Pork Spare Ribs

My friend let me borrow his electric smoker for a couple months, so I thought I would put it to good use and make some spare ribs! I know not too many of us use, or have a smoker on hand, but you can get the same result by slow roasting in the oven with a little liquid smoke+water in the pan and keeping it covered with aluminum foil.
These spare ribs were purchased at Costco for a price of $15.99 for 8 pounds. That is actually a lot of ribs for one sitting, so I would recommend they be split up into 4'ths and saved for a later date. I think I am going to be making a lot of happy co-workers and friends on Monday!
Ribs, if you have never had any experience with them, come with a membrane on the back that is tough and should be removed before cooking. Its fairly easy to do, just get your knife under it to start, and grab it with a paper towel and tear it off(picture #2)
The smoking process was pretty easy. I cooked them at 220 degrees for about 5 hours and replacing the Apple chips about every hour. General rule of thumb is about an hour for every pound of meat you have. Apple chips gave the ribs a very nice smokey but not overbearing flavor. The rub is something I put together on my own. It ended up being a little spicier that I wanted, so I might go very lightly next time on this rub.
Ribs are an easy dinner and we all love them. These turned out wonderful, and I would love to cook them again, but maybe for a larger crowd! They are great served with a generous helping of BBQ Sauce and baked potatoes! (my favorite!)

Chris' Spicy Rub

2 Tablespoons Kosher Salt
2 Teaspoons Coarse Black Pepper
2 Teaspoons Paprika
1 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1 Teaspoon Oregano Leaves (dried)
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cumin

*I use fresh Garlic after the rub has been applied and let rest for about an hour. I prefer fresh over granulated, but you can use that instead. I generally eyeball garlic- about 2 Teaspoons of fresh. I would use about 1 Teaspoons of granulated if you want to substitute.
Happy Dry Rubbing!!!

Fruit Trifle Salad

6 oranges, peeled and sliced
3 bananas, sliced
3 cups blueberries
2 cups seedless grapes
3 cups strawberries, halved
4 oz pkg instant vanilla pudding
1 3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup sour cream
1 tsp orange zest

Layer fruits in trifle bowl or tall glass bowl. Combine pudding, milk, sour cream. Spread pudding mixture over top layer and sprinkle orange zest over top.

(other fruits may be substituted for fruits listed except melons. We used kiwi instead of blueberries. I love the display of colors in this salad!)

Cranberry Pecan Salad

I found this in a magazine recently and made it for Thanksgiving dinner but doesn't it sound Christmas-y? It was yummy and a nice change from our traditional salads.

Salad
2 radicchio bunches, torn
1 red leaf lettuce bunch, torn
1 endive bunch, torn
3 pears, thinly sliced
1/2 cup sweetened, dried cranberries
1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted (I think I will try not toasting next time)
1/4 cup Gorgonzola cheese (we couldn't find any in Burley, ID so we used crumbled Feta cheese)

Dressing
1/3 cup pear juice (we used juice from canned pears)
1/4 cup oil
2 T vinegar
2 T lemon juice
1 tsp red onion, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Cheese and bacon appetizers

These are so delicious and so easy to make! My mother-in-law gave me the recipe and it will go great with your Christmas buffet.

2 cups grated cheese

1/2 cup cooked, crumbled bacon

2 small cans (1/2 cup) chopped black olives

8 (1/2 cup) green onions, finely sliced

2 t. Worchestershire sauce

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 lb. cocktail loaf rye or Pumpernickel bread (I used a loaf of french bread last time and it worked great)

Preheat oven 375. Arrange squares of bread tightly together on cooking sheets. Mix other ingredients together and spread over bread. Bake about 6 minutes.

Wanna-Be Cafe Rio Salad

Cafe Rio Salad

My husband and I LOVE Cafe Rio. We probably visit this restaurant about two or three times a month when I don't feel like cooking (and sometimes I just make it at home). Their food is super yummy and affordable, plus you usually can make two meals of your order because they give you a ton of food. If you haven't gone to this restaurant, I totally recommend it if you are in town. If you live away from Utah...I have just the solution for you. Now remember, this is not the official recipe, I'm not that lucky to get it...but I came accross a pretty good knock-off recipe. I will call it...............

