Migas a la Mexicana

The photo shown is a plate of Saturday's breakfast: Migas a la Mexicana

Migas are pieces of corn tortilla pan fried and crispy. It's best if you use fresh tortillas, and crisp them yourself in oil (4-6 tortillas). I use a pat of real butter, and a tablespoon of olive oil to fry them in.

While the tortilla pieces are crisping, I begin to chop onion, jalapeno and tomato (all fresh)the cook until tender.

When the tortilla pieces are crisp, I add the chopped onion, jalapeno and tomato mixture to the pan, then add 2-4 organic eggs. Scramble together and serve.

I make these often, but not often enough as they are one of my favorite breakfast meals.

Sloppy Joes from scratch

There are foods that remind me of family gatherings such as potroast,or cheese dip, where all of family would cram into Grandma's dinning room to feast on Sunday food, filling our bellies with goodness and Grandma's home with laughter. Then there are nostalgic foods like "sloppy joes" that remind me of growing up in public school eating the school lunch.

As a kid, I longed for my mother to prepare sloppy joes at home. Funny, mom would prepare dishes like shepard's pie, fried chicken, enchiladas, and other wonderful home-cooked meals from scratch, but of course I wanted to take my "school eating experience" home with me. Growing up, I notice that a lot of people felt that same way, there was an excitement in it. After convincing mom to cook us "sloppy joes" it became a main staple in our household, I figure that mom thought hey...it's cheap, easy and the kids love it, so why not?

Let me just that I do not care for "manwhich" or any other pre-prepared sloppy joe sauce or mix, I usually find them overly salty and sugary. Instead, I prepare my own joe sauce.

Sloppy Joe:

1 lb ground meat (chicken, beef, or turkey)

I used ground turkey

1 large yellow onion finely diced
1 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 small green pepper
salt, pepper to taste (I always use kosher salt or sea salt and fresh ground black pepper)
pinch of ground cinammon, and tsp of brown sugar
1 tsp flour
worcestershire sauce (3 dashes)
1 8oz can crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoon of water

sweat the onion, pepper and garlic, add ground meat and brown (in 1 tablespoon of olive oil). add spices and flour, mix and add water. continue to cook, adding the tomatoes, cover and simmer for 10-15 min until thickened.

Serve on your favorite buns, I used the old fashioned white burger buns from the bakery and served with a side of garlic pickles and organic tator tots.

The drink pictured is Grandma's Sherbert Punch

1 large scoop of lime sherbert for each serving
1/2 cup pineapple juice and 1/2 cup of 7up (for each serving)
blend chilled juice and sherbert with a spoon until smooth, then add chilled 7up

BEST junk food/nostalgic meal EVER!

Taco Heaven

I have come to the conclusion that my favorite thing to cook are tacos. I love tacos in all of their varities; I love the endless amount of ingredients that you can stuff in a taco, or top a taco with. I love that tacos can be flat, folded or rolled, I love that there are so many different tortillas and tortilla shells to chose from, and no matter how you make your tacos and what you put in them; they are unique and special. I love that you can have tacos for breakfast, lunch or dinner, and I love how versatile and fun any meal can be when tacos are involved. I have so many recipes for tacos, but last night I prepared a chicken guisado as a filling to
my soft fried corn tortilla tacos. The filling was elegant, delicious and easy to prepare.

Chicken Guisado

2 chicken breasts (with skin/bone)

heat skilled with 1 tablespoon of olive oil
season chicken breasts with cumin, salt, pepper, chili powder, garlic powder
place chicken breasts in skillet, skin side down and sear. Cover pan, and turn on low...cook for 15 min until done.

While your chicken is cooking heat up another pan
add olive oil
1 jalapeno, chopped
1/2 onion chopped
sweat (10 min)
add 1 8 oz can crushed tomatoes
salt/pepper and squeeze of lime
simmer for 10 min.

Shred chicken and place in sauce, then cook for 5-10 min

stuff your tacos and top with anything you desire. I enjoy lettuce, tomato and cheese :D For this batch of tacos I used a half corn and half wheat tortilla and soft pan-fried them in heated olive oil


Taco History:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taco

tacos ala plancha

Labour Day weekend cooking is fun for me because what I usually do is clean out my fridge and cupboards to see if there is a meal to throw together...there usually is. I'll actually do this during each holiday; the meals that come out are usually the most tasty meals you can conjure up. This past Saturday while my husband worked on the yard, I went looking through my kitchen and came up with a delicious meal: Tacos ala Plancha with homefries and a delicious chunky salsa.

ala plancha is a mexican cooking term meaning flat grilled, or flat ironed. We had some left over fajitas that were slightly smoky and were perfect for this meal. I thinly cut the fajita steak and grilled them in a piping hot skillet. While the meat was grilling, I made a homemade chunky salsa made with 1 raw jalapeno pepper, 2 tomatoes, 1/2 an onion and a clove of garlic. I sauteed the onion and jalapeno together, then added the garlic then later the tomatoes, and seasoned with salt/pepper. I then married the skirt steak and the chunky salsa, creating one of the most delicious fillings.

For the side, I crisped potatoes in olive oil, cooked with onion and sausage. I also tossed the potato slices in the chunky salsa, creating what is commonly known as papas ala mexicana.

I still have some potatoes left, and was thinking of using them in a Monday morning breakfast of pappas con huevos tacos. These meals can really go a long way and stretch your dollar to the fullest potential.

Happy Eating

Some Labour Day History:

http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/laborday.htm