Beef Taquitos

Last night we were craving for beef taquitos. I didn't want to spend more money and go out to but some, so I thought of cooking. I remembered I already had all the ingredients at home. And homemade cook tastes so much better than store bought food.

New Year's Eve Lasagna

So I was thinking about what could we have for dinner on New Year's Eve, and I thought of a meat lasagna. With a little bit of veggies on it.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

I hope you spent time with your family, friends and loved ones. This is the most important part of Christmas. More than presents. More than food. I hope everything works for the best this next year. 

Our Nativity Set

Placing a nativity set has always been an important tradition in my family. So now, that Julio and I (and Princesa) became a new family, there had to be a nativity set at home. I was looking for one in which the characters had very clear features. And when we went to the US, I found the one I fell in love with.

I couln't find the other part: the donkey, the mule, the cow, and the rest. But the coming year I will totally look for them. so here are some pictures of our nativity set.

Xmas Decoration

So, here are some of the decoration details I used at home. Of course, some of them are missing. Actually, the second floor decoration is missing. But you can get the idea!! 

Xmas Pasta {Oven-Dried Tomatoes Penne}

So, for Christmas, we usually and have lunch with my grandparents. So, this year, grandma found out I have a blog were I upload some recipes and asked me to cook the Christmas pasta. My mom usually was the one cooking the pasta. Some years she made pasta with cheese sauce and some others with tomato sauce. 

This year, grandpa asked me to make tomato sauce pasta. So I figures, why wouldn't I use, besides the regular tomato pasta, some dried tomatoes like the ones I dried some months ago? So here it's the recipe.

Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

On Monday, December 12th, I had a day-off, so I invited mom to my house to spend the day together. We were watching "Falling in Love" starring Robert de Niro and Meryl Streep (I love both of them) and suddenly, my mom said "I'm hungry!"). 

I want to take a little break here and tell you that previously, that morning, I took my mom to my favorite tacos place and we had 6 very big tacos for breakfast (each one of us). 

So, she said she was hungry, and I remembered that I had a lot of leftovers!

I had the Turkey and Tortilla Chips casserole, I hade some Pastel Azteca too, and I had some shredded chicken leftover. So I said: "We can either have some turkey casserole, pastel azteca or I can very quickly go and grill some Buffalo chicken sandwiches with Blue cheese dressing." She was like "Oh!!! The Buffalo chicken sandwiches!!". So I ran downstairs, took everything out and tried to take pictures of what I did. So, some of the pictures (like the first one) will be blurry, but still, you should really try these sandwiches. If you are a Buffalo & Blue Cheese lover, you will L-O-V-E them. And if you are, then you should also try the Buffalo Dip recipe I shared in Halloween.

So I used, for 3 sandwiches (yes, we ate 1.5 sandwiches each):

• 6 bread slices (I used Nature's Own Butterbread)
• non-stick spray
• 1/2 tsp vegetable oil
• 3 tbsp blue cheese dressing (I prefer the ones that have pieces of blue cheese, and when I buy the ones that don't, I buy a piece of blue cheese, crumble it, and mix it in the dressing, yum!)
• 4 tbsp Buffalo wings sauce (I used regular Frank's Red Hot sauce, not Wings, because it already tastes like Buffalo)
• 1 cup shredded chicken (already cooked, if you want to see how I cooked this chicken, go to the post called Pastel Azteca)
• 6 slices Ranchero cheese (you can use Mozzarella or Monterey Jack)

Oh, and one of my parents' friend gave us, as a wedding gift, the George Foreman Grill, so that's what I use when I need to grill. 

Now, heat the oil in a skillet and add the chicken. Fry it a little bit. I added some salt because as I cooked it for the Pastel Azteca, I hadn't add any seasoning before.

When the chicken is "fried" and hot, add the Buffalo sauce. You can add more it you want. I did.

Stir until the chicken and the sauce look blended together.

Leave it there for 3 or 4 minutes (low heat) and stir one last time. Turn the heat off.

