Mexican Recipes:
Grocery List:
Less than a quarter of the smallest tub of lard I could find at $1.79/tub: $.40
Half of a small bag of masa (basically Mexican cornmeal) at $1.99/bag: $1
6 dozen corn tortillas: $2.39
10 flour tortillas: $2.09
Cheapest bag of corn chips: $1.99
3 oz dried chilis—use whatever is cheapest, but I think anchos are the bomb!:
$1.99
One package of corn husks: $1.99
3 lbs of pinto beans: $.99 (yes, they are 33 cents a pound if bought in the huge
bags)
1 lb black beans: $.99
3 lb of rice: 90 cents
London Broil, on sale at $1.99 a pound: $4.78
10 lb. bag of chicken leg quarters: $4.99
1 ½ lbs broccoli at 89 cents a pound: $1.35
3 onions: $1.19
2 heads of lettuce: $1.98
1 lb of tomatoes: $.99
1 bunch of cilantro (optional, but yummy!): $.89
1 small can of green chilies: $.69
1 large can of enchilada sauce: $1.59
#10 can of fruit cocktail in juice: $2.69
Assorted spices from my spice cabinet: $.50 at most. Use whatever is in your
pantry!
Oil and vinegar for various functions: $.50
1 container sour cream: $1.39
1 container salsa: $1.99
2 lbs of cheddar cheese: $2.49
1 lb frozen corn: $.99
Total: $44.73, or $5.59 a meal for eight meals. These are reasonable grocery
store prices; buying the specialty Mexican foods and produce at ethnic markets
will save at least another five dollars a week.
Recipes:
Easy Carne Asada, Rice, Steamed Broccoli
Poke a 2 ½ lb. London broil all over both sides with a fork. Marinate for a few hours
in a mixture of oil and vinegar with a few pinches each of garlic powder, onion
powder, cumin, chili powder, and fresh cilantro-feel free to improvise! Grill over a
BBQ or an indoor grill like any old steak. When it is cooked to your preference,
serve thinly sliced on a platter. I served it with rice and steamed broccoli—yum!
Make ahead tip: I made twice as much rice as I actually needed, so there were
leftovers for Monday night. Also, soak pinto beans for tomorrow.
Grocery List:
Less than a quarter of the smallest tub of lard I could find at $1.79/tub: $.40
Half of a small bag of masa (basically Mexican cornmeal) at $1.99/bag: $1
6 dozen corn tortillas: $2.39
10 flour tortillas: $2.09
Cheapest bag of corn chips: $1.99
3 oz dried chilis—use whatever is cheapest, but I think anchos are the bomb!:
$1.99
One package of corn husks: $1.99
3 lbs of pinto beans: $.99 (yes, they are 33 cents a pound if bought in the huge
bags)
1 lb black beans: $.99
3 lb of rice: 90 cents
London Broil, on sale at $1.99 a pound: $4.78
10 lb. bag of chicken leg quarters: $4.99
1 ½ lbs broccoli at 89 cents a pound: $1.35
3 onions: $1.19
2 heads of lettuce: $1.98
1 lb of tomatoes: $.99
1 bunch of cilantro (optional, but yummy!): $.89
1 small can of green chilies: $.69
1 large can of enchilada sauce: $1.59
#10 can of fruit cocktail in juice: $2.69
Assorted spices from my spice cabinet: $.50 at most. Use whatever is in your
pantry!
Oil and vinegar for various functions: $.50
1 container sour cream: $1.39
1 container salsa: $1.99
2 lbs of cheddar cheese: $2.49
1 lb frozen corn: $.99
Total: $44.73, or $5.59 a meal for eight meals. These are reasonable grocery
store prices; buying the specialty Mexican foods and produce at ethnic markets
will save at least another five dollars a week.
Recipes:
Easy Carne Asada, Rice, Steamed Broccoli
Poke a 2 ½ lb. London broil all over both sides with a fork. Marinate for a few hours
in a mixture of oil and vinegar with a few pinches each of garlic powder, onion
powder, cumin, chili powder, and fresh cilantro-feel free to improvise! Grill over a
BBQ or an indoor grill like any old steak. When it is cooked to your preference,
serve thinly sliced on a platter. I served it with rice and steamed broccoli—yum!
Make ahead tip: I made twice as much rice as I actually needed, so there were
leftovers for Monday night. Also, soak pinto beans for tomorrow.
