Habanero Beef Tacos

Ingredients

2 cups coarsely chopped tomatoes
3 fresh poblano chile peppers, seeded and coarsely chopped (our poblanos looked kinda small so we used 5 poblanos that were each 4 – 4 ½ inches long)
¾ cup 50% less sodium beef broth
½ cup chopped onion
1 to 2 fresh habanero chile peppers, seeded if desired* (we used 2 habaneros and kept the seeds and ribs)
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
2 tsp. ground cumin
2 lb. boneless beef chuck pot roast, trimmed and cut into 1 ½-inch pieces
8 to 12 (6- to 8-inch each) flour tortillas
For toppings (optional): Red onion slivers, sliced radishes, pico de gallo, sour cream, crumbled queso fresco or Cotija cheese (we used Cotija cheese), and/or chopped fresh cilantro (we used everything except the sour cream and pico de gallo)

Directions

Add the first 7 ingredients to a blender, putting the lid on the blender afterwards and blending them until smooth (we added some kosher salt to taste afterwards to bring out the flavors more).
Take a 3 ½- to 4-quart slow cooker out and place the beef inside of it. Pour the pepper mixture over the meat, putting the lid on the slow cooker afterwards. Let the beef cook on LOW for 8 to 10 hours or on HIGH for 4 to 5 hours (we cooked ours on HIGH).
Take the meat out of the slow cooker using a slotted spoon. Once all the meat’s out of the slow cooker, skim the fat from the cooking liquid. Place the meat on tortillas (we shredded our meat some to make it more bite-size), drizzling the meat with cooking liquid afterwards. Place the toppings on afterwards and enjoy !

*Habaneros are spicy peppers so make sure to wear plastic or rubber gloves when handling them.

We were excited to see how spicy these would turn out based off the title and the heat wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be ! We really didn’t get much heat from the beef but the sauce definitely had more heat to it and left your lips with a nice tingle on them and a warmth in your mouth. Sauce or no sauce, we thought the tacos were delicious though ! The red onion, radishes and cilantro brought a nice freshness to the taco. The red onion and radish slices brought a nice crunchy texture to the dish that would otherwise be lacking. The Cotija cheese brought a wonderful “funk” that also helped temper the heat from the taco as well. We hope this can be a new favorite taco recipe for y’all !

This recipe came from Better Homes & Gardens.

We weren’t paid in any form to promote Better Homes & Gardens.

Take care everybody !

Mexican Corn Salad

Ingredients

½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
¼ cup fresh lime juice
1 tsp. kosher salt
½ tsp. pepper (we used freshly ground black pepper)
3 Tbsp. olive oil (we used extra-virgin olive oil)
4 cups fresh corn kernels (from 6 ears, maybe less depending on the size of your ears of corn)
½ cup chopped scallions (we sliced ours)
1 pint multicolored cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup thinly sliced radishes
1 ½ oz. crumbled Cotija cheese (1/3 cup)

Directions

Take a small mixing bowl out and whisk together the cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper together in it. Slowly whisk the oil in until combined and your dressing is complete !
In a large bowl, stir together the corn, scallions, tomatoes and radish slices. Take the dressing and gently stir it into the large bowl, making sure that the dressing coats the other salad components. Sprinkle the cheese over the top and you’re ready to eat !

When it comes to how this tastes, I think mommy’s statement after taking her first bite best describes this: “F**k this is delicious !”. When you try the dressing before it’s mixed in, it seems like you’re going to have some serious pucker power in every bite of the salad but once it’s coating all the other components and especially after the Cotija cheese is sprinkled on, the flavor of the lime juice just becomes a nice pleasant bright note in this. We love Cotija so we crumbled up more than just 1/3 cup just so we could have cheese in every serving. The funky flavor of the Cotija cheese pairs perfectly with the flavor of the lime juice and cilantro that comes through in this dish. Another awesome thing about this recipe? There’s ZERO cooking involved ! As hot as it can get here in the summer, any dish that doesn’t require heat is an awesome summer recipe!!!

We got this recipe from Cooking Light (we weren’t paid in any form to promote them).

Take care everybody !

