Well you know I am not very religious or good with remembering dates, so obviously I forgot about Ash Wednesday. I truly don’t care but if you do that is totally awesome. I used to always look forward to Ash Wednesday because I remember as a child I would eat Capirotada the following Friday.
In Mexico we have Capirotada just during lent. And it’s usually on Friday and we eat it for dinner or supper. At least that is my mom’s tradition. She would buy all the ingredients and divide them into the number of Fridays in Lent (there are 5 or 6). So my whole life I would literally wait the whole year for this time because Capirotada is my favorite thing to eat in the entire world.
I used to belive that my mom was making this special dish for my birthday but to my surprise years later my brother broke the bad news and told me that it was not about me and it was about Lent.
I love big brothers. Always sweet.
Anyway, this is the recipe:
Capirotada Mi Mama Style
Ingredients:
1/2 loaf French bread cut into 1 inch slices
14 ounces raw brown sugar or piloncillo (you can find it at any Mexican store)
4 cups of water
1 cinnamon stick
4 cloves
1/2 cup of sliced pecans
1/2 cup of peanuts, with no salt, peeled
1/2 cup of raisins
1/2 cup of grated coconut
1/2 cup of small sprinkles (the ones you use for cookies)
1/2 cup of Queso Menonita (good luck finding this one)
Directions:
Toast the bread slices until crispy and set aside.
In a medium saucepan, bring the water to boil.
At boiling point, add the brown sugar or piloncillo, cinnamon, and cloves.
Set over medium heat and bring to a gentle boil until the mixture thickens into a syrup –like texture. Allow to cool then strain.
To assemble the Mexican bread pudding, use any deep big pan, whatever you use for soups. You are going to be layering the bread and in between each layer there is going to be the syrup, peanuts, pecans, raisins, coconut, small candies, and cheese until you reach the top, then cover and let it cook in medium heat. Be very careful and make sure you add enough syrup because it can burn very quickly. Cook until done (according to my mom you should just know when it’s done).
My mom never used the oven, she used the stove and a pan. But, you can use the oven. Just turn the oven to 350° F and use a 9 x 9 inch baking pan in order to make 2 layers of bread, syrup, peanuts, pecans, raisins, coconut, small candies, and cheese. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake in the preheated 350° F oven for about 40 minutes.
Now, the Capirotada recipe is ready to enjoy with a glass of fresh milk.
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the most important meal of the day
I sometimes feel I am an experiment. Like some other dudes from another universe are experimenting with my life, and yours, too. I don’t think this all the time, just sometimes when I start thinking about why am I here on this planet. My mind goes to trippy thoughts. I sometimes think the planet Earth is like a lab and there are some “scientists” that we obviously can’t see, testing things on us just for fun. Like we do with rabbits and mice.
Every negative incident that I had in my life I think somebody is testing me. Some people call it God, maybe it is him or her. I don’t know yet.
Anyway, there is a lot of information out there about eating breakfast, so I decided to be my own scientist. There are a ton of benefits if you have a healthy breakfast every day. I usually have a small some-some but my biggest meal of the day is dinner. Traditionally it should be lunch because in Mexico the biggest meal is lunch. But I am totally copying the Americans and I am digging those french fries a couple hours before going to bed.
There is a saying eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper. But does it really work? I know I usually have breakfast like a pauper and dinner like a queen, but reading different articles all over the web may have me changed my mind.
Since there is a ton of information about the positives of having a big breakfast I decided to test myself and have the biggest breakfast ever for 3 days. I went super healthy, you know, my mind was thinking fiber, fiber and more fiber. And I was looking for any positives or negatives in my mood and my eating choices throughout the day.
First day: about a cup of brown rice, two cups of blueberries, two cup nuts and 1/2 of a cup of vanilla light soy milk (I wouldn’t usually use so many nuts, instead I would probably do half of a cup).
Second day: a mega sub from Winn-Dixie (like subway-but better) loaded with veggies, I think it was about 8 inches long (I will usually just eat the vegetables with out the bread).
Third day: a peanut butter sandwich with a smoothie made from one scoop of Vega protein powder and two cups of vanilla light Silk soy milk (I unusually will just have the smoothie).
So I had my big breakfast around 8am and for the 3 days I did not need any snacks between breakfast and lunch. I am usually eating lunch by 12 and this time I was eating lunch almost at 2!!!! WOW, I was just not hungry. For lunch I had a normal meal, but for dinner I was fine with just making a smoothie or a pb&j.
I think I like eating a big breakfast better because I didn’t feel as hungry through the day and when I was going to bed I felt light like a feather. Not really but I always wanted to say that.
So if you are not so sure about going big in the morning, just test your self for a couple of days to see if that would work for you. For me it definitely worked. I guess my grandma and my mom where right after all “a big breakfast will keep you smiling through the day” AMEN!!!!
So since I don’t have Internet at the moment at my house I had to come to Barnes and Noble to make use of their free Wi-Fi. Cool deal, right?
I feel full of ideas and wanting to write about a bunch of stuff. Oh yeah baby I’m completely ener-juiced with a yummy tea by my side and ready to give color to this papel!
I think it’s a good time to talk about the awesomeness of being Mexican in America. That is a pretty cool thing. Like I was born in Amarillo, Texas, but my entire life I was raised in Mexico until I went to college in North Carolina. Being the brown one in college was kind of sexy. Some people had crazy stories about animosity against them, but I was lucky and never had any problems with anybody. You are probably like what? You never had anybody looking at you weird because of your accent or color? NOPE! If I did, I probably blocked that away. Pretty smart huh? I tend to block any ugliness around me, except when my mother is not behaving; that I remember forever.
Sometimes I wish I was from another country; something more exotic. Over all I’m pretty happy with my Mexicanity. I have a great natural tan skin all year around. Don’t need to get my skin all wrinkled getting tan; yuhu! I have a pretty thick accent and I love it. My husband makes fun of my accent all the time (in a sweet way), but that is great because when we are really bored he starts imitating me and that is I-will-pee-in-my-pants-if-you-don’t-stop funny. I wish I had a video of him imitating me so I can show it to you all. Actually, not. If I had a video it probably wouldn’t be has funny for you all because that is how it is with personal story jokes.
Thanks to my Mexicanity I can blame a lot of my strange behaviors to it. It’s not me, its my nationality, it’s in the blood. I’m actually perfect. Like when I laugh at the movie theater and clap at the same time. Everybody looks at me like “that is not even funny lady.” My hugging and kissing everybody has given me some awkward moments. I get the most wild looks from moms when I kiss and hug the little babies. But, in Mexico we kiss and hug everyone, especially little ones. They need the most love. They do not know I’m doing it for their own good.
I can give “mal de ojo” to their little one. Nobody wants that. The legend tells that I once had mal de ojo when I was a little baby girl and I was sick with temperature and crying for days until they did a cleanse with an egg. WOW! Just writing that makes me laugh. See being Mexican its awesome.
I get the best of both worlds. I have all the traditions and crazy costumes of being Mexican and I also get the safety and hope of the American culture. What a great deal right? Better than the dollar menu at McDonalds! By the way I took a picture with the clown from McDonalds this past weekend; nice right?
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