Tacos de Oaxaca

Here are tonight's ingredients for supper at Mama's House.

Flat Iron Steak ... cut into thin strips 

Two Limes

Three Jalapenos

One Anaheim

One Roma Tomato

One Large Onion

Fresh Cilantro

Fresh Tortillas from H-E-B

This is an Old Mexico meal ...

not New Mexican, not Tex-Mex ...

this is authentic Mexican.

Tacos de Oaxaca

(tah-cohs day wah-hah-cah)

I pre-made some rice,

and began sauteeing some onion, anaheim, and tomato.

Then I added a thin layer of rice to the sautee.

I shared more of this Old Mexican Rice recipe HERE.

I folded the rest of the rice into the sautee, generously salted the top,

and then turned off heat, and lidded, and let sit

while I finished the rest of supper.

Then I turned my attention to the meat.

Seasoned with only salt and pepper,

I browned it over high heat

in coconut oil.

Here is how to properly prepare a Oaxacan taco.

Steak on tortilla

Topped with:

Seeded and veined, diced (tiny bits) jalapeno

Fresh-Squeezed Lime

Cilantro

Paper Thin Slices of Onion

(Lime is critical!)

This is a cheese-less taco ... cheese is too overpowering, 

and would ruin the delicate flavors.

Ideally, this is best served on corn tortillas

softened in hot coconut oil ... but my family

prefers flour tortillas. 

I still make a few chewy corn tortillas for myself.

Here is Laura's plate:

ENJOY!

Re-enacting the Turtle Rescue

We saved a sad turtle today.

He was mad, too.

I was sad to see him go,

but I understand.

When we got back from saving the turtle,

I ran into the house to find mine.

I watched everything real closely,

and wanted to play pretend.

(Watching to see if it'll move.)

(Trying to break a stick ...)

(Nudging it with a stick ... to get it to move to the bucket.)

We Done Good

We're the type of people who rescue critters ... dead or alive.

One time, while driving on a trip, a bird flew into my windshield.

I'm the type of girl who will turn my car around,

and gingerly pick the dead/wounded bird up.

I have a witness.

Another time, on another trip, while passing through

a small Texas town ... a dog laid dead in the middle of the street.

I'm the type of girl who will pull over to the side of the road,

and move the dog, at the very least, to the side ...

to prevent the poor thing from getting run over repeatedly.

With hopes the owners of the dog

would find him intact ... to give him a proper burial.

I have another witness.

We rescue fledgling birds who fall out of their nests,

and care for them until they can fend for themselves.

Many witnesses.

We've even rescued ducks.

We are also not above rescuing traveling turtles.

This one was obviously lost ...

far, far away from any creek or lake or pond ...

and was found on a busy street in our busy town.

He was brought home to show the girls.

And, boy howdy ... lemme tell ya:

He was a BIG feller, and MEAN as hell-er,

and you could tell

he had been through a lot.

He took off running, and snapping,

and made me JUMP!

We finally coaxed him back into the five gallon bucket ...

to transport him to paradise.

And HERE is ....

paradise.

You can't tell, but he was sprinting toward the water!!

Goodbye ripples ....

We done good :)

Nani and I will be sharing her

( Re-Enactment )

of this event

over on her sweet, little blog

"Miss Field Lab 2010."

Dehydrating Apples

Have you ever bought too many apples ... 

and they began to "borderline rot"

before they could all be eaten fresh?

Although my girls LOVE apples,

this seems to happen often at Mama's house.

For the past week, I've had my eye on our apple bin ...

and, day by day, I'd watch the subtle changing of the skins.

Last night I knew something had to be done.

I soaked the sliced apples ...

one teaspoon lemon juice per one quart of water ...

in two quarts of lemon water for a couple of hours.

Then placed the slices on my little trays, and stacked.

And twenty-four hours later,

ALL OF THOSE APPLES

(count eleven)

fit neatly into one jar ...

and they will keep for a very long time.

Excellent sweet snack!   
No waste!
Pretty on a shelf!

My Parakeets Have Been Bad

Holy Moly, I've got terror on my hands.

I bought my parakeets a fancy treat last week ...

some kind of peanut butter suet thingy

with lots of different seeds ...

and my blue boy tore it up so bad

that the only thing left of it

was at the bottom of the cage

where it fell through the wire grating.

They didn't even eat it ... just demolished it.

Hmmmm ... what's going on?

Blue Boy has been acting pretty weird lately.

Weird stuff like:

* Becoming an aggressor, and instigating mischief

by getting his roomate involved with his antics.

* Freaking out, and being extremely mean to me,

whenever I visited them.

At this point I realized that

he has been acting BEYOND "pretty weird" lately.

Beyond weird stuff like:

* Flirting with Chingado all the time

instead of fighting with Chingado all the time.

* Scratching around, and going in circles,

before sitting down ... ON the floor grates!

(When has he EVER sat down ... and, especially, WHEN
has he EVER sat down ON the floor grates?!?)

*Spending a whole lot of time

hiding under the food dish ...

which is a major feat

because he has to squeeze himself

to fit under there.

* Throwing a literal FIT

when I began

taking out "things" out 

so I could clean up his shredded suet mess

that fell beneath the grates

of the cage floor.

My O my ... Lookie what Mama found ... TERROR.

Holy Moly.

HE IS A SHE!!!!

Blue Boy is a devil with a blue dress on!

I have no idea what we are doing, or how

we're going to do it ... but ...

we are going to have babies!!!!

Time to do some serious research ... oh boy.

The Easiest Enchiladas EVER

Notice, I said the easiest ... NOT the best.

Not the worst, either ... by any means ...

but definitely the EASIEST

and quickest.

I admit I was skeptical the first time I heard of this.

I wasn't even buying frozen foods at the time,

and was making everything ... especially my Mescan Food ...

from scratch.

But sometimes you crave enchiladas

when you need a meal FAST ...

and if one of those times HITS YOU

then, please, give this a whirl.

And if it's not for you ...

no harm done, is there?

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So buy yourself a box of frozen taquitos, or flautas, and two

15 oz cans of enchilada sauce ... one medium (or hot)

and one mild.

Mix those two sauces together, and

add one chopped onion.

Lay your taquitos into a casserole dish, and

pour the sauce over them.

Smother with grated cheese.

Bake in hot oven until lightly browned and bubbly.

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Tonight I tried the cheese taquitos

to make plain ol cheese enchiladas.

It was delicious for a change!

I usually make the beef-filled taquitos, or chicken.

When I do chicken enchiladas,

I make a "green chili sour cream" sauce out of

one can of Cream of Chicken Soup

whipped together with a tub of sour cream,

a can of chopped green chilies, and a

large can of Hatch green chili enchilada sauce.

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Tonight I also made spanish rice ... authentic,

"Old-Mexico" styled

spanish rice.

Pre-make your rice, and set aside.

(This really does best when the rice is cold ... I made mine

early this morning, and let it cool.

Then I fluffed it into a Tupperware, and refrigerated,

until ready for use later.)

Saute an onion, fresh tomato, and fresh anaheim green chili

in real butter OR coconut oil.

Once the fresh veggies are lightly browned, add a thin

layer of rice to the pan

and lightly sautee.

Add the remainder of your rice, salt it real good,

and stir together ... then cap it with a lid 

to trap condensation, and turn off heat.

The result will be fluffy, yet non-sticky, spanish rice.

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Now, remember, this is a Texas gal

through-and-through,

and I love Love LOVE

my Mescan Food.

Believe me when I tell you ...

this ain't bad t'all.

Oh, and did I tell you it was easy?!?

Enjoy!

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I'd like to thank, again, my New Mexico girlfriend, Franki,
for forcing me to try this.
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Busy Exciting Week!

Monday, August 16, my dad

(The Buffalo Gap Round-Up Newspaper)

co-hosted a well-known conservative radio talk show host,

with a book on the current NY Times best-seller list,

from San Francisco,

right here in good ol' Abilene, Texas.

Sean Hannity of Fox News will be showcasing

Brian Sussman and “Climategate” 

on his evening television show August 27.

Be sure to tune in, and

remember you heard about it FIRST

on my little blog. 

I wished I had taken more pictures,

but I was tooo busy socializing.

Here is Bob Berrie, and Brian Sussman of

KSFO AM-560.

Dee Compere, a local ranch woman, and

My Dad

Might as well throw in a snapshot

of my little brother, Bo, and his friend, Kaysha.

Bob Berrie and My Dad

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Tuesday and Wednesday found me

packing up my oldest miracle's bedroom ...

she is leaving home for college.

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Wednesday and Thursday found me

cleaning and rearranging

everything ...

to keep my heart/mind busy,

and depression at bay.

Lindsey' room BEFORE ...

Lindsey's room AFTER ...

BEFORE

AFTER

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I "moved" Lindsey into my old room ...

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Little Nani lost ANOTHER tooth this week ...

making that FOUR in a very short period of time.

Let me remind you she is only four years old,

and has now lost a total of six teeth ...

beginning at the age of three.

Here is my middle miracle

and youngest miracle

warming my heart.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Love y'all :)

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