Tuesday, August 31, 2010

garden fresh :)


Pollo Poblano:
Chicken in Poblano Cream Sauce

This easy recipe is one of the few instances where poblanos are used without having to be roasted and peeled. The sauce can be made ahead of time and the dish assembled quickly before serving. It can be made in larger quantities, keeping the proportions the same, making it ideal for big parties. The sauce is also excellent for topping mushroom or huitlacoche crepes, or for mixing with cooked pasta, topped with cheese and popped in the oven until the cheese melts.

Ingredients:

* 3-4 poblano chiles, seeded and chopped
* 1/2 cup milk
* 4 tablespoons butter
* 1 tablespoon flour
* 1 cup Mexican crema or heavy cream
* salt to taste
* 2 whole chicken breasts, cut in half
* 1 cup grated manchego, jack or gouda cheese

Preparation:

Puree the chiles in a blender with the milk until smooth. In a medium saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter, add the flour and brown lightly. Add the chile puree, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or a wire whisk until smooth. Lower the heat, add the cream, and stir constantly until the sauce begins to bubble. Remove from heat and add salt to taste. This sauce may be made one day ahead and refrigerated.

Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet and saute chicken breast halves for 4 minutes on each side. Place them in a buttered baking dish, pour the poblano cream sauce over all, top with the grated cheese and bake, uncovered, in a preheated oven at 350ยบ for 20 minutes. The cheese will be golden and bubbly.

Serve immediately.
Serves 4.

(Recipe Source)

JoyGirl Notes: Next time I would make the cream sauce thicker and definitely add onions. I topped with onions, avocados, and tomatoes.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

sunday joy and celebrations

Yesterday we found these two adirondack chairs at a yard sale for $15 (total).

All he needs is a buddy to come sit with him and wile away the summer.

Back in the other chair. He helped daddy put them together!

Auntie Katie came over later with her mom and dad. It is finally time to celebrate her birthday...a mere 28 days past her actual birthday. :)

Ms. Sassy!

He commandeered the birthday tiara.

Come on, grandpa, play with me!

Resistance is futile. :)

Hanging out with the fam...

Katie's birthday cake.

All lit up.

Making her wishes come true.
Happy Birthday, Katie!

Saturday, August 28, 2010

cinco!

fun with a toy



This is a little toy Angela left for Kaemon Ze when she and her family visited over the summer. it gets turned inside-out and then you drop it on the floor and it bounces really high. A lot of fun for kids. Kaemon Ze doesn't yet have the hand strength to turn it inside out, so we do that for him. He loves to drop it and make it bounce. It's a rather volatile thing: when it's inside-out, it can easily "pop" in your hand, which stings a bit. That's the part we were laughing about here. :)

raod agent - a very rare car

We are incredibly blessed to have great neighbors all around us. Randy gives us an exquisite bottle of tequila for watering his tomatoes while they were away; Jessica gives us veggies over the fence; and Lonnie gets the coolest cars to work on - and always tells Kaemon Ze, "come over any time." Here's Lonnie's latest project:





Oh man, Kaemon Ze really really wanted to get in this car! But... it doesn't belong to Lonnie, so it was a no-go. Jason said he'd only seen this car as a Matchbox car; I recall seeing it as one, too...but never thought it was real!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Thursday, August 19, 2010

fun in the dirt













(pablano peppers!)

Hello! We're back from vacation, and after another week of having the crud, I'm finally able to get some photos posted. I'll start with last night and work my way backwards. :)