Pozole & Honest Scrap Meme!

A few years ago, when I was living in California, I spent some time trying to write down some of my grandma's recipes while she cooked. It wasn't easy, I don't even know if I've ever seen a measuring spoon in her kitchen! But now that I've been cooking for a few years, I don't feel so intimidated at the thought of replicating one of her recipes without the exact measurements :). I gave her a call a few days ago because I was in the mood for some of her pozole, mexican comfort food at its best - think of a hearty and slightly spicy hominy/pork stew.

A long, long time ago, my grandparents actually owned and operated a Mexican restaurant in Southern California, where my grandmother made yummy food like pozole :). My aunt said that the only reason why it closed was because they received too much business and my family couldn't keep up with all of the customers!

My grandma lives clear across the country, but it's nice to know that I can give her a call, then, in no time, cook up something that reminds me of her. She gave me a quick run-through of how to make pozole; I used all of the ingredients she told me to, then added the cumin and cilantro, for extra flavor. (I didn't have the fresh tomatoes she usually adds; she also makes hers with chicken and pork chops, instead of pork loin.)

The results? Pretty tasty! I was so happy when my hubby said it tasted very traditional - I am thrilled that I finally have a 'hard copy' of her recipe; I will definitely make this again, just this way!



I almost forgot about this Meme! I was tagged by my new blogging buddy, Monica, over at Lick the Bowl Good! She has some awesome photos and delectable carbs, all things tasty and sweet!

The rules of the award:

• Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design.
• Show the 7 winners names and links on your blog, and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with "Honest Scrap." Well, there's no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon.
• List at least 10 honest things about yourself.

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1. I haven't eaten brussels sprouts since I was 10 because they left me scarred :P, I didn't like their bitter flavor! Send me some good recipes, this needs to change!
   
2. I have a strange collection of music on my laptop that I like to organize into random playlists. For instance, I have a Happy Mix and even a Twilight Mix (<---embarrassing :P!)
   
3. I feel guilty about spending money on myself, except for when it comes to food :D.
   
4. Monica made a comment about make-up on 4 and so will I :). I hate make-up; the older I get, the more I despise it and the less I wear it. I'm also done with nail polish and long nails!
   
5. Things that make me happy: a fridge full of food and cant-breathe-they're-so-tight-and-warm hugs.
   
6. I usually am horrible with names but I remember numbers, even though I hate math and love words!
   
7. I used to love the city, now I'm a fan of the quite/peaceful solitude that comes with being far from it (somewhere green with lots of trees and fresh, crisp air). I love big city grocery stores, though!
   
8. I don't like bracelets and rings, but I love earrings and necklaces - the former always get in the way when I'm cooking, like long nails and nail polish! (Shhh...don't tell! One time when I first started cooking - when I had long nails, real ones - I cut one off when I was chopping onions and couldn't find it... :P)
9. I really enjoy snacking on baked apples and baked sweet potatoes, I eat them almost every day. My husband and I go through 5 pounds of apples every 2 weeks. It has kept the doctor away, I haven't had a cold in nearly 2 years!
   
10. I adore vegetables but can only eat them cooked.

I'll pass this along to these 7 blogs:
Hungry Girl Por Vida
Shweet and Savory
Life is Still Sweet
Lemonpi
Hold the Gluten
Gluten Free in Cleveland
La Bella Cook

Barbecued Boston Baked Chili Beans and Sweet Potato Cinnamon Muffins

No Thingies Thursday this week! Instead, I'm posting 2 recipes :)!

What happens when a Californian moves to Texas where she marries her Southern-food-loving lover right before they trek off to Boston? No, not a culture-shock induced lobotomy...a really fantastic chili bean recipe! (Or is it chili beans recipe?)

I'm sure you're familiar with most Texan's love of barbecue, and you've probably heard of Boston baked beans, but how does California fit into this beany equation? Well, California is where I was born and raised until mid high school. It's where my mom used to crave chili beans when she was pregnant with me and where my parents used to sneak veggies into my chili so that I would eat them. Yes, it's odd. Chili was one of my favorite foods as a kiddo, but I hated veggies (sometimes I'd even cover them in ketchup, ewww!), so my parents would sneak them into my chili and hope that (after covering said chili with tons of cheese and sour cream) I wouldn't notice the little specks of green here and there...I did. The good news is, I now love veggies and I still love chili!



Chili doesn't always love me, though. My digestive system has geriatric mannerisms these days. Oh, I know all about hearburn and bile reflux, thanks to the absence of my gallbladder. So I try not to make it too spicy. Still, it's yummy comfort food, and it's also a food that reminds my hubby of back home, aka Texas. So, it's become a sort of comfort food to him too. But I wanted to make these beens extra special for my little Southerner, so I added liquid smoke, it's the answer to every Texan-transplanted-to-Boston's prayer. (Now, does the apostrophe go after Texan or Boston? I think it's Boston's, but that looks really awkward. Gosh, there goes that handy English degree!)



Ok...because a meal just isn't complete without dessert, I also made Sweet Potato Muffins. Boy, they are tasty! Honestly, I was impressed with their non-gluten-free texture, but they are very much gluten-free and butter/milk free. I actually feel bad about posting them after the chili, but I didn't have a fun story to go with the muffin recipe... You know, I don't even want to talk about how good they are because I want you to make them yourself, give 'em a try! Seriously, a great Thanksgiving/Fall treat. Oh, but if you do make 'em, make sure you have them right after the chili; now that's what comfort food's all about!

