grandkids

Dec

12

Childhood Memories with Duncan Hines

desserts Posted by Gina Ruiz / 0 comments

This is our grocery store haul.

When I was a kid, those red boxes of Duncan Hines cake mix were like the Holy Grail. My mom didn’t cook or bake, but my grandmother and Aunt Jessie did. They mostly baked from scratch, but there were a few recipes that they used boxed cake mix for. For me and my sisters, when we weren’t at Grandma’s house we relied on boxed cake mixes (when we could afford them) to satisfy our sweet tooth.

I won my first baking contest with a boxed mix. We had moved yet again and on the block we lived on was a small community center, library (I adored that library!) and park. I don’t quite remember how I found out about the baking contest, but I was determined to enter it. I was ten years old.

I somehow talked my mother into letting me buy a Duncan Hines cake mix (yellow cake) and used what we had in the kitchen to bake a pineapple upside down cake. I carefully pressed in the brown sugar and added rings of pineapple and maraschino cherries to my buttered pan, then poured in that lovely golden cake batter. I remember the looks on the judges faces when they ate my cake and somehow, a ten year old kid with a boxed cake mix beat out experienced bakers and grownups. I went home with the blue ribbon! My Grandma Lupe treasured that ribbon and kept it till the day she died.

Now I’m teaching Jasmine and Aiden to bake, and while we often bake from scratch we also use boxed mixes and dress them up. Recently, Foodbuzz, Comstock and Duncan Hines offered me an opportunity to try out some of their new products and I jumped at it. Jasmine, Aiden and I excitedly went to the market, used our coupon plus some of our own money because they saw a bunch of other stuff, and came home with way too many baking goodies.

We made a plain yellow cake, marbled with a little chocolate batter topped chocolate frosting which was what Aiden wanted and the next day, made brownies with a filling of Comstock cherries. They went fast. The kids were wired for sound with all that sugar but they had a blast. There is nothing like seeing the faces of two little kids excited about cooking or baking.

I loved taking a step back in time to my share my childhood memories of baking from boxed mixes with my grandchildren. They had just as much fun and excitement as they do when we measure out flour, cream butter, and other “from scratch” stuff.

*Note: As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received free samples from Duncan-Hines and one from Comstock in the form of coupons. Duncan-Hines also provided a few extra coupons to give out to family and friends which we decided to use as Christmas stocking stuffers.

Jan

24

Aiden’s Midnight Fig Jam

family recipes Posted by Gina Ruiz / 2 comments

Frigidaire and Jennifer Garner are teaming up to inspire families everywhere to roll up their sleeves and get cooking together. Starting today, people can join in the Frigidaire Kids’ Cooking Academy ( www.maketimeforchange.com) to get great recipes, how-to videos and tips, all designed to help involve kids in the kitchen.

My kid-friendly recipe is one for a fig jam I made this summer with my grandchildren on a hot night when we couldn’t sleep for the heat. It was tons of fun making it and I love the idea that every or every post submitted, Foodbuzz and Frigidaire will donate $50 to Save the Children.

******************************************************************************************************

It’s 12:45 a.m after one of the hottest days of summer. It was 105 degrees!

The grandkids who are visiting for this week can’t sleep, house is too hot and my a/c wall unit is icing over. What to do, what to do? In the fridge was a massive bowl of the past two days harvest of figs from our tree just begging me to do something with but it’s been too darned hot. I took an almost midnight shower and came out to two small children that were hot, grumpy, tired and in need of something, anything to do to get them to relax enough to sleep. I went to the fridge, saw that big bowl of figs and remembered the jam I had been intending to make. “Who wants to have a midnight jam session?” I asked the kids. “We do!”

I had had an idea in mind on how to make my jam, an older recipe that called for cinnamon, lemon rind, fresh figs and sugar but whenever the kids help me cook, things change. I really like letting them improvise and find their way around my kitchen. We discuss flavors and ideas all the time. They’ve been cooking with me since before I started Dona Lupe’s so I’ve learned to trust them the way they trust in me.

