Happy Birthday, Carmen!!

Our precious Carmen was born

January 27, 2004.

She has always been such a ray of sunshine

and has given us so much joy.

Carmen is our first grandchild, but she is

also the first girl in our family.

Her love of fashion...

Her love of sports...

Her energy and sweet beauty

has been such a gift to my husband and me.

Carmen's grades are excellent and she is fluent

in English and Spanish.

She is active in her church.

She loves to help in the kitchen.

Having Celiac Disease is not easy, however,

Carmen has mastered the diet and is careful to follow it.

I love this picture. Carmen is in my kitchen and is wearing

an apron that my grandmother made for me.

 

We will travel to Mexico on Thursday where

our son and his family live

so that we can celebrate Carmen's eighth birthday.

We can't wait to see our girl!

Love you, Carmen!!

"Abuela"

Colonial Corn Bake - Talaquepaque, Mexico

As we plan to make a trip to Mexico for our granddaughter's birthday I have been reflecting on previous

trips as well as when we lived about 30 miles, down the coast from Manzanillo. So many great memories...

which of course includes food.

Colonial Fresh Corn Cake

is absolutely one of my favorites.

I blogged about it a couple of years ago,

but I'm bringing it back.

You can get a good look at it in the lower left-hand portion of my collage above. It is worth every step... and every bite!

Colonial Fresh Corn Cake

8-10 side dish servings


SAUCE
4 c. water
1 fresh poblano chile (about 3 oz.) stemmed, seeded and cut into thick strips
1 small green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and cut into thick strips
1 ½ c. (loosely packed) baby spinach leaves
¼ c. chopped white onion
3 whole cloves
2 garlic cloves, flattened
2 bay leaves
¼ c. (1/2 stick) butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 c. whole milk
2 teaspoons powdered chicken bouillon


CORN CAKE
4 c. fresh corn kernels (cut from 4 ears) – I used frozen corn
4 large eggs
1 c. whole milk
9 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
2 tablespoons sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt


SAUCE
Bring 4 cups water to boil in large saucepan. Add poblano chile and next 6 ingredients; boil until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Discard bay leaves. Drain, reserving cooking liquid. Transfer vegetables and ½ c reserved cooking liquid to blender. Blend chile mixture until smooth.
Melt butter in heavy medium skillet over medium heat. Add flour, whisk in milk, then blended chile mixture. Whisk sauce constantly over medium heat until it boils and thickens, about 3 minutes. Whisk in bouillon powder. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to simmer before using.)


CORN CAKE
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 13x9x2 inch baking dish with foil. Butter and flour foil. Working in 2 batches, puree all ingredients in blender until almost smooth. Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake until baked golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean… about 1 hour.

Invert cake onto platter. Cut into squares and serve warm with sauce.

Also pictured in this collage: Guacomole with tostados, tropical fruit compote with yogurt, tamarind margarita, shrimp bisque, fresh bread with butter wrapped in corn husk.
Restaurant - Casa Fuerte, Tlaquepaque, Mexico, a "town" within Guadalajara.

 

Friday you will find me joining in with other "Foodies"

for Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum

http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/

Don't miss out on some major mouth-watering recipes!!

"Juan Wayne" - it's what's for breakfast

"John Wayne"

If you were a kid at the ranch your dad, along with other dads, prepared "John Wayne" for breakfast.
This meant that all of the left over grilled meats prepared throughout the weekend were diced and cooked along with onions, tomatoes, bell pepper, maybe some left over baked potato... And the way the kids would eat it was to tell them,
"John Wayne eats this every morning for breakfast!"
It worked!!

So now along come the Petersons who cannot leave anything alone.. including the food.

I fried

bacon

I sauteed

red onion

red and green bell pepper

(Serrano chili would have been good, but didn't have any.)

I diced up the left-over meats

rib-eye steak

Polish sausage

buffalo sirloin

I then cut

4 corn tortillas

in almost 2" squares

and fried them in canola oil

until crisp. I drained them and sprinkled

sea salt over them. (No nibbling!)

Then the part I think is fun!

I buy raw flour tortillas... sometimes located where you

would find canned biscuits in your grocery store.

In a teflon pan heated to medium-high place a

raw tortilla

and allow it to puff up.

Flip.

Toast.

Place in a folded tea-towel.

(My opinon about tortilla warmers - the flour tortillas lose their delicate crispiness)

I didn't include a picture of beaten eggs but you know whata that looks like anyway.

