Homemade Menudo: Mexican Tripe and Hominy Soup Recipe

This is so warming and delicious on cold days. Traditionally eaten for breakfast, we usually have it for supper.  The first cold snap each year, Paul will usually say "how about making a pot of menudo?" :-)

A New, Healthy, Idea for a Coffee and Chocolate Gift Basket

 We were asked to make up themed gift baskets for a church women's conference, and my assigned theme was "Coffee and Chocolate". Always in season, but who wants to keep doing the "Starbucks and Godiva" thing?  I really wanted to step out and make one that was a little unusual.

Personally, we drink Community Coffee because we think their Medium Roast is the best daily coffee there is - we switched from Folgers a couple of years ago. We can no longer buy the one pound bricks in our local stores, so we order 8 or 10 pounds at a time direct from this small, family-owned company in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. There are two different women who pack our orders, and they sign their names to the packing list. They always get it right and I appreciate them.  It is great - every once in a while the Community Coffee folks email us a 15% or 20% off sale, and orders over $60 get free shipping. So we have wonderful, perfect coffee on hand.

That is what got me started down the Creole coffee road for my gift basket, and it snowballed from there to include Mexican Chocolate and Cafe de Olla. Partly because these wonderful, traditional American coffee & chocolate drinks are so good they deserve a much wider audience. And partly, also, because all of these can make use of Molasses.

Molasses is "unrefined sugar" to the Nth degree: Sugar cane molasses is a natural sweetener that contains a whopping bunch of naturally occuring nutrition in its unmodified, un-additive, un-messed-with, good, natural form.

 

 Check this out from the World's Healthiest Foods: 
Percent of Daily Value of Nutrients in 2 teaspoons of Blackstrap Molasses (notice that "blackstrap" type has about double the nutrition of regular unsulphured molasses - which is also good if you can't buy blackstrap in your local store):
 manganese 18%
 copper 14%
 iron 13.2%
 calcium 11.7%
 potassium 9.7%
 magnesium 7.3%
 vitamin B6 5% (there are other B vitamins / Niacin too)
 selenium 3.4%
Calories per 2 tsp: only 32 (1% of Daily Value)

How cool is that? All these old Southern ways of cooking and eating are actually healthy for us after all. Cooking in iron skillets (to add natural iron to our diets), using molasses, flavoring our spinach and greens with bacon grease (Vitamin K is fat soluble!).... oh I am getting sidetracked here... back to the gift basket!

Here are the recipes I used:

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Creole Coffee:

Brew a nice breakfast coffee. To each mug, add 2 teaspooons of molasses and, if desired, 1/4 cup hot milk or cream.

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Cafe de Olla (Mexican Coffee):

6 cups of water
6 Tablespoons ground Coffee (regular roast, regular grind)
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
2 Tablespoons Molasses
1 Cinammon Stick
Evaporated Milk to taste

Bring water to a boil in a saucepan. Add all the ingredients except milk, and simmer for about 5 minutes. Strain into mugs and add undiluted canned milk to taste.  If the leftover coffee gets cold in the pan it can be gently reheated, just don't boil it again.

Mexican Coffee is very similar to old fashioned cowboy coffee or "creekbank coffee", in that it is made the same way: boiled up in a pan and then strained.  The addition of spice and sweetener is a matter of personal preference and availability.

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Mexican Hot Chocolate

1 can Evaporated Milk
1 cup of water
1 block Mexican Chocolate
1 Tablespoon Molasses

Stir and heat until the chocolate melts, then whisk until frothy. This is very rich, so this recipe makes 3 servings. The reason there isn't extra sugar is because Mexican Chocolate has unrefined sugar in it already, along with vanilla and a hint of cinammon. If you can't get any in your stores, use powdered cocoa, brown sugar, a half teaspoon of vanilla, and a dash of cinammon.

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I just wrote the recipes out by hand and doodled in colored markers to decorate them, then layered them onto a piece of cardboard and wrapped in clear wrap so they would stand up nicely in the basket. 

It all came together with a pound of Community Coffee, a bottle of blackstrap molasses, a box of Nestle's Abuelita Mexican Chocolate, a package of Fiesta Brand Cinammon sticks, and the recipes, all fluffed up with some red and green tissue. It is very cute, if I do say so. We will find out what others think when they auction it! :-) If it proves to be popular, I may make some of these up for Christmas gifts.

Mema's Potato Salad and Brand Name Memes

Christopher at "Word Around the Net" has an interesting post musing about the brands of products his family uses, and why they use them. I commented, and it got me thinking about all the day to day brands I rely on. I'd not ever describe myself as a "brand snob" but I do have my favorites. Many are brands my grandparents used, and I think about them briefly if i think about why I buy the brand. Come join the conversation and share your favorite brands.

Daddy and his ladyfriend - a lovely lady that we like a lot - came over today, along with my step-sister and her son, for Father's Day. Paul cooked burgers on the grill and tried a new seasoning from Fiesta Brand (we like their spices) "Uncle Chris' Gourmet Steak Seasoning". It is excellent! He melted Kroger's house brand cheddar cheese on them and put them on Sunbeam buns.

