Three Cheese Enchiladas

If there's a recipe title on the photo above, you'll know I updated the picture.  As I type this right now, there's nothing but a little watermark on the bottom.  Oh, well.

Life has been busy, good, hard, and stressful, all rolled into one.  More on that soon, I promise--I seem to blog in spurts, catching up by posting in bunches when the urge rises in my heart.  Aside from that, I'm just blogging through my photos, and these two yummy pictures popped up next.  I'm sure you just want the recipe, so here it is.  I'll blog in depth in another post.

Three Cheese Enchiladas

16 oz. shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided (I've used Colby Jack, too--just as yummy)
16 oz. shredded mild cheddar cheese, divided
8-oz. package cream cheese
2 1/2 cups salsa or picante sauce, divided
2-3 green bell peppers, cored and diced
1/2 cup sliced green onions
2 1/2 teaspoons cumin
~20 corn tortillas, or ~16 flour tortillas
toppings:  shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, sliced olives, sour cream, etc.

Combine about 3/4 of each Monterey Jack and cheddar, all the cream cheese, half the salsa, the green pepper, onions, and the cumin.  Mix well.  Spoon about 1/4 cup of this cheese mixture down the center of each tortilla; use less if you're using corn tortillas--they're smaller!  Fold tortilla up (or roll if corn tortillas) and arrange in a 13x9 baking pan.  Spoon remaining salsa over the enchiladas, and sprinkle the remaining Monterey and cheddar over that.  Bake at 350F until crisped up and cheese is all melted and crispy on the edges.  Serve with toppings--whichever ones work for you!

Back to life,
Christine

Visit my photography blog
Visit my photography website

Pico de Gallo

November 4.

The tomatoes I had picked a few weeks ago were all ripening, and Joseph was happily incorporating them into his lunches every day.  There was a mountain of them, though, and I knew I had to do something with them as they slowly started getting really ripe.  Time for pico de gallo, which is basically a fresh salsa.

Amazingly (according to my friends), I don't use a recipe for this.  Many people also drain off the liquid from the salsa, but I leave it in.  You pretty much can drink the remaining bit of salsa down when you get to the bottom of the bowl.  Yum!

I also have a pretty new pottery bowl to put my pico de gallo in--I purchased this hand-made bowl at our local farmers market this past summer.

I love all things blue!  But you probably figured that out already.

Pico de Gallo

tomatoes
onion
green pepper (optional, your taste!)
jalapenos
cilantro
garlic
white vinegar
salt

Chop the tomatoes, onion, green pepper, jalapenos, and garlic as coarsely/finely as you wish.  Chop the cilantro and add it in,  Pour in a splash of white vinegar, and salt to taste.

I really can't give you ingredient amounts, but they are listed in order of amount.  If you have, say, four or five tomatoes, use 1/4 of an onion, one small green pepper, one jalapeno (or whatever, depending on your affinity for heat!).  Then go from there--half a bunch of cilantro, a splash of white vinegar, maybe 1/2 teaspoon of salt (better start with 1/4).  Just keep tasting/testing along the way.  That's how I do it!


Back to life,
Christine

Visit my photography blog
Visit my photography website

Guacamole, Olé!

Throughout my growing-up years, I thought that the bulk of Mexican cuisine comprised tacos and burritos.  It wasn't my fault that I lived in a predominantly white community.  My parents weren't rich; they were just financially savvy, being savers and all.  Our neighborhood changed as I grew to adulthood, and I was eventually exposed to various cultures and made some great friendships with lots of different people.  In high school, I discovered Spanish.  I loved it.  I loved learning it, and I fell in love with the culture and its people--any person who spoke Spanish as a native tongue.

Eventually, I literally fell in love with its people--well, one, anyway.  His name is Fernando.  And I married him.  :)  Thus started my journey to learn about cooking Mexican food.  The funny thing was, whenever I visited his family in Los Angeles and spent time with his Spanish-speaking-only mom, she always wanted to make American food for me.  I spent extra effort raving over her tamales and pozole and Mexican rice, and she eventually figured out that I wanted to eat her native cuisine while I was there.  She used no measuring cups or spoons, and had no recipe book that I could tell.  That confounded me.  :)

Anyway, over the years I've tried my hand at various Mexican dishes.  I finally tried guacamole, though I had always turned my nose up at it.  Not any more.  Fernando says my guac is tops.  That is a huge compliment.  Here's my recipe.

Guacamole

two medium avocados
1/2 small onion, chopped
2 tablespoons lemon juice (I try to use fresh; you can also use lime juice)
1 small tomato, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper (I crank the fresh pepper mill five or six times)
1 teaspoon adobo seasoning (I use Penzeys Spices brand; awesome stuff!)

Use a sharp knife to cut the avocado in half long-ways.  Work the seed (pit) out and set it aside.  (They say you can mix it in to your finished guacamole to help keep it from turning brown, which it does naturally.  Our guac doesn't usually end up in the fridge as leftovers.)

I'm not a fan of lots of gadgets, but I do have a Pampered Chef avocado peeler.  :)  I use it to first work out the seeds/pits, then to make horizontal and vertical slices in each avocado half (see second picture below).  If you don't have this tool, use a spoon to work out the seeds, then a butter knife (not sharp!) to make the criss-cross slices.  Then, I slide the peeler (use a spoon) around the edges and bottoms of each half to scoop the avocado out of the skin and into a bowl.  Now look at the pictures and keep reading below...

Once the chunks are scooped into the bowl (above), you can mash it up by mixing vigorously with a spoon.  I don't even bother.  As I mix the other ingredients in, the avocado gets mashed enough, but stays somewhat chunky, which I like.

Ready for the next step?  Add the rest of the ingredients, and stir.  That's it!  Serve with tortilla chips or corn chips.  Trader Joe's has some awesome corn chip dippers that are perfect for scooping guacamole.  Some people add minced jalapeño or chopped cilantro to their guacamole.  I leave that stuff out; it's great on its own.

A bowl of awesomeness.

Back to life,
Christine

Visit my photography blog
Visit my photography website