Carne Guisada, A Staple

Bite size pieces of tender stewed meat covered in a rich earthy gravy is delectable all by itself. Pour it over a taco with rice and cheese and it is love. The T&T recipe comes from my aunt whose Carne Guisada will always be better than mine even though I follow her recipe. Not having her recipe written down as it is burned into the fibers of my brain, I had to find one similar for you to follow such as this one here.

My Aunts Ingredients:

2 lbs round steak, 1-2" cubes

2 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 tablespoons flour

1 yellow onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, whole

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 tablespoon comino

1 small handful cilantro

1 small bay leaf

salt, pepper to taste

1 cube pollo de tomate

3 cups water

Instructions:

In a searing dutch oven, brown meat. Remove meat. To pot, cook onion until translucent. Toss meat with flour to evenly coat. Add garlic and meat to onions, cook briefly to remove white coloring of flour. Add remaining ingredients, cook on low until meat is tender, almost falling apart. Add water if needed. Test for salt and pepper.

Scaled for Likability: Great

Carne Guisada is one of my earliest memories of learning to cook Tex-Mex food. I was not even in Kindergarten, standing on a phone book on a high chair at the stove stirring meat in a pot big enough to place a five year in! Waiting for the meat to cook took forever and my time was filled by sorting pinto beans and then cooking them. With beans cooking, tortillas were made and there was always extra for a simple butter tortilla snack after a hard mornings work. Life was simple.

The only downside to carne guisada is it not budget friendly and left overs never last long enough. At least not at this table.

Papas a La Mexicana (Ranchera)

It is a crying shame that there are six hens and not a egg in sight. What am I supposed to do with homemade ranchero sauce? Thankfully with a few quick searches of the internet a recipe from my hometown newspaper was discovered: Papas Ranchera . Not once in the thirty years I lived in my hometown did I ever eat at a local food joint serving papas rancheras. No time like the present to remedy this cultural dish. Because this recipe is hidden behind a paywall (grrr...) I have included it here for you: Servings: 4-6 Ingredients: 1 pound potatoes, diced 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1/2 large onion 1 1/2 medium tomatoes 3 jalapenos 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup juice from canned tomatoes Instructions: Fry potatoes in vegetable oil until lightly browned (about 4-6 minutes). Saute onions, tomatoes, jalapenos until soft. Add garlic powder and salt. Add tomato juice until vegetables are covered (may need to add water). Bring to a boil and then add po...

Better Than Campbell's Old Fashion Vegetable Soup

Went to the store with the hopes of gathering fresh produce for soup. With more than 45 people in line for two packages of any meat product and the produce section containing only avocado, orange, and most randomly, strawberries, I settled upon canned soup. Well not canned soup since that section was still void of food, too. Instead soup made from canned goods as the canned vegetable section had been mostly restocked. Soups like this 15 Minute Vegetable Soup are ideal in dire food situations such as current times. Modifications Made: Plain petite diced tomatoes omitted, frozen carrots instead of canned, green beans and corn undrained, peas omitted (gross, nasty little pods), one cup celery, three cups diced potatoes, one can tomato sauce, two beef and two pollo de tomate bouillon cubes, six cups water. Once onions were softened, carrots/celery/potatoes/juice of green beans and corn, sauce, bouillon cubes, water were added and allowed to simmer until carrots almos...

Cold Corn Bean Salsa

Nothing says junk food like chips and salsa, chips and cheese dip, chips and guacamole. Over the years I have perfected my salsa. It's good on tacos, on nachos, on enchiladas, and of course on chips. Just because I have the best salsa doesn't mean I don't like to try new salsa's like this Best Black Bean and Corn Salsa. Modifications Made: Shoepeg corn was replaced with one can of standard yellow corn with no salt added. Petite diced tomatoes were reduced by half. Italian dressing was swapped for half teaspoon comino, half teaspoon of chili powder, and two tablespoon of fresh lime juice. Salsa was made and let rest for two hours before eating. Scaled for Likability: Good Salsa this was not. Good it was however. It was too much for chips by themselves but was great served over a soft beef taco.

Eating Waffles

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