Getting Ready

Tomorrow is  Cinco de Mayo and I'm very excited.  I have my menu, and most of the ingredients.  Today is a prep day.  I will cut up and season the pork, make the flan and the tomatillo sauce and salsa.  That means tomorrow all I have to do is cook the pork and make the guacamole.  I try to go out to eat Mexican food on Cinco de Mayo, but being as we're so broke this year, I figured I'd do it myself.  We'll have plenty of leftovers.  Last night I made my version of ratatouille (without eggplant) with shrimp and white rice.  By Wednesday, I can use the rice in stuffed peppers with some of the pork and tomato sauce.  Tonight we will have Philly Cheese Steaks with shredded beef from TJ's.  I love food.

Later that same day...

Cheese steaks were super yummilicious!!! I made the salsa verde, the salsa de chile and the flan de coco y canela(with a healthy dose of 151!).  I roasted the tomatillos in the broiler for about 9 minutes and actually followed the recipe.  For the chile salsa I strayed a little bit.  First off, those chiles have been in my pantry since I tried to make mole about 4 years ago.  They were not pliable, I could not score them and devein and seed them.  I did the best I could by cracking them and shaking any loose seeds out, then soaking them in boiling water.  After,  I threw them in the food processor.   I didn't toast them, which may be sacriledge to some, but so would using up old-ass dried out chiles!  The soaking water didn't seem too bitter, so I used it, and I didn't strain it, as I wanted a somewhat chunky sauce, like the one in my favorite Mexican hole in the wall.  I possbly used ancho and pasilla chiles, as I forgot to label them and know I used three chiles in my mole.  My crazy pineapple drink is still hanging out in the bathtub, and I have the guacamole ingredients, save the avocado and tomato chopped up and ready to go.  DH even said he would try the flan!!!  I still have to cut up and season the pernil so it's ready to go tomorrow.  Did I mention I'm excited?!