I am cooking sweet tamales!

Hi Everybody! After eating a Sweet Tamale in Las Vegas at Dona Maria's
Tamale restaurant I decided to make my own tamales at home for the
first time in my life.

I never used to pay attention on how tamales were made by my Mom all
of these years.
I felt it was going to become a lost art of making tamales at home since so
many places now sell tamales. But they hardly ever sell sweet tamales the
way I like them.

I checked for sweet tamale recipes on my computer and found several recipe
ideas.

I like to improvise and create my own flavors so I made some chocolate chip
sweet tamales and they taste great! I also made some pineapple raisins.

My advise to all of you who want to make tamales for the first time.....is....
to taste the masa after you have put in all of your favorite ingredients.

I had to add extra sugar, spices, and butter to the masa to give it a more sweeter flavor. WAA-LAA! The tamales will taste great! They do taste great for me. I made my tamales small size because it taste better when they are small. Just the way I think.lol. Lucy

 

I'll have to look into tamales some other time. Wednesday night, while preparing spaghetti, I inadvertently added hot salsa to the ground beef instead of our regular Prego. Well, the jars did look very similar, at least at the time. Ms. Gecko commented how spicy it was and asked if I had added my usual dose of crushed red peppers. I had not. After a few more bites, she commented how it just tasted "funny" and that the sauce wasn't clinging to the noodles all that much. I noticed it too, but having added generous shakes of hot peppers to my plate, just figured I over did it. By the time our lips were numb, we began wondering if maybe the half opened jar of sauce had possibly fermented or something else had occurred. Digging into the trash container, she pulled out the previously nearly full jar of salsa and the mystery was solved.

I learning that while the Iron Chefs can strive for originality, Mexican spaghetti doesn't work! If you post your recipe, maybe I'll give it a go when she isn't looking. Right now, Mexican is off the menu.

 

Creating new recipes by mistakes

Now I know how to make Mexican spaghetti.lol. All I have to do is add a can of tomatio sauce and some Italian spices and it will taste great.

Honey Boo Boo's Mom makes spaghetti with.... she puts margerine and ketchup into a container and puts it in the microwave and
heats it. She then mixes it and puts it in cooked spaghetti.LOL.
Her Mom calls it "Ghetti", because that is how Honey Boo pronounces it.lol.
Her show starts on Jan. 6th.

You must find your own tamale recipe so it has the flavors you like.
My recipe has a pinch of spices and a pinch of whatever made it flavorful.lol.

I plan to create some more types of flavors of tamales since I do have the ingredients handy. Lucy

 

This sounds GOOD... love Dona Maria's and Casa Don Juan (very close, but on Main St.), but haven't had the sweet corn tamales at either. I always have the sweet corn tamales at Pink Taco and love 'em.

 

Oh, I LOVE sweet tamales, Lucy. For that matter, I love savory/spicy tamales, too!

 

Good on ya', Lucy. Sounds like DM worked out for you. And tasting the masa? That's a good idea with any cooking.

As for the other ... think I'll stick with homemade bolognese. lol

 

I cooked some more tamales

Hi Everybody! I have been making tamales in small batches every day.

I made some with spicy chipoltes sauce with beef and I also made some
with chipoltes sauce with chopped ham.lol.
This is a super way of making the stuffing. I bought a small can of chipoltes
sauce and a can of beef and mixed it all up. Super easy and tasty.
I had some fresh baked ham and I chopped it up and mixed it with the chili
sauce. "WAA-LAA"! Fast and easy.

I am a single gal and have been cooking for many years since I was a kid.
My grandma taught me how to cook. She used to own a restaurant.

Old Betty Crocker and the Joy of Cooking books taught me how to cook and
use short cuts and substitutes when cooking or baking something.
I also learned from a friend how to experiment with using ingredients.
Sometimes they are disasters when experimenting.lol.

My Mom's birthday is New Years day and I am taking my experimental tamales for my relatives to enjoy eating. I told my Mom they can throw them
away if they don't like them. I like my tamales and have been having fun
eating them for breakfast, lunch and dinner until I OD on them.lol. Lucy

P.S. Tamales can be put in the frezzer sp until you want to eat some. Lucy

 

I made a bolognese bianco a few years ago that was SOOOOOOO good. I haven't made it yet this year - might have to consider that soon

 

How to heat the cooked tamales.

I notice that when I heat the cooked tamales in the micro they get dry, hard and tough. You can wrap them with a wet paper towel to heat them
in the micro to keep them moist. I use the defrost level and I watch not to over heat them.

You must keep the tamales in the corn husks to keep them moist when you
re-heat them.

I prefer to heat the tamales in a steamer. I put a veggie-steamer in a pot and just heat some tamales and they come out nice and moist.

Some people like to put some enchilada sauce when you serve the tamale
on the plate or just put some chili sauce on it. Lucy