Cookbook Countdown, What's Outside my Kitchen Window and Library Loot.

Wednesdays are long for my blog posts.  If you are looking for library loot,  don't be discouraged....just scroll down to the very end!

This could possibly be the longest post I've ever written.
(**not ture....there is mostly pictures, so written is subjective)


I'm not quite sure what to do about that. I mean, I KNOW my mom will read it and maybe my mother-in-law. My daughter in-law Sadie, a few Friday Friends, here and there.... but really, reading it to the end?


If a post gets too long and it's not that captivating --if my sense of humor and my quick wit doesn't reel you in, in the first couple of paragraphs, (because if truth be told, my recipes are not TO DIE FOR), well, then, you probably won't get to the end of my longest post ever.
That makes me a bit sad.    Also, knowing I just passed by my 400th post without having a big celebration....like a give-away--makes me feel bad too!

My first blog post ever? (click HERE for trip down memory lane and my first post)  It was about the same thing as my 400th blog post.  In a round about way.
I'm trying not to laugh, for fear of falling off my seat, --it wasn't a "food" post, or a "book" post -- BUT it did mention my trip to Virginia and me having
Sweet Tea.   It was not until my 2nd post, July 2007, that I mentioned having started my blog.   (   You have to remember, that it was not a food blog, but just a way to keep in touch with all my "Friday Friends" )



HOW WEIRD IS THAT?
That my 1st post and my 400th post mentioning the same thing: ICED TEA.
If I would have only thought ahead...... I would have done a give-away.  Maybe I can do one for my 425th post!
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Let's move on to my Cookbook Countdown!

I am going to count one of my "put together notebooks" as a cookbook... I have notebooks and notebooks of recipes I've collected over the years.

 Look at this notebook, (if you can read it ) it says:   
Soups, Hometown cooking misc. and Diet Recipes.
There is no rhyme or reason to my organizational skills.

On Sunday,  I was hungry for a stew that my daughter-in-law, Mara's, mother had made when we visited them last fall.  We were in Arizona visiting my son and his wife and most importantly, our new granddaughter, Cassandra, and we ate lunch at a restaurant where my DIL's mother works.



It's been on my mind for quite some time, so I thought I'd try my hand at making this original Mexican Stew.

Here we are....  the two grandma's.  Me and Maxine.  Which isn't her "real" name, but that is the Americanized version of it.   She speaks no English and I speak no Spanish.
REMEMBER, the camera adds 10lbs. Not to mention how many pounds are added when flying thru camera to computer to internet!

She made us these great dishes! (no cheese, no Fritos)

 "My" family makes a soup/chili dish that we call Chalupa.   It has pork, pinto beans and a  broth with spices...it's  really good.    But of course we "Americanize" it by adding cheese and crushed Fritos, among other things.
I thought I'd "UN-Americanize" it and make it like the stew last fall.

This stew (my photo is blurry)  came to the table with the beef and the broth and then my daughter in law added the cabbage and onions, which were in a bowl beside the soup/stew bowl.
 
So.... I got out my cookbook notebook and looked at my Chalupa recipe, called my daughter-in-law  and asked her if she knew what Chalupa was.
She said "from Taco Bell?" She had never heard of it before. She did say that different regions of Mexico cook different dishes, so it could be a dish, that she just hadn't heard of.



Next, I looked thru my Diana Kennedy cookbook "From My Mexican Kitchen" where she does indeed have a Chalupa recipe... that is nothing like what we make.

Her chalupa --meaning little boats-- is a concoction of flour, like a thicker tortilla, filled with toppings/fillings.

I will have to try them someday, but for now this is my Chalupa/or Pork stew.
 
If I'm honest with you---yes, I did buy Fritos for my family to crush up. And I had some Jack Cheese, and I set the sour cream on the table too..... I couldn't "UN-Americanize" it too much. The rest of my toppings were onions, cabbage, radishes, tomatoes and avocadoes.

 



The verdict was...it was REALLY GOOD. But we've always known that. It was good when it was just Chalupa with the Fritos crushed into it and the cheese melted on top of it.


I didn't have any Fritos in mine.... I made it more of a "stew". I think.

Chalupa--our way
(I add this as part of my cookbook challenge in my very own cookbook countdown --click here to see how far I've come)

3 pound pork roast
1 pound pinto beans
1 4oz can diced green chilies
1 tsp oregano
1 Tblsp ground cumin
2 Tblsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1 small onion -chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
7 cups of water

soak beans over night, drain.
Simmer all of the above for about 5 hours.  Remove the roast, shred and add back into the broth.

Crush some Fritos into a soup bowl, add the Chalupa and top with the following:
tomatoes
avocados
lettuce
cheese
onions
salsa 

to make it more original ( I thought) I also topped it with:
cilantro
cabbage  (instead of lettuce)
radishes


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As long as this is the longest post ever, (for me)  I will mention that the Handyman and I played a game and voted on it in our "Weed out the Games" resolution for 2010. (Brainchild of my dil Sadie) 
This way it will be recorded.

We played Showdown Yahtzee.

It was fun enough. We decided that we should play it with four people to make sure.


I said, "maybe this is a cabin/lake game" (meaning we'll take this one to my parents cabin and leave it there)
Handyman said, "I thought all the ones we didn't like were going to the cabin?"
Me, "no, we're selling them in the yard sale."
Handyman, "oh."  And then he looked at the Keeper pile (very big) and the loser pile (only 2 games) and he sighed.


So the verdict on this one is tabled for a while.
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What's Outside My Kitchen Window?
Lots of brown stuff right now. Brown grass, brown leaves, brown weeds......
But I can see spring...in my mind.

My "dining room" window.....

Just after Christmas, we had a sad thing happen---our old Basset Hound died. Monroe. He waited until all the boys were home and said good-bye and then he just lay down and died. He was very old. It was very sad.

But now....the Handyman and I have decided to live dog-free for a while. It has been over 30 years with a dog in our lives.


so what does one do with the old dog house? Since Monroe's pen and dog house (not that he was ever penned in his life) shared space with our garden.
See our garden space last year/click here.
 
Outside right now...

We plan to take the chain-link fence down and cart the dog-house somewhere and enlarge our garden area. I might even consider composting. I want to, but I have to research it.

Last Summer

Right now

I can't wait for it to get warm enough to plant something!

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Library Loot.



Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva (a striped armchair) and Marg (reading adventures) which encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!



Poor, poor library looters, who have come to see what loot I've gotten and then had to wade thru a rambling recipe and a gazillion pictures of my yard.


Ask me how I'm going to have time to read these book?! I have no idea.
But....here is my loot for this week.....

I'm a little obsessive, I know.
Happy Reading everyone!