oneguyinportland

When is too much?

So with the past week this was on my plate. Three pieces of writing for the new grounds writing guild for their horror collection. Another book soon coming out nothing awe inspiring just a collection of stupid quotes for stupid conversations.  I had to work out how to get the labels for the bath salts. To work on a website for my father. A full time week at the mail center and some cleaning up in my humble apartment has made me go from one thing to another at a rate where I have felt less then my best. My writing did not have the horrifying snap that I would think that it does and nothing I really have been writing has not been feeling like my best.

It was one of those weeks that made you feel like something less then your normal clip which I kinda felt blue over. Time is important so I took a little time to kinda recharge my batteries a bit because with work need growin’ I need to handle it or things will soon fall. So after tonight I am going to turn my dials up to full. Sometimes I just have to refocus my energies before making more progress.

I think some of the things that I may try is to get more grassroots advertising. Try to get people interested in to looking to my stuff and then things can get moving.

Time is sacred and no one knows how much time is left on their lifespan so using it to do the most you can makes the most sense in my world. I just need to make sure I keep myself in the sweet spot between doing just enough and burning out. So now we can bring you to your regular scheduled progress.

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Enchilada Casserole

You will need the following ingredients to fill one deep baking tray/casserole dish.
2.5 lb 75/25 Ground Beef
1 lb Beef or Pork Chorizo
1 White Onion
1 can Refried Beans of choice or 1 1/2 C homemade Refried Beans
4 cups dried Rice
1 bunch of Cilantro leaves
1 cup grated Cheddar
Garlic and Chilies to season
Your Tortilla of choice. If 12 inch you will need about a dozen. 10 inch you will need close to 15
1 pt finely diced Salsa or Enchilada Sauce if you want

So first you want to get your rice going 6-8 cups of water (out with six and keep the other two off to the side just in case it needs it. Due to variances between rice when farmed it is not impossible to hear of or have happen. While this is going on chop up your cilantro, grate your cheddar, chop up your onion, and get your beans warm. After your rice is cooked take it out of the pot and let it cool for a moment.

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So toss your chorizo, beef, and onion in to the pot on medium heat until the onions are soft.

When it is almost done you can toss your cilantro in with your rice and whatever seasonings you wish and give that a good mix.

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At this point you may want to preheat your oven to about 300 F. It doesn’t take me that long and while that is going it is time to take our baking tray out and begin construction on each burrito just as soon as the meat finishes.

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As you can see we get more then just meat or cheese. You can also see from the shadow that my kitchen lighting needs some work.(oh well no fancy foodie pictures here what you see is still good enough to eat) A spoonful of meat, a spoonful of rice, a half spoonful of warm refried beans and a heavy pinch of cheddar before being rolled up. Prep for the baking tray if you want is to spoon a little bit of your sauce or salsa in. Finely diced salsa was on heavy sale so I just grabbed that. If you make it or buy it you will need about a pint.

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Almost a dozen big ol’ beefy burritos before saucing and cheese on top. If you do not want use all your sauce do not feel the need to with thinner sauces you may find a little less works or some people really like theirs saucy. In any case play it how you wish to play it as you can see below mine is a little drier.You can tell this will definitely get you full in hurry. Dress up the top with some more of the sauce and the remainder of the cheese before being put in for 20 minutes.

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You want it in the oven long enough just for the cheese to melt and the tortilla to absorb some of the liquid. This makes 5-6 servings and does really well in the microwave after being kept in the fridge.

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Blessed Bath Salts – The Saltening

So I am getting nervous. I have found some containers for the bath salts and luckily due to a friend sending me an Amazon gift card I can get a couple set up. The Blessed Bath Salts will not be on sale yet I would like to get some small places carrying it first after a couple more things. Setting the packaging up and getting some of the last parts together is a big step and it means it is the start of getting the word out. Now this means I will be working on this a little bit more, and my other projects will take a slight hit. That is okay my kind of working enjoys that form of chrono-chaos. Often times the reaction can be more potent in the positive then the original action. I am also way too caffeinated to do so much thoughtful typing.

