All the lonely tamales

My dad loves to buy fresh-made tamales by the truckful from a local Mexican market that's owned by one of my brother's friends.  I usually reap the benefits of these tamale runs, since my dad always brings me back a bag of them.  This Christmas, my dad and stepmom hosted dinner, and they bought tamales at another Mexican shop.  These tamales seemed more filling, and by the end of the evening, there were tons left over.  Well, Daniel loves tamales, and I do, too.  But I can only have tamales for leftovers so many nights!  Daniel suggested that we throw them into a soup, to which I replied, "That's ridiculous!"  We looked online for a tamale soup recipe, and sure enough, there were many.  So I had to eat my words and also the leftover tamales, but this time in a delicious and hearty soup!

Ingredients: 

1 can of black beans

1 can of diced tomatoes

4 cups chicken broth
1 cup onion, diced

1 tablespoon garlic, minced

1 teaspoon cumin, ground

1/2 teaspoon  cayenne powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black peppers

4 to 6 frozen tamales (chicken, pork, or beef), cut into bite-size cubes 

1 cup mexican-style cheese, shredded



In a large pot, heat up some vegetable oil and sautee the diced onion and garlic until translucent.  Next add all the other ingredients, except for the tamales and the cheese.  Bring to a simmer while cutting up the tamales.  Last, add the cubed tamale pieces and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes.  Ladle into bowls and top with shredded cheese.  I made quesadillas on the side.  Delicioso!

The Stacks

School starts in four days.  What have I been doing to prepare for the new quarter, you might ask? 
1.  Trying my best to kick this cold I've had since Christmas.
2.  Working my bum off to turn in these 1200 pages of transcripts that I've accumulated since the week before Christmas (I meant to take a photo of my stack of transcripts, but I was so eager to turn them in, I completely forgot!)
3.  Speed-reading through my Post-Colonial literature reading list so I've got a head start this time around.
4.  Cooking and freezing meals so that I don't have to pick up a pot or pan for the next 11 weeks.
5.  Cleaning the house, paying bills, starting my taxes, which are all things I will neglect for the next 11 weeks.

By the way, I don't remember if I announced this in my last entry, but I got A's in my classes last quarter!!!  2012 is going to be a crazy year for us.  I just have a feeling.  With me in school and working full-time, with Daniel finishing his comprehensive exams and starting his dissertation...and he also applied for a job starting in September, so we'll see how that pans out...our house will need to be fully stocked with Doritos, Dr. Pepper and peanut M&M's, because survival mode is about to kick in! 

I've had friends lately tell me, "Well, it's all worked out that your adoption has been delayed because now you get to finish your MA."  Yes, you could look at it that way, but the real reason I'm in school at all is because I desperately needed a distraction from our adoption, and I thought that keeping crazy-busy would help me out in that regard.  I applied to adopt a year BEFORE I applied for my MA, remember??  But more education never hurt anybody, right?  And it will, indeed, be a great distraction!