Home Roasting of the Green ChileYES

So about a month ago, I took a trip up to Corrales (a cute little village just north of burque) to a grower's market they have there. One mind, one goal - all your chile, belong to me. Grabbed a small basket from a super nice father and daughter pair and opted to forgo the pay-to-roast and took it home. Got half arranged on a cookie sheet, and proceeded to take half an hour to figure out the broiler function on our oven. I never said I was smrt.

 

So you want to try to get the chiles as flat as possible without breaking them. My oven has the broiler flames at the top (idk if other ovens are different? I'm new to broiling). You don't want them too close to the flame, obviously. Keep an eye on them; you want to flip them over when the top skin starts to get nice and black and charred. DID I MENTION the house will smell amazing. Once the skin on both sides are black, take them out and put them in a bag or wrapped in foil. This will help to sweat them, making them easier to peel later. 

Now, what do we do with these? BURRITOS. My favorite combo is cheese, potato, and green chile, but I'll do egg too occasionally if we're talkin' breakfast burritos. I boil up some potatoes, drain, salt, and butter. Chunk them up into bitesize pieces, and pile it in. Shred some chile, drop some cheese, and fold it up!! Swap the potatoes for sausage, and now Mike's hungry too. =D

Mmmmmmm. Now let's make burritos!!

Aaaaaaand now I'm hungry.

Crepe-zilla.

Let's try crepes for dinner, I said. It'll be fun, I said. Uffda. Now this is NOT an entry with a recipe or any sort of helpfulness whatsoever. It's more of a...homage to living and learning. =P

OK, they weren't horrible, but wow, do I need work. I followed a crepe recipe online (pick yours or browse, cause mine obviously I didn't do right) and decided on zucchini and shrimp for Mikealicious, and zucchini and mushroom for me. Sauteed them up with some butter and DID I MENTION I love that man enough to have peeled and de-ickified 10 cold, smelly shrimp? Yeah, that's right.

For the inside, I took some ricotta (OK, too much ricotta), some cream cheese, paprika, parsley, and chipotle for a kick. Mixed it all up and set it aside. You can see the nasty shrimp-plate behind it, I was nice and remembered to clean it off before I snapped the pic.

Then came the crepe mix. It looked like all was well!! Consistency, color, alright! We're having crepes!! I never said I was a skilled or neat mixer-cook.

OK, this will be easy. Just, make a big thin pancake, right?

Uuuhhh....welp. I learned something here. Cooking spray in small amounts can really just fix everything. Hindsight is 20/20. They all came out a little like this one, but I just folded the crap parts on the bottom and haha nobody knows!! I also don't think I cooked them long enough? They were kinda dough-ish still, but not horrible.

Last steps were to spread the ricotta stuff down and fill the crepes. I really shouldn't have used so much ricotta; it kinda dominated the flavors. Melted some butter with parsley in the micro and poured it on top.

They weren't horrible!!!

FIRE FIRE FIRE, or, Happy Americaday!

Hope everyone's day was awesome and fun! We had fantastic weather here, albeit a -teensy- bit hot. After sleeping in, Mike went out and cleaned the grill, ready for grilltastic grillage. I ran to the store to pick up a few things, and came back with, well, more. 5 packs of sodee pop for $10? Yes, please. Avocados? Mmhmm. And on and so forth. Anyway. We'd picked up some sparklers and fountains a few days ago, so our questlog was now empty. =P You may also notice the change in picture quality. I may or may not have cleaned off my phone's camera lens, at Mike's suggestion. *embarrassed giggle*

Mike fired up the grill and put on a burger for him, and some barbeque chicken for me.

Mmmmmm. I took my place in the kitchen (No, I was not barefoot.) to make the sides. Potato salad, baked beans, and dessert. Mike wanted macaroni salad and I wanted potato salad, so I copped out and bought his. *snicker* I also bought a can of baked beans. Yes. I saw the sale sticker and went for it. I started 2 red potatoes boiling and the beans warming, then started on the dressing for the salad.

In goes 1/6 c of EVOO, a tsp of chopped garlic, 1 tbsp red wine vinegar (it was on sale, I swear), 1 tbsp dijon mustard, and dashes of salt and pepper. Whisk whisk and set aside. Then drain potatoes, cut up into small pieces and add chopped shallot (or onion), celery, and green onions. Stick that into the fridge for just a little. I took it out when it was still a little warm, then tossed with the dressing.

