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Reader Recipe: Mexican-Inspired Campfire Cooking

YumSugar — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 15:28:55 -0700

Camping week is coming to an end, but we've got one last thing to share with you. TeamSugar member mapsarefun has shared her perfect camping recipe. Adapted from Rachael Ray, this Mexican inspired one-pot dinner is perfect for the campire. Consisting of chicken, chorizo, garlic, peppers, onions, black beans, tomatoes and more, it will certainly make you the envy of the campground. To check out the recipe, read more

Submitted by TeamSugar member mapsarefun

I was camping just this weekend! I made this and chicken pot pie. This recipce is adapted from Rachel Ray (but it will take way longer than 30 mintues). It is easy so I adapted it for camp.

1 lb Chicken Breasts, chopped into bite sized pieces
3/4 lb Chorizo, chopped into bite sized pieces
3 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
1 Red/Yellow Pepper, chopped
2 Onions, chopped
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 can kidneys beans
1 can black beans
2 cans Chicken Stock
1.5 cups Brown Rice
Hot Sauce
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil
Shredded Cheese & Sour Cream, for topping

Heat up about 25 briquettes.

It is my suggestion to bring all meat and veggies to the camp site pre-chopped in bags.

Use briquettes to heat up dutch oven, until hot enough to cook chicken. Add olive oil and chicken, cook until browned. Next add Chorizo and garlic, break up Chorizo with wooden spoon. Cook until Garlic is very fragant. Add peppers and onions, stir then cover for about 10 minutes. When onions are translucent add tomatoes and beans. Add hot sauce to taste. Next add Chicken stock, cover until boiling. Adding chicken stock
Add rice and stir. Replace lid, and arrange about 16 briquettes on top. Rotate the pot and lid about every ten mintues to combat hot spot and burning. Simmer for about 45 or until rice is done. About 6 - 8 Servings.
Dinner is Done

Serve with cheese and sour cream on top.

You will be the envy of the camp.

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'Wich of the Week: Sloppy Jose

YumSugar — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:00:50 -0700

Food often tastes better on camping trips; it takes so much effort to make that I'm usually starving by the time I eat. Because I first tried Trader Joe's carnitas while roughing it, I had to revisit this tasty pork at home. Dare I say, it was better than I remembered. The fully cooked Mexican-style pork is easy to prepare - warmed in a saucepan with TJ's red mole sauce - but I wanted to expand its horizons.Naturally, I thought, "sandwich!" and imagined piling the pork onto soft bread with avocado, salsa, and cheese. Then I realized that the smoky, sweet flavor of the carnitas and mole reminds me of Sloppy Joes. Thus, the Sloppy Jose was born. To see how it came together, read more.

Though I used Trader Joe's packaged, cooked carnitas, you could also make the pork from scratch or use homemade mole in place of the jarred product. But if you live near a TJ's, I highly recommend their versions for a quick and easy dinner. I also added brown sugar to my mole to give it a more Midwestern comfort-food flavor.

Sloppy Jose
Original recipe

Ingredients

6 oz. prepared red mole sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce, or more to taste
1 tablespoon water or broth
12 oz. fully cooked pork carnitas, cut into bite-size pieces
4 whole wheat hamburger buns
1 cup shredded lettuce*
1/2 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend
Half of an avocado, cut into thin slices
1/4 cup salsa

Directions

In a saucepan over low heat, combine the mole sauce, brown sugar, hot sauce, and water or broth; heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

To the saucepan, add carnitas and stir to coat. Cook slowly over low heat for 10 minutes or until fully heated through, stirring occasionally and breaking up the pork.
To make each sandwich, place 1/4 cup shredded lettuce on the bottom bun, then top with carnitas. Sprinkle a layer of shredded cheese over the pork, then lay a few slices of avocado over the cheese. Top with a spoonful of salsa, and place the top of the bun over the stack of ingredients to serve.

Makes 4 sandwiches.

*I used red leaf lettuce. However any other cool, crunchy lettuce (iceberg, romaine, etc) would be delicious.

