Elote Asado (Grilled Corn with Chile & Lime)

Holy crap this is wicked good!!!!

I don't have step by step pics, because I was wicked busy and distracted, but this is too good not to share!

I found this in the Better Homes & Gardens Mexican magazine... ya know... those cooking magazines at the checkstand at the grocery store? One of those!

I'm SO glad I picked it up!!

Elote Asado
6 large ears of corn, husks and silks removed (I used 8)
1/2 C snipped fresh cilantro
1 TBLS ground ancho chile pepper
2 tsp finely shredded lime peel
1/4 - 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 C butter, melted
2 TBLS mayo (I used reduced fat)
2 TBLS Mexican crema or sour cream (I used reduced fat sour cream)
2 TBLS lime juice
Salt

Cut each ear of corn in half. Place corn pieces in a large pot and cover with water. Let soak for 10 minutes.

In a small bowl stir together cilantro, ground ancho chile pepper, lime peel, and cayenne pepper; set aside. This stuff smells amazing!!!!

In an extra-large bowl whisk together melted butter, mayo, sour cream (or crema), and lime juice and set aside. Drain corn. Brush corn with butter mixture and place on a grill directly over medium-high heat. Cover and grill for 15 to 20 minutes or until corn is tender, turning every 5 minutes and brushing with butter mixture several times during the last 5 minutes of grilling.

Place grilled corn in the remaining butter mixture in the bowl and toss to coat. Sprinkle cilantro mixture over corn and toss to coat. Season to taste with salt.

I had a piece as soon as I took them off the grill because they smelled so good... then I had another! They were great! The sweet corn with the tangy sour cream & lime juice, the savory chile powder, the spicy cayenne, more tangy lime, herby cilanto... so so so yummy!!!! My husband HATES cilantro... but he LOVES this corn!!

Then I let everyone else know they were ready!

Enjoy!!!

Braised Pork Torta

There's no real recipe for this. It was an impromptu kinda thing that turned out amazing!



















Here's what you'll need.

Braised Pork Torta
Shredded braised pork
Refried beans
Red enchilada sauce
Chipotle sour cream
Guacamole
Shredded lettuce
Nice rolls, split, cut side toasted

Heat enchilada sauce in a small skillet.
Dip toasted side of the bottom part of the bun into the enchilada sauce.
Please sauce side up on a plate.
Spread a spoonful of refried beans over enchilada sauced bun.
Top with shredded pork.
Drizzle or dollop on some chipotle sour cream.
Add shredded lettuce.
Spread guacamole on toasted side of the top part of the bun and cover sandwich.
Devour!

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I threw a pork loin roast into the crockpot with some fajita seasoning my mom got me in New Mexico and some chicken stock. I put it on high and cooked it all day.

If my brain had been just a bit faster than my body, I would have used beer instead of chicken stock. Oh well... it was still wicked tasty.

Shred that.


I had some Cellone's Hard Rolls. I love those for sandwiches.

I split them in half and toasted the cut side in the toaster oven.


I had about a quarter of a bottle of Trader Joe's Enchilada Sauce leftover in the fridge. I poured that into a small skillet to heat it up. Then dipped the bottom, toasted side of the bun into it.


Use whatever enchilada sauce you like.

Spread a generous spoonful of hot refried beans over the sauced bun.


Homemade refried beans, canned, whatever... that was Taco Bell canned refried beans plus taco sauce & lime juice.

Add some moist delicious shredded pork.


Now for the Chipotle Sour Cream.

I was going to make it with canned Chipotles in Adobo sauce. But when I opened my last little can, it kind of exploded a little. So I thought I'd pass on the botulism and just mixed sour cream with Chipotle Tabasco.


Put a nice dollop of chipotle sour cream over the pork.


That's where I wish I had a selection of plastic squeeze bottles.


That would be way more fun for applying sauce to sandwiches or whatever needs saucing!

Anyway... added some shreddy lettuce.


A generous spoonful of guacamole on the top bun.


