Friday, August 27, 2010

Big Billy's Mexican Stew - a weekend recipe

Big Billy liked to cook and he also liked to eat, apparent by his weight of three-hundred pounds. A connoisseur of many cuisines, his favorite was Mexican, and not necessarily the Tex-Mex variety served almost everywhere in the southwest United States.


Here is a recipe for a very hearty beef stew derived from the highlands of southern Mexico and brought to the States by immigrants.

Ingredients

• 1 ½ lb. beef, cubed

• ¼ c. all-purpose flour

• 1 ½ teaspoon garlic powder

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

• ¼ c. soy sauce, naturally brewed

• 3 carrots, medium, 1” pieces

• 2 tomatoes, medium, chopped coarsely

• 2 onions, medium, chunked

• 1 can whole kernel corn (8 oz.) drained

• 1 ½ teaspoon oregano, crushed

• ½ teaspoon cumin, ground

Directions

Coat beef cubes with mixture of flour and garlic powder, reserving excess. With hot oil, .brown beef in large pan. Stir in soy sauce and 1 ¼ c. water. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 1 ½ hours, stirring occasionally.

Add carrots; simmer covered for 15 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, onions and pepper; simmer 25 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Stir in corn, oregano and cumin; simmer 5 minutes. Combine reserved flour mixture with ¾ c. water. Stir into meat mixture, bring to boil and cook until slightly thickened. Enjoy.

Eric'sWeb

Monday, August 16, 2010

Murder, Cattle Rustling and Pagan Revelry in Central Oklahoma

My first novel, Ghost of a Chance was published in 2005 and introduced cowboy private investigator Buck McDivit. Buck is finally back in his first full-length novel in five years.This modern-day western takes place in central Oklahoma when a wealthy rancher hires him to investigate a murder, cattle and oil theft and a pagan compound populated only by women. He must also contend with a shape-shifting black panther, a giant wolf dog and a beautiful woman with a rattlesnake tattoo.


Morning Mist of Blood is presently available only as an ebook. Yes, I prefer the heft of a hardback you can take to bed with you and read late into the night by lamp light. Still, the ebook generation is here and now, Amazon reporting that it made more money selling ebooks last quarter than it did paper versions. Morning Mist of Blood is available for the Kindle, Nook, Sony, Apple and most other ebook readers, including PDF which you can read on your computer. Best of all, you can download half the book for free to see if you like it before you ever spend a penny.

Morning Mist of Blood debuted today at Smashwords.com but will soon be available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, KoboBooks, Diesel Ebooks, Sony and Apple. If you get a chance, please check it out at the Morning Mist of Blood page on Smashwords. Hey, and thanks for reading my blog.

Eric'sWeb

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Big Billy's South Padre Meat Loaf - a weekend recipe

Although born in Arkansas, Big Billy lived in Texas most of his life. The State is so big, it can easily be divided into many regions, any one of which is bigger than most other states. The people populating these regions have their own ethnicity, cuisine and culture. Big Billy was an expert on each of these regions and adept at cooking their many dishes.


South Padre Island is an area all to itself, unlike any other part of Texas—or the world for that matter. The inhabitants of South Padre Island come from all over, its culture and cuisine just as varied. Here is a dish Big Billy discovered, and made his own, while on a trip to the island.

Big Billy’s South Padre Meat Loaf

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. beef, chopped
• 1/4 lb. salt pork, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 green pepper, finely chopped
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• Dash paprika
• Pimento, strips

Directions

Mix all ingredients except pimento strips and then sprinkle with paprika. Grease a bread pan and put in half the mixture. Place strips of pimento over the top. Add the rest of the meat and bake in moderate oven for 45 minutes. Serve with hot boiled rice and tomato sauce.

Alcoholic Hazes - a short story

Hurricane Katrina decimated New Orleans in August 2005. My Louisiana parents were living with my wife Marilyn and me in Oklahoma. My mom had...