Another Try at Tamales in Honor of Cinco de Mayo

There are two things I'd like to learn how to make well. ...and then....when I learn how to make those well, I'll pick something else I want to learn how to make well....it's just the kinda gal I am.
One-is macaroni and cheese. I can't explain this b/c it's not like it's going to ever fit in my calorie count....ever. This also hinders my search FOR the perfect mac and cheese recipe because making it means eating it, and I'm back at the beginning. http://christyrobbins.blogspot.com/2009/08/mac-and-cheese.html I've tried out a few recipes without a lot of success, despite certain food network personalities assuring me otherwise.
The other thing I'm personally obsessed with learning to make are tamales. I found this crockpot recipe, and have tried it twice, and liked it. http://christyrobbins.blogspot.com/2008/12/tamales.html I wanted to try out a pork recipe....and I wouldn't mind a little more seasoning. I did a lot of research, and two more trials, before pulling this together this past weekend. I keep adapting it, but decided to toss it out there into blog world. The verdict is that it is my favorite thus far. The key is that I'm not just trying to make tamales, but I'm trying to make them as easy as possible....you should see some of the instructions out there! It's not as much about effort and skill as it is about time at this point. I took 7 printed recipes, random bottles of spices I own, the back of the corn husk package, the back of the masa package, a no fear philosophy, and an intensive google search to come up with the following. Feel free to add any hints to spicing things up, while allowing me to also keep my sanity, and please don't judge my rolling technique...the tamale rollers of the world are safe with me on the prowl.
I even took pictures.
Filling:
1. Place 1 1/4 lb. pork loin, 2 c. beef broth (I used a can, plus one cup of water), 2 cloves (diced) garlic, 1 chopped onion, 1/2 t. cayenne, 1 t. chili powder, 2 t. cumin, 1 t. oregano, 1 t. salt, 1/2 t. fennel seeds, 1 can of chopped green chilies (with the water), and 1/2 t. ground chipotle seasoning in a crock pot. Cook for 6 hours.

I then cooked 3 dried chili pods (after removing the stems, and seeds WEARING GLOVES (I've learned this the hard way)) in a simmering pan for twenty minutes.

I then used a blender to pulse this, strained the water, and added this strained mixture to my meat mix. I let it marinate with the meat for an hour. You should do this the day before, which I usually do and let it marinate. It just soaks into the meat and gives it a great flavor! I'd also kick up the kind of peppers I was using if I weren't surrounded by people with delicate palates.
2. Shred the pork, and strain the remaining stock in the pot, but don't toss this out! I put the bits of chili, and onion in with the pork, and I used the remaining broth in the next step. (You can also toss some corn in at the beginning of the meat cooking for an additional texture.)

Masa:
Mix 4 c. masa harina, 2 1/2 c. broth (I used what I had set aside, and it actually ended up being more than enough after cooking. I figured this took care of some additional seasoning, though you can continue to season with some of the spices you toss your meat with), 2 t. baking powder, 1 t. kosher salt, 1 1/3 c. crisco (lard). Mix.
(You can also buy tamale dough pre-made in a package at the store (the cold section), but both stores I went to were out of the stuff....it was so sad b/c I had really wanted to be lazy.)
Assembly: Soak corn husk for 2 hours (I didn't do this, they actually will work after 10-20 minutes in hot water, but I know they'd be better at 2 hours, so....do what I say, not what I do). Place a palm size ball of masa on a corn husk.

I used the palm of my hand to flatten this down, and then add 2 T of filling down the middle of the masa.

Roll (I use the husk to roll both ways to make sure the masa is meeting, and then package it up by rolling once, tucking the corners in, and then continuing to roll shut.


Place in a strainer, add water to the pot below. Steam for 2 hours (check to make sure they are ready). Tamales are time intensive, so, I often get to the point where my tamales are in the pot, then put them in the refrigerator, and pull them out the following day to steam. It worked just as well. You have to continue to check the water (every 20-30 minutes) b/c if it runs out you'll have a smokey mess....or....so I hear ;o)....this might or might not have happened at some point in the process of making these this past weekend.

At this point you can add sauce, but I eat mine plain. I've been to Mexico 4 whole times, so, obviously, I'm a real expert on the subject. ;O)
Linking To:
http://rootsandwingsco.blogspot.com/2010/05/happy-cinqo-de-mayo-wednesdays-creative.html
http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/2010/05/whatever-goes-wednesday-12-and-fun.html
http://santasgiftshoppe.blogspot.com/2010/05/wed-spotlight-yourself-bloghop.html
Tempt me on Tuesday

Is it wrong that I think this is cute?

