Recipe: Chiles Rellenos

As you all know, my love of all foods Mexican continues. My dear friend TQ again shows us a beautiful authentic Mexican recipe. With pepper and tomato season almost upon us (or totally upon you depending on where you live), this is a great meatless recipe to try out. Be sure to check out TQ's other post on Authentic Puerco en Adobo. Thank you again to TQ for contributing! Enjoy!

Chiles Rellenos (Poblano peppers stuffed with cheese in an egg batter)
Ingredients:
8 Medium to large Poblano peppers
Oaxaca cheese (mozzarella is ok too)
2 or 3 eggs
Flour for dredging
Tomatoes
Chicken Stock
2 cloves of Garlic
4 or 5 peppercorns
Salt
Oil or lard for frying

Roast the peppers in your broiler or directly on the flame of your burner until skin is charred and peeling. Let them rest, preferably in a paper or plastic bag, but it’s not necessary.

Meanwhile, boil tomatoes until soft and skin is peeling off.

While your peppers are roasting/resting and tomatoes are boiling, separate the cheese into segments about 3 to 4 inches long and 1 to 2 inches wide. It doesn’t have to be precise, you want it to fit inside the pepper but you want to fill up the pepper too.

By now your tomatoes are ready. Remove skins and discard. Place tomatoes into a blender with the garlic, peppercorns, salt and enough stock to loosen the blade. Puree.

Add a couple tablespoons of cooking oil to a pot, when it’s good and hot pour the tomato sauce into the pot and add a little more stock so it’s fairly thin and soup like, bring to a boil and then simmer. It should reduce a bit but you want it kind of thin.

Back to the peppers. Peel of the skin. Cut a slit down the side of each pepper and remove as much of the seeds and veins as you can without tearing the flesh. It’s not the end of the world if it tears, but do your best. Stuff cheese into each pepper and set aside.

Heat oil or lard in a deep frying pan, you want it ready for you because once the eggs are beaten you have a narrow window before they start to fall.

Now, separate your eggs and put the whites into a large mixing bowl. Beat with beaters or stand mixer to a firm peak. Then, one by one, add the yolks in and keep beating. It should look like yellow meringue.

One by one, dredge the stuffed peppers in the flour to coat, and then dredge in the whipped eggs carefully coating the entire pepper, your fingers will get battered too, that’s the name of the game! Then place carefully in the hot oil. When it’s good and golden on one side, carefully flip. It helps to spoon oil over the sides and edges if your oil isn’t too deep. Again, this is messy, wear an apron.

When the whole chili is golden, place on a paper towel to drain for a few minutes. When they’re all done, put them directly into the pot with the salsa. The batter does loosen a bit in the salsa but that’s ok.

To serve, place a chili into a bowl and spoon the soupy salsa over it. Serve with warmed corn tortillas.

Then a few minutes later it will look like this…
This post is shared with Healthy 2day Wednesdays

My Kids (and I) Ruin Everything

My weekend sort of unofficially started Thursday evening. DH and I made dinner which NO ONE wanted to eat. The screamed, they fussed. They got up out of their chairs and ran around. Thing 1 had one time out that lasted for at least ten minutes because he insisted on leaving the corner, only to make us start the time out over. Thing 2 didn’t actually eat anything, which I wish I could say was a rarity. I joke now that he eats breakfast, morning snack, afternoon snack and nothing else. I suppose that is three meals, no? Since Thing 1 did eat dinner, so he had some kefir ice cream after dinner. But Thing 2 did not. Thing 2 went ballistic. This loveliness was followed by a bath in which there was hitting and water dumping. I was completely wet, which was enough to make me fly off the handle. Sweet huh?

Then at 8pm, just as the kids are getting settled into their beds, I realize I have forgotten a very important Skype date with my family. Like plum forgotten. I got the kids out of bed and we managed to work in a quick speakerphone phone call. I felt so guilty. Terrible in fact, I cried about it.