THE WANNA-BE CAFE RIO SALAD

Cafe Rio Dressing

1 buttermilk ranch dressing packet (follow the instructions on the packet)
2 tomatillos
½ bunch of cilantro
1 clove garlic
Juice of 1 lime
1 jalapeño

Use a food processor or blender to blend all the ingredients well. Refrigerate

*It will keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

Café Rio Sweet Pork

3-4 lbs pork roast
1 cup brown sugar
3 cups salsa

*Mix ingredients in a crock pot and let cook for 10 hours on low.

Cilantro-Lime Rice

1 cup uncooked rice
1 teaspoon butter or margarine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon lime zest
1 can (15 oz) chicken broth
1 1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
3 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro
Salt to taste

In a saucepan combine rice, salt, butter, garlic, lime peel, chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil. Cover and cook 15-20 minutes, until rice is tender. Remove from heat. In a small bowl combine lime juice, sugar and cilantro. Pour over hot cooked rice.

Beans

Cook your beans like regular (beans, water, salt in a pressure cooker or pot). In a saucepan sautee chopped onions and minced garlic and then add cooked beans with a little bit of juice, then add chopped cilantro.

For the salad, you will also need:

romaine lettuce
large flour tortillas
guacamole
salsa
cheese
tortilla strips (cut yellow corn tortillas in thin strips and fry them).

To assemble your salad put a warm flour tortilla on your plate, then add rice, beans, meat, lettuce, guacamole, salsa, cheese, tortilla strips and finally the dressing!

The recipe will make a lot of food so make sure you invite people over. Let me know how you like it!

Apple Crumb Pie

Oh so good!!!!

INGREDIENTS:

Pastry for single-crust pie (9 inches)

6 cups chopped peeled tart apples (about 6 medium)

2 tbsp butter, melted

2 tbsp sour cream

4 tsp lemon juice

1/2 cup sugar

1 tbsp all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

TOPPING:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup cold butter or margarine

Line a 9 inch pie plate with pastry; flute edges. In a bowl, combine the apples, butter, sour cream, lemon juice, sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg. Spoon into pastry shell. For topping, combine flour and sugar in a bowl; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over filling.

Bake at 375 for 45-50 minutes or until the filling is bubbly and the apples are tender. Cool on a wire rack.

Pumpkin Pie

INGREDIENTS:

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
2 large eggs
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Whisk pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk and the rest of the ingredients in medium bowl until smooth. Pour into crust.

Bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees, bake an additional 35-40 minutes or utnil knife inserted in pie comes out clean. Cool. Garnish if desired.

Raisen Cream Pie

This is a family favorite. Mmmm... Rich and creamy, I promise you wont be disappointed! Try it!

Directions:

1 Cup Raisins

1 1/2 Cup water

Rinse and drain raisins; boil slowly in water 10 min.

3/4 c. sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

3 Tbsp. cornstarch

Blend; stir into boiling raisins; cook and stir until clear and thick. Remove from heat.

1 tsp vanilla

1 Tbsp butter

1 cup heavy whipping cream

Stir in; turn into prepared pie crust and cover with top pastry. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool. Cut and serve with Whipped Cream.

Sweet Potato (Yam) Casserole

Filling:
4 Beauregard Sweet Potatoes
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt.
2 eggs

Topping:
2 cups chopped pecans
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup flour


Cooking instructions:

Peal sweet potatoes, steam or bake until soft. Mash potatoes and mix in remaining filling ingredients. Place in casserole dish.

Meaure topping ingredients in Ziploc bag (butter must be melted). Shake well to combine.
Add to casserole top and bake at 400 for 20 minutes.

Ceviche de Camaron (Shrimp Ceviche)

This is a pretty simple recipe for ceviche, but very tasty! When I was little we lived in the coast so we always got to enjoy really good sea food dishes, this one was of course one of my favorites. I remember my dad once made it with "marlin" also known as sword fish, it was so long ago I don't remember the taste...I just remember I liked. Anyway, this dish is marinated and cooked using lime juice (no heat needed) and typically served over tostadas or in cocktail bowls. There are many variations, so this is one of many.

