Mexican March Madness

Our stomachs made it through March and the 10...err, 24 recipes that we tried. Having a Mexican menu regularly is fairly simple as many of the same ingredients are used over and over again. Plus, there are all kinds of menu items to make, whereas Fish February always provided the main dish.

You're probably thinking that I'm employing hyperbole in this blog post. To prove my honesty, the twenty-three recipes we enjoyed:

Mexican Rice
Chimichangas
Mexican Steamed Zucchini


Homemade baked tortilla chips
Enchiladas (with a green sauce)
Mexican Tinga


Enchilada Soup
Pork Tacos
Refried Beans
Huevos Rancheros


Schizeranado
Roasted Tomatillo & Black Bean Tacos
Bean Burritos

(enjoying the leftovers at Whistler)

Breakfast Burritos
Agua Fresca
Enchilada Sauce
Enchiladas (with the enchilada sauce)


Mexican Lime Soup
Sopapillas
Nachos


Mexican Hot Chocolate
Lime-Chicken Tacos
Guacamole


and the one we didn't:

Chilaquiles Verdes.

If you made it through the list, you probably feel as full as we do!

There have been inquiries for where I get my recipes for my monthly menus and the answer for this month is Joy of Cooking, allrecipes.com, mexgrocer.com, Better Homes & Garden cookbook, and Vegetarian Times. The recipes that we really enjoyed are in larger font and linked if from the internet. If you want a recipe for any of the others, let me know!

What we learned:

1) Manchego cheese (from Spain, not Mexico) is amazing. On the other hand, queso fresco adds little flavor to meals.
2) We are not Mexican. We prefer flour tortillas over corn tortillas.
3) Tomatillos are a new vegetable in our repertoire.
4) Buy green chiles in a can in the States. There they are 89 cents and here they are $2.59.
5) You can make a great sauce (i.e. instead of taco seasoning) by combining a can of diced tomatoes and a can of chiles in adobo sauce. (see Mexican Tinga)
6) Baked tortilla chips are super simple and super sensational.

Sopapillas

This blog post is dedicated to my dear friend Lorina. She loves Mexican food and when hearing that March was all about Mexican food, she suggested sopapillas.


Such a great idea since they are a favorite of John's! They were incredibly easy to make and tasted delicious. Anybody could make these anywhere.

However, upon researching them, I found that they are not Mexican. They are New Mexican.

Refried Beans w/o the Refry

One food item that has been a must for Mexican March is beans. We like to make our own in the crockpot. If you like refried beans, I recommend you try this recipe as it is so easy, so good, and quite inexpensive. Just be ready for lots of beans - or put half in the freezer.


Place 1 chopped onion, 3 cups dry pinto beans, 1/2 chopped fresh jalapeno pepper (we use more), 2 Tbsp. minced garlic, 5 tsp. salt, 1 3/4 tsp. black pepper, and 1/8 tsp. cumin in your crock pot. Add 9 cups of water and turn on high. Leave alone for 8 hours.


Once the beans have cooked, strain them, reserving the liquid. Mash the beans, adding the reserved water if needed for your desired consistency.


There you go - refried beans w/o the refry!