Chile Verde

Hello friends,

when I first moved in with my husband everything was so new. We had moved in to our first apartment and I loved it! I had the final say so in where we were going to live and when I saw the second apartment I knew it was the one. It was a 2 bedroom one bath apartment. It had a washer and dryer included which was a great bonus since I was moving from my Dad's house and all I had to my name was my bedroom knick knacks. My husband had more things than I did because well he had been living on his own for far longer than I had. I wanted a huge kitchen and with the apartment I got my wish.

Now I don't know how many of you have come to this realization when you have moved in with your significant other but my husbands kitchen stuff.....was horrible! Mismatched pots and pans, stained with who-knows-what plates, and all kinds of eating utensils! Well since I didn't have a lot of things I had to accept that these were now (hopefully temporarily) my things as well.

Over the following months I also came to a pretty horrid realization....I didn't really know how to cook. I mean sure I could make one or two good dishes. Lasagna was one of them, and the other was what my Mom calls Chile Verde. I may have not mentioned this before but my roots and family are Mexican. In this blog, even though Mexican roots will be very strong, I try my luck with everything from Italian, Cajun, Asian, and anything I think I can pull off!

The funny thing is that a couple of months before I met my husband my Mom decided that she was going to teach my sisters and I how to cook in preparation of becoming wives in the future. My sisters and I laughed this off, how crazy we thought! Well if it wasn't for my wise Mother I would have had to learn over the phone how to make this dish. It is very easy and the recipe is as follows:

Chile Verde

Ingredients:

2-3 Jalapenos (de-seeded)

1 tomato (cut in quarters and without the top middle brown part)

1/4 cup of chopped onion

3-4 large Russet potatoes

1 pound of chuck beef cut up in bite size pieces

salt to taste

1/4 teaspoon of olive oil (or pretty much any oil of your choice)

1/4 cup of water

Optional:

1/2 cube of either beef or chicken bullion

Directions:

1. If the meat you have bought is not chopped go ahead and chop the meat in small chunks. Make sure to cut all the fat out.

2. Peel your potatoes and chop in to small chunks just like the meat.

3. In a blender throw in your jalapenos, tomato, and water. Taste your sauce. If it is too spicy I recommend putting in half of a chicken bouillon cube, this will cut out the spiciness of the sauce.

4. Once you have your sauce ready and all your veggies are cut it is time to cook everything. Use a Dutch Oven or large pot. Put in olive oil and heat for 2 minutes. Make sure the temperature of your pot is about medium heat.

5. At this point toss in the onions. Once they become translucent toss in the beef.

6. The beef is going to cook for about 10 minutes. At first its going to release water, then the pot will evaporate all the excess water. Then you will hear the beef start to sizzle signifying that the water is gone. At this point, add in your potatoes.

7. Immediately add in your sauce. This should create a sort of stew. If you wish for your Chile to be a little more soupy add in a bit more water. If you like your Chile not so runny just add in your sauce and let it simmer. Add salt to taste.

8. Cover your dish and cook until the potatoes are soft. Stir frequently until then.


If something is unclear or your are not sure about something please go ahead and ask. I check this blog pretty frequently. Hopefully you enjoy!

Shrimp Ceviche Tostadas

Hello beautiful people,

I don't know about you but sometimes I just want to eat something light and delicious(who doesn't?!). Shrimp is by far one of my favorite things to eat in this world! I can never have enough shrimp. Whether it's fried, crispy, baked whatever I do not care! There is a Mexican dish called ceviche. Ceviche can be described as raw fish that is cooked in citrus which can be lemons or lime. I know what your thinking, raw fish?! YES! Even though this recipe is with shrimp it is usually made with fish. Feel free to substitute fish for the following recipe. I recommend using either tilapia fillets or Pollock fish. The safest thing to do is to make sure you marinate your fish in lime juice to "cook" it. Below is the recipe:

 

Ingredients:

1 pound of cooked shrimp or fish (Pollock or Tilapia)

1 cucumber chopped in to small pieces

1 medium sized tomato chopped to small pieces

2 stalks of celery chopped to small pieces

1/2 medium sized onion chopped to small pieces (I would use purple onion but white onion works)

1 cup of lime juice (takes about 7-8 large limes)

Salt and pepper to taste

Optional:

1 jalapeno seeded and chopped

Tostadas:

1 package of your preffered brand of corn tortillas

Olive oil

Salt


Directions:

1. Make tostadas first. Set up a plate with a paper towel on top to catch any remaining oil from tostadas. I also recommend having tongs to cook tostadas.
2. In a frying pan pour olive oil. Make sure you have about half an inch of oil in the pan, once you do set heat to medium.
3. After 5 minutes slowly put in a corn tortilla. Cook for about 2-3 minutes on each side until both sides are brown but not burnt.
4. Drain excess oil with the help of your tongs in to the frying pan before placing tostada on plate. Once your next tostada is in the frying pan sprinkle salt to the freshly cooked tostada.
5. In a medium sized bowl toss in shrimp first then all of your vegetables.
6. Empty the lime juice in to the bowl and combine all ingredients.
7. Add salt and pepper to your taste.
8. Once all of your tostadas have been cooked, put ceviche on tostadas.

This recipe is super simple. The hardest part is going to be cutting all of your vegetables. That is the most time consuming part of this process. Feel free to mix and match ingredients. If you don't like my selection feel free to experiment. There is no right or wrong!

*Note: if you are using fish make sure you put fish in to your bowl first then add the lime juice and let it marinate for at least 10 minutes before you add the remaining ingredients.*

Who am I?

Hello everyone,

My name is Maria. I have created this blog because in the past year of my life I have learned so many great things and I want to share them with all of you. I will tell you a little bit of my past so you can understand why I am doing this.
 
I am 27 years old. I am a newlywed. I have been officially married since May of 2013 and I was lucky enough to have two weddings! I met my husband, James, through an online dating website in August of 2012. We met and we instantly fell in love! He happens to be in the Air Force and I, at the time, was living in El Paso, Texas. He was stationed at Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, New Mexico which was about an hour and a half away from me. He proposed in January of 2013 and we moved in together and had our courthouse wedding in Alamogordo on May 10 of 2013. This was just our families of course and then in August of 2013 we had a beautiful church wedding. It was the happiest day of our lives. During this time my husband happened to get orders and we were shocked! We were moving to Amsterdam! Two weeks after our church wedding we arrived at Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands and since then we have been living in a little town right outside of Amsterdam named Nieuw Vennep.
 
I had always been a working woman. Right before I moved to Alamogordo with my husband I had been working as an Office Manager for a landscaping company in El Paso. I had been there for 7 years! While I loved the people I worked with I was also excited to venture out and try new things. I had a brief job in Alamogordo where I worked as a Dispatcher for a trash company. When I heard we were moving to Amsterdam I was excited! I thought to myself wow, I am going to work there and what a new amazing experience that will be! Well that did not work out as I wanted it to. Since I do not speak Dutch I discovered quick that the possibility of finding a job was pretty much not a choice. I gave up and decided to tackle new territory, becoming a housewife.
 
I never thought I would enjoy it. I always said to myself I will die before I work at home. Well here I am 6 months later and I cannot tell you how wrong I was! Being a housewife is not an easy job. Sure there are housewives who have help and have children and it is the most stressful thing to do but I believe you can find joy in anything you do! I started this blog because I want to share all that I have learned. Not only from Pinterest, Facebook, and the internet but also from my friends, family, and my surroundings. This blog will hopefully help you in some way. Whether its from a recipe, life advice, or beauty tips. I look forward to hearing from you and helping you in any way I can.
 
Maria