Pomegranate Ancho Glaze
Of all the chiles this wonderful world offers us culinary enthusiast my love my beloved poblano is at the top of my list. I love the poblano in any of it’s glorious forms either roasted, filled, in rajas, pickled, charred..etc. But dry this jewel of a poblano and you get nothing other than pure perfection, Chile Ancho. Chile ancho is a rich burgundy, mild in flavor chile that when added to any dish offers a warming sensation that is quickly addictive. Here in South Texas they sell them either by the pound or by the bag, but my friends the bags are HUGE, I screamed in delight when I ran across them in my local grocery store. Chuls quickly ran over thinking I had almost slipped only to find her mother hugging a enormous bag of dried ancho chiles. After regaining my composure I placed my bags (yes, I purchased 5, a girls gotta be prepared ) carefully in my cart, finished my grocery shopping all while imagining my future meals of ancho delight filled goodness.

Quick tip- you can keep your chiles in the freezer, until ready to use
With Labor Day approaching what else would be better than a dark ruby red glaze or sauce, call it as you like, with my slices of brisket. Ancho chiles simmered in pomegranate juice until reconstituted, then whizzed in the food processor with roasted garlic and onion. Heat until reduced and enjoy, clearly another sure sign of the melding of two wonderful places, the Texas brisket and Mexican chile ancho. Enjoy! May you have a wonderful Labor Day!! Enjoy your family, friends and great meals. Love Sweet Life.
Pomegranate Ancho Glaze
by Sweet Life
by Vianney Rodriguez
2 dried ancho chiles
8 oz pomegranate juice
2 cloves garlic unpeeled
1 onion halved
salt
pepper
1 serrano (if desired)
In a small sauce pan heat juice and ancho chiles on medium heat until chiles reconstituted about 5-10 minutes.
Remove chiles and remove stem and seeds.
Place onion, garlic, onion, and serrano (if using) on a sheet pan and broil until charred, watch carefully so you do not burn garlic and serrano.
Place chiles, juice, onion, serrano and garlic in a food processor and process until smooth. Add salt and pepper to desired taste.
Return to sauce pan and heat on medium heat until mixture is reduced and begins to thicken, about 10 minutes.
Shout out to Ryan from POM wonderful for sending my a great gift of POMjuice, when he emailed me I most politely agreed, warning him the juice might end up slathered on brisket. He quickly answered that’s great, I’m born and raised in El Paso, Texas… awesome!
Loving the Sweet Life, hey subscribe and enjoy each recipe sent directly to your email…
Love this recipe, why not try Guava-Tequila Glaze
(oh and lastly all pictures and words are mine, yes mine, don’t be sleazy and steal work..it’s copyrighted, yup all mine…love ya! Sweet Life)
Melon con Crema de Mango
Melons, Melons, Melons seems the only remedy to the Texas heat. We have juiced them, sliced them, made them into salad, had them for breakfast and continue to crave them. This is the time to get in that last taste of summer juiciness, rejoice in the quenching sensation hoping to tame this unbearable humidity. Texas plays by it’s own rules and August has brought us some intense heat that makes us look forward to cooler temps and lighter meals. Some mornings a light breakfast is all that seems appetizing. The thought of spending the day feeling trapped in a oven like atmosphere vehicle mixed with the traffic of back to school business easily makes me almost cry. We reside on one of the two main streets that directly connects to the University and throw in to location several public schools I almost want to skip breakfast all together and drown any future plans of actually completing my errands with gallons of iced coffee spiked with espresso shots. But being the level headed mother I am, really I am. I push aside my fears to make a simple refreshing breakfast which can be made even easier if all is made the night before, see I told you I was level headed.

Cantaloupes are highly prized here in Texas, yup we love them as much as we love our watermelons, our peaches, our citrus, our brisket..okay we Texans love all our State offers. Moving on. Our Texas soil helps to produce perfectly sun kissed cantaloupes that are enjoyed by everyone in the United States. They are shipped mainly form the Rio Grande Valley and West Texas. This summer having been our first in the Rio Grande Valley we have been enjoyed these beauties daily. Another advantage of living so close to the border is the Mexican mangos, the large fleshy fruit that is sold by the case or sprinkled with chili or simply cut “hedgehog style” at mercados. It almost seems like trees sensed a heat filled summer and were kind enough to bless us with a superior fleshy crop to help us survive the heat. Sync these two heavenly fruits together and treat yourself yourselves to a light breakfast or hey enjoy it for dessert, snack time, or better yet blend it together for a cool smoothie. I give you Texas melons with Mexican mangos mixed with crema for a sweet Tex-Mex fusion. I plant the inspiration you take the recipe and make your own, now c’mon let’s enjoy some cantaloupe. Have a sweet week and I send you melon infused kisses. Sweet Life

