 Before I get started here, I want to remind all of you to be sure and comment at the end (below the blog box where it says in little blue letters, “comments” click on that and it takes you to comments and a comment box) in order to enter our giveaway. This time TWO people win one of the two identical packages – Pie tin set and First Out Pie Spatula. So comment early and comment often because every single time you comment, your name goes into the pot!!  And now, I’ve written in the past about dumb things I’ve done to which I actually admit. I like to think of myself as a normal human being with a modicum of quirks and I am willing to admit – to an extent – what are those quirks. My children read this too and I can’t admit everything as my “perfect mother” status might fall in their estimation. Oh? I ain’t all that perfect in their eyes? Huh. What a surprise. I’m thinking that the time I went to an Atlanta church for my girlfriend’s wedding, was escorted down the aisle to be seated on the bride’s side, and was handed a ‘program’ only to discover that the couple being married WEREN’T my girlfriend and her fiance, probably tops the stupid things I’ve done. Skulking back down the isle and out the back door was humiliating enough, but then finding out that the wedding had been in Murfreesboro, TN just cemented my stupidity. Well, this weekend, I proved to Mr. Fix-It that it is possible that I’m a few gummy worms short of a bag. He was very kind about it, but I really think he was looking for those lost gummy worms. He was really hungry after my flirtation with brain freeze. You see, we had been invited to a wonderful SURPRISE party for our dear friend, Jeff, who was turning that ripe, old age of the big 5-0. The invitation was presented as a cute poem with the date and the location – the nearby church. As it so happened, my birthday was this past week as well – and I turned much older than the big 5-0 – and so, for some reason, the week just got kind of discombobulated. (like that word? – fits the week) Since I had promised to provide a snack of substance for Jeff’s party, I made plans for making a large batch of oriental sweet and sour meatballs. No party is a party without meatballs, don’t you know?! On Saturday, I spent the day putting together several batches of my homemade sweet and sour sauce, cooked meatballs, added sauce and pineapple chunks and piled those into a crockpot on low to keep them warm. I pushed Mr. Fix-It to leave the love of his life, Ellie (our mini long-haired dachshund), to get out of his jeans and into newer jeans so that we could at least appear as decent as that couple in the painting, American Gothic. I grabbed the meatballs and we headed to the church. Seeing a couple in the front entry of the church, I carried my meatballs up to the lady and inquired about which room was sponsoring Jeff’s party. She looked at me with kind of a half smile and choked back a laugh as she informed me, “Jeff’s party? That was last night, honey.” Well, great. And so, the meatballs went to Jeff and his family that night, as I crawled to their door in total humiliation. No birthday present is complete without meatballs. In order to repair my reputation, I have decided to prove that I CAN do something right and so I think I’ll do these next three posts with some international recipes that will wow your family and guests and that are not your usual fare. The first two are a family staple for us. The last one is a newer recipe for me. Today, we will start with homemade tamales – one of Mr. Fix-It’s favorites. The nice thing about tamales is that if you are willing to take a Saturday afternoon to cook, you will wind up with enough tamales for quite a few meals. The extras can be frozen or canned. So get your pork roast ready and follow the directions below: 2 lbs boneless pork roast, or boneless chicken breasts or boneless beef roast 1 tsp ground cumin 1 tablespoon chili powder salt to taste 1/2 tsp garlic powder 1/2 onion finely chopped water Masa Harina Dough  Cut roast into cubes and place into a large pan, just cover with water and bring to a boil on medium-high heat.  While heating, add cumin  Add chili powder  Add salt according to your taste  And add garlic.  Add onions and stir. Boil for 30 minutes.  Place the meat into a covered casserole dish or dutch oven and place into a 350º oven to bake for about an hour to an hour and a half or until meat is very tender and comes apart easily.  While the meat is cooking, soak corn husks in very warm water. You can find these at any grocery store in the international food section or in the produce section. Some of our stores even have them hanging on endcaps.  In a large bowl, mix masa flour with baking powder and salt. Set aside  In another bowl, mix shortening with 1 tbsp of the beef broth.  Beat broth and shortening until you have a fluffy mixture  Add the shortening mix to the masa mix  Cut in shortening mix. Add more beef broth, stirring, to form a spongy dough.  Either shred the pork with a fork or put it into a food processor for a finer shred. (Mr. Fix-It like’s it “pre-chewed” shredded.  Press dough onto center left side of a corn husk, a little under 1/4″ thick. This is the way I like to roll them because it makes allowances for short or misshappen husks. However, if you want to make your tamales in the traditional rectangle, move the square of dough down to one end and to the left side.  Place at least a tablespoon of meat onto the center of the dough.  Spread the meat out into a long rectangle down the center of the dough  Roll tamales by moving the left side toward the right and rolling until right empty husk is covering the seam of the right side. If doing the traditional flatter tamale, you will still roll the same way.  Rolled tamale  I tie the two ends with strips of corn husk, but if you are doing the flatter ones, you will fold the empty half of your corn husk over the full half of the corn husk roll and tie around the middle with a longer strip of cornhusk.  Clip the ends of the tamale to shorten.  Steam tamales for 45 minutes to an hour (depending how many you are serving). Freeze unsteamed extras in a freezer bag. I will show how to can them in another post.  I only serve 5 tamales for our meals – two for me and three for Mr. Fix-It. We love ours with my canned, homemade chili, heated and served over the tamales and topped with lots of cheese – and sour cream and guacamole if we are feeling really daring!  |
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