Celebration Cake Kits!

Some time around two weeks ago I was away from home, feeling not-so-hot, and couldn't sleep. I had already gone through a whole bunch of topics in my sleeplessness--the next day, food, being away from my man. Eventually (far longer than I would like to admit), I was trying to think of a way to help out other people besides the typical money or time donation. I was struck (like a swift kick to the bum) that there are a lot of families here with young kids who may not otherwise have any treat for special days (birthdays, quincineras, mom's new job, graduation, you name it). I remembered when I was young, and dinner was often rice and beans, but we always had a cake for birthdays. Always. It meant so much to my brother and me. I think that the kits will provide a way to nourish the soul as well as the body (okay, a dose of sugar isn't exactly nourishment!).

What was necessary for a good ol' cake? 1. Cake 2. Frosting 3. Candles  4. A pan to cook the cake in that doesn't need washing!  So after much running around to find the basics, I finally had everything together.  The good Lord was kind enough to provide a special on cake mixes and frostings (Pillsbury happened to be the brand on sale), so all I had to do was buy appropriate tasty pairings of cake and frosting flavors. Seeing the look on the faces of the checkout staff with that many cakes was priceless! I had two options for pans--8" food service pans, or almost 9x13" rectangle chafing dish pans. For future information for me (and anyone who wants to do this for their local food pantry)--go with the rectangle. The mix, frosting, and candles all fit well in it without squishing the pans. Also, make sure to mark on the packages what flavors they are AND when the expiration dates are.

Since I had a little extra time today I got the first batch of 28 done (why 28? 28 is what would fit in the boxes I had). Foil Pan, Cake Mix, Cake Frosting, Candles all wrapped in syran and ready to go.  I am so excited to get these babies out to the Storehouse! Eventually, since I had some financial help from friends, I want to make more kits but for special diets. Being gluten free myself, I am aware that it is difficult to eat gf food while on a budget--I can only imagine how much harder it must be while depending on others for your food supply!

Anyway, without further ado, I bring you: a finished Celebration Cake Kit!

(Caution! Cake flavors may suddenly change from photo to photo!)

These kits may not really be nourishing for the body, but I think it will go a long way for the soul!

Mater Update

Remember those tomatoes from last month? They were all green and rock-like. They looked...sad.

Well now they are NOT sad, and the remaining tomatoes are rapidly becoming tasty red balls of matery goodness!

I have been using them up, but that is a lot of maters. As you can see, I still have some stragglers that are taking their sweet time ripening--but that is good, since it gives me time to use the ripe ones before they go bad.

I also have bad news. It froze hard here this last week, and most of the things I planted in my winter garden did not make it through. I know that the leeks will survive, but the rest is gone thanks to a few nights of 5 degree weather and only in the mid 20's for daytime.  Se la vie (pardon my non-existent French)

Along with that colder weather came snow--lots of it. To the tune of 10.5" on the flat out in front of my house. That is a ton of snow for the middle of the desert--especially since it all fell in one day! Three days out, the roads are still rather slick, but the snow is rapidly melting due to the unrelenting sun.

I did get another lamb this year--a big boy just shy of 90 pounds. He made a tasty dinner of lamb shoulder last night. Recipe: add lamb shoulder to crock pot. Cover with Penzey's Lamb Seasoning. Cook on high 6 hours. Add scrubbed sweet taters and carrots to the top of the pot. Cook two more hours. Devour. No pictures, but man was he tasty.

Gathering In

I took a look at the forecast for the next few nights and realized that the freezes are here to stay. That means that the tomatoes needed to be stripped of anything that could possibly ripen inside (which is pretty much anything shiny dark green instead of dull colored green).

I went out to my now-frostbitten plants and found over 30 pounds of maters, all the way from deep red to green. I have them spread out in produce boxes left over from Costco nectarines and peaches so that the green ones have time to ripen and they all can not mold before I get around to using them.

