Tag Archives: Mexican

May8

Pico de Gallo

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Pico de Gallo

  

Chips + Pico de Gallo = Heaven

This pico recipe uses cherry tomatoes instead of the traditional Roma tomatoes. I think they’re sweeter and other than a giant homegrown beefsteak tomato, they’re my favorite. I love to use yellow and red cherry tomatoes together, but feel free to just use red if you want to.

Ingredients:

  • 10.5 oz container cherry tomatoes
  • 1/2 c chopped cilantro
  • 1 chopped jalapeño (deveined and seeded if you want a mild pico, otherwise just chop with seeds to increase the heat)
  • 1 c finely chopped sweet onion
  • Juice of 1/2 lime
  • Salt to taste

1. Chop your onion, cilantro, jalapeño, and tomato and put in large bowl or container.

  
  
2. Squeeze the juice of 1/2 a lime (or the whole thing if you like) and season with salt to taste. Give it a big stir and serve with chips or just about anything!

  

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Apr29

Quick And Easy Taco Salad

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Quick And Easy Taco Salad

  

I love an easy and delicious weeknight meal, especially when it’s something healthy and satisfying. This is a quick and easy taco salad that uses one of those .49 cent taco seasoning packets from the seasoning isle. Yes, I could’ve gone with a homemade taco seasoning, but really I just didn’t feel like it today😄

Ingredients for taco meat part:

  • 1 lb ground meat (beef, turkey, venison, even chicken would work)
  • 1 packet taco seasoning
  • 1 small sweet onion chopped
  • 1 chopped bell pepper or 3 chopped sweet mini bell peppers (as pictured)
  • 1 garlic clove chopped
  • 1 jalapeño pepper chopped (seeded and deveined)
  • 1 can drained black beans

Ingredients for salad and optional toppings:

  • Chopped romaine lettuce
  • Tomatoes
  • Lime
  • Sour cream
  • Avocado
  • Grated cheese
  • Crushed tortilla chips

1. In a large skillet over medium high heat drizzle a little olive oil over your onion, peppers, and garlic. Sauté for 5-7 minutes.

   

2. Now that it got a bit of a head start cooking, add your ground meat to the skillet.

 
3. Stir occasionally until browned and cooked completely, then drain off any excess fat if necessary.

 

4. Add your packet of taco seasoning and 2/3 c water. Turn the heat down to simmer and allow to cook for about five minutes or until some of the liquid has cooked off.

   

  

 

5. Now add your can of drained black beans and allow it to heat up a minute before turning the heat off and serving over your salad.

 
I love fresh avocado, a scoop of sour cream, and fresh lime juice squeezed on mine for the dressing. If you like something sweeter try it with Catalina dressing. Both ways are delicious! 

Mar8

Cilantro Lime Rice

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Cilantro Lime Rice



This rice is soooo yummy! It goes great with almost anything, but I love it with black beans. Yum yum yum! This recipe is enough for 2-3 people, so double it if you need more than that.

Ingredients:

  • 1 c rice (I use converted rice for almost everything, but white or brown rice would work here too)
  • 2 c water (or however much your rice instructs you to use)
  • 1 small sweet onion chopped
  • Olive oil
  • 1/2 chicken bullion cube chopped up
  • 1 lime (juice and zest)
  • 1 garlic clove chopped
  • Cilantro
  • Salt and pepper
  • Green onions (optional garnish)

1. Put your sweet onion into a pot and drizzle some olive oil on them. Season with salt and pepper and cook for s few minutes on medium high heat. You’re just going to sweat them out a little bit. 



2. Now add your rice and chopped garlic into the pot. Also drizzle additional oil onto the rice, as you’ll be “stir frying” it for a few minutes. Do not walk away from your pot right now – this burns easily! Cook for 2-3 minutes stirring frequently.





3. Now add the zest of your lime, the juice of the lime, the 1/2 chicken bullion cube either chopped or crushed between your fingers, and water to the pot. Bring to a boil for one minute, then put a lid on it and turn the heat down to simmer.







