Caldo Tlalpeño

This recipe originally came from Authentic Mexican by Rick Bayless. I added more vegetables and changed it a little.

2 quarts chicken broth
1 large chicken breast*
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, diced
2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed**
1 teaspoon dried epazote
salt to taste
1 to 2 tablespoon(s) chile chipolte en adobo diced and seeded***
1 ripe avacado,peeled,pitted and diced
1 lime or sour orange cut into wedges

1. If using chicken breast, place chicken breast and broth in a 4 quart saucepan,bring to a simmer. Skim off any gray scum that rises to the top. Add the parsley and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove the breast, skin and de-bone it, shred the meat and set aside. Strain the broth and skim off any fat that rises. If you are using canned chicken, combine the broth with liquid from the chicken and parsley, reserving the meat, bring to a simmer.
   
2. While the chicken simmers, heat a frying pan over medium heat,add the olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the diced onion and carrots. Cook until the onions and carrots begin to brown, add the garlic and cook an additional minute.
   
3. Add the vegetables, garbanzos and epazote to the broth. Bring to a simmer, cook at a low simmer for half an hour.
4. Add the chile chipolte and the reserved chicken to the soup. Serve in bowls topped with diced avocados accompanied by lime wedges.
   

Notes:
* I have used canned cooked chicken breast successfully, in which case, I skipped the simmering
** I have left the garbanzos out before, it's better with!
*** I buy chile chipoltes en adobo that is pre-seeded and already chopped

I made jelly!

Not being able to sleep I started making jelly last night around 10 pm and I finished this morning at 7am. I did go to bed around 11pm, so I really can't say that I stayed up all night making jelly.
I did my internet research, I also looked at every cookbook that I own and finally settled on a recipe for Jalapeño Jelly to adapt. This recipe for Pinapple Habanero Jelly looked really good too but it called for pectin which I haven't found or made yet. I did a cross between the two. My recipe can be found here.
I didn't have any fresh cranberries so even though I was making a half recipe I used almost as much water as the original recipe called for, I also used an entire bell not a half,so my recipe still yielded almost 4 cups of jelly. I wasn't sure if my granny smith apples were tart enough so I still used an entire cup of the dried cranberries.
I think that I might use one more habanero next time, but it's hard to say. The thing about chiles is that the amount of heat varies from chile to chile.
I haven't found any canning jars so I recycled a jar. I am not trusting it to seal properly so I am storing my jelly in the refrigerator.
Now I need to make some bread to go with that jelly.

Habanero Jelly

Ingredients

• 2 lbs of tart apples (e.g. Granny Smith), unpeeled, chopped into big pieces, including the cores
• 2 bright orange peppers, sliced in half lengthwise, the seeds and ribs removed from 3 of them (for mildly hot jelly. If you want a hotter jelly leave the seeds and ribs in all of them.)
• 1 orange bell pepper , seeds and ribs removed, chopped
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups white vinegar
• 3 1/2 cups sugar (7/8 cup for each cup of juice)

1. Combine habaneros, bell pepper, and vinegar in food processor or blender process until well mixed, pour mix into large pot. Add the apple pieces, apple cores (needed for their pectin content), cranberries , and water in a large pot. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium-low, simmering for about 20 minutes, or until the apples, cranberries, and peppers are soft. Stir occasionally to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pan where it might burn.
   
2. Spoon the mash into a fine mesh sieve, muslin cloth, or a couple layers of cheesecloth, suspended over a large bowl. Leave to strain for several hours (even overnight). If you want a clear jelly, do not squeeze or force through the mesh. Just let it drip. If you want a fuller flavor jelly and don't mind that the result won't be clear, you can force some of the pulp through the mesh. If your pulp is too thick, and nothing is coming out, you can add an extra 1/2 cup or cup of water to it. You want to end up with about 4 cups of juice.
3. Measure the juice, then pour into a large, wide, thick-bottomed pot. Add the sugar (7/8 a cup for each cup of juice). Heat gently, stirring to make sure the sugar gets dissolved and doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan and burn.
4. Bring to a boil. Cook for 10-15 minutes, using a spoon to skim off the surface scum. Continue to boil until a candy thermometer shows that the temperature has reached 220-222°F (8-10°F above the boiling point at your altitude). Additional time needed for cooking can be anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour or longer, depending on the amount of water, sugar, and apple pectin in the mix.
5. Pour jelly into sterilized jars* to within 1/4" from the top and seal.

   Makes approx. 4 half-pint jars.

