A Night in Mexico

Last night we had our two neighbors over for dinner. Our theme was Mexico! Here is what we had!!

These beef enchiladas are awesome!! I'm not even a beef enchilada fan and I will NEVER order them at restaurants but these baby's I will EAT!! I found this recipe about a year ago and made them but when everyone was saying how good they were I had to try and man were they right these are the best!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/simple-perfect-enchiladas-recipe.html

This Chorizo Chicken I never made before but it was one of those recipes I pinned and looked awesome so I figured our dinner party was an excellent time to try it. I only used 4 chicken breasts because mine were big and I didn't use any cheese! This was a very good recipe.

http://www.mykitchenescapades.com/2012/10/chorizo-chicken-bake.html

This Ropa Vieja is awesome every time I make it people ask for the recipe. 

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cuban-Ropa-Vieja

I use a 4lb Chuck Roast instead of 2 lbs of Beef Flank Steak and I double the whole recipe. The last hour I take out some of the juice and shred the meat. I then add 3-4 Tbsp of Brown Sugar and stir. Its excellent!

These are my doctored up Pinto Beans.

http://meganscookingandentertainment.blogspot.com/2015/01/doctored-up-pinto-beans.html

This corn was also a recipe I tryed for the first time yesterday.OMG I'm so glad I did its amazing!!! The only thing I will do differently next time is double it ;) It is a dip but I served as a side dish :)

http://damndelicious.net/2014/07/28/mexican-corn-dip/

It was a chilly day and since we don't get many chilly days here in Texas I had to make something for the occasion so I made this Taco Stew another first! 

http://www.ohsweetbasil.com/taco-stew.html

This is my boyfriends recipe for Pico De Gallo! I will post one of these days but pretty much my boy just throws it all together and it always tastes PERFECT!

This is also my boyfriends recipe for Guacamole. Again hes really good at what he does he throws it together and you have PERFECTION!

For this Picadillo I had this recipe http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016814-picadillo but I did change a lot to fit our preferences.

I have used a lot of Mexican Dip/Taco Dip/7 Layer dip recipes but no more searching I found this amazing one of course Pioneer Woman's I did add stuff to the sour cream layer  I added 4 oz cream cheese and a packet of taco seasoning other then that I followed the recipe and it was great!!

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/01/mexican-layer-dip/

These cookies I came about a few months back I was actually just in a gas station but they had a stand with some cookies they looked yummy and I love cinnamon so I knew I had to try...OMG were they good. I have been looking for a good recipe and yesterday I found it! By the way these taste soooo good with Hot Chocolate!

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Polvorones-de-Canele-Cinnamon-Cookies

The last thing was the Sopapilla Cheesecake Pie! Easy and Delicious. This always comes out just right! I love these!

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sopapilla-Cheesecake-Pie

Last night everything really turned out Delicious. We had a great dinner with great neighbors!

Jalapenos' Spinach Enchiladas

Here is the 2nd part of the dinner we had last night. The main course. I'm going to say this even though I'm posting it. It wasn't one of my favorites. It was one of my moms though :) Here are a a few of the things I disliked way too much cilantro in the sauce ( my mom said not enough haha) The sauce was a little runny not too much but I did use Fat Free Half and Half as I do that a lot in recipes and never have a problem and save a lot of fat so that might have been the reason though in this case it was a little runny. (After I baked it was fine) Also the majority of my family all except my mom don't eat mushrooms so I omitted them and then you just get a lot of spinach but the filling actually was very good!! Now on to the recipe...I'm posting the exact recipe Ill make notes on what I did again so you know. If you like cilantro and spinach then you will probley love these. If you don't like cilantro and spinach you wont like these!! I got this recipe from Food.com here's the link. http://www.food.com/recipe/jalapenos-spinach-enchiladas-173100

 Things you will need:

4 (10 ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach or 4 bunches fresh spinach, cooked ( I had bigger bags so I cooked 3 of them but didn't use it all)

2 Tbs chopped garlic

1 Large Onion (we used a big piece of a large onion)

1 lb fresh mushrooms (omitted)

1 Tbs butter

2 slices white bread, crusts removed

salt

2 tsp white pepper ( i didn't have any on hand so just used black)

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp chili powder

2 eggs

2 cups grated Monterrey jack and cheddar cheese blend ( i used Monterrey jack and a Mexican blend)

10-12 flour tortillas

First cook the spinach according to the package directions,if using frozen.

While spinach is cooking, combine garlic, onion and mushrooms in food processor, and process until coarsely chopped.

 Melt Butter in saute pan, and saute onion mixture until onion is translucent. Remove Pan from heat and set aside.

 Make bread crumbs in food processor from sliced bread. Add Spinach,salt,pepper,nutmeg,chili powder and eggs. Process until blended thoroughly.

 Transfer to mixing bowl, and stir in onion mixture and 6 Tbs cheese.  Preheat broiler. I didn't I just put the oven on 450 and baked for 10 minutes because I had to whip of the salad real quick so I wanted to keep them warm so figured bake instead of broil :)

 Spoon a portion of filling onto each tortilla and roll it up. Place each enchilada in casserole dish, seam side down. Repeat until you've used up filling.

 For the Cilantro Cream Sauce you need:

3 cups Half and Half ( I used Fat Free)

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tbs cornstarch, plus

2 tsp cornstarch, dissolved in a small amount of cold water

3 cups of chopped Cilantro

 Mix Half and Half,cayenne,salt and a little of the dissolved cornstarch in medium saucepan, and heat until thickened.

The sauce should be creamy, not runny,add more cornstarch mixture as necessary. Take off the heat and stir in cilantro.

 Pour cream sauce over tortillas, and sprinkle with the remaining cheese ( I used a little more we like our cheese) Broil until cheese melts and turns a nice golden color. I baked for 10 minutes on 450 degrees.

This was a good dinner. Too much Cilantro for me but other than that I would make again!!