15 Cinco de Mayo Recipes

Veggie Pizzazz

As I've mentioned (a few million times) I'm a fan of Mexican food.  I love authentic Mexican, and not so authentic Mexican food. Pretty much anything with a Mexican flare or any hint of Mexican. With over 50 Mexican recipes on the blog and Cinco de Mayo coming up I figured I would highlight 15 of my favorites.
 

  Favorite Mexican Appetizer Recipe:

Taco Cupcakes

Favorite Mexican Dips Recipe:

Southwest Corn Dip

Favorite Salsa Recipe:

Easy Restaurant Style Salsa

Favorite Mexican Nacho Recipe:

Chicken Skillet Nachos

Favorite Mexican Soup Recipe:

Slow Cooker Quinoa Chicken Chili

Favorite Mexican Salad Recipe

Southwest Chopped Chicken Salad

Favorite Mexican Fajita Recipe:

Oven Baked Chicken Fajitas

Favorite Mexican Chicken Recipe:

Southwest Chicken and Rice Bake

Favorite Mexican Fish Recipe:

Fish Tacos with Cilantro Lime Crema

Favorite Mexican Beef Recipe:

Mexican Lasagna

Favorite Mexican Breakfast Recipe:

Huevos Rancheros

Favorite Non Mexican Mexican Recipe:

Crock Pot Korean Tacos

Favorite South Beach Diet Mexican Recipe:

Slow Cooker Spicy Lime Chicken Lettuce Wraps with Avocado Salsa

Favorite Mexican Side Dish:

Chevy's Copy Cat - Mexican Sweet Corn Cake

Favorite Mexican Dessert:

Margarita Pie

Refrigerator Oatmeal - Pinterest FAIL

I saw this on Pinterest and really wanted to try it. I dragged my feet because I couldn't find Chia seeds at any of my regular grocery stores, so I finally broke down and bought some from amazon.  I was excited for this to be a potential every day breakfast since it sounded so easy and making it the night before even better.  Plus, eating out of a mason jar always makes things that much better.  Unfortunately it was too good to be true.  The consistency was gloppy, the flavor was blah and cold oatmeal isn't all that appealing.  I made 2 flavors and the cinnamon one was better than the Banana Peanut Butter, but neither of us had more than a few bites.  Bill, bless his heart, suggested maybe heating it up would taste better.  It didn't.

Even though this didn't turn out to be very good, I wanted to post it because I know it keeps going around Pinterest and thought people might appreciate hearing about someone who tried the recipe.  Plus, now I have a whole bag of Chia Seeds and don't know what to do with them so if anyone has any recipes that include chia seeds, please let me know!

***Apple Cinnamon***

*** Banana Peanut Butter***

Refrigerator Oatmeal - Pinterest FAIL
From: The Yummy Life
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 0 min

Ingredients:
1/4 cup uncooked old fashioned rolled oats
1/3 cup skim milk
1/4 cup low-fat Greek yogurt
1 1/2 tspn dried chia seeds
1 tspn honey
For Apple Cinnamon: 
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
For Banana Peanut Butter:
1 Tbsp peanut butter
1/4 cup diced ripe banana

Directions:
 1. In a half pint or larger jar, add oats, milk, yogurt, chia seeds, and honey.  Add cinnamon for apple-cinnamon and add peanut butter for banana-peanut butter.  Put lid on jar and shake well until combined.

2.  Remove lid, add bananas or applesauce (depending on which you are making) and stir until mixed throughout.

3. Return lid to jar and refrigerate overnight or up to 2 days.  Eat Chilled.

Red Velvet Cake

Last year I made a Red Velvet Cake for Valentine;s day.  I was going to post it, but to be honest, who wants a red velvet cake recipe the day after Valentine's day? So I was going to post it in time for this Valentine's day, but I realized I don't even remember what recipe I used!  Then I remembered the cake didn't turn out as great as I had hoped.  The cake ended up a little dry, and I added so much red food coloring and it still wasn't a red as I had hoped (although the homemade cream cheese frosting was as good as ever!).  So here is hoping your red velvet cake turns out better than mine! If you have a fool proof recipe for this, please let me know.  Happy Valentines Day!

Updating

I decided to do a little updating to my blog. I figured in with the New Year, may as well do some cleaning in the ole blog.  Most people won't notice, but I felt it needed a little organizing/cleaning up.  People (also known as my mom) have mentioned sometimes it is hard to find a recipe they are looking for, so I added the search button at the top right to help.