Around 3:45am, Thing 1 came into our bed. He was completely naked, holding a fresh set of new clothes. I wasn’t actually surprised. I had run out of overnight diapers and we had had a tremendous battle over a stupid glass of water the night before. His bed was soaked, he had no where else to sleep. He moved into our bed. Thing 1 punched me, he kicked me, he ended up sleeping sideways on our bed with his feet resting in my armpits and his head in DH’s back. He finally fell asleep at 4:50am. Which happened to be 10 minutes before my alarm went off. I never had gone back to sleep. I had made plans to meet a girlfriend early for a run in the park. If I hadn’t made plans to run with her I would have totally scaled exercise that morning.

While the kids were okay Saturday behavior-wise, we were out running errands in the morning when I texted a good friend about her son’s birthday party that day. “Where and when again?” I asked her. I didn’t receive a reply. Around one with the kids either asleep or out with Daddy I brought up the evite to be sure of what time the party was. OMG. The party was at 9am. We missed our friend’s son’s 4th birthday party? What kind of lousy mom misses something like that? It was treasonous.

Sunday started out overnight again, with Thing 1 coming into our bed at 1am, naked but this time holding no clothes. He had an overnight diaper by this point, so I am not sure how this all happened. But there he was again, kicking and punching us. DH and I were not happy. But I think that made it all the more stressful for Thing 1, because with his wet bed he didn’t really have any other place to sleep. I *almost* went and slept on the couch. But I didn’t. I should have, I felt wretched in the morning. And Thing 2 awoke at 5:15am in his crib to see his big brother gone. He assumed that he had overslept and everyone else must be up. He would not go back to sleep.

Sunday morning started well enough, a little sleep deprived, but nothing a little coffee couldn’t fix. But the day really started turning south when at my mother in law’s house Thing 1 tripped on her fan and broke it. He didn’t mean to trip on the fan, but it wasn’t a complete accident either. We went to 4 stores to find one that was suitable to replace it. And finally, Thing 1 refused to go up to my MIL’s apartment and give her the new fan. Let’s just say he didn’t win that fight.
Later in the afternoon we met my brother in law and his kids at the local pool, the Things had a blast. Only Thing 1 started choking on some pool water he swallowed and he threw up in the pool. DH swears that other parents picked up their tots and ran for cover. They closed the pool for 30 minutes.

Then when we came home, a full 5 hours after the original schedule, there were more hysterics, more punch-up drenching baths and maybe a hot dog or two was consumed. Currently I am running 5 loads of wash downstairs in our laundry room, much of which is soaked in toddler urine. So when I sat down to write something for the blog today, I just couldn’t write about finding chamomile at the farmer’s market (you know how to brew a cup of tea). I couldn’t produce a post about how it is sour cherry season or brag that I bought 3.5 pounds of them this weekend, pitted them and froze them. And I couldn’t post about the summer squash, kale and snow peas I sautéed in tomato basil sauce and served with pasta. I am way too tired. I feel completely overwhelmed right now. Overwhelmed by the sleep deprivation, overwhelmed by cramming a work week into three days, overwhelmed by housecleaning, overwhelmed by carrying my kids EVERYWHERE because they refuse to walk. No, writing about sweet, pretty food topics just didn’t seem right. My heart wasn’t in it. It just wasn’t….funny enough.

On Flowering Tomatoes and Daughters

My indoor gardening idea was a 'get tomatoes quick' scheme at best. I have invested about $100 so far, and I guess that you could say that I didn't buy a pair of shoes (or two) this summer to offset the costs, so I am not crying over the loss of $100. But still, $100 is nothing to sniff at and I really want some tomatoes for some return on investment.

Since I started the great indoor gardening project I have watched these plants quadruple in size, bend upward toward the sun and put out several flowers. The red fruited 'Abe Lincoln' has put out a couple dozen flowers so far, with only 7 or 8 actually growing big enough to open. The yellow fruited 'Yellow Oxheart' has also put out a couple dozen flowers too, but they have all stayed small and tight. I think that my little yellow dear may not be getting enough sun since it is further in the corner. I moved the rack to a sunnier patch to oblige the plant.

