Mexican

Shrimp Enchiladas with Roasted Poblano Sauce

Jan 1st, 2013

by erin.

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Date: December 28th, 2012

Recipe: http://www.annies-eats.com/2012/12/05/shrimp-enchiladas-with-roasted-poblano-sauce/

Tortillas: http://www.annies-eats.com/2011/11/01/diy-flour-tortillas/

Modifications: I only used one adobo pepper in the sauce because I didn’t want it as spicy for the toddlers.

Time to table: 45 minutes

Servings: 7 adults

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Like

Notes: Ben and I were both home last week while the kids were in daycare, so we each spent part of a day making a more elaborate meal than normal. His was the cassoulet, and this was mine! I wanted to try my hand at making tortillas, and then I also made a dessert that was part of Ben’s Christmas present from me, so I was pretty much in the kitchen the entire day. I am my own worst critic after I’ve spent so long on a meal – I did REALLY like these, but they weren’t quite as saucy as I prefer enchiladas (perhaps because they sat out with the sauce on before baking for awhile) and because my tortillas weren’t very uniform they were kind of ugly too. The tortillas were actually pretty easy, but I do not have (nor do I want) a discerning enough palate to appreciate the flavor of homemade tortillas vs store bought. I will gladly pay $3 to not spend an hour making dough, individually weighing dough pieces, rolling out and frying each one. Fun to do once, definitely, but the taste wasn’t much better to me than the ones we buy. I LOVED the filling of these – shredded cabbage, carrots, and spinach with shrimp sounds super odd but it was a great mix and with the creamy sauce was awesome. I’m not typically a huge shrimp fan, but it worked well in these. We’ll definitely have these again! (except try to cut some steps since this did take FOR-EV-ER – not a weeknight meal, for sure). I think you could prep the veggies for the filling in advance, roast the poblanos and chop in advance, and then it’d come together quick enough to be made on a weeknight.

Lots of photos of this process…

Dough for tortillas

Rolled out as thin as I could make it

Finished tortillas

Roasted poblanos

The filling

Roasted poblano cream sauce

Dessert – kind of meh because neither pudding tasted like I felt like it should (aka, like the stuff from a box) but I call it a win because I successfully made caramel, and hey – can’t go wrong with this much sugar and cream and chopped twix no matter what!

Sweet potato and black bean enchiladas

Oct 21st, 2012

by ben.

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Date: October 16, 2012

Recipe: http://www.acouplecooks.com/2012/10/sweet-potato-and-black-bean-green-enchiladas/

Modifications: None, actually. Well, we forgot the cilantro I guess.

Time to table: 60 minutes

Servings: 9 good sized enchiladas

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Like

Notes: These were excellent! They didn’t have any sauce on the inside of the enchilada as we’re accustomed to but I put in plenty of cheese. Not having sauce inside saves time on assembling them as well. I loved using salsa verde as the sauce too, instead of red enchilada sauce. Definitely going to be making these again!

Chicken Tamale Pie

Oct 11th, 2012

by erin.

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My mom was over, and she is not a cilantro fan

Date: October 8, 2012

Recipe: http://pinchofyum.com/chicken-tamale-pie

Modifications: Used regular milk, an egg (not egg substitute) and a can of regular (not creamed) corn. May have used slightly more than 8oz of corn muffin mix since I eyeballed it. Used chicken thighs instead of breasts. Used cheddar cheese. Forgot to add taco seasoning to the chicken. Did I even make this recipe?? Ha, I still think it was pretty similar at least!

Time to table: About an hour in total, would go faster if you had the chicken ready in advance. 20 minutes is to bake the corn mix.

Servings: Exactly served 4 adults and 1 toddler.

Ben: Like

Erin: Like

Annie: Like

Notes: Probably due to my “modifications”, the corn crust was a little more done than she indicates in the original post, but I liked it that way.

Grilled Corn Salad

Aug 16th, 2012

by erin.