Tomorrow Blythe Anne turns 1.

I went to meet her for the first time last August in her home state of California. I snagged this picture of her across the table from me during a dinner out with her dad (my cousin). I think she's pretty stinkin' cute, even though she thinks I'm scary. I pretend it's the limited access she has to me that brings on the tears when we hang out, and not the fear. I have a little less than 24 hours to get a pony shipped to her for her first birthday, so I better get going....
Linking To:
http://thetrendytreehouse.blogspot.com/2010/05/shutter-love-tuesday.html

Lavender Ridge Farm

One of my favorite things this past week was putting into action a site I've been exploring for awhile called pickyourown.org. It list local farms in the states that are open to people that want to 'pick their own' fruit/flowers/Christmas tree....whatever the farm offers. I love the idea of finding local treasures, and picking my own to take home with me and enjoy.
There was a write up last year in the Dallas Morning News regarding this little pick your own Lavender Farm a few miles outside the city of Gainesville, Texas (about an hour North of Dallas).

My friend, Sonia, headed out last year, and told me about it....after their season was over, BUT while handing me a sachet of lavender she filled for me. Due to the gift, she was forgiven for not telling me before then...after a day or two. I put it on my list, and now I've been, and I'm going back! They are holding a festival over Memorial Day weekend where you can pick your own lavender from their fields, and shop at 35 vendor's booths who will be out selling their wares on site. It's on my calendar. You can click on the link, and get directions, and further info.
The lavender fields are growing...

...with a few blooms. The rest of the blooms should join them in time for the pick-your-own festivities coming their way.

My cousin and Mom joined me on this little roadside adventure. Holly quickly found a farm friend. Mom refuses to have her picture made until her lips and arm heel.

They have a cafe on site.

They serve lavender lemonaide, lavender chicken salad, lavender everything. They apparently also give lavender cooking classes. I was a little scared, and I had plans for other eating festivities a little further down the road, but I thought it was interesting.
They also had a shop selling potted plants, and lavender merchandise.

They have animals on site as well, always a good thing in my book of 'good things.'


And on site there is a butterfly garden. I guess a 'bee' garden doesn't have quite the same charm, but I believe it might be a little bit more appropriate name....I'm just sayin'....


I have a few more photos here from our time on the lavender farm.

It really was a charming little farm. There was a nice collection of things to walk around and see. The family running the farm was sweet, and welcoming, and I'm really looking forward to heading back and getting my hands in the middle of those lavender fields in a few weeks!
After visiting the Lavender Farm, we headed just a few miles down the road to Downtown Gainesville.

I explored this spot last year on my scrapbooking retreat, and I'm heading back in July, but I had to take my Mom and cousin to the Fried Pie Company for lunch. They are open until 3, and at all hours people walk out with fried pies by the box-load. The lunch is really, really good, and very affordable. They have a great salad bar, and a really good hot dog...weird, but I really like hot dogs cooked 'right.' They have a really good everything, this info is just for me so I can remember what I want to eat when I return this summer. This go round I tried the Fried Pecan Pie.

Oh. My. Goodness. This is how a pie should always taste.
We then shopped the cute little shops along the square. They prices are much more affordable than a lot of shops I've frequented lately. I found old milk bottles for 2 and 3 dollars. I didn't need them, but I couldn't leave them behind at that price!


I managed to find a few treasures , including some kittens in one of the shops that apparently weren't up for adoption so I just crawled around the floors of the boutique photographing them, because I'm normal. The best blog posts ends with kitties.

I'm linking to:
Coastal Charm

Cute as a Button-A 'Welcome Baby' Gift

I think buttons are cute. I have a ton of them, and I'm always buying more sizes, more colors, more, more, more, and maybe one more.


Last week a gal I work with had a baby. We have a sunshine committee at work that arranges gifts for this sort of occasion. I volunteered this go-round. I went with the 'as cute a button' theme b/c I had a bunch of button projects I wanted to try out I've seen around the internet....
I bought this little chocolate mold at The Cake Carousel (a local cake shop). The day after I made these I also saw Bakerella posted about a store that sold this exact mold online: http://www.bakeitpretty.com/. I love her site!

