A Mad Dash and A Half Assed Tamale Tutorial

Well folks, we are in the last few days before Christmas and this house is filled with the smell of freshly made tamales! I honestly and truly want to share a detailed recipe/assembly/quirky anecdote with you but I can barely even sit up I am so exhausted! Would you settle for a short picture tutorial?? Yes? You're the best, I don't care what anyone says about you.

 Mike and I have been just go go going for a few the last two weeks.

Finals, cookie orders, short camping trip in between visiting friends and family in SoCal. It's just been insane. So I will keep this short before I head on off to bed. What I really wanted to take the time to say is this: THANK YOU

Thank you so much to our wonderful, amazing, patient, loving, hilarious, beautiful friends. The friends who keep our spirits up when we are feeling, "eh". The friends who drop everything to go on a last minute camping trip in the pouring (freezing) rain. Friends who have come through our home this holiday season to share delicious meals with us, bearing thoughtful gifts and giant radiating smiles.

You are the reason this has been such a blessed year. We adore you all and we feel so very very lucky to have each of you as a friend!

Mike and I have most certainly had our best year as a couple in 2011. We made huge strides in our relationship with each other but also in our individual lives. He is pursuing some very promising avenues as far as his career is concerned. And I finally followed my gut and enrolled in culinary school (the best choice I made for myself in a long time).

We feel like God has blessed us this year. Giving us the guidance we needed to make big steps towards being happy individuals and even happier as a married couple. I hope you also take a moment to reflect back on the triumphs you've experienced in 2011.

I also hope that you enjoy this tutorial. It is SO simple and makes a lot of food. If you're not a meat eater, simply swap the meat out with shredded cheese, roasted veggies or wilted greens! Also, you will need a very large pot for this recipe. 4 pts at the smallest. You could also totally use your slow cooker, just put a steamer basket in the bottom and check back often to make sure your pot doesn't go dry. Enjoy!!

See you all in the new year!

Ingredients:

1 bag of Tamale Masa Dough
Lard or Shortening
Chicken or Veggie Broth
Salt & Pepper
1 Can Red or Green Enchilada Sauce
2 lb Shredded Meat (Beef, Pork or Chicken)
1 Package of Corn Husks (found in the Hispanic foods aisle)


                                              Tamale Picture (Sort of Super Lazy) Tutorial

Buy, or make masa dough (using directions on back of bag)

Add 1 can of enchilada sauce to 2lbs shredded pork, beef or chicken

Spread masa over softened corn husks like so, and top with shredded meat, tuck in the bottom and wrap like a burrito

Place folded side down, into a steamer and steam for about an hour until tamale dough is soft set (they'll finish cooking as they cool) 


We enjoy our tamales with black beans and Spanish rice. Optional toppings are endless, but include salsa, sour cream, cheese, enchilada sauce (red or green) and cilantro! 
Enjoy!!

F-TGIF & A Lazy BBQ Pizza Recipe

My name is Ed and I hate Fridays. Fridays are fun when you are the center of some close knit social circle. Maybe you have a group of friends who all stay in touch via the newest of social networking sites, and you all get together on the weekends and get "sloshed" or "hammered" or "arrested". But I don't have that here.

My name is Ed and I have dogs. And on Fridays we do nothing. Nothing at all. My dogs and I eat breakfast and we watch reruns of Law and Order SVU on TIVO. We watch the sun rise and set from the L shaped couch facing the leaf littered backyard. We do not move from this spot. Our phone does not ring and even if it does we are too smelly and depressed to go out into the world. So we make up excuses about laundry that needs to be done or how we are trying out a new recipe. We are so pathetic on Fridays that we can hardly believe ourselves.

My name is Ed and you can remove WE from the last paragraph. Because in that context the word WE is very misleading. Those dogs do not watch TV. So it's really just me. Me here

making excuses and forgetting to shower until five pm each and every Friday. Without fail. It is not fair to bring my dogs into this. Because truth be told. They would like a walk. Today has been an especially lazy Friday and I am ok with that because sometimes lazy days are ok. Lazy dinners can be ok too, if you utilize your leftovers correctly. I peaked into our fridge today and started to panic.

Will I actually have to go OUT? Into the world and buy stuff to make dinner? Fret not, I said to myself. I took out some left over pulled pork from 2 nights ago and whipped up....Pizza.

Uh, yes. PIZZA. Cheesy and gooey and fantastic. Magic, really. Who does not like pizza? I met ONE person in my whole life who didn't like pizza and it was because she was allergic to nearly everything you'd ever want to put on a pizza. I felt bad for her. I cried a little...it was awkward.

Anyhow, be inspired by my lazy dinner. If you're grumpy and lonely on a Friday night at least know that you can pull together a decent meal.

So... Have you heard of BBQ Pizza? Do you find it delicious? Me too. And that's why I found this "random act of pizza" so phenomenal. First that I had everything on hand to put it together and secondly because it actually tasted amazing. The balance of sweet and savory with the smokey flavors of the pulled pork and bbq sauce...OH and the cheese...so much delicious melted cheese. This is a recipe you will want to make after a big bbq when you have lot's of leftover pork or even chicken. I was feeling especially lazy tonight and happened to have whole wheat pizza dough on hand, if you don't go here for a quickie pizza dough that won't make you break a sweat.

Lazy BBQ Pizza

1 cup (more or less) of leftover bbq pork/chicken or even beef

1 cup of your favorite bbq sauce

3/4 to 1 cups shredded cheese, mozarella and Parmesan or "mexican style"

2-3 scallions

1 bunch of cilantro

1/4 of an onion sliced

prepared pizza dough

Preheat your oven to 400 degree's. Lightly oil a medium size pizza pan or use the flat, underside of a cookie sheet.

Roll out your pizza dough till it just fits inside your pan (depending on what brand/recipe you're using the target size is about 10-12 inches). Sh-mear your dough with the bbq sauce.

Add your shredded cheese, I like to spread it pretty thick all the way to the crusts.

Next you'll add the leftover pulled pork and onion slices.

Place in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes before checking the bottom by gently lifting at the edges of the pizza with a long spatula.

You're looking for a light brown crust that is dry, not drooping or doughy. Continue cooking for an additional 10-15 minutes checking often. When the pizza is done the crust will be browned nicely, cheese bubbling and melted and the pork will be warmed through. Right out of the oven, add the cilantro and scallions. Serve piping hot with a mixed green salad or...if you're having THAT kind of Friday...A Budlight.

This is the kind of lazy meal that you will remember. And if it's any consolation, you will feel WAY less lazy making this pizza rather than ordering one. AND you will have avoided that nosy pizza boy judging you (in your pajamas with your Budlight in one hand). I hope you enjoy this recipe, it is late and my eyes are drooping the dogs are already asleep and we have ran out of Law and Order episodes, so I bid you adieu!