(As Good as) Chipotle Rice Bowl

It was what was for supper tonight.  And it was SOOOO yummy.  It (sadly) disappeared without me taking a picture, though. 

OK, now that I have it all written out, it LOOKS like a complicated meal, but really…it isn’t!  It took me less than an hour to get it all together, (and much of that hour was letting the steak marinade!)

The first step is deciding whether you want a chicken bowl or a beef bowl.  We had steak tonight, and wow…it was REALLY great.  I’ll give instructions for both.

STEAK

• juice of a lime (or about 2 T. of bottled lime juice)
• 2 tablespoons oil (I prefer olive)
• 2-3 cloves garlic (minced)
• 1/2-3/4 t. cumin
• 1 chopped/minced jalapeno (we use seeds and all…if you don’t want it at all spicy, remove the seeds and ribs)
• 1/4 c or so of chopped cilantro

Combine marinade ingredients and pour/rub over thawed steaks.  Let them sit for an hour or so.  Then grill til desired doneness.  Cut into fajita slices or bite sized chunks.  (I used sirloin steaks…grilled til just a little pink in the middle.)  That steak was AWESOME!

CHICKEN

Rub some thawed chicken breasts with taco seasoning OR chicken fajita seasoning, OR a mixture (to taste…start with a t. each of cumin, chili powder, onion powder, garlic salt, oregano).  Grill til done.  Chunk into bite sized pieces.

BLACK BEANS

Drain a can or two of black beans.  Add in 1/4-1/2 cup of chicken or vegetable broth.  For each can of beans, add 1/2 to 1 t. each of cumin, garlic powder, chili powder, cayenne pepper.  Heat through.

CORN

Open a can or bag of corn and heat it up.

CILANTRO LIME RICE

• 2 T. olive oil or butter
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup (not instant) rice
• 2 cups liquid (water, chicken broth, vegetable broth)
• 1-2 T. lime juice (more or less, depending on how “limey” you want it
• 1/4-1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro

Heat the oil (butter) in saucepan.  Add garlic and rice and saute for 2-3 minutes (don’t let the garlic burn)  Add liquid and lime juice.  Cover and cook, following directions for the rice (usually around 20 minutes).  When it’s done, (taste for lime flavor…if you want more, add a bit more lime juice), add chopped cilantro and stir to combine.

PIONEER WOMAN’S PICO DE GALLO (click link for step by step photos!)

• 5 whole Plum (roma) Tomatoes
• 1/2 whole Large (or 1 Small) Onion
• 3 whole Jalapeno Peppers
• Cilantro
• Lime Juice
• Salt To Taste

Pico de Gallo:
Chop jalapenos, tomatoes and onions into a very small dice. (Leave seeds in your jalapenos for a hotter pico). Adjust amount of jalapenos to your preferred temperature. Next, chop up a nice-sized bunch of cilantro. Just remove and discard the long leafless stems before chopping. No need to remove the leaves from the stems completely. Place all of these ingredients together in a bowl and give it a good stir.

Squeeze the juice of half of one lime into the bowl. Add salt to taste and stir again.

OK…then you just put it all together!

Add rice to a plate or bowl.  Top with steak or chicken, and add a spoonful or two of black beans, a spoonful or 2 of corn, a spoonful or two of Pico…or salsa.  Add some cheese and sour cream if you’d like. 

Some in our family prefer to eat this in a tortilla, others just eat it with a spoon or fork.  YUM!

Yogurt and Cream Fruit Sauce

Do you know The Pioneer Woman?  http://thepioneerwoman.com/  If not, you should really sit down and take a few minutes (or rather…a few hours!) and browse through her blog and get to know her.  She has an easy to understand photography section on her  site, and I love to read her stories of ranching life, but far and away my favorite section of her site is The Pioneer Woman Cooks.  Many of her recipes have become family favorites at OUR house.  Her cinnamon rolls are out of this world, and Marlboro Man’s Favorite Sandwich is AMAZING, and her Pico de Gallo and Guacamole recipes are staples around here in the summer.  Holiday Bacon Appetizers?  YUM!  And OOOH…the Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Thingies…out of this WORLD! 

But here is the one we are enjoying tonight…over fresh blueberries, strawberries and peaches…You really MUST try this very soon!  It really couldn’t be easier!