I dyed some white chocolate the three shades I had gone with for this gift (blue, green, and yellow). I filled the button drops. It was actually kinda a pain. I spooned the chocolate in (as usual), but they were so little, and so shallow. Attempt two, I ended up just spooning a huge drop on the tray, and taking the edge of a knife and running it back and forth across the top to push the chocolate down in the holes, but it left a chocolate film on the tray. This is fine for a 'one person gift,' but I probably wouldn't want to make multiple little bags of these, whew, talk about labor intensive. Actually, it's something I'd probably do, but I wouldn't want to want to do it!

Bagged and beribboned.

Next up. I bought some flowers and a vase. I also bought some wire, and some buttons, and made these little button picks to mesh with the flowers. I've seen bouquets of buttons before with many more/decorative buttons, but here's my budget version using all the buttons in a mixed button bag I bought at Michael's from the sewing section, and some real flowers.
The button stems.

The flowers came with multiple blooms on each stem. This drives me a little crazy (short drive) since they are different heights. I like uniform bouquets, so I cut off the flowers, bundled them up in clusters with a button in the center,

floral taped those together,

and then floral taped my bundles together.

I'm aggressive with my flower 'arrangement'.
I added my ribbon,

and moved on.
Last, I saw this recipe for Button Cookies awhile back on gourmetmomonthego. I kept the idea in the back of my head, I was looking for a reason to make a slew of buttons.

Recipe: I halved the recipe, and it made about a dozen. I adjusted it to simplify it b/c I was tired, and today wasn't the day I was going to change my inner self and worry about perfection, or anything in the ballpark of even professional. For the HALF recipe I used a fork and mixed 1 c. all-purpose flour, 1/8 t. salt, 1/4 t. baking powder. In a separate bowl I used a mixer and combined 1/2 stick butter, softened, and 1/2 c. sugar. I added half an egg (now that's interesting, but I do it all the time), and 1/2 t. vanilla. Then I added my dry ingredients and continued mixing. I divided the dough into three pieces, and added my color. I then put it in the fridge for 30 minutes. I didn't roll it etc into a log as she suggested. I took the dough out one color at a time. I placed the dough directly on my stone cookie sheet. I pressed it out with wax paper, and the palm of my hand, and then cut the dough directly on the tray. The dough is REALLY soft (at least mine was), and so it was easier to do it this way than to try to transfer the circle.

I just used the edge of the cookie cutter to shape the inner (messy) circle, and then I used the tip of an icing tip to pull out the center pieces.

I baked at 325 for about 15 minutes.
My buttons were not as beautifully defined as the recipe on the site I pulled the idea from. The holes in the middle closed. I can live with it though, and that's all that matters....to me.

I wonder if I had cut out the shapes, put them back in the fridge, and then baked cold(er) if it would have spread less? Just a theory someone else can test. Or perhaps if I had followed the recipe as it was written? Novel idea, I know. But, where's the fun in that?
And in the end, all my button pieces came together for new Mom, and her baby, who I'm sure is 'as cute as a button.'

Imagine this with a tag that says, 'As Cute As a Button." Imagination will have to do until I go figure out if I have any ink in my printer.
Linking To:
Keeping It Simple
Metamorphosis Monday
Just Something I Whipped Up
Santa's Gift Shoppe

Broccoli Pasta Salad with Chicken

Does anyone actually take the newspaper anymore? I'm convinced I may be the last one. I love the paper. There is a section in the Dallas Morning News called Taste, and I've never tried a recipe I didn't like. Never. The following recipe ran in the February 24th edition. I cut it out, and I just tried it out. It was really easy to make, and very filling. I've tried similar recipes in the past, but this is probably my favorite slaw/chicken combo!
Ingredients:
1/2 lb bow-tie pasta, cooked and cooled
16 oz bag of shredded broccoli slaw
1 c. slivered almonds
1 c. dried cranberries
1/2 c. low-fat plain yogurt (or sour cream, I didn't have the yogurt...ooops)
1/4 c. mayonnaise
3 T. apple cider vinegar
1 T. sugar
1/4 t. cayenne
1 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1 store-bought rotisserie chicken shredded (I bought a lemon pepper roasted chicken, because it's all they had, so good)
Instructions:
Combine pasta, broccoli slaw, slivered almonds and dried cranberries in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, whisk together yogurt, mayonnaise, cider vinegar, sugar, cayenne, salt and pepper. Combine the pasta with the shredded chicken, add the dressing and stir to combine. Chill, and enjoy.
*The instructions said it feeds 4, but I think you could SAFELY say it would make 6 healthy servings.

Microphone Cake Balls-You Rock!

This is a (kinda messy) microphone cakeball...on a stick.