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'Wich of the Week: Seis de Mayo Sandwich

YumSugar — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:00:13 -0700

As you've probably noticed, we are sort of obsessed with avocados here, and on the rare occasion when I have leftover guacamole, I cannot bear to see it go to waste. So after whipping up a batch of homemade guac for a recent party, I used the remaining deliciousness to make a vegetarian sandwich on my new favorite chili bread.

If you've got some of Cinco de Mayo's best condiment lying around, make your own seis (or siete or ocho) de Mayo sandwich. To see how I did it, read more.

Seis de Mayo Sandwich
Original Recipe

Ingredients

4 slices spicy artisan bread, such as chile bread
4 tablespoons guacamole
6 slices Roma tomato
4-5 slices mozzarella cheese
10 thin slices of cucumber
1 cup alfalfa or clover sprouts
2 leaves of romaine lettuce

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place two of the bread slices on a work surface and cover with 1 tablespoon guacamole. Top each piece of bread with three tomato slices, followed by 2-3 slices of mozzarella.

Place all four slices of bread directly on the oven rack and heat for 5 to 7 minutes, until bread is toasted and cheese is melted.

Evenly lay the cucumber slices on top of the melted cheese. Cover each with sprouts and lettuce.
On the two remaining bread slides, spread the rest of the guacamole, then place bread guacamole side down on lettuce.

Cut in half and serve.

Makes 2 sandwiches.

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Chicken Posole Two Ways - Beginner and Expert

YumSugar — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 05:50:53 -0700

I don't often throw big blowouts like Party does, but I still love an excuse to celebrate in my own way. So, to honor Mexican Independence Day (which just happens to be today - olé!), I'm making a spicy soup called chicken posole. With chicken broth, roasted chicken, hominy, and chiles, this rustic stew is down-home, South-of-the-border cooking at its best. Since I'm preparing ahead, I'll be putting together an elaborate rendition with homemade chicken stock, flash-fried tortilla strips, and pureéd ancho chiles, but in the future, when another posole craving inevitably strikes, I'll reach for a similar two-step recipe that does the trick, too. Decide which recipe's best for you

Not Your Regular Nachos: Mexican Pizza

partysugar — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:14:11 -0700

When you think about it, a Mexican pizza is really a gigantic, circular nacho. The two main components of nachos - crispy tortillas and melted cheese - are present in Mexican pizzas.This recipe came out of my desire to use Spanish chorizo in one of my nacho experiments. Since the chorizo resembles pepperoni, I invented these pizza-like nachos. The "sauce" is a red-bean puree mixed with sautéed onion, garlic, and green chilies. These were quite tasty, next time I'm serving them with sour cream! To take a look at how I made them, read more.

Mexican Pizza
Original Recipe by PartySugar

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can red kidney beans
2 tablespoons cilantro
1/2 cup taco sauce
2 jarred green chilies, finely chopped
2 tortillas
1/2 cup pepper jack cheese
1/2 cup extra sharp cheddar
8-10 thin slices Spanish chorizo

Directions

Heat the oil in a large saute pan, over medium-low heat. Saute the onion and garlic until fragrant and soft, about 8 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375°F.
In the bowl of a food processor, combine the beans, cilantro, and taco sauce. Blend to make a thick, puree-like sauce.
Add bean puree to the onions and garlic, stirring to combine.

Add the green chilies to the sauce and reduce the heat to low. Simmer the sauce lightly for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, place the tortillas on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake in the oven until crisp, 12 minutes.
Remove the tortillas from the oven and turn the oven to Broil.

Spread a layer of sauce on one of the tortillas. Top with 1/4 cup of the pepper jack and cheddar cheese.
Place the other tortilla on top, pressing down gently to flatten.
Spread another layer of sauce on top of this tortilla. Top with cheese, chorizo slices, and more cheese.

Broil in the middle to lower half of the oven for 5 minutes, until the cheese is melted and brown, and the chorizo is warmed through.
Carefully slice into wedges and enjoy!

Makes 1 small pizza.

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Say Cheese! Corn and Cotija Salad

partysugar — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 10:30:08 -0700

Cotija (pronounced co-tee-ha) is an aged, hard cow's milk cheese native to Mexico. It has a strong, salty flavor and firm quality that's ideal for grating or crumbling. Cotija is packaged and sold in blocks (or rounds) and sometimes comes pregrated. On the tongue, cotija is dry and grainy, thus it's employed to add texture to traditional Mexican dishes. To find out how I used it in this snappy corn salad, read more.

