Tag: mexican

One Pot Mexican Quinoa

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When it comes to weeknight cooking, three things come to mind: fast, easy, nutritious. I know what you’re thinking – fast and easy is, well, easy, but the nutrition part? Not so much. Wrong. With this one-pot Mexican quinoa dish, you’ll be eating a fibrous, veggie-packed meal in about 30 minutes (Did I mention that 20 of those minutes can be spent sitting on the couch?). Plus, if you’re anything like me, leftovers for lunch are a key component of a fabulous recipe, and this my friends makes AWESOME leftovers. The one-pot thing is just the icing on the cake!


Side note: This meal is gluten free, vegetarian and even vegan! I am none of those things and I still think it’s super delish.

So… Let’s get started!

  

What you’ll need:

  • Large saucepan w/ lid
  • 2-3 cloves of garlic (or 4… Or 5… I love garlic)
  • 1 diced jalapeno (to reduce the spice level don’t include all the seeds or the whole pepper)
  • 1c quinoa
  • 1c vegetable broth
  • 1 can corn drained (plain, unsalted corn – NOT sweet or creamed corn)
  • 1 can black beans drained and rinsed
  • 1 can fire roasted tomatoes, juice included
  • 1t chili powder
  • 1/2t cumin
  • salt
  • pepper
  • 1 avocado cubed
  • 2T chopped cilantro
  • 1/2 lime juice

What You Need to Do:

Heat a swirl of olive oil on medium. Add garlic and jalapeno, season with salt and pepper. Cook 2-3 minutes until soft and fragrant.

  

Add quinoa, broth, corn, beans, tomatoes, chili powder, cumin. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer and cover.

  

Let cook 20-25 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.

  

Turn off heat, add avocado, cilantro and lime juice. Stir to mix.

  

Serve immediately and enjoy!

If this recipe turns into a favorite, it’s super easy to keep all of the dry ingredients on hand (I like to buy the canned stuff and quinoa on sale or at Costco). Then, all you have to buy is lime, cilantro, avo, and jalapeno when you’re in the mood.

More one-pot wonder meals comin’ at ya soon!

Xoxo,

Lindsay

Grilled Marinated Chicken and Mexican Street Corn w/ Chipotle Crema…Ole!

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Hello interweb amigos!

You want a super tasty and easy dinner that has a latin flair?!?! Well you are in luck. This is one of our weekly go-to meals and can easily be transitioned into a big ol’ meal for a crowd. Serve it with rice and guacamole and you have a South of the Border Feast! Now you can make this all indoors in the oven/stove top or on the grill. It’s very flexible like that.

Delicioso Ingredients

  • 1 lb chicken breasts (we used the thin sliced – if you use whole give them a few whacks (in between parchment or saran wrap) with a meat mallet or back of a skillet to thin them out a bit)
  • 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • Garlic (2 diced up cloves)
  • Garlic Powder, S&P, Paprika, Olive Oil
  • 2 large ears of corn, husks removed and corn cut in half
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 small can chipotles in adobo
  • lime (juice)
  • Cotija cheese

It’s time to get cooking

First, let’s pre-heat your grill (if using oven, bake your chicken at 350 degrees F until cooked through – internal temp of 165 degrees)

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The marinade for the chicken is so easy. In a large mixing bowl mix up the following:

  • 8 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 diced garlic cloves
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • Lots of S&P

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Now whisk that dressing until well combined.

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Add your chicken into the bowl and combine thoroughly. Really get that marinade in there. It should be a happy lemon garlic chicken pool of awesome. Cover the bowl with saran wrap and put it in the fridge. I left mine an hour before cooking but if you are short on time any time will do.

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Next, let’s make the AMAZING chipotle crema for the street corn. Yes we are making corn that has no butter in it but I swear this is the most amazing corn you will have ever made your family.

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In a small bowl combine 1 cup sour cream and 1 heaping tablespoon of the sauce from inside of the chipotles in adobo can. The peppers are spicy! If you use just the sauce and not the pepper you still get spice but not “holy cow someone give me water…or bread…or milk…stat!” spicy. If you are feeling courageous take one of the peppers out, dice up and throw it in. Be bold. Be Spicy. (I feel like that’s a marketing tag line for something…..)

Squeeze in some lime (we used a 1/2 lime) and hit it with lots of S&P. Combine and tah dah!

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Wrap with saran wrap and let it get happy in the fridge. The longer it goes the better the ingredients come together.

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Now the corn. In a small sauce pan add in your two corn ears, cut in half, and cover with water. Boil just a couple of minutes until the yellow starts to darken.

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Flip over in the water if needed to get all sides. This is to cook them ever so slightly. Next we will hit it with some fire flavor.

