Pass the Posole!

  Hello, all! The Fresh Pioneer is back! Fall is officially here and we're all hunkered down over our stew, wrapped in quilts by the blazing fire.

 

   Except we don't have a fire. We have electric baseboard heat, which isn't quite the same.

 

  And no stew. I love the stuff but hubby hates cooked carrots. Sometimes I make stew without them, then try and add in cooked carrots at the end, after I've separated the bowls. Sometimes I try to sneak the carrots out of his bowl... But he says he can taste them.

 I read a great quote the other day by Eckhart Tolle...

                          If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy,

you have three options: REMOVE yourself from the situation, CHANGE it, or ACCEPT it totally.

If you want to take responsibility for your life,

you must choose one of those three options, and you must choose now.

Then accept the consequences.

No excuses. No negativity. No psychic pollution. Keep your inner space clear.

Huh. Not sure what he means by psychic pollution (I'm wearing my foil hat like a good girl!) but it got me thinking about the things that drive me nuts. Like carrot-less stew. I'm in an intolerable situation with this stew deal. With carrots= hubby whines. Without carrots= I whine.
 

 

Since I can't REMOVE myself from the situation (divorce over carrot-less stew is frowned upon in my church), I could try to ACCEPT it totally. I 'ommmmmm'ed my way into the zone... imagining years of those Fall months bearing steaming bowls of creamy potato and beef stew, with just a few springs of fresh parsley and maybe some crunchy French bread on the side.

Total acceptance.

I was zen.

I was at peace.

I was hungry.

For stew with carrots.

*sigh* So, back to Tolle, and my third choice which was CHANGE.
(picture removed of people white water rafting)

 

This is how I feel about change. (What are all those people so happy about?? This is not fun, this is terrible! Get back on dry land! You're all going to die and your tombstones will read: "Happy now?")

(Edna saw Mindy's mixer had a matching spatula and cutting board. She thought we should redecorate in 50's chrome handles and pulls. Hubby feels like he's in an old space movie. I figure whatever makes Edna a happier mixer is okay by me.)

So, I'm not a fan of change, but that seems like where I was headed with the issue of the stew. I decided to think of all the delicious things that were like stew, as close to stew as I could get, yet not missing some major ingredient, or have something picky eater wouldn't touch.

  Posole! Say it with me! (Oh, pronunciation? Po-ZO-lay.)

 

So, here we go: (gratuitous shot of our attempt at Jan's garlic cheesy twist bread. Mmm.)


One whole medium onion chopped with three cloves of garlic minced, 2 TBS olive oil, sauteed in the bottom of a soup pot.

Add two cans of tomatoes and 1 tsp salt. (These are our tomatoes from the garden, I added two quarts, and the sea salt was a gift, yee haw!  I don't think it made much of a difference, but it was fun to pretend we were in Sicily... cooking posole.)

Hominy. 50% off. I have no idea where this came from, but it was in the pantry. Probably planted by my husband. This was a huge can, but even with this, it seemed a little short on hominy. So don't add a small can unless you're hoping to get a bowl without any. Add 6 cups of water or chicken broth. Of not chicken broth, you can season with boullion. If no boullion, just let the chicken cook, it will be good anyway.

At this point, you'll get it to a rolling boil, including 4-5 chicken breasts. Some recipes call for a deli chicken deboned. But who can buy a deli roasted chicken and save it for posole?? That sucker would be 'deboned' within minutes in this house. So, some frozen chicken breasts (which NO ONE wants to see) into the pot, boiled, and then simmered for 30 minutes.

During the final phase, you add the CUMIN powder. I put that in caps because don't think you can add oregeno and get away with it. That would be something else entirely.

Cumin is related to caraway which is related to parsley which is related cilantro which is related to feet. It smells a little musty, but in a good way. Cumin powder- 3 tsp. You can add some hot sauce at this point, but I didn't.

Here's a dish for one of the kids. It smells delicious!!

And here's mine. Come to Mama!  Usually, there is shredded cabbage and corn chips, but I just plopped some lettuce and sour cream on there and called it good.

  So,  I needed to check in with dear Eckhart and see what to do next.

Then accept the consequences.

No excuses. No negativity. No psychic pollution. Keep your inner space clear.

 

 

 

 

Well, there was definitely no negativity, no excuses and I'm guessing no psychic pollution. My inner space was clear, except I was full of posole.

 

 All in all, I could live with this. Stew has a special place in my heart, but posole is gaining on me. Or making me gain. Either way.

 

And my breath is killer. Cumin AND garlic. Yeee-OW.

 

  Keep warm until next time!