Irene Won’t Stop Me from Cooking!

Cooking without Electricity

I woke up this morning with expectations of not having power due to the much anticipated Hurricane Irene that was making her way up from New York to New England. To my surprise, I woke up to only rain and some wind and luckily we still had power. I turned on Fox News and sat on the couch and watched the local coverage of Hurricane Irene and saw massive power outages and fallen trees.

The Mo suggested to me that I should make breakfast before our power goes out. I thought sarcastically, “Yeah, Ok” , Nat was probably right, the “spoiled brat” is just hungry. I probably should have just fed him cereal and beer as his sister, Tia, suggested.

Since it was getting closer to lunch anyway, I decided to make “Huevos Ranchero” for brunch. I took out all the ingredients and started to prep and sure enough, 10 minutes later, the power went off. As the Mo started to gather out “Black Out” supplies, the power came back on. I was relived and started chopping away some more when the power went off again. This time, it went off for good.

Luckily for us, we are avid campers and have all the necessary supplies to manage meals during power outages. We used the Coleman propane lantern as a source of light.

We also brought up the Coleman Dual Burner Camping Stove to cook. As a safety precaution, we also brought out our fire extinguisher, just in case we needed it on hand.

Hueveo Rancheros is a classic Mexican breakfast dish consisting of eggs, salsa, beans, cheese and anything else you want. There are many different ways and preferences to make Huevos Ranchero

Here is my recipe.

Sauce

· 2 Hot Sausages, cubed or sliced to preference
(I prefer Johnston but Market Basket Brand is fine)

· ½ cup of Chopped tomatoes

( I prefer grape tomatoes due to its sweetness)

· ½ cup of Chopped Red Onions

· ½ cup of Chopped Bell Peppers, any color

( I prefer yellow or orange due to its sweetness)

· ½ cup of Chopped Fresh Cilantro

· ¼ Cup of Sliced Fresh Scallions

· 2 Tablespoons of finely chopped garlic

· 1Packet of Goya Sazon Seasoning
3 Tablespoons of Goya Frozen Sofrito

· 1 Cup of Sweet canned corn, drained and rinsed

· 1 Cup of canned Black Beans, drained and rinsed

· 1 Tablespoon of chicken broth powder or 1 chicken bouillon cube

· Pinch of black pepper, sea salt, chili powder

· 1 Teaspoon of olive oil

· 1 Cup of Water

Sauce

In a large saucepan, add the olive oil and brown the sausages until its slightly crispy. Add in all the chopped vegetables, sofrito, sazon, chicken powder and other spices to the mixture and stir occasionally for about 10-12 minutes. Add 1 cup of water and increase temperature to bring to a boil. While boiling, add the corn and beans and let it continue to boil for 1 minutes. Make sure to stir the mixture as the beans can get stuck to the bottom of the pan and burn. After 1 minute, reduce the heat and let the mixture simmer for 10 minutes. Again, be sure to continue to lightly stir the mixture.

Other Ingredients

· Tortilla Wrap ( I prefer whole wheat tortillas)

· Shredded Cheese, Cheddar or “Mexican Blend” is preferred

· Eggs, qty based on servings

Directions

On a separate burner, warm a tortilla on a small skillet on medium temperature. Do not add any oil or grease to the skillet. The tortilla should be warm and crispy after 1 minute on each side. Remove the tortilla and set aside on a dish. Return the skillet to the burner.

Increase the temperature to high and add some cooking spray or a little bit of oil using a brush. Crack 2 whole eggs (or I prefer to use 1 whole eggs and 2 egg whites). You should hear the eggs sizzle on the high heat so the bottom of the eggs are crispy. After about 45 seconds, reduce the heat and cover the eggs with a lid.

This step is optional. The lid helps steam the eggs so the yolk isn’t too runny and the egg whites gets cooked. After 2 minutes, remove the lid and transfer the eggs with a large spatcheler onto the tortilla.

Add ½ to 1 cup of sauce onto the egg and tortilla. Sprinkle with shredded cheese (as much or as little as you prefer).

Usually, I like to pop this into the microwave for 20 seconds to melt the cheese, but since the power went off, I had to skip this step.

Garnish with some cilantro and jalapenos and serve with your favorite hot sauces.

Mami Eggroll's style Huevos Ranchero

For this dish, I recommend, Goya’s Salsita Hot Sauces.

Goya Salsita Hot Sauces

I always seem to have about 1 ½ cups of extra sauce left over. This works out perfectly because I can always use the sauce over blackened chicken breasts and serve it with a side of rice and vegetables for dinner.