 I separated the very green tomatoes from the ones that were trying to ripen already and made sure to only have the ripening maters in a fairly thin layer to minimize squishage.

Here you see all but the red tomatoes, which I am using for dinner, and thus, have no photo. Please forgive the booze bottles--my husband was bottling beer last night and those are the remaining empties (now if only either of us could drink more than a glass a week we might get rid of some of the bottles!).

Eventually, once the maters are more or less ripe, they will be turned into sauce and frozen...or just chopped up and frozen depending on how industrious I want to be. Heck, I may even can some and break in that pressure cooker again!

I also picked a half-bag of raspberry leaves (minus any spiny bits on the leaf stem) and a large handful of mint for tea. The leaves are all drying in the dehydrator right now (95 degrees for my records) and we will have tasty tea during the winter--free of pesticides, shipping costs, and well...any costs other than the electricity to dry the leaves.

I think that covers it for now. (and so far, no sprouting in the new bed)

First Frost of the Year and Foodage!

Our official first frost date is October 11th, but we just had our first frost last night on the 28th (unlike last year where it was on the 8th I believe).  The tomatoes are pretty much just a little wilted, rather than being completely died back, but it definitely was enough to put the end to their official season.

I also planted a winter bed a few days ago, so eventually we will have:
Leeks (transplants given to me of unknown variety)
Carrots (purple)
Spinach
Beets (a colorful mix)
onions (bunch)
and garlic (Spanish Roja, once I plant it a little further into November)

We shall see how cold it gets this year--if we end up with another -15F week like last year, I am not sure how much will make it through the winter. I was surprised to see that the carrots, beets, and spinach lasted through last winter despite neglect and colder temperatures than we normally have.

I also have a few pomegranate babies growing inside over the winter, along with the strawberry hanger. The pomegranates were from seed and are a white skinned variety that my mother found originally from Home Depot many years ago. I am hoping to get a few bushes up and running next spring, since they should be big enough to transplant by then. For now I need to get them up to the next size container. I didn't really expect every seed to grow like it did!

Onward to a redone recipe from Betty Crocker:

Impossibly Easy Quesadilla Pie (or I. E. Chile Relleno Pie) with Chicken--Gluten Free

(Image courtesy of Betty Crocker)

1 can (4.5 ounces) chopped green chiles, well drained 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (8 ounces) 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro 3/4 cup Bisquick® Gluten Free mix 1 cup milk 2 cans (5 oz each) cooked chicken (do not drain) 3 eggs (salsa if desired for garnish)  

Heat oven to 385 degrees.

Generously coat a deep dish 9" pie plate with cooking spray. (I think a regular pie plate will work, but it may be close)

Drain chicken into a microwaveable container.

Add milk to drained juice (should be about 1.5 cups total liquid)

Microwave on HIGH for 2 minutes.

Mix all other ingredients in a bowl. Add in warm liquids and mix.

Pour into pie plate and bake for 45 minutes or until set and slightly browned on top.

Serve with salsa or sour cream if desired.

Serving Size: makes 6 servings in a 9" pie plate

• Servings Per Recipe: 6
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 336.5

• Total Fat: 19.3 g
• Cholesterol: 158.4 mg
• Sodium: 704.6 mg
• Total Carbs: 15.7 g
• Dietary Fiber: 0.6 g
• Protein: 23.6 g 

Gardening Greens--in Mid-November

Last night it got down to 24degrees (F), but my lettuce, carrots, beets, and spinach all survived happily. Why? The miracle of row covers. In this case, I used a simple doubled over sheet of heavy black plastic.  While I don't normally suggest plastic for row covers as it can actually backfire (the plastic doesn't breathe), I couldn't find my normal heavy row cover last night.

As some background, I planted most of the fall/winter garden in mid-September by just sprinkling the seeds over the row. I was too lazy to try rows again, and my seeds were old, so I knew that many would not sprout at all. The big reason that I even planted was that I had an open garden bed, and still had time before snow and freezing settled in.

