Chicken-Bean Burritos

Contributed by Cindi Bower

In my quest to add more high-fiber, low-fat dishes to our diet, I came across several appealing recipes on a web site called “Everyday Health” (www.everydayhealth.com). My husband and I are approaching senior-citizen age (where has the time gone?) and are finding certain bodily functions are slowing down as time goes by. Plus, my husband gets tired of “the same old things” and wants more variety.

While this recipe is not exactly “Mexican” (burritos are technically Tex-Mex cuisine), I think our Mexican friends here in Guanajuato would eat this dish…provided a healthy amount of fiery-hot peppers were added. If you want more kick in your burritos, add your favorite chili peppers (deseeded, deveined and chopped) to the mix.

The original recipe, Barbecued Chicken Burritos (http://www.everydayhealth.com/health-recipe/barbecued-chicken-burritos.aspx), called for barbecue sauce and sour cream, which I did not have on hand, so I made some adjustments.

Recipe (serves 4):

2 chicken breasts; cooked (remove skin before cooking), removed from the bone and shredded (about 1 ½ cups)

8 ounces tomato sauce

1/8 cup Worcestershire sauce or to taste

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp dried oregano

1 cup canned beans (black or dark red are highest in phytochemicals), rinsed and thoroughly drained

½ cup corn, frozen and thawed or canned, drained

Romaine lettuce leaves or fresh spinach

8 6-inch whole-wheat flour tortillas (or 4 10-inch tortillas)

1) Place a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, oregano, beans and corn. Stir to combine. Cook until hot, about 4 to 5 minutes.

2) Assemble the burritos by placing a lettuce leaf or several spinach leaves on the tortilla. Divide the chicken mixture evenly among the tortillas. Roll up as you would a burrito.

3) Slice in half diagonally. Serve with sour cream and lime wedges, if desired.

When I asked a friend the best way to get the skin off garlic cloves, she told me to soak the cloves in cold water for 5 minutes or so and the skin will peel right off. However, she told me there was an easier method. She told me to look in the supermarket for garlic cubes. Knorr makes minicubes of dehydrated garlic that are very easy to use. They look like bouillon cubes, but smaller. Fresh garlic can be pricey at certain times of the year, so these minicubes (less than $1 USD for 20 cubes) are an economical alternative.

We had these burritos for lunch today and they were a hit. They’ll definitely be a regular dish in our house. Not only are they tasty, they are very easy to make.

Enjoy!

Guanajuato, Mex -- Dirty Hands and Disease

When the swine flu hit Mexico, the authorities were a bit on the embarrassed side having to explain why so many infections and subsequent deaths were in Mexico. The disease eventually spread to the rest of the planet but Mexico seemed to be the epicenter.

Political correctness forbid publicizing why the infection spread so fast, far, and wide here: poor hygiene habits!

I have American friends who not only own eating and drinking establishments but who have to train their Mexican staff to wash their hands after using the toilet. This is almost too unreal to believe. But, more than one employee has had to be let go, fired, for failing to heed verbal warnings, read warning signs, and being yelled at for not washing up and then handling customer's food and drink. It is barbaric.

Their personal hygiene habits are never more plainly seen as when helping themselves to samples at the supermarket. With little plastic spoons and forks, toothpicks, napkins, and small plates sitting beside the deli samples or bakery cakes, in plain sight, they will elect to use their hands. They will pick up food with their filthy fingers just after wiping, picking, gouging, or generally touching almost every orifice of their bodies (Especially their noses...OMG...the nose!!)

I thought I would have to lean over and empty my stomach when I saw this little woman use her hands to grab a GLOB of cake from the bakery and begin stuffing it into her cake hole. I felt my stomach cramping, tightening up, that pre-vomit hot flushing feeling coming over my face....I was able to just close my eyes a pray for God's calming mercy.

These are the folks that after grazing on the Supermarket's plenty will trip off to their food kiosks in merriment and mirth and prepare your tortas (sandwiches) or tacos with the same hands that infected the Supermarket food samples. They will wash the fine dining ware after each cutomer in a vat of BLACK water that they keep adding clorox to making it smell like a toxic waste dump.

This...this...this is why the flu spread so fast in this country.

It is sickening. It certainly causes one to pause to see grown men and women, most notably the women, stick their hands into meat sample trays instead of using the toothpicks on the side of the tray.