SDC10737 300x225 Aidens Midnight Fig Jam

Insomniac grandkids

Aiden took charge of this jam session. He just turned five on Friday the 20th and was in a very assertive mood. He handed me a bottle of caraway seed and said, “Grammy use this, it almost smells like figs.” Into the simmering cinnamon and water it went. What the heck, how bad could it be? I searched for lemons but we were out and being midnight by now, we were out of luck with a store. David suggested the rice vinegar in the pantry for a little acidity and it made sense to me so I added it. This was so not the jam I had planned on but as we all took turns chopping figs and adding them to the pot, the kitchen was starting to smell amazing.

SDC10723 300x225 Aidens Midnight Fig Jam

Chop, chop, chop

Once the figs were all in the pot, Aiden handed me a jar. Surprised, I looked down at a square box of chili powder from the Indian store I frequent in Los Feliz. “Put some of that in Grammy” he said seriously. I nodded and added about two tablespoons, stirred it in with crossed fingers and tasted. Oh. My. God. That was some amazing jam! Things happen in midnight jam sessions, things you’d never expect but surprisingly sweet and good.

SDC107351 300x225 Aidens Midnight Fig Jam

Jam!

We’re going on 1:00 a.m. now and the kids are drifting off to sleep while Aiden’s Midnight Fig Jam is slowly simmering on the stove. When he wakes tomorrow there will be toast smeared with his jam and the day, however hot it turns out to be will keep that spicy sweetness.

Aiden’s Midnight Fig Jam

5 lbs of fresh figs, washed, trimmed and chopped roughly
3 c. Sugar
1 cinnamon stick
3 c. of water
Pinch caraway seeds
4 tablespoons of rice vinegar
2 tablespoons of dark red chili powder

Set a large pot with the water and cinnamon stick to boil, then bring to a slow simmer.

Trim off the points and ends of the figs and rough chop them. Add the caraway seeds to the simmering cinnamon water, the sugar and rice vinegar. Stir until well blended.

Add the chopped figs, the chili powder and stir slowly. Let simmer for two hours till well thickened, stirring frequently so the sugar doesn’t burn and stick to the bottom of your pot.

Remove the cinnamon stick, let cool and store in Mason jars using proper canning techniques.

Best cooked at midnight to the strains of Luciano Pavaroti (you know we had to listen to Figaro), Lauryn Hill and Trio Los Panchos. Insomniac grandchildren optional.

Oct

11

What To Do with Fresh Pumpkins

October brings many things and is also a month of memory for me. My grandmother Lupe for whom this blog is in honor of was born in October so this month always makes me think of her. It is also the time in Los Angeles, when pumpkins make their way into the markets for Halloween. More and more I see the heirloom ones, all knobby and in a beautiful array of colors popping up everywhere. I love the Cinderella pumpkins for all their squished beauty and wish I had had one as a child to dream about turning it into a magic coach to take me to the ball. The one’s I gravitate most to in the stores though are the big regular Halloween pumpkins.

When I go to the market with the grandkids, they see jack-o-lanterns and I see pies, pasta, ravioli filling, grilled pumpkin in salads, soups, empanadas, muffins, and more. The season is brutally short though. I can never find a single pumpkin past Halloween and I wonder where they go. Solution: buy them all at once!

As money allows, I tend to buy up as many big pumpkins as I can and fill the freezer. There are a TON of recipes on the internet for things to do with pumpkin and it just makes sense to me to put up a little money upfront and a lot of work in order to have pumpkin in my pantry and freezer all year round. Why buy canned when you can preserve your own? It’s economical and it makes sense, especially if you love to cook.

My favorite thing to do with pumpkin is make empanadas. The filling is simple and delicious. I’m sure there are many different ways to do it, but this is mine.

Cinnamon-Steamed Pumpkin for Empanadas

1 large pumpkin
Water
2 cinnamon sticks

In a large stock pot with a steamer basket, add just enough water to come below the steamer basket. Add the cinnamon sticks and turn on the heat to low. Add chunks of un-peeled pumpkin to the steamer basket and cover.