INGREDIENTS

2 lbs Shrimp: peeled, washed and chopped in smaller pieces

1 Red onion: chopped

4-5 tomatoes: finely diced

2-3 cucumbers: chopped

limes (you'll need lots)

salt and pepper

tostadas

avocados

Optional:

Clamato: Tomato cocktail...see note below

crab meat

***

In a bowl combine the shrimp, onion and lime juice. You will need to let this marinate/cook for several hours. The smaller the shrimp, the faster it will cook. You will know when it's ready because the shrimp will change color to an orangie tone (I think you can see on the picture below, pieces that have a different color).

Mix cucumber and tomatoes together, and when the shrimp is ready add that whole mixture to the mix.Add salt and pepper to taste. You can also add diced avocado at this point or just add some to the served ceviche at the end. You might want to let it sit for a bit longer just so that the tomatoes and cucumbers can soak up some of the flavor. Serve over tostadasI have a friend who likes to add tomato cocktail to hers to make it more soupy and to get some more tomato and clam taste to it. Either way is good.

Sugar Cookies

I first tried these cookies a couple years ago during a potluck at work. They were so good, I had to get the recipe. My co-worker was so nice that she shared her mother's recipe with me! Yay! So much time has passed and I just barely made them for the first time. They are delicious, I can't believe I hadn't made them before....ok maybe I know why...cause they are so good, you eat them right away.

p.s. The day I made them...I realized I didn't have any sour cream so I used strawberry yougurt. They turned out great, so you can make them with either sour cream or yougurt. Also, I halved the recipe and I ended up making like 4 dozen cookies.

INGREDIENTS:


2 C sugar

1 C butter

3 eggs

Mixed: 1 C sour cream and 1tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

5-6 C flour



Mix everything together except for flour...that's last. Add 5-6C flour (dough should be sticky, not dry). Roll out on floured counter with a floured rolling pin until it’s about ¼” thick. Be gentle with the dough when rolling it out, you can “bruise” it--and try not to handle it too much, it makes the dough tough. (I usually cut out my shapes and set the scraps to the side until the end—then I gently mush all the scraps together at the end and do another batch. It helps keep the dough fresh and soft for the first 3 or 4 batches.)

Bake at 350 for 8-10 min. Cookies will be slightly brown on the bottom.



Butter Cream Frosting:

1 stick softened butter

2 or 3C powdered sugar

A little bit of milk

1tsp or so of vanilla



Mix. Add powdered sugar as needed.

Tostadas De Pollo (Chicken Tostadas)

INGREDIENTS:

Tostadas (store bought or make your own by deep-frying corn tortillas)
Cooked chicken (shredded)
4 tomatoes, diced
1 white/yellow onion, chopped
2 jalapenos, seeded and diced
salt and pepper
Refried beans
shredded lettuce
sour cream
cheese
favorite salsa
red onion, cut in thin slices
2 limes, juiced




Sautee onion in a skillet and then add tomatoes, jalapenos and the chicken. Season with salt and pepper.

Grab a tostada and smear refried beans

Add chicken, lettuce, salsa, cheese, sour cream and red onions (read below how to prepare the red onions). In a plastic container (w/ a lid), put the red onions, lime juice and salt, cover. Shake the container every so often to make sure the onions are evenly covered with the juice and salt. The lime juice will cook the onions.

Here's the finished product! You can also add avocado slices on the top.

Ok, if you feel lazy or don't have time to make salsa, you can use this sauce. It comes in a yellow can and I believe the other side has a picture of a duck(pato). The salsa is pretty good for tostadas.

Chicken Enchilada Pasta

I made this for dinner tonight and my family LOVED it. My picky 5 year old daughter even asked for seconds!


*Plan Ahead: the recipe calls for cooked chicken so use leftovers or plan enough time to cook the chicken beforehand.

