Mole Sauce

I did it!

I legit have a long list of recipes I love so much I crave them like all the time. Yet at the same time this long list contains things I cannot get in my little Midwest town on the regular AND also are complicated to make on my own. I got real determined middle of the week last week that I was going to make mole. Stay with me this is not a mole creature it is actually a sauce. CLICK HERE to read up on the history of this delightful sauce. Now the real crazy thing most mole sauce has at least 20 items in it and I am not joking when I say this was a labor of love people. Just cutting, washing and removing the seeds from the peppers was enough to make me want to take a nap. Usually in my food posts I put a recipe but lets be real you are never going to make this dish. If you do you better Facebook me proof because we will now be best food buddies. I actually did a ton of research and on a whim used a Pinterest recipe you can easily find on my page out there. Look for "Homemade Mole Sauce" as the title under my food and drink pins out there.

Some tips I guess I can share:

• Be careful with the dried peppers they still have oil all over them and it is easy to get the oil in your eyes/mouth etc. Wash hands with cold water and soup after handling. Do not use hot water until after you scrub with cold because warm water will open your pores and your hands will turn HOT with chili oil. I speak from experience.
• Honestly the longer this sauce can cook down the better flavor you will have.
• If you are local go to Woodmans they have all the things you need. Not local find a Mexican market. I have a ton of spices and still had to buy like 5 more kinds for this.
• If you do not own a hand blender/emulsion blender you should buy one... or ask for your birthday/Christmas because it makes this recipe soooo much easier than the blender.
• Take the cinnamon stick out before blending. It made my emulsion blender make scary sounds till I turned it off and dug out the chunks. Yikes.
• This is delightful over chicken (that is how we ate it with rice), pork, burritos, veggies.
• I made a lot and froze some for the future since this is so labor intensive to make.

 

Pictures:

My recipe had like 23 items in it.

A lot of dried chilis are needed.

There is dark chocolate in there.

Starting the process with onion, seasonings and a ton of other stuff.

Ready to cook down.

This is after it cooked for like hours. It gets really dark when the chilis cook down.

I added the chocolate at the end. yum.

I mean.. hello.

I love it!

I am legit proud of myself for making this. I have been trying to really go out of my comfort zone lately and create some really complicated things. Now if only I could master grilled cheese. I struggle with simple not complex. Ha!

Until next time~
XoXo Emily

Classic Cheeseburger

Let's talk classics. We do not eat a ton of burgers in our home because I do not tend to eat a ton of red meat or bread if I can avoid it. GASP I know. Don't leave yet I promise it gets good. This past weekend I was determined to have a classic cheeseburger and I knew if I made it myself it was promised to be good. Like really good. I even went out of my way and went to Maplewood Meats our local butcher for ribeye burger meat. My theory is always that if I am going to do beef I would like to try to buy the meat locally and good quality. I am telling you right now these burgers were heavenly. Gosh they were giant but I do not care my craving was satisfied.








Here is what you need~
Beef burger patty (As stated above I bought top of the line ribeye burgers) ( I made 4 of these)
Burger buns (Get good quality buns I love the classic sesame seed buns)
Cheese slices (I got a block of local Renard's and diced my own slices)
Tomato slices
Bib lettuce
Onion slices
Ketchup
Mustard
Salt & Pepper to taste

I always start by getting my pan blazing hot. I like a good crust on my meat. I will lightly coat the pan with a little butter. While this is heating up I season my meat heavily with salt and pepper on both sides. This is important because most of it comes off in the cooking process and it creates the crust on the meat. Once the pan is hot and almost smoking put your meat in and turn the pan from high to medium temperature. While this side of the meat is getting toasty I turn the broiler on my oven. Cut the buns and butter them. Put the buns on a pan that can go in the oven to toast the buns. Set aside for later. After about 4-5 minutes flip your burgers over. They should have a lovely crust. Now is the time to prep your toppings and stick those buns under the broiler till they are golden. The texture of the toasted bun is a game changer if you never take that extra step.  I like my burgers medium so if I lightly press on the burger the juice should run clear but the patty should not be super firm. Well done you want to cook them for at least 5 minutes on each side and you want the patty to feel firm when pressed. 2 minutes before they finish put your cheese on the burgers. Remove and place on the warm toasty buns you had in the oven. Top with your favorite toppings and enjoy. I had to cut this burger in half to fit it in my mouth.