Cover it up and devour it!


I totally had shredded cheese to put on this. I LOVE cheese. But while assembling them, I completely forgot about it. But ya know what? I think these were perfect without it!!

The pics and directions aren't so great here. But the sandwich was AMAZING!

Mexican Quinoa & Pintos Stuffed Poblanos

I LOVE poblano peppers. They're mild and delicious and I could eat them in everything!

I made Mexican Quinoa & Pintos with the intent to stuff poblanos with it... and I'm SO glad I did!!



Mexican Quinoa & Pintos Stuffed Poblanos
1 recipe Mexican Quinoa & Pintos
3 poblano peppers
1 1/2 C red enchilada sauce
3/4 C shredded colby pepperjack cheese

Cut the tops out of the poblanos and discard the seeds.
Stuff peppers with quinoa. Cover with enchilada sauce.
Cover pan loosely with foil.
Bake in oven preheated to 350F for one hour or until peppers are fork tender.
Top each pepper with 1/4 cup of shredded cheese and bake 5 more minutes or until cheese is melted.
Enjoy!

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So start by cutting out the tops of the poblanos and discarding the seeds.


Then stuff the peppers with Mexican Quinoa & Pintos


Pour enchilada sauce over stuffed poblanos.


Cover pan loosely with foil and bake at 350F for one hour or until peppers are fork tender. (you can see my little stabby fork marks)


Mmmmm... this smells so good!!

Sprinkle with shredded cheese and bake 5 more minutes or until cheese is melty.


Time to enjoy!


These were so tender and tasty! Tawny and I each had one and really liked them. I sent one across the street to Erin too and deemed it blogworthy!

So there you have it!

Mexican Quinoa with Pintos

I have been dying to try quinoa, "grain of the gods" as they call it.

Out of the blue, I finally decided it was time.

I went to Giant Eagle. Even though it seems like this is a pretty mainstream kind of ingredient, my Giant Eagle isn't the best store to find anything that could be considered even slightly exotic.

After looking every place I thought it might be, with no luck. It struck me that I should check out their teeny tiny little organic section. I found it there. Almost five bucks for a little bag. I'll have to remember to look at Trader Joe's next time I'm there. I'm pretty sure it will be cheaper!



Mexican Quinoa with Pintos
3/4 C quinoa
1 1/2 C veggie stock
1 can Mexican Rotel (with lime juice & cilantro), drained
1 15 oz can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
Salt

Pour quinoa and veggie stock into a sauce pan and heat until boiling.
Cover sauce pan and turn heat to low. Simmer for 15 minutes until stock is absorbed and quinoa is translucent.
Fluff with fork.
Stir in drained Mexican Rotel and drained & rinse pintos.
Enjoy!

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So first you need quinoa.


This smells so good! Kinda earthy and nutty.

And some veggie stock.


That's also very expensive at Giant Eagle. I really need to stock up next time I'm at Trader Joe's.

So quinoa and veggie stock into a sauce pan.


Heat until boiling, then cover pan and turn heat to low. Simmer for 15 minutes, until stock is absorbed and quinoa is translucent.



Stir in some drained Mexican Rotel.


And some pintos.


I could have drained my Rotal a little more. A couple minutes over the heat will dry this up a bit more.

Now you have a perfect side!


Bob was totally not interested in trying this and Tawny and Jon seemed to like it. I thought it was great! I love quinoa and can't wait to try more recipes with it!

Mashed Potato Tacos

This recipe showed up in my inbox from Allrecipes.com.

I didn't really follow the recipe... so I guess just the idea came from Allrecipes.

Anyway... this is perfect for leftover mashed potatoes.

There are no exact measurements.



Mashed Potato Tacos
Mashed Potatoes
Green chiles, diced
Grilled corn
Pepperjack cheese, shredded
Corn tortillas or taco shells
Taco sauce

I made creamy yukon gold mashed potatoes. Then stirred in diced green chiles, grilled corn kernels, and lots of shredded pepperjack cheese.

