Ingredients:

• 1 to 2 Garlic Cloves
• 1/4 Cup Olive Oil
• 1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
• 1 Teaspoon White Wine Vinegar
• Freshly Squeezed Juice of 1 Lime (about 1 to 2 Tablespoons)
• 1 Tablespoon Mayonnaise
• 2 Tablespoons Sour Cream
• 2 Teaspoons White Sugar
• 1/8 Teaspoon Ground Cumin
• 1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt, or to taste
• 2 & 1/2 Cups Fresh Cilantro, coarsely chopped
• 1 Serrano Chile Pepper, stemmed (optional)

Directions:

Combine the first 10 ingredients in a blender until smooth.

Add the cilantro and serrano pepper (optional) and blend until thoroughly incorporated. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired. Remember that the flavors will intensify while chilling.

Transfer to a bowl.

Cover and chill at least one hour.

Serve this dressing over a green salad, as a dip for fresh vegetables, as a tangy complement to roasted chicken, or on top of cooked vegetables, like boiled red potatoes (as shown in the first picture).

Enjoy!

Recipe Posted by Lindsay

Huauzontle (also spelled guauzontle and huazontle) is an herb native to Mexico. Its name is of Náhuatl origin (“huautzontli”), and it has a long history of use in Mexican cuisine. Its appearance is somewhat like what broccoli would look like if it were elongated, and its flavor is a bit like spinach. Not only does it have high nutritional value, but it’s also economical and versatile. In Mexico, huauzontle is especially popular at the end of the year (November/December) and also in the spring (March/April), as many people observe Lent and look for meatless dishes. Some huauzontle recipes have you leave the cooked huauzontle flower buds on the stems when coating them with the egg batter and frying, but they are much messier to eat because you have to pull the fried flower buds off the stems with your teeth. In this recipe, you completely pull off the flower buds from the stems and form croquettes, which may take more time, but it’s ultimately more aesthetic and easier to eat at the end!

Sauce Ingredients:

• 5 Roma Tomatoes
• 3 to 4 Serrano Chile Peppers, or to taste
• 3 Garlic Cloves
• 1 Medium Onion
• 1 Tablespoon Chicken Bouillon Powder
• Powdered Cumin, to taste
• Salt, to taste
• 1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil

Croquette Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb. Huauzontle (about 8 stems)
• Water, for boiling
• 1/8 to 1/4 lb. Oaxaca Cheese (Mozzarella or String Cheese can also be used)
• 1/2 Cup Flour
• Salt
• 4 Eggs
• Vegetable Oil, for frying

Sauce Directions:

Cut the tomatoes in half and place them along with the chile peppers on a foil-lined broiler pan.

Roast them under the broiler until they’re softened and their skins are slightly blackened, about 5 minutes. Remove and set aside to cool.

Cut the onion in half. Finely chop one of the halves and set aside. Place the other half of the onion with the garlic and the roasted tomatoes and peppers in a blender. Purée until smooth. Heat the oil in a small saucepan set over medium heat, add the chopped onion, and sauté until tender.

Pour the sauce into the saucepan. Add the chicken bouillon powder, cumin, and salt to taste. Reduce heat to low and simmer about 5 minutes.

Turn off the burner, but keep the sauce warm while preparing the huauzontle croquettes.

Croquette Directions:

Fill a large pot with water and salt generously. Set over high heat and bring to a boil. Rinse the huauzontle stems and flower buds in cold water. Add the huauzontle to the boiling water, reduce heat to medium, cover, and simmer 10 to 15 minutes, or until the flower buds are tender.

Remove the huauzontle from the boiling water and drain, allowing it to cool for a minute or two.

Carefully remove the flower buds from the leaves and stems as much as possible.

Basically, you need to strip the flower buds off of the stems by holding the stem with one hand and pushing the flower buds off with the other.

Combine flour and salt to taste in a small bowl and set aside.

Separate the egg whites from the yolks. Beat the egg whites with an electric hand-mixer until they form stiff peaks.

Carefully fold the egg yolks into the egg whites and set aside.

Shred the cheese and set aside.

