Guacamole with mango and pomegranate

Yeti made this last week for Wednesday dinner, and it was awesome. I'm glad I hadn't read the recipe before I ate some, because I probably would have been scared away by the raw onion. But I don't even remember tasting it. Good stuff!

4 ripe avocados (about 2 lbs.)
1 cup finely chopped white onion
2 fresh serrano chiles, finely chopped (2 tablespoons), including seeds
1/4 cup fresh lime juice, or to taste
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3/4 cup pomegranate seeds (from 1 pomegranate)
3/4 cup diced peeled mango
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Lime wedges to garnish

Halve, pit, and peel avocados. Coarsely mash in a bowl. Stir in onion, chiles, 1/4 cup lime juice, and 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, then fold in pomegranate seeds, mango, and cilantro. Season with salt and additional lime juice. Garnish with lime wedges.

(Recipe is from Epicurious.)

July Theme - Mexican/Tex-Mex

Edited on 7/7/09: Ok, I had this in and scheduled to go LAST Wednesday (the 1st even!) in the evening, but lo and behold I've just noticed it never posted! Grrr! So, well, I guess it's time to get crackin' on those Mexican/Tex-Mex recipes!!!

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I've heard eating spicy food makes you feel cooler. Well, I dunno about that 'cuz I'm a wimp when it comes to spices, but I do know that July's theme is Mexican and/or Tex-Mex sorts of foods. Now, I also know that pretty much any experience I've had with this cuisine, growing up in the good ol' rural Midwest, is probably not so very authentic. (Not like my 2 years in Ireland was any better for that! Peas as the main ingredient in guacamole?! WRONG!)

So if you do know a lot about authentic Mexican cooking, please, please, share your expertise with us!

And if you don't, but you've got a recipe that uses cheese, salsa, and tortillas, well, share that, too! That's basically all the Tex-Mex-y recipes I've got! YUM!

Here's what we've got so far:

• For an appetizer, you wouldn't go wrong with either Diplowhat's Taco Salad Dip or her Dead Sister Dip.
• Happy Veggie's Mexican Slow Cooker Pork has the bonus of not requiring you to heat up the kitchen! Very important in July!
• My La Bamba Casserole is from Cooking Light & would probably freeze well, too, if you wanted to double it...
• It has Fritos. And sour cream! How could you NOT want to make Diplowhat's Mexi-Cali Casserole?! (I've made it - YUM!)
• I adore my Chicken Chimichangas, but since I make them in the oven, I'm less likely to make them in July. 'Course, now I'm all hungry for them...

How 'bout you? Got any yummy authentic Mexican, Tex-Mex, Mexican-inspired/salsa-containing recipes to share?

Taco Salad Dip

This isn't really a salad, but the salad theme made me remember this. It always goes over very well at pot lucks, etc. Hope I'm remembering quantities right.

Mix together:
8 oz cream cheese
5-8 oz (small container or a bit less) sour cream
1/2 - 1 package taco seasoning (try using 1/2 the package first and add more if you think the flavor is too weak)

Place on bottom of 9" pie plate.

On top place aprox:
1 c. shredded lettuce
1/2 c shredded cheese (or to taste)
and about 1/4c-1/2 c salsa, scattered along the top.

Enjoy with tortilla chips.

Chicken Enchilada Ring

Chicken Enchilada Ring
We made this last night for a bowl party of just our family. (It was on our menu earlier this week but it did not get made so we made it into a party item.) My family just loved it and we will be making it again soon.

2 cups coarsely chopped cooked chicken (about 12 ounces)
¼ cup chopped pitted ripe olives
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese blend
1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilies, undrained
½ cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Pantry Southwestern Seasoning Mix
2 plum tomatoes
1 lime
2/3 cup finely crushed corn tortilla chips, divided
2 packages (8 ounces each) refrigerated crescent rolls
1-cup salsa
1-cup sour cream

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Chop chicken and olives using food chopper; place in bowl. Add cheese, green chilies, mayonnaise and seasoning mix.

2. Seed and chop 1 tomato. Slice lime in half. Squeeze juice from one half to measure 1-teaspoon juice. Reserve remaining lime for garnish. Add chopped tomato and limejuice to chicken mixture.

