To make with Masa

 I have been wanting to make tamales and pupusas since the beginning of the pandemic, so I found these recipes.

Pupusas : https://tasty.co/recipe/salvadoran-pupusas-as-made-by-curly-and-his-abuelita

I think I did pretty good for my first try. I filled them with refried beans and cheese. I also liked the slaw.

Update on 12/2024 I forgot I made these before and I followed https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/recipes/pupusas/, which is roughly the same, just a smaller serving. I used Oaxaca string cheese for the filling and I tried some homemade refried beans, but they were a little runny. Curtido was from https://www.food.com/recipe/curtido-de-repollo-el-salvadorean-cabbage-salad-207798

Tamales (not made on the same day...)

I made three types. Sweet corn -https://www.mexicoinmykitchen.com/easy-sweet-corn-tamales-recipe/

bean and cheese, and (soy) chorizo-https://www.veganblueberry.com/vegan-tamales/

The sweet corn ones, I only made 1/3 of the recipe, and it was just enough for the kids, but there were no leftovers. Then I made the other recipe fully.  There were lots of leftovers which I put in the freezer! I steamed them in two batches in the instant pot. It took a little longer than I expected but seemed to work pretty well.

 I didn't use any stock, and I think that would have made the dough more flavorful. Otherwise it was a success. 

Rice Cooker Mexican Rice

We had an impromptu dinner with my sister and threw together some burritos. I cooked some Rancho Gordo San Franciscano beans in the IP and also the standard refried beans for E, but the highlight was the rice. E requested Spanish/Mexican rice, so we searched for recipes online. My last attempt  at Spanish rice years ago was a bit of a flop that tasted way too tomato-y. I hadn't re-attempted since!
E found one recipe, but it didn't appeal to me. The directions used a microwave, which we don't have, and it said it would take 30-40 minutes. My sister found an Instant Pot recipe, but since the beans were still cooking, I decided to go rogue and just use the rice cooker. I thought it turned out pretty good and even E complemented the rice.

We roughly followed the recipe from Tastes Better From Scratch in terms of ingredients, but here are the details used:

2 Tbsp olive oil
1.5 Cups white rice, we just used the short-grain rice we normally have, didn't have long-grain rice
1/4 onion, this was probably about 1/4-1/3 cup finely diced
2 garlic cloves
2 large/Med-large tomatoes finely diced
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1/4-1/2 tsp salt or to taste
1/8-1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper or to taste
1 Tbsp cilantro finely chopped

1. Saute the rice, onion, and garlic in oil in a saute pan for about 3-5 minutes until the onion and garlic become soft.
2. Transfer rice mix to the rice cooker, add the tomatoes, tomato paste, salt, and pepper with enough water to cook -I added water up to the "2" line in the rice cooker bowl. It was probably about 1-1.5 cups of water.
3. Set rice cooker to regular rice setting, on our Zojirushi, it is Reg/Sushi setting, and press start.
4. When rice cycle finishes remove bowl from cooker, add cilantro, and mix. Add any salt or pepper to taste.

If you want to make it spicier, you could probably add in some chopped jalapenos with the tomatoes, but we had some spice-averse kiddos who would be eating as well.

Enfrijoladas

I'm catching up with new food and recipes I've tried over the past few months. This was another recommendation that came from my Facebook dinner group. I jumped on the Rancho Gordo Bean Club membership and needed something to use up the beans before the next shipment. Someone posted this recipe for Enfrijoladas, which are basically bean and cheese enchiladas. I think I used some pinto beans, or maybe Rio Zape beans. Either way, these are delicious and they came together very quickly with my stick blender!
I definitely toned down the chipotle peppers so my daughter would at least try them, but I would definitely make these again.

IP Chipotle Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili

I made this for a work pot luck, and many people said that it was good. I don't think I can make it at home, though because the chipotle peppers were a little spicy. The flavors were really good though!

Ingredients:
2 T olive oil
3/4 large yellow onion chopped
3 garlic cloves chopped
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp cumin (I used whole seeds b/c that's what I had, but would have preferred to use ground)
28 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 tomato can of water
1/4 cup tomato paste
28 oz can black beans or 2 cups cooked beans
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
5 chipotle peppers, chopped (I used from a can San Marcos brand)
1 cup frozen corn
Salt
Pepper

Directions

1. In IP, use Saute function to saute onion and garlic in olive oil until soft and translucent. Add spices and saute for a minute or two more.
2. Add tomatoes, water, tomato paste, beans, sweet potatoes, and chipotle peppers.
3. Set IP to HP for 8 minutes. Natural release
4. Add corn, and salt and pepper to taste

