La Morena

I've been craving a lot of Mexican food lately. Probably the lack of heat & sun it being February and all. But I thought I share one of my favorite things to make lately. It involves this fabulous little can. Actually, I use La Morena's Chipotle Sauce, but I've used the peppers in adobe sauce too. In either case, to use the whole can, you've got to make a bunch, but I've found that if you only use 1/2 a can, the left overs freeze fairly well for your next batch.

I use a can of black beans, a can of white hominy (both regular 15 oz cans, rinsed), throw them both on top of some sauted onions and garlic, add some cumin, a 1/2 bottle of beer, 1/2 a can of the chipotle sauce (or if using the whole peppers, cut up 1/3 of them into smaller bite sized pieces - or you can puree the can & use 1/3 of it). Let is simmer along for awhile, or better yet, pop the whole thing in the over at around 350 degrees for an hour.

It's all gone or I would post some pictures.

what's been cooking

This weekend I got to try some long awaited recipes and returned to some old favorites. Friday night I made the incredibly addictive Hot Glazed Tempeh from Veginomicon. I can not tell you how much I love this recipe. I crave this stuff, but since really only Jason and I like it, I don't make it that often. Alongside the tempeh we had baked sweet potatoes, cornbread (I got to try out the little corn cob cast iron pan that I got for Christmas), and a black eyed pea/greens soup that I had frozen from New Years. It was super delish. Plus maybe those black eyed peas gave us extra luck for 2010.

Sunday, Todd and Natascha came to brunch, so I had an audience for my experiment, the Italian Feast "sausage" from Vegan Brunch. I also test kitchened the Chocolate Stout waffles and made a batch of the raised waffles (we had tried those Christmas Day), both of these are also in Vegan Brunch. I really love that book. Every recipe I've tried from it has been a keeper. I will definitely be making both of the waffles and the fauxage (as Todd calls it) again. Though next time I think I'll try the choritzo variation.

I wish I could say I got more done this weekend. I needed to change the sheets on the bed, do laundry, and about a gazillion other things, but it just didn't happen. Nora and I did make valentines for the grandparents though, so at least I'm ahead of schedule on that.

For Natascha

I know it's too late for your first day of school (and your first day of work), but I saw this and thought of you. Congratulations on the new job, the new school, and being back in STL instead of jetting all over the world.

Literary Cat of the Day

Princess Arjumand from To Say Nothing of the Dog. Yes, I know that this is the literary cat of the day post and I'm referencing a book that has a dog in it's title. The dog is important but it's the cat that causes big trouble. I read this months ago, but I'm still thinking about this book. Part mystery, part comedy, part science fiction, part romance, this book pokes fun at multiple genres and references so many of my favorite books its hard for me to stop gushing about it. Just read it, you will be happy you did.

Two Words

Steampunk Romance

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Finally a subgenre just for me.

Book Trailers

Thanks to Smart Bitches Trashy Books, I'm all about the book trailers now. Does any other genre do this or is it just a Romance thing? Anyway, here's what I'm going to be reading soon:



Sherry Thomas is in my TBR pile already, but I keep adding more of hers the more I read about her. Now if only I could stop reading the Feehan. She's ridiculous but addictive.

Holiday Roundup

We survived the rush of Christmas week. Between Nora's Birthday and assorted family get-togethers it was a bit of a whirl. Here's a few photos to give you the gist: