Mexican

Chicken Enchilada Pizzas

August 16, 2017

I always have these grandiose plans of making a weekly pizza night happen in my house, but after about two weeks I get bored of having the same thing over and over again, and so sadly I drop all plans and dreams of this wonderful idea. I still love pizza though, so it’s not like I’m shunning it forever. It’s just that I need some diversity in my meals on a week to week basis; call me crazy. Because my love for pizza runs deep, I think the most obvious and smart thing to do is to think of new and exciting pizza recipes that will still fit the bill but with a fun twist. These Chicken Enchilada Pizzas are gluten-free thanks to corn tortillas, and then topped with beans, chicken cooked in homemade enchilada sauce, and sprinkled with an array of Tex-Mex taco toppings that we all know and love. It’s new and exciting enough to give pizza a second life at your house from week to week. If you’re a big fan of enchiladas, then I highly recommend these pizzas because it’s two of our favorites dishes rolled into one. They’re fully customizable so keep that in mind the next time you’re in need of a quick and easy dinner idea.

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Mexican Street Corn Flatbread

August 26, 2015

As a food blogger, it’s an absolute must to create some form of Mexican Street Corn in a recipe. If you don’t have a recipe for it in some shape, way or form on your blog, then you might as well give up blogging. It’s the only way you can get your food badge of honor. You’ll come across, if you haven’t already, Mexican Street Corn “this” and Mexican Street Corn “that,” all over the internets. I’m pretty sure every single variation exists out there because once we find something we like, it spreads like wild fire. That’s a good thing. It shows how strong and connected we are as a community. Plus now you as a reader, have all the variations of a single recipe you could ever possibly dream of. We’ve got you covered.

The other day I realized that I didn’t have any form of this classic recipe on my blog. Talk about blasphemous. So instead of packing my bags and calling it quits—I figured it’s better late than never—I decided to fix the situation right away. So here we are, Mexican Street Corn Flatbread is a thing and there’s no turning back now. Not that we want to because it has everything we love about Mexican grilled corn on top of pizza. Pizza and grilled corn and cheese. It’s like a food blogger’s dream come true.

It’s an easy recipe you can whip up in no time, made easier by the fact that you can make a few of the components ahead of time and just put everything together at the last minute right before serving. It’s stress free. These are the recipes that are important and much needed during the summer because we’re all too busy summer-ing and have no time to be kitchen-ing. It’s also a great way to use up all that corn that’s in season at the moment. I always end up buying a bunch and then have to idea what to do with it. Now it’s on top of a pizza and I feel like I’m just winning at life. Let’s all be winners.

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Mushroom and Chorizo Queso Fundido

April 15, 2015

If queso fundido is on the menu (any menu), you better believe I’ll be ordering it and I’ll devour the entire dish all by myself. I’ll pretend it’s the most awful piece of garbage I’ve ever tasted, too, just so that I’ll be the only one eating it. “Ugh, you DO NOT want to taste this! Oh it’s awful! Yuck! You’re better off not trying it! I’m doing everyone a favor by eating it all, trust me.” Just the mention of queso fundido and all my self control goes right out the window. With this dish right in front of me, I forget about such things as portion control and moderation. Huh? Come again? Portion what? All bets are off. Can you blame me? I mean, who can resist a piping hot skillet filled with melted bubbly cheese? I count my blessings every morning, as soon as I open my eyes, thankful that I’m not allergic to cheese or dairy because if that were the case, I’d be suffering every single day of my life. I’d probably cry myself to sleep each night from the sadness. The thought of not being able to eat melted cheese dip frightens me. I’m terrified right now just talking/thinking about it. Let’s move on, I’m getting chills.

Julian and I order this appetizer so often that I wanted to start making it at home for us. The worst decision I’ve ever made in my life, or the best? I haven’t decided yet, ask me again later. After a long and tiring work week, the greatest thing you can ever possibly treat yourself to is a few cold cocktails (obviously), queso fundido and a giant bowl of tortilla chips for dipping into said cheese. Picture it, you out in the backyard on a lounge chair right by a pool. The warm sun hitting your face. Drink in hand garnished with one of those tiny cocktail umbrellas (I love those umbrellas), someone fanning you as you lay back and worry about nothing, and just when you feel a bit hungry, there’s queso fundido right to the side of you for all of your snacking needs. Sounds amazing, right?

Give it a try soon, but don’t say I didn’t warn you when you wake up in a daze not knowing where you are or why there’s cheese on your face and crumbs on your shirt (how embarrassing for you, pull yourself together) or why all of a sudden you’re wishing you had more mushroom and chorizo queso fundido on hand. It’s that addicting. No, scratch that. It’s magical. It’s an outer body experience and if food had the power to cure ailments, I swear this dip would be a miracle worker. Maybe I’m hyping it too much or maybe I’m exaggerating (I’m not) either way, if you have no idea what I’m talking about or have never tried fundido, you need to stop everything you’re doing right now and get in the kitchen. Okay, now that I think about it, it’s probably a bad idea that I’m making this at home now. It’s all I’m going to be eating for the next couple of weeks. Help! (But don’t help).

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Potato Tacos

October 14, 2013

My oldest sister tends to not eat meat from time to time, and from time to time I mean like every day. Something I’ve had to come to terms with and accept. Oh she’s not strictly vegetarian or anything like that. She just prefers to torture me by not eating meat or chicken or pork. Talk about total weirdo. Gosh how embarrassing, I can’t believe we’re related. Alien alert. I kid, of course. There’s nothing wrong with being vegetarian. Insert my mother telling me, “be careful what you say because you’ll probably end up married to a vegetarian for the rest of your life.” And as luck would have it, I’m smitten with a vegetarian, go figure. Thanks mom! If I didn’t love meat and chicken and pork myself, basically all foods, I’d be one too. I just wouldn’t have the will power or strength to give up certain things like bacon and pepperoni. Did I mention bacon? My sister does have a soft spot for seafood though, which makes up for it I guess, but that’s a whole other story for another time.

