Recipe: Cinnamon and Raisin Tamales

It wouldn't be Christmas in New Mexico without some sweet tamales on the breakfast table. These are traditional holiday offerings - not limited to Christmas alone! These can be frozen and then heated... just add another ten minutes to the steaming time.. I always tell the folks that rave about these unusual offerings, that the best way to make these is to make them in bulk. Gather a few friends together, pop open a bottle of wine, and have a tamale making party! Towards the end of that bottle, the last few tamales may not be the prettiest, but you will have a damn good time!


8 Tablespoons butter
8 Tablespoons Lard
3/4 cup chile honey
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch cayenne pepper
2 cups masa harina
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
8 large, dried corn husks, soaked in hot water until pliable


Whip together the butter and lard until fluffy. Continue to whip while adding the honey, salt, baking powder and cinnamon. Gradually add the masa, continuing to beat until fluffy. Fold in raisins and walnuts. Divide the mixture evenly between the corn husks. Fold tamales lengthwise, one side over the other, tying ends with slim strips of pliable corn husk. Steam for 15 minutes and serve.


Note: To serve, I will usually slice open the tip of the tamale with a sharp blade and press the tamale open. I serve two at a time, drizzling them with a mixture of 1/2 cup sour cream and 2 Tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate. It's a fantastic, simple sauce that gives the dish that extra oomph! Put a little bowl of it on the side in case anyone wants more.

Recipe: Blueberry Brûlée

This is a simple side dish that could very easily be a desert! It's a big favorite here at Crystal Mesa and super easy and quick to make!


1 pint of blueberries
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
light brown sugar


cooking spray


Preheat oven to Broil.


Spray a small baking dish or two ramekins with cooking spray. Put in blueberries, spreading them evenly on bottom of dish (or divide evenly among ramekins). In a small bowl, mix together vanilla extract and sour cream. Use a spatula to spread mixture over the top of blueberries. Cover the sour cream mixture with a coating of brown sugar; it should be thick enough to cover completely. Broil for 4 minutes or until sugar is melted and bubbly. Do not let it burn. Let cool and serve. Serves 2.

Bobcat scare behind us; ducks and geese at long last free to enjoy these last days of summer.

Recipe: Sun-Dried Tomato, Mozzarella and Spinach Strata

This recipe emerged as an answer to an overload of sun-dried tomatoes in my pantry. Obviously have been stocking up for some kind of emergency or something - although in what emergency sun-dried tomatoes constitute a food staple, I have no idea! A strata is also a great way of dealing with dried up bread... as they say Waste Not, Want Not.  It makes a beautiful presentation for a fancy brunch and is assembled in advance making for an easy, stress-free morning. Oh! And sometimes I substitute steamed asparagus for the spinach... equally wonderful!

2 loaves stale french bread, cut into 3/4 inch cubes

3 cups skim milk

1/4 cup sour cream

8 eggs

1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped

2 minced garlic cloves

2 cups baby spinach

1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, 1/4 inch diced

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

dash of salt and pepper

1 Tablespoon olive oil

cooking spray (olive oil or canola)

Combine milk, sour cream and eggs in a large bowl and beat until smooth. Add half the tomatoes and the garlic, stirring with a whisk.  Add the bread and stir gently so bread absorbs the liquid. Let stand for 5 minutes.

In a skillet on medium heat, heat olive oil to just hot, coating pan. Saute spinach until slightly wilted.

Remove skillet from heat.

Pour half of bread mixture into a 13 by 9 inch baking dish, coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with 3/4 of remaining tomatoes,  3/4 of the spinach and 3/4 of the mozzarella. Cover with remaining bread and top[ off with the rest of the tomatoes, spinach and  mozzarella, poking the spinach into little holes between bread. Cover with plastic wrap and chill overnight.

In the morning heat preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Uncover dish and sprinkle with the parmesan cheese.

Bake for 40 minutes. Allow to stand for 5 minutes before cutting into square portions to serve. Looks beautiful served own a plate dusted with parmesan cheese. Serves 6-8.

Foreword by Walt Willey

Drawing by Walt Willey

It’s not my fault.  Really it isn’t.  Maybe you can blame Laura Ingalls or the quaint village outside Geneva, Switzerland where Marie spent her formative years, but you can’t blame me and Marie will tell you the same thing herself.

It wasn’t my intention to banish my wife to a mesa top a couple thousand miles away to tend the flock, bed and board strangers, raise children by herself, battle the elements, and live the life of a frontier woman.

But I helped.  I admit to that much.

In the early ‘90’s, Marie and I began visiting the Southwest in general and Santa Fe in particular and we fell in love.  The days with their endless blue sky, the star-strewn nights, the red rocks, and the pervasive spirituality all tugged at us until we finally bought a house out in Eldorado, a sub-division of Santa Fe.  We visited often and soon installed my mother, sister, and nephew.  Before long, we got married and pregnant and were ready to find new digs.

“How about a property that I could turn into a bed and breakfast?”  Marie asked one day.  “A nice little farm?  I could have a garden, a few chickens, maybe a milk cow?”

“Are you serious?” I asked, knowing full well she was.  I had been hearing her refer to the “Little House” books for years, even been forced to watch a couple of episodes of the television show, but I truly wasn’t  prepared for the actuality that she might want to live it.

“Honey, we can’t do that.” I reasoned.  “Someone would have to be out here all the time, especially at first.  We’re not farmers.  We’re not innkeepers.  How can we possibly do it?”  It was meant to be a rhetorical question.

But Marie had the answers; well considered, well researched, well defended.  She had stood by me through good and not so good and really bad times, always putting herself second.  I loved her and couldn’t say no.  Besides, the notion was actually starting to make sense. God help me.

“Okay, let’s look at some places” I said, and off we went.  An old rundown farm here, a beautifully appointed horse property there and then, finally, the Crystal Mesa Farm.  We both loved it from the start and the choice held up under all the scrutiny and devil’s advocacy we could muster.  Offers were bounced back and forth, a price decided upon, papers signed.  It was ours, for better or worse.

It has been both, as you shall read. It is seventeen years later and Marie, with some help from her mother and father, our son and daughter, some good friends here and there, and even me - her mostly absent husband - has made a huge success of the Crystal Mesa Farm Bed & Breakfast. 

Plumping pillows and filling bellies, serving happily as livestock midwife and ranch foreman and hostess and tour guide and doting mother and devoted wife have all become as natural to her as breathing.  She is remarkable by anyone’s standards, but she is without peer as far as I’m concerned. 

And once you read her travails and taste her recipes, I know you’ll agree.