Chile Verde on Burrrrrrr-itos!

We had hospitality yesterday. This means we had to make food, and a LOT of it. Yay! I love food. And I love company. And I love Chile Verde.

It's a delicious green sauce poured over burritos. You can make the burritos any way you like. I got this recipe from my fabulous mother in law. She uses refried beans and hamburger in the burritos, but I'm not the biggest fan of refried beans. So mushy for me.

Heat up your dutch oven. HOT. Add cut up pork cubes and onion. Fry it. It needs to be hot and quick because the juice will stay in the pork then.
Add garlic, green chiles, jalapeños, water, salt, pepper, and a few diced tomatoes.

Bring it to a boil. Thicken it with cornstarch.

We made pinto bean and cheese burritos. The other ones were rice, hamburger, and cheese burritos with Complete Seasoning.
You know, I never knew about complete seasoning...until my great friend from Costa Rica came. She made Sopa Azteca and used the seasoning. It's divine! On everything. I mean, I use it constantly. It should be a staple in everyone's cabinet. Unless you're allergic to MSG (A friend of mine can't have it because of that) It's even good on mac n cheese!

This made a whole lotta good warm food, and it's even awesome on eggs in the morning. It's good scooped on tortilla chips for a Green Chile Nachos meal.

Zuppa Zuppa Zuppa

Howdy! Yesterday was a crazy day. It all started out good, but quite frankly, we were all breaking down in this family. So we made the easiest supper ever. Zuppa Tuscana (AKA "Kale Soup").

Fry up mild italian sausage, add onion, garlic, and sliced potatoes. Add chicken broth. Bring to a boil, and throw in some half and half or heavy cream and a bunch of kale. Don't be afraid of the kale! It's really good in there. Top it off with some hot pepper flakes and freshly grated parmesan cheese. Hot, spicy, and warm in the tummy. And the perfect comfort food for a rough day. :-)

Shrimp and Chicken Scampi, y'all!

So my mom was saying she wanted shrimp for some reason, which is kind of unusual because she's not always the biggest shrimp fan. I'm certainly not, but my Mike (hubby) loves it! I haven't made shrimp scampi in a long long time because I've made it only twice, the second time I made it, it wasn't so good.
This was GOOD...
First, the chicken gets thinly sliced (4lb of chicken breasts) and cooked in butter, garlic, and some leftover chicken broth I had in the freezer.  Then when it's finished, remove it from the pan. Put 2 sticks of butter into a large saute pan with a bunch of fresh garlic, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Add 3 or 4 thinly sliced red peppers and a thinly sliced onion, saute it fast.
Add about 1.5-2 cups of white wine and a bunch of lemon juice. Let it simmer.
Mix all the ingredients together and pour it over angel hair noodles. Sprinkle some fresh parsley into the mix for a fresh add-in! Plus it's beautiful. Add fresh grated parmesan and extra red pepper flakes for a little kick.
It's simple.
It's beautiful.
And it's so delicious!

Oh yeah, of course,

we had bread with it to soak up the delicious wine sauce.

Back online!

Hey my people! I haven't looked at this blog in years, it was sort of part of my "healing process" after my sister died. I was home all the time, watching a billion kids, looking for a way to express myself and let out some of my emotions. I did it through food.
Since then, we have moved from snowy Wisconsin to Douglas, Arizona, which is about as far opposite as you can get. Pretty much we live as close to Mexico as you can get without actually crossing the border. It's been a huge change!
The food is different, the people are different, the culture is different. The weather is different, which means we make much less heavy food now. But I'm getting sick of the same old food we always eat.

I've been inspired by my own blog, and I think I want to get back online and express myself through food again. Food defines me. I love to find myself through my cooking, and I'm ready to begin that process again.

Our kids are 15, 13, and 9. All homeschooled. I'm never home, as opposed to back in 2011. I'm always out in service, preaching about Jehovah. People need it. They need to know there's a God who cares, and that things will be better.  They need hope.
I can't just do that, though. I need an outlet. So in addition to learning guitar, I'm going to start cooking more often and loving it more often.

We have a huge flat-top grill in our back yard. It's the best purchase I think we ever made. We use it constantly, and if you are thinking of buying one, you will not be disappointed, I promise you that. So I will be writing about that as well.
I also have my parents living with me! My dad loves to cook. He's overflowing with ideas, so I will be including all of his ideas too.

It's on like Donkey Kong.  Let's do this!
(Oh and on the photo, yes, that's the wall. To Mexico. We're that close) :-)