I prefer to cook my burgers on the grill outside so cannot wait to do that with the upcoming nice weather.

Until next time~
XoXo Emily

Finding Small Joy In Every Day: 2/27/2020

I was reflecting today how I have not really had the mindset or energy to post much and that's okay. Today I wanted to share some pictures on my phone that bring me happiness from recently. I think I will do this every once in a while just to share what I have been up to but in a less formal way. With the passing of my dear Luna this month I have been pushing myself hard to cope and heal through my grief. I thought this would be helpful to me.

I made us oatmeal in the instant pot.

Tea on the new coffee table.

Red pepper casserole.

Paczki (Fat Tuesday Donuts)

A beautiful beer with friends.

Making progress on my painting.

Beef Pate heaven in Appleton.

Bloody Mary after cross country skiing.

Skiing!

PHO

When I work at home she cuddles HARD.

Celebrating my agent Amanda's baby!

Painting from my team of Luna. It is up in my living room.

Duke. :)

FORCED snuggles.

Grandma Emer's peanut butter cookies

Beef Roast. I made it yum!

Went and crafted with friends. Ate tacos!

My bowl I painted!

Helping dad.

I made steak for Valentines day.

Cheesesteak....

French toast for Ryan.

This month has brought great sadness to my little family but also we have experienced some happy moments too. I would like to leave you with one of my favorite quotes.

“Life is amazing. And then it's awful. And then it's amazing again. And in between the amazing and awful it's ordinary and mundane and routine. Breathe in the amazing, hold on through the awful, and relax and exhale during the ordinary. That's just living heartbreaking, soul-healing, amazing, awful, ordinary life. And it's breathtakingly beautiful.”
― L.R. Knost

Until next time~
XoXo Emily

Bok Choy & Ginger

You need to try this as a side dish ASAP. Bok choy, pak choi, or pok choi is a type of Chinese cabbage. Let me tell you it is a delight. It is refreshing and cooks in a flash. You will almost certainly confuse a cashier when you buy it when they have no idea what it is which is fun. I wish more people would be open minded to vegetables they are not familiar with. Ryan and I have found some awesome side dishes by just being open minded to new things. This is now a staple item for us. So is ginger. I mean fresh ginger here people. I peel it with the back of a spoon and dice it up before throwing into my meals. Such a zing to any dish. I actually made this side dish on a whim to pair with pork chops and Ryan would not stop raving about how good it was to the point I need to make a post about it.

I hope you try it!

What you need~
1 bunch of Bok Choy (washed and diced)
1 tablespoon of ginger (peeled and diced)
1/4 cup of Ponzu (can substitute soy sauce and 1 tablespoon lime juice)
Salt & Pepper to taste

Start by washing the Bok Choy off in the sink like you clean celery. Dice the bottom section where the leaf part is not. Separate that from the leaf part because it takes longer to cook. Tosh that in a medium high pan. Dice up the ginger and throw in with the Bok Choy.While that is cooking chop up the leaf part. Add the ponzu. Cook down for about 2-3 minutes. Add the leaf part of the Bok Choy and cook for another 1-2 minutes until the leaf part is softened but still a little firm. Before serving season lightly with salt and pepper. The ponzu has salt so a little salt is needed here.

I served this with pork chops. See below.

I hope you are brave and try this you may love it!

