Bistec a lo Super Pobre

In Chile where I grew up, there is a super fancy dish called "Bistec a lo Pobre". This is a steak, preferably a filet that has been grilled to perfection, and served with carmelized onions, french fries, and a fried egg. I know, foreigners eat such strange combinations of foods. But let me tell ya', although strange it is delish!
What is so funny about this dish is that the name literally means "poor man's steak" or "steak the poor man's way". As you can imagine, there is nothing poor about this meal. If you go to a restaurant it will probably be the most expensive dish on the menu. A real treat.

I am unbelievably strange about some of the things I like to eat; probably due to the fact that I grew up eating strange things. One of those strange things, that by the way I never had growing up, is just in a strange category of it's own: cold sweet potatoes. I love cold sweet potatoes. Yesterday I was really craving a cold sweet potato. Whenever I fix them I always throw an extra one in the oven to save for the next day. I don't wrap them up, I just wash, throw on a baking stone and bake for a very long time. I believe that is the secret to a great sweet potato. You need to overcook them, and just like onions, they get sweeter and sweeter the longer you cook them. I check and make sure I don't take them out of the oven till they are super soft and oozing at the ends.

So I went to the store and bought me some long skinny sweet potatoes and baked them. I had to create my dinner around them. I'm calling my dish the "very poor man's steak" because I just made it with a hamburger meat patty.

 

Here is what you do.

Bake sweet potatoes for a minimum of one hour. I baked mine for an hour and a half, and they were skinny ones! If you want them sweet, wait till they ooze. When they begin to cool off the "meat" will have shrunk  considerably and the skin will be real wrinkled. 

If you want an authentic chilean dish, skip the sweet potatoes and fix home made french fries.

Brown your hamburger patty. If you want to splurge, or be authentic still, by all means, have a real steak.

For the onions, cook for at least 20 minutes, it may take longer. Like spinach, you begin with a pan full and end up with a hand full. For Mike and me I cut up one of those ginormous onions. If they would have been a smaller, more medium size, I would have fixed two. No need to add anything other than salt. If they are cooked long enough they will be sweet.



Don't forget the egg! It just adds that special final touch. So good, trust me.

Rules

Rule #1

You must be patient, the onions take a long time to cook. Overcook them as much as you can without burning them.

Rule #2

Make the extra baked sweet potato. Put it in your fridge and have it for lunch the next day.  Because it will have such a sweet buttery flavor there will be no need to add anything to it. Eat it like an apple, skin and all (the sweetest part is stuck to the skin). If you don't like it, warm it up!

Provecho!!

Translation: Bon appatit, enjoy!!

Welcome to my (better late than never) Valentines

After 20 and a half years Shania Twain

says it best:

You're still the one
You're still the one I run to
The one that I belong to
You're still the one I want for life
You're still the one
You're still the one I love
The only one I dream of
You're still the one I kiss good night

My beloved Mike is still The one.

Welcome to my 1991 (part two) The big kitchen reveal

So you are wondering what on earth does 1991 have to do with my kitchen...?

Well, if Mike and I had come to look at this house when we got back from our honeymoon with any hopes of buying it, (which we wouldn't have because it must be at least 5 times bigger than our first little 1 bedroom apartment, and probably that much more expensive too) we would have thought we had died and gone to heaven.

I know I'm making such a big deal out of this. And now that I have looked at the pictures, I'm thinking it really isn't THAT ugly. But since I have already begun this tale, I might as well follow it through.

Towards the end of July after looking at what seemed like hundreds of houses in dozens of cities and suburbs, I had at least began to narrow down what area we wanted to live in. I had gotten a little pickier at what I was willing to look at. I had chosen 3 or 4 more houses to check out in the area. My realtor, who knew me pretty well by now and had a good idea of what I was looking for, sent me a list of 3 more houses that he suggested that we check out. This house was one of them. I had overlooked it several times. You can guess why. It had many of my required features, but when I saw at the pictures on line, I just couldn't get passed how turned off I was by the looks of the kitchen. I decided to trust my realtor and give the house a chance.
I was totally smitten by the house the second I walked in. Not only was the house big and beautiful, it was impeccably clean and staged to a hilt. (If you ever put you house on the market don't for a second underestimate the importance of having a very clean house!!! You would not believe the kind of filth that I have walked into, and walked straight out of. Some of us do not thrive on vision and fixing up houses, so CLEAN them!!!) I often wonder if the folks that lived here, and their 3 children, actually lived in such preteen conditions all of the time.

But...how my heart sunk (and still does) when I reached the back of the house and looked left. Heeeellllloooo 1991! So folks here it is the kitchen that I hate greatly dislike.

Here is a picture of the bathroom towels we picked out 20 years ago (1991)
They look 20 years old. We use them to bathe the dog.

Here is a picture taken in 1999 (so it still counts as the 90s)

 

And here are some pictures of our kitchen. A perfect match!!!

 

 

The lighting is awful. It is so dark that I sometimes call it the dungeon. During the winter when it is dark already while I cook dinner, I can't see a thing! It drives ma crazy!

