A Jeanne in the Kitchen

We all know spaghetti and meatballs are a classic “Italian” favorite. But just like anything, particularly anything that is so well loved by so many, there are always going to be many different versions, coming from many different regions. Today, I am offering you a Southwestern version of this timeless classic – Southwestern pasta and green chili meatballs. It is spaghetti and meatballs with Tex-Mex flair. Even classics need a new twist every now and then. 🙂

Southwestern Pasta and Green Chili Meatballs

1-1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

2 TBSP cilantro, chopped

1/2 onion, diced fine

1/2 cup napolitos (sliced and pickled cactus leaves) diced fine, optional

2 jalapenos, diced fine

1 TBSP garlic

5-6 tomatoes, diced

1 each red, yellow and green bell pepper, cut into thin strips

1/2 cup mixed olives, sliced

salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper to taste

1-2 tsp cumin

1 tsp oregano, or 1 TBSP fresh oregano

1-1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

olive oil for cooking and butter, or canola or vegetable oil for cooking the meatballs

3-4 TBSP butter

sliced green ponions and cilantro for toppings

1 lb spaghetti

Cook your pasta.

Make the meatballs by combining the ground beef, onions, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, garlic, cumin, oregano, napolitos and diced peppers. Combine well, then make your meatballs into whatever size you like. I like mine a little smaller because I find them easier to eat that way.

Get a large skillet very hot and add your oil and/or olive oil and butter (you need something with a higher smoke point than just regular olive oil). Carefully add your meatballs, making sure not to over crowd the skillet. Brown for about 3-4 minutes per side, or until the meatballs are completely browned. Make them in batches if necessary. When they are browned all over, remove them and set aside to keep them warm.

Sautee the peppers for about 3-4 minutes, or until they soften.

Add the tomatoes, olives, seasonings and cream to the peppers. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and continue to cook, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes, or until the sauce begins to thicken. Add your butter and incorporate into the mixture.

Re-add the meatballs into the sauce to heat and coat thoroughly with the sauce.

When everything is ready, serve it over your spaghetti and top with sliced green onions and chopped cilantro, and enjoy. I served mine with my sun-dried tomato and herb focaccia Sun-dried Tomato and Basil Focaccia and a cool, crisp Verdicchio on the side (our own that we made). I know, the meatballs were beef, so a red would have worked very well too, but I was choosing the wine to go with the sauce more than the meatballs. White wines and spicy flavorings are a great pairing.

There’s a new spaghetti in town, but have no fear, Denver is big enough for both kinds of spaghetti. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe, stay well, and always be adventurous. ‘Til next time.

We have many different kinds of sparrows here in Colorado. They are all over and are almost always singing their friendly songs for all to hear.

This one is a Harris Sparrow. We see a lot of Harris’ Sparrows.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time

Salsa is kind of a catch all for food toppings, and is found all throughout the Latin world, and places where there are large Latino communities. Salsa is traced back to the times of the Aztecs, Incas, and Mayans. The native people created their own versions of salsa using tomatoes, chilies, and squash seeds, however “official discovery” to the rest of the world did not occur until after the Spaniards conquered Mexico in the 1500s.

I LOVE salsa, and we eat it all the time, on everything. But then I grew up in Pasadena, CA, where there is a very large Latino community and Latin influences are found all over the place, everywhere you go in California. There are as many different types of salsa as there are people who eat it. One of those types of salsa is a black bean & corn salsa.

Black bean salsa is a type of salsa that incorporates black beans into the mix, along with other ingredients like tomatoes, corn, and chilies. Black beans usually go with every kind of dish, may it be rice, meat or vegetable, due to their sweet taste that perfectly contrasts with the chili pepper’s spiciness.

The history of salsa can be traced back to the Aztecs, Incas, and Mayans, who created their own versions of the dish using native ingredients like tomatoes, chilies, and squash seeds. The Aztecs also domesticated tomatoes and passed their salsa traditions on to later cultures in Central America and the United States.  Black beans are native to the Americas. Black beans date back over 7,000 years when they were a staple in the diets of Central and South Americans. 

Noah and I made our own version of black bean and corn salsa the other day, to top his carnitas burritos. Carnitas Burritos As with any salsa, you can use this for anything. It goes with everything.

Black Bean & Corn Salsa

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1-2 cups frozen corn, thawed

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 TBSP garlic

2 tomatoes, diced

1-2 jalapenos, diced fine and/or roasted green chilies

1/2 cup green onions, sliced

4 TBSP balsamic vinegar

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp dried oregano, or 1 TBSP fresh oregano

cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper to taste

1 tsp sugar

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Combine the balsamic vinegar, sugar and seasonings together.

