Those of you who have been following along for a while know that I am recovering from quadruple bypass surgery. Life goes on, and so does the need to prepare simple yet filling meals for my guys. While I’m still limited in my kitchen duties, with a little help from the men in my life, I can still manage to whip up something yummy. I manage just fine with the prep work (providing no lifting is involved) and my guys do just fine putting everything together. Meal time has become a regular family affair, and I’m loving every minute of it.
Continue reading “Mexican Style Picadillo over Mexican Tomato Rice”



This is one of those times when canned ingredients are the only way to go. After all, unless you are growing your own jalapeño peppers, have a means to smoke-dry those peppers, you won’t find whole chipotle chilies in the produce aisle of your grocery store. A chipotle is not a type of chili pepper but rather a smoke-dried jalapeño. Typically, a grower passes through a jalapeño field many times, picking the unripe, green jalapeños for market. At the end of the growing season, jalapeños naturally ripen and turn bright red. In Mexico and the United States, there is a market for ripe red jalapeños. They are kept on the bush as long as possible. When they are deep red and have lost much of their moisture, they are picked to be made into chipotles.