Autumn musings and a breakfast recipe

When does autumn begin in your part of the world?   September, October, and November are traditional months for autumn weather in the Northern Hemisphere, but here in the Southwestern part of the United States, summer lingers with a vengeance throughout the month of September. All hopes are on October to bring relief from mind-numbing heat.

October is my favorite month in El Paso, Texas. my home town.  We can’t boast about leaves changing to red and gold, because trees, plants, and grass are all still green, even enjoying a growth spurt in the cooler weather.  But weekend outdoor festivals are on everyone’s calendar where you can listen to music, eat, drink, and be very merry with family and friends. 

The neglected pots and pans in the kitchen beckon because we can now cook without heating up the house.  This is the season that will end with Thanksgiving Day, much celebrated with traditional home-cooked dishes. Winter with its cold and dark days is too far away to worry about. This is the season of harvest and plenty.  

Here is one of my favorite autumn morning breakfast dishes, made with cranberries.

Salado Berries  This recipe brings back Thanksgiving memories.  For many years, my husband Wayne and I traveled to Central Texas to celebrate the holiday with members of his family, the Calks. Often his brother and sister-in-law, Max and Jeannette, would meet us in Salado, Texas, a delightful town several miles north of the capital, Austin. One year we stayed in a bed and breakfast where we were first served this breakfast dish.

One bag fresh cranberries (I buy them in season and freeze for use all year.)

One cup white sugar (or Splenda)

Mix the above ingredients together and microwave for five minutes.

Then mix the following ingredients and crumble on top of the fruit mixture.

One cup flour

One cup oatmeal

One-half cup brown sugar (or one-fourth cup Splenda brown sugar blend)

One-fourth cup butter

One-half cup chopped pecans

Bake uncovered for 40 minutes at 325 degrees.

Great served with bacon and eggs or an omelet.

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Liven up Mondays with a taco

Monday nights can be a real drag.  The work week stretches out in front with the weekend in the far distance.

Recently, my husband Wayne and I decided to try to cure the Monday blues by going to a local restaurant that advertises "Taco Monday."

Tacos are an integral part of Southwest culture.  Almost any ingredient can be put into a taco shell (a corn tortilla, crispy or soft) to qualify as a taco. And tacos are the ultimate hand-held food.  No one would ever consider eating a taco with a knife and fork.

The Riviera Restaurant in El Paso, Texas has been around a long time, as you can see from the sign on the outside of this restaurant.

The interior of the restaurant is fairly typical of many El Paso restaurants, except for the original art on the walls.

A large sign at the entrance assured us we had come to the right place on the right evening for tacos.

My eyes went to the vegetarian choices - bean, potato, guacamole and avocado, while Wayne, the carnivore, focused on beef, chicken or al pastor (pork). 

Our server brought the requisite tostada chips and salsa to the table and took our orders.  You can see by the picture below that Wayne and I were in a race to see if the salsa was authentic.  (It was.)  One can usually judge the quality of a Mexican food restaurant by the flavors in the salsa. 

El Pasoans are so spoiled with free chips and salsa that any local restaurant that actually dares to charge for this dining staple is suspect of not being quite authentic enough.

The taco plates arrived, served with lettuce, tomato, and grated white cheese on the side.

The meal had been so inexpensive that we decided to top it off with our favorite dessert - flan.  Flan is a baked custard with caramel sauce, and it is truly delicious.  It was so tasty, in fact, that I forget to take a picture until we were halfway through the dessert.

Many local restaurants advertise "Taco Tuesday", but I am glad the Riviera gave us a chance to go out on the town on what would have been otherwise a pretty boring Monday night!

Mild, medium or hot - how do you like your green chiles?

The green chile harvest in Southern New Mexico heralds the approach of many invigorating sensations - the promise of cooler fall weather, the anticipation of outdoor festivals, and, best of all, the fresh green chile season.

"What's the big deal with green chiles?"  you may well ask if you are not familiar with this fall ritual.  Locals take the availability of fresh green chiles very seriously indeed.