Cotija isn't much of a melting cheese, but the small shards stick to the corn kernels and provide a rich salty creaminess to this salad. Ancho chili powder packs a spicy punch, while lime juice gives a zesty tartness to the recipe. It's an excellent side to grilled steak and for a scrumptious and substantial lunch, serve over greens with avocado.

Corn and Cotija Salad
From Bobby Flay

Ingredients

8 ears fresh corn, silks removed, husk on, soaked in cold water 30 minutes
Canola oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup creme fraiche
2 limes, juiced and 1 zested
1 tablespoons ancho chili powder
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1/4 cup grated cotija cheese

Directions

Heat grill to high. Grill corn until charred on all sides, 10 or so minutes.* Take off the grill and remove the kernels with a sharp knife.
While you are cutting the corn, put a cast iron skillet on the grill to heat.
Add the corn and the remaining ingredients to the hot pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until creamy and heated through.

Serves 8.

*When I made this dish, instead of grilling it, I opted to roast the corn in the oven at 450°F for 30 minutes.

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Make Your Own Salsa

partysugar — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:00:41 -0700

For the first 23 years of my life, I thought salsa was something purchased at the grocery store or enjoyed at a Mexican restaurant. Then one day, I realized I could make it at home using fresh ingredients and everything changed.

The entire experience of eating salsa (with tortilla chips, of course) was enhanced. The juicy sweetness of tomatoes, the spicy heat of jalapeños, the subtle smokiness of chili powder, the crunchy bite of raw onion - it was like tasting salsa for the first time.

Don't be intimidated if you've never made salsa before, it's wildly easy and domestically rewarding. While having a food processor allows you to make salsa in mere minutes, it can also be done the old-fashioned way by finely chopping the ingredients. To check out my favorite salsa recipe read more.

Tomato Salsa
Original Recipe

Ingredients

4 large ripe tomatoes
juice of one lime
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 jalapeño, seeded (optional) roughly chopped
1/2 small white onion, roughly chopped
1/4 cup cilantro
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Fill a large pot with water. Bring to a boil. Fill a bowl with ice and water. Place next to the stove.
With a small knife, slice an X into the bottom of each tomato, being careful not to cut all the way through. Drop each tomato into the boiling water and boil until the skin starts to peel off, about 45 seconds to a minute. Remove immediately and place in the ice water bath.
When the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, peel off the skins and discard. Slice the tomatoes into large wedges.
Squeeze the lime juice into a food processor. Add the garlic, jalapeño, onion, cilantro, spices, and tomatoes.
Process until the vegetables are finely chopped and the mixture is chunky. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking. If you prefer more heat, add another jalapeño or more chili powder. Enjoy with tortilla chips or however you desire!

Makes about 2 cups.

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Go Meat-Free With Black Bean Burgers

partysugar — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:30:27 -0700

A couple of weeks ago I catered a dinner for a group of hungry hikers. The crew spent a Saturday trekking the 14-mile round-trip up and down Mount Diablo and the meal was the shining light at the end of the walk. My sister, the leader, requested that I prepare a hearty yet meat-free vegetarian meal that included black beans. Always up to the challenge, I decided to make black bean burgers. After scouring the web for an exciting recipe, I chose this Mexican-inspired one from Gourmet.

Although I tweaked it a little, the final burger is meaty, satisfying, and incredibly scrumptious. I took the time to make fresh salsa and guacamole, but feel free to use store-bought substitutes. Whatever you do, don't leave out the condiments, they add to the burger's overall flavor. This makes a stellar vegetarian-friendly backyard dinner, so get the recipe, and read more.

Black-Bean Burgers
Modified from Gourmet

I paired these burgers with a refreshingly floral white wine sangria.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 jalapeño pepper, seeded and diced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 (14-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1/3 cup plain dry bread crumbs
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 soft hamburger buns
sour cream, salsa, guacamole, lettuce, for serving

Directions

Heat the oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the onions and cook taking care not to brown, until soft, fragrant, and translucent, about 8 minutes.
Stir in the garlic and saute for 2 more minutes.
Pour the beans, bread crumbs, spices, and cilantro into a larger bowl. Add the onion, garlic, and jalapeño mixture. Using your hands, mash and crush the beans until paste-like. Form mixture into 4 patties.
Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers.
Cook burgers until outsides are crisp and lightly browned, turning once, about 5 minutes total. Serve on buns with toppings.

