Born To Be Wild...

Yep, here's Tic-Tac-Poppy on her sweet little ride! Don't mess with her, man!

Now you know, you can't ride a scooter or a motorcycle without having a handle. Given Poppy's Orange helmet, yep, her name is Tic-Tac. You may wonder what Fatass' handle is, eh? Skidmark. Enough said.

This little cold seems to like to hang on. My sinuses are raw so I figured it was time for a sinus rinse. I know Aunt Kathy/Uncle Ken have a home remedy for this, so I sent an email to Kathy:

Kathy-n-Ken’s Sinus Rinse

4-6 tsp pickling, canning or Kosher sea salt (Kathy uses 5)
1 heaping tsp baking soda
1 quart (or liter) jar
Water

Put everything in the jar and shake well.

Fill a bulb syringe and squirt it up your nostril once or twice; repeat with other nostril

Let's talk about sinus rinsing accoutrement...You may wonder what a bulb syringe looks like, although, those of you who are Mommys probably know all to well.

Here's one; it's called The Snotsucker:



Then there's the age-old favorite, neti pot:



Alright, so both those products would be fine, but I didn't feel like going out to hunt one of them down. So time to look around the house for something that will do the job. I found a turkey baster, but that wouldn't do the trick. I've got a tea pot, but I'd probably drown myself. I have some pet syringes, but they won't hold enough of the rinse and it kept running out the oposite end. Then I found the King Kooker Meat Injector! Worked like a charm!!



This is a Dad weekend, which means I get to cook something that I hope he'll like. I found a recipe for Ancho Pork and Hominy Stew that looked really good. I couldn't find Ancho chili powder so I had to substitute. Since Dad is your basic meat and potatoes kind of guy, I told him we were having pork stew. Had I revealed there was hominy in it, I'm pretty sure he would have turned his nose up to it. Since his eyes are bad, my back up plan, if he asked, was to tell him it was a potato.

I served it with cornbread:



Want the recipe? Okay.

Kecky’s Chili Pork and Hominy Stew

Ingredients

1 tablespoon chili powder (I used the run of the mill stuff)
1 tablespoon Chipotle chili powder
1 ½ teaspoons smoked paprika (I used bittersweet)
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ pounds pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut into ½ -inch pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
2 cups chopped onion
1 ½ cups chopped green bell pepper
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 ½ cups chicken broth
1 (28-ounce) can hominy, drained
1 (14.5-ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes, undrained

Preparation

1. Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; set 1 1/2 teaspoons spice mixture aside. Add pork to remaining spice mixture in bowl, tossing well to coat; let sit for an hour.

2. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add pork mixture to pan; cook until browned, stirring occasionally. Remove pork from pan; set aside. Add remaining 1 teaspoon oil to pan. Add onion, bell pepper, and garlic; sauté until tender, stirring occasionally. Return pork to pan. Add reserved 1 1/2 teaspoons spice mixture, broth, hominy, and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 ½ - 2 hours.

Have a good week!