More Mexican from Charity

Today's recipe is from Lydia's sister in law, Charity. I like easy recipes like this for busy days. This one sounds . Thanks for sharing Charity~ Pam

I saw you had a Mexican thing going so I thought I'd share this really easy recipe I got from Sherri. She made it for us after church one Sunday when Q and Lid and Logan and I went to their house to play Dutch Blitz! It's so yummy and easy. I make it when I'm going to be getting back to the house right at dinner time after I teach piano. Enjoy!

Taco Soup

1 can cream of corn
1 lb. of hamburger
2 cans of Hot Chili Beans
1 can of Rotel Tomatoes
1 pkg. of Taco Seasoning
1 pkg. Ranch Dip Mix
1 cup of water

You can combine it all in a pot and cook for 20 min. but is best if you leave it in a crockpot on low all day. Even better as leftovers the next day. Super Easy and very yummy and a little spicy! We like to garnish ours with sour cream, Frito corn chips, and lots of Colby Jack Cheese!

Homemade Tomato Soup

Thanks for sharing this recipe Susan. Sorry I have been so slack in posting recipes. I got behind when we were sick and now our computer is sick. ~ Pam

Yum! This is a great from-scratch version of tomato soup. We had ours served hot with some slices of bacon and grilled cheese sandwiches. Very scrumptious! My husband gave this a 5 out of 5 for soups, and he's sort of particular about his soups, so that's high praise. This has a more subtle tomato flavor than the regular tomato soup you'd buy in condensed form, which means I like it better. Definitely recommended! Also, it's very easy to make.

Tomato Soup

2 tablespoons butter
1/2 onion, chopped
3 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
dash of garlic powder, basil, oregano, thyme (or just use a teaspoon or so of Italian seasoning)
2 cups tomato juice
2 cups milk

Saute the onion in butter. Whisk in the flour, sugar, and salt. Season with assorted spices. Remove from heat. Stir in 2 cups tomato juice. Bring to boil, stirring constantly. Add 2 cups of milk. Return to heat, and heat to desired temperature, making sure not to scald.

Mom's Birthday

I took over Mom's blog ....Today is my Mom's birthday! =) I won't mention her age because she might not like it. =)

The last few weeks with all of us being sick and such, Mom has showed us all such a servant's heart. I've watched her get things for me while I didn't feel good, go out of her way to be a servant to all of us, and do it all so lovingly.

Also in the past few years as I have struggled with different things, and now as I struggle with trusting God and being content in Him, she so caringly has been there to pray for me, love me, and tell me things that will help in giving my life totally to Jesus Christ alone!

Recently God has shown me how blessed I am to have Pam True for my mother. =) PRAISE GOD!

Love in Jesus, Liz

Hoosier Pastries

Meg shared an old family recipe today. Sounds like it may be a secret recipe! Thanks for sharing Meg! ~Pam

This is a recipe from my childhood. Such memories! My friend Helen and I used to make them often when we were in junior high. I made them a few times when our kids were young, however Hannah doesn't remember them. :-/ Susan does though. So it's been a long time! I made them Friday, and they were exactly as I remembered. Joe and Hannah think they're delicious too. They're messy to make, but fun. And they're not the prettiest dessert, but I love 'em! Hannah googled Hoosier pastries and came up with nothing. So, I have no idea where this recipe came from, other than from my mom. I did grow up in Indiana, after all. ;-)

Hoosier Pastries

1 pkg dry yeast (2 1/4 t)

1/4 c warm water

1 T sugar, added to yeast/water mixture

3 c flour

1/4 c sugar

1/2 t salt

2 sticks butter

3 egg yolks

3 egg whites, whipped

1/4 t almond extract

1/2 t vanilla

3/4 c sugar

1/2 c finely chopped nuts (I use pecans)

For the dough, mix by hand or by mixer. Combine the yeast, warm water, and 1 T of sugar, and let it sit while you continue: Combine the 3 c flour, 1/4 c sugar, and salt. Add the butter and mix well. Add yolks and yeast mixture and blend well. Divide the dough in half, and roll one half out on a sugar-sprinkled board until it's about 9" x 18".