So what makes my product different. First, I use natural ingredients. Tea, extracts, salt, water, herbs and honey or sugar. If you have kids or anyone else you do not trust around more chemically laden fare all this will do is give someone a hankering for a drink. Second, when I say natural I mean natural no chemicals to make it last longer, and it lasts long enough I had actually tested the aroma after a full year and it still held the aroma needed for a warm relaxing bath. Last, but by no means least is value. I am not one to sell things for exorbitant prices. Everyone could use a relaxing bath sometimes. Some people may not want it except for once in a while and we can accommodate that it will be a blessing to those who may find themselves needing a nice lift. Parents, Career trend setters, people allergic to other chemicals found in other bath salts this is something that will be for you. No fancy colorings in the salt no stabilizers needed.

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A page for the salts will be coming soon to Facebook as it stands. I want to make it look nice and there will be a post here on the blog to tell of it’s creation so good luck in your projects and have a good one.

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Chili tofu

Now with this you can put it over rice or noodles. I still wasn’t sick of ramen so I used dry pack ramen noodles. The chili tofu is hot though so if you can’t stand the heat find a substitute. Cooked vegetables work well or even just a touch of soy after the tofu is browned in pan. For the chili tofu you will need the following.

Tofu

A 16 oz package of tofu – Extra firm – tofu normally they come in 16 oz portions so no worries about over shooting and if you don’t want to make a full batch just replace the water in the tofu container before putting your remainder portion and that should give you about a week of time to play with it.

2 t of vegetable oil to help lubricate a wide shallow pan for the tofu

2 T chopped garlic

1/4 C sweet chili sauce or (1/8 C water, 1/8 C sugar, 3 T red chili flake)

1/4 C ketchup or (1/2 C tomato paste, 1/2 C white wine vinegar, and reduce to half)

Your seasonings of choice in my case.

Set your pan up and place on medium high heat. Oiled and ready we then move to the tofu and for this you will need a plate and a couple extra paper towels to make it easier on yourself. Open the package and drain it before setting it on the plate and pressing the paper towels lightly in to it. What this does is help remove some of the excess water so it will be easier for you to saute without breaking in to chunks.

What if it breaks in to chunks anyway? Use less sauce smaller pieces will not need so much to represent the same heat level. Other then that no changes so go for it. Next take your knife of choice and chop it up first in to planks before going in to cubes.

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Behold cut tofu. Now after chopping your tofu up toss it in the pan.

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You should get some sizzle as you drop it in so after that if you have to fuss with it you can set up your sauce to be poured in later. It will take some time to get a nice even browning or you can be like me.

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After about ten minutes let it flip and toss in your garlic. If you want it to be more browned what you do not want to do is try to scrape it from the bottom of the pan within the first few minute you will have more of a chance of the tofu cubes breaking if that happens. After the garlic gets some browning time you want to add your sauce.

What if I let the garlic cook to long or everything seems dry in the pan?

Great question, now with tofu because it is so porous their will always be some absorption and the garlic will help with that so if you need a little more liquid  as soon as your going dry you can add a couple drops of oil to finish your browning. Or if you say my ingredients I also had a lemon and an orange. They were on sale and I don’t get a lot of fruit so you can add the juice of a couple citrus.

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I like mine a little hotter then normal so this is with an extra teaspoon of chili powder with the citrus juice to produce that red color. As soon as you finish this if you let things cook until they stick the pan still the juice will help bring those particles back up to add some flavor to your sauce. Add your mix of sweet chili sauce and ketchup to the pan and let it reduce a little making sure to get all the flavors together to properly introduce each other.

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Ketchup has been used in dishes like this for many years, and old fans of Iron chef will remember the Chen ken min had a delicious prawns in chili sauce recipe that worked with ketchup as a base. If you don’t feel comfortable though you can pull back on it or make a quick version from the ratio I put up.

So after your sauce is ready its thick, full bodied, and delicious you need to have something to serve it with. For things like this I gotta go with the incredible edible egg. High in protein and adds just the right match to spicier things over rice or noodles in my opinion.

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Lightly fried egg and spicy tofu over noodles. Enjoy, if you like anything I have been up to comment and if you know someone that could enjoy one of these please show them the way to my little corner of the internet.Oh and before I forget you can actually catch me at the twitter thing call me old fashioned if you like but I am at oneguyportland on the twittery thing. Have a good one everybody.

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