Melon Con Crema de Mango
by Sweet Life
by Vianney Rodriguez
serves 4
2 Texas Cantaloupes – sliced or cubed
1 large Mexican mango – peeled and sliced
1/2 cup to 1 cup crema mexicana
pinch of salt
agave – to your taste
garnish – pepitas
Taste your mango and you can get a sense of how much agave you would like to add.
I only had to add a quick splash, the agave is only to add a touch of sweetness not to overpower the fruit.
In a blender or food processor combine mango, 1/2 crema, salt and agave.
Blend or process until smooth, if the mix it too thick add more crema by small amounts to slightly thin our the mix.
Place in a bowl and refrigerate until cool or overnight for next day.
Place your sliced or diced melon on plate and drizzle your crema de mango.
Garnish with pepitas.

love the crema..try fresas con crema click…here
Loving the Sweet Life? why not subscribe and never miss a Texas dish.
(oh and lastly all pictures and words are mine, yes mine, don’t be sleazy and steal work..it’s copyrighted, yup all mine…love ya! Sweet Life)
Texas Pecan French Toast
The second recipe featured on Chow and Chatter by Sweet Life. I thank everyone for stopping by Rebecca’s blog and leaving lovely comments.
I have closed comments.
Need something sweet to start your day off in the right track? Well let’s add together two of my favorite Texas flavors and see what we come up with. Take our famous Texas Toast dunk it into a savory egg mix, cook until golden brown and then pour over a sweet mix of Texas pecans with brown sugar giving you a little extra motivation to jump out of bed. Enjoy!!

Texas Pecan French Toast
By Sweet Life
Serves two
4 slices of Texas Toast
3 eggs, beaten
Salt
pepper
½ cup butter
½ cup brown
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped Texas pecans
Extra halves for garnishing
Heat oven to 200 degrees.
In a large bowl combine eggs, salt and pepper.
Heat a large non stick pan or griddle to medium high heat and add vegetable oil or butter.
Dunk each piece of Texas toast allowing
each piece to soak in the egg mix.Add slice to griddle as many as fit, do not overcrowd.
Cook until golden brown on both sides.
Remove and place in oven to keep warm until sauce is ready.
Melt butter, brown sugar in saucepan over low heat.
Add vanilla and stir to combine.
Add pecans
Drizzle mix over toast and garnish with pecans halves.
If mix becomes too thick add a little bit of water, it will help to loosen mix.?
Migas
This recipe was featured on Chow and Chatter as part of my guest post, I am posting this to add to my blog files, I send all you visited me and left such wonderful comments sweet kisses.
I have left the comment section closed, as you have already showered me with plenty of love, thanks again. Read more
Please Stop By…..My First Guest Post…
Happy Monday!!! Please Stop by Chow and Chatter
for a Texas inspired Guest Post featuring yours truly and two great breakfast recipes.
Many thanks to Rebecca for the lovely invitation.
Blackberry Buttermilk Pancakes
Seizing the opportunity that everyone was home together my little sis decided to throw her girls’ birthday party during our time together. What I thought was a brilliant idea is she planned a breakfast birthday party. A stress free event counting the 9 kids at the house, this worked perfectly. No getting dressed, pajamas were a must, no rushing out the door, no public place filled with strangers and for sleepy eyed adults a steady stream from fresh pots of strong brewed coffee were on-hand. The menu was kid- friendly “pancakes” fruit filled pancakes topped with even more fruit and warm syrup. For the adults steamy tacos filled with home-made barbacoa and spiked with fiery salsas. Everyone sat around the table eating, talking, laughing, being loud…we like loud and simply enjoying each other’s company. At first we thought we would have trouble waking up the kids, but with the wonderful smell of pancakes filling my mom’s tiny kitchen, soon all kids were circling the table. I have to admit, I believe the adults enjoyed the party even more than the kiddos. All of us sitting at the table together with mom and dad gave us a moment to relive our childhood and if that doesn’t make the pancakes taste even sweeter, the syrupy thank you kisses that followed from newly opened birthday presents really topped it off. I leave you with a sweet blackberry buttermilk pancake recipe to enjoy on your weekend. May you have a wonderful weekend and take time to enjoy pancakes….. Love Sweet Life! Read more
Chocolate Coconut Bars
I’m almost embarrassed to post these, almost, scratch that I have no shame people, these bars came about for the need to have a quick treat to send with hubby for a work luncheon. Being that they are extremly, embarrassingly easy hasn’t stopped me from making them 5 times since I have been home from vacation. Any event this past week that came up with hubby these beauties were made and quickly cut into bars. The only problem is that I keep leaving small pieces for me, so take into account that I have made these 5 times and add up each piece I have ravished, it quickly adds up to some serious sugar intake. But me being the calm and collective person I am figure that each piece must be consumed to remind myself of my superior baking skills (whatever). The crust is pulsed graham crackers held together with melted butter pressed into a 9×13 pan. This can be even easier, I know I know, if you use packaged ground graham crumbs which I found while searching for panko. I almost fainted, when was this invented? Why didn’t anyone call me? Of course I grabbed a box, then proceeded to melt the butter in the microwave and the process was cut in half, oh I could cry of complete joy.
Okay, people take my word and march into your kitchen or run like I do and whip these up. You won’t be disappointed and while you devour a piece, you can smile thanking me for being super cool. Enjoy Sweet Life!
Oh and since I am in a self praise mode, why don’t you stop by Drick’s Rambling Cafe wherere there is a whole post dedicated to me, you know your truly loved when someone creates recipes in your honor. Check out a great recipe for Livin’ the Sweet Life Chicken Tacos , love it! Texas hugs going out to Drick for thinking of me, your too cool Dude, love ya!