2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed or shredded
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 medium onion, diced
1 red pepper, diced
4-ounce can diced green chilies
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 (19-oz) can green chili enchilada sauce (I used mild)
2/3 cup red enchilada sauce (I used mild)
1 can sliced black olives
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (I used sharp cheddar)
12-16 oz. penne pasta (Depending on how "saucy" you want the pasta)

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the pasta until tender. While the pasta is cooking, heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet and add the onion. Cook for 2-3 minutes until onion is translucent. Add the garlic and red pepper and cook for another 2 minutes, until pepper is barely tender. Add the cooked chicken, green chilies, spices, enchilada sauces and olives. Let the sauce simmer for about 8-10 minutes. Add the sour cream and cheese and heat through, until the cheese is melted (but don't boil!). Pour the sauce over the hot pasta. Garnish with extra sour cream, cheese, diced tomatoes, green onions or crushed tortilla chips. Serves 6-8.


Recipe Source: My Kitchen Cafe (http://www.mykitchencafe.blogspot.com/)

Ultimate "M&M's" Cookies

Ingredients:

1 c (2 sticks) butter softened
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 12oz pkg "M&M's" semi-sweet or milk chocolate mini baking bits
3/4 c chopped nuts (optional)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. blend in creamed mixture. Stir in "M&M's" mini baking bits adn nuts. If using. Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-13 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned and centers are still soft. Do not overbake. Cool one minute on cookie sheet; cool completely on wire racks. Store in tightly covered container.

JELL-O/Mousse

Ingredients:

1 box of Jell-o
zest of one lemon plus half of it's juice
2 tbsp honey
2 c boiling water
1 c cold water
1 can evaporated milk (place in refrigerator to cool)

Mix first 4 ingredients until well blended and then add 1 cup of cold water. Place in glass container and then place it in the refrigerator.

Pour the evaporated milk in a bowl and whip. Once jello is somewhat set, add to the whipped milk. Whip everything together and then place it in a dish to set (put it back in refrigerator). When it's set, crumble vanilla cookies on top and serve.

Cheese Cake Factory Cheesecake

Killer Cheesecake

I've never really made this recipe, but I have tried it and it's delicious! One of my coworkers tried to make it and said that hers over flowed. You might want to make two cheesecakes out of this recipe. I'm sure you'll be able to tell when you make it and see how much batter you end up with.

Ingredients:

2.5 lbs of cream cheese at room temperature
1 3/4 sugar
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
zest of 1 lemon
zest of 1 orange
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
5 eggs
2 additional egg yokes
1/4 c whipping cream
9-inch springform pan lined generously with butter and patted with graham cracker crumbs

Directions:

Heat oven to 500 degrees. Prepare springform pan. With an electric beater, mix the cheese, sugar, flour orange and lemon zests and vanilla until smooth. Add the eggs and yokes, beating in one at a time, and finally the cream.

Pour the mixture into the prepared springform pan and bake for 10 minutes or until the top of the cake turns golden brown. Reduce oven temperature to 200-225 and bake for one hour longer.

Remove cake form oven and cool on a rack until it reaches room temperature. Then release the sides of the pan. Do not remove the bottom of the pan. Place cake on a platter. Top with fruit or glaze, if desired, and serve.

Striped Delight

Prep: 20 minutes plus refrigerating

Ingredients:

35 OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, finely crushed (about 3 cups)
6 Tbsp butter or margarine melted
1 pkg (8oz) Cream cheese, softened
1/4 c sugar
2 Tbsp cold milk
1 tub (12 oz) Cool Whip Whipped topping, thawed, divided
3-1/4 c cold milk
2 pkg. (4-serving size each) JELL-O chocolate Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling

Mix crushed cookies and butter in medium bowl. Press firmly onto bottom of 13x9 inch baking dish. Refrigerate 10 minutes.

Beat cream cheese, sugar, and 2 tbsp. milk in medium bowl with wire whisk until well blended. Gently stir in 1-1/4 c of the whipped topping. Spread over crust.

Pour 3-1/4 cups milk into large bowl. Add dry pudding mixes. Beat with wire whisk 2 minutes or until well blended. Pour over cream cheese layer. Let stand 5 minutes or until thickened. Drop remaining whipped topping by spoonfuls over pudding; spread to cover pudding.