Stuffed green peper

I've made this before, see previous post, but this was fairly quick and helped use up some CSA veggies:
2 cups cooked rice
about 1 cup cooked chickpeas
about 1 teaspoon cumin
about 1/2-1 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste
cayenne pepper to taste
one medium tomato chopped
1/2 cup green pepper chopped
3 cloves garlic chopped
small white onion chopped
two veggie Italian sausages, chopped
two med-large green peppers cut in half with seeds and ribs removed
about 1 cup cheddar cheese, grated

Saute the onion, garlic and green pepper in olive oil until soft, add in the sausages until warmed through.
Mix all the ingredients (except the cheese and host peppers) in a bowl.
Put some cheese in the bottom of the pepper "bowl" then put the filling and top with cheese.
Bake at 350deg F for 20-30 min or until the pepper bowl is soft/cooked.

I thought it turned out great, but E thought it would taste better with the morningstar sausages instead. I'll try it with that next time

Black bean and Spinach Enchiladas

The next thing I have been craving is enchiladas! I wish I had done a little more prep last night. Making the sauce and filling ahead of time would have helped get dinner on the table a little earlier tonight. The last enchilada sauce I made was a bit too spicy for Leela, so I looked for something different. I found this sauce recipe and I think it's a keeper. It could probably also be made in the IP, but I did it on the stovetop today. Instead of the salsa, I chopped 1-1/2 tomatoes I bought for something else I hadn't made yet and didn't want them to go bad. I also used way less chili powder than the recipe called for, 1/2 teaspoon.
I also followed this recipe for spinach and black bean enchiladas. I didn't use the sauce portion, obviously, skipped the jalapeño, added cheese inside and sprinkled on top, and used flour tortillas. I really liked how they turned out! Everyone else seemed to like them too.

Salsa Verde

I got tomatillos in the CSA share a couple weeks ago, so I thought I would try to make some salsa verde. There are lots of recipes online, but I went with Cookie & Kate's Salsa Verde.
I followed it pretty much to the letter, I may have omitted the jalepenos, but I can't remember now.
We had it with some quesadillas and I thought it was very good. Ebon didn't like it, but Leela readily dipped her chips in it.
I had some leftover, so I froze it. I think I'll try to make some Enchilada Verde sometime in the near future. Or maybe I'll make some breakfast burritos and put it on. The possibilities are many!

Pinto bean and veggie enchiladas

I was inspired by this recipe using sauce I had frozen from my last foray into enchiladas.
I added some carrots, a small zucchini, some cilantro I had on hand, and garlic scapes, and Cheese of course! It would have been eaten even less if it didn't have cheese.
I thought it turned out pretty well, but, as is the norm, I was the only one who enjoyed them.
I made them the night before, which was helpful since I had an interview and all I had to do was turn on the oven, grate some cheese and put it all in. I think the downfall though, was that the bottom of the tortillas which contacted the sauce got a bit soggy. It wasn't an issue for me, but if I was to make this for guests, I think I'd skip the sauce on the bottom if preparing ahead of time.
The sauce was a little spicy, but Leela didn't even try it, so I'm not sure if she'd eat it or not.

Enchiladas

I made enchiladas using this sauce and a recipe I can't find anymore, but it definitely included spinach. I thought they turned out great. I probably used more cheese than the recipe called for. The sauce is a little spicy, so I put minimal amounts on Leela's. Leftover sauce is in the freezer for future use!

Quesadilla

Last night we had quesadillas for dinner. Ebon suggested it after his nightly request for Pizza, and I thought it was a great idea!
I used the largest burrito tortillas which became problematic when trying to flip the quesadilla. The tortillas fit in our largest frying pan-barely, but trying to turn it over without spilling everything required using 2 plates. Even with my aids, I folded and spilled the tortilla and it's contents, respectively. As I said, it wasn't pretty, but it was delicious!

2 tortillas
3 green onions, chopped-white and green parts separated
1/2 red pepper, chopped (CSA)
2 medium tomatillos, chopped (CSA)
1/2 16oz can of black beans or ~1cup cooked
1-1.5 cups cheddar cheese shredded

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Cassarole

As always, I was struggling with what to make for dinner. I was in the mood for beans. I had black beans, kidney beans and white beans in the freezer. Black beans won out and a little Internet searching lead me to a recipe for a pumpkin and black bean casserole, so I used that as inspiration. I had sweet potatoes on hand, so that replaced the pumpkin and I pulled other stuff out of my freezer to add in.

2 cups black beans
One 28oz can of chopped tomatoes with the juice
5 cloves of garlic chopped small
6 green onions, white and green parts separated
1 cup corn (I used frozen)
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon of salt (or to taste)
black pepper to taste
1 red pepper roasted
one sweet potato sliced thinly (~1/8")
4-8 oz shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 425degF. Combine the beans, tomatoes, garlic, white parts of the green onion, corn, spices, and salt and pepper in a bowl and mix.
Spray a 9" x 13" pan with oil or non-stick spray. Pour half of the bean mixture in the pan, spread half of the sweet potatoes in one layer. Layer on half of the cheese. Then follow with the remaining bean mixture, the roasted red pepper, and finish with a single layer of the rest of the sweet potato. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover, spread the remaining amount of cheese on top and bake for another 20-30 minutes until the liquid has thickened and the cheese is golden brown.
Sprinkle the green parts of the green onion over the casserole.

I was very happy how it turned out. The flavors melded well. The only thing I would change is to chop up the red pepper and combine with the bean ingredients. Ebon seemed to like it well enough. He ate it with some corn tortilla chips. I will try to make it again if I have all the ingredients.

Chilaquiles

Again, my favorite cookbook, Quick Vegetarian Pleasures to the rescue for our Sunday night meal.


Chilaquiles, as far as I understand from the cookbook and what I've had in restaurants they are kind of like a Mexican Lasagna or casserole. Also, typically they are made using up on-hand ingredients before they go bad. That's what I did when I made them on Sunday.
I'm in the process of trying to clear out stuff that has been in our freezer for quite some time - the pumpkin from the Pumpkin Mac and Cheese was from the fall and just needed to get used. In the chilaquiles, I used up some hot peppers, beans, corn tortillas, 1/2 package of Trader Joe's Soy Chorizo and some fresh tomatoes that I got on reduced sale that were destined for the freezer or needed to be used immediately.

Olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, diced
the recipe calls for a large can of diced tomatoes, but I used the reduced-sale Roma tomatoes, probably about 2 lbs worth or so
2 cups of cooked beans, I used black beans and white kidney beans, the recipe calls for a 15oz can of kidney beans
1/2 green pepper, finely chopped
1-2 hot peppers, again the recipe calls for canned diced green chilies
1/2 package of Trader Joe's Soy Chorizo (not in the original recipe)
12 corn tortillas
~2 cups or 8oz of shredded cheese, the recipe calls for Monterrey jack, but I used cheddar
1 cup of sour cream

In a hot large skillet over medium heat, add ~2 tablespoons of oil and fry the onions and garlic until soft, ~5-10 min. Then add the tomatoes, peppers and chorizo. Simmer until thickened.

In a 9" x 13" pan spread about 1/3 of the sauce on the bottom of the pan, top with 1/2 the tortillas, 1/2 the sour cream, 1/2 of the cheese, and the second 1/3 of sauce. Top that with the remaining tortillas, sour cream, sauce and finish with the rest of the cheese.
Bake at 350degF for 30-40 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

I'm not sure if it was the chorizo or the hot peppers, but it came out slightly spicy, but very good.

Stuffed Peppers

I went to the grocery store today in search of fresh fruits and veggies. I walked away with 4 peppers that were on the "quick sale" rack. While driving home, I realized I could make a stuffed pepper for dinner.

two servings of rice ~3-4cups cooked?
1 cup black beans
1 cup corn (I used frozen)
1/2 of 28 oz can of chopped tomatoes
~2 teaspoons oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt (I probably could have put more in)
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder (propbably could have used fresh)
2 green onions
Combine together all ingredients until mixed.
Cut the tops off 4 peppers, I used yellow in this case.
I chopped up the good parts from the "top" and added them into the rice mixture.
I put a large pinch of shredded cheddar cheese at the bottom of the pepper, then added a spoonful of rice mixture, a little more cheese and then filled up the pepper with the rice mix. Repeat for all 4 peppers.
Place all 4 peppers on a cookie sheet and bake at 375deg F for 30-40 min or until the peppers are soft.
sprinkle a little more cheese on top and put under the broiler on low and broil until the cheese is melted.

Taco Tuesday

We call them burritos, but they aren't anything like what you'd get in Chipotle or Anna's Taqueria. I think they are closer to tacos, but either way they are tasty and a quick meal for a weeknight.
Ebon has a preference for the canned refried beans. I don't know why, and I've tried several times making my own refried beans only to be greeted by a grunt, that they are "OK."

15oz can of refried beans (vegetarian)
2 green chilies diced
warmed up on the stove

For the rest of the toppings, I tried to whittle down some of the items in our fridge from the most recent CSA delivery:
tomatoes
lettuce
cilantro
tomatillos
cheddar cheese (not from the CSA, but Cabot cheddar is sorta local and super yummy)

Put it all together on a "burrito" flour tortilla and you have our taco burritos!