Shredded Chicken Tacos (Tinga De Pollo)

Ingredients

Chicken
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed
- Salt and pepper (we used kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 onion, halved and sliced thin
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
- ½ cup chicken broth (we used reduced-sodium chicken broth)
- 2 tablespoons minced canned chipotle chile in adobo sauce plus 2 teaspoons adobo sauce
- ½ teaspoon brown sugar (we used light brown sugar)
- 1 teaspoon grated lime zest
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
Tacos
- 12 (6-inch) corn tortillas, warmed
- 1 avocado, halved, pitted, and cut into ½-inch pieces
- 2 ounces Cotija cheese, crumbled (½ cup)
- 6 scallions, minced
- Minced fresh cilantro
- Lime wedges

Directions

For the chicken: Pat the chicken dry with paper towels before seasoning it with salt and pepper. Pour 1 tablespoon of the oil into a large Dutch oven, setting the heat to medium-high. Once the oil’s hot, add half* of the chicken in so it can get browned, letting it cook for 3 to 4 minutes per side. Place the browned chicken on a plate and repeat the cooking process with the other half of the chicken, adding the second batch of browned chicken to the plate as well.
Turn the heat down to medium, pouring the last tablespoon of oil into the Dutch oven afterwards. Once the oil’s hot, toss the onion in, stirring it around frequently for 5 minutes or until the onion’s browned. Add the garlic, cumin and cinnamon into the Dutch oven, stirring constantly for 1 minute or until the mixture is fragrant. Add in the tomatoes and their juice, broth, chipotle and adobo sauce, and the sugar, stirring to combine and waiting for it to come to a boil afterwards. Once boiling, scrape up any browned bits from the bottom before moving onto the next step.
Put the chicken back in the Dutch oven, turning the heat down to medium-low afterwards. Put the lid on the Dutch oven and let it simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until the chicken registers 195 degrees, flipping the chicken after the first 5 minutes. Once the chicken’s fully cooked, take it out and place it on a cutting board.
Transfer the remaining mixture from the Dutch oven into a blender and process it for 15 to 30 seconds or until smooth (we used the puree option on our blender to get the mixture smooth). Pour the smooth sauce back into the Dutch oven. Once the chicken’s cooled down enough for you to handle, shred it into bite-size pieces, returning it to the Dutch oven afterwards. Turn the heat up to medium and stir frequently for 10 minutes or until the sauce looks like it’s thickened and is clinging to the chicken**. Stir in the lime zest and juice at this point, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste afterwards.
For the tacos: Spoon the chicken down the center of each tortilla, serving with the avocado, Cotija, scallions and cilantro as toppings and serving lime wedges on the side.

*We had to do more than just 2 batches in order for the chicken to get browned rather than steamed. We also added more oil into the Dutch oven for the other batches when the bottom seemed to be void of oil.

**Because of the blender, our sauce was already thicker and was coating the chicken so we only cooked the sauce and chicken until they were both heated through.

You’ll be coming back for seconds when you try this taco ! The sauce initially was nothing to write home about but once we added enough salt to it, we really tasted the smokiness from the chipotle and some of the other components in the sauce. It tasted so good that we started trying to think of ways to use that sauce in other dishes, we loved it that much ! All the components together work so harmoniously in this taco. You get that spice from the sauce, the creamy avocado, the funky (in a good way) flavor of the Cotija cheese, the freshness from the green onion and cilantro and a sharpness from the green onion all in this taco. We’d be happy to make this again and hopefully you will too !

We got this recipe from Cook’s Illustrated.

We weren’t paid in any form to promote Cook’s Illustrated.

Take care everybody !

Mexican Corn Salad (Esquites)

Ingredients

3 tablespoons lime juice, plus extra for seasoning
3 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1-2 serrano chiles, stemmed and cut into 1/8-inch thick rings (we used 2 serranos and thinly sliced them)
Salt
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
6 ears corn, kernels cut from cobs (6 cups)
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ teaspoon chili powder
4 ounces cotija cheese, crumbled (1 cup)
¾ cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
3 scallions, sliced thin

