{Make this}: Easy Chicken Tacos.

The other night Jake made chicken tacos that were just so good that I had to share. And not only were they good, but they were easy. If you're a fan of easy, a fan of chicken, and a fan of tacos, this is your meal.

You'll need:
2 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
package soft corn tortillas
tajin seasoning (mexican-lime seasoning in the hispanic aisle)
cayenne seasoning
chile powder
shredded Mexican-cheese blend
fresh cilantro, chopped
fresh lime
olive oil

You'll do:
1) Boil your chicken and shred.
2) In a bowl, toss chicken in olive oil and season the chicken with cayenne, tajin, and chile powder
3) On a skillet (or griddle if you have it), heat the tortillas for about one minute each side.
4) Take chicken and spread it on the open faced tortilla and top with the cheese.
5) Broil tacos on baking sheet until cheese melts.
6) Put cilantro on top, squeeze fresh lime.

And serve! To eat the tacos, fold them and hold like a taco (that sounded a bit redundant - sorry). This makes about 6 tacos.

In tacos and tortillas,

{Make This}: Baked Tacos.

Over the break I set out to make all sorts of yummy recipes from Pinterest in my spare time (I blogged about it here). The funny thing? The only things we had were the two things my mom made... #bloggerfail.

BUT my mom did make two things and one of them was the baked tacos (linked here on Pinterest). They were excellent and a crowd pleaser. I highly recommend making them (they've got seasoned ground beef and refried beans with cheese on top and then you top with your favorite toppings). Check out the recipe on the link above.

Good job, Mom! Thanks for dinner. 

In easy, delicious recipes,

{Make this}: Mexican Pita Pockets

You know how sometimes you make something and it is SO delicious but just looks heinous? That is this recipe. An alternative theme for this post could be "how many dishes can you make out of the black bean/corn/rotel combination"? Addiction. I know, right?

So this recipe comes from the depths of my brain. No links or inspiration here, just sheer innovation. The premise is a mixture of Mexican-ish deliciousness stuffed into a pita, which is the vehicle by which one ingests the deliciousness.

You'll need: 
- fresh chopped cilantro
- lime juice (fresh)
- avocado, chopped
- pita pockets
- shredded cheese
- can, refried beans
- can, Rotel (Mexican flavor)
- can, corn
- can, black beans

You'll do:
1) In a medium saucepan, combine the black beans, refried beans, corn, and rotel to warm. Add cheese and stir.
2) In a bowl, combine above mixture with avocado, cilantro, and lime juice
3) Heat pitas in oven, then stuff mixture inside pita
4) Eat carefully (mixture spills out)

As I sit here eating the leftover mixture (it makes enough for about 12 pitas), I am reflecting on the other uses of this divine concoction. Jake suggested making the mixture into a dip by putting it into a serving dish, covering with cheese and sour cream.


In cilantro and lime juice,

{Make this}: Accidental Mexican Soup.

As the name of this blog post implies, this soup was a total accident. A happy one. I had been browsing through Real Simple's recipe page (I love their recipes) and found this one for Chicken with Creamy Spinach and Shallots. The recipe itself looked great (who doesn't love a way to jazz up spinach?) but I was actually eying it as a base recipe by which to try to replicate my favorite Mexican dish from El Mezcal, a chicken and rice concoction with spinach and a sour cream cheese sauce.

So we changed around some ingredients, started cooking, and once we got to the end, realized the cream sauce was entirely too runny so we put it over rice in our bowls and realized we actually had a pretty delicious soup on our hands.

With that in mind, the recipe and instructions below will be for our Accidental Mexican Soup, which has chicken, rice, and spinach. We'll be making it again - this time on purpose.

You'll need:

• Mexican Rice (we bought Knorr but Goya would be great if your store has it)
• chicken, chopped into small pieces (we used boneless skinless tenderloins)
• spinach, torn and destemmed (is that a word?)
• sour cream, about 1/2 cup
• 3 large shallots, thinly sliced
• jalapenos (we used jarred chopped ones)
• chicken broth (ignore the picture of the wine, we decided against it)

What you'll do:
1) Cook your chicken - we cubed the tenderloins, salted and peppered them, and then cooked them in olive oil in a skillet - set the chicken aside but keep the juice in the skilled when done.

2) Cook your rice - this part will probably take as long as the rest of these steps. Follow package directions.

3) Cook your shallots in the olive oil from the chicken, stirring until they soften

4) Add in your sour cream and chicken broth (we used about 1/2 this box of broth), as well as your spinach, some chopped jalapenos, and some salt/pepper.

5) Toss gently until spinach wilts. Let cook for about 5 minutes.

6) Put Mexican Rice in the bottom of your bowls (about 1/3rd full) and spoon chicken/spinach into bowl. Then pour broth/sour cream mixture over that. The spices from the Mexican Rice will mix with your sour cream and chicken broth to create a soup broth that is tasty.

So sometimes messed up dinners end up surprising you. This one was a strange accident but worked out well. Give it a try!

In creative cooking,

Soup for the Soul (and throat).

About this time every year, I get a sore throat/allergy/sinus mess thing going on. This hit me about Wednesday of last week and so I was feeling under the proverbial weather. 


When this kind of nasal event occurs, I love soup. It is soothing on my throat and easy to eat. Now I have not hidden my unabashed love for Las Delicias on Park at Getwell. I've blogged about it before here. What I didn't realize then was not only are their tacos ridiculous, but their Aztec soup is crave-able. 

So, for all you Memphian sore-throat-sinus-ers, check out the Aztec soup at Las Delicias. It is a broth based chicken soup with onion, garbanzo beans, cilantro, avocado, and rice. It won't disappoint.

In rice and cilantro,

Go there: Las Delicias

I've been hearing for some time about Las Delicias. I should have known it would be amazing when a friend brought their fresh guacamole and made a guac lover out of me, a decidedly non-guac lover. I've had their chips and cheese dip before too. Again, amazing. Chips are made fresh and unlike any other chips at any other restaurant I've had. 

So, finally, after hearing about this place from half of facebook, twitter, and Memphis bloggers, my brothers suggested to my parents that we go over Thanksgiving weekend. And off we went to Las Delicias (on Park at Getwell). 

All I can say is wow. Authentic, cheap, delicious (maybe that is where they got the name Delicias? who knows). I loved everything I ate and I consider myself very picky with Mexican food. It reminded me a lot of my meal when I visited Mexico briefly on my senior cruise and we strayed from the tourist strip to a real Mexican place. 

I got the steak tacos. They had cilantro in them, which was very good, and I asked for melted cheese on top (that is the brown top to them). The taco shells were soft and fresh. I am already craving them again. 

Jake got the fajitas - I think Alabre was the name of the dish? It was steak with peppers and onions. He says his was good too. 

I will definitely be visiting again, probably often. They've made a believer out of me. 


And maybe next time I won't be the crazy girl taking pictures of her food with an iphone...