This year my husband Wayne and I were invited by another El Paso couple to join them in a traditional chile-buying expedition.  Although fresh green chiles begin appearing in local markets in August and continue through September, we made plans for an outing to nearby Hatch, New Mexico, billed as the Green Chile Capital of the World!

The small town of Hatch is located about an hour and a half's drive from El Paso, Texas. And it is a pleasant drive, city streets giving way to farmland as we arrived around noon.  At  Sparky's, the traditional stop for hamburgers, our lunch conversation was mostly green-chile centered. Is it better to have the store roast the chiles for you or roast them at home on your own grill?   How many pounds of chiles should you buy to last a year?  And most important of all - should you request mild, medium, or hot chiles? Opinions on these important points differed greatly!

This looked like the right spot for our chile shopping.

Fresh bags of chiles were arriving from the farm.

And being quickly unloaded.

Wayne and I chose a 40 pound sack of mild chiles to have roasted on the spot.  The terms mild, medium or hot are of course relative terms.  And this is one decision you don't want to leave to the chile salesman!  Wayne bit into one of the raw chiles from the mild stack and gave his seal of approval.

The chiles were put into the roaster and removed when the skins had blackened.  Ah, if only I could capture the distinct aroma of roasting chiles on this page!

Our friends chose two sacks of medium-hot Big Jim chiles, which they planned to take home to roast. They also bought a ristra, red chiles on a string, much used in the Southwest for decoration or preparation of red chile sauce.

We put our chiles in a cooler with ice in the trunk so they wouldn't get over-steamed and brought them home immediately to bag up for the freezer.

 

Then came another big decision.  With this abundance of chiles, how should we use them?  We consumed a few with a light sprinkling of salt during the bagging process.  I decided to make an easy, all purpose green chile sauce using a recipe in the September issue of  New Mexico Magazine.

Basically, you saute onions and garlic, add a little flour, add chopped and roasted chiles, then add chicken stock and salt. Bring to boil and simmer for 15 minutes.  Quite easy!  We had enough sauce for cheese enchiladas, topping for an omelet, and the last bit mixed with a little white cheese for a supper side dish.

There is something very comforting about having two freezer shelves stacked with roasted green chile packages waiting for some creative cooking.  And I'm so glad we chose the mild chiles!  All taste without the burn.  Guess we are going soft!

A great veggie and fruit treat for summer

With Southwest Desert temperatures hitting high marks on the mercury in these dog days of summer, the very thought of heating up the kitchen to prepare a meal gives me a good excuse to eat yet another bologna fold-over sandwich for supper.

But a nagging voice keeps invading my thoughts, reminding me of the virtues of eating lots of vegetables and fruits.  Recently, my husband Wayne, master griller, offered to cook supper outside. Yes!

To counterbalance whatever carnivore delicacy I knew he would be grilling, I emptied the vegetable bin onto the kitchen counter.  Red onions, zucchini, jalapeño peppers, tomatoes, and red, yellow, and orange bell peppers.  After a little trimming and chopping, these vegetables went into a special grilling pan, an inexpensive purchase we made several years ago.

While digging around in the refrigerator for vegetables, I came across a bag of peaches we had been ignoring because of their bland taste.  I was about to throw the peaches in the trash when some vague memory of hearing about the joys of grilling fruit came to me.  I peeled and cut up the peaches and added them on top of the vegetable mix.

Here is Wayne liberally seasoning the mixture with olive oil spray and Jerry Baird's All-Purpose Seasoning.

The vegetable/fruit dish was ready for the grill!

Wayne cooked the mixture over a mesquite wood fire, spraying it several more times with olive oil. When the vegetable were crusty, he declared the dish done.  It looks like he sneaked a piece of his favorite sausage in on the side.

We had grilled vegetables many times in the past, eating them virtuously because they were a healthy choice. But the peaches were the unexpected added touch to give this dish a truly gourmet quality.

There were no leftovers.

Decorating the Garden WITHOUT Plants

Gardening in the Desert Southwest certainly has its challenges!  Trying to grow flora in El Paso, Texas, my hometown, is a constant battle with blazing temperatures in the summer months, freezing temperatures in the winter, gale force winds in the spring, and autumn, well, I can't complain about autumn weather.  But did I mention our meager average 9" of rainfall per year?

