Treinta Recipes for Cinco de Mayo

 

Cinco de Mayo. It's a Mexican holiday celebrated on the 5th of May (duh) commemorating Mexico's defeat of the Second French Empire back in the 1860s in a battle over debt.

You'd think, by the big deal we here in America make over Cinco de Mayo, that it's a major Mexican holiday, even their Independence Day, but in fact, it's not, it's not even an official federal holiday. Mexico's call for Independence was on September 16th, back in 1810, starting an 11 year battle culminating in their formal independence on August 24, 1821. Their federal independence holiday is celebrated on September 16th.

But we Americans? Who can blame us for grabbing any excuse to celebrate any Mexican holiday. Because we all know that any celebration includes food, and Mexican cuisine is a favorite. In fact, I think we should celebrate Cinco de Mayo, August 24th, September 16th, and Taco Tuesday.

For any and all of those dates you choose to observe, I've put together a collection of 30 (plus a couple of bonuses) of my family's favorite foods. From breakfast to lunch, cocktails and appetizers, dinners, side dishes, and all the way through dessert.

I've broken down the recipes into bite sized pieces, so to speak (sorry). Below you'll find 3 graphics, underneath you'll see the name of each recipe (starting at the top left and ending at the bottom right), a short description, and a link for you to click on that will take you to post where, at the end, I share that recipe.

I'll start the recipes where we all start the day, with breakfasts and breads (first row), then soup, salad and sandwiches (second row), and a cocktail and appetizers (bottom row):

 

Breakfasts and Breads

1) Breakfast Nachos with Buttery Tortillas

Homemade buttery tortilla chips are the base to this fun bacon and eggs breakfast dish, perfect for sharing.

2) Fiesta Quick Bread

A little smoky, a little spicy, this bread is packed with flavor. Delicious as is, or toasted. And pair it wih my Green Chili Chicken Soup with Taco Rice for lunch.

3) Tex-Mex Breakfast Casserole

This casserole is a one pan breakfast dish with a little bit of a kick.

4) Cinnamon Hojaldras Crisps

My interpretation of the light and crispy traditional Hojaldras Fry Bread.

Soup, Salad and Sandwiches

5) Steak Fajita Quesadillas

Thin sliced steak, vegetables, and cheese are sandwihed between crispy pan fried tortillas. They work as well as an appetizer as they do as a meal.

6) Green Chili Chicken Soup with Taco Rice

A hearty soup with a little kick (or a big kick, you decide how hot). Pair it with my Fiesta Quick Bread and you've got lunch.

7) Summer Salad Tostada

Fresh crisp vegetables and a flavorful con and black bean salsa in a homemade tortilla shell. Muy bueno!

8) Taco Chicken Quesadillas

Taco flavored chicken, vegetables, and cheese are pan grilled between flour tortillas for a flavorful lunch, dinner, or snack.

Cocktails and Appetizers

9) Raspberry Orange Margaritas

You can make them individually. we make them by the pitcher. The fruity flavors of raspberry, orange, and lime hit the spot on a warm day.

10) BBQ Pork Corn Chip Nachos

Great as an appetizer, but also for a snack, lunch, or dinner. The barbecue flavor goes so well with the melted cheese and a little bit of heat. And the warm corn chips are perfect for dipping.

11) Taco Roll Casserole

A shared savory appetizer inspired by Monkey Bread. Fill thes little rolls, allow to rise, bake, and wait till you see what you get!

12) Jalapeno Popper Rollups

Don't have a lot of time but want a delicious, quck, and easy appetizer (side dish or snack)? Try this option to slicing and filling whole jalapenos.

Main Dishes

13) Stuffed Taco Pork Tenderloin

Stuffed with salsa rice, rubbed with taco seasoning, this dinner isn't difficult to make, but it sure looks (and tastes) impressive. Taco night isn't just about tacos any more.

14) Shrimp Enchiladas

Large and small shrimp, spicy cheese, and rice rolled into a soft tortilla and baked. A delicious dinner ready in under an hour.

serve with:

Pineapple and Corn Salsa Fresco

A refreshing versatile accompaniment that comes together in minutes. Serve as an appetizer with tortilla chips, or as a complement to grilled firsh, chicken, or over enchiladas.

15) Taco Shrimp

Full of Tex-Mex flavors, shrimp is rubbed, pan sauteed, and served with Pico de Gallo and avocado slices.

serve with:

Pico de Gallo

This salsa is not cooked, it's served fresh. Great with chips as an appetizer, or as an accompniment to a meal. My boys love it on burgers too.

16) Sriracha Chipotle Ranch Chicken Nachos

These nachos are not an appetizer, they're a flavorful and hearty meal. Easy to make, fun to eat.

17) Taco Stuffed Potato Skins

A meal version of the classic potato skins appetizer. These meal worthy skins are stuffed with taco beef and vegetables, then topped with melted cheese.

18) Shrimp Alfredo Enchiladas

Spicy, creamy, these enchiladas are filled with taco shrimp, beans, and a whole lot more.

19) Taco Mac and Joe Casserole

Is this recipe Sloppy Joes? Tacos? Mac and cheese? Yes to all of them, a marriage made in the kitchen.

20) Chicken Enchilada Pot Pie

A family favorite, all the flavors of chicken enchiladas in a tortilla crusted pot pie.

21) Spicy Pulled Pork Pot Pie

Spicy pulled pork, cheese, and vegetables are topped with mashed potatoes for the ultimate pot pie comfort food.

22) Pepper Jelly Glazed Taco Meatloaf

Coomfort food at its best, baked with taco flavors and topped with a pepper jelly glaze.

Side Dishes

23) Street Corn Rice 

A side dish using a favorite summer treat as inspiration. Grilled corn, lime, cilantro, all the flavors are there. Goes really well with tacos or quesadillas.

24) Pina Colada Bread

This quick bread could be anything, breakfast, snack, served with lunch or brunch, even dessert. The flavors of a favorite cocktail baked into a bread.

25) Smoky Cornbread

This version of cornbread is infused with a little smoky flavor and a little heat.

26) Taco Rice

An easy, one pot side dish. This pairs well with Tex-Mex dishes.

Desserts

27) Strawberry Margarita Cake

Have your drink and eat it too

28) Frozen Strawberry Margarita Pie (no bake)
A fun summer cocktail in pie form. This refreshing dessert is no bake, so just assemble, freeze, and serve.

29) Strawberry Pina Colada Galette

A rustic tart inspired by the cocktail, made with strawberries, pineapple, an more.

30) Dessert Strata

Crisp homemade cinnamon sugar tortillas layered with chocolate vanilla, and strawberry shipped cream.

So let's get cooking (baking, drinking, and eating)!

And, as always, if you try any of my recipes, be sure to leave a comment here on my blog and/or stop by the Baking In A Tornado facebook page and let me know what you think.

Wishing you a delicious Cinco de Mayo.

The Dress-Up Dress Down

 

Groceries. You can't live with them and you can't live without them.

Well, more like you can't live with the price of them and you can't live without them.

Potato, Potahto.

Speaking of potato . . .

I learned a lesson in relinquishing control during the height of Covid. I ordered my groceries online for pick up. At first, I ordered most of my staples, but still needed to pick out the meats and fresh vegetables myself. Doing it this way meant still going into the stores, but for much less time.

Then things got worse, vaccinations were just being developed, people around here would not follow social distancing rules and didn't wear masks. I had to order all of my groceries. It was difficult for me, but when balanced with trying to stay alive, a no brainer.

Sometimes the vegetables were very close to what I would have picked out myself. Sometimes, not so much. A couple of years ago, I wrote a blog post about a sweet potato in my order that would feed a small country. Just after that, fully vaccinated, I went back to shopping just for my produce and meats, I'd gotten too used to the ease of ordering everything else.

Recently, though, I started ordering more and shopping for less. Yes, you guessed it, I ordered sweet potatoes. Two, one for me and one for College Boy. Oh, I got two sweet potatoes, I also got a lesson in perspective. That one I got a few years ago? That was small compared to the two I got this time. I think 50% of my bill was sweet potato. It's a wonder I could lift them. They were the size of pumpkins. I could carve them up, put a candle in them and stick them on the front porch. 

Figuring out what to do with one was a challenge. I cooked it, shared it with College Boy at dinner, but we didn't even put a dent in it. The leftovers provided lots of recipe development inspiration. I made Ginger Snap Sweet Potato Cake, Apple Pecan Sweet Potatoes, and Sweet Potato Blinis.

Sweet Potato Blinis

 

And I still had one left. 

So, working with that whole turn it into a jack-o-lantern vibe, and in honor of today being Halloween, I decided to share. In a Halloween meets politics meets produce. In a Mr. (Sweet) Potato Head kinda way. 

For instance:

I hear Ron DeSantis likes to talk a lot about drag performers and drag shows, seems sort of obsessed, actually. I bet he'd love to be gifted his very own queen.

Or perhaps Greg border-buoy-death-trap-in-the-Rio-Grande Abbott should get a look at what those of us with a moral compass see when we look at him.

