3.23.2011

Finally, Tostadas For Dinner

This past week has been very much unwanted! I've been mourning a death and recovering from a sinus infection with a side of bronchitis, yay! Not to mention Gigi's grass allergies are firing up and poor thing can't stop gnawing at her paws, so mama has to keep an eye on her 24/7 literally.
Well, I never thought I would be excited to see the weekend and finally make it five minutes without coughing to cook a decent meal. These babies have been very much craved by yours truly, the boyfriend and his nephew have never had the pleasure of munching on tostadas.
They're very easy to make, you'll be wondering why would you pay for poor quality taco bell wannabes.

Ingredients:


4 skinless chicken breast
4 skinless chicken thighs
3 tomatos
2 yellow onions
2 ancho peppers
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/3 fresh squeezed lime juice
1/2 cup olive oil
salt to taste


Toppings:
fried corn tortillas (base to all the goodness)
red refried beans
sour cream
lettuce
hot sauce (from scratch or your preferred bottled sauce)
queso fresco or shredded monterey jack cheese


1. In a soup pot cover all 8 pieces of chicken with water, one onion and boil until cooked and firm.
Place cooked chicken in a plate to cool, save that chicken stock! In a small bowl place ancho peppers and pour two cups of the broth over it, let steep for 15 minutes.

2. Once chicken has cooled a bit, hand shred and set aside.

3. In a blender or food processor place chopped tomatoes, a quarter of onion and chopped ancho peppers. I leave the seeds in for heat, blend into a sauce.

4. In a sauce pan place olive oil, let heat and add remaining onion, let onion cook until semi clear. Add chicken along with sauce, salt, cumin, lime juice and chicken broth used to steep peppers. 
At this point just let everything cook over medium low heat until there's no more liquid. While you wait for that store the left over broth for any future use.

Prep an assembly line of toppings on your dinner table
and let everyone assemble their own tostadas like so

Needless to say we all enjoyed our friday movie night, nom nom nom.



3.16.2011

Blueberry Coffee Cake

The boyfriend had been reminiscing about one of his coworkers rum cake that he received this past christmas, " I want something to go with my evening coffee" Ok I get the hint you want me to bake something other than cupcakes.
[side note: I have a small from home cupcake catering business]
So I searched and searched online for ideas and ran across this little gem, Blueberry Coffee Cake.
I love blueberries, specially frozen. It's one of my favorite snacks although I'm not particular to cooked blueberries but there's plenty of them in the fridge so I went for it.
Once baked and hearing the boyfriend gush how delicious it was, he got me to try it. It's so yummy!
Not overly sweet at all and the blueberries with the coconut make it oh so special. I will definitely be baking another pan for the family visit this weekend. I may even switch out the coconut and blueberries for peaches and pecans, maybe?