Bread and jam

I made bread yesterday using as my basis the savory vegetable bread but I think I've changed it enough that it needs it's own recipe and name, how does Italian Garden Bread sound to you? It came out perfect, so perfect that I went ahead and baked off two loaves (I normally divide bread into small loaves and freeze half). We ate the smaller loaf and I took the larger one to the IWC potluck afternoon tea.
I added the guar gum to the recipe, I really like how the texture was improved by it. I am going to try it in some sourdough bread later this week.
I also found a recipe for jalapeño jelly that I am going to adapt to make a habanero jelly. I think I have everything that I need. I can just taste this with some cream cheese on the sourdough bread.
I'll post the jelly recipe after I make it.

Italian Garden Bread

• Filling
• 2 large onions diced
• 3 cloves garlic diced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup olives chopped (I used a mix of green and rinsed kalamata)
• fresh black pepper to taste
• 1 cup all purpose flour
  

In a large pan, heat the olive oil , add the onions and garlic. Cook until transparent. Remove from heat. Combine with remaining ingredients. Reserve.

• Dough
  
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 3 to 4 cups white flour
• 1 tablespoon yeast
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon dry oregano crumbled
  
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan
  
• 1 cup grated cheese (I used Costco Italian blend)
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1/2 teaspoon guar gum (optional)
  
• 1 recipe Filling
  

In a large bowl dissolve the yeast in the warm water along with the sugar. Reserving the white flour, combine the rest of the ingredients except filling. Mix well.While using the dough hook (or kneading by hand) add the reserved flour a cup at at time to dough until it's smooth. Incorporate the vegetables into the dough, add more flour if necessary, you want a smooth dough not a wet one.
Once the dough is kneaded enough place it in a greased bowl to rise until double in size. About an hour. Once the dough has risen, punch it down, form it into a round loaf and place on a greased cookie sheet to rise again for about 30 minutes.
Bake in a pre-heated 350ºF oven for 45 minutes. Remove from the sheet and let cool on a wire rack. Let it cool completely before you cut into it.

What do I cook all day?

With my renewed effort to get healthier, I bought chicken instead of pork at the supermarket. Husband is not really fond of chicken he says it tastes like cardboard at best. When I was pregnant with my first child all you had to do was say the word "chicken" and I would loose my stomach contents, but that was (wow) 30 years ago, so I think I am over it. That child, by the way, makes the most awesome fried chicken ever. One day she wanted fried chicken so I bought her chicken parts and handed her the cookbook and said have fun! My kids learned how to cook at an early age. The girls learned in 4-H and Son learned from us plus he attended a cooking school for a couple of semesters. He can read a recipe in English and Spanish! The secret to really good fried chicken is to soak it in milk before battering and resisting the urge to turn it in the oil, or so the kids tell me. I don't fry chicken.
Today, I followed another of the Crockpot lady's recipes, this one for teriyaki chicken. It's cooking right now. I was going to make an Indian cabbage dish, but discovered that I am out of dried coconut. So I made cabbage salad instead, and I'm reheating the red tomato rice that I made earlier this week.
I am definitely over the malaise, I am looking at cookbooks and planning stuff. I want to make some pineapple habanero jelly. One thing that I need to find is pectin, I looked up the word in Spanish, pectina, that seems too easy. I did find a couple of recipes online for making your own pectin out of apples. Actually crab apples would be best but I have never seen them here. I did seem some plums though and plums have a lot of natural pectin, plum cheese is really yummy. It's like cranberry sauce but made out of plums. Okay, back to the pectin, it looks easy enough, chop apples into eights, simmer in water, drain and boil down the liquid.
I guess I could make some apple jelly and then put the habanero in it? Hmmm, that might work! I no longer have a copy of Putting Food By, but I think I saw one at MELL.
Back to the chicken, I got some skinless breast and what I thought were thighs and legs, but was really a half a chicken. When I unwrapped the chicken half I found some chicken feet and other parts in a baggie. I don't know if I am up to using them to make stock.

This is for Fned!

Recently I was talking to Chicafeliz and she commented on how everything I cook is complicated. I don't think so, but I think that when she has been to over to eat, I have made complex meals. I don't usually serve guests sopa seca or macaroni and cheese, I try to make something special.
In fact, yesterday, lunch took me about 10 minutes and two pots to prepare. We had Polish sausages with sauerkraut, steamed broccoli and a salad made from chopped cucumbers and tomatoes.
Today, I went to MELL while Husband attended his Spanish class. While I was there I browsed the magazines. I copied down this recipe on a scrape of paper, Stir Fried Tofu and Eggplant, which I made today. I had a couple of boxes of firm tofu gathering dust on the kitchen shelf. I bought the tofu because I had this deluded notion that if I had tofu I would actually use it. After about 6 months (this stuff keeps forever in those little boxes) I finally substituted one box for panela cheese in Saag Panir but there was still one box sitting there. Yesterday, I bought 4 eggplants. We like eggplant, I make stuffed eggplant, eggplant Parmesan, caponata and I have a lovely spaghetti sauce recipe that uses eggplant. My big motivation was that the eggplants were $14.00 mxp a kilo! I also have a lot of Thai basil that I grew so I thought that would be even tastier than the regular basil. Good thing because all my regular basil died, I have no idea why, it just did.
Back to the stir fry, it was really good, it was simple and it used stuff that I had in my house. What more can you ask?
I just looked online and it was Sunset magazine! Click on the link for the original recipe, photo and nutritional information.

