My Tamales

I was asked to write down my tamale recipe and that is hard because I just throw things together without thinking so here goes. 

I was taught how to make tamales by an old friend from Mexico. I have lost track of him but think about him everytime I make tamales.  Mine are a little different from his but the concept is the same and I think they are pretty darn good. 

I do it in steps so that it isn't as big a job as it could be. I suggest cooking your meat a day or two ahead and refrigerating the meat and the cooking liquid. This makes it so much easier for taking the fat off the liquid and any remaining fat on the roast. 

For the meat we like pork but you can use any meat you want. The cooking liquid is really important though so kept that in mind when choosing a meat. 

5-6 lb Pork shoulder roast or your fave

3-4 dried chilies, I like Guajillo or New Mexico

2 Tbsp Wahoo Chili (of course!)

2 tsp salt

Cracked black pepper, 3-4 turns

6-8 cups water 

Combine all ingredients in a crockpot and cook for 8 hours or until it pulls apart. 

Cool the meat and cooking liquid with the peppers to solidify the fat. Remove the fat from both. Shred the meat and blend the liquid and peppers, removing the stems first, until frothy. Strain and set aside the liquid. 

For the Masa

4 cups Masa Harina

1 cup Crisco or lard if you choose

6 cups reserved cooking liquid 

2 tsp salt

Combine the flour, shortening and salt until resembles course crumbs. I use my hands. Play with your food!!  Add the liquid a little at a time until a wet but firm dough forms. You may have to add more or less liquid depending on your humidity. Your dough should form a sticky patty. 

Soak approx 24 corn husks in hot water for 30 minutes. Or until they are translucent and pliable. 

Spread 3-4 Tbsp of mass onto the fatter end of the corn husk leaving about 1/4 inch to one side for rolling.  Add your meat and roll into a log and fold the smaller end over. Place in steamer. Repeat until all of the masa is gone. 

Steam for 90-120 minutes or until the masa is firm and set. It should easily peel from the corn husk when done. 

You can double the recipe if you want to make a lot to put in the freezer. I didn't have enough energy for that this time. 

Enjoy!

Herbed Beef Cheeseball

Herby, beefy, cheesy........sooooooooooooooooooo yummy!

Today is National Cheeseball Day but we are celebrating it at work tomorrow with Cheeseballs and Bingo!  Hey....it is called the Fun Committee afterall.  :)

Here's the yummy, heavenly goodness that I created.



Ingredients:
1 pkg of cream cheese, room temperature
1 pkg of dried, chipped beef, diced
2 Tbsp Spinach & Herb Seasoning



Combine thoroughly.  To form into a ball, wet your hands and scoop up all of the cheese mixture.  This keeps your hands relatively clean and allows you to form the ball easily.  Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.  Enjoy with your favorite crackers.

Happy cooking!

Herbed Balsamic Brussel Sprouts

It's Grill Time!!!  We have it fired up and going strong!  Burgers, smoked sausage and these little beauties are cooking away. Want to know what I did?  Well, here ya go!

Ingredients:

Bag of Frozen Brussel Sprouts

3 Tbsp Butter, unsalted

1-2 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar of Modena

2 Tbsp Spinach & Herb Seasoning

1 Tbsp Garlic Pepper Seasoning

1 Tsp Salt

Place all ingredients in a large piece of heavy duty grill foil. 

Fold up in a packet and place on the preheated grill on low. 

**Note:  You will want to start your packet before anything else you are going to cook on the grill. Our burgers and sausages were done well befor the veg**

Cook for 30-35 minutes depending on your grill.  If using fresh Brussel sprouts, reduce the cooking time.  Try not to open the packet too much to keep the steam inside. You are creating an oven effect and everytime you open the oven door it has to hear back up again. It lengthens the cooking time. After the 20 minutes you can check your sprouts for your desired doneness.  

Serve with extra butter and balsamic vinegar if you wish. Enjoy!

Favorite Fish Breading

This is my favorite breading for fish. What you get in the store is good but SO salty! I have to watch my intake so I make my own. It's more fun that way anyway. Here's my favorite way to make fish breading. It can be used on any meat but fish does really well with this. 

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

3/4 cup yellow or white corn meal

2 teaspoons Seasoned Salt

1/8 teaspoon or a few turns of cracked black pepper

You could also adds teaspoon or two of Garlic Pepper Seasoning in place of the black pepper. Mix it up with any of our new seasonings too like the Green Tea Peppercorn or even Rustic Herb Seasoning. Yum!!  

I did breaded flounder last night but you could totally use any fish you want. I made sure the fish was somewhat wet and then just coated it evenly. I pan fried it in shallow oil for 10-12 minutes and cooked 6 filets. There was left overt breading so you could make it ahead and just use a small amount at a time. Keep it in an air tight container and it should be good for awhile. If you do this, let me know how long it kept for in your container. I would love your feedback. 