Depending on how big your chunks are (I tend to cut the pumpkin into quarters because it’s easier) the steaming can take anywhere from 20 minutes if you have small bits to a few hours with the big pieces.

Keep adding water as it evaporates – that’s important. You want to keep the cinnamon steam going.

Steam until the pumpkin flesh is translucent and soft.

Once it cools you can just scoop along the rind with a spoon and get all the pulp into a large mixing bowl.

Pumpkin Empanada filling

Not measured, everything is to taste for me with this.

Pumpkin pulp
Sugar – to taste
Cinnamon – to taste
Dash Ginger
Dash Mace

Mash the pumpkin pulp until is is smooth. Add sugar, powdered cinnamon, ginger and mace to taste.

That’s it! Simple, delicious and it fills the empanadas nicely. You want to be sure to strain it though and not get the residual juice into your empanadas or they will be soggy. I use the juice for liquados or put it into cakes, etc. It freezes nicely too.

Oct

09

A Pumpkin, Some Figs & Some Apples Walk Into a Bar: A Day of Baking Empanadas

baked goods / desserts / family recipes Posted by Gina Ruiz / 2 comments

Well, they didn’t walk in and there was no bar, it was empanadas. I had about 12 pounds of figs left from the last few days of fig harvest on our tree, bought some apples and a nice sized pumpkin the other day at the market. As soon as I saw the pumpkins, I knew empanadas were happening. I didn’t count on there being apple and fig ones too but the pumpkin ones were a no-brainer. Grandkids were coming for the weekend and there was going to be an empanada bakeathon in my kitchen.

A couple of days ago when I bought the pumpkin it was cold. In fact, I was wearing my Ugg boots and sweater on that market trip. Even last night when I cooked down the pumpkin it was a bit chilly. I couldn’t sleep so for some crazy reason, I hopped up at 1a.m threw the whole basket of figs into a pot with some cinnamon and sugar and turned it down to simmer then finally snuggled in with Jasmine, Aiden and Ozzy and eventually slept. I woke bright and early and got the kids breakfast, took the dog out and surveyed my figs which had cooked down perfectly while I was in dreamland. When I went to the fridge to get the butter for the masa, I saw the apples and they ended up on the chopping board. I’m a little obsessed about baking. Then it hit me that the sun was blazing and I had an oven pre-heating. Fun. Oh well – empanadas were happening.

We baked all day. Empanada after empanada was rolled, filled, pinched, poked, egg washed and baked. Jasmine turned out to be quite the expert at rolling and forming them. I’m so proud of her. Her little rounds fell off her rolling pin in perfect circles. She is SUCH a baker! Aiden on the other hand, hmmm.

Aiden decided to take a mixing bowl, fill it with Maseca (corn masa), cinnamon, sugar, salt, milk, warm water, some butter and some mace. Then he mixed it all up, asking me every so often to taste; which I did reluctantly. I deserve the Grandma of the Year Award for that one. When he’d decided it was perfect, he dipped corn tortilla chips in it, pronounced it his gourmet dipping sauce and asked, “I’m a weely good chef, aren’t I Gwaaaamy?” I said yes, choked down a few more of those chips with as little of the “dipping sauce” as possible and tried to foist the rest off on my son Phillip who wasn’t having any of it. Wimp.

By the time Marissa got here to pick up her kids the house was filled with the smell of baking, she had two very exhausted kids (they’ll be asleep before they get home) and a basket full of empanadas to go. I get the messy kitchen and a sad-eyed dog who’s just lost his litter mates (my grandkids). Sorry Ozzy, it’s going to be a long, lonely week till they’re back again for Wepa Weekend with Grammy.

Empanada Dough

4 cups of flour
1 tsp of salt
1 tbsp of baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 cup of butter
Warm water
Egg wash

Mix the dry ingredients well, then cut in the butter. Add the eggs and enough warm water to mix the dough into a smooth ball. I add it about 1/4 cup at a time. You don’t want to work the dough too much, just enough to get it smooth and elastic. It seems to vary each time I make it depending on the weather or the flour’s absorbency. My grandmother did the same, worked the water in bit by bit rather than a set amount. Kinda like pie dough.