Refrigerate at least 4 hours. Cut into 24 squares. Store leftover dessert in refrigerator. Makes 24 servings, 1 square each.

Note: For a festive look, sprinkle crushed candy canes on dessert squares.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened1 c sugar
1 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1- 1 1/2 c canned pumpkin puree
3 c flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 c (12-ounce bag) milk chocolate chips

Directions
Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray cookie sheets with nonstick spray

Using a mixer, cream butter, white and brown sugars. Beat in the eggs 1 at a time, then add vanilla and pumpkin puree. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Slowly beat the flour mixture into the batter. Stir in the chips. Scoop the cookie dough by heaping tablespoons onto the prepared cookie sheets and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the cookies are browned around the edges. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let them rest for 2 minutes.

Pork Stir Fry

So yesterday I was on creative mode and decided to try something new. I wanted to make something quick but good and I came up with something delicious! Seriously, I loved how this turned out...so did my husband who took all the left-overs. Can't wait to make it again and wanted to make sure I posted the recipe on here before I forget how I made it.

***

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb boneless pork rib (cut in bite sizes)

1 can pineapple (chunks)

1 onion, cut in half then slice

1 bell pepper, sliced

salt

pepper

about 1/4 brown sugar

about 1 tsp Spicy Montreal Seasoning

***

Heat a wok and begin cooking the pork. Add salt, pepper, and Spicy Montreal Seasoning. Note, I really only added the Spicy Montreal Seasoning because I wanted my dish sweet but spicy! I didn't have red crushed pepper so I added that specific seasoning because red crushed peppers are in it. Anyway, as you cook the pork, add juice from the pineapple can little by little. When the pork is cooked, add the onions, bell pepper, pineapple chunks, brown sugar and any remaining juice. You can also add a little cornstarch to thicken the sauce. Enjoy!

Gooey Cinnamon Rolls

This recipe is different from the traditional cinnamon rolls because after it is rolled and cut, you put the roll in muffin tins, with the glaze on the bottom. When it is cooked, you invert the muffin tins and glazing covers the cinnamon roll.

Sweet Rolls

• 2 cups milk


• 3 Tbsp sugar


• 1/2 stick butter


• 1 tsp salt1 pkg yeast (scant 1 Tbsp)


• 1/3 cup lukewarm water


• 2 eggs, beaten


• 5 cups all-purpose flour


• Sugar and Cinnamon as desired

Sweet Roll Butter

• 8 oz brown sugar (1 cup)


• 4 oz butter, softened (1 cube)


• 2 oz corn syrup (about 1/4 cup)


• 3/4 oz honey (heaping spoonful)


• 2 cups chopped pecans

*note- sweet roll butter is not for rolling into the dough, but rather cooking under the dough*
In a large bowl, combine milk, sugar, butter, and salt and stir; let cool. Soften yeast in lukewarm water and add to milk mixture. Beat in eggs and add flour gradually. Turn out on a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and not sticky. Place dough in buttered bowl, brush with melted butter and cover with a towel. Let rise in a warm place 2 hours or until doubled in bulk. (We did overnight in the fridge)

While the dough is rising, prepare the sweet roll butter by combining all the ingredients in a bowl.

Punch dough and roll out with a rolling pin into a long narrow strip about 3-4 inches wide. Sprinkle top of dough with a mixture of sugar and cinnamon. Roll up tightly as you would a jelly roll and cut into slices about 1 1/2 inches thick. Place a sliced roll into a greased muffin tin that has been filled with 1 Tbsp of Sweet Roll Butter and pecans. Let rolls rise until almost double in size.

Preheat oven to 350. Bake rolls for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes. Carefully invert onto a tray large enough to hold all the rolls.

Yield: 1 1/2 to 2 dozen rolls

Pumpkin Roll

Cake:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 salt
3 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Filling:
1 pkg. (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
6 Tbsp butter softened
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions For Cake:
Preheat oven to 375F. Grease 15x10 in cookie sheet; line with wax paper. Grease and flour paper. Sprinkle a clean thin cotton kitchen towel with powdered sugar.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in small bowl. Beat eggs and sugar in large mixer bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared pan.