Make the filling: whip the egg whites until white and fluffy, and add the next 4 ingredients. Pour half the filling on the 9" x 18" dough, leaving an inch margin around edges. Roll up from the long side. Cut 3/4 inch slices (I use dental floss) and place each piece gooey side up on an ungreased cookie sheet. If any filling oozes out (and it will!), spoon it up and drop on the tops of the pastries. Space them like you would cookies: they rise a little. Do the same with the other half of the dough and the rest of the filling.

Bake at 325 for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown around edges. I think they taste best at room temperature, but warm is good too. Enjoy! :-)

More Mexican

Here is another recipe from Hannah. Hopefully , one day, my girls will be as excited about cooking (or is it the eating part ? ) as Hannah. Hannah and Miriam went to Mexico together and got to eat true Mexican food. Thanks for sharing Hannah! ~ Pam

My favorite "spicy" memories would have to come from México. It's a great place for them! Being grande, rubia (blond), and not used to extremely spicy foods, I couldn't have felt more gringa.

The last full day of our 4-week stint in Guadalaraja, Miriam and I went with Mrs. Susan to eat at una pequeñita Tacquería owned by a couple in the church. We got there, and Jesús (the husband) started preparing our tacos right away. I could smell the grease – they looked so delicious! Mrs. Susan kindly reminded him "Son gringas, no deben ser muy picantes." (they shouldn't be very spicy for the gringas") "Claro, yo sé, no son picantes para nada " respondió. (of course, I know, they're not at all spicy)

Miriam and I sank our teeth into those "not spicy" tacos and instantaneously felt flames leaping out of our mouth. Wow! Any hotter, and I really don't think I could have continued. Sweating, tears forming in our eyes, we plunged on with our meal, taking big tragos de agua and breathing hard in between mouthfuls. Despite the unexpected bite from the spice, it was really quite rico. But I have to say that it was the spiciest thing I've ever eaten. Patético considering, for a Mexican, it was "not at all spicy". Ha!

I have developed a great appreciation for spicy cuisine these past few years, so my hope is that I've succeeded in killing some taste buds and building up a tolerance to spiciness for the next trip.

De todos modos, aquí llegamos a mi razón de escribir este post… I wanted to share a recipe that's recently become a family favorite: fajitas!

Otra receta mexicana? Once again, it seems like I'm copying recent recipe ideas, but I'm really not! I didn't even see the previous post until submitting this one. De verdad.

Up until about a year ago, I thought fajitas were pretty good, but didn't get very excited about them. Our recipe was just so-so. It was only sort of spicy and just not very flavorful. We all agreed that something was lacking, but never ran across or really spent time looking for a better recipe.

Our friends served us their fajitas one evening when we were at their place, and we finally knew what a real fajita tasted like. One bite and I felt like my mouth truly was overflowing with flavor. My eyes grew wide and all I could think was "Oh wow. This… is… so… flavorful!" I couldn't get enough of it.

So, our old fajita recipe se fue a la basura para siempre and we've happily adopted this one. It uses a lot of spices, which is why it's so amazingly rico. I have to admit that I'm surprised my mom really likes it so much. She's not usually into comida muy picante, and this is quite spicy. All of us in our little three-some really, really enjoy it.

La receta :

2 lbs. skinned and boned chicken breasts

1 tbsp red chili powder (or more if you like it spicier)

1 tbsp cumin

1 tbsp black pepper

2 tbsp garlic powder

2 tbsp onion powder

1 tbsp salt

5 tbsp vegetable oil

1-2 bell pepper, in strips (or more, if you like pepper)

1-2 onion, in strips (or more, if you like onion)

Tortillas, sour cream, guacamole, chopped tomatoes, refried beans, lettuce

Directions

In a small bowl, mix together spices for rub. Trim chicken and cut diagonally into strips. Add oil and mix well. Toss with spice rub, cover and marinate 15 mins to several hours. Stir-fry meat; when almost done add vegetables and stir fry. Wrap meat in tortillas and garnish with guacamole, sour cream, beans, cheese, and lettuce. Serves about 6 people.