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
Refried bean tostadas, rice, frozen corn
Start the night before by soaking 3 lbs of pintos in a huge pot. If you don’t have one big enough, use two.
The next day, rinse them and return to the pot(s) with 2 large chopped onions. Fill with enough water to
cover the beans and onions plus another two or three inches. Boil covered for about 2 hours, until soft.
DO NOT DRAIN. By now, the beans should be soft and the water murky and slightly thickened. Add 2 ½
cups of lard and mash with a potato masher until smooth and well-mixed. Salt to taste. Let bubble over
low heat, stirring often, for a few hours, until it is thickened and tastes like refried beans.
**Lard and salt are optional, but definitely add to the flavor!
Put away a little more than half of the beans. Fry 2 dozen corn tortillas (or whatever you need) until crisp
in your favorite oil. Serve with bowls of grated cheese, chopped tomato, shredded lettuce, diced onion,
and a little cilantro. Let the family build their own! I also offered leftover rice and frozen corn, fresh from
the microwave.
Make ahead tip: If your 10 lb bag of chicken is an icy brick in the freezer, take it out to thaw tonight.
Chicken enchiladas, lettuce and tomato to top
Dump the ten pounds of chicken into a stock pot and boil for 3 or 4 hours, until cooked through and
starting to fall off the bone. Put a drainer or colander over a large bowl or pot, and drain the chicken. DO
NOT THROW AWAY THE BROTH. Let the chicken cool until it no longer scalds your fingers.
Here’s the gross part. Stick your hands in that colander of chicken and start separating it. Skin, bone,
gristle, and all of that other nastiness go in the trash. Actual chicken meat gets peeled off the bones
and shredded in another bowl. You’ll have a lot of chicken when you’re done, enough to make it worth
the twenty minutes of Fear Factor style ickiness. Split the chicken into three parts and freeze two. Pour a
little chicken broth over the remaining shredded chicken to moisten, then freeze the broth as well.
Warm a small frying or omelet pan over medium heat and pour in just enough of your favorite oil to
cover the bottom. One at a time, drop in your corn tortillas and flip them almost immediately. The point
is to soften them, not to fry them crisp. As you take out each tortillas, hold them over the pan for a few
seconds so they drip the oil back into it. Then, put a tablespoon or two of chicken in the tortilla, roll, and
place in a large casserole pan. Keep going until you have used about 2 dozen tortillas and all or most
of the meat—I filled one large pan and one small. Top with the can of enchilada sauce and a sprinkling
of cheese, then bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Serve with chopped tomato, shredded
lettuce, diced onion, salsa, and sour cream.
Taco salad with refried beans, fruit
Although not necessarily an authentic Mexican meal, taco salad is a staple at my house and thus could
not be left out of our week-long fiesta. We usually make it with taco-spiced hamburger, but I had a huge
pot of refried beans in the fridge. Never one to spend money on food when an acceptable substitute is
available, I replaced the meat with the beans.
That said, there is no real recipe for taco salad, at least not in my kitchen. I basically serve a huge bowl
of shredded lettuce (about a head), a protein (like refried beans or taco meat), and smaller bowls of
tomato, onion, cheese, sour cream, salsa, and other fixings. As with tostadas, we prepare our own
plate at the table. I like a bowl of fruit on the side-it just seems to go. If you’re tired of chopping, serve
canned.
Tamales, leftover chips, another 1/3 can of fruit
This recipe takes a bit of time, but it makes a ton of tamales! I ended up with enough for two meals, one
for the table and one for the freezer.
In the morning, take the frozen broth and one of your frozen packages of shredded chicken from
Tuesday to thaw. Later that day, put a package of corn husks in a bowl of water to soften. Leave them
there until needed. Next, put a 3 oz packet of dried chilies in a small saucepan and cover with water.
Boil until softened, then remove the stems and seeds. Put the chilies, the pot water, and a cup of broth
in the blender and pulverize. When completed blended, pour over your chicken. Mine came out soupy,
so I added some chopped onion. If you don't want a traditional chili taste, feel free to skip the ancho
sauce and season with your favorite spices.
Next, we make the masa, or corn mixture. Take out that bag of masa and measure four cups into a
large bowl. Add 3 cups of chicken broth. Use water when you run out of broth. Let it sit for a few minutes,
then mix. You may need to add up to a half-cup more liquid. It should be pasty and thick, but
spreadable. In another bowl, beat one cup of lard until it is fluffy. Add the masa mixture to it and mix well.
