Pork Posole

I have three things I like to cook these days:

1. Things to keep my family alive (the basics) 

2. Things that make me happy (already tested) 

3. Things that don't take a lot of time or money (no big investment) 

Today this Pork Posole soup was in category number three. I felt like cooking, but Christmas is just days away. Which means family is visiting, laundry needs to be done, and gifts need to be wrapped. And oh yeah, there's that new job I just started three months ago. So I need low investment, high returns.

I turned to my favorite go to magazine, Cooking Light. (I really look through my other cookbooks, but what the f@&% is cream of tartar?) 

Here's the Pork Posole recipe I found today. Totally easy, and delicious! Took about 40 minutes of prep time (between opening beers) and then it simmered for another hour. 

Only two things went awry. First, the pork did not give off a lot of fat. I think that's because I like to over trim my meat. So when I added the onions, there were no "drippings" left. I added a tiny bit of olive oil to make up for it. Because of the lack of fat drippings, the bottom of the pan browned quickly. So I stirred the onions a little more than usual so they wouldn't stick and burn. As for the browning, it was all good once the beer hit the pan and the pan deglazed. 

Second, I didn't have cayenne pepper (crushed red pepper), so I just used some chili powder instead. Worse things could happen. 

Again soup was good. Really good. Better yet, the kids liked it. And, better still, it was cheap. So while it started in category three, it's probably going to jump to category two. Once I figure out how to make it in the microwave it will join category number one.

The Minion Cake

As promised, I made a little Despicable Me cake for my son's second birthday. Yes, it's not professional and I won't be posting it on Pinterest, but I think it's still pretty cool.

Want to know how I did it? Here's is my extensive recipe list:

Lemon cake mix
Buttercream frosting with blue food coloring
Twinkies
Candy eyeballs
Black gel frosting

It's also good to have some artistic skills and an internet connection so you can see what a minion looks like.

My favorite part? The minion who looks scared to death.

My son's favorite part? The candles I dug out of a junk drawer. Go figure.

Pinterest Bitches

http://bitchinsisters.wordpress.com/

A few hours after I wrote my "I'm out of time" post, a friend of mine sent me this link from Bitchin Sisters.

It's about moms who have the time to make cute little gifts for their kids's first day at school.

My kids aren't even in school yet and I already know what they're getting for the first day. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich in a brown bag. Okay, that's not true. I will go buy them some cool lunch box, but you get the point.

The Bitchin Sisters blog is awesome if you want to check it out.

PS: The boy's birthday is in a few days and I will be attempting to make a cake with dumb Twinkie Minions. It will not look like this:

http://cakecentral.com/

It's Official, I'm Out of Time

When I first started this blog, I needed a distraction. I love to write and I love to cook, so there you go. But now I have too many distractions. They're called my 4-year-old and my 2-year-old.

Let's face it, the days of being able to flip though a cooking magazine and then spend an hour at the market finding some ridiculous ingredients are over. Instead I spend 10 minutes at the park trying to get the two kids to look at the camera at the same time.

Yep, photo fail.

Cooking is beginning to fail for me too. I still love it, I just don't have the time. Yes, I still have saffron in my spice cabinet. But I also have Kraft Macaroni and Cheese in the pantry. Guess which gets used more often.

Not that any of this is a bad thing. Lives change, priorities changes, people change. I still love to cook, and I still subscribe to those cooking magazines. But cooking those special dishes will be reserved for birthdays and holidays. Not every days.

As for this blog, I want to... What? Your brother did what? He put it where?

Never mind, I'm out of time.

The First Fresh Peas

This blog is a lot about firsts. First pesto. First grilled pizza. First fresh peas.

Sure I've had fresh peas in restaurants. Probably in some fancy shmancy place. But I've never bought fresh, still in a pod, peas. 

I didn't even mean to buy them this time. I was at the farmers market this morning and thought I was buying sugar snap peas (yes, seriously). I didn't realize my mistake until I got home and tried to "snap" into one. A few minutes later I found myself shelling peas on the kitchen counter. 

Now, before you think I'm out of touch, remember I grew up in the southwest. Peas came in two varieties, canned or frozen. 

So here I am with my shelled peas, and I figure this should be pretty easy. So of course I consult Google. The first website used canned peas. Gross. The second, third an fourth site explained how to turn fresh peas into a tart, sauce and some other dish fit for brunch at the Palace of Versailles. 

Finally, I found what I was looking for: Toss peas in boiling water for 1 minute and toss with salt and butter. 

Perfection. And another first is finished.