Mud House Year

Frijoles, Frijoles

When I was a child, my favorite food was bean burros. We called them burros, not burritos, and they were simply refried beans wrapped in a flour tortilla. We ate them whenever we could, the way kids in other parts of the country ate hot dogs or hamburgers.

 

For a long time a young woman from Mexico named Rosa worked for my family. No, she wasn't legal, but back then it wasn't an issue, certainly not in an American town so close to the Mexican border. Back then, employment here provided young Mexican women a lifeline. They lived with families, saved everything they earned, and sent every penny home. It was a good thing as long as they could find a good family to work for. Rosa did. She cared for me, my two brothers, and two sisters. She also cooked. Rosa made the most delicious flour tortillas on a little black wood burning stove in the center our backyard. We did have a fully functioning kitchen but, Rosa preferred to cook her tortillas on that little stove. I remember standing barefoot in the grass and grabbing those tortillas off that hot surface as soon as they were done. There was the occasional burnt finger but it was worth it. I have not tasted tortillas as good as Rosa's since those childhood days.

 

The pinto beans were another matter. They cooked for long slow hours on the stove in the kitchen. It was often my job to wash the beans and sort them to find lingering dirt or rotten beans. I would rinse them and then scatter them on a white surface, carefully removing any foreign specks of dirt or funny looking beans. Once clean and inspected, they went into a large pot with a few other ingredients and simmered slowly for hours until they were soft and ready to refry in lard. My favorite part was when the beans were just done, but still simmering in the broth. My mom would raise the lid and call out, "Caldo!" She would then offer little tastes of that whole bean soup in its savory saltiness to anyone nearby.

 

I still love refried beans. The real kind, made with lard. To me there is still no comfort food on earth more comforting than refried beans wrapped in an homemade flour tortilla. But...oh that caldo. It was just a brief stopping point in a larger journey, but so reassuring in what the future held. After those fleeting moments, those little tastes of caldo, the beans were fried in lard and mashed until smooth.

 

Now days, with the exception of flat enchiladas for Chrismas Eve, I don't cook with lard. I've tried making "healthy" refried beans at home but it's just not the same. If I'm truly craving authentic refried beans, I'll go to one of the restaurants in town that make really good ones. I will order something that comes with a side of rice and beans and tell them to give me all beans, no rice, and that usually does it. At home, I make caldo, and it's just as good as it ever was.

 

Here's my recipe:

 

Caldo
2 pounds pinto beans, rinsed and inspected!
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 medium yellow onions, peeled and halved
3 garlic cloves, peeled and mashed
2 48 oz. cans of chicken broth
1 ham hock
1 teaspoon salt (more or less to taste depending on saltiness of ham hock and chicken broth)
2 chipotle peppers with liquid
celery tops
fresh salsa (optional but see this week's Pinterest Wednesday)

fresh cilantro (optional)

shredded cheese (optional)

Here's how:

When I was growing up, we never soaked the beans. However, I believe it speeds the cooking process up a bit to put the beans in a large pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Cook for two minutes, turn off heat, cover pot, and let sit for one hour.Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large pot or dutch oven. Place two halves of one onion in pot and cook slowly until layers begin to separate and onion begins ot brown. Add garlic and cook for one minute, stirring.

Place beans and soaking liquid into dutch oven with ham hock, onions, and garlic. Add one can of chicken broth. Cover and simmer over low heat for one hour, stirring and checking level of broth, adding more as needed

After an hour, add second onion, chipotle pepper, celery tops, salt and more broth. Simmer for another hour.

Near the end of the second hour remove ham hock and let cool. Shred meat, removing bones and tough connective tissue. Return tender shredded meat to pot.

When beans are just tender, remove celery tops, ladle soup into bowls, top with salsa, shredded cheese, and fresh cilantro.

Note: If cooked too long or at too high of a boil, pinto beans will fall apart. It's important to simmer them slowly and to serve them when just done so they maintain their shape and texture.

Enjoy!

