A New Year's Eve Mexican Feast

Every NYEve we usually end up staying home, eating junk food, and playing games. This year we made plans with friends - dinner at our house followed by a show at the local comedy club. I decided on a Mexican feast.

The Menu...
Chicken Enchiladas with Homemade Enchilada Sauce
Beef Tacos
Mexican Rice (thank you, Goya)
Corn with Red Peppers and Zucchini
Margaritas and Sol Beer

Jenny's Cake: Cream Cheese Lime Pound Cake

Chicken Enchiladas...
Here is the recipe for my enchiladas as well as for the homemade enchilada sauce that I like to use.

Tacos...
I don't like to use those packages of seasoning for the meat. Instead, I use a mix of spices to give the meat some flavor.

When the meat is browning, and after I have drained any excess fat, I add chili powder, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, a touch of cayenne, and just a bit of salt. If you know me, you know that I don't measure any of them! I use the most chili powder and cumin, and the least cayenne and salt. I keep adding and adjusting until I have the right flavor. Once I do, I add about a 1/4 cup of water and let it simmer for 15 minutes or so to thicken up.

Taco toppings...
I put out a variety of toppings for the tacos, including white onion, red pepper, green pepper, tomatoes, green onion, jalapenos, sour cream, a mix of shredded cheddar and Monterrey jack cheeses, and queso blanco fresh from the nearby Mexican market.

The veggies...
I wanted something light and colorful for a veggie. I chopped 1 red pepper and 1 zucchini into chunks. In a large pan I heated olive oil then added the pepper, zucchini, and 1/2 of a bag of yellow corn. I seasoned it with some dried cilantro (fresh would have been great) and a touch of salt. The veggies only needed to cook for 6-8 minutes. I really liked this combination and will definitely make it again.



The margaritas...

I had my first margarita EVER at the Hilton Los Cabos when we were there last February. It was sooo good! I wish I knew exactly how they made it so I could duplicate it. Ours were simply a margarita mix, Patron Tequila, and a lime on the glass, salt optional.

Dessert...
Jenny loves to bake so she brought a cake - Cream Cheese Lime Pound Cake. YUM! The flavor was perfect with all of the Mexican food and I loved the lime crunch on the outside of the cake. Thanks, Jenny!

Happy 2008!!!

Halloween - Jon's Famous Chili

I love Halloween night! Handing out candy and seeing all the little ones in cute costumes is fun, but the best part is sitting outside with drinks and catching up with neighbors. We usually cook comfort food too. This year we invited a few friends over for Jon's famous chili. Since Jon is still in an arm cast, I was his hands for cooking! He directed, but I did the work (and the prep, and the cleanup...).

Before I get into the recipe, look how cute our Daisy Mae looked as she waited for our guests to arrive:

____________________________________________

Jon's Famous Chili

Ingredients (for about 10-12 large servings)

• 4 pounds ground beef
• 2 chili kits (or you can use your own spices; the kit has chili powder, cayenne, paprika, salt, onion/garlic, cumin, and masa)
• Additional cumin, chili powder, salt, and cayenne
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
• 2 jalapenos, chopped (seeds as well)
• 1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes; 1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes; with juice
• 1 16 oz can of tomato sauce
• 3 cans beans; we used 2 cans of dark red and 1 can of light red

Directions

• Brown meat; add some of the garlic; drain fat. We did this in batches in a pan, and then put the meat into a pot.
• Add the rest of the ingredients and mix together. We kept adjusting the spices until it was just right. Even when we use the chili kits, we always end up using more cumin, chili powder, salt, and sometimes cayenne.
• Let is simmer on the stove for an hour or two. The chili is best the next day! Warm sourdough bread goes perfectly. I also like to mix some sour cream and shredded cheddar into my bowl.

__________________________________________________

Drinks

I heated some apple cider in a pot. Instead of spiking it, I let everyone add however much spiced rum they wanted. We garnished our mugs with a cinnamon stick.

_____________________________________________

Here are Danielle, Stacey, and Jenny finishing up their chili and cider -

_______________________________________________

Fall Flowers

I picked up a few bouquets of flowers at the market and made this cute fishbowl arrangements for our dining room. I had some gold "rocks" from Christmas last year that I added to the bottom of each vase. The center vase was a little fuller and taller than the other two. Aren't they pretty?

Happy Halloween!

Happy Hour!!

Is it really Memorial Day weekend already? I don't know where the time goes anymore. I wish everyone a great weekend to kick off your summer. And don't forget to thank a Vet!

Thank you, Dad.

To kick off our weekend, we had a few friends over for drinks. I was so excited to have the opportunity to try a few new appetizers. I made chicken skewers with a cilantro cream dipping sauce and tortilla pinwheels. Jon is the master of marinades and he created a new one for the chicken. He's so creative with combining different flavors - things I wouldn't even think of. I'm not sure how much of each item he used, but it was enough for 3 pounds of boneless chicken breast strips.

He combined the juice of two limes, some cumin, a bunch of chili powder, white pepper, black pepper, a tiny bit of Tabasco, some cayenne pepper, a few cloves of garlic, a bit of soy sauce, and a few splashes of Johnny Walker Red (gotta save the JW Black, Blue, and Gold for drinking :) I can't even describe how good it smelled when he was putting it together. And adding the JW at the end was the missing ingredient that completed it! Here are the skewers:

For the dipping sauce, I combined about 2 hand fulls of fresh chopped cilantro with 1 container of sour cream. Easy, refreshing, and the perfect dipping sauce to balance out the heat and spice of the chicken.

Tortilla Pinwheels - these were also really easy and looked very festive. I took 2 packages of softened cream cheese and mixed them with 1 package of dry ranch dressing mix and about 2 tablespoons of salsa. I spread a thin layer of the mixture onto a tortilla shell, topped it with some tiny pieces of chopped red pepper, green pepper, and celery. Roll it up and refrigerate overnight. I was able to make 6 tortillas with these ingredients. Just before serving, I sliced them into 1 inch pieces. How pretty are they? They tasted great too. I think for a winter appetizer I'd make these with rolled out crescent rolls and bake. Yum.

I also made a signature drink. Well, sort of. Strawberry Daiquiri Popsicles!!

- 1/2 cup triple sec

- 1/4 cup rum (I used a little more) ** Use tequila if you want strawberry margarita pops.

- 1/4 cup water

- 1 cup lime juice

- 1/2 cup sugar

- 1 pint of strawberries, quartered

You'll also need 8 ice-pop molds.

To prep your popsicle, put one piece of strawberry on the end of each popsicle stick. Then blend all ingredients, except the leftover strawberries, until the sugar is dissolved. Add the strawberries and blend. Pour the drink into the molds and freeze overnight. You end up with a sweet adult popsicle with a drunken strawberry surprise in the middle. You could get really drunk on too many of these!

Now we're headed to Atlantic City for the night. Hope everyone has a good one!