Green Chile

Although I have yet to win the chile competition at my work the green chile is easy to make and tastes great.

lb. pork tenderloin cut into bite size pieces
1/2 onion diced
bundle of cilantra finely chopped
4 garlic cloves minced
2 limes
4 jalapenos chopped
8 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
1 large can of green chiles chopped into bite sized pieces
1 can of crushed tomatos
1-3 chopped bell peppers (optional)
cumin
chile powder

First take a large pot and heat the onion, jalepno, and garlic with some olive oil. I try to get the onions as fine as possible because I don't like to bite into onion chunks, but admit that cooked down onion adds nice flavor. Depending on how hot you want your chile will determine how much you clean the seeds and ribs out of the jalapeno. That's where the majority of the heat is, so if you want it gone you'll have to clean everything out of the middle. I would wear gloves because prolonged exposure to the oils of the pepper can cause your skin to burn for days. Just cook for a couple of minutes until the oil has been infused with the flavors of the ingredients.

Add the pork and cook in the put stirring occassionally until it has been browned.

Add 1/2 of the cilantro and the juice of the limes to finish flavoring the pork.

Add remaining ingredients. I always eyeball the amount of spices relative to the amount of chile being made. You want to generally include a proportional amount of cumin, so the bigger the batch the more you put in. Cumin is pretty powerful, so somewhere around 2 tablespoons for a large batch is about right. Your chile powder is another way to control heat, if you don't like any, you may not include any. Put as much as will give the right amount of pop to your chile. Since the green chiles you buy in the can are always mild, it makes adding the powdered stuff necessary. If you can get chiles freshly roasted during the right times of year you may have options to buy the hotter stuff, rendering the powder unessecary.

Bring the chile to a boil then turn the temperature down to low and cover with a lid. I would cook this at least 2 hours, but the longer the better. The longer the pork gets a chance to cook the more tender it will become and the more its juices will flavor the broth. All the veggies will also cook down quite a bit and that will break them down also turning your chile into a more singular creation.

Serve in a bowl and for those who find it a little hot, mixing in a dollup of sour cream should do the trick.

A big batch works great because you can either freeze the leftovers, or use as a topping or a dip in later days.

Lemon Bars

I’ve decided to experiment with Gluten Free baking. I enjoy baking; it is something I don’t want to give up. With some of my Christmas money, I have invested in Gluten-Free flours and ingredients.

I decided to make Lemon bars to share with my co-workers. I love lemon bars, and I love that I can still eat a GF version of them. I used a recipe from the The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook: Breakfasts, Entrees, and More by Elana Amsterdam. The recipe uses Almond flour, a new ingredient to me, but it gives the crust a nice texture. Grapeseed oil is sweet and worth the investment. B and I have used agave nectar before in beer making, but this was my first time cooking with it – it has a consistency similar to honey.

The recipe says that it makes 24 bars, but I have more than 24 co-workers, a hungry husband, and I don’t own an 8 x 8 cake pan, so I doubled the recipe. Here are the measurements I used, but they can easily be halved to make a single batch.

For the crust:

3 cups almond flour

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

4 T grapeseed oil

2 T agave nectar

1 T vanilla extract

Mix the flour and the salt together, and then add the wet ingredients. Mix until smooth. I didn’t even have to use my mixer for this, I just used a spoon. Spray, butter or grease an 8 x 16in pan. Pour the batter into the pan, and then place it into an oven that has been preheated to 350. Let the crust pre bake in the oven for 15 mins.

For the filling:

1/2 cup grapeseed oil

1/2 cup agave nectar

6 eggs

1cup fresh lemon juice.

While the crust is baking, make the filling. If I had known earlier in my life that lemon bars were so easy to make, I would have made them more often. Put all the ingredients in the blender. Blend until smooth. Then, pour it into the pan, on top of the crust. Put it all back into the oven at 350. Check after 15mins, but mine ended up taking a total of 20mins to set up. Let them cool – to speed up this step, I shoved the whole pan into the refrigerator until it was time to go to work…or about 30mins.

WARNING – these are very tart!

NFL Potato Skins!

Check this out, I'm totally obsessed with this idea. Thanks Christie for posting it originally. We are making the Saints Skins tomorrow.

Small Bites for the Big Game #1: NFL Potato Skins!

Pear & Strawberry Margaritas

Over the summer, we were receiving a box of fruit eat week from our CSA. Beautiful pears. Wonderfully ripe peaches and plums. Juicy watermelons. Crisp apples. All grown in Colorado. All Organic. It was wonderful. The only problem is that Bob and I are only 2 people, and it was hard to eat so much fruit each week. I took the bulk of it each week, juiced it, and froze it. It has been nice to use in smoothies, but also has been very tasty in frozen cocktails.