With all this fertility and flowering I can't help but think of these plants as being female. I like to refer to them as a couple of 'shes' and they remind me of the irregular young girl in the first year of getting her menstrual cycle. Their little plant bodies are struggling to make babies and only producing dying flowers. And since I have no daughters who will one day grow up and need my loving guidance as they become women, maybe I am acting out through these plants a great void in my heart to help a young girl grow up. Remember when Rudy Huxtable got her period on the Cosby Show? I always imagined having a daughter. And when her time came I would keep her out of school for the first day after and we would go have lunch somewhere fancy in midtown, get manicures and go shopping at Sak's to celebrate her crossing over into womanhood. Now all I have to fulfill those dreams is a couple of irregular tomato plants that can't quite make tomatoes.

An astute reader commented in the first post about my indoor gardening that perhaps the plants needed bees? I foolishly believed that I could just BE the BEE. I could tap the flowers and polinate them. I mean, have you SEEN a flower? The stamen sticks out and all these dusty pods float in the breeze just begging to knock the plant up. I had it all worked out in my head. Then the first little flowers opened and I realized the trouble. A tomato flower comes in two parts, the outer flower that looks like a regular flower and then this, rather surprising to me, inner flower that covers the stamen and all the pollen bits.

I looked at the flower and thought, 'Ok, what the hell do I do now?' Before I left on vacation I had 3-4 flowers that were open. I had planned on gently tapping them to pollinate them, but clearly I was going to have to be more...invasive. I pinched them, but I didn't see any pollen fall out. I tapped the flowers from the back. I didn't know what to expect. I left on vacation hoping to come home to little green knobs.

What did I come home to? 4 new flowers and a couple dead flowers on the floor. Boo. So I looked online and found this website on how to pollinate indoor tomatoes. This website recommends getting an electric toothbrush and gently massaging the nearby support stems. Apparently the frequency of the vibrations loosens the pollen in the inner flower helping it to fall down and pollinate. An electric toothbrush? For real? I am starting to feel like I have crossed the line with this project into 'ridiculous territory'. I don't want to spend one more dime, but on the other hand if I don't see it all the way through then my entite initial investment is down the drain. What a conundrum! I decided to gently massage my plants with my fingers. I am making sure to ever so carefully tap the support stems on which the flowers are. I am trying to imitate the movement that the toothbrush would provide. And I am sure that I have now completely lost it.

I guess in a couple days I will know if I have ruined another batch of flowers and I need to buy an electric toothbrush. But I must see this through to the end. After all, I am the only mommy that my little girls have got.

Now don't get me wrong, having boys is awesome. Awesomer than I could have ever imagined. And rather than helping them become women (obviously), I am teaching them what to expect from women and how to have proper inter-gender relationships. I feel that it is my responsibility even at their young age to teach them to develop a healthy marriage by building great external friendships. But we want what we want. I remember the day the ultrasound clinician told me that Thing 2 was a boy. I was laying flat on my back and I truly believed that if I adjusted my head properly my two fat tears might roll back into my tears ducts from where they'd sprung. Since then I have reconciled my feelings. My desire for a daughter does not reflect upon my love for my boys at all. One has nothing to do with the other. And I don't feel guilty at all about my want of a daughter. But a Thing 3 is not looking so likely. So until we hit the lottery or I sell a book idea, I think that I will focus my attention on my tomato plants.

Read the first post here: The Hanging Gardens of Washington Heights

Read the next post here: And Just Like That We Have A Tomato

This post is shared with Food Renegade's Fight Back Fridays and Traditional Tuesdays and Real Food Wednesdays

Super Green Pesto with Cashews and FINALLY How to Store Basil

If you are anything like me then your fridge is stuffed with beautiful greens that aren't your spouse's favorite and your kids won't touch with a ten foot pole. You also, now that it's July, might be starting to get some small basil bunches in your CSA of farmer's market. But basil here in the northeast isn't out of control yet like it will be in a couple of weeks.

I am completely sick of sauteed greens. And it's too hot for kale soup. In my fridge I had a half a bunch of spinach, some kale leaves and a small bunch of basil. So last weekend I whipped out the food processor and decided to make some Super Green Pesto.

