A Taste of New Mexico

I was born in Chicago but somewhere around the age of 9 my parents bought a second home in Taos, New Mexico. We used to spend all summer there and then several weeks in the winter as well. Then, when I was 14 we moved to the WAY northern part of Scottsdale, Arizona and I was there (or in Taos) until I moved to Indiana to work on my PhD 2 years ago. I miss Southwestern cooking and try my best to get a little taste of "home" when I can. But it's difficult in the midwest where people think a green chili is a green pepper.

Anyways... for dinner this evening we had Black Bean and Green Chili quesadillas with field greens topped with southwestern style hominy and avocados. It was delish. Dessert will be a bowl of fruit. I didn't think you needed a picture of that. ;)



To answer a question from yesterday's comments... do I make anything vegan? Sometimes. I was a vegan for about a decade and it wasn't until about 18 months ago that I returned to less strict vegetarianism for various reasons that I won't bore you with. However, when I was a vegan I really loved the Uncheese Cookbook by Jo Stepaniak. It offers a vegan alternative to almost any cheese you can think of and they actually are good. So, any of my recipes can use the uncheeses found in that book and made vegan. I actually used to make these very same dishes you see here with her uncheeses but now that I'm less strict I use the "real" thing. :)

Southwestern Style Hominy
Can of Hominy
Olive oil
Onion - diced
Garlic (2 or 3 cloves diced)
Red pepper
Cholula Hot Sauce
2 tomatoes pureed (or a can of tomato sauce)
Kosher salt

Put some olive oil in a large pot or deep pan. Saute onions and garlic until onions are soft. Toss in the hominy, tomatoes, 2 tablespoons of Cholula, red pepper (amount depends on how hot you like things) and a pinch or two of kosher salt. Cook on medium heat for about 30 minutes.