The Taco Bell Dogs

(They were once gifts with purchase from Taco Bell many years ago. 

Did I mention I am a hoarder and don’t throw things away?)  🙂

Sometimes Delicious Salsa Comes in Ready Made Sauce Packets. 

Just Provide the Fresh Tomatoes and you are SET!

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Hola!

This is our 5th. website page featuring some of our favorite Mexican/Mexican Inspired Foods.

We love Mexican Food!

A typical weeknight question we ask each other is, “Do we want Mexican, Italian, or Chinese tonight?” 

I do have to admit that we love all three equally, but there are just certain times when the only food that will do, is Mexican!

Visiting the Latin Supermarket for us is like a trip down to Mexico.  Most everyone is speaking Spanish, the atmosphere of the market is very colorful with loud music playing.  I am usually swaying to the music while I shop, strolling down each aisle with a spring in my step.  I always see some new ingredient or product we’ve never tried before, giving us inspiration.

We will also see so many exotic fruits and vegetables, along with the fruits and vegetables that we are familiar with at our local supermarkets.  I will say this, they are cheaper at the Latin Supermarket’s than in your local grocery stores.  Which is why you should pay them a visit, you will save some money.

We hope that you will enjoy the recipes that we have here.  I am hoping to debut this website page on Cinco de Mayo, 2023.  That is May 5th., Mexico’s Independence Day.

Buen Provecho!

Julie and Gordon

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Here Are The Recipes We Have Featured

Mexican Dry Soup

(Recipe Down Below)

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Our Mexican Omelet With Chorizo and Stuffed Peppers

(Recipe Down Below)

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Marinated Manchego and Eggs Tortilla

(Recipe Down Below)

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Mexican Spiced Chick Peas

(Recipe Down Below)

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Grilled Corn on the Cob

Our Yuka in Yuka Cups, in Nachos

(Recipes Down Below)

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Cajun Bells

(From Our Garden)

Gordon’s Mexican Tortilla/Sausage Morning Breakfast

(Recipe Down Below)

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Mexican Dry Soup

Topped With Herbs, It’s Perfect!

Gathering Together Our Ingredients

Ingredients:

4 Bay Leaves

2 (8 oz.) pkgs. VeggieCraft Gluten Free Cauliflower Spaghetti Pasta – Reserve a few cups of the pasta water

7 Garlic Cloves – chopped

2 Yellow Onions – chopped

2 Israeli Heirloom Red and Golden Huge Marconi Sweet Peppers – sliced and diced

3 (3.5 oz.) pkgs. Chorizo (Bridgford Brand) – sliced

1 Tbsp. Ground Cumin

1 Tbsp. Chili Powder

4 Roasted Garlic Cloves

1 (28 oz.) Fire Roasted Organic Crushed Tomatoes (Muir Glen Brand)

2 (4 oz. ) Diced Green Chiles (Ortega Brand)

20 Fresh Oregano Leaves

2 Cups Shredded White Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Garnish with fresh Parsley

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Place a few quarts of water into a large pot and add your Bay Leaves. 

Turn the temperature on High to boil the water.

In the meantime, begin to chop your Onions and Garlic.

Place your Pasta packages into the water and cook as directed.

Here I have the Onions and Garlic chopped. 

These Israeli Heirloom Peppers were amazing.

When the pasta is cooked to your liking, pour it into a colander and rinse with cold running water to stop the cooking process.  This will also prevent it from sticking, while waiting for the other ingredients to be prepared.

Shown are the Chorizo packages we used.

Slice them as shown and place them into a large saute pan.

  Saute them on medium heat until cooked to your liking.  No oil is needed to cook these sausages.

Here you can see the sausage’s oil is released as they are cooked. 

Drain the oil as needed or to your liking.

Here I removed the seeds and stems of the peppers and sliced them thinly, then into a small dice.

Add your Onions to the pan of sliced sausages.

Then add your diced peppers to the pan.

I let the onions and peppers cook for about 5 min. to get some color on them then I added some of the pasta water.  Doing this will help to make the sauce.