Pour oil into a large skillet 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep and set over medium-high heat. Press together enough flower buds in the palm of your hand to form a small patty.

Place a small mound of shredded cheese in the center of the huauzontle patty.

Close the flower buds over the cheese (adding more flower buds as necessary to completely cover the cheese), forming a small cheese-stuffed huauzontle patty or ball. Squeeze out any excess water.

Transfer to the salted flour and cover thoroughly, carefully removing any excess.

Coat with the egg batter and immediately transfer to the hot oil in the skillet.

Fry until golden brown. Carefully spoon some of the hot oil over the top of the huauzontle croquette to set the batter, then flip and fry until the other side is golden brown also.

Transfer croquette to a plate lined with paper towels and keep warm. Repeat steps until you’ve used up all of the flower buds.

This makes about 6 to 8 medium-large croquettes.

Serve the hot huauzontle croquettes immediately, pouring the sauce over the top as desired. Serve with beans, rice, and warm corn tortillas.

Note: You’ll likely have some sauce left over from this dish, so use it to make red rice or as a salsa to garnish sopes or quesadillas.

Bon appétit!

Recipe posted by Lindsay

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Stick butter
• 6 Garlic cloves, minced
• 3 Guajillo chile peppers, stem and seeds removed and thinly sliced
• 2 Chiles de arbol, minced
• 1 Pound (450 Grams) mushrooms, cleaned with stems trimmed
• 1/4 Cup white wine
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• Salt to taste
• 1-2 Green onions, finely chopped
• 2 Tablespoons parsley, finely chopped

Directions:

In a medium heavy-bottomed pot set over medium heat, melt the butter and saute garlic 1-2 minutes.

Add the chile peppers cook until tender, stirring occasionally.

Add the mushrooms and saute about 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently. add the wine, black pepper, salt, green onions, and parsley and reduce heat to low. Simmer another 5 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.

You can serve the mushrooms as an appetizer with some crusty bread (thus more traditionally like the Spanish tapas), or serve them as a taste side dish to arrachera steak, rice, and warm tortillas.

Recipe Posted by Lindsay

Pumpkin Seed Salsa Ingredients:

• 2 Garlic cloves, minced
• 1 Tbs Serrano chile pepper, finely chopped
• 1 Teaspoon  Habanero chile pepper, finely chopped
• 2 Teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 Cups raw green pumpkin seeds, hulled
• 1/2 Cup vegetable oil
• 2 Cups cilantro, chopped
• 1 1/2 Cups water
• Salt to taste

Tomato Salsa Ingredients:

• 2 Serrano chile peppers, finely chopped
• 4 Roma tomatoes, chopped
• 1/4 Cup onion, finely chopped
• 1 Garlic clove, minced
• 3 Tbs freshly squeezed lime juice
• Salt to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Flauta Ingredients:

• 16 Corn tortillas
• 1 Chayote squash, pitted and cut into wedges
• 2 Red bell peppers
• 1 Large onion
• 4 Small or 1 large zucchini
• Salt to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Cayenne pepper to taste
• Vegetable oil
• 3/4 Cup queso fresco (Ricotta cheese as a substitute)

Pumpkin Seed Salsa Directions:

Sauté garlic, serrano, habanero, cumin, and pumpkin seeds in the oil in a large skillet set over medium-high heat, stirring frequently until seeds start to pop, about 5 minutes.

Transfer 1/3 cup of the pumpkin seeds to a small bowl and set aside. Cool the remaining seeds and oil and combine with the cilantro, water, salt to taste in a blender. Blend until smooth and set aside.

Tomato Salsa Directions:

Combine serrano, tomatoes, onion, garlic, lime juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Flauta Directions:

Warm tortillas by wrapping them in foil and heating them in a 325-degree-Fahrenheit pre-heated oven for about 20 minutes. (They can also be heated in the microwave as a quick option.)

If grilling the chayote, bell pepper, onion and zucchini, cut them into large wedges. If sautéing the vegetables, cut them into large strips. In either case, cook them until tender with a bit of oil and season them with salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste. Cut the grilled vegetables into strips once tender.

