When you move to New Mexico from the Midwest, things get confusing with the word “chili.” Suddenly a word that’s always had one simple meaning – a comforting, mildly spicy stew of ground beef, tomatoes, and beans – gains another spelling and several new meanings. “Chili” can be the aforementioned stew, or the spicier Texas…
Chicken-Apple Burger with Grainy Mustard
I just realized that I’ve been so interested in bringing you tales of other people’s food this July that I haven’t posted a recipe in almost a month! Please accept my apologies, and an offering of an awesome summer recipe: a burger that is juicy, flavorful, and totally memorable, but still light. I wish I…
Stuffed Collard Leaves with Savory Pork Filling
It turns out that a name is not just a name when you’re writing a blog. My poetry group used to tell me that about poem titles too (“Kristin, you can’t just call them all ‘Untitled!’”), but I think the reasoning was different. With a food blog, you need a descriptive title so that someone…
Creamy Chicken Soup with Black and Green Olives
I spend a lot of time trying out and creating new recipes. People who find out I’m a cook and food blogger often ask me, “What’s your favorite thing to cook?” I hate this question, because I rarely make things over and over, and can never think of an answer. (For some reason people…
Cincinatti Chili
A few weeks ago, my sweetie went to Cincinatti for work. Without me. Which means he got to eat Cincinatti chili. Without me. Obviously, something had to be done. I’ve only been to Cincinatti once, on a road trip. I don’t remember where we were going. But I remember stopping at Skyline Chili. I recall…
Quick Italian Wedding Soup with Sausage
I’ve been making this recipe for a long time. It’s a go-to staple for days, especially chilly ones, when I don’t have a lot of time and do have some hearty cooking greens in the crisper. I never called it Italian Wedding Soup, though. It didn’t really have a name; I’d just call it soup…
Chipotle Chicken Salad Tacos
I’ve been saving this recipe for you. It’s an old favorite that I’d forgotten about and hadn’t made it in a few years. Back in March, though, I found myself with a small head of Napa cabbage and half a rotisserie chicken, and my memory was jogged. “Those chipotle chicken salad tacos were awesome,” I…
Moo Shu Pork with Vegetables
Cravings often come on hard and fast. Sometimes you don’t even know where they came from. I know right where last week’s craving for mu shu pork came from, though; I opened my bag of extras from the Los Poblanos CSA and spotted the package of Leona’s tortillas from Chimayo, NM. Something about their nonuniform shape,…
German Pork Stew with Mustard
As a transplant from Illinois, I am often somewhat taken aback by this time of year in New Mexico. I spend the late summer months craving the chill evenings of all, the time of year for stewing and braising and roasting. Instead, as often as not mid-December rolls around and it’s still shirtsleeve weather –…
Hunanese Smoky Bacon with Tofu and Broccolette
Lately I have been making myself very hungry by reading Fuchsia Dunlop’s beautiful Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook: Recipes from Hunan Province. It features lots of interesting ingredients, some of which I bought yesterday at Talin Market and am a little daunted by (fermented bean curd, anyone?) The ingredient I was surprised to find liberally used throughout…