And there are at least 19 defendants in Georgia who may be drastically lowering their clothing and barber shop budgets. I could give them a helpful glimpse into their future fashion style options.

Whether you're spending this Halloween partying, giving out candy, or dressing up your vegetables, I hope you're having fun.

Probably not as much fun as I'm having. That is, unless you order your groceries online too.

Sweet Potato Blinis         

                                                                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
about 2 medium sweet potatoes

2 oz cream cheese

1 packet instant maple and brown sugar oatmeal

1/4 cup quick oats

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1 egg

1/2 cup mini marshmallows, halved

3 TBSP butter

maple syrup 

Directions:

*Cook the sweet potatoes in the oven or microwave until fork tender. Discard the skin and refrigerate the rest to cool.

*While the sweet potato is cooling, allow the cream cheese to soften in a medium sized bowl.

*Once the sweet potato has cooled and the cream cheese has softened, measure out 1 1/2 cups of sweet potato and add it to the bowl with the cream cheese. Beat until smooth, then beat in the oatmeal packet, quick oats, flour, brown sugar, and salt. Add the egg and beat again. Mix in the mini marshmallows. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

*Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.

*Spray a large skillet with cooking spray, melt 1 TBSP butter over medium heat. Add some of the sweet potato mixture (about 1 heaping TBSP per blini) to the hot pan. Leave space between each blini. Form into about 2 - 2 1/2 inch circles.

*Cook for 2 minutes, then lower the heat to just above low and cook until the bottoms start to brown, about 8 - 10 minutes. Flip over, pressing them down gently, and cook the other side, about another 8 minutes. Repeat this process with additional cooking spray, butter, and sweet potato mixture.

*Place the blinis on the prepared baking sheet and cook in the oven for 30 minutes.

*To serve, drizzle with maple syrup. Provide more maple syrup for dipping.

Sliding Past the Holidays

 

 

All upcoming holidays are canceled. For the foreseeable future. Yes, it pains me to say that.

And it's because of the food. Which hurts even more.

It all started with Thanksgiving. It was a traumatic experience fraught with illness, freezing cold, unexpected babysitting duties, and an almost dirty house. 

And although it all worked out in the end, that entire week was . . . a lot.

Then right around the corner came Christmas. Let me tell you about Christmas.

Why now? As an explanation of sorts, or a justification maybe, of that whole holiday cancellation thing.

As I explained in my Thanksgiving post, I'm a planner. The groceries are purchased and the tasks, what I need to defrost and when, which recipes I can make in advance, what time to take the turkey out, and what time it needs to be in the oven, all scheduled on my calendar to ensure optimal family time on the day of the holiday.

The problems started with the stuffing. I use a hot sausage in mind, and couldn't find any in the stores. I thought chorizo would be a great substitute and went with that. But 3 days before, when I went to cook the chorizo as I would the sausage, it wasn't cooking, but melting and burning. I googled and found that it comes precooked. So I just mixed it in with the rest of the stuffing ingredients.

The cleaners were scheduled that day. Since we had heat in the house, they actually did come on schedule this month, and I babysat no one.

But for the next few days, that stuffing was bothering me. It was niggling at my brain. I know what cooked sausage looks like, and that was not it. At 11 pm, on Christmas eve, after checking the description of the chorizo I bought on the website of the store I'd bought it in, and confirming it was uncooked, I was up throwing all of the stuffing in the trash.

The next morning, I frantically cobbled together a stuffing based on some leftovers I had from Thanksgiving and whatever ingredients I had on hand.

It was late morning when I realized that I usually have the turkey in the oven by now. I checked my calendar and noticed I'd planned on a 2 hour cooking time. For an 18 pound bird. Yikes.

I yanked the turkey out of the fridge, cleaned, stuffed, and slathered it, stuck it in a disposable tin roaster, stuck that in another roaster, just to be safe, folded the wing tips under so they wouldnt burn, and threw it in the upper oven. Second disaster averted. Phew.

Heading to the last hour before dinner, just before I was going to preheat the lower oven for the vegetable casseroles, I checked the turkey and decided to unfold the wings so the skin could brown. I pulled the oven shelf out as far as I dared, and grabbed my tongs. Reaching for the first wing, I somehow (talented, I guess) pierced not one, but both of the roasters. Grease gushed from the roasters onto the oven door, poured down into the second oven and the drawer below that, splattered all over the kitchen floor, up the side of the refrigerator and the kitchen island.

Did I mention my house had just been cleaned 3 days before?

Anyway . . .

screaming for Hubs, I grabbed another roaster, put the turkey and first 2 roasters into that, moved the turkey to the counter and shut off the oven.

Hubs and I cleaned up as best we could, and I got the turkey back in the oven. 