Well, there you have it folks. That is what all of the hoopla is about. I know some may be thinking it's not so bad, and I'm sorry if I have offended you. But for the rest of you, take heart. Change is on the way.

The destruction has begun. Give me a month (or two) and I will let you take a look at our new and improved kitchen. I am giddy with excitement! I'm not saying much. I want it to be a surprise, so for now I'm going to just tease you with a small clue and peak into the new look coming your way. 

 

Ya'll, this shot is so hysterical! Does your husband ever wear stuff that you really hate? That shirt... I want to burn it!! The suspenders... Do I really have to say it? And here is the best part, those safety glasses he is wearing, we call them "the birth control glasses"! Need I say more?

The normal looking guy next to him is his wonderful brother Mark. He came over for a while to lend us a helping hand.

In the meantime I may delight you with a new recipe or two. How does Beef Stew sound?

But, don't hold your breath.



Welcome to my 1991 (part one)

1991 was an amazing year. Three major events in my life happened that year.

One, I graduated from Collage. I finally ended my what seemed like forever collegiate career when I received my very impressive BA in Psychology. Yeah Baby!

(I'm lovin' the 90s big hair)

Two, I snagged the very desirable and coveted title of MRS. Mind you that this was no ordinary Mrs. This was the Mrs. HARMS title. The one that came with the prodigious Miguel Harms attached to it. Acquiring him was no small feat I might add. It took me a full year to convince him that he was indeed in love with me, and that just being friends would never make the cut, for either of us. 20 years later, it has totally payed off.

 

We were poor... One of the ways we cut corners, regrettably, was with the photographer. Unfortunately I don't really have a real good picture of Mike and me with our "wedding clothes".  This will have to do. This picture was taken by somebody (probably my sister Linda, the "official" family photographer) right after we changed into our "going away" attire.

The next two pictures were taken by our wedding photographer, and I love them, they are my favorites, so I couldn't resist showing them off.

But.

A question:

Who gets married in July with a long sleeve wedding dress? In Texas? Yep, that would be me, clueless me!!!

 

 

Three. Along with the planning of a wedding is the ever so exciting task of choosing what you are going to ask everyone to give to you as a wedding gift, not realizing that you will be stuck with these choices for the rest of your life. The infamous registry. The dishes, the china, silverware, sheets, towels, you name it. A pretty fun occasion in the life of a woman. In hind sight, can I just say, if I had to do it all over again, I think I would just let my poor husband go shoot a rabbit or something instead of dragging him around trying to get him to "participate" and "be a part" in this whole decision making time. What do they know anyway? Seriously? What were we thinking?  Now that I have been married 20 years, I would NEVER, in a million years, ask Mike to come to the store with me to choose anything for my our home. If I took him he would probably choose something from the 90s. Mark my word. The 90s stuff  just hasn't come around yet. It's just not quite time for it to become retro.

Totally a side note here: If you are getting married, or you know someone who is, please tell her to not drag her man along to register (unless he begs you to, which he won't). Take your girlfriend instead, the one that you think has better taste than you. The husband (at least mine) doesn't really care. He just wants a towel that will dry him, a pot that will cook food, and a dish that will hold the food on it, and a fork that won't break when he tries to bring that food to his mouth. Sheets that will keep him warm at night and the wife that will be right next to him every night, for the rest of his life. Just pick what you like, he really doesn't care! Don't take him.

OK, so why on earth have I told you all of this? I totally got off on a tangent there. Stay tuned please. Because this isn't what I was really going to write about. And since it got to long you will have to wait till some time next week to feast on the 2012-1991.

The big (ugly) kitchen reveal!

I can't wait!

But, before I go, two more precious pictures. I can't help myself.

 

At the Hotel on our honeymoon

 

Our very first Christmas photo.

Oh! to be 21 and thin again!

Blessed 1991

Some Like it Hot: The Ultimate Grilled Pimento Cheese

The week after Christmas the 5 of us Harms ladies decided to go out to lunch at one of those great "girly" places, you know the kind. It's the kind of place your husband (or mine) wouldn't be caught dead eating at. This particular cafe/tea room is called Chocolate Angel. A darling place that serves soups, salads and dainty little sandwiches. Well, almost dainty.

On this beautiful, sunny, warm TEXAS December day I wasn't much in the mood for a grilled pimento cheese sandwich (I got the spinach salad), but my sister-in-law was and she ordered this AMAZING sandwich called "Some Like it Hot". Now as weird as this may seem, I have actually had grilled pimento cheese sandwiches a couple of times in my life, and I actually like them. But let me tell you, THIS is not your run of the mill, ordinary grilled pimento cheese sandwich!

Bless her wonderful, generous heart, Christy (my sister-in-law) was nice enough to give me a taste of hers, and wow! WOW! Oh my word! It was so good! I decided then and there that for sure I was going to have to go back some day and order me one! A few moments later though, I thought to myself: "Hey I can make that!" Because, well, that is just what I do.

So I did, I looked on the description of the sandwich, remembered what was in it and made me one up just  for myself. At the Chocolate Angel they may have some secret ingredient that I don't know about, but it doesn't mater, I had only one bite and I can't remember what it actually tasted like anyway. This sandwich is to die for!

