this is not a foodie blog, but...

I kinda forgot to show you how to fire-roast your tomatoes.


1. Slice your Romas lengthwise in half. And brush on a touch of olive oil on the cut side.




2. Grill them on the cut side first for 5-8 minutes. Then turn them over. Grill them until the skins get a little charred.




3. The skin should peel off easily. This is what they'll look like. Use in stews, chilis, whatever. Actually, I've enjoyed roasted tomatoes on hamburgers. Let me know of any other uses.

I really, really want you to try this at home. A second post about Guatemalan Stew...in pictures.

Okay. So, I wrote about the coolness of my sis Neely and the deliciousness of the stew she gave us a few weeks ago. I included the recipe, knowing full well it looked a bit complicated (read: lots of words). Plus, there was no personal testimonial or pictures to encourage you fine readers.

So, I had to make it myself to see if it was as easy as Neely said it would be. I found out this past weekend when we trekked up to the northern suburbs to dine with Sara and Josh that, indeed, it was novice-friendly.

It only has 10 different Ingredients. You can do that! Check it out...

40 oz. chicken broth (I use bouillon granules and water)
1 leek cleaned and trimmed, sliced in half lengthwise (I'm tempted to use a large white onion next time...I really think you could cheat here and go with the onion. If you do that, just cut it in half and toss it in like you would that silly ol' leek.)
6 -8 chicken thighs, boneless and skinless whole
1 Tbls minced Garlic (If you must, go ahead and use fresh garlic...overachiever!!! purist!!!)

10 Fire Roasted Roma Tomatoes (canned or do this quickly at home*...it's EASY.)
5 -7 Tomatillos, canned
1 1/2 Tbls. minced Garlic (I'm stickin' w/the stuff from the jar. It's easy. And clean.)

1 dried ancho chili (Latin aisle) de-seeded, cut up a little bit (I only de-seeded)
1 dried guajillo chili (yup. Latin aisle) de-seeded and cut up a little bit, too

1 handful (or 1/2 cup) cilantro
1 handful (or 1/2 cup) mint

Ready? Here we go...


Put your chicken, leek (or onion), broth and garlic in a pot and bring to a boil. Then simmer on low for 20 to 30 minutes. (It's thighs, people...they won't dry out, so if you forget about them, don't worry. Quite honestly, I have no idea how long I simmered these thighs.)



After you get that going, put your tomatoes, tomatillos and garlic in another pot and simmer on medium-low for awhile...maybe 20 minutes as well. (Don't worry. Think: Chili. You can't ruin it.) See chicken on the left, tomatillo mixture on the right. Oh...and that's rice in the back left. I started that after I got the tomatoes going. You can do it all at once, pretty much. Nice. Easy.



Okay, so after the chicken/broth mixture has simmered awhile, throw those dried chilies in that broth to soften up. I don't have a picture of this, so here's me. Looking at the pots. Swell, huh? (or should I say swollen?!)



After the chilis soften up, use a slotted spoon to transfer them the tomatillo mixture. If you're using a leek, use a slotted spoon to transfer it to the trash. I didn't know that and used it, but it was a little stringy. If you're using a white onion, put that bad boy in with the tomatillo mixture. While you're at it, transfer the chicken thighs to a cutting board. You'll cut them up later, but not yet. Go ahead and add some of that broth to the tomatillo mixture, too. Oh...And now's about the time you add those delicious herbs. See how pretty?



I thought I was going to hate this next part, but it wasn't so bad. The tomatillo mixture goes in the blender (or food processor if it can handle soups). This was Sara's blender. It had a "veggies" setting. I alternated that with "crush ice". Remember, I put those leeks in there, so I needed the extra chopping power. But even without the leek, you want your chilis and herbs to blend thoroughly.



Return your blended mixture to the pot. The chicken should be cool enough to chop coarsely. Heck, you can shred it if you want. I don't care how big your chicken pieces are...that's your business! shoot. (okay. i'm getting punchy...let's wrap this up!!!) Okay...stir in your chicken. Now you're pretty much done!!!



Do we look stressed out? No. This recipe is totally do-able.



Sara was the first to taste it. I put her on the front lines, just in case it was horrible...or deadly. (I'm really kidding. I'd probably tasted it fifty times already.) She looks a little serious here. That's because awesome food is serious business.



Thanks to Sara's quick thinking at the grocery store and creative culinary skills, we had delicious black beans and corn bread to go with (or was it spoon bread? or both? anyway, it was awesome). Oh, that rice recipe is easy to follow and it was at the bottom of this post. It's really fun to make and would be a good addition to any Latin dish!


oh...almost forgot to tell you, we garnished with chopped cilantro and lime wedges.


Kid friendly? You bet!! Avery was the first one done!



Even Jillian approved.


And look at the joy on that face. That's right, Josh! That bite WILL be delicious.