Now it should be very spreadable.
Drain those corn husks and shake them out, then have a good look at them. They should be shaped
somewhat like an elongated triangle. For our purposes, the wide end of the triangle is the top and the
pointy end is the bottom. You will spread the masa in a square at the top, about four or five inches to
each side. Put a tablespoon or two of your filling down the middle. Fold the left and right sides over the
filling to make a roll, then bring the skinny bottom part up last. It sounds complicated, but if you’ve ever
seen a tamale you will know what it should look like.
Traditionally, tamales are steamed for 1 or 2 hours, but I lack the patience to stand over a steamer that
long. I heated my oven to 350 degrees with a pan of water on the bottom rack. The tamales baked in
two large casserole pans for about 40 minutes and came out wonderfully. The masa was a little firmer
than the traditional, but no one noticed the difference. I served them with leftover chips and fruit from the
night before.
Chicken tacos, the rest of the refried beans
I hadn’t officially announced Mexican food week, but the natives were starting to catch on. I saved tacos
for the end because they are such a favorite, quelling the adolescent urge to whine, “Again?” Even
better, they can use any of a wide variety of ingredients, using up whatever I had in my refrigerator as
grocery shopping day grew dimmer on the horizon. To make my tacos, I thawed the last package of
chicken from the freezer and warmed it in a pan with taco spices and a little water. I fried the last 2
dozen tortillas and served them with the chicken as well as what was left of the lettuce, tomato, onion,
and condiments. We also had the last of the leftover refried beans, which, by the way, are better
warmed in a pan with a little water than nuked. It was an easy dinner and no one complained. Only one
day left!
Make ahead tip: Soak the black beans tonight.
Black bean soup, quesadillas, rest of fruit
Cook the black beans in water for an hour or until softened. Then, add the can of green chilies with all of
the liquid, half of a chopped onion, and spice with cumin, garlic, and taco spice to taste. I let it simmer,
adding water as needed, for another hour. Then, I made the simplest of quesadillas, just shredded
cheese and flour tortillas, and dumped the rest of the canned fruit into cute little cups. It was a simple,
easy, and delicious dinner, a fitting end to our week.
Start the night before by soaking 3 lbs of pintos in a huge pot. If you don’t have one big enough, use two.
The next day, rinse them and return to the pot(s) with 2 large chopped onions. Fill with enough water to
cover the beans and onions plus another two or three inches. Boil covered for about 2 hours, until soft.
DO NOT DRAIN. By now, the beans should be soft and the water murky and slightly thickened. Add 2 ½
cups of lard and mash with a potato masher until smooth and well-mixed. Salt to taste. Let bubble over
low heat, stirring often, for a few hours, until it is thickened and tastes like refried beans.
**Lard and salt are optional, but definitely add to the flavor!
Put away a little more than half of the beans. Fry 2 dozen corn tortillas (or whatever you need) until crisp
in your favorite oil. Serve with bowls of grated cheese, chopped tomato, shredded lettuce, diced onion,
and a little cilantro. Let the family build their own! I also offered leftover rice and frozen corn, fresh from
the microwave.
Make ahead tip: If your 10 lb bag of chicken is an icy brick in the freezer, take it out to thaw tonight.
Chicken enchiladas, lettuce and tomato to top
Dump the ten pounds of chicken into a stock pot and boil for 3 or 4 hours, until cooked through and
starting to fall off the bone. Put a drainer or colander over a large bowl or pot, and drain the chicken. DO
NOT THROW AWAY THE BROTH. Let the chicken cool until it no longer scalds your fingers.
Here’s the gross part. Stick your hands in that colander of chicken and start separating it. Skin, bone,
gristle, and all of that other nastiness go in the trash. Actual chicken meat gets peeled off the bones
and shredded in another bowl. You’ll have a lot of chicken when you’re done, enough to make it worth
the twenty minutes of Fear Factor style ickiness. Split the chicken into three parts and freeze two. Pour a
little chicken broth over the remaining shredded chicken to moisten, then freeze the broth as well.