SUPER BASIL NEWS ALERT!!: I think I finally discovered how to store basil. After years of struggling to keep basil from turning black or liquifying, I had just stopped buying it. I assumed basil was meant for people who had green thumbs and back yards full of sun. But in the summer it looks too yummy, I can't resist. Most of the TV chefs recommend cutting the stems and storing on the countertop in a glass of water like a bunch of flowers. For me, this resulted in foul smelling water and slimy inedible basil within 48 hours. Then I tried something different. I took my small bunch home from the farmer's market and soaked it just like my other greens in a sink full of water with some vinegar. I shook off the water and stored it in a plastic bag in the fridge in the crisper drawer. A couple of the leaves turned brown, but 90% of the bunch was happy and healthy a week later when I used it!! Finally. It only took me ten years to figure that one out.

Super Green Pesto with Cashews

1 Small bunch of basil
5-6 large leaves of kale
About 2 hearty handfuls of spinch
One garlic clove
Lemon juice (about 1 tablespoon)
A handful of raw cashews (about 1/3 of a cup)
Olive oil (about 1/2 of a cup)
Salt and pepper to taste

Chop or Chiffonade your kale, place it in your food processor. Add the basil leaves, spinach leaves, garlic clove, lemon juice and a drizzle of oil. Pulse until chopped but not pureed.





Add your raw cashews. Raw nuts are softer and will better attain the consistency you are looking for. Run your processor while you drizzle in the remaining oil. Your pesto may need more or less oil to achieve the consistency you want. I don't like a super oily pesto.




Scrape down the sides and incorporate everything. Add some parmesean cheese if you like. I didn't though. Add you salt and pepper to taste and give it a last run. There you go!





Rather than pouring over pasta, I sauteed some scallions, summer squash and snow peas. Just before they were done I added a healthy amount of the pesto and dropped a couple eggs on top. I covered the pan and let the eggs cook. It was a wonderfully light summer dinner but would make an equally good breakfast.

Pesto made entirely from basil can be too strong and not so high in nutrients. This is a great way to use your CSA greens and kick up the nutritional value of your basil pesto. It also freezes really well. I used half and froze half.

Enjoy!!

This post is shared with Simple Lives Thursday and Food Renegade's Fight Back Fridays

CSA Pics Week 4 and Some Seasonal Recipe Ideas

While this week's CSA share contained many greens, we started to see more vegetables too. This week we got a bunch of chard, a bunch of lacinato kale (my favorite kind of kale!!), 3 garlic scapes, a bunch of beautiful Japanese turnips, three beautiful bright yellow summer squashes, a head of lettuce (I chose butter lettuce over romaine), a nice bag of the best snow peas ever and a little pot of purple basil mixed with lemongrass.

So far this week I have made that kohlrabi slaw I mentioned Tuesday, beautiful squash and snow peas sauteed in pesto with eggs on top and swiss chard, squash and garlic scape pizza topped with goat cheese and basil. I have been on veggie cloud nine this week and it should only continue! The house is stocked with greens galore. I can't even decide which meal was my favorite. They were all so delicious and fresh.

The kids however, they have not been thrilled with the turn of events. After Block Island I can't say that the kids are eating much of anything except milk and bread. I don't know what it is about traveling that makes my kids go on hunger strikes. But while I have been making slight alterations to the kids' meals to keep the peace, by and large I am just serving them things like swiss chard and summer squash pizza because there is no guarantee that they will eat hot dogs either. Aaaahhh. Both Things picked absolutely everything off the pizza. They ate crusts for dinner. I am such a good mommy, aren't I?

Recipe: Aisan Kohlrabi Slaw

We arrived back at our house Sunday evening from our long week away to find our CSA goodies waiting for us in the fridge (Thank you MS for picking them up!) Since we only had one day to eat them before more were delivered, I figured I had better get cracking. I did alot of cooking, but this was one of the easiest and freshest things I made. And after a week of being "off plan", I was ready for some fresh vegetables big time.