Then into tortillas if you like them soft or taco shells if you like them crunchy.

I made pretty much almost every kind.

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Stir corn kernels & green chiles into your hot mashed potatoes...
And you stir whatever you like into your mashies... other leftover veggies, meat, whatever...



Add some shredded pepperjack cheese, or whatever cheese you like.


Mix well.


Now into your favorite taco shell.

If you put some wadded up foil inside your taco shells when you heat them, they don't close up.


A pair of crunchy


The soft and crunchy combo


Oops... Bob doesn't care for mashed potatoes... so he had Spaghetti Tacos


But my FAVORITE way to have these was Mashed Potato Rolled Tacos!




Into some oil heated to 350F.


Turn.


Drain.


Top with more cheese and DEVOUR!


All the versions were tasty... but I could eat my weight in Mashed Potato Rolled Tacos!

So next time you have leftover mashies, make tacos! Don't even wait for leftovers, just make some and make tacos! And I'll bet mashed sweet potatoes would be just as good... or any mashed veggies! Oooohhhhhhh.... mashed celery root & parsnip tacos?? I think I'm gonna add those to the list of things to make!!

Seriously! Make tacos!

Foolproof Mexican Rice

Let me start by saying I'm usually awful at making rice from scratch.

When I make Mexican/TexMex, I usually make rice from a box mix. Jon's not a huge fan of those, but I really do like them.

I'd made Mexican Rice once before from scratch and it was tasty, but since I've never made it again, I guess not so memorable.

I was watching Marcella Valladolid's Mexican Made Easy one day and she made Arroz Mexicano. It looked so easy! I found her recipe online and gave it a try.



Foolproof Mexican Rice
3 vine-ripened tomatoes (or one 15 oz can whole tomatoes)
2 cups chicken broth, plus more as needed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large chopped onion
1 large finely diced carrot
1 large garlic clove, minced
2 cups medium-grain rice
2 teaspoons salt
1 bay leaf
1 whole serrano chile
2 TBLS tomato paste
1/4 cup fresh or frozen peas, thawed

Cut the tomatoes in half, and remove the seeds. If using canned, just put them in the blender.
Add the tomatoes and 2 cups of broth to a blender and puree.
Strain into a bowl and reserve the liquid.
Add enough extra broth to make 4 cups of liquid.

In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat.
Add the onion and carrots and saute for 4 minutes until the onion is translucent.
Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute.
Stir in the rice and cook until slightly toasted, about 3 minutes.
Add the tomato broth mixture, stir and bring to boil.
Add the salt, bay leaf, tomato paste and the serrano chile.
Reduce the heat, cover and simmer until the rice is tender, about 20 minutes.
Remove the pan from heat.
Scatter the peas over the top of the rice, cover, and let the rice stand 5 minutes.
Fluff the rice with a fork, transfer to a serving bowl and serve.

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I start by prepping the tomatoes.

When I don't have fresh tomatoes, I just use a 15 oz can of whole tomatoes and pour the whole thing into the blender.

But I had some this time.


Then blend with 2 cups of chicken broth, sometimes I use veggie broth.


And strain that into a 4 cup measuring cup.


Top it up to 4 cups with more broth.

Now... onions and carrots into the pot with oil.


After about 4 minutes, add the garlic and saute for about a minute.

Then add the rice and cook a few minutes, until a little toasted


Add the tomato broth mixture and stir and cook until boiling.

Then add salt, tomato paste, bay leaf and serrano pepper.


Cover and simmer until the rice is tender. Remove from heat.


Sprinkle the peas in and cover the pan and let rest 5 minutes.


Fluff with fork and it's ready to serve!


A perfect side dish!!


This rice is wicked easy and wicked good!!

It's mildly flavored and really goes well with everything. It's definitely Jon's favorite. Bobby loves it too. And even though I do still like my Rice-a-Roni... I really LOVE this rice!!! It takes no longer to make than the prepackaged stuff and is just so much better!!



And... it means I don't suck at making rice anymore!!!!