Hi, Friends!  This is a short ribs recipe from my Facebook friend, Mely, of Mexico In My Kitchen!  It just looked so delicious, and after I was introduced to tomatillos in an enchilada recipe of Rick Bayless', I was very excited to try something else new.  I'm sure that sometime in my life I have eaten short ribs, but I couldn't tell you when, and I've never even shopped for short ribs before, so this was new and fun for me.  Then there's the chopped cilantro to go in the sauce made from the charred tomatillos.  You can't get much better!  It is well worth the cooking time.  Click on the picture for Mely's recipe, and check out the rest of her blog while you're there! 

       I served this dish with pinto beans and onion, "sticky" Calrose rice, my favorite, and crusty bread that I love.  I call this my Mexican-Asian-American Fusion!  To make this truly authentic Mexican, Mely serves with rice, refried beans and corn tortillas.  I love all of those things, too.  My sister and I had leftovers as burritos in whole wheat tortillas, adding lettuce, refried beans, and sour cream to the short ribs and green sauce. It was a truly delicious and convenient second dinner!

      Now...here's the little miracle at 11 months old!  Sawyer is almost one year old!  She went through so much her first few months, and now she is such a happy baby, and very independent, and she gets more beautiful every day!  The bottom picture is a sleepy baby ready for church!  I love every minute I get to spend with her!

       You know, the weather is getting warmer, so the dinners will be getting lighter.  It's almost time for gorgeous Summer produce to be in and I can't wait to do different things with that.   I'm thinking I may start doing some light baking for a while, and everyone loves that! I'm helping a cousin set up an online business, and also getting ready for an upcoming vacation.  I can't wait to show you pictures and tell you about it!  I'm trying to come up with some "road trip" snacks.  If you have any suggestions, please let me know! 

      Later, Friends!  Dished With Love, Denise!

      Hello, Friends, I hope your Spring is beautiful and happy for you so far! I'm going to share with you two very simple tomato-based recipes that will have your family thinking that you slaved forever in the kitchen for these dinners!

     Here is just one version of one of my favorite dishes, Mexican Chicken Soup.  This one is made with tortillas, and the tortillas add such a beautiful, corn, Mexican flavor, along with the cornmeal or Masa that is added for flavor and thickening.  I tend to use more tomatoes than chicken broth when called for because I love tomato based soups, so use chicken broth, or canned crushed tomatoes or diced tomatoes, or whole tomatoes (I love tomatoes), or half chicken broth and half tomatoes.  So many choices, and you can't make a mistake, it's delicious all kinds of ways!  Don't forget about all of the salt in the broth and canned tomatoes, so don't add salt until you've tasted all of the flavors together!  Click on the picture of the soup with the beautiful avocado garnish for the recipe!
     

      Here's a dish that I have been wanting to try for a while, Ravioli Lasagna, and when the occasion came along that I needed to make a good amount of food for friends in a short amount of time, I made it, with much success.  This recipe came from Clinton Kelly and it is lasagna made with frozen ravioli.  In this case, I couldn't find frozen, so I used already prepared cheese ravioli from our local grocer. 

       Another edit I made to Clinton's recipe is I added a mixture of hot and regular ground sausage and added Italian seasonings to that.  I couldn't find any ravioli that I thought my crowd would like because I was fixing for some good ole' country folks who would prefer a meaty dish to a vegetarian dish.  There is such a thing as meaty ravioli, but I couldn't find it when I needed it. 

      Viola!  I made two pans of this for my friends, and because I got carried away with the groceries, I had enough to make a dish for home.  When you add the last layer of cheese and before you put it back in the oven for melting and browning, make sure you sprinkle with chopped parsley for freshness and beauty!  Click on the picture for the recipe!

      This is my latest effort to eat nutritious foods rather than high carb and fried foods.  This is a baked jicama fries recipe that is low in carbs and calories and high in fiber and healthy nutrients.  Let me tell you one, no, two things I would do differently.  I would definitely cut the fries a little smaller, and then put them in a clean dish towel or paper towels so the towels can absorb more of the moisture out of the jicama before baking. I did put them in paper towels but I am impatient sometimes and I did not let the moisture dry out enough.

     These turned out pretty tasty, and even more so because you can eat lots of them without feeling guilty!  I just used a French fry seasoning we had at home, but I am attaching a delicious looking recipe in a link to the picture below, and it also shares more info for those of us who were not really familiar with jicima.  These are pretty and brown, and have a nice texture, and they're good with ketchup, too!

      And now, for closing, a picture of the most beautiful girl in the whole wide world, Sawyer.  Sawyer has learned to dodge the camera and I have no pictures of a smiling baby this time, so I took one when she wasn't looking.  She's 11 months old now.  She and this blog are almost a year old.  Time sure flies, and we thank God for the joy this  baby has brought us! 

      Until next time, Friends, happy eating and be happy!

      Dished With Love, Denise!

     Hi, Friends!  For those of you who spend any time with me, you know I never turn down Mexican food!  It has been my favorite food since I started a job on Broad Street in Rome back in 1984 and my new friend (now old friend) Susan Marx introduced me to El Zarapes Mexican Restaurant across the street from our offices.  Susan is a vegetarian and we would order Vegetarian #3, and eventually I discovered the Burrito Fajita with Cheese Sauce, a/k/a the "Special Burrito Fajita".  Wow, that place and their food really made an impact on my life, and the restaurant is still there!  Now I get that same special burrito at Los Portales in West Rome because I live on that side of town!

     Eventually I learned about Rick Bayless on Top Chef Masters and learned he was a chef of authentic Mexican cuisine.  Then I caught his show, Mexico: One Plate At A Time, on PBS.  I wrote a paper on him when I was in culinary school, and one of my practicals was a buffet where we planned the menu, the decorations, and worked as Executive Chef; I chose Mexican for the food and I used a few of his recipes.  They didn't come out quite the same because the chef at school did not know how to buy the appropriate groceries that I requested, and at the last minute he changed most of the recipes.  It was more of an "Americanized" Mexican buffet than I intended, and I didn't "own it" anymore, but everyone enjoyed it.  There is a previous blog with photos of the buffet on here if you haven't seen it already.

     I follow Chef Bayless on Instagram and last year he had a contest where we could create four of his dishes and submit our photos to him for a chance to win his latest cookbook, "More Mexican Everyday".  I didn't win a cookbook but I did create three of the four dishes and had so much fun making them, and then eating them   Here are pictures of those projects, and you can find his recipes by clicking on the pictures.  Enjoy!