3. Reserve 2 tablespoons crushed chips; add remaining chips to chicken mixture and mix well.

4. Sprinkle reserved crushed chips cupboard. Unroll crescent dough. Place dough sticky side down, onto crushed chips; press down lightly so chips adhere to dough. Separate dough into triangles. Arrange triangles; chip dies down, in a circle on round stone with wide ends overlapping in the center and points toward outside. (There should be a 5-inch diameter opening in center.) Using large tablespoon scoop chicken mixture evenly onto widest end of each triangle. Bring points of triangle up over filling and tuck under wide ends of dough at center of ring. (Filling will not be completely covered.) Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
For garnish, cup remaining tomato into 8 wedges. Cut remaining half of lime into 4 slices; cut in half. Arrange between openings of ring. Serve with salsa and sour cream.

Mexican Slow Cooker Pork

This is my easy slow cooker pork. It really doesn't end up too Mexican tasting, so you could add a barbecue sauce to it for pork sandwiches. The onions are the best part.

1 pork loin roast 2-3 pounds

3 medium onions, medium slices

2-3 T ancho chili powder (pure chili powder without cumin and fillers)

0.5 - 1 t ground cumin

salt to taste

small amount of olive oil.

3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

Line the bottom of the crock pot with the sliced onions & garlic, creating a bed for the roast.

Rub the outside of the roast with the chili powder, cumin and salt. Place on top of the onions, if there is any fat left on the outside, put that side facing up.

Cook on low for 7-8 hours (4 hours on high). If there is any fat part left on top, remove, and then shred it, mixing with any juices that are left and the now carmelized onions. Adjust salt if needed.

La Bamba Casserole

This is from Cooking Light October 2002. It's not very spicy, so if you like it hot, you'll need to dial it up with some Tabasco or red pepper or something. It reheats very nicely, and the leftovers are also very, very yummy when heated up and eaten wrapped up in a tortilla! Yum! Yield: 6 (1 1/3 c.) servings of 344 calories and 10.7 g. fat each.

I'd suspect it'd freeze very well, being casserole-y and all, but I'd probably freeze it without the cheese, then heat it up nearly all the way, THEN add the cheese and heat until melted and maybe a little brown. I think if you tried to freeze it with the cheese, when you reheated it in the oven the cheese would burn before it was heated all the way through, but if you do try it either way, leave a comment and give us your insights.

1 (5.25 oz.) can whole green chiles, drained [I use chopped.]
Cooking spray
1 lb. ground turkey breast
1 c. chopped onion
2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. salt
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (10 oz.) can diced tomatoes and green chiles, undrained
2 c. frozen whole-kernel corn, thawed
1 (16 oz.) can fat-free refried beans
1 1/2 c. (6 oz.) shredded cheddar cheese [or "Mexican blend"]
1 c. chopped tomato
1/2 c. chopped green onions

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.

2. Cut green chiles in half lengthwise. Arrange chiles in a single layer in a 8-inch square [9-inch round is equivalent] baking dish coated with cooking spray. [I just get chopped ones and spread them out. Much easier to do and to find.]

3. Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add turkey, onion, chili powder, cumin, salt and garlic; saute 5 minutes, stirring to crumble. Add diced tomatoes; cook 5 minutes or until liquid evaporates.

4. Spoon turkey mixture over chiles. Top with corn. Carefully spread beans over corn. Sprinkle cheese over beans. Bake at 375 F for 30 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes; top with chopped tomato and green onions.

Dead Sister Dip

I spoke of this delicious dip last time we visited MN, so here's the recipe. Yes, it got this name because it was the recipe of a sister who died, but her sister, and then her friends, passed it on. Don't ask.

I recommend keeping this dip in one of those tiny crock pots, or an electric fondue pot.

3/4 to 1 jar salsa (your choice of brand)
8 oz cream cheese
1 can Hormel chili WITHOUT beans.

warm and serve.

Mexi-Cali Casserole

This is one I got from the mom of an ex, but the recipe stayed. =) Of course, my sister-in-law already published it in a cookbook - without my permission and under her name... I digress.

