Monday, February 4, 2008

Monday's Musings

I watched 'football stuff' ALL day yesterday, from noon until the last two minutes of the game. I fell asleep. So mad at myself for doing that, but it's pretty much the story of my life. I can't stay up late. I wake up way too early. Ah well, that's what they make DVR's for, right?

My intention was to make the Bargello quilt from Bonnie Hunter's website. I got it started, but nowhere near the point that I can even envision the whole thing. Good news is that Mark helped me arrange colors. He has such a good eye for that!

The ribs were awesome and I would heartily recommend using your slow cooker to make ribs. First I rubbed in some salt, pepper and garlic powder. Then baked them at 400 for 15 minutes on one side, turned them and baked another 15 minutes. Drained the fat and placed them in the slow cooker and poured nearly a whole bottle of Open Pit over them. Cooked them on high for 40 minutes and on low for 5 1/2 hours. They were awesome. The only problem was that they did not hold together as ribs, as the bones slipped right out. I personally enjoyed them that way, though I'm not sure I'd want to serve them to company. Kind of messy, but mmmmm delicious

I made some kick ass salsa which we were too full to eat. It will be even better today so I'm not worried about that. The recipe I use is mostly canned stuff, but let me tell you, it's the best salsa I've ever eaten and I've been making it for years. I don't "do" nasty evil dirt tasting vile green stuff umm cilantro so I divide the recipe before adding that.


Here's the recipe for the salsa:

3 28-oz cans stewed diced tomatoes
3-9 cloves garlic, skinned
2 4-oz cans diced green chiles
3-9 pickled jalapenos
1 medium red onion, chopped fine
¼ C. tomato juice (from the tomatoes)
1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped fine

Note: You either love garlic or hate it. If you love it use all 9 cloves. If you love HOT, then use all 9 jalapenos.

Put a colander in the sink. Drop the tomatoes in it. You'll probably want to do one can at a time. Let as much juice drain as possible. From one of the cans of tomatoes, reserve the ¼ c. juice. Put the chopped tomatoes in a large mixing bowl and add the chiles, chopped onion and chopped cilantro. Stir it up. In a blender, combine the reserved tomato juice, garlic, jalapenos, and salt. Blend until smooth. Add to the stuff in the bowl. Stir well. Cover and refrigerate overnight. If you're like me you'll sample before doing this. You are forgiven. The flavor definitely improves overnight. Enjoy!

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