Pork Ribs and Barbecue Sauce

Don't you hate it when you have plans to wrap up a 40 hour work-week by going out on a fun date with your husband but then the car breaks down...when it's 102 degrees outside?! I do! But at least it's a lot more interesting when it happens in Austin, even if living here does remind me of being trapped inside of a convection oven (not that that's happened to me...yet :).

So why is it more fun? Because getting stranded outside of a flower shop can be quite entertaining, especially when one of the locals decides to jump into the flower shop's dumpster and climb back out with a dozen red roses perfectly in tact for...who?! Before I could figure out who, the flower guy took off in his beat up but fully-functioning pickup truck filled with a variety of trash-to-treasure goods. (The saying here is Keep Austin Weird - we practice what we preach. :)

This is what happened on Friday evening. Thankfully, it happened when the hubby and I were together. We couldn't help but laugh at the abandoned-flower-arrangement rescuer and...our far from fully functioning VW Passat. (It might be a cute little car but it has plenty of annoying qualities.) With a busted alternator, our car helplessly sat there while we waited for the AAA tow truck to pick us up and take us home.


Because Jose's full of good ideas, he thought it'd be best to get ahold of a mobile mechanic. That way, we wouldn't have to spend a ridiculous amount of money and time at a dealership while missing work and losing even more money in the process. It was a great idea; the mechanic came to OUR house Saturday afternoon, and just a few hours later, our car was good as new! The other silver lining? Instead of going out Saturday, I had the chance to stay home and make the juicy ribs I'd been craving for a few weeks now. I also decided to go a step further and make the BBQ sauce myself! I made sure to spend some time 'studying' a few recipes beforehand, so I wouldn't come up with anything too crazy; the end result was inspired by this recipe.

Stuffing also sounded good; I tried remembering what my parents put in their stuffing, but I couldn't remember all of the ingredients, so I added a few of my own. Only thing is...it came out a bit flat - sort of the way cookies taste when I forget to add the salt! Here are the components of the stuffing, or dressing :): Cornbread, bits of black forest bacon (and the drippings), cranberries, golden raisins, sweet onion, carrots, celery, savory, rosemary, sage, a pinch of butter, olive oil, and poultry seasoning. I know I could've added some chicken broth...but what else is missing? Salt? Next time, what can I do to take this recipe to a tastier level? I welcome any tips!

Ok...so I know I said that I'd be posting a 'Traveling the World One Plate at a Time' recipe at least once a week, but last week I went out of town and this week...well, I remembered that Texas is like another country (and we eat plenty of ribs here)! :) Is that a good enough excuse? ;)

healthy oatmeal raisin cookies

I actually have a good excuse for the time that's passed since my last post...I got married! Yes, the last couple of weeks leading up to it were a bit hectic, considering my then-fiance-now-husband and I weren't planning on having a ceremony in the first place...but now we're glad we did! It was a very simple but beautiful wedding, and even though I loved the dress, my favorite part was the vow-reading that took place during the ceremony, it was a very memorable moment.

Now, back to the topic of food, a few weeks ago I made some oatmeal cookies. They are a pretty traditional cookie, usually made with a simple recipe...but most of those recipes include about 2 sticks of butter. I hate deceiving myself into thinking that I'm eating something healthy because the word "oatmeal" is included in the list of ingredients of the baked good I'm savoring...so I've tried to improvise and had some success after a few experimental sessions...I traded in 2 sticks of butter for 2 TBSPs and my taste buds don't know the difference!

Inspired by the oatmeal cookie recipe on the traditional Quaker Oats container, I decided to make a healthier version of the delectable treat. Instead of using literally half a pound of butter, which would translate into 2 sticks, I remembered the beauty of applesauce...keeping in mind that with applesauce, at least with baking, a little goes a long way. So for this particular cookie, between 1/8-1/4 cups of applesauce are the magic measurements...but it also depends on what texture you're going for. If you want a cookie with more bite, then about 1/8 cups and 1 tbsp should do the trick. However, if you really like the big soft cookies, then put a little more applesauce, somewhere around 1/4 cup.

Ok...so here's the recipe. A few other changes went into the cookies, but I do have to thank the little Quaker Oats guy for coming up with the initial, though terribly unhealthy and a little less flavorful, recipe.

Improvised recipe (makes a little over 2 dozen, if you make 1 tbsp sized cookie dough servings):
1 1/2 cups flour
2 cups oatmeal (this is one less cup than the original)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2-2/3 cups raisins (the golden ones taste so much better!)
1 tablespoon cinnamon (a lot more than the original)
a few sprinkles (about 1/8 tsp nutmeg)
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
3/4 cups sugar
1 cup brown sugar
about 1/4 cup applesauce
2 TBSP Butter

I baked these in a 350 oven for about 12 minutes...note: the more applesauce you use, the longer it takes for the cookie to harden.

P.S. I took these cookies to work, and they were gobbled up completely!

Random Fact: I read somewhere, and I'll find the link one of these days, that applesauce and brown sugar tend to soften things with time. So be careful not to add too much of either, if you don't want your cookies to crumble :).