Lonches

"LONCHES"

I can't culturally describe what a "lonche" is, all I know is that I've eaten them in Reynosa, Mexico and Matamoros, Mexico. Traditionally, the lonches are served from street vendors, and are very delcious. Here in the states, I find it extremely difficult finding a prepared lonche, in fact I've never seen a resturaunt serve one up. Because it's a flavor I am enamoured with, I wanted to prepare my own.

The secret to a lonche is the bread (of course it would be even more delicious if you made your own bread) however, there are plently of local bakeries around, so I purchased my "bolio" bread from a local business.

Lonches can be prepared with any type of meat such as: shredded beef, pork or chicken, even picadillo, which is ground beef seasoned with mexican spices, potatoes, onions and carrots or peas. I prepared my lonhces with shredded chicken, homeade beans, veggies and panela cheese.

Lonches:

for the beans: (soak your beans in water overnight - I use pinto). the following morning drain and rinse the beans, then add to a pot, and cover in twice the amount of water. season beans with cumin, chili powder, granulated garlic, minced onion, salt and pepper. (I prepared whole beans, not charro beans, but make what your prefer). cover beans and cook on low for 2-3 hours. i prepared only 1/2 a pound of beans.

1/2 a chicken cleaned and dried.
You can bake or boil your chicken pieces. If you choose to boil, place chicken in a pot and cover with water, place oregano, cumin, salt, pepper, celery and carrots and bring to a simmer. cover and cook on low for about 40 min.

when chicken is done, let cool then shred the meat from the bone.

in a skillet, add a tablespoon of oil - heat and add 1/2 white onion, chopped, 2 cloves of garlic, minced then cook until tender. add the shredded chicken to the pan, along with a can of blended green chilies (you can use chilies from a can)then bring to a simmer.

meanwhile, have a pot of oil heating up. once oil is heated, add bolios and turn until gently crisp on the outside. take out when golden brown, and place on a paper towel to cool.

prepare veggies such as shredded cabbage or lettuce of your choice, fresh avocado slices seasoned with lime, and salt, tomato, and radish

make sure beans are heated (the juice in beans should be very very thick), drain off any excess juice, then smash the beans with a potato smasher. if you enjoy refried beans, heat an iron skillet and add bacon fat or lard, and fry the smashed beans before serving.

slice bolios down the center, but don't cut all the way through (form a pocket in the center of the bread), place beans, panela cheese, chicken mixture then top with fresh veggies and sprinkle a little salt before serving. serve with hot or cold salsa and enjoy!

Chicken Fried Steak

I have to say the best chicken fried steak I have eaten was at a truck stop while on vacation with my parents YEARS (about 18) years ago. We were travelling to California on a road trip with my cousins and we stopped at a random truck stop for lunch. Chicken fried steak was always a staple in our home. Growing up, my mother would use her Sunday afternoon to prepare home cooked dinners for us that were outside of what we traditionally ate during the week (which was usually Mexican or Tex-Mex cuisine). Sunday's were for pot roast, fried chicken, chicken fried steak, meatloaf, shepards pie and other various dinners. Being an adult now, I find that homecooking is the BEST food. I cook dinner for me and my family Mon-Thurs and lunch on Sunday's. Chicken fried steak is something I rarely cook, but the other day it was something I was craving. Though I prefer a skillet brown gravy, I prepared a home cooked white country gravy along with roasted corn off of the cob, and rosemary garlic whipped potatoes.

Purchase a package of round steak

place raw steak between plastic wrap and gently beat with a pastry roller to tenderize the meat.

season meat with salt, pepper and paprika

dip the steak in a simple egg wash ( 2 raw eggs, 1/2 cup of milk and salt)

then coat the steak in a mixture of crushed saltines, flour, and black pepper

place meat in a heated skillet filled vegtable oil (iron if you have one)

fry the steak for 3-4 minutes on each side for a golden brown crust.

top with gravy, and serve with your favorite sides.

Cooking Diner food @ home

I love greasy spoons, in fact there are very few greasy spoons (or diners) here in my area. Once of my favorite things to order @ a diner is chili cheese fries. I enjoy a hearty, healthy chili (not greasy or over processed) so I made my own chili-cheese fries, with everything homeade.

This is a photograph of a grilled ham & cheese sandwich with a side of homeade chili cheese oven baked french fries.


To make the french fries, I use about 4-5 medium sized potatoes - scrub and peel them, dry off the potatoes, and cut into medium thick wedges. I gently coat the potatoes in olive oil, fresh garlic, and season with kosher salt. I then place the potatoes on a non-stick baking sheet, and cook in a 400 degree oven for about 35 minutes until slightly crisp.

I then top my french fries with homeade black bean chili, and cheddar cheese then bake until the cheese is melted. I don't include my chili recipe because it's my secret, however you can use any variety of chili you'd like (as long as you use homeade fries or potatoes).


:)

when life hands you lemons

Amazing how life can be so unpredictable. I am so grateful for everything that I have, and also grateful for everything I don't have. The things, or actually the only things that make an impression on my life are the people in it. My family, friends, and especially my husband and son - they matter most. I feel so blessed knowing that I have everything I need...starting with LOVE that I receive daily from my family. I am the richest woman in the world right now and my problems of the world are microscopic compared to the problems of others and I thank God for that. My God is powerful and knows that all I want is for my family to be safe and happy, and to know that we have that and more makes me feel happiness in its purest form.