Now that it is mid-November in the middle of New Mexico we are getting temperatures that make any leafy plant want to curl up and freeze. I have been lucky so far--low temperatures normally above 28F, which means I don't need to cover the plants. Yesterday though, I checked my trusty NOAA site and saw that the temperature was not going to be that warm. In fact it was supposed to be down to 24F and windy--bad news for uncovered plants.  Right after I saw that I hopped outside and scrambled to cover up the row. This morning when I uncovered the row, the plants were wet, and slightly squished, but very happy and not frozen.

So here is my recommendation for anyone trying to extend their garden season:

• Check the forecasted low--if it is going to be below around 27-28, your leafy greens may suffer
• Cover your garden plants before dark if possible--it holds the heat better--but any time is better than none
• Covering options:
• old sheets
• towels
• light blankets
• plastic sheeting
• for long term storage: thick layers of straw (it will cause seeds to sprout later)
• purchased row covers
• milk jugs with the bottom cut off (keep the lid)
• glass jars
• pretty much anything that you can put on before it gets cold and take off once it warms up

• Make sure to take off the covering in the morning (if it is going to be above freezing)
• if you have cloth covers it should be fine to leave it on a few days
• plastic should NOT be left on any longer than necessary because the plants will sweat, and could get too hot--or that extra plant sweat could actually cause worse freezing
• Water deep during the day before especially cold nights
• the water helps to hold heat from during the day
• If the plants look shriveled and sad in the morning, don't pick the shriveled leaves
• either they will bounce back and rehydrate, or
• they will act as a mini blanket for the plant next time it gets cold

How long till my garden dies? Who knows. High desert winter and fall gardening is never a sure thing. I don't think that I can keep my garden alive outside if it drops consistently below 20F, or if it stops warming up during the day (probably early to mid December if I am lucky).  On the other hand, there is always the option of rescuing some of the plants and bringing them inside to grow over the winter and ignore the frigid temperatures.

Growing in the high desert means that there is a long growing season, but finicky growing conditions. Temperatures swing wildly every day--24F low followed by a high of 62F is what today's forecast was, tonight's low will be 36F with no need to cover the garden. Aah the fun of gardening in the middle of nowhere!

How do you extend your garden or  do you? Do you live somewhere where you can plant a fall garden--or do you hibernate and move inside for fall and winter?

Ode to Compost

Dirt. Soil. Organism-rich horizons.
However you put it, I like it when I can see rich black dirt and plop baby plants or seeds into it.

New Mexico has no dirt. But we do have sand. Lots. And clay. Lots--but never interspersed nicely together as that would be too nice for drainage.

Having said that, my personal weapon against the lack of dirt is through a plethora of compost.

Ode to Compost
Thou art sweeter than a summer's day
And far better than any sand or clay.
But take so long for to become
The substance that I know and love.


We get a box of fruits and veggies a week through our CSA, I have a little bit of grass at the new house, and there are all the non-seed/spiny weeds that just BEG to be food for my future crops.  Why put all that wonderful goodness into our landfill when I can lazily toss it into our compost bin and ignore it for a while?  After a few months (or many months since the compost bin is done on laziness and neglect rather than by quicker methods) I strike gold!

We just moved into a new-to-us house, with gardens out back, grass out front (more on that later) and flowers all around.  The old house had a compost bin full of scraps that had been working for some 9 months now. My dear housemate gave me the best present in the world in the form of two big bags of perfect-plant-food from the bottom of the bin.  The rest of it we just tossed back in the composter to give it some more time.  As for those two bags of goodness: one I spread over all the garden beds to give a little umph to the babies since it is warming up here again for the summer. The other bag I am saving for when we transplant three grape vines (and hopefully two fig trees) from my parent's house.

Now back to dirt--and where compost comes in.