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Pinterest Wednesday

Just a quick note... I'm having some computer issues so may not be posting quite as often for the next week or so. My lap top is in the repair shop so I am attempting to blog from my new mini IPad. You would think it would be the same thing as blogging from my computer but...guess again. I had to download an app and relearn an entirely different program. I'm the least techy person I know so this is a challenge. I apologize also for the quality of the photos. Learning how to edit photos on the mini is a whole other can of worms. Anyway, this post is a test so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

 

As you know if you read my previous post, the Mud House suffered a deep freeze that killed off many plants. Fortunately, Allen brought in the pots of nasturtiums, sweet peas, and pepper plants.Little did I know, but he also threw a blanket over the cilantro! I was so excited to find it still growing that I decided to make some fresh salsa. I have no shortage of wonderful local salsa recipes but I decided to try this recipe I found on Pinterest. It's a recipe from Pioneer Woman and comes to us from Two Peas and Their Pod. It's really easy and very good. The only changes I made were to add some extra canned green chile and doubled the cilantro because I love it !

 

The salsa is delicious and easy to make. I'm giving it 5/5 Prickly Pear Margaritas. If you would like to give it a try, just scoot on over to http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/restaurant-style-salsa/ for the recipe.

 

 

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Pinterest Wednesday

It's cold at the Mud House.  Really cold.  I'm not kidding.This is a rare occurrence and we are freezing.  Those of us who live in the desert aren't prepared to live with such low temperatures.  We are not happy and we complain about it.  A lot.   Fortunately it's not as hard on us as it is on the giant old prickly pears.  

So sad.  The paddles freeze and they become too heavy for the plant to hold so they fall off.  If you've been reading the Mud House Year Blog, you know how important these cactus are to me. Read more about them and find some great recipes here, and here, and here, and here, and here.

For Pinterest Wednesday, the obvious choice was soup.  I selected a split pea soup recipe which you can find here.  However, as soon as I realized the recipe called for a tablespoon of olive oil, but then never added it during the preparation, I struck out on my own.  Here is my recipe:
Mud House Split Pea Soup

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 large carrots, chopped
4 celery stalks, chopped, plus leafy tops
1 large yellow onion 
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
2 32-ounce cans low sodium chicken broth
2 pounds green split peas
1 ham hock
1 teaspoon Kosher salt, optional (depending on the size of your ham hock you  may not need additional salt)
1 teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste
pinch of crushed red pepper, optional
Water to add as needed during cooking 
Tabasco or other pepper sauce to add before serving, optional

Here's How:Heat oil in large pot or dutch oven over medium heat.  Add carrots, celery, and onion and stir occasionally for 5 minutes.Add garlic, 1 teaspoon thyme, and 1/2 teaspoon marjoram. Continue to cook and stir occasionally for 5 more minutes.
Add chicken broth, peas, and ham hock.  I got this ham hock/shank from our local butcher.  It is actually much bigger than the hocks you find in the grocery stores.  If you use a large shank like this, you may want to omit the additional kosher salt. 
Add celery tops, cover, and simmer on very low heat for one hour.  Stir frequently and check broth level to prevent scorching.  Add additional broth or water as needed. 
After an hour, discard celery tops and add additional 1 teaspoon of thyme, half a teaspoon of marjoram, salt (if using), back pepper, and crushed red pepper, if using.   Remove ham hock and let cool.  Simmer for another hour, stirring and adding broth or water as needed.While simmering and once hock has cooled, pull tender meat from bone, discarding tough connective tissue and fat, and add to soup.
Serve with hot sauce of your choice.  This is my current favorite. YUM! Note: If you prefer a creamier soup, cook an additional half hour or so and then use an immersion blender to blend peas and vegetable until smooth.

I didn't follow the Pinterest recipe so I can't rate it.  However,  My recipe was delicious so I'm giving it 5/5 Prickly Pear Margaritas!
    