Beat a

dozen eggs

Add a little milk and season with S&P.

Now...

Combine all of the sauteed veggies,

meats,

and fried corn tortillas

in a skillet.

Add beaten eggs.

Cook until done.

Scoop a serving of this delicious mixture

and place it in the warm flour tortilla.

Now, add a spoonful of salsa

and sprinkle with grated cheese.

There you go... with the Mexican twist to this,

it is now

"Juan Wayne"

Enjoy!

I'm linking to

Little Red House for

Mosaic Monday
http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/

So sorry! Still having problems with Blogger.

When I try to comment on someone's post,

it freezes my computer!

I'm open to suggestions.

:-(

Also just found out it's only certain blogs

that I cannot post on.

????

Blogger Problem!!!! Grrrrr!!!

 I hate having blogging problems!

Who doesn't??

Everytime I try to comment on someone's

post it freezes my computer.

I have tried emptying the cache as

someone recommended but that did

not help.

Any suggestions??

Turkey Scrapple - It's what's for breakfast!!

Christmas Dinner - 1960

A typical holiday dinner with my grandmother, Ruby Boykin (we called her "Mother 'B'") where we could count on a delicious meal always. My family is made up of wonderful

cooks. L-R are my sister, Aunt Jo Anne (I've blogged about her before), my father, my younger brother, yours truly and then my grandmother.

Below is the recipe for "Turkey Scrapple"...

a delicious after-holiday dinner treat!

I posted this recipe in 2009.

Scrapple

Have you ever heard of scrapple? Well, I know you Easterners have, but I'm referring to turkey scrapple that is just part of our after-Thanksgiving menu. This was a concoction made by my father's mother, Ruby Opal Heath Boykin, absolutely one of THE best Texas cooks I've ever known. Mother "B" is what we called her in our adult years, "Bum "B"', in our younger years. This is how you make Scrapple - Mother "B"'s style:


•Pick the leftover turkey meat from the bones and cut into smaller than bite-size pieces and place in a Dutch oven


•Add leftover dressing (I wouldn't add the nuts, if there are any in the dressing) and add about an equal amount to the turkey


•Pour some leftover gravy so that it sort of becomes a dry mush (Isn't this sounding delicious?)


•Cook a big pot of grits and add it to the turkey mixture. I keep enough out to pour about 1/4" in the bottom of a "Pam'd" loaf pan. The point is to make the grits your binder. If there is too much dressing then the mixture will crumble after chilling.


•Pour the turkey, dressing, gravy, grits mixture into the loaf pan(s)


•Cover with foil and chill overnight or all day.


•When chilled, turn out onto a cutting board and cut into thick slices (an inch or a little more).


•Dredge in flour that has been seasoned with salt and pepper, dip in beaten egg, dredge in flour again.


•Fry in oil in a frying pan until crisp. (I love using a cast iron skillet for this)


•Serve for breakfast or a quick lunch.


I know that this probably looks like just a homemade, thought-up recipe... and it probably is because I have never found anyone who has a recipe that even slightly resembles this. But I promise you... it is fantastic with fried eggs, fried bacon, fried sausage, biscuits, toast, butter, homemade plum preserves (my grandmother's of course with two pits left in to make it tart!) or honey, milk, coffee, juice. For sure I know what we're eating for breakfast tomorrow!!

Scrapple at the ranch this past weekend.

P.S. -- Just realized that I inherited all of the milk glass in this picture!

Today I am posting to

All the Small Stuff
http://allthesmallstuff-cole.blogspot.com/
Check out Cole's

Pesto Chicken Salad

http://www.blessedwithgrace.net/

Blessed with Grace by Lisa

Check out Lisa's
Baked Spaghetti

***
Check out "Northern Nesting"
for a fantastic give-away.
It's an amazing wire cloche!
http://northernnesting.blogspot.com/

Meet Lynne of Butterfly Creek Pottery

I want to introduce you to a dear friend of mine,

Lynne Brown. I think you'll find her blog,

Butterfly Creek Pottery,

http://www.butterflycreekpottery.com/

absolutely wonderful!

I met Lynne through Jan Karon (the Mitford book series)

message board. I actually flew from Mexico to North Carolina to meet Lynn as well as other Mitford fans

for a reunion of readers.

We knew we would remain life-long friends!

If you notice a similarity in our blog names...

now you who inspired me.

Lynne makes beautiful pottery and a visit

to her blog is not only for inspiration but

an opportunity to view her amazing creations!

So hop on over and be follower.