I also added a title under the main recipe and listed who it was from, and if applicable, a link.  I did this for all of them, so it took a while, but hopefully it will help.  And if it doesn't help the 10 people who read this, it will at least help me. :)  I've been trying to add a facebook like/share button to the blog, but I haven't found just the one I want yet, but I have one up there for now!  I also got rid of a few things on the sides, but nothing anyone will miss! 

More recipes soon!  I tried a bunch over the Holidays and can't wait to share them!  In the mean time,  Here are some of the recipes I made over the holidays that are already on my blog!

Spicy Lemon Garlic Shrimp

Peppermint Pie

Tortilla Roll Ups

Pickle Wraps

Cilantro-Lime Chicken with Avocado Salsa (from My fresh avocados!)

Christmas Egg Casserole

Rosemary Rolls

Peanut Butter Bars

Frosted Mint Bars

Tuna Pasta Salad


White Chocolate Chex Mix

Mom's Rice Casserole

Huevos Rancheros (again with the avocados)



Some of Our New Years Eve Tapas Table!

Meal Planning

I don't usually post anything but recipes, but Sunday I went through, organized my cook books and recipes I wanted to try from the web, and decided I needed to do a meal plan. I hate grocery shopping, and even more hate staring into the fridge with a whole lot of nothing staring back at me, which results in us eating frozen pizza, or going out. So I decided to come up with several meals for the next 3-4 weeks, and then last night I went to the grocery store and spent quite a lot of time and money there, and stocked up on everything I would need. I'm hoping this cuts back on my trips to the grocery store (although about 10 minutes after I got home I realized I forgot tortillas).

In order to keep me accountable I wanted to post what I intend to make in the next month or so. Some of them are new recipes I wanted to try from cookbooks and online, and some are old favorites already on my blog (indicated by *). Hopefully, I will have the recipes for the new ones up somewhat soon after making them. Obviously this isn't enough for 4 whole weeks, don't worry, we will still have some frozen pizza nights, or grabbing something quick, but the goal is to not have that happen too often!

Shepherds Pie *
Easy Steak Fajitas
Fettuccine w/ Ham and Peas
Steak w/ Mushroom Risotto
French Toast Bites
Quick Chicken w/ Lime Butter
Spaghetti Pie
Picadillo *
Southwestern Chicken Chili
Jackie's Quick Quiche
Creamy Chicken Enchiladas *
Tagliolini w/ Asparagus
Fisn in a bag *
Coconut Chicken Tenders
Turkey Lettuce Wraps *
Mexican Egg Salad
Scalloped Corn
Chicken Tacos *
Lemon-Herb Chicken
Stromboli *

Recipe Misfires

So I was thinking I would only put recipes on the blog that I liked after we tried. But, I was thinking about it, and something that I don't like, others might, so I will still do breif posts on them, but will label them all Recipe Misfires and you can "Make them at your own risk."

I love corn especially in the summer when I can have corn on the cob. I am always looking for new ways to incorporate corn into my meals so I tried 2 different corn recipes in the past month. I was really, really excited to try them (which Bill can attest to) so you can imagine how disappointed I was when they didn't turn out to be as delicious as I had thought.

The first one is from one of my all time favorite cooking blogs... The Pioneer Woman, and I have had several of her recipes and LOVED them... so I thought for sure this would be a winner... but alas, I think I either did something wrong, or just don't have the same taste buds as her in this case... here is the recipe for her Fresh Corn Casserole. Her pictures are beautiful and look delicious. Mine, not so much as you can see here.



The second one is a corn casserole with canned corn... I got it from the same site, but submitted by someone else in one of the comments.
The recipe: 1 box jiffy cornbread mix, one cup sour cream, one can whole kernel corn, one can cream style corn….mix all together and put into a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. This is one I may try again... It was okay, but I think I cooked it in too small of a pan, so I don't think it cooked completely right.

Organizing

A couple weeks ago I decided to organize some of the recipes I had, which is also around the time I decided I wanted to do a food blog. I have many cook books including ones made up of my favorite recipes from my mom and one from friends and family.



But I didn't have anywhere to put the new ones I was finding, so I bought a cool binder and organized them in there.
It really works out because I can just take them out and clip them to the hood of our oven while cooking so I don't get food all over them or take up extra space.


Now that I have everything all organized it should make this blog quite easy!