 

 

 

 

And the Final Elf

This is the third and final Christmas cookie post.  The first two posts highlighted cookie recipes that have long family traditions.  This one, not so much.  In fact, it was new  this year and is creatively called "Ginger Coopies."  That's right, not cookies, "Coopies."  There is an explanation for that and here it is:Cooper is the reddish-brown scruffy hound.  As you can see, he is one of many who live at the Mud House.  Cooper is an 11 years old Norfolk terrier who joined the Mud House gang a year-and-a-half ago. He isn't our oldest Mud House hound.  That distinction goes to Sparky, our 16 year-old Westie standing to the left of Cooper.  He isn't the youngest - that's Miss Marzipan in the front.  He also isn't the newest. That would be Rex, the 14 lb crazy Chihuahua who does a killer Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde impersonation. But, Cooper has been through a lot and he is one my youngest daughter's favorites (she has several) sooooo...  Now, I know what you are thinking, she made dog biscuits!  But, sadly for the hounds of Mud Houseville, they are people biscuits.  They are gingerbread cookies that just happen to look exactly like sweet Cooper.  No worries though, we shared our people biscuits with Cooper and all of his scruffy companions.  

This recipe is from Epicurious and you can find it here.  I have made this same recipe using a cookie scoop to drop dough onto cookie sheet rather than making them as rolled and cut cookies.  They are good either way. So, as the official finale to the First Annual Mud House Christmas Eve Cookie Exchange, I am awarding the Most Original Cookie Award to Sam, who came up with the great idea and the cute name for the Ginger Coopies, our newest family cookie tradition! 

 

Thank You Cookie Elves Part II

Some of the most unexpected contributions to the Christmas Eve cookie exchange came from the men in our family.  Uncle Greg made reindeer cow-pies,  Allen made his Bourbon balls, and our sweet son-in-law rolled up his sleeves, called his mom, and made an old family recipe for delicious, soft and gooey chocolate cookies. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the finished cookies but they were the perfect Christmas cookie and a big hit. Rich and chocolaty, a little crunch on the outside, and just the right amount of gooey on the inside. Our son-in-law tells us he has wonderful childhood memories of these cookies and he really missed them when he grew-up and moved away from home.  The good news is, he now knows how to make them and he can make them whenever he wants, creating special memories for his own little guy. We have special permission to share the recipe.  I'm not sure what they are called so I'm naming them...

Hunt's Mom's Special Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients:
1 12 oz bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 stick butter
1 can sweetened condensed milk
3 tablespoons  sugar
1 cup of flour
1 tsp vanilla

Here's How:  Preheat oven to 350. Grease two cookie sheets.  In a double-boiler over simmering water, melt chips, butter, condensed milk, and 3 tablespoons sugar.  Once melted, remove from heat and add flour and vanilla. Mix until well combined. Drop a tablespoon of dough onto greased cookie sheets and bake approximately 10-12 minutes. Let cool 5-6 minutes on cookie sheet then remove cookies to cooling rack.

These cookies can be made a day or two ahead of time and store well in an airtight container at room temperature.

I will post one more cookie exchange recipe with you tomorrow.  See you then!

Thank You Christmas Cookie Elves!

As I mentioned, this year we introduced a new tradition - a Christmas Eve cookie exchange that doubled as dessert.  I really wish I had pictures of the baking that went on in every household.  I hear that some had fun and some, well... not so much.   That was also true here at the Mud House where some of us were into baking and some of us were downright, doggone it, absolutely not!  Ah well, even with a few abstaining, we still ended up with enough cookies to choke a moose! 

I did want to share some of the fun surprises that occurred during cookie baking here at the Mud House. First, there was Cowboy Al who decided, all on his own, mind you, to hearken to his family heritage and make Kentucky Bourbon balls.  He decided one new tradition deserves another, and served everyone Bourbon and cokes as he began baking.   I tell you, I kind-of like some of these new traditions.He followed an old family recipe from his family cookbook.
They were wonderful.  My sister called the next day and told me she was getting drunk on the Bourbon balls.   I asked her how many she had and she said, "Um, two."  Hmmm,  I guess it's a good thing she wasn't here for the new pre-Bourbon-ball-baking-Bourbon-and-coke tradition! She's a bit of a lightweight.  

Anyway, the Bourbon balls were delicious and they keep in the refrigerator for a long time.  Store them in an airtight container with wax paper stacked between rows.  If you decide to make them be sure to include the finely chopped pecans.  

Thanks, Cowboy Al, for making some amazing Bourbon balls and for making it all so much fun!

Next-up:  My son-in-law's mom's delicious chocolate cookies...

