Pumpkin Smoothie

Miguel-approved

We have continued our pantry-emptying journey. This week we ate shrimp with wontons, falafel, soup, biscuits eith sausage gravy, and pot roast with potatoes and carrots. We have eaten out once or twice but still going strong with our cooking.

Tonight I made pumpkin muffins and pumpkin bundt cake from frozen pumpkin. It only required three cups of pumpkin and we had four so I decided to make a pumpkin smoothie. Here’s the recipe:

Pumpkin Smoothie (serves 1)

• 1/2 cup pumpkin
• 1 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup raw cane sugar
• Sprinkles of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves

Use a blender or whisk to froth up. Enjoy!

Waste not, want not! Now my kiddo had an extra full belly before bed (he only had pot roast and a giant cupcake and licking the spoon…lol growing boy!). I sort of wished there was more. Maybe I’ll find more frozen pumpkin as we eat away at our freezers!

Anyway, what recipes have you incented lately? Tell me below!

Tired but still cooking…

Cole slaw was better without the carrots, brussel sprouts were perfect, crab cakes were salty and oily. Not my best!

This brisket, pickle, cheddar, bbq panino was sooo good

This banana bread was delightful!

This week we have done pretty well, though we ate out one night and I bought tamales instead of making them (because I was hanging with a friend). We still have really only spent about $80 on groceries so far this month, which is sort of amazing. We spent about $30 eating out. Not awful.

My crab cakes didn’t turn out well and my soup last night turned out more like pasta (alphabet pasta really puffs up!)

Tonight is leftovers and tomorrow is tuna noodle casserole. Not sure what the rest of the week holds. I better look it up! We probably have some fresh veggies and a few things to buy this week. Overall, I am really enjoying cooking more.

Oh and I just saw the show Easy Bake Battle starring Antoni from Queer Eye. It is about home cooks making easy meals fast and learning hacks from them and getting new ideas. It is giving me awesome ideas! If you are out of ideas, I recommend checking it out on Netflix!

Any cooking experiments lately? If so, share below!

Only $32 spent so far

Menu for the month

We are 10 days into January and so far we have spent $32 on food. We do need to buy milk, bread, and peanut butter today so that number is about to go up but I feel pretty darn good about this so far!

We’ve also done fairly well with fixing meals and not eating out. I’ve only bought a fancy tea at my coffee shop and have made coffee at home or the office. Today and yesterday I didn’t have milk for my coffee so I used Swiss Miss. A little trick I learned from my clients who’d been incarcerated.

We haven’t done as great with remembering the fresh veggies in the fridge but otherwise we have slowly been eating down our reserves, with things left! I have enjoyed pupusas every day since Friday and will snarf down the last 2 today.

A goal for this week is to bake bread. I also seem to have added some adventurous meals for this week. Crab cakes tomorrow and then pot roast and then turkey with stuffing. Oof. Wish me luck! It also looks like I was planning to make tamales on Saturday but ironically my friend reached out and wanted to try local tamales so might end up buying them at a local panadería.

I’ve actually enjoyed this challenge so far and, as always, having a menu for the week (and month!) is super helpful.

What helps you avoid eating out? What gives you joy these days?

Purple Pesto Pasta

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I’ve made pesto twice this summer and I really enjoy experimenting with it. You can take the basic pesto ingredients (olive oil, basil, garlic, parmesan cheese) and mix in whatever extra you think might be yummy. I’ve added in almonds, spinach, and most recently beets! This is a great, super quick meal for when you run out of spaghetti sauce and want something easy. 

Well, I had some beets I cooked the other day and I thought…hmmmm…I wonder if I could add this to pasta and get a good flavor. Answer: yes!

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It is healthier and baby and I loved it! (Hubby was a bit thrown by the purple color). Anyway, I am posting the recipe below. Enjoy!

Also if you make any pesto experiments, comment below! I’d love to try out some new stuff!

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PURPLE PESTO PASTA

1 package of pasta of your choosing

2 cooked beets

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

3 cloves garlic

2 tbsp parmesan cheese

Handful of fresh basil

A few sprigs of fresh parsley

1 tbsp fresh oregano

Salt and pepper, to taste

While pasta is cooking, gather ingredients together and blend in a food processor until a thick paste.

Drain pasta and mix in pesto while still hot. Enjoy!