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Date: August 11, 2012

Recipe:

Ingredients:

9 ears of corn

2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained

2 red peppers, chopped

1 orange pepper, chopped

1 bunch green onions, chopped

Some chopped cilantro (Served on the side due to both of our mother’s distaste for the herb)

Dressing: Juice of 2 limes, some olive oil, some cumin, salt & pepper, whisked together

Directions: Grill ears of corn (pull husks back, remove silks, grill until charred), then cut corn kernels off the cob. Combine all ingredients and serve cold or at room temperature.

Time to table: 20 minutes, plus grilling time

Servings: ~15 people as a side dish

Ben: Like

Erin: Love

Annie: Like (as in, she ate some, although she did say “I don’t like this salad” but she also sometimes says “I don’t like bread” so we know THAT’S a lie)

Notes: This was inspired by my coworker Sharon’s corn salad that she brought to a work potluck. She is a great cook, so I asked her for a recommendation for a corn salad to go with pork tacos, and she recommended some modifications to that recipe that she uses for more of a Mexican flavor. For being kind of thrown together, and not from an actual recipe, I was impressed with how well it turned out! It paired excellently with the pork tacos.

Mexican Stuffed Shells

May 17th, 2012

by erin.

1 comment

Date: 5/10/2012

Recipe: http://www.thewaytohisheartblog.com/mexican-stuffed-shells/

Modifications: I used ground turkey,and this taco seasoning recipe.

Time to table: 45 minutes prep, plus 45 minutes of baking time

Servings: 4 adults

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Like – it was a bit “picy” for her

Notes: This was really good and actually pretty easy. I thought the filling could stand to be cheesier, so I would up the cream cheese next time, and maybe add some veggies into the filling too.

Sweet Potato Foil Packet Tacos

May 12th, 2012

by erin.

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Date: 5/8/2012

Recipe: http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/main-courses/sweet-potato-foil-packet-tacos/

Modifications: I used ground turkey, black beans, and did not peel the sweet potatoes. I didn’t have tomato sauce, so I just used some crushed tomatoes instead. We use this taco seasoning recipe.

Time to table: 30 minutes, plus 30 minutes of baking time

Servings: 6 adults

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Like

Notes: My friend Chelsea sent me this recipe, and I immediately knew it would be a winner in our house! The best part about these is that you really can prep everything completely beforehand, and then just pop the foil packets in the oven when you’re ready to eat. Ben has an oven at work and was able to bring the extra packets to work the next few days. It is important to layer the packets with the sweet potatoes on the bottom, if they are on top they won’t get cooked through. We served with tortillas and sour cream.

Mexican Baked Eggs

Apr 4th, 2012

by erin.

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Date: 3/31/2012

Recipe: http://www.closetcooking.com/2011/09/mexican-baked-eggs.html

Modifications: I only used one jalapeno and just realized that I forgot the oregano. It also seemed to take longer than 5-8 minutes for our eggs to cook, more like 15 minutes, however the yolks were far more done than they appeared visually.

Time to table: 30 minutes

Servings: 4 adults

Ben: Dislike

Erin: Like

Annie: Like

Notes: This was one of those meals that kept getting pushed off. I thought it was pretty good, would have been better if we hadn’t overcooked the eggs. The leftovers would be great in a tortilla – Annie had that for lunch the next day and seemed to enjoy it. Ben thought it tasted just like salsa with eggs and wasn’t a fan.

Mexican Lasagna

Mar 23rd, 2012

by erin.

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Date: 3/20/2012

Recipe:

1/2 lb of ground turkey
1 28oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 14 oz can of black beans
1 14oz can of kidney beans
1 14oz can of pinto beans
1 diced sweet potato
1/2 packets of taco seasoning (I just threw in some cumin, adobo seasoning from Penzey’s, chili powder, paprika, garlic granules and cayenne)
1/2 an onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
4 cups of shredded mild cheddar
1 packet of Spinach Tortilla wraps

Coat the bottom of a larger, somewhat deep saucepan, with extra-virgin olive oil. Let it warm up (burner on medium heat), then throw in onion and garlic. Sautee for about 2 min. Add ground turkey and cook until no longer pink. Add all the beans and sweet potato and stir. Then add taco seasoning and about 1/2 cup of water (or more if it gets too dry), stir. Finally, add crushed tomatoes. Lower heat, simmer, and stir occassionally for about 20-25 min. (Meat and bean mixture cooked the night before, tastes better the next day. But, it’s still good same day : )

To layer ingredients: 1 9×13 inch pan. Thin layer of meat/bean mixture, tortillas (cut to fit pan), then cheese. Then repeat: meat/beans, tortilla, then cheese.