Once you have a nice smooth ball, cover it with a damp cloth. I tend to prefer flour sack because it’s what my grandmother used and it works really well. It keeps the dough from drying out and since I usually make tons of empanadas whenever I make them, the dough tends to sit for a long time. Every time the towel dries I just sprinkle a little more water on it.

Form small balls of dough by pinching off a piece. I say about the size for tortillas. Keep those covered under the damp cloth as well. Roll the each ball out to about a 4-inch diameter. We like our empanadas big here but you can do them smaller.

Scoop a bit of filling into the center, then brush a little water on the edges of the dough. Fold over.

Press down with your fingers all around the semi-circle then fold the dough over and pinch. Keep doing that all the way around. It gives the empanadas a double seal and helps keep the filling in.

Take a fork and poke a few air holes into the center of the empanada, then brush with egg wash and place on a greased baking sheet. Repeat until your baking sheet is full.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 10-15 minutes. I go by smell so I never time them. You want the empanadas golden brown.

Try to wait at least 20 minutes for them to cool or you’ll burn your tongue on the hot filling.

You can fill empanadas with pumpkin, cherries, pineapple, apples, pretty much anything. Ours were filled with pumpkin, apples and a fig jam. Some of them were a combination of fig jam and apple and some plain.

Buen provecho!

Oct

04

The Fruits of the Field

stories Posted by Gina Ruiz / 3 comments

I married young. Too young. By the time I was 21, I was a mother four times over and a single mother to those four at the ripe old age of 24. Early in our marriage my then husband took me to live 300 odd miles away from Los Angeles in the farming area of the San Joaquin Valley. We lived in a little town called Snelling where I found out I had asthma due to all the trees. I loved living in Merced County. The little town we lived in was right along the Merced river and for the first time in my life, I saw salmon traveling upstream to mate. I used to take Phillip in his baby buggy to walk along the river with Albert and Bernadette skipping along. Bob wasn’t born then. There were almond orchards, olive orchards, peaches…much more. The big old Ragu plant pumped the steamy smell of tomato sauce into the air and I got my first job as a cook in a little restaurant because I was the only one in the small little town who knew how to make a chile relleno.

My then father-in-law Arturo was a long-time worker in the pisca (harvest/picking fruit) and taught me how to pick peaches without bruising them. That’s when I learned how horrible that work was. The fuzz from the peaches gets everywhere, makes you itch, gets in your lungs. Awful. I learned a lot during my time with my late father-in-law. He taught me to treat my peach fuzz produced asthma with garlic, honey and tequila (hey it was nasty but it worked), how to pick olives, tomatoes, make panela cheese and at least 100 other most useful things. We’d often spend evenings making tortillas together on Saturday nights when he’d show up for family dinners and he’d always teach me some new way of preserving the fruits and vegetables he’d bring from the field. He never showed up without a box or bag full of something: bell peppers, chiles, plums, squash, etc. I never knew what he’d bring but it was always freshly picked that day by his gnarled old hands and carefully picked over to ensure his grandkids had the best of what he had. There was so much love in those little boxes or paper bags that it always brought a tear to my eye that I’d never let him see. Arturo was a gruff old guy. He liked to seem rough and abrasive but I could see right through him for the tender-hearted and loving man he was. He was courtly too in that old-style Mexican way. When my husband was away in Los Angeles one week, I caught his car slowly driving up and down my street late at night and I knew, though I never let on that I did that he watched over us each night. He was our own personal angel de la guardia (Guardian Angel).

Don Arturo hated picking olives but he did it every year well into his old age. He was super quick at it and made ok money given how little pickers are paid. I’m not sure how it is now, but in the early 80’s pickers were paid by the pound. He wore a little belt with a basket around his waist, would climb a rickety ladder, and reach up with gloved hands to strip the olives off the branches swiftly. They’d expertly fall into the basket tied to his waist. I tried it and it was brutal. My shoulders felt like they’d fall off and lots of olives would spill, not making into my basket like his. The muscles in my neck were screaming after an hour, yet he did it uncomplaining for more than 8 hours a day, year after year. I don’t know how he did it. It was absolutely back breaking and exhausting, but he pulled in pound after pound after pound. That year, he taught me to cure them with lye and with each salty bite of olive, I had a new appreciation for the work that went into putting them on my table.