I have never tried to freeze this, but it keeps well in the fridge for a few days after cooking and reheats in the microwave easily.

1 lb. hamburger
1 can enchilada sauce
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1/2 chopped medium onion
1 (14 oz?)can chili with beans (Regular sized can. I like to use the Hormel vegetarian chili - very few calories and yummy)
2 c. shredded cheese - (I prefer cheddar)
1 c. sour cream (reduced fat is fine)
@ 12 oz bag of Freetos (NOT tortilla chips. Freetos Scoops has less fat)

1 1/2-2 qt casserole dish

1. Brown hamburger with onion.
2. Mix cooked hamburger, onion, tomato and enchilada sauce and chili in the casserole dish.
3. Add 1 1/2 cups cheese and about 8-10 oz of the corn chips to the above and mix.
4. Bake, uncovered at 375 degrees for 25 min.
5. Remove from oven, put sour cream, a handful or two of the remaining corn chips and the 1/2 cup cheese on top.
6. Return to oven and bake, uncovered, for 10 more minutes.
7. Enjoy!

Chicken Chimichangas

Ok, this is a cheater recipe, because I've posted it before on my own blog when I was living in Ireland, but it makes an easy post to share here. Besides, then (eventually) all my posted recipes can be in the same place. So here it is, copy/pasted from the first time I posted it.

(Oh yeah, that reminds me... Pusher, did you want to include your Bloggy Potatoes? 'Cuz yummy!)


For supper tonight I made chicken chimichangas that were, if I can say so myself, absolutely yummerific. So, I thought I'd share the recipe with y'all. I can't tell you much about its origins, except that I'd cut it out of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune... apparently from the ads on the back, near some Memorial Day that was on the 31st.

[Marks made in these square parentheses are my notes.]

1 1/2 c. shredded cooked turkey or chicken
1 c. grated Monterey Jack cheese [can't get here - used cheddar]
1 (4 oz.) can diced mild green chilies, drained and rinsed [again, can't get - used about 2 Tbl. of chopped jalepenos in white wine vinegar I'd found at a fancy grocery store]
2 med. tomatoes, chopped into 1/2 inch dice
2 Tbl. minced fresh cilantro [couldn't get today, so skipped]
1/2 tsp. ground cumin [cumin seed]
1/2 tsp. crumbled dried Mexican oregano [regular]
1/2 tsp. salt
3 Tbl. salsa
2 Tbl. olive or peanut oil
2 med. cloves garlic, minced
1 med. onion, minced (about 1 1/4 c.) [plus an extra shallot I had on hand]
6 (12 inch) or 8 (10 inch) flour tortillas [did 6 large]

Garnishes: [Really, whatever you like on your chimichangas, so I'm not going to bother to specify theirs with amounts and all, but salsa, avocados &/or guacamole [made some (since as some of you know, the guac I can get here has PEAS for the first ingredient)...and must confess it was so tasty I ate the last bit with a spoon while cleaning up the kitchen.], lettuce, tomatoes, black olives, sour cream, etc.]


In a large bowl, combine cooked turkey/chicken, cheese, chiles, tomatoes, cilantro, cumin, oregano, salt and 3 Tbl. salsa.

In small skillet, heat oil. Add garlic and onion and saute over medium heat until soft (about 5 min.), stirring occasionally. Stir into turkey mixture.

Lay a tortilla flat on work surface. Into the center of the tortilla, spoon some of the turkey mixture, shaping it into a rectangle about 3 inches long and 1/2 inch deep, leaving about 2 inches of the tortilla uncovered at either end of the rectangle. Fold the ends of the tortilla in toward the middle, then fold the sides down over the middle, securing well with toothpicks. [I skipped the toothpicks since not deep-frying.] Place seam side down on baking sheet. Repeat process with remaining filling and tortillas.

[Here they give directions for deep frying them, but they take like two paragraphs to do so and I don't want to type all that. We baked ours, so that's what I'm going to recommend. Tasty and healthier, too. I put them in a 180C (about 350F) oven for 15-20 minutes - or until they were heated through and a little brown on the top due to the huge old fan in our oven that I hate.]


Serve with garnishes and enjoy. Yummy!