Directions

Mix the lime juice, sour cream, mayonnaise, serranos and ¼ teaspoon of salt together in a large mixing bowl, setting the bowl off to the side for now.
Pour 1 tablespoon of oil into a 12-inch nonstick skillet, setting the heat to high. Once the oil’s shimmering, add half of the corn into the skillet, spreading it out into an even layer. Sprinkle ¼ teaspoon of salt over the corn and put the lid on afterwards. Cook the corn for 3 minutes or until the corn that’s touching the skillet looks charred, not stirring it all during that time. Take the skillet off the heat and let it stand, covered, for 15 seconds or until any popping stops. Add the charred corn to the large mixing bowl from step one. Repeat this process with another tablespoon of oil, ¼ teaspoon salt and the remaining corn.
Place the empty skillet back on the stovetop, pouring in the last teaspoon of oil. Once the oil’s hot, add in the garlic and chili powder, stirring constantly for 30 seconds or until they become fragrant. Add the garlic mixture to the bowl, tossing everything together to combine. Lex the mixture cool for a minimum 15 minutes.
Add the cotija cheese, cilantro, and scallions to the bowl, tossing everything to combine. Try a bite of it and season with salt if you think it needs any, adding up to another tablespoon of lime juice if you want. Serve immediately.

This is addictively good ! The serranos make this spicy but not unbearably so. You can really taste the cotija in this and we just love that funky (in a good way) flavor of the cheese. The dish is a little salty but it’s not unbearably so. It was hard to stop eating this because it was that good.

We got this recipe from Cook’s Illustrated.

We weren’t paid in any form to promote Cook’s Illustrated.

Take care everybody !

Grilled Corn Salad

Ingredients

6 ears sweet corn, shucked
Nonstick spray
Oil (we used vegetable oil)
Salt and black pepper (we used kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper)
2 tsp. minced lime zest
¼ cup fresh lime juice
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp. minced fresh garlic
2 tsp. honey
¼ tsp. ground cumin
1 ½ cups sliced mini sweet pepper
½ cup sliced jalapeño (we halved, seeded and then sliced 2 jalapeños)
½ cup crumble Cotija
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

Preheat your grill to medium-high, brushing the grill grate with oil afterwards.
Coat the corn in nonstick spray, seasoning it with salt and pepper afterwards. Grill the corn, covered, for 10 to 15 minutes or until it looks charred on all sides. Take the charred corn and place it on a cutting board, letting it cool down a little before cutting the kernels off the cobs.
In a small bowl, whisk the lime zest, lime juice, olive oil, garlic, honey and cumin together, seasoning it with salt and pepper afterwards.
Add the corn, mini sweet pepper slices, jalapeño slices, Cotija cheese, cilantro and the vinaigrette to a large mixing bowl, tossing to combine. Season the salad with salt and pepper to taste.

This dish just feels like the perfect summer side dish ! It’s so colorful and bright looking. You get a lot of different textures in this and despite how many slices of jalapeños are in the dish, it wasn’t overly spicy at all ! We really loved how much the flavor from the Cotija cheese came through but didn’t make the salad salty !

We got this recipe from Cuisine at Home.

We weren’t paid in any form to promote Cuisine at Home.

Take care everybody !

Refried Beans

Ingredients

3 tablespoons bacon grease (we cooked up some thick-cut peppered bacon to get our bacon grease)
½ onion, chopped
2 serrano peppers
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 (15-ounces each) cans pinto beans, including the liquid
¼ cup crumbled cotija cheese (we didn’t measure how much we used)

Directions

Pour the bacon grease into a large skillet, setting the heat to medium-high. Once the grease is hot, add in the onion, serranos and garlic, stirring constantly for 2 to 3 minutes or until the onions look slightly translucent. Take the serranos out of the skillet and either throw them away or keep them and chop them up to use as a topping (we kept ours and just sliced them). Add in the beans and their liquid, mashing the beans with a potato masher or wooden spoon (we used a potato masher). Mash until you reach your own preferred consistency, stirring afterwards until the beans are warmed through. Serve right away, topping with cheese and the chopped serrano.

These refried beans are so damn good ! If you choose not to use cotija cheese then you may need to add some salt to the beans but otherwise the cheese will bring all the saltiness you need. Just to give you a heads up, the blistered serranos pack a lot of heat so even just a few slices will probably provide enough spiciness for your individual portion.

Recipe source unknown.

Take care everybody !