Mix all the vegetables together. Add the balsamic vinegar mixture and toss together thoroughly. Chill for at least 2 hours, then serve with whatever you like.

Noah the Pirate, concocting his black bean & corn salsa.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

Sunflower season is starting. It looks like I am going to have yet another sunny season too. I have my first sunflower of the season, and it is picture perfect.

Have a bright, sunny day, today, tomorrow and always. 🙂

Mondays are cooking with Noah days. Last week I asked him what he wanted to make this time and his response was burritos. He wanted to make pork burritos. OK. No problem. I found a good recipe for shredded carnitas pork to use as our pork base. My recipe was inspired from some of our very own too; https://twoandaknife.com/ and https://beatcancer2010.wordpress.com/. Many thanks yet again.

Of course I made it my own and added my own style and personality. That’s just what I do. 🙂 I added some pickled onions to the burritos Pickled Onions and topped it with a black bean and corn salsa. Noah was very happy, and that’s what counts.

Pork Carnitas

I prepared everything and put it all in the slow cooker the night before, then got up early and slow cooked the pork for about 5-6 hours before we were ready to shred it for the burritos.

I used these Mexican onions, which I had never seen before. I used the whole onion, bulb and greens. They are a bit milder than regular onions.

3 lb pork shoulder

2 tomatoes, diced

4 cups chicken broth

2 bay leaves

2 tsp oregano

2 tsp chili powder

1 TBSP garlic

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp cayenne pepper

salt & pepper to taste

2 jalapenos, diced fine

2 TBSP apple cider vinegar

1 medium large onion, or 2-3 smaller Mexican onions, diced

Combine everything together in the slow cooker, and when ready to cook, turn it on to medium-low heat for about 4-6 hours. Walk away and let the slow cooker do the work.

Once the pork is cooked and tender, remove it from the remaining liquid, and shred. It should tear apart very easily.

Noah was a pirate today. Actually he had some jalapeno heat on his hands and rubbed his eyes, and he thought covering his eye would take away the burn. No, it doesn’t really; that just comes with rinsing it with cold water and time, but Noah was convinced the pirate look would help. 🙂

To keep the pork moist, you can add some of the remaining liquid to the pork, vegetables and all. Once the pork is shredded, add it to the large tortilla, and add whatever fillings you like and roll it up, making sure to fold in the edges as you roll.

Noah, like me, is not a big cheese eater, so we didn’t add any cheese, but you can.

Once the burrito was filled and rolled, we topped it with our black bean salsa, but more on that later.

I used the leftover pork juice as a stock and cooked some rice in it to add more flavor and texture. We had this for our dinner too, and I added the rice to our burritos and put the black bean salsa inside for ours. !Esta muy delicioso!

Noah was very happy with his pork burrito, and that made me happy. We always have fun cooking together.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

If you are a hockey fan, you would think of the Detroit Red Wings when I say there are lots of red wings, though the Detroit Red Wings are totally taboo in our house, we are Avalanche fans. But I digress. I am really talking about Red Winged Blackbirds. I have been seeing so many all around; much more so than usual. And that’s perfectly OK. I just love them. 🙂

This is a female Red-Winged Blackbird. She looks totally different from her male counterpart.

I see the males much more frequently than I see the females.

Have a great day and take in everything you can. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

I never thought about posting about my “gourmet” burgers before. I always thought burgers were kind of standard. However, on that note, one of you asked me how I turn my burgers from just plain burgers into gourmet burgers, following my post about Noah making his gourmet burgers. So …. just for you, my gourmet burgers. 🙂

The word gourmet means different things to different people. But to me, the word gourmet means choosing top-quality ingredients, being creative in the kitchen, and creating a memorable dining experience. It turns regular meals into something special, showing off the art of great cooking. The word gourmet can also mean using rare or luxurious ingredients and is served in an upscale setting, but that is NOT me at all. Gourmet ingredients are known for their superior quality, unique flavors, and ability to elevate even the simplest of dishes to a whole new level. A gourmand is someone who appreciates good food and drink. I would say I am both a gourmet and a gourmand. 🙂

I DO NOT shy away from BIG, BOLD flavors, in fact, just the opposite. I embrace them. I LOVE BIG, BOLD flavors. My cooking choices mirror my personality. I have a BIG, BOLD personality too. I use a lot of garlic, onions, and peppers in just about everything I cook, all of which are known for their BIG, BOLD characteristics.

When I make my burgers, I start with good, quality lean beef. Then I start adding all kinds of goodies into the meat and just mix them up. Most of the time I use, garlic, onions, roasted Hatch peppers, Worcestershire sauce, and salt & pepper. I had some cooked bacon and green onions left over that I also added to my ground beef, though usually I top my burger with bacon strips instead.