Said sister also happens to really love potatoes. One time, she even went as far as to say that she could eat potatoes everyday, in every which way imaginable. It went something like this, “I could eat potatoes every day, in every which way imaginable.” Whoa just like that. She’s the type of person who could eat mashed potatoes with a side of fries and potato salad and not care about what people think. On Thanksgiving she pretty much only eats mashed potatoes and gives thanks to the people who invented mashed potatoes. Talk about climbing Mt. Starch, but you know what, I’m okay with that. Mostly because I’d be right there with her eating all those potatoes until the end of time. Although I’d have a side of tater tots on top of all them other taters on my plate. We’re potato loving people, what can I say? Perhaps in another life I was a potato? I was going to say potato farmer but somehow potato came out and I was too lazy to fix it. Maybe I was a potato though. I’d probably make a good potato too, just give me a couch and stand back. Ba rum bum pisshh. If I was a potato in my past life—which I’m not saying I was but I’m not saying I wasn’t either because you never know—I was most definitely probably a russet potato because let’s be honest, good ol’ russets are the best potatoes. We grow big and are perfect baked and stuffed with sour cream and butter and cheese and bacon and chives served with a gigantic steak on the side. Yes I did just say “we.” Us fellow potatoes that is.

I wish I could say I invented potato tacos. Mostly because I’d be rich and famous and people would love me and my name would be synonymous with a totally delicious dish that involved potatoes—something I was in my past life, did you know that? But also because I might’ve already told people I invented potato tacos which isn’t necessarily true. I mean, Jonathan Melendez Potato Taco Inventor just sounds so cool, right? That’s what my business cards say. The first time I had potato tacos, actually, was when I was younger. My potato-loving sister dated a guy whose mother made amazing potato tacos. In my opinion she should have stayed with the man just for that alone, but that’s neither here nor there. Anyhow like I was saying, my sister’s boyfriend’s mother knew how to get down with potatoes and subsequently changed my potato obsessed life forever. Cut to me now telling people I invented potato tacos and was a potato in my past life. Just you wait until my high school reunion rolls around. I’ll totally spread those lies like no one’s business. I’ll also exit the reunion in a helicopter, right after my big dance finale. And if you get that movie reference, you and I are now best friends. Let’s have potato tacos for dinner, yes? I’ll tell you all about how I invented potato tacos and what life was like for me in Idaho as a russet potato.

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Grilled Chicken Tortilla Soup

February 27, 2012

Southern California weather is a fickle thing. It enjoys to play games on us. One where we lose and it wins. Winter was something that we didn’t even recognize this year. It was something that just didn’t occur for us. It came and went as fast as the holidays did. Any and all ideas of bundling up in warm clothing, sitting next to the fire drinking hot cocoa this “cold” season, was taken away from our minds, ripped out by the heat and blazing sun. The temperatures rose and dropped with each passing day. The heat is something we have all just grown accustomed to. Shorts were never fully put away, what was stashed deep in our closets, however, were our heavy jackets and coats. There is no place for those here in Los Angeles. As Southern Californians, we’ve now adjusted to the warm climate. Walking down the streets we hear fellow Angelenos say things like “There really was no winter this year” Or “Where did the cold go?” Temperatures of high 70’s and mid 80’s are something we are all too familiar with. They are welcomed here with open arms, for the most part. Another excuse to drop everything and have ourselves a beach day. Those are the bright sunny days we are known for.

And yet some people say we are spoiled. They make it known, that we don’t know what cold is. We’re often told, “Humidity, now that’s a problem. Call me when you deal with that in California” or “Snow. You don’t know what cold is until your stuck at home with ten feet of snow outside!” The truth of the matter is that, yes 90% of the time the weather here is what some might call beautiful and ideal, but that doesn’t take away from the days when 100° dry heat in the middle of February just doesn’t cut it. In turn, we’re left to yearn for those cold gloomy days. When overcast surprises us, and the clouds come over the mountains close together in dark gray patches, and we can’t help but feel a bit of excitement starting to tingle our bodies. We find ourselves making excuses to go outside and walk in the cold chilly air. Umbrellas aren’t something we want to carry. No. We want to enjoy the rain as much as possible. Heaven knows it only comes once a year. Might as well enjoy it while we can. We walk down the streets all bundled up with rain boots as if this were the coldest day we’ll ever get for the rest of our lives, and in a way it is.

The rain starts to fall. Slowly and steadily, tiny droplets of water dance all around us. The pavement begins to moisten and that glorious rainy day smell lifts throughout the air. It surprises us. It catches us off guard. It impairs our ability to drive or function. Yes, we do act as if we’ve never seen rain before, but in the end, we love it. We live for these days. We thrive in them. The rain is something we accept with happily. And although, we make a big deal about a tiny bit of water, what with news stories of “2012 Storm Watch” flashing every 15 minutes, we don’t want it to end. The rain gives us an excuse to do all the things we don’t normally do. Like make a big pot of soup to warm us up. A soup chock full of nutritional farmer’s market vegetables, this is California after all, with flavor profiles to knock your socks off. Vegetables, hearty pieces of grilled white meat chicken, tomatoes, simmering in a delicious chicken stock, topped with with crispy strips of tortillas, melted cheese and avocados all come together in a perfect heart warming dish. So when those rainy days are upon us, and come at us from out of nowhere without a single warning, I’ll be here ready, spoon in hand.

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