Here is a great picture of the ingredients cooking in the pan.

Add your sliced Garlic to the pan and saute them for a few minutes.

Also add your seasonings to the pan.  You can add more or less of these to suit your own taste.  You might have noticed I didn’t add any salt to this, as the Chorizo is slightly salty, which carries over to the rest of the ingredients.

Here you can see the ingredients are nicely cooked.

Add your Roasted Garlic to the pan and mix well with the other ingredients.

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Now, add your Tomatoes to the pan.

Then your Chopped Green Chiles.

To make more of a sauce, add about 2 cups of pasta water to the pan.

Add your fresh Oregano and mix the ingredients well.  Cook this for about another 5 min.

Place your pasta into a large bowl then add your sauce as shown.

Mix all the ingredients well.

Place your pasta and sauce into 2 large baking dishes.

Here you can see the baking dishes filled with the ingredients. 

Preheat your oven to 400’F.

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Here I am shredding the White Cheddar Cheese.

Add Grated Cheese to the top of both dishes and place them into your preheated oven.

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Here is a great picture of our herb garden where we simply snip off the herbs we need.

Here I removed some of the longer stems of the Parsley.

Bake the Dry Noodle Soup for about 15 min. or until the cheese is melted and the noodles become slightly browned.

Here you can see the browned noodles.

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Garnish with the fresh Parsley and dig into this great flavorful meal in a bowl.

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Our Mexican Omelet With Chorizo and Stuffed Peppers

Some of These Peppers Came From our Garden

The Chili Oil I Made Myself, But You Can Use Whatever You Like

But first, we want to slice our Chorizo Sausages and place into a saute pan to fry.

Beautiful Tasty Medallions

These are sweet peppers that we purchased from our Commissary.

What Gordon is doing here is to split them open without tearing through the other side, and clean the seeds out.

We Have These Old Muffin Tins to Place Them in

Here Gordon is Adding Some Goat Cheese into the Slits of Each Pepper

You can use any flavored Goat Cheese that you desire.

He Then Inserts a Chorizo Sausage Medallion into Each One

Now It’s Time to Place Them into a 350F Oven for About 15-20 Minutes

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Here Gordon is chopping up the extra Sweet Peppers, and some Onions for our Omelet.

Saving the Oil in the Pan

Goat Cheese Stuffed Peppers Are Ready

Cute Sparky Break

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Here Gordon is Adding the Chopped Sweet Peppers and Onions to the Saute Pan

And the Chopped Onions, Pepper….

Time To Make The Omelet

Here Gordon is adding about 4 Eggs and some of my Egg Whites to this bowl for him to whisk together, and then add to the Saute Pan of Sweet Peppers and Onions.  You can use as many Eggs as you like when you make your Omelet.

Here Gordon is Adding Some of our Fried Chorizo Medallions to our Omelet

Stuffed Peppers Cooling

Here Gordon is Placing the Saute Pan of the Eggs into the Oven on 350F for about 8-10 Minutes

When Done Turn Out Onto A Plate

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Omelet With Peppers……

YUM!!!!

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Marinated Manchego and Eggs Tortilla

Gathering Our Ingredients

Ingredients:

10 Eggs

1/2 Medium Sized Sweet Onion – chopped

2 Jalapeno Peppers – one chopped and one sliced thinly for garnish

1-2 Tbsp. Shoepeg Corn

3 Tbsp. Julienne Cut Sun Dried Tomatoes

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 Cup Marinated Manchego Cheese – marinated in Olive Oil and herbs

~3 Tbsp. Reserved Olive Oil from the Marinated Manchego Cheese

1/2 Cup Flat Leaf Parsley – chopped

Ricotta Cheese – as needed

Large Tortilla Wraps – as needed

1/2 Tbsp. Chili Powder

1 Cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese – shredded

Fresh Cilantro Leave for Garnish

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Slice off both sides of your Onion then slice it in half. 

Now slice the onion in thin sections keeping the root end attached.

Now, slice in the opposite direction making a small dice of the Onion.