Mike's not so hot on the vinegaryness, so I'm wondering if next time I'll try pickle juice instead. It's still vinegar, but it's not....it's...it's pickle juice. It's different.

ANYWAY.

We took our plates and beers outside while Mike grilled some corm. Mike requested a dark beer, so I picked up Left Hand milk stout. It was from Colorado, so I figured he'd like it on principle. It was actually really good! I'm not a beer person, but this one was really smooth and wasn't icky. I know, not very informative, but "not icky" is what it is. =P

We came in and played WoW for a bit until it got dark enough for firework time!! I'd made some black cherry Jell-O earlier and for the life of me, I can't find blue Jell-O anywhere ever at all never. So I thought I'd just get blueberries instead. NOPE. Ugh. Fine. Grabbed a can of blueberry pie filling. Made some whipped cream real quick, then cut up the Jell-O. Jell-o went on the bottom, then whippy, then blueberry.

Winner winner chicken freakin' dinner. Mikey liked it, but Foop liked it more. (He got a few moments with the cups before he got caught.) We took those outside and commenced with the American celebration by lighting Chinese fireworks. No really, thank you, firework makers. I wish you got paid more for the happiness those incendiaries give us.

This was such a great day! I love my life here in America. It may not be where I want it to be sometimes, but it's days like these that remind me I'm in a country where I'm free to change my mind, go for what I want, and incur as much debt as I can along the way =P

Happy 4th, everyone!

Yes, I'm still doing this, no, I didn't forget =D

Errrrg, I have failed for like two months now. Haven't been cooking many things of note recently, you know, the "Ugh, F it, we're having ramen and uhm, whatever's in the freezer" phases. =)

I'll backtrack a bit and post what few things I have done since last post. I came down with a cold around the beginning of March, and that meant one thing. Chicken and noodles together in a soup. I stumbled around, oozing virii and droopy-eyed, into the kitchen. Chicken, check. Carrots, yup. Broth-in-a-can, yes. Garlic, celery, and thyme, sweeeet. Now, the noodles. Uhm, we had spaghetti, shells, macaroni, and angel hair pasta. no, No, NO!!! When I'm sick and feel like crap, I get all cranky and fidgety, and I tend to get what I want. So I bundled up and went to the store, sanitizing and scarved up (I realize my grumpy indignation shouldn't make other people sick lol), despite Michael's request to take it easy and rest. NO, I will not rest until I get....

my egg noodles. Sweet success.

For a sizeable pot of Cold-Cure Chicken Noodle Soup:

2-3 carrots, peeled and cut into coin-shapies
2-3 celery ribs, cut up
chopped garlic (I love it, so just throw as much in as you want)
6-8 cups chicken broth (the noodles suck up a lot, so its good to have extra on hand)
1/2 - 1 tbsp thyme
1-2 cups egg noodles (I eye it, you don't wanna see lots of noodles at first. They suck up broth as they cook)
Cooked and shredded chicken (I'll say about 1-1 1/2 breastises)
salt and pepper
olive oil/vegetable oil

Start by sauteeing carrots and celery (onions too if you want!) in your cooking oil, then add your garlic in towards the end so it doesn't burn. Pour in your broth, thyme, and s&p and let it come to a boil, then dump in the noodles. Let those cook until tender (5-10 minutes). Now, you can pre-buy your chicken or make your own, I usually boil and season chicken breasts if I'm gonna shred them. It makes it easier to shred. Anyhoo, start shredding your chicken and add as much as you want. Again, make sure you have more broth showing than other shit, cause it will go away as it cooks. I ended up having to add more constantly cause I'm awesome. Once the chicken is warm and everything's all, you know, soupy, then get crackers and omanomnom.

Do this, and you too can have blurry, color-lacking but ooooh my god SO GOOD and comforting Chicken Noodle Soup!

Super Bowl was like, 2 weeks ago??