It occurred to me when I was digging up various plots in the garden that there were definite zones in my property:

• sandy (water runs into and right out of it)
• clay concrete (water sits on top of it and tilling it requires lots of work)
• fertilized soil (not much of this)

I also noticed from what was left behind that this was a gardening house that used traditional fertilizer and pesticides to grow and kill plants.  That explained why I had not seen any weeds in the property (that and it was wintertime) until the hedge mustard decided to try and take over--they were kept at bay with various sprays.

I don't mind pesticides as a last resort, but I would much rather try starting out with improving the whole area and putting in plants that are stronger than the pests to be semi-weed-free. This poses two problems--I only have one of me and  a third of an acre to keep free of spiny/sappy/poisonous invaders,  and that I want to squeeze as much produce as I can out of what I do plant...with as little effort as possible and no commercial fertilizers. 

So I spend some money now on a bale of oat straw, a few bags of commercial compost, and what I can get out of my own bin so that eventually, several years down the road I can have an easier time growing what works here in the desert...but in good soils.

Now back to that grass. I am in a desert and green grass is a bit of a pest to keep green, mowed, and not taken over by russian thistles or other plants.  I am tempted to rip it up and ... then would have open dirt with more thistles.  Instead I am going to try a method that has worked so far in the past and may work here: neglect.  I plan to occasionally toss some water on it if it looks really really sad, but otherwise ignore it and just keep it mowed--weeds and all. I do make weekly sweeps for thistles and other weeds since I am allergic to them and want them out of my property.  (Mostly I do the weed sweeps to prevent the evil puncture vine, or goathead, from invading. That plant is my arch-nemesis.)  We will see how this experiment works.

I hope to be free of frosts from here on in, even though three days ago we had a low of 34. Today the high was 90 degrees, so I am hoping that the weather makes up its mind and leaves us with a little more spring time coolness before the real heat settles in. I am prepared for the evil heat though, and the summer plants are in the ground (with watchful eyes for frost). The watermelons and squash, along with the tomatoes, up and starting to look large... the pepper plants even have their first flower buds.  Unfortunately the peas and carrots are also just starting to look good and the heat is just about high enough to kill them off before I get anything off of them!  At least I can say that the garden is a success as I have spinach, chard and radishes from it in my salads now.

As a side note on salads--I am trying an experiment by replanting the root stock of spinach plants that my CSA sent me. They were thinning out their fields for the second crops to come in (like tomatoes) so they plucked and sent me the whole plants. I chopped off the leaves (and should have left one or two on them probably, but we will see) and planted them in my garden by where the other spinach is happily growing. I am hoping that at least one of the six plants takes root so that we have more home grown spinach from what otherwise would just be tossed in the compost bin.

Well, that was a rather rambling post... oh well, at least it was a post at all! I hope to have pictures of the happy garden up here in a few days now that college classes are out for the season and moving has calmed down. Until then, happy gardening!

Spring Garden is In!

Of course, when moving into a new home the first thing that NEEDS to be done is to put in the garden... well...maybe not need per say, but it definitely is more fun than packing and cleaning houses!  Today was my day to put in my spring garden in the nice pre-made beds.

Two of the beds were put to sleep for the winter with compost and covered, the other three needed some love in the form of weeding and tilling.  While I am far from finished planting (since I still have three beds that I can fill), today was very productive and I am no longer behind schedule.

"Behind schedule? In March? How can that happen"

Here in the high desert, spring is the very short time between February freezes (mid teens at night, 40's in day) and May sweltering (60's at night, 90's in day). It is windy, moody, and in general a wonderful time of year for being outside without a long sleeved shirt, but not quite ready for shorts--except for that whole wind and moodiness I mentioned. For example: In the past two days it drizzled, then snowed, then just went to 40mph winds--all over the lunch hour. Today it was in the low 70's, sunshine, just enough breeze to be comfortable--in short it was beautiful.  Welcome to spring in Central New Mexico.