Aisan Kohlrabi Slaw

Start with one head of kohlrabi, green or purple it doesn't matter.




Although I started out with two, I ended up using only one. They get huge when grated. Grate your kohlrabi.




Chop 4-5 scallions.




Add in your grated kohlrabi, and grate 1-2 carrots. I had slightly less carrots than kohlrabi. Add them.




Then add everything else: about a quarter cup of chopped nuts (I used roasted cashews and almomds), a tablespoon of sesame seeds, a fat tablespoon if mayo (please make homemade, it is so extra yummy), 2 teaspoons of soy sauce, 2 teaspoons of rice wine vinegar, 2 teaspoons of honey and one teaspoon of toasted sesame oil. Stir and let sit in the fridge until you are ready to serve.




Here is to getting through all these greens by Tuesday night!!

This post is part of Traditional Tuesdays

A Few Things I Have Learned From My Vacation This Year

DH and I agree, this is the best trip to Block Island we have ever taken. We have had great weather and I did enough advance planning with the food that every day has been enjoyable.

Here are just a few things I have learned while on this vacation. They are food related or parenting related, or neither.

1-If you have kids, it is worth it to rent a house.

Actually, we learned that three years ago when we first started renting this house. The kids have a tough enough time falling asleep in a different place, throw them into one big hotel room and all of a sudden Mom and Dad have to go to sleep at the same time as the kids. Boo. Renting a small two bedroom house means that we can stay up and enjoy our evening while the kidlets sleep. Plus, the house offers some private down time when the sun is hot. We can go in and play with toys we brought or read books or watch movies.

Now MY favorite thing about renting a house has got to be the yard. Not having a yard of our very own, running in circles in the grass or playing in a baby pool is a great joy for our kids. DH and I can crack a beer while the kids entertain themselves. Nice. But YOUR favorite thing about my renting a house is not getting stuck in a hotel room next to my crazy Things. They go nuts a couple times a day, usually as we are trying to leave the house for an outing. And we are the loudest family you will ever meet. So renting a private house is also a way to sure that others have a great vaca too.

2-Better to plan ahead and bring "approved" junk food rather than wait and get stuck buying whatever you can find.

We have eliminated junk foods, and so last year we didn't pack any treats. In fact I just didn't pack enough food period. So when we were hungry we reached for foods that we weren't buying at home, bagels and fishy crackers and muffins. Our options on the island are limited and there are virtually no organics. I was literally sick from overeating wheat. This year I thought ahead. Instead of buying whatever crossed our path, I packed "better junk food".

I stocked up on organic tater tots and Annie's Cheddar Bunnies and Applegate Farms' Turkey Bologna and Kettle Chips. And even juice boxes!!!! Everyone feels like they are getting super spoiled while I know that there are no bad preservatives, food dyes or excess refined sugar. Plus much of the junk I bought was organic, So I know it is non-GMO. I don't want my kids to be completely devoid of treats. I just wish they would get more excited about kale and kefier smoothies. But until that day comes, it won't hurt to plan ahead and fill up on better treats.

You should have seen how excited the Things were when they saw juice boxes in my shopping cart. They were like Christmas excited. I feel good knowing that we still are having pastured meat and eggs as a focus. DH and I are having lots of fresh veggies (still modeling the behavior, no payoff in sight...). So a little junk might be just what these kiddos need.

3-I am pretty sure that turkey bologna still has triptaphanes in it.

Thing 2 decided that he would eschew all other lunch foods for the turkey bologna. He then proceeded to take a three hour nap. I could get used to this. Perhaps I need to figure out how to MAKE turkey bologna. Maybe...




4-I am pretty sure that these shorts were never intended for me.

Yet somehow they ended up in my bag. I am fairly certain that these shorts were meant for some precocious 12 year-old Lolita and not some 32 year-old mother of 2. The woman behind the counter looked at me like she truly hoped I was buying them as a gift for some neice somewhere. But I made sure I slipped in a 'Can I return these if I need a different size?' I am sure that she was horrified. Though DH was pretty psyched. I might not be wearing these into town, but I think they'll get some use. Haha! Gross.




