Mexican Barbacoa

Barbacoa is one of my favorite Mexican meals! I have been wanting to make it at home for a while, but I was never sure how. For Christmas, Jaime and I received a crock pot from my parents. While looking up recipes online, I found a simple recipe for barbacoa. So I decided to try and make it, but I changed the recipe up a little to make it a little more authentic. We loved it! Even my kids ate it! My Mexican husband said it was good, too! Here is the recipe....

Ingredients:

• 4lb boneless beef roast (I used chuck roast), fat trimmed.
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar (the original recipe called for white vinegar, but apple cider vinegar is more common in Mexico)
• 6 TBSP lime juice, fresh squeezed
• 1/2 can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (approx 6 peppers)
• 6 cloves garlic
• 2 TBSP ground cumin
• 1 TBSP ground black pepper
• 1 TBSP salt
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 5 bay leaves
• 1 1/2 cups beef stock

Instructions:

1. Place the meat in a crock pot.

2. Combine vinegar, lime juice, chipotle peppers and adobo sauce, garlic, cumin, oregano, black pepper, salt and cloves. Process ingredients in a food processor or blender until very smooth.

3. Pour the blended sauce over the meat and add the beef stock and bay leaves. (The meat should be half covered by the beef stock)

4. Cover and simmer for 6 or more hours on low heat until very tender. The meat should pull apart easily, similar to the meat in a pulled pork barbecue sandwich.

5. Serve on tortillas. Garnish with chopped onion and cilantro if desired. Enjoy!

Arroz Con Pollo

What You'll Need....

Chicken

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 broiler-fryer chicken, about 2 1/2-3 pounds, cut into serving pieces, or 2 1/2 to 3 pounds of chicken thighs

or breasts, bone-in, with skin on, rinsed and patted dry

1/2 cup of flour for dredging

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Paprika

Rice

2 tablespoons olive oil (can use up to 1/4 cup)

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

2 cups of medium or long-grain white rice

3 cups* chicken stock

1 heaping tablespoon tomato paste or 1 cup of diced fresh or cooked tomatoes, strained

Pinch of oregano

1 teaspoon salt

*Check the instructions on the rice package for the proportions of liquid to rice. They can range from 1:1 to 2:1. If your rice calls for 2 cups of water for every cup of rice, then for this recipe, use 4 cups of stock for 2 cups of rice.

How to Make It....

1 Heat 3 Tbsp olive oil in a large skillet (a skillet that has a cover) on medium high heat. Put the flour in a wide bowl, mix in a generous sprinkling of salt, pepper, and paprika. Dredge the chicken pieces lightly in the flour mixture and put in the pan to brown. (You can skip the flour dredging part if you want. It just makes a nicer coating for the chicken.) Cook a few minutes on each side, just enough so that the chicken has browned. Use a slotted spoon to remove from pan and set aside.

2 Add the rice to the pan to brown. Add a little more olive oil if necessary. Stir first to coat the rice with the olive oil in the pan. Then don't stir too much or you will prevent it from browning. Let it brown and then stir a little to let more of it brown. Then add the onion and garlic. Cook the onion, garlic and rice mixture, stirring frequently, until the onions have softened, about 4 minutes.

3 Place the chicken pieces, skin-side up, on top of the rice. In a separate bowl, mix together the stock, tomato, salt, and oregano. Pour the stock mixture over the rice and chicken. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat to low, and cover. Let cook for 20-25 minutes, depending on the type of rice and the instructions on the rice package, until the rice and chicken are done. Fluff the rice with a fork. If you want you can sprinkle with some peas. Add more salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 4-6.

Yummy, Enjoy!

Guacamole

Guacamole is one of our favorites around here. It works well as a side dish, an appetizer, or just a snack. It's also very easy to make! I don't really measure anything when I make guacamole and I add and take out ingredients all the time. This is the basic recipe I use though, but you can definitely add other things or take out the things you don't like.

What You'll Need....

Roma Tomatos

One Onion

Avocados

Fresh Cilantro

Jalapeno (optional)

Limes

Salt

How to Make It....

I usually use 1-2 roma tomatos, diced. About half or less of an onion, diced. Add cilantro and salt to taste. We usually eat ours with jalapeno, but like I said - it's optional. I usually use about 2 avacados (usually 1 per person), smash them up and mix the other ingredients in. Add in lime juice to taste, I usually use about 2 limes because I like a lot of lime flavor in mine.

Chicken Enchilada Ring

What You'll Need:

2 cups cooked chicken

1/4 cup chopped block olives

1 cup cheddar cheese

1 small can chopped chilies, undrained

1/2 cup sour cream

1 package taco seasoning

2 rolls of crescent rolls

1 small chopped tomato

1 lime (juice)

2/3 cup finely crushed tortilla chips

What You Need To Do....

1. Chop chicken and add olives, cheese, chilies, sour cream and taco mix. Seed and chop 1 tomato and add 2 tablespoons lime juice; add to chicken mixture. Reserve 2 Tblsp. crushed chips and add remaining chips to mixture.

2.Unroll crescent dough and separate triangles. Arrange on round baking stone or cookie sheet making a circle with wide ends OVERLAPPING in the center and points toward outside. There should be a 5 inch diameter opening in the center.

3. Spread chicken mixture evenly onto widest end of each triangle.

4. Bring points of triangles up and over filling and tuck under wide ends of dough at the center of the ring.

Sprinkle with 2 Tblsp. crushed chips. ( I put shredded cheese all on top!)

5. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes. Garnish with tomato and serve with salsa and sour cream.

Enjoy!

Coca-Cola Cake

I made this yesterday for the first time, and I have to tell you that this is probably my new favorite dessert! It is very rich and sweet, and not low-fat in any way shape or form. =)

What You'll Need....

(For the cake)

1 cup Coke

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 cup butter, softenened

1 3/4 cups sugar

2 large eggs, slightly beaten

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows

How to make it....

(For the cake)

Preheat oven to 350. Combine coke and buttermilk.

Beat butter at slow speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until blended. Add eggs and vanilla/ beat at low speed until blended.

Combine flour, cocoa, and baking soda. Add to butter mixture alternately with coke mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed until blended after each addition. Stir in marshmallows. Pour batter into a greased and floured 13x9 inch pan.

Bake at 350 for 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from oven. Cool for 10 minutes.

Pour Classic Coke frosting over warm cake. (Sprinkle with toated pecans - optional)

What you'll need....

(For the Classic Coke icing)

1/2 cup butter

1/3 cup Coke

3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa

1 16oz package powered sugar (confectioners sugar)

1 tbsp vanilla extract

How to make it....

(For the Classic Coke icing)

Bring first 3 ingredients to boil in a saucepan over medium heat.

Remove from heat; whisk in sugar and vanilla. Use immediately.

Beef Enchiladas

For this recipe you could use either flour or corn tortillas. I was kind of in a hurry, so I just used flour. If you choose to use corn, I reccomend frying them in oil first.

What you'll need....

1lb ground beed

1 small onion, chopped

1 can of chopped, black olives

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

1 can of Enchilada sauce

8 oz. of shredded cheddar cheese

6-8 flour tortillas

How to do it....

Brown the meat and sautee the onions with it. Once that is done, add the olives and let it heat. Then add 3/4 of the cheese and let it melt. Mix it all together.

Fill the tortillas with the meat mixture and roll them up. Place them in a baking pan. Combine the cream of mushroom soup and the Enchilada sauce and pour over top. Top with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

I served this with Mexican rice (I'll share that recipe later), and refried beans. Yum!

ENJOY!

Paula Deen's Grilled Pork Tenderloin

Marinade:

1/2 cup soy sauce

2 oranges, juices

1 lime, juiced

1/2 cup tamarind concentrate (I couldn't find this - so I just skipped it!)

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 tablespoon chopped scallions

1 pork tenderloin (about 12oz)

Olive oil, for brushing

Combine marinade ingredients in a measuring cup and stir to combine. Place the pork tenderloin in a plastic sealable bag (I used a Pyrex bowl with a lid). Pour marinade over the tenderloin and seal the bag. Marinate overnight in the fridge.

Preheat an outdoor grill or preheat oven to 350 degress.

Remove pork tenderloin from marinade and pat dry. Brush olive oil onto grill and over meat for extra flavor. Reserve marinade. Grill tenderloin until cooked through, about 30 minutes to 40 minutes over medium heat. Or roast in oven for 35 to 45 minutes. Allow meat to rest about 10 minutes before cutting into 2-inch serving pieces.

While meat is grilling, bring reserved marinade to a boil in a small saucepan, then lower the heat and gently simmer until it is reduced to about 2 tablespoons. Stir occasionally. Drizzle a small amount of marinade over each piece of meat.


This is my favorite pork tenderloin recipe, the meat is always so tender! Enjoy!