Bake for 13-15 min. or until top of cake springs back when touched. Immediately loosen and turn cake onto prepared towel. Carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Cool on wire rack.

Directions For Filling:
Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth. Carefully unroll cake; remove towel. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Reroll cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least an hour. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts before serving, if desired.

Crepes

I'm just giving you a basic crepe recipe and you can stuff your crepes however you want.

The picture above is ice cream filled crepes which is one of our favorite desserts. All you do is scoop some ice cream toward the edge of the crepe, add your favorite fruit, whipped cream, favorite ice cream topper and fold. Then sprinkle some powdered sugar on the top.

***

INGREDIENTS:

2 c milk

1 1/2 c flour

2 eggs

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp vanilla

3 tbsp butter or margarine

***

Mix all ingredients in the blender and then pour on hot griddle or pan. Crepes should be thin, so use a crepe spreader if you have one if not move your pan around for the batter to spread. I had my handy dandy husband make me a crepe spreader which works great! They are super easy to make.

Chiles Rellenos (Stuffed Poblano Peppers)

You will need Poblano peppers for this recipe, do not substitute the pepper because the results will definitely not be the same. I explained and described these peppers in detail in the post: Creamy Poblano Rice, if you want to read that section. Pretty much, these peppers are big, long and dark green in color. They are mild in taste although sometimes you might end up with one or two that are a little spicy. The particular peppers I used for this recipe, I found at Walmart and they were not as big as they usually are, but they still work just fine. Also, there are a few variations of chiles rellenos out there, some are stuffed with meat, others with cheese. My very favorite (and my husbands) are the ones stuffed with Mexican fresh cheese (Queso Fresco).

Ingredients :

Poblano Peppers

Mexican Fresh Cheese

5 eggs (separate the whites with the yolks)

salt

corn starch or flour

toothpicks

oil to fry

1 onion (cut in half and then slice)

Sauce Ingredients:

4 tomatoes or 1 can of whole tomatoes

2 guajillo peppers

4 whole pepper kernels

1 garlic clove

Instructions for peppers:

If you have a gas stove, place the peppers over the burner, if not you can use a gas or electric grill. You will need to rotate them as soon as one side is ready (the pepper skin will turn dark, almost black). Make sure you watch the peppers because you can easily overcook them.

Once you have grilled your peppers all around, cover them with a kitchen towel and stick the towel inside a plastic bag, then tie a knot on the bag to prevent the steam to release. You do this so that the warm steam helps to loosen the skin of the peppers.


After about 10 minutes, remove the peppers one by one out of the bag and start peeling them. Peel as much of the skin as possible. When you are done, you need to cut a slit on the side of the pepper and then pull the seeds and veins out (you should wear a latex glove so you don't irritate your skin). Be careful with the peppers as they can easily tear at this point, especially if you overcooked them.


When you are done cleaning the peppers, crumb the cheese and stuff the peppers generously, then close pepper using a toothpick.

Whip egg whites until stiff and then add yolks and salt to taste.Rub the stuffed peppers with corn starch or flour. This process will help the egg stick to the peppers.

Dip the peppers in the egg batter and transfer immediately to hot frying oil.

Fry peppers all around until they get a golden brown color. This process will not take long at all. Also, make sure the oil is not super hot, medium heat is just fine.

When the egg has gotten a golden brown color, transfer pepper on a dish with paper towels to eliminate excess oil. Let sit for a while and then turn over so that the paper towels can absorb the oil from the other side.

Instructions for Sauce:

Place tomatoes and guajillo peppers in a saucepan and boil. When ready, transfer to blender along with the whole peppers, garlic clove and salt. Blend well. Use a colander to transfer sauce onto the pan where you'll finish cooking the stuffed peppers (This step is similar to the sauce for Sopa de Albondigas/Mexican Meatball Soup...also on a previous post if you need to refer to it). You will probably have to add more water to the sauce because you want the sauce to be soupy. Add more salt if necessary. Add stuffed peppers and onion slices and cook for about 20-30 minutes. Enjoy!

Let me know if you have any questions or the instructions were unclear.