This concludes my Guatemalan Stew propaganda. If I've convinced just one person to try this recipe, then I will have done my job.

aaaand she's a great cook (amazing recipe included)

Those of you who know my sister Neely, don't know everything about her I'm sure. She picks stocks for a living. She is wife to an wonderful artist. She's incredibly generous with anything she has to give. She could never be described as lazy (ever!). And she's a doting Mama to an incredibly adorable boy, Samuel, who was born in Guatemala. Aaand, man, can she cook!!!

When Brent and I first moved to Minneapolis, we lived with Neely and Steve...for TWO and a HALF MONTHS. They weren't parents yet, and still let our family of four take over two bedrooms the whole house. One of the things that amazed me was Neely's energy level. She'd leave before anyone was up and come home after a full day and whip up an amazing dinner. (I'm sheepishly now wondering why I didn't make dinner every night...)

As I said, Neely is always sharing the bounty. So even now, if she makes a big batch of anything, we get surprised with the "excess". Yeehaw. Last night, I felt particularly blessed, as I was in the hospital with the kids (I'll explain later. We're fine. Don't worry.) when I got a call from Neely.

Neely: "Hey, Jen, I know you don't have any minutes, but I made this Guatemalan stew and it's more than we can eat. Can I drop it by?"

Me: (realizing it's 4pm and I haven't thought about dinner.) "YES!!!"

So, as I pull up to my house, there she is with said stew including the garnishes (an avocado, a lime and a tub of sour cream...I know...those items are a major indication this will be good!).

As I'm prone to--wait for it--take a huge whiff of my food before I eat it, I took in the most glorious aroma. (I promise you, the smelling everything thing...it's not even conscious. Do not take offense if I dine at your table and smell everything first...I'll try to stop.)

Anyway, I think I ate portion of it while heating it up. Amazing. With her permission, I'm sharing the recipe.

Oh...and by the way, she learned this at a Guatemalan Cooking class her best friend got for her as a gift. Good friend! Good Mama! Good sister!

So, without further ado, I introduce Neely the stock picking chef!!!

"I learned how to make this traditional Guatemalan stew at a cooking class by a Guatemalan chef, but I made some adjustments to take the "crazy" out of it...."

Step One: place the following ingredients in a stockpot, bring to a boil, simmer for 20-30 min.

2 lbs. turkey or chicken thighs, boneless/skinless

1 head of garlic, slice the tap nearly off; paper on.. no need to peel

1 leek, cleaned, trimmed and sliced in half lengthwise

32-48 oz. chicken broth/water/whatever

Step Two: place the following ingredients in another large pot and cook on low to medium heat

you can roast your own tomatoes (10), tomatillos (5) and garlic (3-4)... OR you can use the following:

1 large can of whole tomatoes, i like to use the fire roasted muir garden type

1 large can of crushed tomatoes, again, the fire roasted muir garden type

1 can of cooked tomatillos (in the mexican food aisle).. the can will have 5-10 tomatillos in it

3-4 garlic cloves, peeled/smashed

Step Three: prepare your chiles

use a pair of scissors to de-seed (empty) and cut up: 1 ancho chile pepper and 1 guajillo pepper

use some of the hot stock to cover the peppers in a bowl for 5-10 minutes in order to soften up

Step Four: blend, baby, blend

add the chilis (including the juice) and a solid handful of each cilantro and mint to the Step Two large pot of ingredients

use a really good immersion blender to puree the ingredients all together

Step Five: add the chicken and serve over rice* (i'll email my new favorite rice recipe)

cut the thighs into smaller pieces and add, along with 1-2 cups of the broth, into the stew

And for the finale... here's the official name of this stew: 'Kac Ik' (I am NOT making this up)"

Serve over Arroz con Maiz, recipe by Amalia Damgaard

1 c. rice

1.75 c. chicken broth (i use the leftover broth from the stew recipe)

1 Tbl. oil

1 garlic clove, rough chop

1 small onion, grated in your cheese grater

1 celery stalk, whole and bruised (take back of knife and bang it along the stalk)

juice from 1/2 lime

1 c. frozen corn

Bring to a boil, stir once, cover, lower heat to simmer and cook until water is absorbed (about 15 minutes). Discard the celery and serve

ebony and ivory

That's what I sang to Jillian as I made these cookies this morning. Except, I changed the lyrics to...

E-bon-y and I-vor-y
That's the way that a coo-kie ought to be....

Here's the recipe for Chocolate White Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 c. butter
2 c. sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla

mix these together in a large bowl.

2 c. flour
3/4 c. cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

blend these together in a medium bowl and gradually mix into butter mixture.

Lastly, and super importantly, stir in a bag of white chocolate chips.

Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. Cool on baking sheet for five minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely (if you can wait that long before you completely devour them, washing them down with ice cold milk).

And for you listening and viewing pleasure, the original...




Am I the only one who sung songs like this in my elementary music class??