Visitors to our home from other regions of the state and abroad are often visibly shocked when we take them on a tour of the property. 

"Your yard looks so empty!"  observed a friend visiting from London. ("We like big, empty spaces in the Desert Southwest," I replied defensively.)

"The yards in El Paso look unfinished," observed a family member from the central part of Texas.

("That's called xeriscaping.  We believe in water conservation,"  I explained.)

 "Don't you feed your plants? They look awfully small," remarked another gardener from the northern part of Texas. (Of course I do, I thought to myself.  Why bother to explain that the same plants that grow to enormous sizes in other environments have to fight to even exist here?)

So I turned to objects for help in enhancing the garden.

This fountain was purchased in our neighboring border city of Ciudad Juárez and installed in the courtyard.  The fountain is showing its age with discolorations and crumbling sides, but it has lasted, providing a soothing, bubbling sound, for over twenty-five years. 

Several seating areas give the illusion of a leisurely life style.

These chairs and small table are in the pool area.  You may notice that we keep the cushions on the back of the chairs instead of the seats because the outside cats love to curl up here, leaving mounds of cat hair. So much for human relaxation!

On the wall behind the seating area are metal sculptures that my husband Wayne made in his workshop.  To the left are male and female figures holding hands, looking like they are off to do something fun. Next is a figure Wayne named "La Azteca"  (the Aztec).  He even dressed her up in a pair of turquoise earrings.  The figure to the right is Kokopelli, the Native American fertility god, playing his usual flute.  Hidden by foliage in the summer time is another Kokopelli figure, this one playing an unexpected didgeridoo, an Australian musical instrument.

Two retro metal chairs with a small round table placed under a shady pecan tree next to an adobe horno (outdoor oven) provide another seating area.

Mother Earth, adorned with garden symbols such as corn, flowers, and a rake, keeps watch over our new Tucson Yard.  Wayne constructed her of rebar, a metal building material.

A roadrunner, fashioned by Wayne from a plow disc, a pipe and scrap metal, also adorns the Tucson Yard.

This roadrunner is made out of railroad spikes.

Sometimes though, garden decoration can be accomplished by simply re-purposing an item. This old deep fat cooker, made by a life-long friend of Wayne's in Del Rio, Texas, now is the perfect spot for an airplane plant to flourish in the summer in the shade of a pecan tree.

I'm not suggesting I'm giving up trying to coax a luxurious garden from the Desert Southwest, but meanwhile, these garden objects will feed my soul with good memories on early morning walks through the garden.

Rich, juicy mangoes taste like summertime

My first taste of mango must have been many years ago while traveling in Mexico.  It was served peeled on a stick with sides slashed in the fruit for easy eating. A pinch or two of red chile powder was sometimes added.   I have loved mangoes every since.

Summertime in the Desert Southwest is mango season. Mangoes are piled high in the produce section of markets and are available in different colors - green, red, yellow and orange, but the flesh is usually golden yellow.  If  you want ripe mangoes, squeeze them gently to see if they yield slightly. If the mangoes need to ripen, leave them on the kitchen counter for several days and then refrigerate in a plastic bag. 

My favorite way to enjoy mangoes must be done in the privacy of my own home.  I peel a slightly chilled mango standing over the sink.  Then I bite and slurp the fruit and finally gnaw on the bone, ignoring the sweet, sticky juice running down my arms to the elbows. Taking a shower after eating a mango like this would not be out of the question. 

If you would like to learn about polite ways of eating mangoes, this YouTube video gives good hints on slicing and dicing them for easy consumption.  How to Cut a Mango . 

And you may need advice on chopping mangoes for the following recipe.

