Cinnamon Syrup

1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup water

Stir together the white sugar, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a small saucepan. Add vanilla extract and water. Bring to a rolling boil, stirring often. Continue to boil while stirring continuously until mixture thickens to syrup consistency. Remove from heat; cool 10 minutes before serving.

Braised Red Potatoes with Lemon

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2pounds small red potatoes , unpeeled, halved. Use small red potatoes measuring about 1 1/2 inches in diameter.
• 2cups water
• 3tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3garlic cloves , minced
• 3sprigs fresh thyme
• 3/4teaspoon salt
• 1teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/4teaspoon pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

• 1. Arrange potatoes in single layer, cut side down, in 12-inch nonstick skillet. Add water, butter, minced garlic, thyme, and salt and bring to simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and simmer until potatoes are just tender, about 15 minutes.
• 2. Remove lid and discard thyme. Increase heat to medium-high and vigorously simmer, swirling pan occasionally, until water evaporates and butter starts to sizzle, 15 to 20 minutes. 
• 3. Continue to cook potatoes, swirling pan frequently, until butter browns and cut sides of potatoes turn spotty brown, 4 to 6 minutes longer. Off heat, add lemon juice and pepper. Serve immediately. Realize you didn't make enough, because it is impossible to make enough of these potatoes.
  Adapted from America's Test Kitchen

Cory's Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/4 cups unsalted butter (softened) (Don't skimp on the real butter)

2/3 C. brown sugar
2/3 C. white sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 Tablespoon vanilla
4 C. Bread Flour (it has to be bread flour)
1/2 Tablespoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pkg. chocolate chips (I prefer the mini chocolate chips)

1. Cream together the butter and sugar, give it a good four to five minutes until it looks nice and fluffy.
2. Add the eggs one at a time, letting one incorporate completely before adding another.
3. Add vanilla, scrape down and beat until smooth.
4. Mix together the dry ingredients, add to butter/sugar/egg mixture, and mix together until almost totally incorporated.
5. Add chocolate chips and combine everything until well incorporated.

6. Scoop out with a standard ice cream scoop (about 3 Tb.), pressing each scoop flat with your fingers.
6. Bake at 350° for 12 minutes.

7. Let the cookies cool on a wire rack after taking them out of the oven.

Paella

Paella is a traditional Spanish dish and comes form Valencia, Spain. There are several varieties, which include different types of meat and seafood. This recipe is for use with a heavy dutch oven with a lid, but a paella pan could also be used. The biggest difference between this and traditional paella is that the traditional sort would have a crunch bottom layer to it, called soccarat. An optional instruction at the end tales how to do that. This recipe was adapted from America’s Test Kitchen.

INGREDIENTS

1 pound extra-large shrimp (21 to 25 per pound), peeled and deveined (optional)
Salt and ground black pepper
Olive oil
8 or 9 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press (2 generous tablespoons)
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, seasoned with salt and pepper (chicken thighs are more traditional, but they don’t fly in my house)

1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and cut pole to pole into 1/2-inch-wide strips

8 ounces Mexican chorizo (again, not traditional, but preferred in my house)
1 medium onion, chopped fine (about 1 cup)
One 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained, minced, and drained again

2 cups Valencia or Arborio rice
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads, crumbled (expensive spice, but well worth the price)
1 dried bay leaf
1 dozen mussels, scrubbed and debearded (I exclude these, since I can’t get them fresh here)
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 lemon, cut into wedges, for serving

DIRECTIONS

1. Toss the shrimp, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, 1 tablespoon oil, and 1 teaspoon of the garlic in a medium bowl; cover and refrigerate.

2. Preheat oven to 350. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the pepper strips and cook, stirring occasionally, until the skin begins to blister and turn spotty black, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer the pepper to a small plate and set aside.

3. Add 1 teaspoon oil to the Dutch oven. Add the chicken pieces in a single layer; cook, until browned, about 3 minutes. Turn the pieces and brown on the second side; transfer the chicken to a medium bowl.

4. Reduce the heat to medium and add the chorizo to the pot and cook, breaking it apart and crumbling it with a  wooden spoon. Transfer the chorizo to the bowl with the chicken and set aside.

5. Add enough oil to the fat in the Dutch oven to equal 2 tablespoons. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, about 3 minutes; stir in the remaining garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in the tomatoes; cook until the mixture begins to darken and thicken slightly, about 3 minutes. Stir in the rice and cook until the grains are well coated with the tomato mixture, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the chicken broth, saffron, bay leaf, and 1 teaspoon salt. Return the chicken and chorizo to the pot, increase the heat to medium-high, and bring to a boil, uncovered, stirring occasionally. Cover the pot and transfer it to the oven; cook until the rice absorbs almost all of the liquid, about 15 minutes.

6. Remove the paella from the oven (close the oven door to retain heat). Uncover the paella; scatter the shrimp over the rice, insert the mussels hinged-side down into the rice (so they stand upright), arrange the bell pepper strips in a pinwheel pattern, and scatter the peas over the top. Cover and return to the oven; cook until the shrimp are opaque and the mussels have opened, 10 to 12 minutes.

