I'm from northern New Mexico. I was born in Mesa, AZ but spent my childhood in my dad's hometown of Aztec, NM. My grandma and cousin still live there and we enjoy visiting and experiencing the rich Native American culture. My children forget the "New" and like to tell people that I am from Mexico. I have to remind them that New Mexico is, in fact, a state in the United States. :) My great grandmother grew up in the American colonies in Juarez, Mexico, so my family has a rich heritage from Mexico and the American Southwest. We eat green chili on EVERYTHING! I always chuckle buying the cute little 4 oz. cans of chopped green chili from the grocery store. When you live in NM, you buy green chilies in a 50 lb. bag, have them roasted, cool them and peel them at home and then can or freeze your own green chili. Our freezer was always FULL of green chili. I love those memories.`This year for Spring Break we went on a trip around the Four Corners Area. We went to Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah. Here are some of our favorite memories of our time in New Mexico.
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| We drove right past the rock of Shiprock and through the town. |
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| Kiddos with Granny Great |
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| The house I grew up in. |
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| Aztec Ruins National Monument |
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| My Grandpa's headstone at the cemetery |
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| an arch we hiked to right outside of Aztec |
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| G loves climbing in and on rocks! |
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| He made it to the top! |
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| We are caldillo, cooked squash, chips & salsa and hot cocoa with cinnamon in it. |
Dinner: We got these ideas from a blog, The Common Shepherdess
Caldillo (Northern New Mexico-style Soup)
Cooking Time: Approximately 35 minutes
Ingredients:
1 pound lean ground beef
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups diced potatoes
1/4 teaspoon celery salt
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
1/2 teaspoon pepper
4 cups water
1/4 cup chopped green chile*
Directions:
1. Fry beef in a medium-sized saucepan at medium heat until browned. Add potatoes and continue to fry until
potatoes are golden brown.
2. Add onions, water, seasonings, and chile.
3. Cover and simmer at low heat until potatoes are tender. Serve hot.
Serves: makes: 3-4 dozen
Ingredients
⅔ cup honey
1 cup sugar
½ cup butter
1 egg
⅓ cup water
½ teaspoon salt
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cloves
⅔ cup chopped nuts
⅓ cup candied orange peel
Instructions
Combine honey, sugar, and butter in a small saucepan and cook mixture for 5 minutes at medium heat, remove from heat and set aside.
Beat egg until foamy.
Gradually add remaining ingredients, beating well after each addition.
Add the honey mixture and mix well.
Cover dough and chill.
Preheat oven to 425F.
Grease a cookie sheet.
Roll dough on a lightly floured board to a ⅛ inch thickness.
Cut dough into desired shapes.
Place cookies cookie sheet and bake 10-12 minutes.
Craft:
To help us remember NM, we did some sand painting. We bought a sand art kit at Wal-mart and just used the sand. They turned out great!
Notebook pages:
We are using the notebook pages from Elemental Blogging. We found pictures online of the state seals, flags and quarters. We just cut them out and glue them on. We draw all of the other things. Here are our pages for NM:
