Carne de Puerco con Rajas

2-1/4 pounds pork, half country-style spareribs and half boneless stewing pork with some fat cut into 1-1/2 inch cubes
6 garlic cloves
2 peppercorns
1 tbsp salt or to taste
1-1/4 pounds tomatoes
3 tomatillos, husks removed, rinsed
3 serrano chiles or more to taste
about 6 medium chilacas or 3 poblano chiles, charred, peeled, seeds and veins removed, and torn or cut into narrow strips

Put the pork into a wide pan, cover with water, and set over medium heat.  Crush the garlic with peppercorns and salt and add to the pan.  Cover and cook for about 15 minutes.  Add the whole tomatoes, tomatillos, and chiles and continue cooking until the chiles are soft but not falling apart - about 10 minutes.

Transfer the tomatoes, tomatillos, and chiles to the blender jar with 1 cup of the meat broth and blend to a textured puree.  Take out a second cup of the broth and reserve.

Remove the cover and continue to cook the pork until it is just tender - about 10 minutes.  Remove any remaining broth and reserve.  Continue to cook the meat over low heat until the fat renders out; there should be about 3 tablespoons - remove or make up to that amount with lard.  Lightly brown the meat, add the blended ingredients, and fry over fairly high heat, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan to prevent sticking, for about 5 minutes.  Add the chile strips and the reserved broth - there should be about 2 cups.  If not, make up that amount with water.  Taste for salt and cook 5 more minutes.

Carne Con Chile Guero

The Meat:
2 pounds stewing pork with some fat, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 garlic cloves
salt to taste

The Sauce:
12 guero chiles
12 ounces tomatoes, broiled until soft
6 garlic cloves

Put the pieces into a heavy pan, add water to come just below the surface of the meat, the garlic, and salt, cover, and cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes.  Drain off half of the broth and continue cooking uncovered until the pork is just tender - about 20 minutes.  Continue cooking until the fat renders out and lightly fries the meat.

Meanwhile, char and peel the chiles, remove the veins and seeds, and chop roughly.  Peel the tomatoes if you like and crush with garlic and chiles to a textured sauce (you can do in a food processor, but not a blender which would puree the mixture).  Add the mixture to the meat in the pan and fry, adding a little more salt if necessary, until the moisture has reduced, about 5 minutes.  Dilute with about 1 cup of the pork broth and continue cooking for another 5 minutes.

Mexican Rice

1-1/2 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 small onion, diced
2/3 cup uncooked long grain rice
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
3 ounces canned diced tomatoes
1 tsp salt
1-1/2 cups water

In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat.  Stir in onion and saute until translucent.  Pour the rice into the pan and stir to coat grains with oil.  Mix in cumin, chili powder, tomatoes, salt and water.  Cover, bring to a boil then reduce heat to low.  Cook at a simmer for 20 to 30 minutes or until rice is tender.  Stir occasionally.

Salsa Verde

This is the salsa Rachel makes and taught me how to make.  This recipe is really to taste, so use this as a guide.  Also, when picking out tomatillos make sure you pick out the lighter colored ones.  These measurements are how I like the salsa, but make to your own taste.

10-12 Tomatillos
4 Jalapenos
1/2 bunch Cilantro
4 tbsp Salt
4 cloves Garlic (I used the jarred minced garlic, so it's about 1 tbsp)
1-2 cups Water from boiled tomatillos and jalapenos

De-husk and rinse tomatillos until the stickiness comes off.  Cut the stems off the jalapenos.  Boil tomatillos and jalapenos (my rule of thumb is I boil them until they are the color I want the salsa to be).  Put all ingredients in blender, including water.  Blend well until it looks like a salsa.

Oatmeal Pancakes

2 cups milk
1-1/2 - 2 cups rolled oats
2 eggs
1/4 cup oil
3/4 cup flour
2 tbsp sugar
2-1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Pour milk over oats and let stand 2-5 minutes.  Beat in eggs, oil, then remaining ingredients.  Mixture will be thin.  Fry on hot griddle.