We took some frozen pear juice, some frozen strawberries, and some limeade, and put it all together in the blender. We added some tequila and triple sec. Ok, thats a lie - we added a lot of tequila and triple sec.

Then we blended.

And then we drank. Bob was skeptical of the pink concoction, but he went back for seconds, so I think he was won over.

Curry Chicken Salad

I have accidentally found a dish that Bob loves. Fortunately, Curry Chicken Salad is easy to make and we often have the ingredients on hand. Bob and I are lucky enough to work within 10 mins from our home. Bob is able to come home most days and we are able to spend a little time together mid day. This dish is quick and easy to whip up for lunches.

1) Grill up some chicken breasts. Some weeks we grill up some extra chicken to have on hand for sandwiches and salads. This salad comes together best if the chicken has had some time to cool.

2) Dice up some celery. Add it to a bowl with some chicken.
3) Add the following:
Dried cranberries
Chopped Pecans
A handful of curry powder
some dried basil
some dried tarragon
some dried dill
salt & pepper
Mayonnaise

4) Mix everything together.
5) Enjoy

Aunt Elizabeth Cooks. Uncle Bob Eats.

 WE HAVE A NIECE!!!!!

My sister-in-law’s friends threw a baby shower for her this past weekend. Allison, my sister-in-law, announced this past fall that she was pregnant with her first child, and soon after the announcement, her friends began plans for a gender-neutral shower (my sister and brother-in-law wanted to wait to find out the baby’s sex.) The shower was scheduled for January 23^rd, approx. 6 weeks before Allison’s due date. I coordinated with Allison’s friends and agreed to bring a salad. After looking at the menu they had prepared, I decided to bring two salads so that I (a gluten-free girl) and my mother-in-law (a sugar free, yeast free Vegan) would have something to eat.

The January 19^th rolled around and Allison’s water broke 6weeks early. Elliot (Ellie) was born. She weighed 5lbs and 4ozs at birth and is currently living in the NICU at the hospital while she is developing. She and her mother are doing very well.

We still had the baby shower on January 23^rd, but it was more Baby Girl themed than gender-neutral.

Here are the salads I made for the occasion.

Black Bean and Mango Quinoa

Take some Quinoa and cook it in a pot using the same water to grain ratio as you would with rice. I did this step the night before so my Quinoa could cool.

I then chopped red bell pepper, cilantro, and mango. I decided that this day would be a wonderful time to use the food processor for the first time. I received it in June as a Wedding gift, and just now got up the nerve to open the box. Here is a photo of my boys with the box.

I processed the bell pepper, mango, and cilantro briefly in the food processor and to my surprise it turned out well and was easy to do. I think I have found my new favorite kitchen appliance.

I added the cilantro, red bell pepper, mango, and a can of drained black beans to the Quinoa and stirred well.

Greek Inspired Greens

I wanted to take a green salad to the party because I had a pretty bowl to put it in. I also received the bowl as a wedding gift and had yet to use it because it has to be hand washed.

I do not eat gluten and therefore I do not eat croutons. My mother-in-law does not eat cheese. This salad needed something special, so I roasted some eggplant with some springs of rosemary. I diced up a meadium sized eggplant and roasted it in the oven for about 20mins. After they were done, I took them out of the oven and put the pieces of eggplant into a ziploc bag to add to the salad after I arrived at the party.

While the eggplant was in the oven, I put some mixed greens, sliced tomatoes, olives, and sliced cucumber in a bowl.

Then, I used my fancy food processor to make a relish/dressing for the salad. I bought a jar of marinated artichoke hearts and roasted red peppers. I put the contents of the jar, liquid and all, into the food processor and pulsed it 4 times. It made a nice, chunky topping that I dressed the salad with after I arrived at the party.

Food was yummy. Party was fun. My niece got a ton of stuff. Elliot finally got to come home from the hospital yesterday, January 31st.

chicken wings

My husband likes to eat wings. And he can eat a lot of wings. He got very excited when a co-worker of mine brought home made barbque wings to our staff Christmas party. This is my own take on Ellen's recipe.

Pre-heat the over to 300. Place the wings, (or in our case, drummettes) in a baking dish. Mix up the sauce. mine included:

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup tamari (gf soy sauce)
2 tablespoons GF bar b que sauce
2 Tablespoons honey
some cracked red pepper

Pour the sauce over the chicken and place in the oven for 3hrs.

After 3 hrs, the chicken will get all crispy and caramelized - take them out and enjoy! We enjoyed our with a green salad with pecans and GF dressing.