Makes 4 burgers.

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Healthy Cinco de Mayo Recipe: Addictive Sweet Potato Burritos

FitSugar — Tue, 05 May 2009 09:00:00 -0700

Happy Cinco de Mayo! For many of us, the holiday provides a reason to enjoy delicious Mexican food. I'm a sucker for the spicy cuisine, but it's not always the healthiest fare. Ramp up the nutritional content of your dinner by complementing your chips and salsa with a healthier main dish. These filling sweet potato burritos offer a traditional flavor kick with the added benefit of vitamin-rich ingredients.

This recipe is flexible to suit your personal taste preferences. I substituted black beans for the kidney beans in the original recipe, opted for whole wheat tortillas instead of flour ones, used yams instead of sweet potatoes, and went light on the shredded cheese. My burritos were dressed in salsa and avocado with a side of light sour cream, but the options are endless. Make this a vegan dish by withholding the cheese and sour cream.

To get this healthy Cinco de Mayo recipe, read more.

Addictive Sweet Potato Burritos
Allrecipes

Ingredients

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups canned kidney beans, drained
2 cups water
3 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
4 teaspoons prepared mustard
1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
3 tablespoons soy sauce
4 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
12 (10 inch) flour tortillas, warmed
8 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Heat oil in a medium skillet, and saute onion and garlic until soft. Stir in beans, and mash. Gradually stir in water, and heat until warm. Remove from heat, and stir in the chili powder, cumin, mustard, cayenne pepper and soy sauce.

Divide bean mixture and mashed sweet potatoes evenly between the warm flour tortillas. Top with cheese. Fold up tortillas burrito style, and place on a baking sheet.

Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven, and serve.

Makes 12 burritos. May be made ahead of time, individually frozen, and heated.

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Reader Recipe: Chili Con Queso

partysugar — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:00:34 -0700

I'm crazy about any combination of melted cheese and tortilla chips, so when I saw audreystar's recipe for chili con queso, I couldn't help but drool. Her recipe is part of a fabulous new group on TeamSugar, Dinner Challenge, which dares fellow readers to make a certain dish each week.A couple of recipes are posted on Mondays, and you have until the upcoming Sunday to make the meal and share your pictures of the process and final dish. It's a fun group and could lead to some inventive variations. For example, I want to make audreystar's chili con queso with Mexican chorizo instead of the sausage! To take a look at her delicious version, read more.

Submitted by TeamSugar member audreystar.

APPETIZER
Revved Up Chili Con Queso
RECIPE SOURCE

Ingredients
2 lb package Velveeta
1/2 large Onion
1 lb Hot Breakfast Sausage (like Jimmy Dean)
1 regular can of Rotel (either regular or extra hot)
1 7 oz can of diced Green Chiles
1 -3 finely diced Jalapeno peppers

Chop the onion and brown with the sausage. Drain excess fat. Cut velveeta into cubes and add to warm skillet. Add Rotel and green chiles and stir together over low heat until mixture is melted. Add finely diced jalapenos, stir together, and serve with warm tortilla chips. Keep queso warm during serving (in a fondue pot, chafing dish or crock pot).
Queso can also be frozen flat in ziploc bags and reheated at a later date.

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I picked the Con Queso since many of you decided you would try the salad. Plus my boys love queso so I figured I couldn't go wrong. I didn't get an extra can of green chiles because the Rotel had chile's in them. I also didn't add the jalapeno even though I bought a can because I figured it would be too spicy for the boys. I might add them later after the boys have had a helping.

Oh and after I cooked it all I added the queso to my crockpot on low so it wouldn't thicken up.

Looks so gross, but it is so good

In conclusion, this was a really good queso. But I mean it is hard to screw it up. The sausage and onion cooking together smelled so divine.

Again I think I will add in the jalapenos later on after the boys are done.:spicy: I might have some with margaritas I plan to drink tonight.

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