Some Good Stuff

A couple of good articles I've come across lately.....

Five "Bad" Foods That Are Actually Good For You

Paleo Baby

A couple of good recipes to share....

Ropa Viejo is a Cuban beef stew with red peppers, onions, and green olives. This version literally takes 10 minutes to put together, and a you just let it go on the stove for a couple of hours. I eat this over mashed rutabagas while my housemates enjoy it over rice.

Taco Chicken Wings The genius of this recipe is the idea of dipping these oven broiled hot wings in guacamole. I'm all for any excuse to eat guacamole, and this is one of the more delicious vehicles I've come across. I've also used the spice mix as a rub for ribs!

Crab Stuffed Salmon We made this a couple weeks ago as a birthday dinner for Dato's mom. I was expecting it to be delicious... but it was even better. This was not a cheap meal, but cheaper than going out to dinner. I think it was about $90 total to feed 6 people.

If anyone has any links to articles, website recommendations, or recipes they would like to share.... please post to comments!

Chile Colorado

This can be made with pork or beef. As a matter of fact, I think this is the first time I've ever had it with pork. I adapted this recipe and it made enough for 3-4 people, next time I will definitely double the amount of meat so I can have some leftovers.

~2 lb pork roast, cut into 1" cubes

1 yellow onion, chopped

5 cloves of garlic

3 dried ancho chiles

2 dried guajillo chiles

2 cups chicken broth (homemade or reduced sodium!)

1 cup water

2 T preferred fat for cooking

Put pork, 1/2 the onion, and 2 cloves of garlic into a large pot/dutch oven. Add just enough water to cover the meat, and add ~ 1 tsp of salt. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium low and simmer partially covered anywhere from 60-90 minutes. You want to cook it until the pork is tender enough to cut with a spoon.

While the pork is cooking, bring the chicken broth and water to a boil. Turn off the heat and add the dried chiles. Cover and let sit for 20-30 minutes until the chiles soften a bit. When they are cool enough to handle remove the stems and seeds. Don't worry if some of the seeds remain, these chiles are pretty mild. Put the chiles in a blender or food processor with their cooking liquid and a couple of pinches of salt and puree until smooth.

Once the pork is done I transfer it along with the cooking liquid to a bowl, and use the same pot to sautee the remaining 1/2 onion and 3 cloves of garlic (chopped) in your fat of choice. After a couple of minutes use a slotted spoon to add the pork back into the pot and cook for 5 minutes more. Then dump in the chile mixture and use the reserved pork cooking liquid to thin the sauce to whatever consistency you like. Cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Then eat!

I just had a bowl of this and a spinach salad for dinner. I imagine this could easily be made in a crock pot by making the chile mixture and pouring it over the pork, onion, and garlic; then adding enough water to completely cover the meat. Cook on high for 5 hours, or low for 8 hours. Seems like it would work!