This yumminess is going to work with me today. Have fun and enjoy!!

Chorizo Breakfast Casserole

Made this yummyness for a work Easter Brunch. It would work for breakfast or even dinner. Smells sooooo good!!

Ingredients:

1 can Crescent Rolls

1 30oz bag of shredded hash browns, thawed

8 large eggs, beaten

2 cups milk

1 8oz (12 oz would work too) bag shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 tbsp Onion Onion

1 tube mild Chorizo sausage, browned

Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Unroll the crescent rolls and lay on the bottom of the baking dish. Press them out to cover the bottom of the dish. 

Add the hash browns on top of the crescent rolls. Combine the beaten eggs, milk and Onion Onion then pour over the hash browns. 

Srinkle or spread (different brands cook differently) the chorizo on top of the hash brown and egg mixture. 

Cover with Press N Seal or plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. 

Remove from the refrigerator and bake at 400 degrees (F) for 30 minutes. 

Take the casserole out of the oven and sprinkle with the cheese. Bake another 15 minutes to finish setting and melt the cheese. 

Serve warm. 

Ooey Gooey Trifle

Oh my YUM!!

We found a Trifle bowl at a flea market recently for $3. Score!  I just love flea markets. DH and I have wanted one for quite awhile but didn't want to pay what they want for a new one. Imagine our glee when we found this in a booth!!

We are having our son, daughter in law and grandson over for Wahoo! Chili tonight so we gotta have dessert right?  Heck yeah. Well I always have the pound cakes in stock so we decided on Classy Chocolate.  I wrote my DH a list and off to the store he went. 

Here's the result and the recipe. Feel free to change it up. Make it yours!

Doesn't that look delicious?

Ingredients:

Classy Chocolate Pound Cake

1 1/2 sticks of butter

1 cup water

1 large box of vanilla instant pudding mix

3 cups milk (we used fat free, use what you have)

1 8oz bar of cream cheese

1 tub of whipped topping

Creamy Caramel Sauce or Caramel Ice Cream Topping

Berries of your choice 

Make your pound cake and let cool for at least 2 hours, longer if you can. 

In a bowl whip your cream cheese until it is smooth. I put mine in the microwave in my glass bowl (don't do this with a metal bowl!) for 20 seconds if you need to. 

In a separate bowl, mix the vanilla pudding according to the package directions. 

When well combined add to the cream cheese and mix until thick and somewhat smooth. It will still have cream cheese bits in it. 

Add half of the whipped topping and fold in until smooth and well combined. 

Cover and chill for at least 20 minutes. 

When the pound cake is cool, cube it and place half of it in the bottom of a trifle bowl. 

Add a layer of the pudding mixture, then a row of berries around the edge. Drizzle with caramel sauce and repeat the layers.  Add the other half of the whipped topping to the top, drizzle with more caramel and garnish with berries.  

Allow to chill while you have dinner and then serve. Enjoy!! 

Rustic Spaghetti & Meatballs

There is just something special about Italian for Valentines Day. It's red I suppose but more than that it is like a big warm hug to your family or special someone. 

Since I was able to make tacos with the leftover pork this week, I can use the ground beef we got for tacos as meatballs for our Valentines Dinner. Winning!!  

I have another recipe for Rustic Herb Meatballs here in the blog. I didn't have bread crumbs this time though so I used some crackers I had in the cabinet. Use what you have!  

I know you just love our fine Valentine China. Ha!

Here's the recipe for the spaghetti and the meatballs. Use whichever recipe you want however. 

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef

1 egg

10-15 crackers

2 tablespoons Rustic Herb Seasoning

Start by putting the beef, eggs and Rustic Herb Seasoning in the bowl. 

Then put crackers 10-15 or so in a zipper bag and crush. I just used my hand mixers.....my hands!  Then pour your crumbs into the bowl. I don't add salt or pepper because the Rustic Herb Seasoning provides that peppery flavor and the crackers have salt on them. 

This version I am baking. So spray your chosen baking dish with cooking spray, an 8x8 baker or I used my deep dish pie plate. 

Roll your meatballs about 1 inch and place into your baking dish. 

Cover with foil so that the grease doesn't pop all over the oven and the meatballs cook through. 

Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. I pre made mine this morning since I already had the oven on for our valentines biscuits and gravy breakfast. But you could do this while you are making your spaghetti at dinnertime. 

I made my spaghetti noodles. I cook mine for 9 minutes so they aren't over cooked. Warm the jarred sauce in a sauce pan. I like to jazz mine up with either some Mama Mia Marinara Seasoning or more Rustic Herb Seasoning. Add your meatballs to the sauce and warm through. 

Serve over the spaghetti and garnish with Parmesan cheese. 

I am serving a salad and a loaf of Bountiful Beer Bread. Oh yeah!  It's Valentines after all. 

Have fun with it and make it your own. Happy cooking!!