It’s a new century and Arturo is long gone, a distant but always fond memory of a truly good hard-working man that I wish my children had a longer chance to know. My little fixer upper here in North Hollywood has an olive tree sitting out front and as I teach my son and grandchildren how to gently strip the olives off the tree to prepare for curing, I tell them the story of how I learned it and of the grandfather and great-grandfather they never knew. I hope when we’re done picking and curing that they have the appreciation I do for the farm worker and what goes into putting the fruits of the field on our tables.

Sep

15

Squash Flower Pudding (budin de flor de calabaza)

main dishes Posted by Gina Ruiz / 0 comments

I was lucky enough to get into the market early this morning just as the produce guy was putting out a large box of the beautiful orange squash blossoms I’d made quesdillas with the other day. As he opened the box, I could already taste the budin. I bought half the box and gently carried them home and put them in water, covered the delicate blossoms so they wouldn’t wilt and set about assembling my ingredients.

A budin is a pudding, but not that chalky chocolate pudding in cup stuff that I see my grandkids eat on occasion. A Mexican pudding is often savory, always delicious and usually contains ingredients maybe unfamiliar to the American kitchen. This is REAL Mexican food. We are so much more than tacos… oh well that view is rapidly changing so I won’t start ranting mid-post.

Squash flowers need to be used the same day they are bought. They are incredibly delicate and tend to wilt almost immediately. In the grocery store plastic bags from store to home, they can get slightly bruised so they usually sit very carefully on my lap on the way home. It’s important to have all your ingredients together if you’re working with them so that they don’t have time to wilt on you.

budin8 300x225 Squash Flower Pudding (budin de flor de calabaza)

Delicate squash flower blossoms

Making the budin is easy, almost effortless to me. It’s a great recipe to listen to some boleros while cooking and just zen out. The brilliant orange of the blossoms mingled with translucent strips of sweet onion give the dish texture but it is oh so light. Like eating a very savory, silky cloud. Que rico! Writing about it makes me want to make another one because of course there’s no more. Squash flower season is very short. A couple of weeks in the spring and another couple at the end of summer signaling the start of autumn. They don’t preserve well that I know of so squash flower budins aren’t made very often and they get gobbled up so fast it’s ridiculous. Make sure to hide yourself an extra slice – it will go fast.

Budin de flor de calabaza/Squash Flower Pudding

6 cups of squash flower blossoms, cleaned and chopped
1 cup of rice flour
1 can of evaporated milk
2 cups of water
1 golden onion, halved then thinly sliced
1/4 cup of butter
4 eggs, beaten
Salt to taste
1 tsp Knorr Suiza
1 1/2 cups of grated Monterey Jack cheese (Note: sometimes I use Comte or Manchego)

Mix the rice flour with the evaporated milk and water in a mixing bowl until smooth, then pour into a heavy pot and heat on low flame stirring constantly until it thickens. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

In a skillet, fry the onion slices in butter until translucent then add in the chopped flowers. Saute about two minutes and add salt and Knorr Suiza. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

Mix the flowers and onions into the rice flour mixture until well blended. Mix in the eggs and incorporate well.

Pour into a greased non-metal baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until the budin has risen and a knife pulls out clean.

The budin will sink a little as it cools so don’t worry. That’s normal.

Serve with a little creama Mexicana and a salad. Buen provecho!

Sep

11

Fig, Citrus & Lemon Verbena Marmalade

Preserves Posted by Gina Ruiz / 3 comments

Photo courtesy of the lovely and gracious Darlene Chan who is the best person you’ll ever want to have on your side.

My little fig tree in the backyard has been so generous. I’ve made jam, a tart, pudding, candy, dried some, given away tons and still have more figs every day. The jam I made with the grandkids was such a success (and gone so quickly) that I have been planning on making more for a few days but hadn’t gotten around to it.