While you are waiting for the chicken to be ready with the Buffalo sauce, take two slices of bread (for one sandwich).

On one slice, spread a tablespoon of Blue cheese dressing. On the other one, place two slices of Ranchero cheese (or Mozzarella or Monterey Jack).

Now, place 1/3 cup (one third part) of the chicken you just prepared on top of the bread slice spreaded with blue cheese. And place the Ranchero cheese covered slice on top (both cheeses sould be facing the chicken). I'm sorry I didn't take a picture of this!

Oh, but I took a picture of the grill! Here's the outside part of the George Foreman grill.

Here's the inside of the grill. Spray a little bit of the non-stick spray (I used regular PAM). And turn it on. It will heat almost immediatly, so make sure you are ready when turning it on.

I could place two sandwiches at the same time in the grill. Three were too much. 

So, I left them there around 4 minutes, and took them out.

Do you like how they look?

You will love how they taste! Try them!!!!

Turkey and Tortilla Chips Casserole

 

I was looking for a easy but delicious recipe tu use the ground turkey meat I had, and the tortilla chips that I had as leftovers. On the other hand, I love Rachael Ray, I used to watch her shows, now I can't find the time. So, I thought about looking through some of her recipes and I found this one, which is really easy and fast to prepare. Her recipe is called Turkey-Tortilla Casserole. Of course, as I always do, I changed a little bit of the recipe. So here I'm sharing with you the recipe:

You will need:

• 2 quartered lemons (big)
• 1 lb (1/2 Kg) ground turkey meat
• salt
• 1 small onion
• 1 can (4 oz or 120 gr) diced jalapeño chiles, with the liquid -if you don't want it spicy, you can use one finely chopped green pepper
• 2 cans (14.5 oz or 410 gr each) diced and peeled tomato -if it's whole, then you dice it in bite-size squares
• 1 lb (1/2 Kg) tortilla chips -you can use Doritos, or any brand you like
• 1 can (14.5 oz or 1/2 lt) chicken broth
• 4 cups mozzarella shredded cheese
• sour cream, for serving

Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). 

Place the turkey in a skillet and add the lemons' juice and salt (around 1 tsp). 

Stir until it cooks. Let it sit and cool. 

Finely chop the onion.

In a deep bowl add the onion, the tomato can and the jalapeño can (with liquid).

Stir.

Add the tortilla chips and the turkey and stir carefully until it looks blended.

Transfer to baking pan (I used a 9" X 13") and cover with cheese. Plenty of cheese.

Place in oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until the cheese looks like you like it (golden, brown, white, etc). The meat is already cooked, so don't worry about cooking. I like the cheese CRISPY! If you place it 30 minutes it will look like mine.

Looking good, huh?

A small slice.

 Do you want some?

Can you see the melted cheese? I love cheese!!!!

Yum!

December 14:

I'm linking to Stacy's Show Me What Ya Got #53 party
 I'm linking to Michelle's Fabulous Friday party at Faith, Trust & Pixie Dust

Black Beans

I've shown you may time show I cook refried black beans. Here is the recipe of how I cooked them for the family reunion breakfast I hosted last Saturday. I served them with Pastel Azteca.

You can check how I prepared the black beans in my Black Beans and Chilorio Tacos post, or in my Torta de Cochinita Pibil con Frijol Negro {Black Beans and Cochinita Sandwich} post. This time I prepared them a little different, as they were going to be eaten alone, not spreaded on any bread or anything.

I used:

• 2 packs Isadora refried Black Beans
• 1 dash of Maggi seasoning sauce
• pepper to taste
• 1 tsp mashed garlic 
• 3 tbsp tomato puree
• 1/2 tsp vegetable oil

Heat the oil and the garlic. 

 

Place the beans and stir. Add the tomato puree, pepper and Maggi seasoning sauce.

Keep stirring until cooked, like 5 minutes. Serve in serving plate and top with fresh shredded cheese.