Alphabet Soup

I was tagged by Christi! Here's how it works: 1. Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on the computer. 2. Select the 4th picture in the folder. 3. Explain the picture. 4. Tag 4 people to do the same 5. No cheating. (cropping, editing, etc.) Okay, about my pic. This was taken in Sept 2007, a few weeks after Sean started Kindergarten. One morning, after breakfast, I found him at the desk looking through the phone book for words to practice writing. He was so excited, and it was so cute! Yeah, just ignore the clutter and the boxes. :) I tag Carrie, Kristil, and Leigh. :)

And the surprise is, I didn't bake this week! I just have not had the time to do any baking lately, and it's driving me crazy. I really need the decluttering fairy to come to my house, asap! But, hopefully I'll be back in full baking force by next week. In the meantime, check out what the other TWD Bakers did with this week's recipe!!

So, I made posole for supper last night. It was good, but it was just missing something ...I couldn't quite put my finger and it, and neither could D. Well, as I was getting ready to share the recipe, I think I figured it out -- the recipe had no chili powder in it! I got this recipe from a cooking class I took several years ago, and the instructor was "not from around these parts" as my mother would put it. :) Or maybe it was just omitted by mistake. Either way, I think the chili powder would definitely make a difference. I'll be scoping out other recipes for posole and tweaking this one, but I'll share it anyway. I love posole, mostly for the hominy. I have a soft spot for hominy, lol! Posole 1-3/4 pounds cubed pork 1/4 cup olive oil. Saute meat for about 10 minutes. Add the following: 1 diced onion 2-1/4 tsp minced garlic 3/4 tsp cumin 2-1/4 tsp dried oregano 3 cups canned tomatoes 3/4 tsp black pepper 1-1/2 tsp salt 4 oz green chilies 4 cups water 1

So, this week, our Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins , chosen by Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake . After I started reading the recipe, I thought "oh, okay, Mexican cornbread" lol. We like to eat it, but I don't usually make it, because Sean loves plain cornbread. I actually just took it out of the oven a little while ago. I've already taste-tested, lol, because I couldn't hardly stand it! They smelled soooo good while they were baking. I only made a couple of changes to the recipe. First, I added a handful of shredded cheese to the batter, and I left out the cilantro (because it never made it in my basket at the grocery store!). I never would have thought to put it in there, but the addition of the chili powder and the freshly cracked black pepper both add a nice flavor to the muffins. Mine turned out very moist and tasty! I'm planning on making either posole or taco soup for supper, and I think these will go quite well with either. I'

It's official -- my first Tuesdays with Dorie post! :) What's really cool is that Dorie Greenspan herself, the author of the book we're cooking from, chose today's recipe and even posted on the blog! I had planned on baking on Sunday, but that just didn't happen. I didn't bake yesterday either. So, my tart literally just came out of the oven. I have a confession though -- my tart might be more accurately called a pie. Due to a couple of reasons, I was unable to make the actual tart crust, and I wound up using some pie crust I had in the refrigerator. I did this partly because I don't have a food processor (honey, if you're reading this, I know what I want for my birthday *hint,hint*) but it was also because my 9-month-old helper wasn't being very patient this morning, and I didn't want to push my luck with taking the extra time to make the tart crust. However, I definitely want to try it again sometime when I actually have the time to