It is barbaric!!

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Guanajuato, Mexico -- Something Good To Eat

Traditional Mexican Christmas Dishes – Romeritos

by

Cindi Bower


Romeritos are leaves that resemble rosemary (romeritos means “little rosemary”) and come from an evergreen shrub. They can be used as a flavoring for various meat and seafood dishes or can be the basis for a dish traditionally served during the Christmas holidays as well as during Lent.

Every year, many Mexicans gather the seeds from plants found in the wild and plant the seeds in their gardens to grow their own romeritos. Don’t worry if you can’t grow romeritos yourself. They are available in local markets as well as supermarkets in Mexico. They may be available in the produce section of the supermarket in your area.

Other names for romeritos are ink weed and iodine weed. Romeritos taste and look like spinach. If you can’t find romeritos, you can substitute spinach in the recipe below.

Here is a simple recipe for Romeritos con Tortitas de Camarón (Romeritos with Shrimp Cakes):

Romeritos

Serves 8-10

2 pounds romeritos or spinach
1 ½ cups mole paste*
4 cups chicken broth
6 nopal (cactus) paddles **
3 large white or yellow boiling potatoes
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon baking soda
Salt, to taste

* Look for jars or boxes of mole paste in the Mexican/international food aisle in your supermarket. You can also buy it fresh in Mexican markets.

** These should be available in the produce section of your supermarket. They should have the spines removed already.

Pick any dry leaves from the romeritos and wash thoroughly. Bring a medium-sized pot of water, to which you’ve added a pinch or two of salt, to a boil. Add the romeritos or spinach and cook until limp (about 2 minutes if using romeritos; just a few seconds if using spinach). Drain and squeeze out the excess water.

Meanwhile, bring another medium-sized pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add the nopales, garlic and baking soda. Cook until soft, about 10 minutes. Drain and chop.

Put potatoes into a medium pot and cover with cold water. Add two large pinches of salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until soft, about 20 minutes. Drain, peel and cut into squares.

Mix the mole paste and the chicken broth in a large pot. Bring to a boil. Add the cooked romeritos, nopales, potatoes and shrimp cakes (recipe follows) and bring to a boil. Allow to boil until heated through. Serve.

Tortitas de camarón

3 eggs
4 tablespoons dried shrimp, ground
Oil, as needed for frying

Separate the eggs. Beat the egg yolks in a small bowl. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently stir in the beaten yolks and the ground shrimp. Mix well. Heat the oil in a skillet until hot, but not smoking. Drop spoonfuls of the egg-shrimp mixture into the hot oil and fry until slightly browned, about 1 ½ minutes per side. Drain on paper towels to remove excess oil.

Guanajuato, Mexico -- The Head of the Cow

Cabeza de Rez is 'the head of the cow'. This has particular significance to me because I wrote of this very thing some years ago when speculating just how the head of the cow is served at a meal and how exactly does one eat it?

"Pass a piece of cheek, please", I pondered in one or more articles when we first moved here. Or does one ask for a little nostril, the left or right one? Perhaps a nice chunk of ear or a little forehead?

I just didn't know then what one does when invited to a lovely Mexican's home and Cabeza de Rez is being served?

Would it be paraded out in a huge roast pan with the horns and eyeballs attached?

Would it be roasting in a pit in the back yard where it was butchered?

Would it have a name? Did they have personal relationship with it?

How did it work, I just could not guess.

Well...after seven years of living in Guanajuato, Mexico it finally happened. We were invited to a home cooked dinner of The Head of a Cow or Cabeza de Rez.

This is not a dish to be treated lightly. Nor is it a super-common meal. It is "company vittles" that is so special that it is usually served for a special occasion.

Several couples in our church, my wife and I included, had anniversaries this month. My wife and I are celebrating our 27th today, the 26th of December. So, a lovely family at our church decided to have a wingding of Cabeza de Res.

Let me say this this was absolutely delicious! The woman of the house, La Reina de la Cocina, (the queen of the kitchen), had to cook this for more than four hours. She had the butcher cut up the head muscles--no nostrils--into small bite-sized portions and it looked like barbecue meat and some of the most tender meat I have ever had in my life.

She served it with freshly made corn tortillas, lots and lots of avocado sauces, one deathly spicy and the other not, and some red salsa that was not too badly spicy.

A pot pot of beans was there which topped off the meal just fine, if you want to ask me.