So in keeping with "tradition", I'm way behind on posting. Also doesn't help that two holiday events are happening in WoW. I am now both the Love Fool and Elder. What what!!! So, tangent over, back to FOOHBALL. Saints and Colts, it was a reeeally exciting game! The quarterback of the house is helping me learn the game, he's being really very nice and explaining whatever questions I spout out. Since none of our teams (Broncos for us, Boris claims the 'niners, and Miss Bennett loves her Cowboys) were in, we really didn't care who won as both teams had played really well. However, us ladies were pulling for the Saints while the guys backed the Colts. Although we had ample opportunities to sing "Oh When the Saints...", we were nice and only did it once. =P

I was excited for the Bowl for the more obvious reasons. Food. A very helpful butcher at Smith's helped me pick out a lovely brisket so I took it home and threw together some stuff I thought went in barbeque sauce for cooking brisket. Into a glass dish went:
a bottle of JD's barbeque sauce
2 tbsp worcesrteresisiirrerchierestire sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tsp dry mustard
....and Lawry's seasoned salt and black pepper until I thought it was enough.

Mixed that up, plopped in the brisket, coated and covered. Let it sit in the fridge overnight, then woke up at 630 to load it into the crockpot (along with a splash of Jack). Then, back the F to bed. When it came time for gametime, lo and behold, there was brisket.

Not really the best shot, but it kept sliding off my knife while I was trying to aim the camera. But, Boris came through with the bitchin' camera phone yet again, and he brought the hamburger buns. I set to loading the table up with chips, salsa, plates and napkins when Mike-o began to lament the lack of wings. "I usually go to Wing Stop, but I didn't this time, and..." Now I wasn't about to let him go without wings, so 10 minutes later I'm walking through Smith's again searching for wings. The deli was nearly out but had...10 for $6???? FFFFFUUUUUU. No. Back to the meat department where good old Tyson had hot wings, 20 or so for $5. Schwing! Back home, pop 'em in the oven, and here we have, the 2010 Super Bowl lineup:

 

My aunt gave me the chips'n'dip sombrero a couple years ago and I just love it so much. Miss Bennett also supplied delicious cannolis and I tried to make blue and black frosting for the cookies I made later. We did have blue...and purple. 

Anyway, thanks to both teams for giving us such an entertaining game, and congratulations to the New Orleans Saints!! What a well-placed win, I bet Mardi Gras is even more animated for it. =)

Champagne taste, Keystone Light budget.

That being said, I do not condone the use of that particular beverage. I do, however, wholeheartedly approve getting things done for half of nothing. =) As I wait for payday, and subsequently grocery shopping day, here are a few cheap ways of making that dollar (or quarter) work as hard as it can.

Mmmm, cappucino. Delicious, but how can I have one every morning without paying monetary homage to Starcrack? Go pick up a canister of the offbrand instant cappucino mix. Then grab a bottle of water or fill up your thermos with tap. Dump the H2O into the coffeemaker, then put as much 'cino mix in your bottle as you like. When your water's done, proceed to fill, lid, shake, and out the door. Hey, I didn't say I was Martha with her innovations and whatnot. =P

Next, if you've made a pot of coffee but still have a little teensy bit left, I like to add it to a glass of milk. Makes a tasty coffee-ish drink, and it doesn't taste like reheated bleh. Or, if you have a blender, add the rest to some vanilla ice cream, or milk and ice. Leftover coffee also makes a nummy red-eye gravy. Just add your leftover coffee to any grease/drippings from frying up bacon or breakfast meat.

If you're wanting to start eating breakfast or want a quick fix, get a large container of vanilla yogurt, a frozen pack of mixed berries, and a bag/box of cheap granola.I like to use loose granola for this, but you could break up a bar and that'd work too. Make yourself a little parfait before you go to bed and stick it in the fridge. That way, it's ready for you in the mornin, all nice and pre-prepared. You can get quite a few breakfasts this way.

Now this won't be a complete post of frugality if I don't mention ramen at least once. Grab some of your favorite veggies, make your ramen as you normally would, then drain the noodles and fry them up with your added chopped veggables. Cheap (and marginally more healthy) faux-yakisoba.

 Now then. Back to my regularly scheduled evening of grinding rep for Old World factions. *sigh* After Loremaster, what's next? "The Insane".....

CONAN POR VIDA

Alright, so you want to know the official stance of this blog on the Conan/Leno/NBC fustercluck?

Well, there it is. Pic is from Mike Mitchell and I think it says exactly my take. Also, new blog coming within the next few days. Also, Mike-o failed at China-food-picture-taking, and I found out last week my own mother does not read my blog. That all being said, Nara out.