Chile Con Limon

Ok, No this isn't a recipe, nor does it have anything to do with cooking (besides putting the bag in the microwave), but I just had to share this little beauty with everyone. In 2004, Ty and I went to Puerto Vallarta. In their local WalMart, I found this wonderful bag of goodness. I bought a box to try it out and became immediately addicted. When we were leaving to come back home, we made a special trip back to the WalMart so I could get another box. If I had only known how difficult it would be to get my hands on it again, I would've bought out the whole store. Back at home, I googled it, I searched for it, but it was nowhere to be found. I even went so far as to contact the "ACT II" company begging them to ship it to my house or my state or at least my country! Their response? "Sorry, it is only available in Mexico". I would've paid any shipping price, so I didn't understand that at all, but I'd come to an impasse and had to move on with life. I thought about it, I told others about it, but ultimately, I came to accept the fact that I would have to wait until we made it down to Mexico again someday. Imagine my surprise when I opened my birthday present from my little brother and his wife this year (6 years later) and found this inside! They had found this popcorn available on a website (that probably didn't exist when I was looking for it) at My Mexican Pantry. I have been enjoying this delicious popcorn again and loving every bite. Every bite brings me sadness though, knowing that I'm coming closer to the end of my precious box. Yes, it's available on this website, but at $2/bag, I do have to go easy on it. Just wanted to share this joy with all of you. Please do let me know if you taste it!

Sausage Gravy Pasta

When I was in AZ visiting my brother's family recently, my sister-in-law made a really good pasta. She told me what was in it and I realized it had the same ingredients as my sausage gravy I use for biscuits and gravy. I decided to experiment with the leftovers and it really worked out great! I'm not very good at using leftovers, but this is one of the best. Your family will have no idea they're eating the same thing for dinner that they had for breakfast! Here's a link to my Biscuits & Gravy recipe so you can make that for breakfast.

I also decided to try something I haven't tried before. I took pictures throughout the process so you can see how easy it really is. Also, I'm not including a recipe here, just the method...

Start by boiling a pot of water and cooking your pasta according to package direction. I used penne with the lines in it, but you really could use whatever type of pasta you want.
In a soup pot or deep skillet, put in your leftover sausage gravy. It doesn't really matter how much there is, just add all of it. If there isn't very much, the small amount of sausage you have will still flavor all of the sauce. If you have a lot, that just more meat for your pasta!
Sprinkle the gravy with 1-2 tablespoons flour and add about 1 Cup chicken stock or broth.
Stir the liquid into the gravy. It will start out thin and gradually thicken as it's heated. If it gets too thick, you can add more chicken stock or even a little starchy water from the pasta pot.
Once it's thickened and your pasta is done, add the pasta to the sauce pot.
And stir together.
Then add a bunch of dark greens. You could use spinach, kale, arugula...any dark green that holds up to cooking.
Stir it all together until the greens are wilted. Put it on a plate and sprinkle with parmesean cheese.
Ta Da!