Home Made Chile Powder

This sounds a little daunting, but is extremely simple. If you play around with what chiles you like, you can also customize it. I just kind of made it up, but I took 2 dried guajillo chiles, 2 dried chipotle mora chiles, and two chiles de arbol. (When I see dried chiles I just buy a bunch and keep them in the cabinet for impromptu recipes like this or chile-infused olive oil for black bean dip etc.) Head up a cast iron skillet to medium high. Split the chiles and take out all the seeds and veins. Two at a time, toast the chiles in the hot skillet, pressing down on them with tongs, until they start to blister a little (1-2 minutes). Put all of the toasted peppers in a food processor and blend until you have a powder. A couple bigger pieces are okay. Then use for chile, marinades, salsas... whatever you want!

Braised Short Ribs in Adobo for two

Yum! These short ribs are easy and great, and perfect for some extra special tacos. The recipe is from Truly Mexican (the wonderful Mexican cookbook that Jamie got me for Christmas last year). You don't have to brown the short ribs, so it's basically tossing all of the ingredients in a pot and sticking it in the oven for 2.5 hours. The resulting sauce is rich and has a deep heat, but isn't too spicy, and the meat is tender and falling apart. I shredded it up with the adobo and put it on a soft taco with minced red onion and jalapeno with a little crema on top. We had no leftovers.

And I got to use my adorable heart pot! Thanks, Kara!! It's so perfect for making dinner for two, and makes whatever you're making seem a little special and romantic.

Serves 2 (I reduced it)
Ingredients:
1 dried guajillo chile, wiped clean, stemmed, slit open, seeded, and deveined
1-2 lb bone-in beef short ribs