Spread 1 tablespoon of pumpkin seed salsa on each warm tortilla.

Add some of the vegetables, and roll it up.

Heat about 1/2 cup oil in a large skillet set over medium-high heat until hot. Fry flautas seam side down, turning once, and cook until golden and heated through.

Transfer flautas to plates, topping them with pumpkin-seed salsa and a sprinkling of reserved seeds and cheese. Garnish with the tomato salsa.

Recipe Posted by Lindsay

Tomato Sauce Ingredients:

• 5 Roma tomatoes or 3 Medium tomatoes
• 1 Small onion, halved and wedged
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 Habanero, manzano or serrano chile, or to taste
• 1 tablespoon chicken bouillon powder
• Salt to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Tomato Sauce Directions:

Blend the tomatoes, onion, garlic, and chile in a blender until smooth. Add the chicken bouillon, salt, and pepper, and blend a few more seconds. Pour, and blend a few more seconds. Pour sauce into a small saucepan and simmer over low heat about 10 minutes. Set aside and keep warm while preparing the chiles.

Chiles Rellenos Ingredients:

• 4 Poblano chile peppers
• 200 grams Panela Cheese (or any soft white cheese, like Mozarella)
• Toothpicks or string
• 4 Eggs
• Salt
• 1 Cup flour
• Vegetable oil

Chiles Rellenos Directions:

To remove the skin from the chile, roast it over a burner flame or in a skillet. Roast until the skin bubbles and turns black over the entire chile. Place the chile in a plastic bag and wrap tightly. Repeat the procedure with remaining chiles. After 20-30 minutes, remove each chile and scrape softly with a butter knife to facilitate removing the skin. Rinse chiles to remove any bits of skin as necessary.

Vertically slice each chile near the top by the steem. Cut just above the seeds inside the chile and gently pull the seeds to remove them as well as the veins. This will make the chiles less spicy. Fill chiles with thick strips of cheese, but don’t overstuff them, you should be able to seal the chiles easy with a couple of toothpicks per chile or with string.

Separate the egg white from the eggs yolks. Beat whites until stiff peaks form. Add a couple pinches of salt and continue beating another minute. Add two eggs yolks and beat until combined. Add the remaining two yolks and beat well.

Heat about 1/4 cup oil in a large skillet set over medium-high heat until hot.

Thoroughly coat a stuffed chile with flour, shaking off any excess. Holding the chile from the stem, dip it in the egg coating until completely covered, letting any excess drain off.

Place the chile in the hot oil. Repeat steps with another chile. Using a spoon, drizzle some of the hot oil from the pan over the top of each chile to set the egg coating.

After a few minutes when the egg coating turns golden brown underneath, gently flip the chiles to cook the coating on another side. Repeat until the egg coating is golden brown on all sides. Remove the chiles from the skillet and drain on a pepper on a paper towel-lined plate. Repeat the entire process with the remaining two chiles.

Serve hot with the tomato sauce. Add rice and beans to complete the meal.

Recipe Posted by Lindsay

Chipotle Dressing Ingredients:

• 1 Cup sour cream
• 2-3 Chipotle chiles (canned in adobo sauce), finely chopped
• 2/3 Cup cilantro, finely chopped
• 1 Teaspoon cayenne pepper or chili powder
• 2 Teaspoons Cumin
• 1-2 Limes, freshly squeezed (about 1-2 Tablespoons, or to taste)
• Salt to Taste

Chicken Salad Ingredients:

• 2 Boneless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
• 1/2 Cup red onion, finely chopped
• 3 Roma tomatoes, diced
• 1  14oz. Can whole-kernel corn
• 1 Cup homemade bayo or black beans, or 1 (15 oz.) can bayo or black beans, drained
• 1 Can pitted black olives, drained and halved
• 1 Chipotle chile, finely chopped with adobo sauce, optional
• 2 Avocados, peeled and diced
• 1 Head romanie lettuce, chopped
• Salt to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine the chipotle dressing ingredients and set aside.

Combine the shredded chicken, red onion, tomato, corn, beans, and olives. Add the chipotle chile if a spicer salad is desired.