The Ultimate Grilled Pimento Cheese

8 oz. grated sharp cheddar cheese

¼  cup mayonnaise

1 small jar diced pimentos (the smallest)

**1 Tbsp. candied jalapenos (chopped)

2-3 slices bacon

Throw it all in a bowl.



Mix well.

your favorite kind of bread
real butter

strawberry jam

I'm not going to insult your intelligence by telling you how to make a grilled cheese sandwich. Just do it.
Serve it hot and spread the jam on top. I know this is silly, but I like to eat mine with a fork, it can be messy.

** If you are like me you probably didn't even know that there was such a thing as "candied jalapenos". It took me a while to find them. I finally located them at my local hooty tooty grocery store. You know, the kind that is ridiculously overpriced, but looks so pretty and clean and plays beautiful music while you shop. At these stores you get such wonderful customer service that they almost make it worth shopping there.
I'm sure you can find one near you.

 Anyway, they were not in the Hispanic food section. They were on the bottom shelf of the pickled stuff, alongside other peculiar foodie like food such as pickled pimentos and pickled green beans, etc...

So, here are the rules:

(because my food comes with rules)

Rule #1

You MUST grate the cheese yourself. It's yummier, more healthy, and with all of that effort you will work off about ½ of a bite of sandwich. If you buy grated cheese, it's cheating, and just opening the bag will only work off about ½ of a sliver of pimento, so, as you can see, the grating is totally worth the work (even if you break a nail).

Rule #2

You MUST try at least one bite with the jam. When Christy gave me my bite at the Chocolate Angel she put jam on it for me. Had I caught her in time I would have stopped her. I'm so glad I didn't. There is just something about the added taste of the sweet jam combined with the spiciness of the jalapenos. I know it all sounds weird, but trust me on this one. TRY it! And if you really don't like it after giving it a fair try, that's OK, I'll just have to feel sorry for you.

Rule #3

Be hungry and SLOW down! When you are hungry everything tastes better. However, when I ate mine I was too ravenously hungry that when I was done I really wished I would have slowed down more to enjoy the ecstasy.

Go make it now and ask your girlfriends over. They will think you are a godess.
Enjoy!!

A Birthday Song for Jesus

I love it when God sings to me. I even like it when I can sing to the enemy. But today I'd like to sing to God. When I was walking yesterday this song popped into my mind, just out of nowhere, I hadn't thought of it in years.. It was one of my favorites when I was a young romantic idealist. Today, I want to offer this song to Jesus, as a Christmas gift. This song that originally bore my name, today is called "Song for Jesus"

Merry Christmas Everyone.

Thank you Jesus for coming to me.

Aunt Doris' Famous Doughnuts

When I was in high school my mom and dad wrote a wonderful family cookbook. I wrote about it here and here when I first began blogging if you want to take a peek.

Many of the recipes in this book are ones that my mom got from other missionaries in Chile. This recipe is from my aunt Doris Dyches. And if you ever try them you will know why they are so famous.

Aunt Doris' Famous Doughnuts

1 cup boiling water

¼ cup sugar

1 ½  tsp. salt

3 Tbsp. shortening

4 cups flour

1 ¼ tsp. yeast

¼ cup water

1 tsp. sugar

1 egg

 

Glaze:

1 box powdered sugar (1 lb.)

½ Cup boiling water (I use milk, no need to boil)

1tsp. vanilla

Mix first 4 ingredients. Dissolve yeast in the  ¼ Cup of water and tsp. of sugar, set aside.

You are supposed to let the water cool down to lukewarm. But what I do is I add 2 cups of flour, mix it in. In a small bowl beat the egg slightly and add it to the water/flour mix. By then the mix is cool enough to safely add the yeast. Stir it in and then add the other 2 cups of flour. Mix well and put it in a large bowl to raise overnight.

In the morning it should be about double. Take the dough and turn on slightly floured surface and knead till glossy (and stretchy). Roll to about ½ inch thickness. If you have a donut cutter great, if not,do what I do. Cut out a circle with a glass, then pinch a hole in the middle and stretch out to look like a donut. Make sure your hole is bigger than you think it should be because it will rise a little and then expand when you fry it.

As you can see here, I like to grease aluminum foil to lay mine on to rise. Let rise for 1 hour. Don't worry if they don't rise much, an hour is enough and a soon as they hit the oil they will expand.

 

I like using a fry daddy. They only take a couple of minutes on each side, so be attentive. have your glaze ready. And yes, they are frying, in oil. DO NOT JUDGE ME! They are donuts, you FRY them! OK?

 

As soon as you take them out of the oil, plop then straight into the glaze.

 

Swirl around, drip, drip.

 

And eat, eat.

When you make them make sure you eat the first one because the rest will disappear before you can ask if they were good!

There is only one rule. Don't eat these the same week you have The Best Fettuccine Alfredo Ever. OH CRAP! We are having Lobster and Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo on Christmas eve. Well, it's Christmas, I guess it will be ok. I mean, I only make these like 2-3 times a year....

Oh wait, there is another rule. Eat them while you still have your pj's on, you know... the "stretchy" ones!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!