I thought that this would have been even a little more tasty with some good old KC Masterpiece barbecue sauce but it was fine eating out of a hand held corn tortilla, which you should know is what Mexicans call a taco.

So, to say the least, I was surprised. The tongue was noticeably bumpy from it taste buds, but it blended right in with all the other parts of the head.

I loved it. I never once thought of puking. And, I would highly recommend that if you have the chance you try a little Head of the Cow or La Cabesa de Res!

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Check out my newest book A WALK THROUGH MEXICO'S CROWN JEWEL: A Guanajuato Travelogue.

GUANAJUATO - Escamoles (ant eggs) and other Mexican delicacies

By

Cindi Bower

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The other day as I was flipping through the six channels we are able to receive in Guanajuato without cable, I saw an announcement for an upcoming cooking show on the educational channel. As I'm interested in Mexican cuisine and love watching cooking shows, I made a point to tune in. Was I in for a surprise! The subject of that day's program was "Insectos y salsas" (insects and sauces).

I knew that grasshoppers (chapulines), ants (hormigas) and ant eggs (escamoles) were just of few of the more exotic foods eaten by the Aztecs and Mayans from my research into Mexican cuisine. Before moving to Mexico six years ago, I happened to catch Anthony Bourdain's show, "A Cook's Tour," on the Food Channel. One of the episodes featured a trip to a restaurant in Tlaxcala where he tried escamoles and gusanos de maguey (worms that burrow into the maguey cactus).

Of the escamoles, he said, “They’re perfectly good, with a slightly aromatic, woody background, almost fungal.” (http://www.gourmet.com/magazine/2000s/2001/08/kitchen_cowboy). His driver, Martin, said the worms give men lots of power with the women and taste “Very special. They fry the worms golden brown and when you first bite in it’s crispy, like pork skin. Then you chew and…” (http://www.gourmet.com/magazine/2000s/2001/08/kitchen_cowboy).

A Mexican friend here in Guanajuato was telling me about a trip he and his family made to Mexico City. One of the foods they sampled were chapulines colorados, red grasshoppers. His five-year-old son described how they pinched the heads off, then chomped down the body, legs and all. He and his father claimed they were delicious, but his mother and sister could not bring themselves to try them. His sister said she wanted to vomit when she saw her brother and father eating grasshoppers with evident delight. They all drew the line at gusanos, though.

These descriptions did not make me want to sample any of these "delicacies," but I was interested in watching the show just to see how they were prepared. Also, I wanted to watch the cook sample the finished products so I could watch her face to see if she really enjoyed eating worms and bugs as appetizers. Alas, she merely presented the final results, but did not pop any into her mouth.

First, the chef demonstrated how to make various salsas…pico de gallo, verde, roja and guacamole. All looked simple to make and looked delicious. I'll be sharing recipes for these salsas in future Blog postings.

Then, she moved on to the protein part of the appetizers. She went to the local market to buy the gusanos and chapulines. However, the escamoles required a trip to a field of cactus plants with the farmer. He looked for ants, followed a line of them back to the nest at the base of a cactus plant, and dug up about two cups of ant eggs. After he stood up with his prize, he was covered with ants, which I've read viciously sting whoever or whatever disturbs the nest. He didn't act like the ants bothered him, though.

Back at the studio, the cook washed the dirt off the escamoles. She commented that sometimes one finds a few larvae mixed in with the eggs. Don't discard them, she said, as they are high in protein and quite delicious. Yeah, right I thought! Yuck!

She melted some butter in a skillet, added some chopped garlic, and cooked it until it was brown. She added the escamoles to the skillet and cooked for about a minute. She added a little epazote (a common herb used in Mexican cooking) and allowed the mixture to cool a bit. To serve, she spread some guacamole on a small, crisp corn tortilla about the size of Ritz cracker and topped it with a spoonful of the escamoles.

The gusanos de maguey and the chapulines colorados were fried in oil (in separate skillets) with a little chopped parsley until they were browned. The cook drained them on paper towels to remove the excess oil. She spread pico de gallo on one crispy tortilla round and topped it with a few of the fried gusanos. On another tortilla round, she spread a little salsa verde and topped it with a few fried chapulines.

To me, it was a waste of tortillas and salsa to top the appetizers with worms, ant eggs (and larvae!) and grasshoppers, but that's just me. Many people love these delicacies and rave about how wonderful they are.