(You can slice the onion anyway you like.  That is just Gordon’s way of teaching you how to chop an onion professionally.)  🙂

For this part, wear gloves so the juice from the Jalapeno doesn’t find its way into your skin creating a burning sensation.  Slice the Jalapeno in half and remove the seeds.  Now, slice the Jalapeno thinly lengthwise as shown then slice it in a small dice.

Here, I just left the gloves on and cracked the eggs into a bowl.

I misjudged the size of the eggs …

and was having a difficult time whisking them, so I transferred them into a larger bowl.

Now, I could whisk the eggs until well combined.

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Now, add your chopped Onions and Jalapeno Peppers to the eggs. 

Then add your Shoepeg Corn.

Whisk the ingredients to combine.

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Chop your Sun Dried Tomatoes into a small dice as shown…

and add them to the egg mixture.

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Now add your Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper to the eggs. 

We used Himalayan Salt.

Whisk all the ingredients well.

Flavorful Olive Oil From Our Marinated Manchego Cheese

(We made this Marinated Manchego ourselves by taking some of the cheese and chopping it into chunks along with some herbs, cheese rind, a few spices and olive oil.  Then, we placed it into the refrigerator for a week or so while it all marinated together.  Oh, and we did add some lemon slices and rind.)

Marinating the Manchego gave it a nice herbaceous flavor.  Slice the cheese into large dice sections.  The Olive Oil absorbed these flavors, which is why we used it in this dish as well.

Heat your large skillet over medium heat and place your cheese into the skillet to begin melting it.

After a minute or two, pour your egg mixture into the pan.

Then add your chopped Parsley and stir them into the egg mixture using a rubber spatula.  As the eggs gently cook, use your spatula to mix the eggs making sure you do this over the entire bottom of the pan.  Doing this will scramble the eggs.  Repeat this until all the eggs are cooked … taking about 10 min.

In the meantime, place your Tortilla wrap on a plate and microwave it for ~ 15 seconds.  Doing this will make the wrap more pliable.  Then take a few Tbsp.s of Ricotta Cheese and spread in down the center of the wrap.

Remove the eggs from the heat when fully cooked and set aside.

Here I am slicing the Jalapeno thinly. 

I am doing my best to not touch the slices as I am not wearing my gloves.

Here you can see the eggs are well scrambled and fully cooked.

Add about 1/2 – 3/4 cup of the egg mixture on top of the Ricotta Cheese as shown. 

Add your shredded Cheddar Cheese to the eggs.

Add as much as you like of the Chili Powder to the eggs. 

Now, fold the sides of the wrap over the eggs tightly.

Garnish with some Chili Powder, Cilantro leaves and thinly sliced Jalapeno. 

Delicious!

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Roasted Mexican Spiced Chick Peas

Write up by Julie

This is a recipe that you can play with where the spices are concerned. 

You could use Italian spices as a substitute, or Greek spices, etc. 

But here, we are using Mexican spices, and it is just perfect!

Our Ingredients:

Cans of Chick Peas/A.K.A. Garbanzo Beans

(We used 3, 15.5 ounce cans.)

Olive Oil (A drizzle or two.)

(We used a Garlic Infused Olive Oil.)

Sweet Paprika

Fajita Seasoning Mix

Chili Powder

Sazon Caliente Spice

Hawaiian Sea Salt (A sprinkling.)

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I would like to add that the amount of spices you use on these Roasted Chick Peas/Garbanzo Beans, are up to your own personal tastes.  Perhaps a teaspoon of each?

Drain the Cans of Garbanzo Beans into a Colander, Rinse with Water

Place the Garbanzo Beans onto Paper Towels to Absorb the Water

When a bit dry, place the Garbanzo Beans onto a Parchment Paper lined Baking Sheet

Our Garlic Infused Olive Oil

You want to drizzle some Olive Oil over the Garbanzo Beans and shake to spread the oil around.

Preheat Oven to 400F

Bake For 25-30 Minutes

Remove the Garbanzo Beans from the oven and sprinkle on the spices that you desire.