4. Cook the rice 20 minutes (or as your instructions say for your specific kind of rice) and once it’s done, add a few handfuls of chopped cilantro. I also like to garnish mine with green onion and another squeeze of fresh lime. And don’t forget the most important part – a margarita!





Jan17

Cream Cheese Chicken Enchiladas

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Cream Cheese Chicken Enchiladas

Chicken Enchiladas With Cream Cheese Sauce

So, once again I had leftover grilled chicken and needed to do something with it, plus I had a request for a chicken enchilada recipe, so naturally I made my delicious cream cheese chicken enchiladas. Back in college, my friend Jill used to make her chicken enchiladas very similar to this recipe, and I’ve taken it and done things a little different with it. Actually, many things are different from when I was back in college, like how much I can drink and how late I can stay up, but that’s neither here nor there. I love the cream cheese sauce instead of a sour cream sauce and think these are so yummy! Also, I’ll go ahead and say I ran out of shredded cheese (in our family we call this “sprinkle cheese”) at the end, so I didn’t have nearly as much cheese on top of the enchiladas as I would’ve liked. It was a Great American Tragedy lemme tell ya, but they were still tasty 🙂

Ingredients:
2-3 cups of chicken chopped, sliced, shredded, whatever (Don’t make this part hard on you – use leftover chicken, a store bought rotisserie chicken you picked apart with your hands, or pan sear some chicken and chop it up in your kitchen)
1 1/2 cups salsa (Yes, you can use store bought salsa if you’d like. However, I’d suggest adding some chopped cilantro to it since they never have that fresh taste to them)
2 8 oz packages cream cheese
1 can Rotel
2 cans diced green chiles (I like the Hatch brand hot ones, but mild is fine too)
1/4 tsp garlic salt
Pepper to taste
1 dozen tortillas
At least 1 cup shredded cheese

1. Place your cream cheese in a pot over the stove on low heat. Don’t rush this because it burns easily. Keep stirring it around until it’s smooth and creamy like this.
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2. After it’s melted and creamy, add your salsa, Rotel, chiles, garlic salt, and pepper to cream cheese and stir. Taste the now pinkish mixture to see if you want to add more salsa to it or if you like it how it is. Keep on low to medium heat.
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3. Take one cup of the cheese sauce and pour over your chopped/sliced/shredded chicken. It will now sort of look like the most delicious chicken salad you’ve ever seen in your life! -14
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4. Spray a 9×11 baking dish with non-stick spray and preheat your oven to 350. Start to fill up your tortillas with about two spoonfulls each of chicken mixture.
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5. As you’ve heard me say before, I like corn tortillas and my husband likes flour, so I had him come in and help hold down the corn ones because they’re a little tricky sometimes.
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6. Pour the cheese sauce all over the enchiladas and make sure to spread it out so it covers the entire baking dish and there aren’t any “naked” tortillas.
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7. Sprinkle as much shredded cheese as you like all over the enchiladas.
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8. Bake in a 350F oven for 20-30 minutes or until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly 🙂-7

Jan16

Chicken Quesadillas

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Chicken Quesadillas

Chicken Quesadillas

Take a look at this little beauty! That is the delicious inside of my chicken quesadillas before I put the top on. I usually use whatever meat I have leftover in my fridge (steak, chicken, pulled pork, etc), and in this case I used leftover grilled chicken.

Ingredients:
1 sweet onion chopped or sliced, whatever you prefer
Several sweet peppers sliced into rings or 1 bell pepper sliced
1 jalapeño sliced into rings
1 garlic clove chopped
2 T butter
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Chopped meat of your choice (about 1/2 cup per quesadilla)
Mixed shredded cheese
Tortillas

1. Put your peppers, onions, salt, pepper, drizzle of olive oil, and butter in a skillet. Sauté about 15 minutes on medium to high heat, then add garlic and sauté another five minutes. Peppers and onions

2. In a different skillet you can either drizzle a little olive oil in it or rub with a little butter to get it ready for the tortilla. Place tortilla in, sprinkle with one layer of cheese, and put as much meat and veggies as you want on there.
Chicken Quesadillas

3. Put another layer of cheese on top of the meat and veggies and put another tortilla on top. *Note* I used flour for my husband and corn tortillas for me. I let them cook a little longer in a little extra butter and got it nice and crispy. Let me tell ya, it was delicious!
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4. Flip that bad boy over and allow both sides to become deliciously golden. That was so easy, I bet you didn’t even have to set your wine glass down!
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Nov16

Beef Fajitas

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Beef Fajitas

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Who doesn’t love a hot and delicious fajita? These are so delicious, and the marinade for the meat is the best I’ve ever tasted. So pour yourself a margarita and let’s get started!