Now that you know what spring really means here, you can probably guess that most "spring" plants don't have long to live before being blown away and dried out by the wind, or getting too hot and melting in the sunshine... unless they freeze to death...  I tend to stick with organically grown seeds when I can get them, and I attempt (though am rarely successful) at finding heirloom or non-hybrid varieties of plants. This is the middle of nowhere, and shipping can be painful for a small packet of seeds.

The garden so far has my transplanted perennials: rhubarb and artichoke, along with a chard plant that refuses to die. To the right of the photo are a bunch of snow peas (the trellis is just visible), some radishes, and the artichoke.  This little bed is only about 2 feet by six feet, but is great for these babies.

The next bed is much bigger, about 10 feet by 4 feet.

This bed was all ready to go and only needed a little tilling to get it ready for planting. It now has garlic (planted at the other house last November), spinach, lettuce, onions, scallions, beets, and radishes. I was given the onions, and leafy greens by a friend who bought too many. I babied them along till I could plant them outside. Here is a closer look at the greener side of the beds (before putting in a soaker hose)

Those babies look pretty sad now, but I think most of them will perk up

I planted most of the seeds pretty close to each other since I am not too worried about pests or having to walk between rows.  I also installed a soaker hose in the large bed so that I do not have to water from above...and can be lazy.  

I do have two more large beds to plant... something in. Carrots, peas maybe, who knows what else. I may leave them alone and just have them ready to plant the summer vines later on in the season.  In addition to those two, there is a 4 foot diameter stock pond (now filled with soil) that will be the potato and marigold place. Why marigolds? I hear that they keep away some of the pests that like to eat my taters!  I even have a bag of organic potatoes that are desperately trying to sprout under my countertop, so I figured that I could put them to good use. That will have to wait for another day, as it was plenty of work to get the garden mostly up and running.

 The two beds that still needs some loving

The best part of this garden is it is an excuse to play in the dirt outside. I remember helping (or hindering) my Great Grandfather in his huge garden long ago, now I am putting some of his knowledge to work for my own garden. (Memories of him in his garden always hit me whenever I am in a shady garden with trellises--all good memories. Tasty too!)  Maybe if he and green thumb is watching he can keep an eye on me and my garden--probably shaking his head and saying "no no, you're doin' it wrong"... but a funny thought anyway.

Are you planning on gardening this year? What are you planning on planting--or are you somewhere that you have already planted?

Mary Had a Little...

Mary had a little lamb.
A very nice man had a bigger one.
It is tasty.


Today I went out with my husband to butcher a lamb from a local free range farmer. It was my first experience cleaning anything not a chicken or deer, and my husbands first time doing butchering of any kind (other than computer butchering and assembly that is).


It was MUCH cheaper to do the dirty work ourselves than to have it sent out to the processor, though it did take a few hours to get it all done and packaged. One other thing that was nice is that I had the meat all packaged up in ways that we tend to use it instead of in forms that we leave in the freezer till it is the only thing left.  I will definately be doing the butchering again next year instead of paying twice as much for the professionals to do it for me. 

I also made a big pot of lamb stew and there is a giant pot of stock simmering in the crock pot now.  I need to remember next time to make room in the freezer before getting home with a cooler of meat.


No photos for you because it was cold enough that we were trying to get the darn lamb ready with frozen fingers. We alternated avoiding cutting our numb fingers with warming up by a fire then charging back into the work.  Now its time to go check the stock and go check the most recent batch of yoghurt.

Winter just fell on Fall

The furnace is on, the sweaters are on, the fireplace is (almost) ready to go, and it is time for soups and hot drinks to keep everyone warm. Yup. It is officially winter. We had our first snowflakes outside the house today as I was making a nice hot cup of chai. Granted, the snow was more like a few flakes drifting down from the sky and not a blanket like Denver got last night, but snow is snow!

