CHILAQUILES, Mexican Egg, Corn Tortilla, and Green Chili Dish

PD Photo.org.

Eggs are always welcome as a nutritious and frugal source of proteint. As for chilaquiles, this is another flexible and forgiving dish. You can make chilaquiles with stale tortillas and/or you can fry or bake quartered tortillas before assembling the dish.  You can even use a couple of handfuls of tortilla chips in place of the tortillas. 


You can use any type of fresh or canned peppers - even bells - that appeal to you or that you have on hand. Chilaquiles may be served for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner.  Meal additions can include fresh, warm tortillas and a butter or spread, refried beans, pickled jalapeños, and a fresh fruit salad.
The recipe
Serves four

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup yellow onions, minced
• 1 pickled jalapeñ0, minced
• 1 8-oz. can of diced green chilies
• 1 fresh sereno chilli, chard over an open flame or under the broiler, skinned, and diced
• 4 day-old corn tortillas, cut in quarters
• 8 large omega-3 eggs, beaten with two teaspoons of water
• 1 cup of grated cheese (cheddar or jack or a combination of both)
• Sea-salt and freshly grated black pepper to taste
• Fresh parsley or cilantro, minced

Sauté the onion in the olive oil.  When the onion is tender add the peppers and stir and cook for about a minute or two. Add the tortillas and stir and then add the eggs and cheese.  Cook over low heat, stirring frequently to scramble the eggs.  When the eggs are cooked season with salt and pepper to taste and top with minced parsley or cilantro. Serve hot.

The name chilaquiles is derived from the Nahuatl word chil-a-quilitl which means "herbs or greens in chile broth".


Actual product ingredients may differ from than that which is shown or suggested on this blog. Please remember that you should not rely solely on the information presented here or anywhere online and that you always read labels, warnings, and directions before purchasing and consuming a product. 

OMELET with Shrimp and Goat Cheese

Courtesy of US Dept.
of Health & Human Services

Shrimp & Goat Cheese Omelet

The recipe

Serves one

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 omega-3 eggs, whisked
• 2 cooked shrimp, large dice
• 2 tablespoons red onion, grated
• 1 small clove garlic, finely minced
• 1 scant handful of baby spinach leaves, washed
• 1/8 cup of cooked mushrooms
• 1/8 cup of tomato, diced
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced
• 2 pinches of Herbes de Provence
• sea salt, to taste
• cracked black pepper, to taste
• 2 tablespoons soft French goat cheese, crumbled

Put one tablespoon olive oil in a small omelet pan.  Sauté the onion and garlic, being careful not to burn the garlic. When they begin to soften, add the spinach, tomato, mushrooms, and parsley and simmer gently until the spinach is cooked and any liquids are almost evaporated. Toss in the shrimp and stir well.  Turn this mixture into a dish and add the second spoonful of oil to the pan.  Warm the oil, and then pour in the eggs.  Keep the heat on medium.  Put the shrimp mixture on top of the eggs and sprink with salt, pepper, and herbs.  Top with the goat cheese.  Cover the pan for a minute or two to help the eggs cook through.  Then, using a large spachula, flip one half of the omelet over onto the other.  Turn the omelet onto a plate.  Brush the top with a bit of oil, butter, or buttery spread.  And voilá.

Bon Appétit!


Actual product ingredients may differ from than that which is shown or suggested on this blog. Please remember that you should not rely solely on the information presented here or anywhere online and that you always read labels, warnings, and directions before purchasing and consuming a product. 

RED BEANS AND RICE, Vegan

Zojirushi Rice Cooker

 The recipe I share here is easy, healthy, filling, budget-wise, great for potlucks, and adaptable. When I prepared it for a potluck recently, I used a vegan soy chorizo sausage knowing it would change the flavor from New Orleans to old Mexico.  If you want to use meat, use andouille sausage and just make sure it's wheat-and-gluten free.

This is the basic recipe, which I'm happy having vegan. I did the brown rice in my Cadillac of rice cookers, the Zojirushi, which was gifted to me by son. It's a fine appliance. The cooked rice is consistent in texture. There's no burning at the bottom. It doesn't dry out the rice when you set the machine at warm  The Zojirushi is attractive - as machines go - and well-built, easy to clean, and has a convenient handle for toting it to potlucks and church suppers.

And now for the red beans, which starts off with the Louisiana trinity. You can do your beans from scratch if you normally do so, or you can use a good organic canned bean ... Eden Foods is organic so it's always a good choice if want a precooked bean. The quality is excellent.  

RED BEANS AND RICE, Wheat-and-Gluten Free, Vegan

The recipe

Serves 6- 8

• 2 cups minced celery
• 2 cups minced yellow onion
• 2 cups minced green bell pepper
• 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 28-oz can organic crushed tomatoes
• 1 15-oz cans of organic kidney beans, drain
• 12 oz. vegetable broth, homemade or packaged, wheat-and-gluten free
• 2 dry bay leaves
• 2 teaspoons thyme
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 tablespoon dried red pepper (adjust to taste)

Sauté the celery, onion, and green pepper in olive oil until they are tender. Add the garlic and stir, cooking for about one minute. Add the tomatoes and the beans and stir. Add the broth and the seasoning and stir. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat immediately. Simmer on low with the lid slightly ajar on the pot for about 45 minutes or so.  If you then let it rest in the refrigerator overnight, the flavors will be enhanced.

Serve over rice ... Yum!

Actual product ingredients may differ from than that which is shown or suggested on this blog. Please remember that you should not rely solely on the information presented here or anywhere online and that you always read labels, warnings, and directions before purchasing and consuming a product. 

COOKING LIKE GRANDMOTHER

Mezzaluna courtesy of Wüsthof.

The thing about our grandmothers and great-grandmothers is that they didn't have rigid recipes. It was all a pinch of this, a handful of that, a tea-cup full of the other thing. They didn't have the appliances we have now. 

The kitchen gadgets they used to cook with involved more labor intensive effort and therefore more connection with ingredients. I like that. I imitate it. I don't have a big, heavy-duty mixer. Occasionally I borrow a food processor, but I don't own one. I do use slow-cookers and a rice cooker, but I don't have a microwave any more.  One of the tools I really like is an old-fashioned mezzaluna (half-moon) or herb-cutter. Despite the Italian name, its origin is actually English.

I had a mezzaluna once, enjoyed it a lot, and lost it when I relocated. Awhile back my daughter-in-law, Karen Fayeth, did a post, Name Your Favorite Kitchen Gadget.  I was one of several who commented in response. I wrote that I like a mezzaluna but had been unable to find one. I thought perhaps they were no longer made. Karen found one and gave it to me for Christmas last year. It's exactly the one pictured above. (World-class, right?) The day I christened it, I made a batch of fish in parsley sauce. Mincing the parsley was quick and easy, but still very hands-on.

An old English mezzaluna by Tracy Hansen via

Wikipedia under GNU Free-Documentation License.

Good low-tech, high-touch old-fashioned kitchen tools . . . I just love them. A mortar-and-pestle, potato masher or a ricer, cast-iron pots, food mills . . . and mezzalunas.  Thanks, Karen!