Here we have the Paprika, Chili Powder, and Fajita Mix.

Also, some Hawaiian Sea Salt.

Once the Garbanzo Beans are covered in the spices…..

…place back into the oven for about 15-20 minutes.

You want the Garbanzo Beans to be crunchy.

Cool, and then enjoy!

A Great Snack  🙂

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Grilled Corn on the Cob

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Gordon Peeling the Corn

Ready to Grill

Ingredients:

5 Ears of Peaches and Cream Corn

Chili Powder to taste

Fajita Seasoning Mix to taste

4 Tbsp. Butter – Melted

1/2 Cup Fresco Cheese Crumbled

Salt and Pepper to taste

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Pull the corn husks down and away from the corn as shown while also pulling off the silk.

Grill the corn to a slight char which will bring out the sweetness.

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Brush the corn with some of the melted butter.

Add the Fresco Cheese while the corn is hot.

Season the corn with some Chili seasoning, Fajita mix, and some salt and pepper to taste.  Eat while dripping hot with butter.  This is a great side dish for most any meal.

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Grilled Corn, Spiced and Roasted Garbanzo Beans, Yuca Cups Filled with Yuca and Nestled in Nachos

Write Up By Julie

What a Great Dinner!  🙂

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Yuca Cups

I was shopping at the Spanish Supermarket when I saw these in the freezer section.  Yuca Cups!  I knew that I love Yuca from eating it many times from the buffet.  It is a root vegetable, kind of like potatoes but healthier for those of us who are borderline diabetics.  They also come in Yuca Fries.  And if you close your eyes they almost taste like French Fries.  🙂

I decided that I wanted to stuff these Yuca Cups with something so as I was browsing the food at the Spanish Supermarket Buffet, I notice that they had Yuca with some sauteed Red Onions.  Perfect!  So, I bought some.  I also bought their excellent Pulled Pork.  Not only great eaten alone, but perfect on some Nachos as well!

I grabbed some Refried Beans, cans of Green Chilies, Paprika, Fresco Cheese, Jalapeno Peppers, Green and Red Anaheim Peppers, and some Cilantro Herb.

Yuca with Sauteed Red Onions, and Pulled Pork

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Here Gordon is using a Cooking Oil Spray to line our muffin tins, then placing each Yuca Cup inside.

Some of our Nacho Chips

The Anaheim and Jalapeno Peppers have been grilled.

Dolloping the Yuca into each Yuca Cup.

The Last of the Grilled Peppers

Bean Dip!

Heating up on the stove top in a pan.

Our Yuca Cups with the Yuca and Red Onions

Now Topped With Green Chilies and Chopped Spring Onions

Now Add Our Fresco Mexican Cheese Crumbled

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Chopping the Red Anaheim Roasted Pepper

Chili Powder Sprinkled on Top

Into a 350F Oven for about 20-25 minutes or so.

Until they look like this!

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In the meantime…..

You want to make some Nachos.

Spread out your Tortilla Chips onto a baking sheet or two, lined with Aluminum Foil.

Spread each chip with some of the Refried Bean Dip.

Then spread around the nachos some of the Pulled Pork.

Chop up the Green Anaheim Peppers…

Spread them around the Nachos….

Like so….

Here Gordon is chopping the rest of our Grilled Peppers to add to our Nachos.

Sprinkle with some Fajita Spice…

Some Chili Spice….

Some Grated Cheese, any that you desire….

Some Sour Cream…..  (Blobs)

Now, place the tray of Nachos into the oven to brown on broil….

Slice an Avocado or two and we then have a party!

(Just spritz with some lime juice to keep it nice and green.)

Nestle some of the Yuca Cups into the Nachos

A Great Dinner!

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Gordon’s Mexican Tortilla/Sausage Morning Breakfast

Ingredients:

1 Cup Mexican Sausage

Baked Potatos

2 Tbsp. Black Bean Salsa

3-4 Tbsp. Fresco Cheese

2 Fried Eggs

 Tortillas

 Sour Cream

Chives – chopped

2 Tbsp. of your favorite Hot Sauce