One of my favorite recipes using this popular fruit is Mango Salsa.  I found the recipe many years ago in the 1997 Joy Of Cooking cookbook.  Combine in a large bowl one small red onion, chopped, rinsed and drained and 1/4 cup fresh lime juice. (Rinsing the onion tones down the flavor.  And be sure to use fresh limes!) Set this mixture aside while preparing the following ingredients:  1 large mango, peeled and coarsely chopped, 1 small red bell pepper, cut into strips, 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro (very important ingredient for authenticity), 1 clove garlic, minced, 1/4 cup fresh orange juice (don't cheat here!) and 1 fresh jalapeño, finely chopped.  Combine all ingredients and add salt and pepper to taste.  Mango Salsa always receives rave reviews from guests.

  

Another mango recipe I have tried recently (Joy of Cooking, 2006) is for Mango Ice Cream.  Ever since our son gifted us a Kitchen Aid stand mixer for which I ordered a frozen dessert attachment, I have been going wild experimenting with different flavors of ice cream.

Mango Ice Cream is the best I have made so far. Peel, pit and puree 2 pounds of very ripe mangoes. Put them in a bowl with 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 1/2 cup sugar, and a pinch of salt. Chill in fridge.  In another bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups whipping cream, 1/2 cup whole milk, and 1/3 cup sugar.  Allow this mixture to chill in fridge also. 

When ready to make ice cream, I use the Kitchen Aid special bowl which has been in the freezer, add the milk mixture, run the mixer on stir for about 15 minutes and then add the fruit mixture for the last five minutes.  Try to refrain from eating the mango ice cream as soft-serve at this stage!
It is even tastier after being placed in a bowl in the freezer for four to six hours.

Mangoes and summertime just seem to go together in the Desert Southwest. And did I mention that mangoes are the most widely consumed fruit in the world?  Enjoy!

Beat the Heat with Coconut Ice Cream

Egg frying on pavement.  Must be really hot!

It is July in the Desert Southwest, and high time I complain about the weather!  Most of the time I downplay the extreme summer heat that characterizes my region of the country, scoffing at friends and family who live in more temperate areas, such as Los Angeles, Quebec, and London, for being wusses (but silently envying them). 

This is life in El Paso, Texas when the temperature hovers around 100° F almost every day. I need to drag myself out of bed around 6:00 am to enjoy the coolest part of the day. When the sun rises at about 6:30, it is already too uncomfortable to sit in the courtyard with a cup of coffee and the morning paper without some shade. 

By opening all of the doors in the house and turning on ceiling fans, I can make it through the morning by seeking out crosswinds in the house which bring some cooling. Maybe I can tame the electric utility bill by waiting a few more hours to turn on air conditioning, I think hopefully.

As the afternoon wears on, growing hotter and hotter, I can feel my body and mind slowing down.

Is this why people who live in the tropics are supposedly less productive?   I begin to feel zombie-like. By the time I close up the house and turn on the two energy-gulping swamp air conditioners around mid-afternoon, all I can think of is getting cool.  Nighttime, even with the expensive luxury of leaving one air conditioner running, is still an endurance test of human against nature.   At about 4:00 am,  Mother Nature takes pity on us and lowers the temperature to the 70's. to allow for a few hours of decent slumber.

In order to survive the heat, I decided recently that what I needed was summer comfort food. Forget dieting, eating sensibly, and watching cholesterol count.  What I needed was a big bowl of coconut ice cream.

And the recipe had to be quick and easy.  It's too hot to work very hard.

This recipe is from allrecipes.com and has just three ingredients, one of which is even optional. First, buy one 14 ounce can of cream of coconut.  Finding cream of coconut is not easy, but I finally located it in the drinks and mixers section of a neighborhood Walmart. (Don't buy coconut milk, which will not work in this recipe). Combine the cream of coconut in a blender with one and one-half cups of heavy cream. Don't bother to check the calorie or fat content on the label of these products. You may get the guilts!

I chilled this mix in the fridge for about eight hours and then used an attachment to my Kitchen Aid stand mixer to make ice cream.  True coconut lovers can use sweetened flaked coconut, toasted or plain, as an optional topping.

The first spoonful of coconut ice cream took me back to a long ago vacation on the beach in Mexico - white sands, swaying palm trees, Latin music, and the gentle lapping of waves.

 Ahh.  It's not that hard to beat the heat with a bowl of coconut ice cream and a little imagination!