Tamale Making on a Cheater's Weekend

As reflected in these open and honest pictures, we do use regular packaged foods from trusted sources. So, the dips are from the Annapolis Whole Foods, a guacamole, mango salsa and black bean dip. While I relish in the convenience of an easy meal, I also like the flavor and quality of these particular items. Whole Foods makes a low fat guacamole with peas as well as a regular one. The bean dip tastes suspiciously like their black bean soup which is admittedly too much sodium for one person but certainly less than we see in true junk foods. (And I can't help wondering why my NYC Whole Foods do not have the same recipes and spreads). We served the dips with an array of fresh vegetables, some raw, some lightly steamed and a big salad with fresh ramp vinaigrette. (If need be even the vegetables can be purchased steamed usually).

The next day, we put together tasty tamales, but I hadn't soaked any beans and I wasn't prepared to chop up a fresh tomato salsa, slacker that I am. So out came the cans and bottles. Of course, we did have fresh pablano peppers from the local farmer's market and luckily a bag of dried polenta. Even with the meal's imperfections and pantry roots, I think it packs a nutritious punch between the fiber of the beans and the lycopene of the salsa...

To make tamales, simply clean and boil the husks so they are sterile and rinsed of any farm and factory residue. The polenta is simple; boil water add the polenta, stir occasionally. We then spooned polenta into the corn husks, added beans straight from the can, salsa straight from the jar and the fresh peppers, and wrapped them up, or tried to wrap them up. Then we steamed the whole tray of tamales.

So, what an easy weekend! But, truth be told, that was last weekend, this weekend was even easier, a Mother's Day meal at Hangawi. I had the ginseng salad and the Mongolian hot pot, both delicious. The kids had the kale pancakes (gluten free, chewy and delicious with rice flour), leek pancakes, and two rice dishes, one of which was the bamboo rice which Perry persistently talked us into calling ahead for as it takes a while to cook. Our family dabbled in the sweet and sour mushrooms, delicious but I think they should be a dessert...

Susannah is typing this part: i waaant to go to hangawi and have mushrooms aagain

(While she was typing ever so slowly I burned my butternut squash...)