I made my grandmother's potato salad. I guess my grandchildren will think of me when they say "Mema's Potato Salad", but each member of the family will make it their own with small variations. Nick made it a couple of weeks ago, and I meant to post the recipe then.

Here's how:

2 to 3 pounds of potatoes (Russets are good but any irish potato will do), peeled, boiled, drained and mashed. Cool to room temperature.

Put in a large bowl and add:
1/2 cup chopped dill pickle (we use Claussen's Kosher Dills - Mema used her own homemade garlic dills)
1/2 cup chopped sweet pickle (we use Best Maid gerkins or Mt Olive sugar-free Sweet Relish)
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup diced red onion, more or less to your own taste (the color of red onion is really nice in this but if not available substitute Texas 1016's or Vidalia's or even green onions)
3 hard boiled eggs, chopped coarsely (in fairly large pieces)
1 large (4 ounce) jar of sliced pimentos, drained (we use Dromedary Brand)
Salt and black pepper to taste (go easy - best to slightly under-salt this)

1/2 cup to 1 cup Miracle Whip - start with a half cup and mix it in before adding more. Sometimes you'll need a little more, depending on how creamy you like your potato salad.  If you only have mayonnaise, add 2 Tablespoons of vinegar and 2 teaspoons of sugar to the mayo and mix well before adding it to the potatoes.


Stir it all together well, and put it into the serving bowl or container you'll be taking it in. Smooth out the top and decorate with 2 more boiled eggs, cut lengthwise into quarters.

Sprinkle over the whole top generously with paprika. Paprika is a spice that, like cinnamon, has different nuances depending on where it is from. We love Hungarian Paprika - it is sweet and pleasantly bitter. Very nice.

Cover with clear wrap and refrigerate until serving.

Enjoy! 

Time For Gingerbread Cookies!

This Gingerbread cookie recipe is tasty to eat and very easy to work with to make fine Gingerbread Boys. It's not quite sturdy enough to make large houses, but you can make very small ones with it. The cookies stay soft so cannot be hung on a tree.

Molasses is really a "must have" for Gingerbread. Pure cane syrup (pressed from Sugar Cane and cooked down) will substitute if necessary, but no other syrup will suffice.



Nauvoo Gingerbread Cookies

1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Molasses
3/4 Cup Lard or Shortening
1/2 Cup Hot Water
2 Eggs
6 Cups of Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Cinnamon (can increase to 3 teaspoons)
1 1/2 teaspoons Ginger (can increase to 3 teaspoons)

Mix sugar, molasses and lard. Measure hot water in the same measuring cup as the molasses (thus rinsing out the molasses) and add to bowl. Stir in eggs.
Combine dry ingredients and stir into the batter. Add more flour if needed to make a smooth, soft dough.

Refrigerate dough until firm: at least one hour, and overnight is best.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Roll dough 1/4" thick on a floured surface. Cut into shapes and decorate with red hots or raisins if desired.

Bake on ungreased baking sheets 10 minutes or until cookies look dry in center.










It's a little mild for my taste, so when we plan to eat the cookies, I double up on our favorite spices (no need to waste them if it is going to be made into houses). Spices are costly, and this recipe is easily adaptable to whatever you might already have in the cupboard. You can also add or substitute cardamom, nutmeg, allspice or even a twist of black pepper.

If buying the spices, be sure to price check or watch for coupons. Fiesta Brand is a local Texas brand of seasonings that is often found in a separate display, near the produce department or with bulk Mexican foods. The packaging is simple (most are in simple celophane bags) and quality is high without being pretentious.

Crops In Their Season* : Local Products

We've been oh-so-gradually moving toward "slow food" and eating more locally. As a cook, Paul has always been a big advocate of having things "in their season" because that is when quality is highest.

So we tend not to buy fresh tomatoes except locally grown during the summer, and we much prefer Texas citrus (although Florida citrus is very good in a pinch), which is available only during the winter.

Today, we are very concerned to support our local economy and conserve resources, and we favor those companies that are located within Texas and nearby states such as Oklahoma and Louisiana. Local companies use less fuel getting it to us, and small companies generally use more sustainable packaging.

I love the packages in the photo, don't you? So simple, so utilitarian - these companies are "green" by their nature and not because some marketing firm told them to be. Nothing is more true to vintage living than this.



There are some things we really need to have year round. My garden is helping provide staples such as onions and peppers. Friends have shared their fruit with us, and I have also bought from near-by "U-PIC" orchards and gardens.

Two great resources are:

PickYourOwn.Org is a wonderful directory of pick-your-own farms near you. It covers all the United States and some foreign countries, and lets you drill down to the local level very easily. The site is kept updated frequently, and welcomes suggestions and corrections.

The Texas Dept of Agriculture's "Go Texan" program is a great help when shopping. I don't even have to be consciously looking but the "Go Texan" Logo catches my eye as I scan the shelves in the grocery store. You can go to the website and search out products too, if you like to plan your shopping.

By the way, the "Morton's Chili Blend" in the picture is an old brand that my family has used all my life. Pawpaw's recipe for chili specifies using this (we'll make some this winter when it is cold out). Made by an Amarillo company, this bag was packaged by "Disability Resources" of Abilene.

*Title quote is from Acts 14:17