One of my Twitter amigas and an amazing cook, Maura Hernandez blogged an amazing recipe for her Mermelada de Higos, a spicy version that had me drooling. That got me thinking about marmalade which I adore and I started wondering what it would be like to merge with my figs. I had some fresh Meyer lemons and a few tangerines in the house, so I thought, “Why not?” Scanning the pantry I was annoyed I was out of cardamon which I thought would give depth to the marmalade. I did find orange flower water and the lemon verbena that we recently planted has been flourishing so I adjusted the recipe compiling in my head.

The recipe came together easily and perfumed the house with an almost flowery citrusy scent. The resulting marmalade is figgy, slightly bitter from the citrus and flowery. Completely delicious and oh so good on the warm bread I baked. The citrusy notes of tangerine, lemon and the verbena give it an almost summery, light taste. I can see making tons of this to eat on those bleak, grey days when the taste of summer will be so welcome.

5 pounds of chopped, fresh figs
3 Meyer lemons, thinly sliced
3 tangerines, thinly sliced
10 lemon verbena leaves, finely chopped
2 cups of water
3 cups of sugar
1 tablespoon orange flower water
Dash cinnamon

In a large pot, bring the water to a boil, then lower the flame to it’s lowest setting. Add the figs, Meyer lemon and tangerine slices, cinnamon, orange flower water, 1/2 the verbena and sugar.

Let simmer and cook down for about four hours, stirring occasionally. In the last hour, add the second half of the lemon verbena. All the water should be cooked down and you should have a thick, rich marmalade. If still too watery, let simmer another hour or so until it cooks down.

Serve with yummy homemade bread.

Makes 3 Mason jars full.

Buen provecho!

Sep

07

Fig and Custard Tart

baked goods / desserts Posted by Gina Ruiz / 0 comments

I have the little fig tree that could growing in our backyard. This place we moved into had been left in disrepair and the yard was buried under 6 foot tall weeds and dry brush. My son Phillip and my roommate David took turns with the weed whacker and one day, we found a fig tree. It was small, literally buried under weeds, bone dry and yet it was brimming with little green figs. My heart stopped. I LOVE figs.

Growing up, whenever we’d go to my Tia Luz’ house she’d have peaches and figs fresh from her trees and they were always so delicious. Like eating warm candy when you picked them from the tree. She’d always send my grandmother over baskets full of delicious black mission figs and whenever they’d show up, I’d be jumping up and down dying to get one into my mouth.

We weeded around the little tree, watered it faithfully and it astounded us with it’s bounty. At first, it was giving about a pound a day which disappeared as soon as we’d pick them. The following week it was giving about two pounds a day and I made jam. Just the other day, I went out and picked at least ten pounds. I sent five of those pounds to a friend in Chicago and we’re still brimming with figs. More jam is planned. I want to try a fig marmalade with lemon rind. The grandkids were here and I felt like making pastry, so I thought, “why not a tart?”

My recipes called for custard with the tart but I wanted something lighter and then I found a Greek-based custard recipe here with one of my fellow Foodbuzz Featured Publishers. It was almost what I wanted, but of course I changed it. I can’t help myself. Can never leave a recipe alone.

I used Julia Child’s perfect pie crust recipe because it’s my favorite flaky pie dough and is uber simple. I didn’t use honey for the custard, I used a syrupy balsamic with agua de azahares (orange flower water) and tangerine zest. I loved the tart but the next time I make it, I’ll slice the figs thinner like I would for a French Apple Tart. I halved these and while it was good and everyone loved it, it was a little much.

Custard (adapted from Gastronomer’s Guide)

2 pounds ripe black Mission Figs, sliced
16 ounces of plain Greek yogurt
3 eggs
1/4 cup sugar plus 2 tablespoons
3 tablespoons balsamic cream plus more to drizzle on figs
Zest of two tangerines or oranges
1 tsp. Orange flower water

Mix together the yogurt, eggs and 1/4 cup of the sugar till well blended. Add the balsamic creme, tangerine zest and orange flower water and mix. If the mixture seems runny, don’t worry it will set just fine.

