saucy!

Wow.

I. Am. Tired! Today was baking day, and boy, was it a lot of fun, and a lot of hard work! I finished the last five batches of Christmas cookies/candies today, including all of the packing, wrapping, decorating, and dish-washing involved. I somehow managed to run a couple of errands, too, and then found myself with more time to spare after dinner. Time to "get saucy!" (Ha, ha.)



My parents are coming up for Christmas this year, and I decided on tamales for Christmas dinner! Now, we can't have plain ol' jarred salsa on our tamales, and I wanted to mimic the three sauces Mexican restaurants offer with their tamales, so it was time for a sauce-a-thon. On the left is Melody's recipe for homemade salsa, with a few modifications of my own. (I cut back on the spices she calls for, since I really prefer a strong tomato flavor with an undertone of spices, used 4 jalapenos, cut down the salt, and used a can of crushed fire-roasted tomatoes. The crushed tomatoes allowed me to skip pureeing the salsa, which is a good thing -- I like my salsa chunky!) Middle, Tomatillo Salsa Verde, and on the right, Three Sisters Black Mole. Holy "mole," did that recipe yield a lot of mole! Good thing we're having tacos this week . . . and tamales next week . . . and tamales again for New Year's . . . and good thing, too, that the sauce freezes well! I got about nine cups of sauce from the recipe . . . whew! I think I'll send a jar home with my Dad. :)

I'll post a photo of the cookies soon -- I just don't want to plate a whole trayfull for no reason, other than to snap a picture. (You understand, right?) I plan to take cookies to work on Monday, though, so expect full disclosure later in the day!

Hope you are having a nice weekend!