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Leftover Tamales

So, I don’t have any pics because we ate all the tamales but last week I made some tamales from leftovers in my fridge. They turned out really good, and I ended up making about 20 tamales from one chicken breast, some salsa, and some other simple ingredients. That was like 7-10 servings from one chicken breast. Woot! Saving dinero and making delicious food. 🙂

Recipe: Chicken Tamales with Green Salsa (7-10 servings)

1-2 chicken breast, cooked and shredded

1 jar of green salsa (homemade or canned)

1/2 bag of Maseca (extra if dough too wet)

1 cup of Crisco or lard

3 cups chicken broth (extra if too dry), heated

Salt to taste

20 corn husks, set in warm water for 15 min to soften

1 steamer or tamale pot

 

Mix chicken with salsa on the stove until well cooked. You can add an onion and some olive oil for extra flavor if you like. Set aside.

Mix maseca with lard and chicken broth (or water). Add salt to taste. Mix until no lumps of lard and it is the texture of a wet, spreadable play-doh.

Get corn husks. Take a husk; hold it so the wider part is at the top. Spread a thick layer (1/2 inch) of dough in the middle of the top half. Spoon a spoonful of chicken and salsa into the middle of the dough. Fold one side in over the dough, then the other, and then fold the bottom up. Sit in the steamer with the closed part on the bottom.

Fill all the tamales. Put sufficient amount of water in the steamer or tamale pot. Cover and let water boil. Reduce temperature to medium, so the water is still bubbling. Steam for 2-3 hours, making sure to add water about every 30 min the pot doesn’t burn.

Knowing when they’re done is a bit of a guessing game. I usually cook tamales at night and let them stay in the steamer all night. Then in the morning I eat them for breakfast. But if you want to eat them for dinner, just make sure they’re not undercooked (smushy). Maybe let them sit for a bit.

Every time I make tamales, they turn out a little less horrible. I’m almost in the realm of making them really good now! Don’t despair if it takes you a few attempts to make them correctly. Bad tamales are better than no tamales at all! 🙂

These are tamales from Delgado’s Antojitos Mexicanos. Better than mine but then, that’s their speciality! 🙂

Tacos Dorados de Raja y Queso Oaxaca con Salsa Casera

My best friend recently returned from a mission trip to Oaxaca, Mexico and brought me fresh Oaxacan cheese, which is similar in texture to mozzarella but tastes a bit different and is rolled into a ball like yarn. It is the never-ending ball of queso! So I’m coming up with new recipes to use it up!

Here’s the one I made up today:

Tacos Dorados de Raja y Queso Oaxaca con Salsa Casera
Ingredients for Tacos
3/4 poblano chile
Queso/cheese Oaxaca
3 tomatoes
1 jalapeño
1 small bunch cilantro
1 tbsp oregano (fresh is bettee)
Salt to taste
1 whole clove
2 cups Maseca (I used amarillo/yellow)
1/2 cup olive oil (or enough to lightly fry)
Ingredients for Salsa
3 tomatoes
2 jalapeños
1/4 poblano chile
2 whole cloves
Salt to taste
3 cloves garlic
1/4 onion
1 small bunch of cilantro
1 tbsp oregano (fresh is better)

To make tacos:
Put tomatoes and jalapeño in a sauce pan with a little water. Cover and boil for a minute or two. Put in blender with cilantro, clove, oregano and puree.

In a bowl put maseca and salt. Add enough of the pureed salsa to make into a Play-Doh-like dough.

Cut poblano and cheese into small strips (you could cook the chile strips in oil or without oil ahead of time so they are soft. I didn’t do that but they were a bit crunchy and I think I will cook them ahead next time).

Heat the oil in a large skillet.

Roll the dough into golf ball sized balls and flatten with either a tortilla press or between two round plates with a piece of plastic shopping bag on either side so the masa doesn’t stick. Don’t press  too hard so the tortilla is a little thick. Holding the tortilla in your hand, place a piece (raja) or two of poblano and a piece of cheese in the center of the circle. Fold in half and press together to form a half circle.

Place the tacos in the oil and fry until golden, then flip over. Place finished tacos on a plate with a paper towel to soak up the oil. Repeat until you use up the masa.

Enjoy with the following salsa recipe!

To make salsa casera:
Put the tomatoes and jalapeños in a sauce pan with a little water (less water will make thicker salsa). Cover and boil for a minute or two. Put in blender with other ingredients. Blend to desired consistency. Enjoy!