Yogurt Cream and Berries (From Pioneer Woman Cooks)

• 1 1/4 c. heavy whipping cream
• 1 1/2 c. plain yogurt
• 1/2-3/4 c. brown sugar (I usually go with the 3/4 cup)

Whisk together the cream and yogurt til smooth.  Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly all over the top.  Cover and refrigerate for a few hours.  The brown sugar dissolves a bit, and…I’ll admit…it looks a little…weird… 

Put your fruit in a bowl (we love it with strawberries, blueberries, peaches, grapes, raspberries…)  Spoon the sauce over the top and enjoy.  (You can whisk or stir the brown sugar into the cream sauce so it doesn’t look so weird, but I never do…)

Rachel was eating some tonight, and said “Mom!  This is even better than ICE CREAM!”

If you want this recipe in PW’s own words (and WITH pictures, go HERE) 

Enjoy!

Fishing!

We got Ron a fishing license for Father’s Day.  We spent the afternoon (on Father’s Day…yeah…I’m a little behind in my posting once again),  fishing in a little spill off area of the Wapsipinicon River about a half an hour or so from home. 

It was hot.  We were expecting to catch some little bullheads.  Which we did.  But not before Ethan pulled in a 17-18 inch northern pike!  As he was reeling it in, he said “Well!  THAT’S not a little fish!

He was getting ready to try to touch it, to take it off the hook, when Ron said “Be careful!  It has teeth!”  That was the end of him trying to touch it!

LOVE the dimples on that kid!  (Well…love the KID, too!)

It was a beautiful spot for fishing!

Kind of woody and weedy so things got tangled quite often.  But it was still a good day of fishing!

This might be my favorite picture of the day

Although I kind of like this one, too

We did catch a few bullhead.  Ethan thinks that, with their whiskers, they look like little Frenchmen! 

What an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon!

Columbus Zoo

Ethan and I had the chance to spend a day at the Columbus Zoo while we were in Ohio.  Ron’s dad was in the hospital, so we were all spending lots of time there.  One day, while Ron spent the day there, Ethan and I went to the zoo.  It was a beautiful day for the zoo.  We saw lots of animals!

SMART polar bear was cooling off in the water.  It was HOT there that day! 

Ethan enjoyed the bears!

And a BEAUTIFUL, regal looking eagle!

LOVED this sleepy tiger!  It was hot, so most of the animals were resting in the coolest spot they could find.

Pink flamingos are my FAVORITE!

Sea Horses are COOL!

We could have spent HOURS in the aquarium!

DIPPIN’ DOTS!

In this bird house, we could buy a little cup of nectar and walk in.  Ethan had this bird on his shoulder within 10 seconds of walking in the door!

Ethan and the birds

It was a great day to spend together with my youngest son!  We just had FUN being together and seeing cool things!

Family Gatherings

Graduations are a good time for family to get together and visit.  We recently traveled to Ohio for nephew Nathan’s graduation.  The weather was beautiful and the family was mostly all gathered together.  The food was good and the visiting was even better!

Nathan with Grandma and Grandpa Koch

Ethan and Sarah play Corn Hole

Gene and Krista play Hillbilly Golf

          Danny plays Hillbilly Golf                                                    Ronnie plays Hillbilly Golf

And Sarah plays, too…LOOK at that FORM!                Avery just hung out and played it cool.

He even hung out with me for a while!

Jessica, Curtis and Avery

Martha, me, Krista and Val

Ronnie, Gene, Martha, Danny

Martha and Sarah

Gene and Krista

and family

Avery and his grandpa!

Danny and Val

Me, Ethan and Ronnie

and finally…Me and Ronnie.

Thanks, Martha, for hosting the whole crew for a few days!  We enjoyed the day greatly!

Good Dog

I don’t even exactly remember how it came about, but we received a phone call a little over 11 years ago.  This fella’s parents had a “mostly” yellow lab puppy that was just a few months old.  This puppy had a bit too much energy for his folks to handle, and he’d heard we were looking for a dog for our family.  We agreed to take her.

When she arrived, she BOUNDED out of that pick up and took off running.  We instantly fell in love with her.  She was just 4 months old, and wow…REALLY full of energy.  She was named “Sandy” but one of us in the family changed her name immediately.  (Much to the dismay of the rest of the family…THEY all thought it would be awesome to have a dog named Sandy…me?  Not so much!)  It took us a while to settle on the spelling of her name, but KT was Ron’s choice, and it stuck.