I made smaller versions for this post, the recipe is for a 9×13.

Chocolate Coconut Bars
by Sweet Life
by Vianney Rodriguez
serves 12
3 cups graham cracker crumbs (almost 20 cookies)
1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, melted
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups sweetened coconut
1 1/2 cups sweetened condensed milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray or butter a 9×13, set aside.
**************
Pulse graham crackers in the food processor until finey ground or you can used pre boxed graham cups.
In a large bowl mix together crumbs, melted butter, salt until combined. Place mixture into pan and press into bottom.
Sprinkle coconut over crust.
Sprinkle chocolate chips over coconut.
Pour condensed milk over mix.
Bake 25 to 30 minutes until edges are lightly brown.
Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Jalapenos
I’m back!!

How was your weekend? Great I hope. I had a amazing time with my family filled with lots of laughter, new memories, and great food. I love the few times out of the year we get to spend together being that each family is extremely busy and each live in different states. I had a blast watching all the men sitting together in one tiny room having a couple of beers and cracking each other up, seriously do men ever grow up? Too funny. So what do we feed these silly men of ours? Hearty Hearty Hearty…our men can eat. We whipped these stuffed jalapenos up one night and they were happily devoured. There is many versions of these stuffed jalapenos. Versions include jalapenos being stuffed with cream cheese or mashed potatoes even tomatoes. Our men like the “meat factor” of sausage and bacon. You can grill them or with this extreme heat pop them into the oven. To remove the seeds I find using a grapefruit spoon works really well and please do not rub your eyes after working with the jalapenos, trust me I have done this many times it is not fun.

Enjoy! Sweetlife
I’d like to send out extra love filled hugs to Jenn from Chinese Baba formerly know as Defunkt Gourmet for sending me such a lovely little pkg filled with great treats and a AWESOME cd of music, love ya girl!!
Also special Texas kisses to Stella for featuring my agua de sandia with a lavender twist from her prize pkg, she even included a shot of the box I sent her with a Texas sticker, love it!!
And of course all of your lovely selves who continue to visit me, even when I am totally offline, I appreciate you and send out best wishes.

Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Jalapenos
by Sweet Life
by Vianney Rodriguez
makes 12
6 jalapenos sliced and seeds removed
6 slices bacon, sliced in half
1 pound sausage, spicy, maple, turkey..your preference
2 cups sharp cheddar, shredded
heat oven to 400 degrees
Cut each jalapeno, lengthwise and remove seeds.
In a bowl combine cheese and sausage.
Fill each jalapeno with the cheese/sausage mixture and wrap with a slice of bacon.
Secure bacon slice with toothpicks.
Place stuffed jalapenos on baking sheet and cook for about 20 minutes, or until bacon is crispy.
Guava-Tequila Glazed Fajitas
Hello my loves. I hope all is well. My sincerest apologies for being completely absent for the last week, but my family is in town and well my heart has been completely occupied with so much dang cuteness. With my nieces, nephews, my brother and sister- really- my heart cannot take so much love and complete joy. My little sister arrived in town last Thursday and just to have her in Texas has been wonderful. Those with kids can understand that dinner with other adults, where cocktails are consumed and food does not need to be cut into smaller pieces…well that in itself almost brought me to tears. Not leaving the kiddos out we visited a butterfly park and just the sight of those little faces taking in the butterflies, well people I have become a deranged love filled, emotional wreck and semi drunk with so many wines bottles being enjoyed over games of UNO. Yes, we are addicted to UNO and it literally cracks us up that we are able to talk trash, change diapers, hand out snacks, consume 2 bottles of wine all the while still watching our cards. With some much going on I have had little time in the kitchen but a girl’s gotta eat, right? So we whipped up these quick fajitas glazed with guava jelly and cheap tequila (the best for margaritas). If you cannot find guava jelly feel free to use any you have on hand. I have used blackberry with great results, the guava gives these fajitas a tart back ground and the guava infuses these fajitas with a beautiful rich red glaze. Enjoy! Sweet Life Read more
Hominy with Cilantro and Lime
Menudo in our house is a cold weather ritual. My mom (momo) would spend hours prepping her ingredients then kept a watchful eye over her pot all night. Any of you who have made menudo know this dish can be quite time consuming. These days the work in cut in half with the tripe being sold in stores pre cut , menudo mixes are sold in the spice isles and various flavors of hominy are now available. None of these quick options were avaiable for my mom, but knowing my mom I doubt she would resort to any of these time savers. In the the morning bolillos, onions, cilantro and limes were placed on the table next to hot steamy bowls of menudo. Read more