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But…before we flame our corn, go ahead and grill or bake your chicken. Ours took about 12 minutes on the grill. Or enough for the Dude in the Galley to finish 1 Coor’s Light. 🙂

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Back to the corn! Over a flame (stove top or direct flame on a grill) flame char your corn. Make sure to use tongs and a pot holder to protect yourself. Let the corn just start to blister in some places. Pay attention because this goes very fast once it starts to blister. Trust me on this one, the flavor this makes is incredible.

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Add corn skewers, rub the corn with some lime, drizzle the crema over the corn and top with cotija cheese. Seriously, if you’ve never had corn like this you may never want to eat it any other way. It’s AMAZING.

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Plate up this super flavorful South of the Border inspired meal and let your friends and family thank you. You can also serve this with rice and guacamole to really make it a big treat. Hope you love this as much as we do. Enjoy!

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xoxo Shawna

Sour Cream & Verde Chicken Enchiladas

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Ok guys. Seriously. These have got to be one of my favorite meals I make at home, period. Let me remind you I live in San Diego…the gateway to Mexican food. I’ve had a whole lotta years to experiment and taste amazing Mexican food and this recipe is the prodigy child of all those years. One of my fav restaurants growing up had these KILLER sour cream and chicken enchiladas and these are a nod to that memory.

But these enchiladas are made with flour tortillas?!?! Gasp! You make it all from scratch on a week night, gasp?!?! Yup! But you know what, you can bet your sombrero not only will you love these you’ll be willing to come to the dark side of “making food that tastes good and doesn’t necessarily fit the norm.” Exciting right?!?! You’re welcome. Let’s get cooking….

The Goods

  • 3 Chicken Breasts
  • 2 Anaheim chili peppers (dark green, medium to large is fine)
  • 1 lb tomatillo peppers (round, looks like a green tomato with paper skin)
  • 1 small tub sour cream
  • Taco size tortillas (we used flour…I know, I know…OMG they didn’t use corn. Nope, we didn’t. And we loved it.)
  • Pepper jack cheese (We like a bit of a kick and the sauce we are making is not spicy at all. This cheese is a nice addition. If you want you can replace with regular jack cheese, shredded)
  • 1 cup jarred salsa (you can use homemade if you have it…I actually ran out of tomatoes and it was coming up on 6pm and my household had not eaten so needless to say I went with jarred. You get it, I know you do. That’s why we are friends.)

The Fiesta (Ironically, Enrique Iglesias just came up on our cable music channel…ha! It’s like the world knew I was blogging about enchiladas. Perfect.)

Preheat your good ol’ trusty oven to 350 degrees F. (Note: I’ve made these on the boat before and they were amazing. Make sure to pick a smaller lasagna dish to make them in beforehand so you don’t end up with a large pan and a tiny oven.)

Start by filling up a stock pot with water and set the heat to medium. Add your chicken breasts and poach until they hit 165 degrees F.

Next, using tongs you want to char your Anaheim peppers over an open flame (gas stove) or under the broiler. You want them super charred on all sides. When done add them to a small bowl and cover TIGHTLY with plastic wrap. Add something on top so it stays shut and don’t touch it for about 15 min.

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After 15 min take them out and using a paper towel simply slide the charred skin off and you have this amazing dark green flesh left that is AMAZING to taste. Slice the peppers in half and remove the seeds. Chop it up and set it aside.

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While that’s happening peel the tomatillos (the paper comes off super easily), rinse under water, cut into quarters and add to a smaller sauce pot.

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Cover with water and boil until the dark green turns to pale green and they just get soft. (This only takes a few minutes. Just enough time to grab another margarita. Go ahead, we don’t judge here.)

Once complete place the tomatillos into a blender, add in about 1/2 c of the cooking water and lots of S&P. Give it a whirl until it looks like enchilada sauce. Pour out the remaining water in the pot and add the sauce back in. Hit it with some heat and let her reduce a bit and come together.

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Once your chicken is done shred her up and return her to the pot.

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Add in 1/2 c sour cream, the salsa, your chopped Anaheim peppers and mix it up. Taste. It should be amazing. Add S&P if needed. Now stop eating it or else you won’t have enough to make the enchiladas.

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Spray the bottom of a lasagna pan with cooking spray. Grab a tortilla, add some of the delish chicken mixture, some shredded cheese, roll up tight, and add to the pan. Repeat until you fill up the pan. We made GIANT enchiladas (I had some help from the Dudes in the Galley tonight and well…they are men…and they like to eat…so big enchiladas is what happened.) We ended up fitting about 7 in the pan but you can probably get 8.

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Now slather the whole thing with your amazing tomatillo sauce you made and top with some shredded cheese.

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Bake for about 20 min at 350 degrees F and enjoy. Serve with beans and rice and your favorite Margarita. Ole!

xoxo Shawna