Yay!

  First off, I want to thank my wonderful hubby for fixing my camera. He spent some time last night disassembling it, fixing it, then putting it back together. I love you!

  Now, I want to share some fantastic new recipes with you. I had my family over Sunday night for Mexican food, because I had several recipes I had been dying to try. Something I've always wanted to learn how to make is Tamales. Now that I've taught myself, I have found I'm in a bit of a pickle-I will never be able to enjoy the average Mexican restaurant tamale because they just can't compare to homemade, but I don't know how long it will take before I want to take on the task of making my own tamales again. Although tamale-making is really quite simple, it is a very time-consuming art. Should you decide to try to conquer tamale making, let me give you a couple pointers-plan two days to complete the tamales, and make sure you have at least two able-bodied helpers to assist you.

  I found two recipes online that I sort of merged into one, with fantastic results. The first recipe is courtesy of Delicious Days and the second belongs to Rick Bayless (Who's recipes I've used before. Remember the tortillas?) I used Nicky's (at Delicious Days) directions for making the tamal (tamales singular form) filling. I used Rick's directions for making the tamal dough, with the following ingredients:

12 oz. lard

2 1/2 tsp. salt

1 3/4 tsp. baking powder

6 cups Masa Harina

enough chili powder to turn the dough a pale pink (or however spicy you like it)

broth from the meat (which Nicky instructs you to reserve)

A soft cake batter-like dough

  I then followed Rick's instructions for mixing the dough and filling the tamales. I also followed his instructions for steaming them (it took about 1 1/2 hours per batch for them to cook completely). Following these two recipes yielded 45 tamales. We have eaten our fill over the last couple days and frozen the rest to be eaten later (steam frozen tamales for about 20 minutes before serving). I served my tamales covered in enchilada sauce and sprinkled with cheddar cheese. YUM!

  This was the last photo I was able to take before the camera was broken. Sorry I don't have a lovely picture of the finished product.

The other two recipes I tried were:

  Arroz a la Mexicana-A fantastic Mexican rice, so much better than anything others I've tried at home. I did decide to omit the garlic next time, it kind of over-powered the fresh taste of the rice.

  Bacon-Simmered Pinto Beans-Absolutely delicious! I don't think I will ever served re-fried beans along-side homemade Mexican food again. I decided to use canned beans instead of dry, to cut down on prep time (I rinsed and drained the beans before using). I also just did the prep work the recipe called for, then put everything in the crock-pot on high for 3 hours. I used only one jalapeno because I wanted a mild side dish to go with my slightly zippy tamales. I cut the garlic down to one clove (Seriously, who wants to smell like they're trying to ward off vampires?) And lastly, I served the beans with Queso Fresco instead of Cotija because I have members of my family who don't like goat cheese.

  And that's that! Enjoy!