Mexican Lasagna
The original plan was just the regular tacos but after browning the ground beef then combining it with the refried beans I decided to turn tacos into Mexican Lasagna. I thought I should really create other Mexican dishes to add into the Mexican category here at Feistycook. Thankfully with Mexican dishes, I noticed that take out or add an ingredient or two, you’d still have the same base ingredients yet come up with totally different dishes. I guess it depends on how you cook a dish.
So let’s cook Mexican Lasagna..
Chicken Enchiladas W/ Creamy Salsa
We had a leftover jar of Tostitos Creamy Salsa Dip that we used for tortilla chips. Instead of waiting to get another bag of tortilla chips, I used it for chicken enchiladas. It’s quite easy to make compare to the usual way I make chicken enchiladas involving cream cheese and sour cream which I learned from a friend from NY. I will post about that some other time, right now, here’s how to make this.
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Chicken With Salsa Verde
I could tell you I roasted the jalapeno peppers, and tomatoes, then cussed the living daylights when I accidentally rubbed my eyes while peeling the roasted jalapenos, then pureed them into coarse perfection with fresh onions, a little bit of water, salt, distilled vinegar, lime juice, and garlic.
But I won’t….
Coz I didn’t…
All I did was preheat the oven to 355°.
Opened a jar of World Table Roasted Salsa Verde, placed a thin layer of the salsa verde into a baking pan, placed 3 chicken quarters on top, generously slathered more salsa verde on top of the chicken, then put the pan in the oven to bake for 35-40 minutes.
Yes, 2 ingredients. Chicken and World Table Roasted Salsa Verde. A 16oz jar is about $2.50 at Wal-Mart.
At first glance you’d think the salsa verde would be strong once cooked with the chicken but that wasn’t the case at all. I kept adding more into my plate to eat the chicken with coz the combination was really good. If you make your own salsa verde then good for you. If not, well, store-bought is great too.
Tacos Night W/ Guacamole Minus Refried Beans
What? Tacos without refried beans? Well, I realized I didn’t have any refried beans from the pantry half-way into cooking the ground beef. I’ve already made the guacamole and pico de gallo so I couldn’t change the dinner plan anymore. I figured we’d just do without refried beans. Of course, the first thing my husband noticed when it was time to eat was the missing refried beans.
This post is only to show that you can have Tacos night without refried beans. If you have it, good, if you don’t it’s OK. It’s not the end of the world. The fact that I’m posting about it 2 days after our Tacos Night proves it.
I also want to show you how I made guacamole with the help of one of my favorite kitchen gadgets, Magic Bullet.
In a medium Magic Bullet cup, combine 2 ripe avocados, 1 clove of peeled garlic, squeeze of 1/2 lime, 1/2 of tomato, a sprig of cilantro, salt and pepper, a little bit of red pepper flakes.
Pulse it in the Magic Bullet for about 3-4 times
I like my guacamole slightly chunky.
And because Magic Bullet rocks, not only does it come with different sizes of cups, it also comes with covers. So just cover the cup, then store it in the fridge until ready to eat. Less containers to use, less dishes to wash.
Build your tacos. Beef, pico de gallo, guacamole, sour cream & shredded cheese.
For the beef: brown the ground beef then season with 3 tbsp of Tacos Seasoning. Add refried beans if you have it.
For pico de gallo: combine shopped tomatoes, onions/scallions, cilantro, salt and pepper. Red pepper flakes are optional.
Beef Burritos With Dirty Rice
Spanish rice (or cilantro rice) would be the typical rice accompaniment for the known Mexican favorite dishes like burrito, enchiladas, and quesadillas. I did my own twist by using dirty rice for a Cajun flavor with this beef burrito. It’s good if you can make the dirty rice from scratch but if you’re busy opt for the mixes that are readily available in any grocery stores. Zatarain’s is a good brand to get but the store-brands like Great Value of Wal-Martare good too. The instruction in the box includes adding ground meat to the dirty rice but since I was making a steak burrito, that meat part for the rice was omitted.
Beef & Salsa Quesadilla
In continuing with my experiment to use salsa as an added ingredient in dishes instead of just serving it as a tortilla chips dip, I came up with this beef and salsa quesadilla.
INGREDIENTS:
1 thin steak, cut in strips
1 cup of salsa
1 packet of Cajun Aromatica Organics
1 large flour tortilla
sprinkle of shredded cheddar cheese
oil for sautéing
Heat up oil in a pan. Sauté beef until tender. Stir in one packet of Cajun Aromatica Orgnaics sesoning. Just let that incorporate for a minute or two. The stir in the salsa. Let it cook for a minute or so.
Using a griddle or a nonstick pan, make sure the surface is hot, lay the flour tortilla flat. Add the beef and salsa mixture on one half of the flour tortilla. Sprinkle shredded cheddar cheese. Fold in the other half on top. Cook for a minute then carefully turn the quesadilla over to cook the top part.
Slice in quarters, then serve. Double the ingredients for more people.
—-originally posted at old Blisstree under b5media—–
Oven-Steamed Flan
Besides Tiramisu, and Chocolate Volcano Cake, my other ultimate favorite dessert is Flan. Yes, I’m just piling on the sugar and calories in my thighs and you know where else hah. I don’t make any of them that often. Only when I’m really craving each of them. And of course I don’t make it all at the same time. Can you imagine though if there’s Tiramisu, Chocolate Volcano cake, and flan in front of you? It’s like heaven but you’ll definitely regret it once you’re in bed for the night. So I suggest, make your favorite dessert, one at a time, in separate occasions.
I made Flan this time around and yes, it feels like heaven 
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FAJITAS TEXANAS ALA FEISTYCOOK
My favorite dish to order when going to the Mexican restaurant, La Cocina, is the Fajitas Texanas. Basically, it’s a sautéed goodness of beef, chicken, and shrimp with onions and green peppers. Then you get a side plate of shredded lettuce, Spanish rice, refried beans, sour cream and guacamole (optional). Even though I ordered this dish on Valentine’s Day lunch, I decided to create my own version tonight. Sans the green peppers, rice, and lettuce. Plus I served the avocado as is instead of guacamole.
Salmon Fish Taco W/ Guacamole & Pico de Gallo
I have been dying to make fish tacos ever since I saw Bobby Flay’s Fish Taco Throwdown episode. If you’re a patient enough person making fish tacos is not that hard at all. There’s just a lot of deep frying involved but it’s also ok to skip one deep-frying step. That’s exactly what I did. I also changed a couple of components which if you are a fish taco aficionado, you’ll see them instantly in the picture…
Super Bowl Sunday Party Food Ideas
It’s almost Super Bowl Sunday folks. I couldn’t care less which teams are playing against each other, HeHe! We’re a Baseball family(Yankees Baby!). However, I do like the Super Bowl half-time show and of course the million-dollar funded commercials. Some are funny some are, ehhhhh. But most of them are clever and hilarious. That’s what I’m looking forward to. Plus the super bowl party food 
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The best things to make for parties like Superbowl are appetizers and finger foods. You can easily buy prepared-stuff from grocery stores but if you’re like me, you prefer making things at home.
Here are a few EASY Super Bowl Sunday Party Ideas that you might want to serve your family and friends. Click the highlighted title link underneath some of the pictures to get the recipe.