This year we actually got to have Summer, Fall, and then Winter, rather than going straight from Summer to Winter. It was really nice to actually get to see the leaves turn colors before getting completely frozen and blown off by the winds. I woke up this morning and expected another brisk day and left myself time to get to class and find parking... but not enough to scrape frost off of the windshield. Luckily my professor was a few minutes late as well, so that did not affect anything, but today was my first day to have to scrape frost, and the first day of snow.

My list o'stuff to do includes snagging a chai recipe from a friend of a friend and then making a giant batch of chai mix--just add milk and honey. I also would like to post a few recipes for ye olde stew and soup but that involves actually having a recipe... something that rarely happens for my dinner foods.

Till next time: stay warm, stay cozy, and stay full.

frost

Of course, the day that I decide to plant the darn garlic, the other plants decide to freeze. Not hard, mind you, but definitely enough to kill off most of the leaves on the watermelon and some on the zucchini. Oh well, not like the watermelon had any melons on it after the darn squirrel took off with my last softball sized babymelon. The zucchini babies survived, so that made me happy, and it gave me the extra boost (a.k.a. kick in the pants) to put down a layer of compost to protect my freshly planted garlic.

Dang moody weather.

Garlicy Goodness

Now that the weather is consistently below 90 (and still slightly above freezing at night) I decided that it was time for the winter crop. After a quick batch of instant pickles that I whipped up with onions, bell pepper, and lots of garlic, I decided to use the remaining three heads of garlic to plant for summer harvest. For the record I planted them about 3 inches deep--about an inch deeper than some instructions say to better protect from freezing--and about 4-5 inches apart. The garlic cloves are sandwiched between the perennials (chard, rhubarb, and an artichoke) and some leftover baby beets. At least with it sandwiched, even if the beets do nothing I at least know where I planted the darn garlic. So there.

On that note, let me say that this is my first time attempting garlic in New Mexico. My sources for gardening are a mix of Arizona desert books (warmer and much lower altitude than here), and one minor source that is outdated but more suited to the altitude and NM weather. I hear that growing garlic works pretty well here assuming that the weather behaves, the water is right, and that the soil is right.

That is a lot of assuming. But it is worth a shot since I was able to find nice healthy heads of garlic for cheap. Whether or not they will grow? I have no idea. I don't care. It is an experiment that should work at least a little and it will be interesting to see how it turns out. Besides, I see no reason for my nice new garden bed to sit empty and alone over what winter we have.

As a note, the cloves should be a random Silverskin Garlic variety as that is what I could lay my hands on at the grocery store and looked healthy. Since they were still firm and looked nice I went with the basic bulk garlic in hopes that it was treated with less anti-sprouting chemicals. I like my food to have as few chemicals as possible thanks... though sometimes I do feel the urge to kill every last sticker bush in sight.

I am never really sure how well my garden is going to work, but I am always willing to shell out a few bucks to try a new plant. (Especially at less than a buck for the three heads)

Mutant Weather Rambling

Last week was rather interesting. Bright sunny sky. Calm.

*BOOM**CRACKLE*
and an inch and a half of rain later in about an hour.

Bright sunny sky and calm. What the heck!!! Aah New Mexico. How I...ponder...thee.

I don't understand our mutant weather. But then again other people do not understand those of us who go to rainier parts of the country and dance around happy for the drizzle...and scowl at the sunshine that those residents thrive on. Strange weather creates strange residents. Or we were already strange to begin with!

I suppose that I should give some time to update the world with a public service announcement:
Fall is here.
End public service announcement.

This revelation began this morning. As I fed the dogs leftovers that I forgot to put away last night I began to covet the dog's nice warm fur coats. This is a large change from the summer where I feel sorry for them in their sweltering fuzz. I then went out the front door and found out that there was dew--DEW--on my car. Dew just does not happen often here in the desert...unless it gets cold. Now that there is water in the air, and some cool air to prevent it from evaporating as fast, I feel that fall is here.

