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Mexican Recipes

recipe, Mexican food, easy recipes, chicken tacos with avocado cream sauce, elote casserole, Hass avocados, type 2 diabetes

This recipe for chicken tacos with avocado cream sauce is part of a sponsored campaign with DiMe Media and Hass Avocado Board. However, all opinions expressed are my own.

Did you know that in the United States, Latinos are twice as likely as non-Latino people to develop type 2 diabetes? That’s a scary statistic that I’ve been acutely aware of for a very long time. I lost someone very important to me, my favorite Great Uncle, to type 2 diabetes when I was 15-years-old and it was horrible. The worst part is that it could have been prevented with a few simple changes in his diet and a little education about eating healthy.

Cardiometabolic abnormalities, a cluster of risk factors for both cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes such as abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and triglycerides and high blood glucose levels are higher in the Latino population overall than among non-Hispanic whites.

We can help prevent ourselves from developing type 2 diabetes. One of the most important and effective things we can do to lower our risk for type 2 diabetes is to eat well to maintain a healthy weight. This can be done in many ways and one of the easier ways is to take some of our favorite Latino recipes and reconfigure them to be healthier.

One of our favorite recipes in my house is beef tacos. We love tacos. We can eat them every day of the week. Literally. We could eat anything in a tortilla but tortillas are not the best things for us to eat, especially since our favorite is flour tortillas filled with sour cream, cheese and ground beef. But with a few simple tweaks we can make tacos less hazardous to our health.

Here is my recipe for Chicken Tacos with Avocado Cream Sauce:

Ingredients

Tortillas (or you can go the healthier route and eat as a bowl on a bed of lettuce)

Olive Oil

Taco Meat

3 Chicken Breasts

1 Garlic Clove, diced

3 lemons juiced

1 onion, diced

Salt/ Pepper to taste

 Directions:

 

  1. Boil the 3 chicken breasts for 45 minutes to an hour.
  2. Shred chicken.
  3. Heat a frying pan on medium heat until water sizzles when splashed on pan.
  4. Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil.
  5. Add onion and garlic to hot oil, sauté until golden brown.
  6. Add shredded chicken, stirring thoroughly until slightly golden.
  7. Add lemon from three lemons.
  8. Salt and pepper to taste.
  9. When thoroughly heated, turn heat down and start working on Avocado cream sauce.

Avocado Cream Sauce

recipe, Mexican food, easy recipes, chicken tacos with avocado cream sauce, elote casserole, Hass avocados, type 2 diabetes

Ingredients

2 Hass avocados
1 lemon, juiced
1 large clove garlic, pasted or grated
A small handful fresh cilantro leaves, optional
About 1/3 cup light sour cream

Directions
Place the Hass avocados in a food processor. Add the lemon juice, garlic, cilantro, if desired, and sour cream and process until very smooth and mayo-like in consistency.

recipe, Mexican food, easy recipes, chicken tacos with avocado cream sauce, elote casserole, Hass avocados, type 2 diabetes

Avocados are virtually the only fruit that contains monounsaturated fat, and they are sodium, cholesterol and trans-fat free. How can something that tastes so good be so good for you?

Toppings

Salsa

Shredded Quesadilla Cheese

Refried beans with Sazon seasoning

Tomato, diced

Shredded Lettuce

Next, heat your tortillas up on a comal (ten seconds, flip, five seconds, flip, five more seconds and then remove) or in the microwave, 35 seconds for a pack of ten. I’ll be honest they taste better heated up on the comal (griddle) and if you want to go healthier eat on a bed of lettuce.

Then spread your warm refried beans with Sazon seasoning (about 1 tablespoon), next add your quesadilla cheese (about ½ a teaspoon), top with sautéed chicken breasts.

Top your chicken tacos with avocado cream sauce, salsa and diced tomatoes. For extra crunch, shredded lettuce will do the job.

If you really want an authentic meal, make elote casserole or Mexican rice (recipe coming soon) to accompany the meal.

recipe, Mexican food, easy recipes, chicken tacos with avocado cream sauce, elote casserole, Hass avocados, type 2 diabetes

Enjoy this easy recipe for chicken tacos and avocado cream sauce with your family knowing you are serving them a meal that you made with love and is good for them.

recipe, Mexican food, easy recipes, chicken tacos with avocado cream sauce, elote casserole, Hass avocados, type 2 diabetes

For more information about type 2 diabetes visit saboreaunohoy.com/aguacatesydiabetes. Share your favorite avocado recipe and follow the #SaboreaUnoHoy 10-day photo challenge for a chance to win prizes.

My favorite recipe for Hass Avocados is Chicken tacos with avocado cream sauce, what’s yours?

 

 

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elote, elote recipe, esquites, Mexican food, corn casserole, elote casserole, elote casserole recipe

Have you ever tasted elote? I make lots of Mexican dishes and have lots of favorite Mexican food recipes, my enchilada recipe is to die for. Seriously, but I also have developed a new take on an old favorite, elote! You may know it as esquites. I am calling it elote casserole because it’s not quite esquites either.

Growing up, I remember getting elote, the amazing steamed corn from street vendors. It was always a treat that we kids looked forward to, maybe more so than paletas! Anyways, I don’t currently live any where that I can get access to elote and you what they say, necessity is the mother of invention. In this case, it was the mother of the invention of this recipe. The same way it inspired me to develop my mexican hot chocolate milkshake recipe. There was no way I could let me kids grow up without knowing what this amazing food tastes like.

What is elote? If you are not Mexican, you may be asking yourself this. Elote is basically corn on the cob, steamed or boiled in the husk. Then the husk is pulled back and the corn is dipped in mayonnaise, drizzled with limejuice, dusted with Parmesan cheese and then liberally covered in tajin. You can substitute limejuice for lemon pepper and tajin for chili powder, either way, it tastes like a taste explosion in your mouth.

