It’s a very fun process to watch and this year it was more interesting because Mommy did it all by herself without Grandma’s help. I’m so proud of Mommy! First up of course was the meat preparation I mentioned earlier. After that was done Mommy selected some dried red chili that she cleaned and put in a pan to soak for a bit.

She then put it into this machine humans call a “blender”. It’s loud, looks like a big picture sitting on a block, and doesn’t blend so much as chop, dice, and shred anything that gets put into it into teeny tiny pieces. Very scary thing, don’t get your paws or tails in it!

After that she poured some of the chili into this funny pan that has holes on the bottom and a handle that spins around. She used this funny pan to crush the chopped up and wet chili to get the pure sauce and leave the pulpy remains separate.

Here’s a shot of the chili dropping down into the second pan that the funny one is set on top of:

In a large, very, very large, pot Mommy added a lot of water, three big cans of hominy and spices. She put a lot of spices so I can’t tell you what exactly they are sadly. I just know she had quite a few jars spaced out on the counter. I did recognize Oregano in there though. The nose knows this.

She let that cook for a little while before adding in the chili and meat and then let everything set in the pan for a while and allowed it to boil for a bit before bringing it down to what humans call a “simmer”. There was lots of steam in the way of this shot.

Eventually it was ready, and as you can see, it has a good amount of meat in it and is very tasty looking.

Denali likes it regardless of the chili but Mommy doesn’t like to let her eat it that way. Instead Mommy always takes some of the meat out for us and sets it aside. Well, she also sets aside some hominy too but only Denali eats that. For the weight conscious I’m not sure if you have to worry about taking fat burners after eating this or not. All of the chili makes it healthy for humans I think and the meat is strained but some fat has to be in there regardless.

I hope you enjoyed this post and maybe you can persuade your humans to make this as well.

Mommy woke up very early today because she’s intent on making posole, which is kinda like menudo but not, and it takes a while to get ready. First she had to cook the pork roast she bought yesterday. First she fried it (she called it “browning”) then she put it in a cooker to let it finish cooking. The whole house has been smelling really, really good since then.

Once the meat is cooked to her satisfaction she’ll drain the grease and water that gathered at the bottom of the pan and take the meat out and make into nice strips that will go into the posole. We’re not at that stage yet though. Since I’m the kitty who is allowed in the kitchen when Mommy’s cooking (because I don’t get underfoot, steal bites, and I help her keep an eye on the dishes) I’ll be sure to post again when we’re on the next yummy stage.

Mommy should consider making her own Christmas cards and use pictures from her cooking. Like her fresh banana bread, biscoitos, and and the posole when it’s finished. Wouldn’t you rather get Christmas cards with yummy pictures instead of those corporate holiday cards you can buy in packs at stores? I thought so.

I have to go now. I wanna help Mommy sample the pork roast to make sure it’s good! I won’t actually eat the posole because it has chili in it. But the pork meat on its own is safe.