Anyone know how long you cook a turkey after it's been in the oven for 2 hours and then on the counter for 20 minutes? Me neither.

I went to the table, picked up my much needed glass of wine, and spilled it all over my travertine table. Note to self: when shaking that badly, wine is best consumed via IV.

Dinner was eventually served. As an added bonus, no matter what I tried, we did end up with a fun slip and slide across the kitchen floor. And no one broke a hip.

Oh, and the Pepper Jelly Knots were delish . . .

 

 

Pepper Jelly Knots

 

But here's the thing. Valentine's Day is right around the corner. Followed by St. Patrick's Day. Both holidays that are always marked with special foods.

But this year, I think I'm gonna have to take a pass. Yes, as I said, it pains me to say it, but we all know that bad luck comes in threes.

And I barely made it past bad luck holidays one and two. I'd like to keep my family healthy, my house standing, and my mental health on this side of a rubber room.

So, I think it's in everyone's best interest if, for now, I just put down the oven mitts, and slowly back away . . .

Pepper Jelly Knots         

                                                                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 can (8 oz) refrigerator crescent dough

3 oz cream cheese, room temperature

3 TBSP pepper jelly

Directions:
*Whisk together the cream cheese and pepper jelly. Set aside.

*Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

*Roll out the crescent dough on the parchment paper to about a 10 X 15 rectangle.

*Carefully spread the pepper jelly mixture onto the dough.

*Using the shorter side, fold in half so you have about a 5 X 15 rectangle.
*Cut the dough into 15 approximately 1 inch strips. Tie each strip into a loose knot and arrange the knots on the sheet so they are not touching. Bake for 15 minutes.

 

Meme Me

 Meme Me. 

 

Actually, on second thought, how about I meme you?

 

I've said "good bye" to summer {{sob}}. You know, those lazy, less to do, go on vacation, throw dinner on the grill, wonder at firefly months I look forward to every year. More so, of course, when I lived on the coast and spent many days at the beach, or even when the boys were little and we belonged to a private pool here. But even without the ability to cool off in my favorite way, there's just something about summer, maybe from all the way back in my childhood, that deserves celebrating. 

Heading into those cooler days requires a little cheering up (for summer lovers, anyway). So today I've decided to share some memes. All I've created myself and shared here and there over the years. I chose to do this today not only because I'm hoping to amuse you, but because, due to both what's been going on in this country, and in the world, I (we) need a bit of levity, a respite, a cooling off of sorts. And what better way than through humor.

So I'm editing out my political memes, there's a time for those, but not today. Happy July, everyone. I hope I can start your month with a laugh.

On the subject of kids:

 

And maybe they have a thought or two about me:

 

 

But I've learned (the hard way) about listening to your mom:

 

 

A food related meme (had to have at least one of those):

 

 

Not a meme, btw, but a simple, delicious option for an appetizer or afternoon snack:

 

 Onion Dip Crudite Bruschetta

 

 

Lack of sleep (related to the whole having kids thing, of course):

 

 

 

 

 

Getting old (exacerbated by . . . you guessed it, having kids):

 

 

 

Speaking of stress, and frustration, here's one for the neighbors:

 

 

 

A message for all men, a serious but funny meme I created for a post I wrote that was requested by Tommy John, in support of the Testicular Cancer Foundation:

 

 

Is it just me?
 

 

 

 

 

And a vice . . . or two. 

 

 

 

Hope you had a laugh (or 17). If you have a favorite, let me know. Or if there's a meme you've seen somewhere else that makes you smile, go to my Baking In A Tornado FB page (you've already "liked" it, right?), find the post pinned to the top of the page, drop that meme in the comments, and Meme Me!

 

 

Onion Dip Crudite Bruschetta

                                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 packet dry onion soup mix

6 oz cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 tsp minced garlic

1 (about 14 oz) baguette

sliced fresh vegetables of your choice: carrots, cucumbers, radishes, snap peas, broccoli, red pepper, grape tomatoes, spinach

Directions:
*Beat together the onion soup mix and the cream cheese. Beat in the sour cream, cover, and refrigerate for an hour.

*Cut the baguette, on the bias, to about 3/4 inch slices.

*Mix together the olive oil and minced garlic and brush onto both sides of the bread.

*Toast the bread. You can do this on the grill (my choice), in the toaster, or in the oven at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.

*Once toasted, cool the bread to room temperature. You may want to cut any larger slices in half.

*Spread about 1 - 2 TBSP of the dip onto most of the bread slices, saving a few slices without any topping to use for dipping. Top with the sliced vegetables of your choice, serve with the remaining dip.