New Recipes!

So I've been in a cooking/baking mood lately and have been trying out some new things!
Here I am with my fancy new apron that Janece gave me for my birthday!





So as I mentioned before, I have been in a cooking baking mood! So here are a couple of recipes I tried out.

The first is this very delicious Verde Pork Pazole!
It was really easy too! Here are the ingredients:


Verde Pork Pazole

1 Pork Roast
2 cans of hominy
1 big can of Green enchilada sauce
1 small can of green chilies
1 tsp ground cumin
1 white onion
Dash of Salt/Pepper

I took everything and put it in my crock pot. Then I let it cook all day on low. (I think it was 11 hours) But you don't need to cook it that long, I just worked all day. Then you take the pork roast out and shred it and then throw it back in.
You can eat it plain or with corn chips or tortillas. My favorite was mixing some sour cream in and putting it in a tortilla. But it was very yummy!

The other recipe I made, I found from this website: http://www.banana-bread.biz/peach-banana-nut-bread/

Peach & Banana Nut Bread

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups white flour
1 cup wheat flour
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 ripe mashed bananas
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 cup mashed tinned peaches (You can substitute fresh peaches as well)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a medium loaf pan.

2. In a mixing bowl, mix together the white flour, wheat flour, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir together until completely mixed.

3. In another mixing bowl, beat the eggs and add the lemon juice, milk and mashed bananas. Drain the peaches, keeping the juice for step 4.

4. Slowly mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. If the mixture is too dry add a little of the peach juice. The more peach juice you add the more moist the banana bread will be. However, be careful not to add too much juice.

5. Mash the peaches and stir into the mixture along with the walnuts.

6. Pour the mixture into your prepared loaf pan and bake in the middle of the oven at 350F for about 60 minutes. Oven times may vary especially with fan assisted ovens. Check the loaf is done all the way by inserting a toothpick or knife into the middle of the loaf. It should come out clean when the loaf is ready.

7. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the loaf pan for 10-15 minutes. Then carefully remove the loaf and place on a wire cooling rack to cool fully.

This bread came out very very moist! It's soooooo tasty! It's definitely one that I'll be making again!

Today I'm trying out a new chicken noodle soup recipe in the crock pot. I'll let you know how it turns out!

Quick Chunky Chili

My latest adventure in cooking! It was a really cold night, so chili seemed like the way to go. It was super easy too.







The Cook! I just need to get a apron now! =D







Quick Chunky Chili
1 pound lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
Salt/Pepper
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 cans (16 oz each) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (15 oz) pinto beans, drained
1/2 cup prepared salsa
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3 TB sour cream
4 tsp sliced black olives



Instructions
Combine meat and onion, and some salt and pepper in 3-quart saucepan; cook over high heat until meat is no longer pink, breaking meat apart with wooden spoon. Add chili powder and cumin; stir 1 minute or until fragrant. Add tomatoes with juice, beans and salsa. Bring to a boil; stir constantly. Reduce heat to low; simmer, covered, 10 minutes. Ladle into bowls. Top with cheese, sour cream and olives.







Browning Meat

Yummy Chili!

Ta-Da!

It turned out really good! And was really easy! Feel free to add any other spices or flavoring to your own chili. Enjoy!

Albacore Corn Chowder

So! I've decided to review the new recipes that I'm trying! I decided to do this half/way through this recipe, so next time I'll have better pictures!


Albacore Corn Chowder Recipe:



Ingredients:
2 Tbs Butter or Margarine
1/2 cup sliced Celery
1/2 cup chopped Onions
3/4 cup chopped Carrots
2-3 Tbs Flour
1 tsp dried Thyme or Italian Seasoning
1 (17 ounce) can Cream-style Corn
2 cups Milk
1 (12 ounce) Starkist Solid White Tuna, drained and chunked
1 cup Water
1 tsp Chicken Flavor Instant Bouillon


Method:
In medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat; sauté celery, onion and carrot about 3 minutes. Add flour and thyme; blend well. Cook 3 more minutes. Add corn, milk, tuna, water and bouillon, stirring to blend. Cover and simmer (do not boil) 5 minutes to heat through, stirring occasionally.






The sauteed vegies + flour/seasoning














Simmering Chowder!













Finished Product!













Getting Ready to Test It















Thumbs Up!!







Over All! I accidentally added some extra Italian seasoning.... but It still tasted good! Probably not one that I'll make all the time, but still delicious in its own fishy way. =)

It's Official!

So it's official! I really DID graduate!!!! My diploma came in the mail and here it is!

I'm officially a College Graduate!


I haven't decided if I'm going to walk or not... but I'll let you all know if I do!

A New Year!!!

Well! It's 1-1-11 today! Who would have thought it would be a new year already! Wow time has gone by fast this last year!

My biggest accomplishment of the past year I would have to say is graduating from UVU with a Bachelor's Degree in Hospitality Management!!!!!!!

What I'm supposed to do with it now... that's another question... haha but I'm sure I'll figure something out. I'm still working in the same place - but I'm thinking about branching out and trying Hotels out to see how I like them, I'm not sure if they will be as exciting as the restaurant business, but I'm willing to find out!

With the new year starting, and being down with school, I'm sure that I'm going to have a lot more free time on my hands. I really want to take up crocheting and Thanks Clint and Nat! for giving me the stuff to get started. =) I'm really exciting to start making stuff!

As some of you may know, I acquired some Sugar Gliders this past year. What are Sugar Gliders? you may be asking... well! Sugar Gliders are small gliding marsupials originally native to eastern and northern mainland Australia. Here is what they look like:




This is Azuca and Goliath.











Even more recently.... they had a baby! It was quite a surprise! I was looking in their box one night when I saw something that I was not expecting at all! It was a baby!! It was my Christmas Miracle. =)















The baby is on Mamas back. I haven't came up with a name yet, but I'm pretty sure it's a boy.




Here's one of just him!!
=)


I also will try to update my blog more than two times a year. ( Apparently I only posted once last year... that's pretty sad!)

I've had a lot of good times and experiences this past year, and I plan to have many many more great times this new year. =)

I love you guys! And hope you're all having a wonderful day!