5-There are many things about our modern lifestyle that are unecessary, but clothes dryers aren't one of them.

I don't remember what fabric softener it was that advertised its product as having the scent of line dried clothes. There are few places on earth where the air smells better than Block Island. The scent here at the end of June is a mix of roses, honeysuckle and sea salt. Yet all the clothes I have line dried here are stiff and wrinkely. I hate line drying clothes. Dryers are awesome.

6-If you rent a house across the street from a cemetary, prepare for questions from your almost four year old.

Our down time in Block Island has been spent having some very frank conversations about growing up, getting sick and dying. Thanks to my exemplary parenting skills, Thing 1 is now totally convinced that a) one goes to a cemetary to be buried when one gets sick and b) one can leave a cemetary once one gets better and c) it is possible for time to move backwards and, my favorite, d) staying a little boy forever is a viable life option. It doesn't matter that I told Thing 1 all about hospitals, where you actually go when you are sick and you can come home when you get better. Or that I also told him about Peter Pan, who lived on Neverland way before Jake and his baby pirates. Thing 1 just doesn't care. He believes what he believes. God bless him.

7-You can't just decide one day to stop using sunblock. You must also, that same day, buy your kids hats and start wearing beach coverups, etc.

DH and I have had some disagreements over the sunblock thing. He thinks I am crazy and any increase in melanoma cancer rates in the last 30 years is completely attributable to better medical care and early detection. I just want to get the kids to not get a sunburn. We settled on using sunblock on their faces, ears and heads. And we bought Thing 2 a hat and DH is resisting the urge to take it off him when he fusses. We have also, without verbally discussing it, kept shirts on the kids most of the time while they are at the beach or in the back yard during hot hot hours. I admit it, it took a few days to get the hang of. We are very toasty from those first couple days. We have always run around half naked relying on sunblock. We have had to really change our behavior to avoid both sunblock and sunburns. I have turned to DH's wonderfully light snap front shirts. They make great beach coverups. DH is just really crispy. But even he has (silently) agreed to not wear sunblock. I think we have the hang of this now. But it has taken a little bit of trial and error. After all, parks and barbeues are one thing, week long vacations are another. We aren't used to the sun out here in the middle of the ocean, so we are working on this one day at a time.

8-Brothers need vacation time.

The same can of course be said of sisters and any sibling gender combo. But for me and my personal experience, my boys have solidifed their best-friendship on this trip. To see Thing 1 coaching Thing 2 on how to perform Slip and Slide tricks while Thing 2 blathers on in his unitelligible baby language has been awesome. I catch them having conversations together where they think no one is listening. I see them holding hands when I haven't asked them to. I see them building their relationship. It is beautiful.




9-There is a kid's channel called Qubo. And on said channel there is a show called The Magic School Bus.

We are Nick Jr parents. I love the shows, the lessons and the no commercials. Here, Qubo is the only kid's channel available. And there are tons of commercials for things like debt reduction and Life Style Lifts. Thing 1 is kind of confused. I am not sure he knows where the show ends and the commercials begin.

Forgive any copyright infringement, but this Magic School Bus show is kinda cute and kinda kooky. I mean look at the lady in the picture!! She is wearing pickle earrings. It stars Lilly Tomlin and it highlights kid science topics. Well last night the Magic School Bus episode was all about microbes. And what was the example? PICKLES!! The class actually shrunk themselves and swam in the pickle jar while long chains of lactobacillius bacteria preserved a cucumber. I was actually kind proud. The show was talking about fermented foods as an example of microbiotic activity, as opposed to just some produce drowned in vinegar. I was thrilled. And Thing 1 watched eagerly. I might not be a huge Qubo fan, but they got
me with a show centered around fermented foods. Ha!

10-I really love beer.

No explanation needed. I just really love good beer. I know all the caveats about beer and health and weight. But....I am on vaca and well....it is just really good.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Fourth of July! May you be blesses with a beautiful vacation (or several) this summer!

Enjoy!