TJ Wilde – Page 2 – Annie DeMoranville

Versatile and Tasty: Ropa Vieja (Instant Pot & Slow Cooker Versions)

I had a some chuck and decided the cold weather needed something hearty. I hadn’t made Ropa Vieja in a while, so that what it became. I also cooked up a bunch of rice and black beans to serve with it. Perfect for a very cold weekend.

If you don’t want to use chuck, you can use pork shoulder or chicken breasts.

From 2023:

Big family doings this weekend, so I needed an easy recipe that everyone could serve themselves. This fits the bill.

Ropa Vieja is one of my favorite items on a local Mexican restaurant menu. I almost always have it in a salad in a tortilla bowl. So of course I had to figure out how to replicate it at home.

I have tortilla bowl molds and make them for lunch salads all the time. Although you don’t need them, use this method here.

Now to up my game with some tasty ropa vieja.

Work Wednesday: Mysteries Abound

Girl sitting on top of a dragon, painting with watercolors along with a stack of book

It has been a ridiculous few weeks. Busy with all sorts of things, both fun and work related. I’ve been steady in the progress on the final rewrites of Full Sail. With that wrapping up, the Duxbridge Mysteries gets notes and plot scribbles when I need a break.

This fun fact came up in the town I’ve used as my model for Duxbridge:

Soup of the Week: Zuppa Toscana – Spicy Potato Soup

Revisiting from 2023:

I was under the weather all weekend and this soup seemed like the perfect remedy.

Spicy Potato Soup (Zuppa Toscana)

1/4 cup butter
1 yellow onion, diced
2 celery stalks, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne
½ lb spicy ground sausage (or ground beef)
¼ tsp crushed red pepper (opt)
1 bay leaf (remove before serving)
1 tsp crushed garlic
32 oz chicken broth
6 potatoes, well scrubbed, unpeeled – cubed or thinly sliced
2 cups milk
salt and pepper to taste
8 oz shredded cheddar or jack (opt – I like parmesan myself)

saucepan or instant pot

Work Wednesday: Rounding the Corner

white rubber duck lying prone on a brown table, legs outstretched wondering where life went wrong

A gift from a friend who knows me well

Rewrites are progressing. Got past the awful chapter, it will have to be reviewed and tweaked a few more times, I’m sure. I am determined to power through the few remaining chapters in the next week.

Work Wednesday: Act Two

Grove of yellow and red aspen trees — Lars Leber Photography Marshall Pass LarsLeber.com

I love fall. We have very few reds here, unlike the East Coast, but the Aspens do their best to help us forget that. I’m not complaining, My wildflower front yard has some spectacular fall into winter colors that hang out until spring.

A fall tree lined path with multi colors — Fall in Boston

This week went well. I’m traveling again, so I made an effort to do some substantial writing over the weekend before I left. Where I felt like Act One needed all the main characters fleshed out more, Act Two is more about storytelling transitions.