"posole" news and stories

One of the healthiest food-themed resolutions for the New Year may be to make more soups and stews, hearty one-pot meals that warm you and give you a day's worth of nutrition in a single steaming bowl. And all you need for many of them is a slow cooker. OK, call it a crockpot. If you've got an old crockpot in storage, dust it off for 2011, and fire it up. (In the market for a new one? Read Jane Lear's feature on choosing the best slow cooker.)

Mexican posole is an ancient dish that celebrates corn, and was prepared for special occasions, and eaten in community. The spicy hominy stew is as special today as ever, with its blend of tomatoes, spices, cilantro, chicken and chiles. And with only 20 minutes of prep time before you let the slow cooker do its thing for two to three hours, it's one of the simplest suppers.

Recipe for Crockpot Posole

More Posole Recipes, including Vegetarian, and Green and Black Bean Pork varieties.

Ever had a corn tortilla or a bowl of Mexican posole soup? Then you've eaten hominy.

• Texas apiarists predict backyard beekeeping will be big in the coming year.
• Austin's "Biscotti Man," who annually makes more than 2,000 biscotti to the tune of Handel's "Messiah," shares recipes for two favorite varieties.
• Sharon Ely's locally famous posole is now available in a jar.
• Bread-baking is the kitchen equivalent of massage or meditation -- especially when the bread's baked in a Dutch oven, a fail-safe way of producing calm-inducing crispy crusts.

I haven't posted anything about competitive eating in a while, but, for a number of reasons, this is too good to pass up. A recent post to the International Federation of Competitive Eating website mentioned next weekend's World Posole Eating Championship at the Sky City Casino in Acoma, New Mexico. I'm a big posole fan, but I never knew it was something that was eaten competitively. If you've visited the IFOCE site in the past, you might be familiar with competitive eater Rich "The Locust" LeFevre. Rich will be competing next weekend, but it turns out that his wife Carlene (right) was the star of the competition two years ago, when she became the "world posole champ" by eating almost 110 ounces of of the spicy pork and hominy soup in 12 minutes. Her husband finished with about 10 ounces less than that. Carlene won't be competing this time around, but her husband Rich will, along with competitive eater Pat Bertoletti.