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Recipe: beer chicken green chile enchiladas

I’ve been absent for a while. It was originally going to be intentional and then it became unintentional. The end of last week started well enough. I got to visit with two of my favorite local gal pals and a certain gentleman who steals my heart every time I see him.

cute funny face

baby blues

And then The Crud snuck into my chest that afternoon. I had hoped it would be done with me by the time Jeremy and I got on the road Saturday, but it was far from done. It was just getting started. Nine hours on the road with Kaweah nervously panting in the backseat. Nine hours on the road with increasing congestion, dizziness, and body aches. Nine hours on the road to the Bisti Badlands.

kaweah was happy to be out of the car

me thinks jeremy was happy too

We were greeted with overcast skies and high winds. So much for the super giant huge enormous full moon spectacular. We explored a bit and after a couple of hours of being relentlessly sand-blasted, I called it. No shoot that night, no camping. I was on a fast decline. I needed meds, hot liquids, and sleep. The next morning it was obvious the light still wasn’t working in my favor. We headed to my IL’s house where I promptly passed out for two days while Kaweah has been having the time of her life.

I’m finally emerging from my brain fog to enjoy some homemade roadrunner pizzas for dinner (roadrunner pizzas have green chiles on them), three doggies begging for scraps, and movie night with the family on their fancy new entertainment center in their lovely Colorado home. Jeremy’s folks live in a different part of Colorado than we do. It is definitely a prettier part of Colorado AND they get a good supply of green chiles to boot, which means that we have a lot of green chiles in our freezer to work through.

chicken, green chiles, beer, limes, garlic, dried new mexican red chiles

pouring beer over the chicken, garlic, and red chiles

I used to get about one or two quart-size bags of roasted green chiles, but this year we have several gallon-size bags of the precious chiles. That’s a comfortable amount, even for a hoarder like me. Comfortable enough to start experimenting. A few weeks ago I was rummaging about in the freezer when a package of frozen organic chicken thighs slid out and smacked me in the foot. I made a mental note to do something with the chicken when my reflexes caught a bag of green chiles that had begun to escape the bottom shelf. Chicken and green chiles go together like beans and cornbread…

add green chiles to the slow-cooked chicken

flash fry some tortillas

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: chinese steamed crabmeat egg custard

engagement: mountain bike
dress: $35
cake: $20
guests: 12 + 1 dog
weather: rainy and cold
location: my advisor’s living room in Ithaca, New York
ceremony by: The Honorable Marjorie Olds
years together: 18.5
years married: 14
best guy ever: Jeremy

We’ve been married fourteen years on Tuesday. Jeremy and I had completely forgotten until my mother called over the weekend and reminded me about our anniversary. It’s funny that our moms remember, but we don’t. Our moms are so cute.

jeremy enjoys a delightful lunch at l’atelier

I know when most people see Jeremy they just think “random white dude”. He is a classic introvert and few people stop talking long enough to get to know him. That’s their loss, because he’s a real treasure. Plus, if you’re some loud mouth who can’t get over how awesome you think you are, he probably doesn’t want much to do with you anyway.

When I see Jeremy, my heart is filled with all kinds of wonderful meltiness. It’s so cliché and yet the truth of the matter is that I fall in love with him more each day. You’re probably thinking, “What have you done with Jen? She hates that mushygushy crap!” Okay, let’s just say that our relationship is muy excelente. Thank you, Jeremy, for being the best part of my life.

sunshiny day in boulder

We know of many people who go through what Jeremy calls “practice marriages” before they find a truly good partner. The ones that snipe and bully, that don’t respect the other, that never listen, that lie, blame, or are insecure – they don’t last very long. Or if they remain together they make me feel like punching one or both of them in the face for acting like such jerks to one another. In contrast, it’s a great feeling when you see the people you care about in healthy, loving relationships.

chives, shiitake mushrooms, chicken broth, crabmeat, eggs, salt, tobiko, white pepper

whisking the broth into the eggs

Last October, I got to spend time with two of my favorite couples in San Francisco: Chuck and Hungry Bear of Sunday Nite Dinner (but you may know Chuck from Food Gawker) and Anita and Mike of Dessert First. Chuck invited us (Mike, Anita, and myself) over for dinner after BlogHer Food ended. Hungry Bear started the meal with these delicate and wholesome Chinese egg custards.

place crabmeat in the ramekins or tea cups

pour the egg mixture over the crab

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: quinoa with sautéed mushrooms and kale

Planning my schedules is easy. Planning my schedules around other people’s schedules is where I start wanting to tear my hair out. Last week it got to the point of maximum chaos trying to coordinate several travel shoots. I even thought I was going to have to dig around for someone to come with me to Hawai’i! But just as things seemed impossible to nail down, I did manage to get it all settled in time for the weekend.

it was a snowy weekend

There is a lot going on around here and this past weekend was no exception. For example, there was PodCamp Boulder 3 – the Unconference. I attended PCB2 last year and it was tremendous. There is a lot of knowledge in this community – a lot of sharing, discussion, creativity, laughter, networking, and good people. I love that. I came away with some new friends and more ideas to mull over in my head.

levar and terry lead a session

bryan and jason discuss social development in children

And because Kathya was at PodCamp too, we ventured into downtown Boulder to try out a new eatery for lunch. I went on my friend Denise‘s recommendation. Pizzeria Locale had been open for just over a week and it sounded fabulous. I’ll be writing more about them soon.

the perfect arugula salad

Since last week was Chinese New Year, I kinda loaded the Chinese recipes (or Chinese-related posts) on you. We’re back to mixing things up here, which brings me to quinoa. Jeremy and I are quite fond of quinoa, but I haven’t cooked with it all that much. Mostly, we have had it in restaurants. I was reminded of how much I enjoy it when Danny whipped up some lovely quinoa with chanterelles, summer corn, and peppers for breakfast one morning when I was visiting with him, Shauna, and Lu.

dried quinoa (tiny!)

local oyster mushrooms

kale, oyster mushrooms, diced onion, cod filets

I purchase my organic quinoa in bulk from Whole Foods. There is also a red quinoa that I wanted to try, but the bin was EMPTY. I settled for white quinoa. I’ve heard people say that you can treat quinoa like you would rice. It’s lighter than rice and the texture is more springy. There is a nutty flavor to the quinoa which works beautifully with vegetables. I chose to cook it with some kale, onions, and mushrooms.

fluffy cooked quinoa

sautéed mushrooms

chopped kale

**Jump for more butter**