7. Optional: If soccarat (see headnote) is desired, set the Dutch oven, uncovered, over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, rotating the pot 180 degrees after about 2 minutes for even browning.

8. Let the paella stand, covered, about 5 minutes. Discard any mussels that have not opened and the bay leaf, if it can be easily removed. Sprinkle the paella with the parsley and serve, passing the lemon wedges separately.

I like to serve this with some bread.

In a paella pan with shrimp.

In cast iron, no seafood.

Tacos al Pastor and Green Taco Salsa

Tacos al pastor

Tacos al pastor are tacos with a marinated pork that is cooked on a large rotisserie grill in taquerías. The meat is sliced off the rotating meat right onto the warm tortillas (think of a traditional gyro). A chunk of pineapple sits above the meat and a slice is added to the taco as well. This recipe combines recipes from America's Test Kitchen and Rick Bayless to make a meat that is tender but with a grilled taste. You can find the achiote paste (not achiote powder) in any Mexican market, which is probably the best place to buy tomatillos for the green salsa (since I'm usually underwhelmed with any tomatillos they might have at supermarkets).

• INGREDIENTS
• 3 1/2-ounce package achiote paste (see picture below)
  3 canned chipotle chiles en adobo, plus 4 tablespoons of the canning sauce
• 1 cup water
• 3 pounds boneless pork butt roast, cut into 1/4" slices against the grain
• Some limes
• 2 cans pineapple rings
• 2 red onions, sliced into 1/4" rings.
• Vegetable oil
• Corn tortillas, warmed*
• 1 small onion, chopped fine
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
• 
  
• 1. Combine achiote paste, chipotles, and water in a blender. Blend until combined.
• 
  
• 2. Put achiote mixture in a large dutch oven with pork, making sure all sides of the pork are covered in sauce. (There is enough sauce here to do at least 6 pounds of meat.) Bring pot to a simmer and cook for about 90 minutes, stirring about half way through. You want the pork to be tender, but not falling apart.
• 
  
• 3. Remove pork from the mixture and season with salt. Stir sauce to combine. Remove one half cup of the sauce and use it to coat both sides of pork before grilling. With the rest of the sauce, leave about 1 cup in the pot and set the rest to the side. Squeeze a lime into the sauce in the pot, adding the whole lime as well to the mixture. Season with salt and allow to simmer on low.
• 
  
• 4. Heat up a grill and cook the sauce-coated pork until it gets a bit charred on each side. Brush pineapple and onion rings with oil, and grill until they get some nice grill marks and the onion is a bit tender. (Don't get too upset when you drop a bunch down the grill grates).
• 
  
• 5. Give onion, pineapple, and pork a rough chop and add to sauce in the pot. Stir, adding more sauce if necessary to coat everything.
• 
  
• 6. Serve on corn tortillas with Green Taco Salsa and some lime wedges on the side.

*My biggest problem with this recipe is figuring out how to warm up the corn tortillas. There are two options, 1 heat the tortillas individually in a pan, on the griddle, or on the grill. This is the best result, but takes forever. The other option is to wrap them in foil and put them in the oven, which never really comes out good either. I guess you could always use flour tortillas, which warm up so much easier, but I really like the taste of the corn tortillas.

Green Taco Salsa

Ingredients

4 medium (about 8 ounces total) tomatillos, husked, rinsed and quartered
3-4 large garlic cloves
Hot green chiles to taste (I like 2 serranos and 2 jalapeños which is pretty spicy), stemmed and roughly chopped
1/2 to 2/3 cup (loosely packed) roughly chopped cilantro
1 avocado

1/2 of a red onion

1/4 cup water

A good amount of salt

Add everything to a blender and blend together until smooth. Add more salt as needed.

Classic Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks or 1/2 pound), softened (but not melted!) Ideal texture should be like ice cream.
• 3-4 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar, SIFTED
• 1/4 teaspoon table salt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• up to 4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream

Instructions

1. Beat butter for a few minutes with a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Add 3 cups of powdered sugar and turn your mixer on the lowest speed (so the sugar doesn’t blow everywhere) until the sugar has been incorporated with the butter. Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and 2 tablespoons of milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes. If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add remaining sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add remaining milk 1 tablespoons at a time.

By Savory Sweet Life

Fiesta Soup

1Tablespoon vegetable oil
2 chicken breasts, diced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1 (16 oz) can chili beans, drained
1 (11 oz) can sweet yellow and white corn, drained
1 (10 oz) can red enchilada sauce
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup ketchup
1 (1.25 oz) package taco seasoning mix
1 tablespoon dried basil leaves

Heat oil in large saucepan over medium high heat until hot. Add chicken, bell pepper and onion;
Cook 5 to 7 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in center, stirring occasionally. Add all remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 7 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring occasionally.