Layer some chopped lettuce for each serving on individual plates. Add enough of the chicken salad for each serving as well as the avocado. Salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle the chipotle dressing over each serving to taste and serve immediately.

Posted by Lindsay

Oranges (CC photo by Challiyan courtesy of Flickr)

Properties:

Rich in vitamin A, B1, B2, C, Potassium, Calcium, Phosphorus, Acid Folic and Magnesium.

Effects on your health:

Diuretic, laxative, invigorates the nervous system, protects against convulsions, headaches, numbness, insomnia. It is very good to fight colds, infections, prevents cancer, anemia, heart diseases, skin problems and supports the cicatrix process.

How to pick a good orange:

Select the oranges that are heavy and firm, with a shiny and smooth skin. Oranges that are light may lack pulp and juice. A rough skin is a sign of an orange that is old and deteriorated from the inside. Never get an orange that shows cuts, perforations or has a soft part and over all things it started to loose color.

How to preserve an orange:

Never put on the refrigerator the juice for prolonged periods of time because it looses its proprieties. Fresh oranges can last over 2 weeks on the refrigerator but room temperature gives you more juice.

Nutritional facts:

For every 100 gr

Calories: 35

Carbohydrates: 8.6 gr

Protein: 0.8 gr

Fat: none.

Orange (CC photo by NADIA courtesy of Flickr)

Posted by Magdiel

Vegetables Stand (CC photo by Cayetano courtesy of Flickr)

Although when we were kids it was hard for our moms to make us eat vegetables, now as grown persons we know the importance of including vegetables in our diet. And beleive it or not, we got many benefits by eating healthy vegetables like for example lower blood presure, low risk of a heart disease, stroke, lower risk of eye and digestive problems, and according to some people even some cancers.

Vegetables are also perfect if you are in a diet trying to loose some weight. The fact that they are low in calories, but rich in fiber and many nutrients, they help to maintain an efficient metabolism.

We have to remember also that vegetables are a great source of vitamins and some important minerals. The World Health Organization recommends a minimum daily intake of at least 5 portions of vegetables and fruits. It’s not a surprised that by doing this we would be taking our portion of vitamin A, vitamin B-complex, vitamin C, E and K.

So next time you have on your plate a delicious vegetables salad, think about all the health issues you can avoid by just having your daily portion of vegetables.

Posted by Magdiel

In many cities in Mexico, whether you go downtown to the zocalos (little plazas basically created for families to gather on weekends) or to other areas in the city, you’ll find stands selling a wide variety of fruit salads, and I’m not kidding when I say that there’s no force in the universe that can stop your mouth from watering!

Now, it is a well-known fact that we have to be careful with the produce we eat here because if it’s not washed and treated with disinfectand (like microdyn or another brand), you can get parasites or an infection, and the joy you derived from that fruit will vanish and turn into something quite different in a few hours.

So, what can you do to satisfy your craving for a fruit salad and still be free from the risk of an infection? The answer is simple – make your own fruit salad!

Whether you’re at home or you’re traveling through Mexico, it is very easy to get some seasonal fruits and make a refreshing, juicy fruit salad. In most of the local mercados (food markets) in Mexico you can find great bargains on fresh fruit rather than paying more at the supermarkets.

Mexican Fruit Stand (CC photo by Leicentious courtesy of Flickr)

First, select your favorite fruits, making sure they’re not overripe. At home, wash them thouroughly, or if you prefer, put them in a bowl filled with water and the indicated number of drops of a disinfectand solution. After approximately 10-15 minutes, take them out of the bowl and dry them off. Then, depending on the type of fruit, peel it, cut it up, or leave it whole. By the way, if papaya is one of your chosen fruits, remember to keep those black seeds and throw them in with your salad. The seeds taste a lot like black peper, but they’re excellent for your stomach!. Layer the fruit in an attractive dish, and you may want to start with bigger pieces of fruit on the bottom, with smaller pieces layerd on top. Some people like to add yogurt, honey, granola, and/or nuts. Now you are ready to enjoy a healthy and delicious treat. Enjoy!!

Posted by Magdiel