Crockpot Scalloped Potatoes with Ham

This is another recipe from the "Fix it and Forget it" cookbook.

Scalloped Potatoes with Ham

6 cups sliced potatoes (I used new potatoes, red and yukon gold, that I purchased from the farmer's market)
salt and pepper to taste
1 can cream of mushroom soup, mixed with 1-1/2 c. milk
1 lb ham, cooked and cubed

Layer the potatoes in the crockpot, salting and peppering each layer. Pour the soup/milk mixture over the potatoes, and place the ham on top. Cook for 3-1/2 to 4 hours on high, until potatoes are tender.

Note:
I used cured ham steak and could have cut back on the salt.
There doesn't appear to be much liquid in the crockpot, but the soup doesn't really soak in to the potatoes.
I stirred the mixture a couple times, probably at the 1 and 2 hour cooking mark.

I ate this for breakfast this morning. It would have been good paired with over medium eggs.

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Bucket List

I decided it was time I wrote down my bucket list, so I could start crossing places off of it.

Requiring passport:
Paris
London (and the surrounding area: old castles)
Dubai
Italy (Vatican City, Rome, Venice)
Spain (Barcelona, Grenada)
China (Beijing, Great Wall)
India (New Delhi, Taj Mahal)
Turkey (Istanbul)
Cuzco, Peru (Machu Picchu)
Australia (Great Barrier Reef)

Not requiring passport:
Hawaii
New York City
Colorado - skiing with the hubs
Washington DC
North Carolina (Biltmore Estate)
Grand Canyon
Yosemite
Yellowstone
Sequoia National Park

I'm sure there are more places; I'll update the list as I think of them.

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Tamale Pie

Another slow cooker recipe! I asked the Hubs to go through the cookbook and put sticky notes on the recipes he wants to try.

Tamale Pie

3/4 c cornmeal
1 1/2 c milk
1 egg, beaten
1 lb ground beef, browned and drained (I used ground pork since we just bought half a hog)
1 envelope dry chili seasoning (I didn't have this, so I used a mixture of chili powder, salt, cumin, garlic powder)
16 oz can diced tomatoes (I used a pint of home-canned tomatoes)
16 oz can corn, drained
1 c shredded cheddar

Spray the inside of the slow cooker with non-stick spray.
Mix together cornmeal, milk and egg in crockpot. Mix in meat, tomatoes, seasoning and corn.
Cook, covered, on high for 1 hour, then on low 3 hours. (I forgot to turn it down after an hour, so I cooked it 3 hours on high)
Sprinkle with cheese and cook about 5 minutes for cheese to melt. (I sprinkled the cheese, put the lid back on and then turned off the slow cooker.)

Note:
I doubled the cornmeal, milk, egg and meat.
I still had fresh peppers from the garden so I added about 6 diced anaheim and poblano.

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Sun Chip bag composting

Today marks Day 1 of the Sun Chip bag in the composter. I believe the commercial showed it taking 14 weeks to compost. According to the handy dandy date calculator in Excel, this will be February 6, 2011. Add in a couple extra weeks because of the cold weather, and by lettuce and pea planting season of next year, the bag should be gone.

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Crockpot Chicken Stuffing

A couple years ago for Christmas, Aunt Lisa gave us a slow cooker book called "Fix it and Forget it Big Cookbook" because I mentioned to her that we use the crockpot a lot. It's easier for us to make dinners like this since the Hubs and I work different shifts. I work 8-5 and he works 3:30 to midnight, and sometimes later.

Chicken, Corn and Stuffing

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
6 oz box chicken stuffing (like Stove top)
16 oz package frozen corn
1/2 stick butter, melted
2 c water

Place chicken in bottom of bowl. Mix together remaining ingredients and pour over chicken.
Cook, covered, for 2 1/2 hours on high.

Notes:
1. Spray the cooker with non-stick spray before putting the chicken in, or the stuffing will stick to the sides.
2. Check the chicken for done-ness after 2 1/2 hours. I had to cook it a little longer because the inside was still pink. Next time, I will probably cut the chicken breast in half so they cook faster, or use chicken tenderloins instead.

