Spicy rich Mexicali Pasta Salad … and not forgetting delicious! This hearty filling vegan salad will satisfy meat lovers too. After a stressful day at work sometimes I need food with a crunch. Ha! This is another versatile recipe. Making small substitutions to make it your own is a good thing. Enjoy!
Family is visiting and the Mexicali Casserole was requested for dinner. The Mexican spices are not too hot for the kids and the flavor is amazing. So rich! It’s one of our family favorites! If you are into cheese, egg noodles, and Mexican spices you are going to love this too!
Throw out the boxed instant hamburger meal and try this!
When I first met my future Daughter-In-Law Ann she found her way to my kitchen as all family does. Besides all the other wonderful things about Ann she is comfortable in the kitchen and a very good cook. She whipped up this salsa for our family during that first visit. It was a hit! So when I received requests for a fresh salsa I immediately thought of this one. It’s great to serve alone or over just about everything.
Chile relleno is an anytime meal. This is light and fluffy. Simply delectable! Use your favorite salsa for the topping or go it alone. Serve with a slice of avocado, or rice and beans for the hearty eaters.
These recipes are great for a brunch or dinner! Do a day ahead and refrigerate. Great with a lettuce wedge. And pair with La Crema Pinot Gris for a complete dinner.
Try this Mexican Wedding Cake Cookie with a milk chocolate kiss, my favorite! This is one of those cookies that has a long history with me. My first experience with this recipe was not really appreciated. And in fact, for the reasons this cookie is popular, subtle flavor with extraordinary richness, my parents found it difficult to enjoy. It was just not a chocolate chip, peanut butter or oatmeal cookie. But after years of making these I was asked to bake them, dozens and dozens, for a reception my mother was giving. This cookie now surpasses many other cookies in popularity for my family.
I added a chocolate kiss to the center of this cookie to surprise my very young children. It isn’t a practice now. In fact, the children prefer the Mexican Wedding Cake without alteration!
Today I decided to try dark chocolate. To my surprise the dark chocolate steals the taste of the cookie. I recommend a milk chocolate instead. And baking a few without this alteration for the purists.
This is another recipe where you are likely to have all the ingredients in your pantry most of the time!
Pair this casual dinner with a dry or sweet Rose’, or beer or even a skinny Margarita. Sounds a bit like summer! Just a bit of fun before slipping into the icy cold of winter. No intense spiciness here. This enchilada casserole can be a welcome in cold weather too … with rice and beans. Or for a brunch!
For those intense spicy meals wines with higher alcohol content are not suggested nor are expensive reds. The expensive reds will be clouded by the spiciness. And alcohol adds fuel to the fire of spice. FYI: Dry Rose’ generally has a higher alcohol content than the sweeter variety.
This is one of my favorite green salads. Actually, it is many salads in one. The main ingredients are green and red leaf lettuce. Need some crunch in your lettuce? Just add a little iceberg. No bag lettuce here. Nothing against bag lettuce. I use it. But for this salad full flavor is needed to compete with the other ingredients. The choice of ingredients is up to you. Do you want the salad to have a Mexican flare, Italian, or…. I’ll give you some ideas and then you change up as you and your family like. I have a simple dressing that too can be changed up. My favorite dressing for this has no measuring and only includes two ingredients.
My first taste of enchilada came early. Estrada’s Spanish Kitchen was a family owned restaurant in Visalia established long before my parents were born. It was fine dining … Frequented for forty some odd years by our family.
The old Victorian house on Main Street was a business on the first floor and a family home on the second. It was our family’s favorite place to eat especially Christmas Eve … Forty six years in a row according to my brother. As a kid it seemed to take forever for the food to be served. I amused myself when young … picking the enormous wax covered wine bottle that was providing more temptation than candle light … seeing coins embedded in the wax … digging. Yep, I was disciplined. My brother, more self disciplined, just explored the upstairs bathroom, the only one available. But I bet he was really looking for Susie.
I have tried to recreate the tastes of Estrada’s dishes. (Estrada’s taste alike here) A friend married into this restaurant family not too long ago, and had mentioned the recipes were definitely a family secret. Yes, I asked. He said, I could give you the recipes but then I would have to kill you. Of course he was kidding! Do I have to even say that? There were about a half dozen of these Estrada’s restaurants throughout California owned by the same family. Only one now exists … Daly City. (Closed Feb 3rd, 2019)
In my teens, mother, every few months, would form an assembly line of hot vegetable oil, heated canned enchilada sauce, corn tortillas, cheese and onion. She and I would make two dozen enchiladas, some to be eaten … some to be frozen. We used Velveeta cheese … Considered a healthy alternative to cheese in those days.
(For this dish, I will be using a quick sauce recipe I picked up from a former neighbor about 40 years ago. I was shocked at the time to find enchilada sauce got the red color from peppers not tomatoes. Labeling was yet to reach today’s sophistication.)