Bake in 375 degree for aluminum pans, 400 for glass for about 15-25 min. Or until cheese on top is bubbly.

Modifications: I didn’t want such a huge batch, so I made this in a 8×8 pan and froze the other half of the mix.

Time to table: an hour of prep (some is simmering) and 25 minutes baking.

Servings: original recipe serves 8 adults

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Loved the sour cream that it was topped with…

Notes: This is a meal that was brought to our neighbors who also have a new baby, and shared with us. We both loved it so much we had to get the recipe from her friend Karen, who apparently adapted it from a Rachael Ray recipe. I further adapted it from what she sent to include a sweet potato and to reduce the amount of meat. The original also called for corn, but I didn’t have that so did not include. There is another Mexican lasagna recipe on the blog too, but I preferred this one.

Tortilla and Black Bean Pie

Jan 18th, 2012

by erin.

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Date: 1/17/2012

Recipe: http://www.marthastewart.com/336692/tortilla-and-black-bean-pie (I also made this before WAY back in the day right after I’d started my blog)

Modifications: Used whole wheat tortillas – and the ones we got (Mission 100% whole wheat “soft taco”) were EXACTLY the perfect size for my 9” springform pan so that was awesome. I used water instead of beer – I’m sure the alcohol cooks off, but it feels weird cooking with any alcohol for a pregnant woman and a toddler… so yeah, just water. I added some additional seasoning – Penzey’s Adobo seasoning. Also added a chopped green pepper to the onion/garlic/jalapeno mix to up the veggie content.

Time to table: 30 minutes active, 20 minutes baking

Servings: 6 adults

Ben: Love (with the addition of a fried egg for him)

Erin: Love

Annie: Love

Notes: We are on a ROLL with the triple love meals over here! I knew this one would be a hit – we have loved it all the other times we’ve made it and this was no exception. I forgot to add sour cream and salsa to mine but it was still quite good even without that. We even had this on a weeknight and Annie devoured it – proving that it’s a keeper!

Ben’s serving topped with fried egg

After I took a photo of my dish, Annie held hers out for similar treatment

Homemade salsa

Sep 7th, 2011

by ben.

5 comments

Date: 9/4/2011

Recipe: The recipe we used was modified from a recipe that Brian sent us:

Original recipe:

1 ice cream pail of tomatoes, blanched and peeled
3 medium onions, chopped
3 green bell peppers, chopped
1/2 cup lemon juice
12 oz. tomato paste
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon oregano
2 cups vinegar
1 tablespoon garlic powder
3 jalapeno peppers

Simmer all ingredients together for 1/2 hour, over low to medium heat,
stirring it frequently. Process in pint jars (remember if the jars
and lids are super hot from being sterilized and salsa is boiling when
you fill the jars they may seal without the boiling water bath).

Modifications: We made a couple changes to this recipe. I don’t think we had an entire ice cream bucket of tomatoes, but it was close. We added several other ingredients that we had from our box: tomatillos (sauteed and pureed), diced garlic, and cilantro.

Time to table: 2 hours total

Servings: We got a little over a half gallon of salsa.

Ben: Like

Erin: Like

Annie: Like

Notes: Our neighbors had just given us a bag of tomatoes from their garden and then we got two more bags from our CSA this week, so we were inundated with tomatoes. Salsa was the perfect solution as it used all the tomatoes as well as several other veggies we had from the CSA box (tomatillos, garlic, cilantro, bell peppers, jalapenos). I don’t believe canning salsa to be worth the effort in general, but this was a great way to relieve the pressure of all the veggies we’ve had for the past two weeks.