Second public service announcement to explain relative temperatures:
Definition: cold--cool enough to need a jacket.
Definition: cod--cold enough that the l froze off and requires ice scraping, snow slugging, and overall surliness from most people.

So there you have it. Fall is here. And the weather has been ushering it in with mutant-like drippiness.

Carne Adovada

So Here in New Mexico I was introduced to a wonderful dish known as Carne Adovada, which means literally Marinated Meat in Spanish. Normally it is a concoction of the cheapest cut of pork that can be found and gobs of red chile.

No. Not the chili with beans you get out of a can. Chile. With an "e" ending. This type of chile is what you can find in your Hispanic area of the supermarket, and--if you are lucky like me--everywhere in your supermarket. It is normally found either in whole pods as roasted dried chile in bags (Hatch is a common brand), or as pre-ground powder in the spice section. I prefer to use the ground stuff because it is easy for me to get a hold of, and eliminates the step of taking papery whole red chilies and turning them into tasty red sauce.

So here is my recipe for Carne Adovada as tweaked by me. And I really don't use the measurements listed as it is more of a dumping of ingredients until it satisfies my tastes, but this is a good place to start.

Also note that this recipe is good for either a crock pot or an oven. I have even made it on the stove but it requires more babysitting and that is just too much darn work.

Ingredients

• 5 pounds Pork--trimmed (cheap Cuts Are Best)
• ¾ pounds Red Chile Pods (or 1c. Red Chile Powder)
• 1 whole Onion--yellow or white
• 8 cloves Garlic
• 4 cups Pork Or Chicken Stock
• 2 teaspoons Oregano, Dried
• 2 teaspoons Cumin, Ground
• 3 teaspoons Salt
• ½ teaspoons Cinnamon, Ground
• 2 Tablespoons Vinegar--Cider Or White
• Cheese, Sour Cream, Tortillas, Eggs To Garnish

Destructions

(If using powdered red chile skip this step) Combine Chilies, water or stock, onion, garlic and spices in a large stockpot and simmer for 20 minutes covered.
While simmering stock, finish trimming and cube pork into 3/4″ to 1″ cubes.
Puree simmered stock and solids in a blender or food processor in small batches, straining the whole mess if it looks lumpy or if there are large pieces of chile left after pureeing. ***This is a basic red chile sauce that you can find all over New Mexico (when they ask you ,"Red or Green?" they mean red or green chile). It doesn't really take long to make and it lasts forever in the freezer and for at least a week in the fridge if not longer.***

Add cubed pork and vinegar to the red chile puree. If you have extra time, let the meat marinade for up to 36 hours in the refrigerator.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place pork and chile mix into an oven safe container with a lid (or aluminum foil to cover tightly). Bake for at least an hour or until you can’t stand the tasty fumes coming from your oven.
****Crock Pot Option****
Place pork and chile mixture on high for about 3 hours or on low for 6-8 hours and cook until meat is tender (low is better)
Serve with shredded cheese, tortillas, sour cream, and (in the New Mexican tradition) over-medium or over-easy eggs on top.
This dish freezes well and reheats like a charm. It is great with rice and refried beans as well.

Fun with 4-wheeling

Well now I should actually start the photo blogging that I started this up for.

I think we start back in April with the trip up and over the Magdalena mountains that my man and a few friends went on. I do not have any editing software besides basic cropping and color adjustments, so these are all cropped/straight out of the camera.

This is a view from the valley we started in.

And one overlooking another valley.

And finally up and over the other side of the valley.

Yes I have tons of other photos... but I am just getting into the swing of things, so we will start slow. It was a great trip and I was happy to get out and take the Jeep out and toss it into low gear for a while. I didn't manage to get the Jeep stuck enough to need anything more than a few moved rocks to get unstuck... sad really.

Next up on the blog will be photo fun in Atlanta from when I went this past May for a conference and took a stop at the Aquarium and Coka-Cola museum.