I'll take their word for it, but no insect or worm or ant egg will ever enter my mouth by my hand. I'll eat grass or flowers or leaves first (of course, only after being carefully examined for creepy crawlies!).

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A Walk Through Mexico's Crown Jewel: A Guanajuato Travelogue

Guanajuato, Mexico - Clever Eating

Vegetarian Sloppy Joes

by

Cindi Bower

When I was growing up in Ohio, my mom served Sloppy Joes on a regular basis. On nights when she was late coming home from work or just didn't feel like making an elaborate meal, these were a quick, easy and filling choice. She usually added a packaged seasoning mix to tomato sauce and ground beef instead of making the mixture from scratch. When canned Sloppy Joe sauce came on the market, the meal was even easier…just brown ground beef, add the sauce, heat and serve. Quick, easy and delicious.

Making Sloppy Joes from scratch is not much more time-consuming than using a mix or canned sauce. To me, the sandwiches taste better made from scratch. Plus, you can modify the ingredients to suit your own family's tastes.

I used to make Sloppy Joes, usually from scratch, when we lived in the USA, but somehow never thought of making them here in Mexico until recently. I guess it was because it's such an American dish and not one you'd expect to find in Mexico.

Last week, I developed a craving for Sloppy Joes, but no longer remembered my favorite recipe. Though our local supermarkets carry some items imported from the USA, Sloppy Joe mix and canned Sloppy Joe sauce are not among them. Thanks to the Internet, I found a plethora of recipes. Some were very different from my tried-and-true recipe (though I want to try some of the more exotic-sounding variations), but I was able to approximate my old recipe.

Since we've modified our diet in the past months for health reasons, I substituted textured soy protein for the ground beef I used to use. My husband said he wouldn't have known he was eating soy if I hadn't told him. I think the soy protein has the texture and taste of ground meat, but does not have ground meat's greasiness.

We liked how this recipe turned out, but I'm going to play with it a bit and see if I can make some improvements. If I come up with a better version, I'll share it.

Recipe

Makes 8 sandwiches

14 ounces hot water
1 beef bouillon cube
2 cups textured soy protein
Cooking oil
3 – 4 cloves of garlic, diced
½ of a large onion, coarsely chopped
¼ of a green pepper, diced
1 cup tomato sauce
¼ cup catsup
Oregano, salt, and pepper to taste
8 hamburger buns

Dissolve the bouillon cube in the hot water; stir in the soy protein and set aside for about 5 minutes or until the water is absorbed.

Put a little oil in a skillet (I use just enough to coat the bottom…add more as you cook, if necessary) and put over medium heat. Sautee the garlic, onion and green pepper until soft. Add the rehydrated soy protein and cook until slightly browned. Add the tomato sauce, catsup and spices. Mix well and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes or until thickened.

Spoon the mixture into the buns. Serve with a tossed salad or raw vegetable sticks.

Enjoy!

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A Walk Through Mexico's Crown Jewel: A Guanajuato Travelogue

Tomatillos

When we moved to central Mexico six years ago, we encountered quite a few fruits and vegetables, tomatillos for one, with which we were unfamiliar.

Tomatillos (toe-mah-tee-yohs) belong to the Nightshade family, as do tomatoes. Tomatillos are covered with a husk and are harvested while green. Though tomatillos are sometimes called "tomate verde" (green tomato), they are not the unripe form of the tomatoes you might use on your salad or to make spaghetti sauce (those are usually referred to as jitomates in Spanish). Tomatillos can range from the size of a cherry tomato up to a small tomato and are sometimes called husk tomato, ground cherry, Mexican tomato or jamberry.

As tomatillos ripen, they change in color from green to yellow, red or even purple. Tomatillos should be used while green or they will not only lose much of the tartness that adds zest to recipes but also much of their nutrition.

Choose tomatillos that are bright green and firm with greenish-brown husks. The tomatillo should completely fill the husk. Under the husk, the skin of the tomatillo may feel a bit sticky. This is normal. Tomatillos with the husks attached can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. If you remove the husk and wash the tomatillos, they can be kept in the refrigerator in sealed plastic bags for up to a month. They can also be frozen, either whole or sliced. However, slicing them exposes more surface to the air and they will lose some of their nutritional value.