Warm a small frying or omelet pan over medium heat and pour in just enough of your favorite oil to
cover the bottom. One at a time, drop in your corn tortillas and flip them almost immediately. The point
is to soften them, not to fry them crisp. As you take out each tortillas, hold them over the pan for a few
seconds so they drip the oil back into it. Then, put a tablespoon or two of chicken in the tortilla, roll, and
place in a large casserole pan. Keep going until you have used about 2 dozen tortillas and all or most
of the meat—I filled one large pan and one small. Top with the can of enchilada sauce and a sprinkling
of cheese, then bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Serve with chopped tomato, shredded
lettuce, diced onion, salsa, and sour cream.
Taco salad with refried beans, fruit
Although not necessarily an authentic Mexican meal, taco salad is a staple at my house and thus could
not be left out of our week-long fiesta. We usually make it with taco-spiced hamburger, but I had a huge
pot of refried beans in the fridge. Never one to spend money on food when an acceptable substitute is
available, I replaced the meat with the beans.
That said, there is no real recipe for taco salad, at least not in my kitchen. I basically serve a huge bowl
of shredded lettuce (about a head), a protein (like refried beans or taco meat), and smaller bowls of
tomato, onion, cheese, sour cream, salsa, and other fixings. As with tostadas, we prepare our own
plate at the table. I like a bowl of fruit on the side-it just seems to go. If you’re tired of chopping, serve
canned.
Tamales, leftover chips, another 1/3 can of fruit
This recipe takes a bit of time, but it makes a ton of tamales! I ended up with enough for two meals, one
for the table and one for the freezer.
In the morning, take the frozen broth and one of your frozen packages of shredded chicken from
Tuesday to thaw. Later that day, put a package of corn husks in a bowl of water to soften. Leave them
there until needed. Next, put a 3 oz packet of dried chilies in a small saucepan and cover with water.
Boil until softened, then remove the stems and seeds. Put the chilies, the pot water, and a cup of broth
in the blender and pulverize. When completed blended, pour over your chicken. Mine came out soupy,
so I added some chopped onion. If you don't want a traditional chili taste, feel free to skip the ancho
sauce and season with your favorite spices.
Next, we make the masa, or corn mixture. Take out that bag of masa and measure four cups into a
large bowl. Add 3 cups of chicken broth. Use water when you run out of broth. Let it sit for a few minutes,
then mix. You may need to add up to a half-cup more liquid. It should be pasty and thick, but
spreadable. In another bowl, beat one cup of lard until it is fluffy. Add the masa mixture to it and mix well.
Now it should be very spreadable.
Drain those corn husks and shake them out, then have a good look at them. They should be shaped
somewhat like an elongated triangle. For our purposes, the wide end of the triangle is the top and the
pointy end is the bottom. You will spread the masa in a square at the top, about four or five inches to
each side. Put a tablespoon or two of your filling down the middle. Fold the left and right sides over the
filling to make a roll, then bring the skinny bottom part up last. It sounds complicated, but if you’ve ever
seen a tamale you will know what it should look like.
Traditionally, tamales are steamed for 1 or 2 hours, but I lack the patience to stand over a steamer that
long. I heated my oven to 350 degrees with a pan of water on the bottom rack. The tamales baked in
two large casserole pans for about 40 minutes and came out wonderfully. The masa was a little firmer
than the traditional, but no one noticed the difference. I served them with leftover chips and fruit from the
night before.
Chicken tacos, the rest of the refried beans
I hadn’t officially announced Mexican food week, but the natives were starting to catch on. I saved tacos
for the end because they are such a favorite, quelling the adolescent urge to whine, “Again?” Even
better, they can use any of a wide variety of ingredients, using up whatever I had in my refrigerator as
grocery shopping day grew dimmer on the horizon. To make my tacos, I thawed the last package of
chicken from the freezer and warmed it in a pan with taco spices and a little water. I fried the last 2
dozen tortillas and served them with the chicken as well as what was left of the lettuce, tomato, onion,
and condiments. We also had the last of the leftover refried beans, which, by the way, are better
warmed in a pan with a little water than nuked. It was an easy dinner and no one complained. Only one
day left!
Make ahead tip: Soak the black beans tonight.
Black bean soup, quesadillas, rest of fruit
Cook the black beans in water for an hour or until softened. Then, add the can of green chilies with all of
the liquid, half of a chopped onion, and spice with cumin, garlic, and taco spice to taste. I let it simmer,
adding water as needed, for another hour. Then, I made the simplest of quesadillas, just shredded
cheese and flour tortillas, and dumped the rest of the canned fruit into cute little cups. It was a simple,
easy, and delicious dinner, a fitting end to our week.