 5 min.). Add tomatillos, potatoes, zucchini and chili sauce.  Bring mixture to a boil; reduce heat to medium, cover the pot and simmer until potatoes are soft (about 30 min.)

To serve spoon the stew over hot rice and top with avocado, sour cream and cilantro.  Serves 6.

Prep time: 20 min

Cook time: 35 min.

This evening after a long exhausting day we went to visit our new little niece.  We hadn’t had anything to eat and the girls were restless. DD1 requested Applebees and it sounded good so we went. 

DH right away knew he wanted the Bacon Cheddar Burger.  DD1 wanted fish which was unusual.  We settled on getting the fish and chips for the girls so they could split it. I doubted there would be enough for all three of us so I got the Chicken Fajita Rollup.

When the food arrived the girls had three good size fillets of fish, a mountain of fries and some Cole slaw to share. DH’s burger looked good though he had significantly fewer fries.  My rollup looked more like a lettuce burrito with a little pico de gallo and cheese and a few scant pieces of chicken.  I thought, “looks can be deceiving, maybe the chicken fell to the ends.” No such luck. 

For almost $8 there should have been twice as much meat.  I seriously doubt I had half of one chicken breast in the tortilla.  As mutantly huge commercial meat chickens are these days you could have fed four people with the way the meat was doled out.

I was sorely disappointed.  Next time I’ll be more careful when the star of the dish can be buried in lettuce and hidden in a tortilla or crepe.  It’s too easy to get jipped.  What I should have done was not get anything for myself and eat the girl’s leftovers.  Instead I had a flour tortilla filled with lettuce and a few mini pieces of chicken and we brought home most of the fries and one and a half fillets of fish.

I know the economy is hitting everyone hard, but practices like this alienate people.  You want consumers who are pinching their pennies to keep coming back you can’t skimp.  It’s different when a box of cereal or a container of juice changes size and the price stays the same.  The consumer can see a quantifiable change and calculate whether it’s worth the buy.  You can’t do that with restaurant fare.  All it takes is one poor experience to turn one off completely.

Last night we had some family over for supper and DH wanted something with teriyaki glaze or marinade. I had some Western Styloe ribs in the fridge that needed to be prepared so I marinated those. I was at a loss at what to make with them and then I remembered that I had a couple heads of cabbage in the refrigerator. This is not an oft consumed veggie in my house for no particular reason other than I don’t know what to do with it other than stew it or make cole slaw. Memories of having a chinese cole slaw at my sister-in-laws house gave me an idea. I searched on Food.com and found a recipe that was more to my liking. Even though the sharer called it light I still reduced the sugar a bit more. This is wonderful and light and will go great with grilled chicken breast or shrimp. Today we ate the leftovers with some of the leftover rib meat cut off the bone and it made a wonderful lunch.

SALAD Ingredients
1 head cabbage
4 green onions
1 carrot, shredded

CRUNCHY Ingredients
1 (6 ounce) package Ramen noodles
1/4 cup sunflower seed
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 cup sliced almonds

SAUCE Ingredients
2 minced garlic cloves
1 tablespoon fresh ginger (or jarred if more convenient)
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 cup sesame oil
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon light soy sauce

Directions:
Prep Time:
Prepare Salad
1) Slice cabbage into small bite size pieces.
2) Add green onions, and carrots. Toss to combine.

Note: This salad will keep for up to 4 days in a zip top plastic bag or covered bowl.

Prepare Crunchies.
1) Break the ramen noodles into pieces and place on cookie sheet.
2) Sprinkle Sunflower & Sesame seeds and slice almonds over the noodle pieces. Lightly coat with olive oil.
3) Place pan under the broiler on low until lightly toasted. Stir gently if needed. Watch carefully so they don’t burn. Once brown remove from oven to cool.

Note: If preparing ahead of time, once cooled place crunchies in a ziploc bag.

Prepare Dressing:
Mix all ingredients for dressing together stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Allow to marinate for a few minutes.

If you have a small family keep the salad, crunchies, and dressing separate. Toss together enough to feed your family. Make sure to stir up and spoon the dressing over before tossing the salad together.

This salad will go great with grilled, chicken, pork, steak or shrimp.

One of my favorite condiments or dips is guacamole.  I like it’s creaminess and earthiness.  Spiced just right it goes wonderfully with tacos, tostadas or just plain tortilla chips.  Sometimes though I’m more in the mood for something chunky not smooth like instant mashed potatoes.  For a get together last year I made some Chunky Guacamole and it was a hit, so I’m sharing it with you.  This way you can have the same great flavors of guacamole with a little twist; just change things up a bit.  Your dinner or game day guest will thank you for it.

Chunky Guacamole

3 medium tomatoes, diced (I like juicy ones)

2 medium Haas avocados, pitted,  diced and peeled

1 small onion, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

1 jalapeño pepper, diced

1/2 a bunch of cilantro, chopped fine

juice from 1/2 a lime

salt to taste

Dice and chop the ingredients as indicated.  Put all but the avocado together in a bowl, squeeze the lime juice over the top, season with salt and mix evenly.  Carefully fold in the avocado at the end taking care not to mash up the chunks too much. This can be consumed immediately or allowed to marinate in the refrigerator for 15 to 30 minutes before serving.  It is typically best to consume it the day it is made as the salt and lime will continue to macerate the ingredients the longer it sits.

This is a great accompaniment to rice, chips, tacos, pinto beans or anything you can think of that you like with regular guac.

If part of this recipe looks familiar, it is.  Check out Pico de Gallo.

This recipe is the sauce that accompanies the Mexican Meatloaf I wrote about the first of the month.  This sauce is so versatile though that it can be used with pork, chicken or vegetables in a variety of preparations.   I felt it deserved it’s own post.

You are probably familiar with the word chipotle since just about every fast food chain has a chipotle dipping sauce or flavored sandwich.  Not to mention the flavored mustards and mayos that you find more and more at the grocery store.  My recent favorite is the Kraft Sandwich Shoppe Chipotle Mayo.  It is OH so yummy.  But I digress. . .

Yes, this is a part of a famous biblical saying uttered by Jesus Christ while he was sitting in the wilderness for 40 days without food or water. I do not mean to use this in a sacrilegious sense, but it fits today’s little post. As a blog writer about food I really do love my subject. My blog though cannot survive on food or the love I have for it alone. It must be read, commented and linked to also so it can continue and thrive in the blogoverse.

I have started a new blog hop that you will see in my page list. Please, leave your link and your thumbnail and visit the other blogs listed to give them some link love too. Thank you:).