Tomatillos are a staple in Mexican cooking. They are eaten raw, cooked, roasted, and also are used to make various sauces (salsas).

1 medium tomatillo has only 11 calories, but gives you 7% of the RDA of Vitamin C. Tomatillos are low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium. They are a good source of fiber, iron, magnesium, copper, phosphorous, niacin, potassium, manganese, and Vitamin K. The only "bad" thing about them is that about 7 of the 11 calories come from sugars (about 1 gram).

Here is an easy recipe for salsa made with tomatillos that I learned from a Mexican friend. This can be used as a dip or poured over eggs, omelets, enchiladas, or meat. My friend uses chile de arbol, a very hot chile, when making this salsa for her family, but uses milder chiles when cooking for others. I like to use serrano chiles, which are a bit milder but still have a kick. This salsa tastes great warm or cold.

Tomatillo Salsa

1 pound tomatillos (10 to 12), husks removed and washed
½ of a large onion, coarsely chopped
2 serrano chiles, seeded and chopped
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons limón juice
2 tablespoons cilantro, coarsely chopped
½ teaspoon salt

Place the whole tomatillos in a saucepan and fill with water until the tomatillos are just covered. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and cook for 8 to 10 minutes until soft. Drain.

Put the cooked tomatillos and the rest of the ingredients into a blender or food processor. Blend or pulse until smooth. You may have to do this in batches if your blender or processor is not large enough. Add more limón juice or water if you want a thinner salsa. If the salsa is too tart, you can add sugar to taste.

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A Walk Through Mexico's Crown Jewel: A Guanajuato Travelogue

Guanajuato, Mexico Food: Chilaquiles

By

Cindi Bower

Chilaquiles (pronounced chee-lah-KEE-lehs) is a popular breakfast or brunch dish throughout Mexico. It may have been developed by cooks as a way to use up stale tortillas and leftover salsa from the previous day's meals.

The name, chilaquiles, comes from the Nahuatl word chil-a-quilitl, which means "herbs or greens in chili broth."

Chilaquiles are made from stale tortillas cut in strips or, more popularly, in triangles (called totopos) that are fried until crispy and then covered with red or green sauce.

There are a number of different ways to prepare chilaquiles. Instead of using red or green salsa, some cooks cover the fried tortillas with mole (a spicy-sweet sauce made with many ingredients, including nuts, chilies, vegetables, seeds, tortillas, and often chocolate). Some recipes call for the tortillas and salsa to be cooked in a pot on the stove until the tortillas are soft while others layer the tortillas and salsa in a casserole dish and bake in the oven. In the Mexican state, Sinaloa, the tortillas are topped with a white sauce. In Guadalajara, chilaquiles are cooked in a pot on top of the stove until the tortillas soften into a mush similar to polenta.

Some cooks add shredded chicken or pork to the salsa; others add scrambled or fried eggs. When served, chilaquiles are usually topped with shredded cheese, crema (similar to sour cream), and onions (sometimes chopped, but more often, the onion is cut into rings).

Many people swear that eating chilaquiles will cure a hangover. Mexicans believe that spicy foods aid the recovery process.

We like chilaquiles any way they are served as long as the salsa is not too spicy. We've had them alone as well as with sides of eggs, shredded chicken, beans or chorizo. The style of chilaquiles we like the best are the ones baked in the oven with salsa and cheese…similar to lasagna.

Try chilaquiles on your next visit to Mexico. I think you'll like them!

Here is an easy recipe for oven-baked chilaquiles:

Cooking oil
18 small corn tortillas (preferably a bit stale); cut into wedges
A jar of your favorite red or green salsa (or around 2 ½ cups of homemade salsa)
1 pound shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 cup queso crema or sour cream
½ cup queso cotija (aged Mexican cheese) or mild feta cheese
½ medium onion, sliced and separated into rings
Coarsely chopped cilantro

Cook the tortilla wedges in oil until golden and slightly crispy. Drain on paper towels.

In an oven-proof casserole dish, spread a layer of salsa on the bottom. Top with a layer of tortilla chips. Cover the chips with some Monterey Jack cheese, then a layer of salsa. Top with another layer of chips. Continue layering in the manner until all the ingredients are used, ending with a layer of cheese. Place in a 350° oven and bake for 20 minutes.

Serve garnished with the queso crema, the queso cotija, the onion slices and the chopped cilantro.

Enjoy!

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