The only problem is that it is a little messy to eat and, where I live, hard to find a street vendor who makes it so I created this recipe so that I can still have my elote without the mess.

Elote Casserole

Ingredients

1 can of corn
½ cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup of sour cream

¼ cup of Parmesan Cheese
2 tablespoons of Tajin
1 small lime

Directions

  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Empty the can of corn into small casserole dish, spread evenly.
  3. In small bowl mix mayonnaise, sour cream, Parmesan cheese and juice from half of one lime. Blend well.
  4. Spread mayonnaise mixture over top of the corn.
  5. *If you’ve never had Tajin, I recommend that you taste it first. I love it on everything, oranges, apples and corn. You may not, so you may opt for less than the 2 full teaspoons or more.
  6. Sprinkle Tajin, to your desired liking, on top of the mayonnaise mixture.
  7. Place in oven and cook until top is starting to get golden brown.
  8. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Serve with your favorite dish, mine is everything, especially my enchiladas but if you want to serve it at a cook out, it pairs awesomely with my recipe for Chorizo hamburgers with avocado cream sauce. What’s your favorite casserole recipe?

Have you ever had elote before?

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chicken enchiladas, recipe, Mexican food, casa noble tequila, Mexico the cookbook

As the year comes to an end this week, I’ve been taking stock of what my life has been up to this point and planning forward to where I want my life to go. I find myself thinking about where I come from and what that all means to me.

Being Latina is about more than the color of your skin or your surname. It’s about the rich culture, the music, the food and the people. It’s a pride that you feel in your heart. It’s not one thing at all; it’s everything.

When I think back to being a child, my mind instantly goes to the smells, flavors and sounds of my parents’ house; the place I grew up. I am grounded in my beginnings because they built the foundation of who I am today.

One thing that instantly transports me to my childhood and is at the core of who I am is food. For better or worse, food has always been a big part of life in our family. Celebrations, milestones and even moments of challenge are always met with the comfort of humble foods that burst with flavors and vibrant colors. Foods that warm your heart, fill your belly and nourish your soul. That is what Mexican food has always been to me.

Taco Bell was something I never even tasted until I was in college and for the record, in Mexico, I never, ever saw a “Mexican pizza” and certainly never ate a hard shelled taco. Well, maybe I did but it was flat and we called it a tostada. There is pride in the way we make our food and there is love in the entire process, that’s why food is such a big part of the Latino culture.

Recently, I was provided Margarita Carrillo Arronte’s new cookbook, Mexico the Cookbook to review. This book is the first truly comprehensive bible of authentic Mexican home cooking. There are over 700 authentic recipes that you can create at home. It will take you on a journey of discovery through the country’s culinary history, ingredients and flavors that have shaped traditional Mexican cuisine.

There are several recipes for enchiladas, one of my favorite Mexican dishes. So many great recipes inspired me to share my own recipe for Chicken enchiladas.

Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb. shredded chicken breast ( boil chicken breasts for 45 minutes- 1 hour. Let cool slightly, shred)
  • Olive oil, enough to liberally coat a skillet
  • 12 flour tortillas
  • 3 cups shredded Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese
  • Minced onion
  • 2 lemons
  • Garlic powder
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • 2 small cans of enchilada sauce
  • Sour cream or crème fraîche (optional)

Instructions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Coat casserole dish with cooking spray.
  2. In a skillet, heat olive oil. Once oil is hot, carefully place diced onion in skillet. Sauté the onions until they become soft.
  3. Add chicken in skillet, salt and pepper to taste. Add the juice of 2 fresh lemons and 1 tablespoon of garlic powder to the skillet. Sauté until chicken is warm to the touch.
  4. Remove skillet from the heat. Place chicken in a bowl; toss chicken with 1-½ cups of cheese.

chicken enchiladas, recipe, Mexican food, casa noble tequila, Mexico the cookbook

5. Empty 1 can of enchilada sauce into a shallow bowl.

chicken enchiladas, recipe, Mexican food, casa noble tequila, Mexico the cookbook

6. Dip a tortilla in enchilada sauce. Coat both sides. Spoon fill tortilla with chicken and cheese mixture. Roll tortilla closed. Arrange enchiladas in coated casserole dish. Repeat 11 more times.

chicken enchiladas, recipe, Mexican food, casa noble tequila, Mexico the cookbook

7. Gently pour remaining can of enchilada sauce over enchiladas, top with remaining cheese evenly and bake until cheese has melted (about 10-15 minutes).

chicken enchiladas, recipe, Mexican food, casa noble tequila, Mexico the cookbook

8. Garnish with sour cream, jalapeño slices and guacamole if desired.

Can easily be made into a meal by pairing with black beans, Mexican rice and elote corn casserole ( recipe coming soon).

If you are over 21, I found pairing my enchiladas with a Casa Noble Tequila Cocktail like the Noble Smash can take dinner to the next level. It’s simple to make:

2 oz. Casa Noble Reposado Tequila

2 oz. Fresh Pineapple juice

2 oz. Cranberry Juice

Serve on the rocks with a lemon twist garnish.

This dish is rich and bursting with flavor. It’s more than just a main course; it is a layering of flavors that feels like a hug from your mama. There is comfort in good food eaten and enjoyed with those you love. Here’s to good food, family togetherness, deep love and abounding success in 2015 and for the rest of your life.

I will be giving away one copy of Mexico the Cookbook to one lucky reader. If you live in the United States and would love access to over 700 recipes for authentic Mexican cuisine, enter below. Giveaway ends 1/08/15!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I was provided compensation/ product for this post but all opinions and thoughts are my own.

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