Pour the mixture into a pre-baked tart shell – I used a large oval baking dish so if you are using a smaller one you will have enough batter for two possibly. Arrange the sliced figs all over the custard, slightly layering them. Drizzle more balsamic cream over the figs and sprinkle with the remaining two tablespoons of sugar. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until the custard is set and the crust and figs are well browned.

Allow tart to cool for about 15-20 minutes before serving to give the custard time to set firmly and the juices from the figs to soak in. Serve warm.

Sep

05

Alegrias, a Traditional Mexican Treat

Aztec Herbs / desserts Posted by Gina Ruiz / 5 comments

Amaranth

Amaranth or amaranto in Spanish is an ancient grain. For the Aztec/Mexica people, it was a staple along with corn and beans. Some amaranth species are considered to have a 30% higher protein value than cereals like rice, wheat flour and oats.

This nutritious food was actually outlawed by the Spanish during the conquest of Mexico so I take great pleasure in eating it just on principle. Don’t get me started on the Conquista…but the people were absolutely forbidden to cultivate it or consume it. It is reported to contain between 75% and 87% of total human nutritional requirements! The Mexica were so cognizant of its high nutritional value that The Mendocino Codez indicates that over 4,000 tons of it arrived every year in the captial city of Tenochitlan.

The grain isn’t the only good part of the Amaranth plant. The leaves are spinach-like and absolutely delicious. In Ancient Mexico, they were often a part of tamales and still are to this day in certain parts of Mexico. I use them in tamales, salads, cook them like spinach and have even used them in a quiche, that’s how versatile they are.

I find whole amaranth stalks at Mexican markets, the grain I find in the bulk section at Whole Foods Market. I’m also working on growing it in raised beds for next summer. We moved into the Camellia house too late to start a summer garden, but I’m determined to have a full veggie/herb garden by next year.

Amaranth is an essential part of my pantry and I’m always looking for new ways to cook it. I make sure to always feed it to the grandkids when they are here just so they get that high nutritional content. I mean seriously this grain is a POWERHOUSE. It has protein, vitamins like A, B, C, B1, B2, B3, minerals like calcium, phosphorus and iron. It has a high amino acid content as well.

Dating back from Aztec times is the ubiquitous (in Mexico) Alegria candy. Alegria means happiness and I know these Rice Krispy-like treats make us happy here at home. The ingredients are simple and it’s fun to make. Toasted amaranth grain, pecans, piloncillo, lemon juice and water. Thats all it takes to make a candy that is pleasing and fun for the kids, economical and packed with nutrition. It beats the heck out of Rice Krispy treats that are packed with sugar and lacking in nutrition. Oh and one more thing for my gluten-free friends, amaranth is absolutely lacking in gluten!

Alegrias

3 c. toasted amaranth grains
2 lbs, piloncillo (Mexican cane sugar cones)
4 cups of water
Juice of two lemons
Chopped pecans

Toast the amaranth grains in a heavy skillet on a medium flame until they pop. They pop like popcorn so I recommend using a bacon grease screen. You want them very lightly toasted, don’t let it burn. Pour into a large heat-resistant bowl or a big pot.

In a saucepan bring the water to a boil and add in the piloncillo cones and lemon juice. Lower the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally until thickened enough to where a little ball forms if you drip a bit of the syrup into a glass of water. When that happens, stir a bit more then remove from the heat.

Carefully pour the hot syrup over the amaranth grain and stir it in slowly, making sure it’s completely mixed through. Add in the chopped pecans and mix well. I use a wooden spoon and mix it quickly as it cools fast.

Scoop into a square cake pan (in Mexico there are special squares made of wood for it) and smooth it from side to side. Use a rolling pin with no handles or a bottle to roll across and press down to make sure it’s packed tight and even.

Cut into squares with a wet knife and let cool. You’ll have to wet the knife after each cut to prevent sticking. Once the alegrias are cooled, serve just like a puffed rice treat. My grandkids love eating them with a big glass of cold milk.

