Joy of Country Living

I’ve been digging through recipes today looking for a recipe to make a carrot and onion relish we used to eat in Houston. This relish was served at Molina’s Mexican restaurant . . . a few years back.   If I remember correctly - the original restaurant was located on Westheimer.  When you’d go in they would seat you and then bring out a dish piled high with this relish along with a basket of warm, crisp tortilla chips and it was delicious. Like all my favorite restaurant recipes – this one was clipped from the Houston Chronicle courtesy Rose Mary Molina. It keeps well in the fridge if you have any leftover.

You will need:

• 2 carrots sliced in the round
• 2 onions sliced in rings
• 1 jalapeno pepper sliced in rounds
• 2 garlic cloves – sliced
• Salt, ground black pepper and 1 bay leaf
• White vinegar (45-grain strength,i.e. 4.5 – 5% acidity)

Place the sliced carrots on the bottom of a saucepan; next place the sliced onions, jalapeno, garlic, salt, pepper and bay leaf on top. Add enough of the vinegar to just cover. Bring to a boil the reduce the heat, simmering over low heat until the vegetables are cooked (but not mushy – you want them to be a little crisp). Store in a glass container with a screw on lid. Refrigerate.

In addition to an appetizer, it is good mixed with boiled shrimp or sandwich relish.

Note – cut the jalapeno pepper with caution; do not rub your eyes until you have washed your hands thoroughly; and remember if you want the relish a little less hot – remove the seeds.

Pear tree update – they seem to be doing fine and are starting to put out little leaf buds. When the rain stops we’ll need to put up a wire fence around them to keep the deer from eating all the new growth off.

We’ve all had our eyes play tricks on us – and the pictures here are no exception. Saw these today on the FoxNews.com site and thought they were some of the better illusions I’ve seen.  They all seem to ‘move’ when you look at them.  Some I found to have more ‘movement’ than others.    There were a couple – not shown – that didn’t seem to offer any illusion to me  at all.  The link to view all of  the optical illusions on the Fox site  is at the bottom of this post. 

The pictures have been down-sized, but click on them once to enlarge for the full effect. To reduce the size back down click twice on the large image (left mouse button).

If you’d like to see the other illusions visit this link  http://www.foxnews.com/slideshow/scitech/2010/01/29/mind-bending-optical-illusions?test=faces.   The original source for these was Unreality Magazine.com

That wonderful ‘warm’ weather we had last week didn’t last for long. However, it did last long enough for David and me to go out yesterday and buy a couple of pear trees to set out. Ordinarily we wouldn’t do something like that on a weekday but we were without power yesterday. The electric co-op was ‘doing maintenance work’ – so we were pretty much dead stopped. You don’t realize what all you can’t do without electricity until you don’t have it.

We took a drive down some East Texas country roads until we found a nursery (recommended by Cousin Joe) that sold fruit trees suited to this area. The old gentleman running it had all kinds of trees – pear, plum, peach and apple. I didn’t know you could grow apples here in Texas. He took us out into the ‘patch’ where he had them growing. Coming from the city, I’m used to buying my trees, plants, etc. from the nurseries there in pots – big pots! Not here. These trees appeared to be growing right in the ground. Hmmmmm…surely they MUST be in pots in the ground, I just couldn’t see the pots….right? Nope. When we picked our trees he yanked them right up – roots and all! I was stunned. There was a little dirt hanging on to the roots – but he make quick work of that and washed it right off!! OK, so now we’ve got pear trees with no limbs and naked roots. They look like walking sticks that need to be trimmed. The whole time I’m wondering…’can these things survive?!’ The old gentleman running the shop – seemed confident they would – so we brought them home. On getting home (power is back on – yeah!!) we immediately set out to plant our two stick pear trees. It is supposed to start raining and getting really, really cold, and I’m not letting those roots be exposed to any more air than necessary. We put them in the orchard area and planted them according to Mr. Russel’s directions. So right now my pear trees are planted per instructions, getting soaked in the rain and likely to freeze tonight. I have high hopes for them though. When they start producing they’ll have crisp pears (don’t like those mushy ones) and be good for eating or cooking.

This link is for a good half-sugar free recipe for a pear crisp. Pears are also good when used in pies with apples, plums and peaches.

And if, you’re looking for an alternative pear recipe, we like upside-down pear cake. Using a store bought cake mix makes it easy. My version is to use only half of the cake mix (per box directions), 2-3 sliced pears, brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter.

Mix up half (or less) of the cake mix (my secret to a better boxed cake is to add an extra egg, add 1/4-1/2 teaspoon vanilla and use real butter instead of oil).

