This is a great recipe that will feed lots of people and it’s great for left-overs.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds of lean ground beef
• 3 diced carrots
• 2 diced potatoes
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• Cumin (to taste)
• 1 chipotle finely chopped (or to taste)
• 1/2 cup of tomato puree
• Salt and Pepper

Process:

In a big pot or pan saute half of the onions until translucent, add the beef, salt pepper and chopped chipotle. Cook the meat until it’s not pink any more making sure you stir often so it doesn’t clump. In a different pan saute the other half of onions until translucent add the carrots and potatoes. Cook until soft but not mushy, mix the meat and veggie mix in the bigger pot, add the tomato puree, cumin and adjust seasoning. On medium low heat cook a bit longer to integrate the flavors. Serve with a big stack of hot CORN tortillas.

You can also serve refried beans and freshly made green salsa (or from a jar… but not as good).

Notes:

The easiest way to get some quick and good refried beans is to buy a can of traditional refried beans or black beans, add them to a pan with a little bit of butter and add grated cheese and cumin to them. A little chipotle juice will add some punch too. It will make regular canned beans very good.

This is a great winter recipe, but you can change the veggies depending on the season. Another easy to change recipe if you are feeding many people.

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Ingredients:

• 6 chicken pieces, skin on (any combination of drumsticks, thighs, breasts that you like)
• 2 peeled potatoes cut into 1 inch cubes
• 2 peeled carrots cut into 1 inch rounds
• 1 onion cut into 1 inch cubes
• 4 or 5 cloves of garlic, whole, peeled
• Salt & Pepper
• 2 sprigs of rosemary (plucked from the stems and coarsely chopped)
• Olive oil

Process:

In a large baking dish (rectangular pyrex or a broiler pan) scatter all the veggies, including the garlic. Place the chicken pieces on top (skin side up), sprinkle generously with olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary. With your hands mix and rub the olive oil and condiments well into the veggies and chicken.

Place pan into the center rack of the oven and let cook until the veggies are soft and the chicken skins turn golden brown.

Serve with a simple green salad.

Variations:

You can easily down-size or up-size this recipe by adding/subtracting chicken and veggies. I have found in the past that potatoes are extremely popular, so add extra…

Some other vegetables that work are: rutabagas, parsnips, sweet potatoes, corn cut into 1.5 inch rounds, peeled beets, we like lots of garlic so I often add more cloves in there, broccoli in large chunks (although it tends to char a little bit some times), etc… use your imagination.

Fresh thyme can also work, but I have found that rosemary (fresh or dried) is a lot yummier. Don’t skimp on the pepper either.

A nice addition is a simple gravy made with the Gravy Base recipe, if you don’t have time to make one from scratch, just use a packaged one.

Ok, just because this one KICKS ASS!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 shots Godiva® chocolate liqueur
1 1/2 shots creme de cacao
1/2 shot vodka
2 1/2 shots half-and-half

Process:

Rosca de Reyes is one of the most beautiful traditions in Mexico for the Holidays, celebrated on January 6th, the day of the Three Kings or Holy Wisemen. It is shared by family and friends for supper accompanied by a delicious cup of Mexican Hot Chocolate (Ibarra or La Abuelita). The tradition is that when you cut your piece and eat it, you have to watch and see if you get the little baby Jesus figurine (No, I’ve never heard of anybody choking on it…). The lucky people to get the figurine in their slice have to throw a party on February 2nd -St. Brigits or Candelaria- and serve tamales for all those involved in the cutting of the Rosca.

Ingredients:

• 30g or 4 envelopes of dried yeast
• 5 cups of flour
• 200g of butter
• 4 eggs
• 8 yolks
• 1 can of sweet condensed milk
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp of rose water or a few drops of orange flavoring
• 1 cup of candied fruit, chopped (cherries, figs, orange peel, etc).
• 2-3 plastic baby Jesus figurines
• 1 beaten egg for glazing

Decoration:

• Various candied fruits and sugar

Process:

Preheat oven to 200 C or 390 F

Mix the yeast in about 1/4 of a cup of warm water and add 2 tbsp. of flour. Let rest until foamy and doubled in size.

Sift the rest of the flour on a table, make a pit in the middle and add half of the butter, the eggs, the yolks, the sweet condensed milk, salkt, flavoring and the yeast mix.

Slowly mix all the ingredients with fingertips and knead lightly until a paste is formed. Knead thoroughly and throw against the table top, as you incorporate the rest of the butter until the dough is soft and pliable. Form into a ball.

Rub a bit of oil around the dough and place in a large oiled bowl. Let rest in a warm spot loosely covered with some plastic wrap until about doubled in size. Punch the dough down, and roll into a thin long sheet on a floured surface, about 7 by 25 inches.

Distribute the fruit and the plastic figurines evenly throughout the sheet of dough, roll carefully length-wise. Place on a lightly greased and floured cookie sheet and shape it into a round or oval ring, pinching the seams and making sure it seals properly. Let the ring rest until it has about doubled its size again. Before putting into the oven, glaze with the beaten egg, decorate with the candied fruit and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until the ring takes a slight golden color.

This gravy recipe can be used to make a sauce to accompany any meat or vegetable dish, it is also the base for the white sauce used in Chicken Pot Pie.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of all purpose flour
• 3 tbsp of butter
• 1 finely chopped shallot or 2 tbsp of finely chopped onion
• 2 cups of warm Chicken broth
  or warm water with chicken bouillion
• Salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter and saute the onion until translucent. Add the flour one tbsp at a time and cook for a couple minutes, for a darker gravy, cook the flour until it gets golden brown. Add the broth little by little while constantly whisking. Let the roux thicken to desired consistency, add salt and pepper and remove from heat.

Variations:

It is possible to saute mushrooms, chopped and cooked chicken livers, or any other ingredient you like with the shallots before adding the flour. This will give the gravy different flavors. Also, it’s possible to substitute the butter by drippings from a roast chicken, turkey or roast.