Buen provecho!

*Photo by Kurt Stueber licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Apr

10

Empanadas de manzana

baked goods Posted by Gina Ruiz / 4 comments

When I was a little girl growing up and hanging out in my Grandma Lupe’s kitchen, I always looked forward to the weather cooling off because then it would be time for her wonderful empanadas. There was nothing better than being in that small but homey kitchen at the old red table half covered with wooden boards dusted with flour, neat little balls of masa (dough), the bowls of chopped apples dredged in cinnamon and sugar, the freshly cooked mashed pumpkin or banana squash and other fruits ready in preparation for those empanadas.

Like my Papa Chava, my favorites were the apple ones and I remember hardly being able to wait till they got out of the oven. I almost always scalded my tongue biting into a too hot apple empanada, the hot sticky juice dripping down my chin. I didn’t care how burnt my tongue got, they were that good. The smell was intoxicating too. Who doesn’t love the smell of baking apples and cinnamon?

The masa or dough was an awful lot like tortilla dough, but instead of lard Grandma used butter and a sprinkle of cinnamon and I can’t remember but I think she added a bit of sugar to the dough and when I make them for my grandkids, I add in a bit to give the dough a little sweetness. Grandma Lupe would make a huge amount of the dough and then pinch of little balls of it and cover them with her flour sack dishtowels to keep the dough from drying.

My very important job as a little girl was to scoop pumpkin or apples carefully into the center of the rolled out circle of dough, brush on a little egg wash along the edges and then pinch over the edges into a neat little pattern, making sure it was tightly closed all along the edge. My Aunt Jessie and Papa helped too and we worked quickly, filling a variety of cookie sheets with lots and lots of ready to go into the oven empanadas. A brush of egg wash went over the top of each empanada, then they were poked three times with a fork. I loved doing that.

Soon enough the house would begin to smell of baked dough, apples and cinnamon, the sweet gingery scent of pumpkin, and whatever other fruits we were making empanadas from. Sometimes we did cherry, pineapple, guayaba, or peaches. It depended on what we had in the house or what we felt like experimenting with. I’ve made them from membrillo (quince), guayaba and cheese, raspberries, strawberries, etc and I love them all. I remember days standing out in the cold waiting for the school bus eating a hot empanada wrapped in a napkin and feeling like I couldn’t have a better breakfast.

To this day, my favorites are the apple empanadas and each time I bite into a too hot empanada and scald my tongue, I remember those chilly days in my grandmother’s kitchen and how happy they made my grandfather, who loved to dip them in his cup of coffee. No matter what kind we made, we always had to include apple for him. My grandmother never once failed to consider how much he loved apples. The memories I have of empanadas make me both grateful to have had that childhood of wonder in my grandmother’s kitchen and wistful as I wish she and my grandfather were still here.

I don’t make as many empanadas these days since my kids are grown and gone and I’m trying to be better about giving the grandkids too many baked goodies. These days I’m trying to give them more fresh fruit and cut up veggies but occasionally sneak in a yummy thing like empanadas.

Grandma Lupe’s Empanadas de manzana
For the filling:
12 baking apples, peeled, cored and sliced
3 tbsps sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Mix together the apples, ginger, sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.

For the masa:

6 cups flour
1/2 c butter
1/4 c sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
Hot water
Pinch salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 325.

Sift the flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon together until well blended. Add the eggs and cut in the butter then add the hot water, little by little (i do it in sprinkles) till a soft, but not sticky dough forms into a smooth ball. Pinch off small balls (about 3 inches in diameter) and let rest on a floured board covered.

Roll out a ball into a 1/4 inch thick circle and scoop in the apples making sure that when you fold it over, the apples don’t go out to the edge. Brush the edge with an egg wash, using a pastry brush then gently fold over and seal the edges by pinching them closed. Add holes to the center to allow the steam to escape, then place onto a greased cookie sheet. When the cookie sheet is full, brush each empanada with the egg wash and then bake for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.