I use ample portions of all my “mixers” too. I find the best way to mix my burgers up is by hand. So I really get in there and mash it all together well.

Once everything is mixed together well, then I form my burgers into patties. I don’t measure anything when cooking (though baking is a totally different story). I make my patties about 1/3 lb each.

When the patties were made, I slapped them on a hot grill and cooked them to a nice medium, with just a hint of pink still left inside. As the burgers were cooking, I sliced some onions and mushrooms and sauteed them in a little olive oil and butter and salt & pepper.

Not only do I like to use all kinds of fresh ingredients for my burgers, but I get good buns too. I like to get the onion brioche buns. If you are going all out on the burgers, then you need to go all out on the buns too. Once everything is cooked, the assembly process begins. I like 1000 Island on my burgers, so I add a bit on both sides of the bun, add my burger (sometimes with jalapeno jack cheese, sometimes not), bacon, mushrooms and onions, sometimes avocado, sometimes not, fry up some French fries, and my burger is complete, ready to eat.

Like with anything, there is NEVER just one way to make anything. The most important thing when cooking is to cook things the way YOU like to eat them. Create your own unique style.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

Bananas are a funny thing. They are one of the few foods that can be and actually are good, when cooked the right way, when they outlive their shelf life. So many people throw away far too many bananas that turn brown. But brown, mushy bananas are really PERFECT for baking. I had some bananas that were perfect for some banana bread, chocolate banana bread at that too. 🙂

Once bananas start to get more brown than you desire, and we all have different degrees of banana ripeness, just put them in a plastic bag and place them in the freezer or refrigerator until you are ready to bake with them. Them pull them out and mash them up to go inside your batter.

Chocolate Banana Bread

This is a deliciously simple recipe to make. You can make the same loaf with applesauce instead of bananas too, for something a little different again.

1/2 cup or 1 stick softened butter

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups mashed bananas, or about 2 bananas

1 tsp banana extract, optional

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1 3/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1-1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

chocolate ganache for topping, optional

Preheat the oven to 350* F or 180* C.

Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray.

Combine all the dry ingredients together and set aside.

Beat the butter and sugar together until light. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat in between each addition. Add the mashed bananas and banana extract if using, and mix again.

Add the flour mixture half at a time, mixing in between each addition. Fold in the chocolate chips. Then spoon into the prepared loaf pan.

Bake for about an hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool completely before removing from the pan.

You can definitely enjoy the banana loaf as is, of if you are like me and prefer a topping, you can drizzle some chocolate ganache on top before eating. Either way, I guarantee you are really going to enjoy this chocolate banana bread. 🙂

Life is short. Make sure you include plenty of chocolate to get you through the day. Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

Common Grackles are, you guessed it, pretty common around here. Just because they are “common” though does not mean they are not still beautiful. When the sunlight hits them at the right angle, it shines upon all their beautiful colors. They are colored with gorgeous hues of blue, green and purple. Their bright colors really highlight their bright yellow eyes too.

There is beauty in everything, even the common things, or maybe especially the common things. Don’t overlook them just because you see them on a regular basis. Take the time to look at everything, and see the beauty right in front of you.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

I learned long ago, even before my many years in the restaurant business, waste not want not. This is both a way of cost cutting, but more importantly, a way of using up everything and not letting precious food go to waste. When you only have little bits of this and little bits of that, but they aren’t enough to make a meal on their own, reuse them and turn them into something else. I do this all the time. This time, I turned it all into a delicious salad that was perfect for a hot summer’s day.

Larry and I had our wires crossed for dinner plans, so at the last minute, I turned some of my little bits and pieces into a delicious summer salad. My salad bed was the last of my spinach, then I added some tomatoes, red bell pepper slices, green onions and cheese for Larry. I cooked up a few pieces of bacon then cooked some chicken in the bacon grease, and added both the bacon and the chicken to the salad. The avocado didn’t make it into the salad this time, as it had outlived its good life. I added some pepita seeds to the top of mine, then topped it all with a refreshing tomato and herb vinaigrette. Heirloom Tomato, Garlic & Herb Vinaigrette with Steak Salad Voila! A quick and easy-peasy dinner in no time at all. 🙂

With a couple of slices of some warm bread and a glass or two of wine, it was the perfect summer meal.

Life is short. Don’t stress about the small stuff. You don’t know what’s for dinner, no problem. You only have little bits of this and little bits of that, no worries. Instead of stressing about it, be creative and see what you can do with all those little bits and pieces. Who knows? You just might surprise yourself. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. Have fun. ‘Til next time.