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Merlot #1

Switching gears from Chardonnay to Merlot... The first merlot I purchased was Lindemans Bin 40 Merlot.
While not bad chilled, it definitely tastes better closer to room temperature.
What I like most is that right on the bottle it tells you the timeframe in which to drink it: three years past bottling. The bottle I purchased was a 2009, so if I purchase more I should drink it before 2012. I'd purchase this again.
This wine (the first two glasses of the bottle anyway) were drank after two long nights of studying for my upcoming structures exam.

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Tamale adventure

Yesterday I decided to make tamales. What an adventure. Everytime I make Mexican food, it turns into an all day ordeal. Which is probably why it always tastes so good.
After much searching yesterday, I found a tamale recipe. The only one I could find that was a reasonable size was on foodnetwork.com, which I was trying to avoid for authenticity sake, but all the other recipes called for nearly 10 pounds of pork, and for just the two of us, that's way too much meat. (Even though sometimes I feel like a carnivore and not an omnivore in this house!)

The first task yesterday was finding a steamer. Part of the reason I'd been putting off making tamales was because I didn't have a steamer. Well, yesterday I got a killer deal on one, unintentionally. I did a little online searching, and then decided to hit up several stores: Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Marshall's and the JC Penney Home Store. Turns out the last place I went had the best deal. Target's was $40. Bed Bath and Beyond ranged from $100 to $200, so even with my $5 off coupon, well you get the idea of the price. Marshall's didn't have one (although I did purchase a new bread knife!). Penney's had one online on sale for $40, but it wasn't in the store. What they did have in the store was $60 regular price, which was half off. Then I had a 20% off coupon. And unknown to me, there was a $20 mail in rebate. So after I get the rebate back, I'll have purchased a $60 item for about the price of tax: $5-ish!

Here's a link to the original recipe:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/all-american-festivals/traditional-pork-tamales-recipe/index.html

Here's how I tweaked it:

Pork: 
3 lbs boston butt pork, trimmed of fat
1 head of garlic, sliced crosswise into 2
palmful white peppercorns (didn't have any black ones on hand)
4 bay leaves
1 tsp salt
Water to cover pork in stock pot by 3 inches.

Masa: (ended up doubling this, and could have tripled it, but we decided to eat tacos while waiting on the tamales to cook)
1 1/2 c masa harina
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
3 Tbsp softened butter
1/3 c shortening
3/4 c broth from pork, enough to make the masa spreadable, about the consistency of play-doh

Chile Sauce
2 dried ancho chiles
3 fresh anaheim chiles, diced finely
1 qt tomatoes
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp salt
2 tsp cumin
3 tsp salt
2 c broth from pork
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp flour

Corn husks, softened in a bowl of warm water at least 30 minutes prior to assembly

Pork preparation: 
Bring the pork to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 1-1/2 hours, until it falls off the bone easily. Add water if needed. Turn off heat, and pull the pork apart with forks in a bowl.

Chile Sauce:
In a nonstick skillet, cook the chiles and tomatoes until the anchos are softened. Take the dried chiles (now rehydrated) out of the skillet and rinse the seeds out under running water. If you want more heat, you could leave the seeds in. Transfer all the chiles and the tomatoes to a food processor and process until smooth. Add the salt, garlic, cumin and salt to processor. In the nonstick skillet, heat the olive oil and add the flour. Then transfer the chile sauce to the skillet and simmer to reduce the liquid.
Once the liquid is reduced, add the shredded pork.

Tamale dough: 
Mix the ingredients. I used a wooden spoon, until I remembered I had a pastry blender that worked even better. The dough was sticking to the spoon.

Spread about 2 Tbsp tamale dough on a corn husk. Spoon about 1-2 Tbsp (depending on size of corn husk) pork mixture into dough. Wrap the tamale and tie with a string of corn husk. Place on end in the steamer basket.

Steam for about 1 hour, adding more water if necessary.

These were delicious; I would almost say they were better than any tamales I've ever had, including the ones from the Mexican restaurants.

We made tacos with the extra pork filling. Flour tortillas, refried beans, sour cream, shredded cheese, and homemade guacamole.

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