I had to say that b/c I'm not sure it's totally obvious what it is supposed to be.
It's something I'll try again in about a week, for a choir party. I hope to make some improvements, but I like the idea. It's not mine.
These are the lessons I learned, and if you want to make a microphone cakeball (because I'm SURE they are in high demand), you can learn from all the things I shouldn't have done. Or at least feel my pain in a project gone a little wrong. Advice welcome.
Here goes....
So, our choir teacher at school had a program a week or so back. The theme was old 'rock songs.' I was thinking about how hard she works, and how too often I forget to say how much I appreciate hard workers surrounding me in my world of school. I wanted to do something for her. In the meantime, I bought this book:
What's New, Cupcake?

They are the same people that wrote Hello, Cupcake...only my very favorite cookbook related anything of all times. Click on the cake links on my blog and you'll see I'm a tad fanatical. This book doesn't disappoint.
I saw this picture of a microphone inside.

They use donuts for the top, and mini ice cream cones for the bottom. They then ice the donut, and cover those with silver ball sprinkles.
I thought....michophones...an oldies 'rock out' concert...Missy (our choir teacher), "You Rock!"
I then went on the hunt for mini ice cream cones, and I knew I'd be using cake balls instead of donuts. I also wanted to put them on sticks and make them into a microphone bouquet instead of a cupcake topper. I hunted. I complained. I hunted. I made phone calls. I google searched. I was given 20 free waffle cones at Central Markets (don't ask, who knows what I'll do with those) in the midst of the hunt. And when I gave up the night before the concert (when I wanted to slip this to our choir teacher as a thank you), I thought....hey....
I can buy the 'regular size' and cut them down to mini. It was so easy, and it worked great. I just used a steak knife and carefully sawed.

Then, I took the edge of my knife, and gently poked a hole in the bottom of the cone towards the middle. I slipped the stick through, and placed the cake ball on top. I pushed the stick all the way to the top of the cake ball.

Next time I would probably go ahead and dip the bottom half of the ball in chocolate to help it adhere to the cone. When I later dipped it in chocolate I tried to submerge is far enough to overlap the top of the cone, but I think it would have stuck even better with this extra step of dipping the bottom too. I would have also placed these in the freezer to harden a little bit before dipping the top in chocolate, so things weren't so wiggly.
Ready for dippin'

Next, I melted a small bowl of chocolate in the microwave, dipped the balls (already on the cone), and then added sprinkles.
These are the sprinkles I bought.

They are silver. I ended up using about half the jar on just 5 pops, but that's my lack of skills with sprinkles, and melted chocolate. I should have sprinkled over them, and not dipped them in sprinkles. It got a little messy (note chocolate smears on the cones). In the book, they used those silver metallic balls, but they aren't edible. I'm all about something being 100% edible.
I took a soup can, a black piece of paper, glitter, and glue, and made a flashy little wrap for the can. I could have jazzed it up a little more. I didn't. I inserted a piece of foam, which left me with no more foam, which brings us to the next step....
Drying

Let me pause for a minute and say I put this little bouquet together on Earth Day. Sure, I could say the reason I had to rest my cake pops in empty (clean) soda cans is because I don't actually keep Styrofoam for these sort of 'drying' escapades, but I'm going to tell you the reason I used cans was because I wanted to save the planet. After the pops dried in their 'eco-friendly' drying racks, I then recycled the cans. The earth smiled.
Chilled, and ready to wrap.

I then finished the bouquet after I put the cake ball microphones in cellophane, with silver ribbon ties. I needed to rearrange heights before delivering, but you get the idea. The idea is all I needed to get across.

For the record. I turned to another one of the pages and I saw these little cherry pie cupcakes, and I was so excited b/c I did this last Thanksgiving with one of my sugar cookies before this book was in print (I also made some cookies I saw, and sited from thedecoratedcookie that same Thanksgiving if you visit the link. I love sugar cookie fun). I just needed to say this b/c it feels good to have ideas align with people you admire before you KNOW about their thoughts. It made me feel clever for about three seconds. I'm over it. Theirs are about four million times cuter, and I'm fine with that too. Leave the super duper triple scooper cute to the experts. I'm just a girl with a blog, and a camera, mediocre photography skills, bad lighting, a shaky hand, three undisciplined dogs, and a quest for imperfection. Mission accomplished.

P.s. I went to a second Walmart the day after I delivered these, and there sat my 'mini' kid's cones in the freezer section....c'est la vie, and I'm OK with it!
P.p.s. The whole choir is getting a load of microphones next week. My opportunity for redeptions. Wait-redemption or purgatory, the lines seem suddenly skewed!?!?