Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone. We sure are missing our friends at Los Altos and Samantha's Papusas in Hillsborough. These are our go to places for authentic amazing food. Wesley loves Mexican food so she and I spent the afternoon in the kitchen making a fiesta.
I gave her this Turnip Greens and Tortillas cookbook for Christmas and I love how it blends Southern cooking with Mexican cooking and makes the connections so easily.
Tonight we made our own enchilada sauce, Mexican red rice, homemade corn tortillas for cheese enchiladas, refried pinto beans with hatch chilies we ordered from New Mexico and Mexican wedding cookies from a recipe from our old friend Joe Rodriguez. Can I just say..... this might be one of the best meals we have made since shelter in place!
This is pretty much the state of my kitchen most days. I am getting more and more inventive to keep from being bored with eating, cooking, staying homes, etc. It's all about the cast iron for me these days. Over the weekend, we had roasted sweet potato and chickpeas with garam masala, cumin and chili powder, with sweet and sour onions caramelized in brown sugar with a splash of vinegar, almond slices roasted in butter, and then topped on a bed of rainbow kale from the garden, coated in a nice olive oil, garlic, and parmesan dressing. (I'm still on a quest to make a kale salad like Pizza Torro in Durham, I'm getting close! ) OMG! Healthy and full of flavor, definitely not boring!
This was also a winner. Noodles tossed in toasted sesame seed oil, and soy sauce, red pepper, chopped broccolini leaves, and chickpea miso garlic sauce with a side of lacinato kale and broccolini with the miso sauce. Trying to sneak in greens wherever I can, we have soooo much!
I am really enjoying cooking more and having the time to plan good meals and even more time for cooking. We have been able to sit out on the porch and eat in the evening and its so nice. Gerry has had a crazy schedule for as long as I have known him and dinners were almost impossible to plan most weeks. During basketball and hockey season he leaves the house around 4pm, so I eat alone or Wesley and I just grab something quick if she is home, or we go somewhere. Many days, when he worked for a newspaper, he would call at the last minute and say he wasn't going to make it home for dinner. I learned to make meals that could stay warm for whenever he got home. Then I started working 11am-8pm and what meal do you eat with that schedule? Never mind cooking. We have had more meals together for a sustained period of time than we have had since we met. It's nice.
What are you cooking these days? What do you miss eating?
6 comments:
It all looks and sounds wonderful... Cooking for one is a drag. Today I baked a cake- first time in years as I'm the only one here to eat it and that's not good but oh well I wanted one so guess what's for dinner this week?
If I lived alone, I would bake cake for myself before anything else. I love cake!
I made my first cake in many years during this shelter in place time. Gluten free and full of beets and chocolate. I have planted so many beets I thought I needed another avenue besides pickled. Found it! I don’t mind cooking, actually enjoy it but I do miss Vietnamese take out. Oh for good bowl of Pho!
Your food looks so wonderful!
Headed out to start covering tender plants due to the incoming polar express hitting tonight and stay through Saturday..... argh!
I only have cast iron pans in my kitchen and I love each and everyone❣️❣️
Your Mexican fiesta looks delicious! We didn't have anything in the house to make a Mexican meal so I made pizza. We have a lot of greens too, so it was one of the pizza toppings. I have been trying new things and many times it's out of necessity. We have been getting Misfits produce delivery each week and sometime we plan meals around what comes in the box.
Sandy, yes to cast iron! I have Gerry's grandmothers and my grandmothers and then a couple I have bought at antique stores. Nothing like them!
Michele, we are trying new things out of necessity too. Crackers instead of bread because there is no yeast, 50 ways to eat kale and spinach, etc I am fixing things I never would have thought of. Today, I am making buttermilk with lemon and regular milk because I forgot to get it at the grocery and don't want to make another trip!
I very love Mexican food. Thanks for this interesting post!
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