Bang! The Night Before Christmas Hot Chocolate Party Favors

After visiting Bang Candy Company in Nashville, I knew I wanted to do something fun with their marshmallows for Christmas Eve.   I called Sarah and ordered three different flavors of marshmallows to be shipped to the Mud House. The marshmallows arrived as promised.  They were fresh and beautifully packaged. I ordered cellophane bags, hot chocolate, and candy canes from Amazon.  I packaged three marshmallows, one each of chile chocolate, orange ginger cinnamon, and rose cardamon in small cellophane bags.  I also packaged individual portions of hot chocolate.

I wrapped it all together with a candy cane in a larger cellophane and tied each little package with a pretty red bow.I added a tag explaining the hot chocolate was a gift to take home and enjoy with the cookies from our cookie exchange. It was yummy! Chef Amanda will be teaching me how to make my own marshmallows soon!  

Mud House Christmas Eve

I know that Christmas has come and gone and we are well on our way in 2013.  However, my next few posts are dedicated to our wonderful Mud House Christmas.   This is the first moment I have had to sit down and organize my thoughts but Christmas was just too much fun to let slip by without sharing!Christmas in the desert does not offer the anticipation of snowfall and sleigh rides but it is lovely and festive none-the-less.  At the Mud House, we share distinctive and charming traditions, some of which have been handed down through seven generations of my family here in the desert southwest.  For example, whimsical tin ornaments and sweet brass angels collected in the border town of Nogales by my grandmother, Mema,  (and later by me) grace our tree and mantel.Other traditions are more recent and some are new this year such as gingerbread tee-pee making with Chef Amanda at the Ritz at Dove Mountain.  One of our oldest family traditions began when my great-grandmother, Bammi,  first served flat enchiladas on Christmas Eve.  Family lore maintains  that Bammi actually created the recipe and later shared it with a lady down the street. This lady eventually opened  a little restaurant,  El Charro, which now has several locations and is celebrating its 100th anniversary.  Flat enchiladas, now widley known as Sonoran enchiladas, have been on El Charro's menu for a century.   They have been served on Christmas Eve in my family for longer than that. This photo does not do them justice but the contrast between the colors of the red sauce, green olives and white and yellow cheeses make them especially festive.   

My family celebrates Christmas on Christmas Eve.  We gather at one of our homes and share a wonderful dinner of Mexican food.  This year our celebration began on the porch of  the Mud House with sparkling sangria. We then enjoyed a buffet of flat enchiladas, frijoles, green corn tamales, tortillas, and fresh salsa.   The tables were set with rose bowls, mason jar candles, and individual kits to make Christmas Eve hot chocolate .This year we introduced a new tradition which may or may not take hold.  Everyone was asked to bake and bring a batch of cookies.  These cookies served the double purpose of being treats for dessert and for a cookie exchange.  Guests took them home in red Chinese take-out containers.   All the cookies were delicious and so creative!  We even had some reindeer cow-pies (thanks Greg!) However, rumor has it that some of the cookie makers were not too thrilled with their assignment.   Also, we ended-up with way too many cookies so maybe next year we will ask for one batch from each family rather than one from each person. As always, it's the little things that make our gatherings so special.  Rumor also has it that next year we will be doubly blessed yet again with more little things.

At the end of the evening,  guests were guided on their way by the warm glow of luminarias and sparkly white lights festooning dried mesquite and century plants.

Thanks to every single member of my dear family who helped make this evening so much fun.  My next few posts will share some recipes and more details about our Mud House Christmas Eve. 

As a side note, Pinterest Wednesday will return soon.

 

Pinterest Wednesday

I took a little break from blogging over the holidays, but I'm back.  I will soon be posting about our wonderful Mud House Christmas but I wanted to share something fun for Pinterest Wednesday.   I especially love this cheesy snowman for so many reasons:  My daughter made it;  I love cheese;  it's adorable; it's whimsical; it's delicious; and I love cheese (yep, I said that twice).   He was too cute to eat and too delicious not to, so everyone just kept nibbling from his back until he was almost hollow.   We followed the recipe with only some minor changes in cosmetics, including using roasted red pepper for the scarf and mouth.   He comes to us from  Betty Crocker, so mosey on over to find the recipe.  

He is easy to make, easy to customize,  so yummy, so cute,  and so so cheesy.

He gets 5/5 Prickly Pear Margaritas.