Stir fried Tofu and Eggplant

I think I found this in Sunset Magazine. I wrote it down on a scrap of paper so I am relying on my faulty memory for the source.

Stir Fried Tofu and Eggplant

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 package firm tofu, cut into 2 inch chunks
1 eggplant cut into 1" x 3" strips
1 bell pepper cut into strips
2 diced garlic cloves ( I used a tablespoon of diced garlic)
SAUCE
combine:
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
GARNISH
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves (I forgot to add these, it was still good!)

Heat the pan. When the pan is hot, add the oil. When the oil is hot, add the tofu. Brown the tofu. The secret to browning soft things like tofu is to leave it alone. I know you want to stir it around, but don't, just wait. Brown the tofu on all sides. Remove the tofu from the pan.

If you need to, add more oil. Cook the garlic, eggplant and bell pepper strips until soft (about 10 minutes). I add a little bit of water to the pan if the eggplant absorbs the oil rather than adding more oil.
When the vegetables are done, add the sauce. Heat until the sauce is warmed. Gently add the browned tofu, stir to coat all the ingredients with sauce, try not to break up the tofu chunks (if you do, it's still okay but the dish won't look as pretty).
Remove from heat. Add the basil leaves and serve over rice.
We ate it without rice, this makes 4 generous servings.

Getting your dollar's worth of food!

Following on the One Dollar Diet Project's footsteps, Amy and Karla of Hope Heals:"Dollar-A-Day Challange" are attempting to eat on a dollar a day for a month in order to raise money for a trip to Africa with Habitat for Humanity.
One point raised in the $1 Diet Project's comments is that a dollar a day buys you more in those very countries where people live on that amount of money or less, countries such as Mexico. I was curious so I took Amy and Karla's shopping list and compared it to the prices listed on Profeco's website Quién es quién en los precios (who is who in prices) where they comparison shop a wide list of items.
Here is the blog post for Hope Heals' first shopping trip
Here is their list and the comparable items I found. I used the least expensive prices for comparable items. They didn't give weights for most items but I have. I used $13.00 peso per dollar as the exchange rate and 2.2 pounds to the kilos.

1. bag of red delicious apples $2.79 Starking apples which look like red delicious to me are $24.90 p/k or $1.92 usd
   
2. head of iceberg lettuce $.99 $1.90 or $.15usd
   
3. package of ground turkey (no weight given) $1.19 Turkey is a luxery meat here in Merida, so I compared it to ground beef at $36.00/k $1.26 usd p/ lb
   
4. instant corn masa (no weight) $2.39 a kilo of Maseca brand is $6.20 or $.18 *prepared tortillas run from $5.38 to $11.00 a kilo or $.19 to $.38 usd a pound.
   
5. canned corn (no weight given) $.49 225 gram can of corn is $5.90 or $.45usd
   
6. hot sauce $.79 Salsa picante La Costeña 370 ml $6.10 or $.47 usd
   
7. 30 eggs $2.99 or 2.9c each the tienda across the street has the best price on eggs $.10 each or $.0077usd each
   
8. pinto beans 64 oz $3.29 or $.0514 per oz $12.35 per kilo or $.027 usd per oz
   
9. rice 48 oz $ 1.99 or $.0415 per oz $12.90 per kilo or $o.0281 usd per oz
   
10. salt and pepper $1.00 salt is $4.10 per kilo and ground black pepper is $20.50 for 60 grams or a total of $1.89 usd for a whole lot of salt and tiny bit of pepper!
    
11. large can tomatoes $1.00 *the only canned tomatoes that I have seen are imported from Italy and probably cost more than $3.00 usd a can. Whole fresh romas are around $16.00 a kilo right now so a pound would cost $.56 usd.
    
12. ranch seasoning $.33 no comparable
    
13. taco seasoning $.66 no comparable
    
14. 16 cheese slices $1.00 not on the list
    
15. bananas $.10 each $4.90 per kilo or (I weighed a banana it's about 8 to the kilo) or $.047 each

I totaled their expenses at $14.6429 (by unit) and my costs at $7.138 (leaving out the seasoning and cheese) So with the exception of some exotic things like apples (they are imported from other parts of Mexico or the USA), canned tomatoes (fresh are cheaper and available year round) and the spices and mixes. My dollar a day would buy at least twice what theirs does unless those apples are in a five pound bag then my total is $9.578 (one and half times more food) but if they really scored big on those apples and got a ten pound bag then my total would be $13.938.