Buen aprovecho!

(this picture does NOT do them justice, but I was too focused on eating my fajita to get a good picture... lo siento!)

Mexican Recipes

The recipe today is from my new friend, Lisa Gonzales. We ate with them a few Sundays ago. They said they were making nachos and we thought we were having chips with some cheese on them but boy were we in for a pleasant surprise! My family all said they felt like they were at a Mexican restaurant! It was delicious! At first Lisa sent the basic outline of what we had but then I explained to her that I didn't know how to make Spanish rice and I wanted to know how she got her refried beans to taste that way. So she wrote back and shared recipes- except the secret family salsa recipe ( sad for us because that salsa was very good) Thanks for sharing Lisa.

Nachos

Bag of corn chips (or if you have a group like mine several bags)We call these chips Tortilla chips
chicken ( or any other meat such as ground beef flavored with taco season, or shredded beef)
refried beans
Spanish rice
nacho cheese


toppings:
guacamole
sour cream
salsa
sliced olives
diced tomatoes


Spanish rice

Using the same 2 to 1 ratio as white rice, this is the basic measurements I use to feed my family with a little extra for leftovers ( Lisa has 5 children )

2 cups white rice
4 cups water
1 1/2 Tbsp. powdered chicken bullion
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 of a 8 oz can of tomato sauce ( or more if you like the tomato flavor stronger, a full can is good too!)

With about 1 Tbsp. of oil, brown rice to light golden brown, all of the rice does not have to be browned, but the majority of it. Add your water and seasonings and stir well. Cover and bring to a boil and turn heat down to a low simmer until all water had dissolved into rice. Let sit about 5 min before serving.


Refried beans

I like to use both pinto and white northern beans half and half using about 3 cups of beans and twice the amount of water.

Wash and rinse beans and boil until tender about three hours. Usually if I have it on hand I like to use rendered bacon grease for a lot of flavor. If I do not have that I will use lard or any other oil I have on hand. Bacon lard gives the best flavor. Using enough oil to cover the bottom of your frying pan about 1/8 of an inch deep, getting it nice and hot add 2 chopped green onions and let your onion brown. Pull out onion and add your beans with some of the bean juice, very carefully because it does splatter pretty good! Add your salt, a little garlic salt is good too, stir beans letting them cook for about 4 to 5 min. Begin smashing beans adding some more bean juice to get your beans to your desired consistency. I add my salt to taste, sometimes your bacon grease can be salty already so taste as you go before you add more! For nachos these beans are done, for a side dish with a meal add some shredded cheddar cheese and stir into beans and add a little more to the top to melt.

Whenever I make my meats for Nachos I usually slow cook either chicken or beef in the slow cooker all day and season it with what ever I have on hand. For the chicken I like to use a fajita seasoning that has everything already in it. For my beef, I like to throw in a bell pepper, onion, bay leaf, about 3 garlic cloves, salt and about 2 Tbsp of chili powder and enough water to cover a my meat about a quarter of the way. All of this taste just as good with the chicken also. For about 1 1/2 lbs ground beef I brown with diced onion, and then season with about 2Tbls of cumin, 1 Tbsp of chili powder, garlic salt and pepper and squirt half of a lemon into the cooked and seasoned meat.


Guacamole

3 ripe avocados
1 1/2 cups of sour cream
Garlic salt and pepper to taste

In a bowl place your avocado and sour cream together and using a potato masher , mash together and season to taste!

On Sunday I used store bought Tostedo nacho cheese sauce ( medium)

For homemade cheese sauce I will have to make and note the amounts of ingredients and then I can submit that recipe. I have learned to cook like my dad! He never measures. It makes for an interesting meal sometimes. The salsa is a family recipe and I can not give that out, but I love to make it for whoever enjoys it!!


This meal is great for gatherings because everyone can make it to their liking!!