Ingredients:
Skirt steak (you can use flank steak too if you can’t find skirt steak)
1 tablespoon of your favorite fajita seasoning
Juice of 1 lime
1 shot of tequila
1 cup Italian dressing
2 sweet onions sliced
1 bag of sweet peppers sliced into rings
1 jalapeño sliced into rings
2 cloves of garlic chopped
1/2 stick butter
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Tortillas

1. Combine Italian dressing, lime juice, seasoning, and tequila in ziplock bag. Shake until combined and place your meat in there to marinade at least four hours. I usually do mine the morning of the day I’m cooking them for dinner. Here is a picture of my all-time favorite fajita seasoning:
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2. Sauté on medium to high heat onions, peppers, butter, olive oil, salt, and pepper in a large skillet until it begins to caramelize. Then add chopped garlic and sauté another 7-10 minutes. It will look like this when it’s ready:
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3. Throw your fajita meat on the grill and cook until you reach desired doneness. Slice up and serve on warm tortillas and top with sautéed veggies, pico, sour cream, cheese, or whatever else you like on your fajitas. Don’t forget your margarita 🙂

Oct19

Pulled Pork Tacos

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Pulled Pork Tacos

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I love shopping on Mondays at our local grocery store, because that’s when they put all of their meat on sale they’re trying to get rid of before their new shipment comes in. I have an extra freezer at my house for this very thing because the deals they offer are just too good to pass up. Earlier this week one of my purchases was pork shoulder blade roast for $7. My family of three has been eating pulled pork every day for a week and I still have some leftover! Needless to say, I had to get creative with how I prepared it every night so we didn’t get tired of eating the same thing. So after preparing pulled pork sandwiches, pulled pork enchiladas, and pulled pork breakfast sandwiches, I decided to make tacos with it one night. It has definitely been our favorite way to eat it! Pulled pork tacos aren’t anything new, but here is my recipe for them:

Ingredients
1.5 – 2 pounds pulled pork
1 can black beans drained
1/2 sweet onion chopped
2-3 tablespoons of your favorite BBQ sauce (I use Sweet Baby Ray’s Original)
1 garlic clove
Salt and Pepper
Handful of chopped cilantro
Tortillas (I use white corn, my husband uses flour)
Olive Oil
2 roasted green chiles or 1 small can diced green chiles (optional)

1. In a saute pan or cast iron skilled heat chopped onion over medium to high heat with a drizzle of olive oil and cook until it begins to caramelize. Season with salt and pepper and add garlic cloves. Saute for a few more minutes at medium to high heat.

2. Add pulled pork, drained black beans, chiles (if you’re using them), BBQ sauce, and cilantro. Turn heat down to low and stir until it is entirely heated through and ready to eat.

3. In a separate skillet on high heat drizzle olive oil in there and heat tortillas on both sides. Stuff with pulled pork filling and top with your favorite taco toppings. My favorite is to top with my homemade salsa.

Oct15

Homemade Salsa

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Homemade Salsa

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My Uncle Dale first made this homemade salsa years ago and each member of my family has tweaked it to their own tastes. This happens to be how I like it best, plain and simple, but feel free to change the ingredients by adding fresh garlic, fresh onion, serrano peppers instead of jalapeños, etc.

Ingredients:
1 10 oz can of Rotel
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1 handful of fresh cilantro
2 jalapeños with stems/seeds
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1. Place peppers, cilantro, Rotel/tomatoes (do not drain), lime twist, and seasonings in blender with peppers on the bottom to ensure the blend correctly. Pulse only until you can see peppers have blended. You want it to be chunky, not runny.

2. Serve with chips or whatever you like. I keep mine in a Tupperware dish with a lid up to a week.