Not Everyone's Mama

I wanted to make something tonight that was similar to the picadillo I get at this awesome Mexican restaurant called Tacos De Mariana here in Des Moines. (My absolute favorite Mexican restaurant to eat at in Des Moines.  It’s real Mexican food.  Not authentic Mexican food made for us Americans with sensitive taste buds.) I didn’t want to make a trip to the grocery store tonight to get extra ingredients for the recipes I found online for Mexican picadillo and Mexican rice so I just got out what I had an went to town.  I had the kids all gathered around helping me and it was fun!  I have to say since I finally replaced my old food processor that died (that never worked great to begin with since I got it at a garage sale), life has been much easier when it comes to making dinner. 

I got the Black & Decker 8-Cup Food Processor and I LOVE it!  Someday as I get better at cooking, or more adventuresome I might invest in one that has more features, but for now that works for me.  It does everything I need it to do.  Back to the recipe.

Cell phone picture – sorry! 

I started with the rice.

Remember my recipes feed a family of 6 with a husband who is a big fan of food.

3 tbs olive oil

3 cups brown rice

5 cups water

1/3 white onion (chopped up small)

2 cloves garlic (minced)

2 tsp chipotle seasoning (or you could use an actual pepper chopped up finely)

3 tbsps chicken boullion

salt and pepper to taste

Add the olive oil to a pan and warm up. (I cooked on med.) Add the rice and sauté it until it’s brown.  Add the onion and garlic.  Sauté a bit longer. Add the rest of the ingredients besides the water.  I sautéed that all for a few more minutes then added the water.  Bring the water to a boil.  Turn to low, cover, and forget it for 20 minutes or so.  (It actually took me 30 minutes until the water was completely absorbed.) 

Then we started on the hamburger.

5 potatoes (washed and chopped)

2 lbs hamburger (I use 93/7)

1/3 white onion (chopped up)

2 cloves of garlic (minced)

2 tsp chipotle seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

I put that all in a big pot and cooked it until the hamburger was brown (on med).  The potatoes and onions were soft with the amount of time that took.

I warmed up white corn tortillas (the small ones) one at a time in a pan.

Served it as you see above.

All the kids ate it up.

I can envision this as another way to sneak in more veggies, carrots, corn, beans, etc.  I bet you could sneak in a lot of different healthy things if it’s chopped up fine enough in the hamburger and they wouldn’t even notice.

That’s my goal.  Hide things my kids normally won’t eat in things they will eat.

I just tried it.  It doesn’t look like Taco’s De Mariana, but it tastes like it.  Her rice is better though.  I don’t know what she does to it but it’s like my mother in law’s.  Best rice you will ever eat. Chalk it up to another recipe I’ll save in my brain to make again.  You didn’t think I’d share something with you I didn’t like did you?  I was waiting to post until I actually took a bite.   I assumed since my kids liked it, it would be good.  It is.

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I have always thought I was strange.  I don’t like wine.  Or Champagne.  Or any of those beverages that adults are supposed to like.  I lie, I like a good Bailey’s and coffee.  That’s more grownup sounding than say a drink called monkey nuts that I also like and only order at a bar where I am surrounded by just turned 21 year old people.  I mean, my mom drinks wine sometimes, my grandpa drank wine, my grandma always liked a good vodka and squirt before bed.  My aunts drink wine.  About time I moved to a grownup drink right?

I honestly think my first taste of wine was probably from my grandpa’s big old bottle (you know the ones, they are like gallon sized and cost like $5.99?).  It wasn’t a good start to my wine tasting adventure.  Grandma’s vodka and squirt however?  Loved it.  I probably shouldn’t share that since my grandma passed when I was 14.  I wasn’t exactly legal, but she only let me have a sip.

I was cruising through the grocery store and saw this bottle in a beautiful Valentine’s Day arrangement.  I picked it up because the name caught my eye.  Cupcake.  Red Velvet.  That sounds right up my ally.  Sweet.  (tasting – but also sweet that I thought I found a wine that I thought I’d like.)

The back said

Tasting Notes:

Red Velvet shows an incredible nose of chocolate, deep rich blackberries, red fruits and a creamy mocha finish that is unmistakable in its intensity and length. Our Red Velvet is a blend of Zinfandel, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s reminiscent of a blackberry chocolate cupcake with a mocha coulis.

Food Pairing:

Enjoy with sweet and spicy Hoison steak, a barbecue bacon cheese burger or even dark chocolate fondue.

Doesn’t that sound lovely?

I brought it home.

I realized I don’t own a corkscrew.  I’m not a wine drinker. 

I got my neighbor.  She didn’t have a corkscrew either.

I remembered last week’s episode of Y&R when Blake and Lilly were stuck in the wine celler and Blake opened up a bottle of wine with his shoe.  I tried that.  Nope.

I googled open bottle of wine without a corkscrew.

There was a video of some guy opening a bottle of wine by banging it on a giant tree wrapped in a towel.  (The wine, not the tree.)  My trees are small.  And covered in snow.  So is the ground.  It’s deep.  I grabbed a towel and banged it on my refrigerator.  Nope.  My counter.  Nope.  My table?  Nope.

My neighbor got a vegetable peeler and a screwdriver.  Now we’re getting down to business.

I was rolling.  Nothing would get that cork out.

We accidently pushed it into the bottle of wine.

With all the little cork bits.

And sprayed the wine ALL over my kitchen.

I had to strain my wine through a coffee filter.

After all of that work, I couldn’t wait to try it.

Took a small sip.

Almost spit it back out.

I still do not like wine.

My neighbor didn’t like this particular one either.

I’m not sure where the notes of chocolate and blackberries went in my bottle but it tasted like vinegar to me.

I received lots of suggestions from friends on Facebook for sweet wines I might like.

Prairie Moon Honey Moon

That would be awesome if I liked that.  I’d be supporting an Iowa winery. That’s right, we have more than corn and pigs in Iowa.

Tassel Ridge Red, White, & Blue

Another Iowa winery.  I didn’t know we had that many in Iowa.  Probably because I don’t drink wine.  Love that my fellow Iowans support Iowa wineries.

Someone else suggested a dessert wine like a Moscato D’asti.  I just picked this one because I like the bottle.  I’m all about bottles.

Ceretto Moscato D’asti Vignaioli Di Santo Stefano 2009

I have to say, I love Bunny’s suggestion the best:

That’s actually the best idea for me rather than to spend $$ on bottles of wine that I won’t drink.  I told Pato he could have the rest of the bottle because he doesn’t mind wine and loves a good Sangria.  I don’t think he liked it either.  There was maybe 1/4 of an inch less in the bottle this morning when I got up.  Maybe he didn’t strain it through a coffee filter like I told him to do and didn’t appreciate the fine flavor of cork in his wine? 

Maybe I should go to a wine tasting and make the wine experts fall over when I tell them I don’t like any wine that I have ever put in my mouth and I need something that is sweet like Bailey’s and doesn’t taste like alcohol? 

Or maybe I should just go buy a new bottle of Bailey’s?

Do you like wine?

What kinds do you like if you do?

If not, are you a Bailey’s gal like me or do you have another favorite I should try?

Have a great day!

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