Until next time~
XoXo Emily

When you have to say goodbye: Luna

These types of posts have been way too frequent in my life the past six months. Having an active hospice home for pets this would eventually have to happen but it does not make it any easier on my husband and I. Luna was the light of my life. I know that sounds corny on many levels but she was joy and love all the time regardless of what she was going through. Just last week (earlier) in the week I know she was not feeling well but she still gave me some kisses on my face (rare if you knew how she was selective in her direct affections). I knew I wanted and needed to write a love letter to this sweet dog at some point but it took me days to even think about what to write. Luna was with us for ten plus years... When we graduated college, bought our first home, got married, went on endless trips. She was not a normal Alaskan husky either. She rarely barked (unlike most huskies) at all mostly doing this cute howl/yodel only when really excited. We used to call her the color changing husky because when we adopted her she was white and got darker throughout her life. Ending up more a light brown with white coloring and black ticking. She was gorgeous with her sky blue eyes she reminded me of the glow of the moon. Hence the name Luna. Luna = Moon.

I thought the best way to really honor her and her memory is to share some of my favorite Luna stories with you. Sorry this will be a long read. I want to be able to come back and read this in the future when I think of her.

Porcupine Mountains

We went on a couple big hiking trips with Luna and one was here in MI. We bite off more than we could handle that is for sure. It was hot! Luna was the biggest trooper and I remember after hiking all day and almost dying of heat stroke Ryan waking her and I up and feeding us ice cream to make sure we were still alive.  The best part of the trip was when we tried canoeing with Luna. Bad idea people she kept running back and forth and trying to guzzle down water of the side of the boat. When we finally gave up and stopped at a small island she had a blast. Running all over the island and running through the water. I will always remember her light and happiness that day.




Luna and Ryan at Devils Lake.

We did good this day in MI!

Not as excited as me to be hiking.

Luna and her best hiking pal Porter in Highcliff State Park

Snow dog
Luna was a true snow lover. It did not matter how cold it was out she wanted to be out there. I swear to you when it was below freezing a lot last year I thought that people would call animal protection services or whatever on me because she just loved to lay out in the snow and sleep. She loved eating it too. Would run around just chopping down on chunks of snow as she walked. She could never get enough. Her favorite thing to do when it snowed was run away from Ryan. Mostly during snow storms. She would just POOF be gone. Many phone calls from concerned people who found her on her little "walks".  One snow storm she ran away from my dad when they were babysitting her and she turned up at the dog park. Everyone assumed she got "out" so they put her in the park. My parents found her at the dog park running all over having a blast. I like to joke that she took herself on a walk to the park. My poor dad!






Waiting for mom to walk faster.

The road is lame lets go in the woods!

 The Noodle
We often called Luna the noodle doodle or the doodle that was noodling. Luna passed away from a tumor that was internally bleeding (most likely cancer) but it was not her first tumor fight. She had a tumor a little over a year and a half ago that had to be removed. This caused her to sleep in the cutest noddle positions for a long time. Such a cute sleeping dog. Enjoy some fun noodling pictures.


Often when working from home I would find her like this.

So cute.

You just always wanted to pet her.

UGH-- love her little velvet ears and fluff tail.

Mud Puppy
I mean she was a husky after all. I love looking back on my pictures and videos of my white dog often neck deep in a mud puddle or eating everything in my garden. I once called the vet in a panic thinking she was going to die from eating my chive plants. I liked to lovely call her my little goat and have so many videos of catching her in action in my garden or digging holes and sleeping in them on the side of the house.

Often at the dog park she would lay in the creek after to cool down. She hated her tail getting wet though so she would hold it up.

Is there a mud puddle at the dog park? I will find it.

Dirty face. Digging?

For sure was digging in the garden. Dirt face.

I mean look at that sass and happiness!

Did you have fun Luna?

 I wanted to jot down some of my favorite memories here to share. She was just pure joy and love and I don't know if I will come across a dog like her again and that's okay. Being able to be a part of her life was an honor. She has earned those angel wings!

Until next time-- Be kind to yourselves
XoXo Emily