We tried keeping KT mostly outside, but she yipped and barked all night long and we were afraid our neighbors would hate us.  So we brought her in that first night.  And…she never spent another night outside.  We began referring to her as “Princess dog” because she would NOT go outside if it was rainy.  She wouldn’t get her feet muddy!  She sometimes went more than 24 hours without going potty, if it meant she could keep her feet clean! 

She had been a farm dog for her first 4 months.  I’m not sure if that is the reason she never once had an issue with going to the door to go outside to do her business or not.  She just NEVER had an accident in the house…(well…except for the ONE time…the weekend after Thanksgiving when my sister’s family and my family went shopping and out to dinner.  We came home to find an ENTIRE pumpkin pie missing…and a HUGE mess on the carpet!  GROSS!!)  KT was SO sheepish, and hid in her kennel for a few hours!

For the first several years, we had to work hard to keep that dog at home.  If the door was open even a smidge, she’d nudge it open and work her way out and take off.  My kids spent HOURS on bikes and on foot, chasing that dog down.  KT always knew if she’d done wrong…she’d hide her eyes, turn her head away from us or go and lay down in her kennel.  She hated disappointing us…but she just couldn’t help herself.  One year, Grandma Marge brought Ethan a pretty blue birthday cake.  We left it (dumb on our part!) in the middle of the table while we went to midweek.  When we came home, a big (doggie sized) bite of Ethan’s birthday cake was missing!  And KT was hiding in her kennel and wouldn’t look at us.  (Ethan didn’t know…we hid the side with the missing cake and put candles on and sang to him and he never knew the difference)

KT  made a couple of trips to Ohio with us…Once it was just her and Ron in his little blue car for the whole trip.  She LOVED car rides!  She went camping at split rock with us several times as well.  She loved the water and had a blast retrieving her fetch toy when it was tossed in the creek or the pond.  Ron and I walked that dog for miles.  She never did learn to walk with us very well…she was definitely a puller and a tugger!  By far, her very favorite activity in the world was playing fetch.  She’d play til she literally couldn’t move any more.  Then she’d rest a while, and toss that ball back to us to throw again.  She spent many nights by our side with a small fire going in the back yard.

Ethan was only 1 when we got her.  Those two have been buddies for 11 years.  Best friends.  The first thing Ethan did every morning was to pet her and feed her, and the last thing he did each night was give her a scratch and a hug good night.  She knew that he was the one who would give her a treat at night.  Each morning, she would lay right outside his bedroom door, waiting for him to get up to feed her and play.

While my dad was sick in Ohio, we talked to Ethan one night.  He was worried about KT.  He told us that her back legs just weren’t working right.  Sadly that was only the beginning…very quickly…all too quickly…her back legs quit supporting her.  She’d go down the steps to go potty but couldn’t get back up them.  Or she’d walk across the front lawn and then her legs would quit and she’d have to just lay there til they decided to work again.  We took her to the vet, but was told she had tumors that were causing her problems.  We, extremely sadly, knew it was time.

KT was a great dog, and we all miss her terribly.  It’s quiet around here.  No one to clean up our food when it drops on the floor.  No one to play fetch or walk with us.  No ears to scratch.  No dog laying at our feet, tripping us when we try to get up.  No paws on our lap, or nose nudging our hands for a pet.  We knew we’d miss her, but didn’t know quite how much.  She really was a beautiful dog and a perfect fit for our family.

KT fell asleep at the vet on Monday, May 23, with me petting her and Ron scratching her ears and saying “Good dog”.

Ethan and KT, Aug. 2005

She loved playing with her kids in the snow!  Jan. 07

In Wapak at Grandma and Grandpa Koch’s, with her chewed up throw toy.  When traveling, that was like a security blanket for her.  July 07

Same trip…never to far from Ronnie…

She always wanted to be near her people!

We often wondered what all KT did when we weren’t home…March 08

She loved being outside with us!  April 08

The only furniture she ever got up on (to our knowledge) was the patio furniture…so she could better sun herself!

May, 2011

May, 2011

May 2011

Good Dog, KT!