Fajitas II, from the family cookbook

Chicken Fajitas II

I’ve fiddled with my fajitas a bit (don’t give me that look, Echo!). It’s more complicated but still quite tasty.

Serves my family of 6

1 cup of rice, uncooked
salt, to taste
6 chicken thighs, boneless skinless
3 T. Grill Mates Sweet and Smoky rub with cinnamon and chipotle
1-2 T butter
1 large onion, rough chopped
2 large bell peppers, one each red and green, seeded and rough chopped
1 can of mushroom bits and pieces, very well drained
4-6 roasted roma tomato halves, chopped
condiments as desired, sour cream, cheese, salsa, lime juice, olives, fresh tomatoes, avocado, hot sauce
6-8 6” Tortillas (I like wheat)
More butter, salt, and (optional) fresh cilantro

Echo, don’t be intimidated by this wall of text. It’s a simple recipe, really; I’m just overly verbose. Start your rice. Salt the rice water until it tastes like ocean water. Use a rice cooker. I love those things. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add in the chicken thighs (frozen or thawed, doesn’t matter) and sprinkle the rub over the meat. Cover and cook until the bottoms are cooked. Flip the meat and schmear it around in the spices. Cover and cook until the other side is cooked. Remove to a cutting board and take pan off of heat. It doesn’t matter if it’s cooked through yet. Chop the meat into rough pieces and return to pan, and return pan to heat. If the meat is cooked through, add a splash of water and stir the meat into the caramelized spices. If it isn’t cooked through, it’ll sweat enough on its own to be fine. Either way, get all the tasty stuff off the bottom of the pan, make sure the chicken is cooked through, and put it into a bowl. Use your best judgement about how much oil is still in the pan. If it’s too dry, add the butter before adding the onion, peppers, and mushrooms. Cook until the onions are tender (yes, I prefer tender fajita veggies) and the mushrooms are turning color. Add in the roasted tomatoes and heat through. Remove to another bowl. Heat tortillas on a hot skillet or electric griddle. Toss your cooked rice with small chunks of butter, a pinch or two of salt, and the (optional) cilantro. My fav way to assemble mine is to forgo the tortilla. Small bed of rice, sprinkled with lime juice. Top with a small sprinkling of cheese, a scoop of veggies, a scoop of chicken, a sprinkling of lime juice, and a dab of sour cream. If I have avocados, it doesn’t matter where they are as long as they end up in my belly.

Pie in a jar, rusk, and potato pancakes

I am getting rid of a bit of paper clutter, so I'm posting these recipes so I can recycle the paper they're on.

Pie-in-a-jar
From Sister Cox

Cherry Pie Filling
2 - 12 oz bags of frozen cherries
1/3-1/2 cup flour
1/2-3/4 cup sugar
1 T lemon juice
1/4 tsp vanilla (or almond extract)
pinch of salt

Mix together, folding dry ingredients into cherries until combined.

Pie crust
8 oz cream cheese
8 oz butter
2 cups flour
Mix together in an electric mixer until soft dough forms.

Pie in a jar:
Roll out dough to approximately 1/8th inch thick. Cut a 6" round of dough and gently press it into a 4oz canning jar. Fill jar with your choice of pie filling. Cut a small circle of dough to fit the top of the pie jar. Fold the bottom crust down over the top to form an edge. Bake at 425° for 20-25 mins.


Potato Pancakes

Apparently Mormon pioneers made this dish during their time in Nauvoo.

4 large potatoes
3 eggs, beaten until light
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Peel, wash, and grate the potatoes. Add the eggs and seasoning to potatoes. Use no baking powder or flour. Fry in hot drippings (ham, bacon, or sausage). Have pan very hot as for hotcakes.


Rusk

Make cornmeal bread according to your favorite recipe. After it has cooled, allow to dry fro several days then bake slowly in a warmed oven until it is thoroughly dry and slightly browned. Grate it on a coarse grater or crumble with a rolling pin. It can be eaten with cream and sugar, or with hot milk and honey poured over it. This makes a tasty, quick mush. (Recipe used the they Nahum Curtis family at Nauvoo.)

Twinkling stars

Princess: Mom, what does twinkle mean?

Me: It's like light flashing off of something, little lights.

Pebbles: There's a song about twinkle!

Tag: Yeah, stars are other galaxies.

Me: Well, suns and stuff.

Princess: So what does tinkle mean, then?

Me: It means to pee.

Princess: Oooooh, so that's why people laugh at school when they say tinkle...

Tag: Tinkle, tinkle little star! [8 year old boy laugh]

Me: I don't know that stars tinkle. They're more of a gas thing. [crickets]

This was all discussed over our family home evening dessert. Yum!

Bibles and freezing

Today, I picked the kids up with wet hair. It was 13° outside. Yeah, I felt like the White Witch or that guy in Cool Runnings who breaks off a dread after sitting in a freezer.

Last night we were reading in the New Testament, Matthew. We got to the part where Jesus healed a leper.

Princess: That doesn't make sense at all. Aren't lepers like cheetahs? Why would it need be healed?

Man: You're thinking about leopards. L-E-O-P-A-R-D.

Go Fish

Playing Go Fish with Freida and a deck of face cards.

Me: Ok, you have four cards in your hand. Look at them, and ask if I have one like it.

Freida: Do you have one?

Me: No, see how this card has a four on it? Say, "do you have a four?"

Freida: [measured and careful] Look, I have a four.

Me: Nonono, say "do you have a four?"

Freida: I don't want a four.

Me: Ok, what do you want to have?

Freida: A sandwich.

Me: Do you want to play the game?

Freida: Yeah, I wanna go fish.

Me: Ok, go fish. Now, do you have a two?

Freida: Hmmmmm... [pursing her lips and pushing them sideways] No, but can I find one in the fish?

Me: No, you say "go fish."

Freida: Go fish!

Me: Look at your cards. You need two cards to make a match.

Freida: Look! I have two black ones!

Me: No, no they need to have the same number or letter.

Freida: Here's a six and a six! [holds up a six and a nine]

Me: [crickets] Maybe we should do this with fish cards instead.