Mexican Archives * My Hot Southern Mess

Living in El Paso Texas one of my favorite things we have here is the abundance of authentic Mexican food. I honestly could not choose one food as my favorite. It is sad but I can’t. I order a combination plate every single time we go out for Mexican food. I love tacos, chili rellenos, tamales, enchiladas, carnitas, the refried beans and even the rice.

Los Bandidos De Carlos and Mickey ‘s

One thing I have noticed that pretty much stays the same is my drink order, a margarita! MMM…Margarita!

Hold the salt please!

Strawberry Margarita’s too!

I would have to say the margarita is the classic go to drink of the borderland. Which makes sense, since the borderland is one of the places it is said the drink originated. To be exact it was believed to be first made just across the border in Juarez at Tommy’s Place Bar on July 4, 1945.

The drink is pretty easy to make and main ingredients include Tequila, Triple Sec and Lime but several different types of fruits/berries can be added to change it up. A good one to try if you can’t get to the borderland is Allrecipes Ultimate Frozen Strawberry Margarita.

Ultimate Frozen Strawberry Margarita

(from Allrecipes.com)

6oz tequila

2oz triple sec

8oz frozen strawberries in syrup

(fresh strawberries can be used and sweetened with sugar as needed.

4oz frozen limeade concentrate

Fill a blender with ice and crush. Pour in the tequila and triple sec. Add the strawberries and limeade. Blend for 30 seconds or until smooth. Serve in margarita glasses and enjoy!

I love to eat Mexican food and for the longest time I was afraid to make Enchiladas. Then one day I found a recipe on Allrecipes.com and tried it out. True to form, not entirely following the recipe. I had to add my own little touches. The enchilada’s I made were awesome and became a regular in our house. Every time I made the enchiladas I would do something different and now they are almost completely from scratch.

Chicken Enchiladas

2lbs (approx.3 boneless skinless chicken breast) cooked and shredded
2TB butter
1 small onion,diced
2-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 jalapeno’s (seeded if desired to control the heat)
1 red pepper,diced
1 can diced green chili’s
8oz pepperjack cheese, diced
1/3cup flour
2 cups milk
10 tortillas (I used whole wheat)
cilantro (optional for the cilantro haters out there)
black pepper, fresh ground to taste
2 cups of cheddar or Mexican cheese, shredded (optional)

For the chicken you can use rotisserie chicken from the store or bake it or grill it. I prefer to boil it as follows:

2lbs chicken breast
8 cups water
sliced onion
1t red pepper flakes
sea salt and fresh ground pepper

boil chicken until done/no longer pink inside. Set aside chicken and onions to cool, to shred for later.

Directions

Step 1
in frying pan melt 2TB butter and add onion, garlic, red pepper,green chili’s, and jalepenos. Cook until Onions are transluscent and pepper’s are soft.

Chicken Enchiladas | Country Girl Gourmet

Step 2

Add milk and flour (I use a tupperware quick shake) and diced pepperjack cheese. This will make a creamy cheese sauce. Add cilantro if desired and fresh ground black pepper, to taste.

Step 3
Take shredded chicken and mix with 1 cup of sauce mixture and mix well. Place 1/4-1/2cup mixture in middle of tortilla and roll .

Step 4

Once all tortilla’s are rolled pour creamy cheese and veggie sauce over tortilla’s. If desired cover with shredded cheese.

Step 5

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes

Voila there you go almost completely scratch made enchiladas… You could go that extra mile and make your own homemade tortilla’s and use fresh green chili’s but that is up to you. With 4 kids i’ll stick to the premade tortilla’s and my Hatch green chili’s