In a round baking dish or flan pan, place 1 tablespoon of thin butter slices on the bottom. Sprinkle 1/4 cup brown sugar over the butter, shake a little cinnamon over the brown sugar and then lay the pear slices on top in a circle.

Pour the cake batter over the top and bake at 325-330 degrees until done. Allow to cool for about 10-15 minutes and then turn cake out onto a flat plate and enjoy!

While rummaging in the fridge looking for lost left-overs I found an apple. Being that apples seem to have a pretty good ’shelf’ life – it looked OK – but I wasn’t sure if it was something I wanted to eat raw. But – on the other hand – not much you can do with just 1 apple. Since I didn’t have any other fresh fruits lying around – my thoughts immediately went to the frozen blueberries in the freezer (yes, the ones I picked last year!). While I’ve not seen any recipes where apples and blueberries were paired – the combination didn’t sound bad – so thought I’d see what I could come up with. Violá . . . the birth of Sugar Free Blueberry-Apple Pocket Pies.

They are on the order of a ‘fried pie’ except these are baked – not fried, the fruit mixture was put in the dough pocket uncooked vs. cooked for a fried pie. After baking them for about 20 minutes or so – they came out of the oven toasty brown and delicious. Since this experiment was a success – in our opinion – I’m passing it on to you. While the recipe I made was sugar free – you can easily replace the Splenda and powdered sugar with regular sugars if you’re not looking for it to be sugar free.

Ingredients:

• 1 Apple! (medium sized)
• 1/3 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup Splenda
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 heaping tablespoon corn starch
• 1 recipe of pie dough or 1 sleeve of Pillsbury uncooked pie dough

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Peel and thinly slice the apple. In a medium sized bowl combine the sliced apple, blueberries, Splenda, cinnamon, and corn starch. Mix together until the pieces of fruit are coated with the corn starch and Splenda. Set aside.

On a floured area roll out the dough to a square shape – it will seem thin. Cut into 4 equal sizes. Place 1/4 of the fruit mixture on the lower half of the pie dough square. Fold over the top and use a fork to crimp the 3 sides sealing them to form a ‘pocket’ for the fruit. Repeat process for remainder of fruit and dough squares. Place completed pockets on an ungreased cookie sheet. Do not make any vent cuts. Brush top with a little butter (I used Parkay non-fat spray instead – worked just as well and no calories) and bake in a pre-heated 425 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove to a platter and dust with Splenda powdered sugar. Serve with a little sugar free ice cream on the side for an extra yummy dessert.

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I’m always excited to get a new recipe – especially one that’s both delicious and easy. The meal we had for lunch today was a recipe I got from David’s sister-in-law - affectionately known as the ‘cat lady’ -  who lives near Austin. It’s a yummy casserole with a Mexican flavor including green chilies, corn tortillas and cheese. Served with rice and any other side dish you might like – guacamole, cheese dip and chips, taco sauce – makes it a quick delicious meal. (And, I’m betting the leftover casserole tomorrow will be even better!)

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of lean ground hamburger (more if you like lots of meat)
• 1 small onion chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped
• 2 tablespoons dry Taco Seasoning (your favorite brand)
• 5 corn tortillas (they work best)
• 1 small can chopped green chilies (I used only half the can)
• 1 can of enchilada sauce (red kind)
• 1 tablespoon oil (Olive, of course)
• 4 ounces coarsely grated Cheddar or Mexican cheese
• 2 ounces Pepper Jack cheese grated (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease the bottom of a 2-quart casserole.

In a medium sized sauce pan (over medium heat) heat the oil and then add in the chopped onions and garlic. Saute for about 1-2 minutes. Add in the ground hamburger meat and cook until crumbly. Pour off any excess oil if present before adding in the taco seasoning, green chilies, and about 2/3’s of the can of enchilada sauce. Stir until well mixed, remove from heat.

Pour the remaining enchilada sauce into a separate bowl. Cut the tortillas into quarters and have the grated cheddar cheese handy. You now want to layer the ingredients in the casserole dish. Start with about 1/3 of the meat mixture, next dip the corn tortilla quarters in the enchilada sauce and place them on top of the meat covering it completely (use about 6 quarters per layer). Next  put about 1/3 of the grated Cheddar or Mexican cheese on top of the tortillas. Repeat the process until all the meat, tortillas and cheese have been used. If there is any enchilada sauce remaining  in the bowl you dipped the tortilla pieces in – pour it over the top of the finished casserole. If you are using Pepper Jack,  spread it around on top of the final layer of  Cheddar/Mexican cheese for the last layer.

Bake in a preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly then serve. 

Hope you enjoy this as much as we did and ‘thanks’ Jerry for sharing this recipe with me.