I feel a huge ball of energetic fire glowing deep inside of me, I feel the heat rushing from the heals of my feet to the core of my being. I want to concentrate on the positive and delete the negative (in all forms) in my life. I have this wonderful chance at life and so far I have accomplished quite a bit.

On July 2nd 09, my husband and I celebrated our 15 year anniversary. I feel proud, and know that our 14 year old son feels the love and in turn makes him a stronger, more confident person.

I, like many other people are burdened with worldly problems...almost everyday I find myself against the world fighting just to be happy, healthy and able to pay bills with ease. Life will throw lemons at you from all directions, and to me that is a beautiful thing, because there are so many things that you can do with a pile of lemons. Today as I was taking a swim I had to take a moment to tell the earth how much I loved it...how much it meant to me, and I had to thank God for everything I have (and don't have). That very moment a large black and yellow butterfly flew towards me and landed on my nose...I laughed and pushed it off. It then flew to the edge of my pool and my pup Odie approached it and sniffed it out, and the butterfly just stood there - it seemed so happy and carefree.

I felt a glow inside of me and thought of my Grandma Robledo...don't know why, but I did and all of a sudden all of my worries went away. All of my problems sort of just vanished and instead, I was faced with a long list of things in my life that I am thankful for. I love my Grandma, I love my family and nothing in this world can ruin that for me.

Life can be very challenging and sometimes depressing, but I hope that more people out there realize that they still have a chance at life as long as they are still alive (no matter what) if you are alive, you have a chance.

One thing that makes me happy is cooking. I learned to cook from watching my Grandmother's, aunts and mom cook from scratch. I love food, and I love preparing food for my family; it makes me happy knowing that what I am cooking is not only nourishing their bodies/minds but also am giving them something that they enjoy eating.

This morning I shuffled through my fridge and found a couple of potatoes, some onion, tomato and fresh jalapeno. I also had some leftover sausage and tortillas from a barbeque. I decided to cook papas ala mexicana tacos with sausage and it was delicious.

Now, this is not the first time I've shuffled through my kitchen and managed to pull out a meal - this is something that I am acustomed to, and have found that those meals have been some of the more enjoyable meals I've cooked in my life time. Simple, hearty, homeade meals that make your tummy smile. I included a photo of today's breakfast and will include the recipe below:

Papas ala Mexicana

2 idaho potatoes
1 tablespoon of oil ( i use olive oil)
1/2 onion (chopped)
1 raw jalepeno (chopped)
1 large tomato (chopped)

heat oil in skillet
peel potatoes, then slice or cube
add potatoes to heated skillet and sautee until brown
add onion and jalepeno, stir
once potatoes are crisp add chopped tomato, salt and pepper to taste mix and serve with corn or flour tortillas.

papas ala mexicana is a simple, delicious and affordable meal that will please any family ~ it's one of our favorites!

myspace

I do have a myspace and a facebook account, but if you read my blog, I prefer you to reach me on (poetry) myspace:


www.myspace.com/poetryandbrokenstars

I have several poems and short stories that might or might not be mirrored here on my blog, however I will appreciate you visiting my page and leaving any sort of comments you'd like to share with me.

Pictured above are some delicious cupcakes: Strawberry cheesecake and the swirly ones are Boston Creme Pie.

Poem

I haven't posted recently because I had forgotten my password. Anyway, I remembered it and figured I should post my new poem that I had posted on my poetry myspace page a couple of weeks ago ~ I hope readers enjoy it:




deafened
by: evana vleck


My poem spits back at me, melodically
as i sit and shuffle my fingers together in contorted rhythm

the varying sound of my fingers linger
and they cause my ear drums to be one with the softness of the moon
and the cascading waves that fall upon your sturdy shoulders

ever so gently
my fingers extract an emotion
and find themselves
in the waves upon your loving shoulders

deafening
struggling
hypnotically changeling

beat by beat
rhythm by broken rhythm

heart within hand
and breath...
deafening,
to my falling soul

a place where only you and i
know

Fideo! I love you!

My (healthy) Fideo recipe (it's really really good)



1 tablespoon olive oil

½ yellow onion finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic finely chopped

1 carrot finely chopped

4 ripe tomatoes

1 jalapeño

Sea or Kosher salt to taste

1 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1 tsp cumin

½ lb wheat angel hair pasta (or thin wheat spaghetti) cut into small pieces

2 tsp of fresh lime juice

2 cups low sodium vegetable broth
Heat oil in large skillet

Finely chop veggies: onion, garlic, jalapeno, and carrot. Sweat the veggies in the oil until onions are just translucent

Put tomatoes and jalapeno on baking sheet and broil with olive oil until plump. When done, take out and blend.

Cut pasta into small pieces (aprox 1 inch) and add to skillet. Turn up the heat, and stir until pasta is lightly toasted.

Add fresh black pepper, cumin, and tomato mixture then stir

Once all ingredients are incorporated add the vegetable broth, a squeeze of lime and salt to taste.

Cover and simmer on Low for 15 minutes or until pasta is aldente.

Serve with fresh sliced avocado, queso fresco, cilantro and corn tortillas.

For soupy fideo add 1-2 cups of extra broth depending on how soupy you want it. I like mine dry to eat in tacos ~