Year Two, Day 53: Chalupas!

 I am in my library office this morning. A beautiful, summer day in Portland. Gentle breeze. I chose to ride the bus because I am teaching students on a slight incline today. My sore body is not ready for slight incline.  Tomorrow, however is a definite bike day!

And look at my face! The lump has practically disappeared! Lumpless am I!  Maybe you never noticed the lump before. I did. I never saw a picture of my face without looking for it over the past several months.

So happy it is nothing serious. These sour candies are painful, but they do the trick. Isn't that the truth in life?  A little pain and suffering often brings rewards!

I made chalupas in my crockpot for dinner last night. No, not the Taco Bell "Chalupas"!

"A chalupa (Spanish pronunciation: [tʃaˈlupa]) is a tostada platter inMexican cuisine. It is a specialty of south-central Mexico, including the states of Puebla, Guerrero and Oaxaca. Chalupas are made by pressing a thin layer of masa dough around the outside of a small mold, in the process creating a concave container resembling theboat of the same name, and then deep frying the result to produce crisp, shallow corn cups. These are filled with various ingredients such as shredded chicken, pork, chopped onion, chipotle pepper, red salsa, or green salsa." (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalupa)

I adapted this recipe from Taste of Home.com: 
http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/chalupas. But I used beef(the adult children do not like pork), and I used store "Ortega Fiesta Flats" to stuff them in.

 http://www.ortega.com/products/ortega-fiesta-flats_90194

 I slow cooked a pot of pinto beans in my smaller crockpot while I went on my bike ride and to the gym. Then I seared some beef stew meat in a skillet on the stove. When it was almost browned, I added a minced jalapeno, 3 cloves minced garlic, a cup of minced green onions, and 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley from the garden. Then I squeezed a fresh lime over the meat, added salt, pepper and cumin and plopped it in my large crockpot on high for an hour while the beans finished cooking. Then I poured the beans and their cooking liquid on top of the meat and added a can of mild green Chile's and "tajin" flavoring. I let this cook for about four hours on low. Then we scooped it up and put it in the taco shell boats. I topped it with a little dollop of sour cream and a few slice olives.

Oh my goodness! I cannot put into words how delicious this is!  The beans have just the right amount of "bite" and the meat melts in your mouth.

I can hardly wait until lunch!

Happy Friday! :)  




PS. On a more serious note, I just read the breaking news about terrorists taking hostages at a cafe in Bangladesh. I am adding the victims to my prayers. I am praying nearly all day every day now for all who suffer in our world.

I am reading Psalm 53 today. New King James Version:

 "The fool has said in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity;
There is none who does good.

² God looks down from heaven upon the children of men,
To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.
³ Every one of them has turned aside;
They have together become corrupt;
There is none who does good,
No, not one.

⁴ Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge,
Who eat up my people as they eat bread,
And do not call upon God?
⁵ There they are in great fear
Where no fear was,
For God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against you;
You have put them to shame,
Because God has despised them.

⁶ Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion!
When God brings back the captivity of His people,
Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad."