Bisquets

One of my favorite things about Mexico is the presence of Mexican bakeries, Panaderias, on every street corner. Panaderias are not just bakeries, they are filled to bursting with every type of pan dulce (sweet bread) you could ever imagine. For about 25 cents (U.S.), you can walk out with a delicious warm treat. The selection is astounding, go here to see a few of the options. I love trying to recreate the recipes, but finding authentic recipes is not as easy as you would think! I have been searching and searching for a recipe for Mexican bisquets, my favorite Mexican bread, by far. I have tried to replicate the recipe, but to no avail. The Mexican bisquet is giant (in both height and width), flaky, and buttery. The panederias make the bisquets in the normal circular shape but they always top them with a rounded piece of dough. They are quite different from your common buttermilk or baking powder biscuit (although I enjoy those as well). They have a deep yellow hue and are a bit sweeter than American style biscuits. The finishing touch is an egg wash which gives them a pretty varnish. I finally came upon this recipe, and while not an exact replica, I am getting closer. The bisquets did turn out amazingly buttery and flaky, but they didn't rise as high as I was hoping. Maybe more baking powder next time. I will keep searching for the perfect recipe, but until then these biscuits are really very good! So I hope you enjoy this recipe, and if any of you have any good Panaderia recipes I would love to give them a try!

Bisquets

Recipe adapted from Reposteriaypanederia.com

70 grams or a scant 5 tablespoons butter

70 grams or a scant 5 tablespoons butter flavor Crisco (I know, I'm not a huge fan, but it's what most of the Mexican Bread recipes call for, actually they call for pork fat but I couldn't make myself do that...)

2 cups flour

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

¾ cup cold milk

3 teaspoons baking powder

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder.

Cut in (or grate in) butter and Crisco and mix together using your hands, adding milk little by little to ensure everything is mixed together.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to about 2 centimeters. Cut bisquets using a rounded glass.

To make the indent on top I used a little pill bottle and lightly pressed it into the dough making sure it doesn't go all the way through (doesn't affect taste at all, just makes them look pretty). When all dough has been rolled and cut, put biscuits onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Brush with a bit of milk. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.

Now for a quick Spanish lesson...

Pan = Bread

Bisquet=Biscuit

Delicioso = delicious

yummmm = yummmmm

Happy Weekending!

Linking to Weekend Wrap Up, Sunday Spotlight, and Sunday Showcase.

Tuna Melt Wraps with Avocado

I love a good tuna melt, I also love a good quesadilla, so how bout we combine the two in a wrap? Ok! This began as a way for me to use up some leftovers from my fridge, half a bag of cheese, some tortillas, a tomato, mushrooms, and an avocado. First I mixed the avocado with tuna and a bit of mayo. Then I slapped on the veggies, gave it all a good sprinkle of cheese and broiled it in the oven for a few minutes. The results were simple, delicious, and healthy to boot!

Tuna Melt Wraps

Ingredients

Makes 2 asombroso (amazing) wraps

1 Ripe avocado

1/2 cup sliced mushrooms

1-2 Tablespoons light mayo (according to taste)

1/2 tomato, sliced

1 can light tuna packed in water

1/2 - 3/4 cups cheese

2 tortillas

Mash together avocado, mayo, and tuna. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Take one tortilla, smear with tuna mixture,

layer on some mushrooms

and tomato slices and sprinkle the whole thing with cheese.

Repeat with remaining tortilla. Place on a baking sheet in the oven and broil for about two minutes or until cheese has melted (watch CLOSELY, oven heats vary and these can burn quite quickly).

When cheese is melty, pull out of the oven and wrap tortilla, securing with a toothpick if it wont stay. Cut each wrap in half and serve.

¿Quieres uno? ¿Yo? SI!!

¡Que Delicioso!

Have a beautiful day!

Crockpot Salsa Chicken with Whole Wheat Penne Pasta

This week I was having a few friends over for dinner on an evening that I knew I was going to get off work late. I also realized the night before that I really hadn't planned anything for dinner and I had almost no ingredients on hand.... what's a girl to do? Turn to that fabulous invention known as the crock pot. I threw in a jar of salsa, a few chicken breasts and set it on low and slow! When I arrived home that evening, I was greeted by the glorious smell of the chicken cooking. All I had to do was boil some whole wheat penne pasta and serve it up with some Monterrey jack cheese and a green salad on the side. Such a delicious, savory meal! My friends thought I had been slaving away over a hot stove all evening.... little did they know I had spent about fifteen minutes total pulling the meal together... but that will just be our little secret ☺

Crock pot Salsa Chicken with Whole Wheat Penne Pasta

Ingredients

3 good sized chicken breasts, frozen

1 jar of your favorite low-sodium salsa, I like Green Mountain Gringo Fire Roasted Chili Salsa (try and select the lowest sodium salsa you can find or else your chicken will turn out too salty!)

1 lb whole wheat penne pasta

Ingredients to top:

Monterrey jack cheese (shredded)

Sour cream

Coat inside of crock pot with non-stick cooking spray. Place frozen chicken breasts in crock pot. Pour one jar of salsa over chicken breasts. Place lid on cooker and set on low. Cover and allow chicken to cook for 8-10 hours. I did ten and mine turned out perfect. After chicken is completely cooked, boil pasta until tender. Remove chicken from crock pot and shred with two forks. Toss pasta with chicken and left over cooking liquid from the crock pot. Sprinkle with cheese and spoon on a dollop of sour cream if desired.

Whisked Away Wednesday: Chili Relleno Casserole

Exciting news! I leave for Mexico tomorrow! Yay! I am going to visit Jose (my boyfriend) for an extended weekend. So, in honor of my trip to Mexico, I am sharing the recipe for a luscious, layered, chili relleno casserole. It is composed of roasted Anaheim chilies, melty cheese, creamy black beans, ground turkey, and olives, which are then smothered in green enchilada sauce and topped with more cheese. Mouth watering yet?

Recipe courtesy of For the Love of Cooking

Ingredients

3 - 5 Anaheim chilies (I used 3 but recommend using 5, the more the better, no?)

3 eggs

3 tbsp flour

3 tbsp sour cream

1 3 oz can of sliced black olives

2 cups of low fat Mexican blend cheese

1 can black beans, rinsed & drained

1 1/2 cups ground meat (I used turkey cause I'm healthy like that ☺)

1 can green enchilada sauce

Optional Toppers, take your pick:

Sour cream

Diced green onion

Salsa

Cheese

Avocado (or guacamole)

Rinse chilies and place on a baking sheet covered in foil. Move oven rack to very top of oven and broil chilies for about 5 minutes on each side or until skin is blackened.

Remove from oven and place in a Ziploc bag. Close bag and let sit for 10-15 minutes. Remove chilies. Skin and remove veins and seeds. Cut into strips.

Preheat oven to 350℉. Combine eggs, flour, sour cream, olives, salt and pepper to taste then mix thoroughly. Coat a baking dish with cooking spray.

Add a layer of the chilies.

Then egg mixture, then cheese, then black beans, then ground meat; repeat layers until gone.

I ended up making one large casserole and one small one with the extra.

Top with enchilada sauce and a more cheese. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes. Serve with optional toppings and lots of napkins!

P.S. The mini casserole I made, I refrigerated and took for lunch the next day. It was even more sabroso (delicious, flavorful) after resting for a day in the fridge. As I was heating it up my coworkers were definitely struck with lunch envy ;)

Squash Blossom Quesadillas

Happy Thursday! Today I am going to share one of my favorite Mexican recipes. It is so simple but the flavors are AMAZING. If you have never tried squash blossoms or fresh made tortillas, prepare to have your taste buds do a little dance! Homemade tortillas are so easy and taste a thousand times better than store bought. All you need for flour tortillas is white flour (or whole wheat), some type of fat (olive oil, butter, shortening), baking powder, salt, and water. You don't even need a tortilla press, just use a rolling pin! I have experimented with all kinds of fats to make the masa (dough) for tortillas, this time I was inspired by a recipe in Martha Stewart's Everyday Food to try olive oil. The tortillas turned out great, light and fluffy, just like flour tortillas should be! The squash blossoms imparted a beautiful delicate flavor that perfectly accentuates the slight saltiness of Mexican cheese.

These quesadillas will change the way you think of quesadillas. The typical American quesadillas stuffed with yellow cheese and oozing grease do not even compare to these. In Mexico, you don't see yellow cheese quesadillas, they always use white cheese such as Queso Oaxaca (my favorite, kind of similar to mozzarella) or Queso Fresco (slightly salty and crumbly).

Squash blossoms are just coming in to season and can be found at farmers markets and local Mexican grocery stores. If you grow squash (or pumpkins) in your garden you can pick the blossoms and use them. To prepare them, take off the spiny green outer calyxes, clean blossoms by swishing them around in a bowl of water then shake them dry. You can use the whole blossom! Some people remove the inner stamen (long yellow pointy part) I just chop it up along with the blossoms and use it as I see no difference in flavor with or without stamen. Squash blossoms do not keep long so pick them or buy them the same day you plan to use them. I served my quesadillas with a side of simple corn and black bean salad and some avocado slices. Enjoy and get ready to never buy store bought tortillas again!

Tortillas

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons olive oil

2/3 cup water

Mix dry ingredients together. In a small bowl, mix oil and water, gradually add to dry ingredients, mixing with your hands.At this point the dough shouldn't be too wet (sticky) but not crumbly either. If it feels too sticky or wet, add a bit more flour. Too dry? Add a bit more water. This is a learning process, practice makes perfect!

Knead dough and allow to sit for one hour (I sometimes skip this step and they still turn out okay).

After dough has rested, seperate into about 10 small balls. Cover with a damp towel and allow to rest for 10 minutes to half an hour.

On a non-stick surface sprinkled with flour, roll out tortillas, using a floured rolling pin, to about 10 inches in diameter. If the dough is sticking to everything, sprinkle on more flour. I usually roll one ball out, cook it, then do another one. Just easier for me...

Heat up a griddle over medium high heat, add a bit of butter so the tortillas don't stick and put a tortilla on the HOT griddle, cooking about one minute on each side until it starts to puff up and you see little brown spots forming. Remove from heat and wrap in a thick towel or put in a tortilla warmer.

*Hint - if you are going to use these right away to make quesadillas I would recommend not letting them get very brown because they will continue to cook as you cook the quesadillas, make sense?

Now on to the quesadillas...

Squash Blossom Quesadillas

Adapted from Food Network recipe

Ingredients

Olive oil, for cooking

1/2 medium onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

15 individual fresh squash blossoms rinsed and cut in half

1/2 cup chicken stock

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 (10-inch) flour tortillas

1/4 pound white Mexican cheese (queso oaxaca or queso fresco work well), grated or shredded

Directions

Heat a large saute pan with a little oil and saute the onion, and garlic for 5 minutes, until the onions have become translucent. Then, add the squash blossoms and simmer with chicken stock until flowers have wilted and stock is pretty much evaporated. Season with salt and pepper, and set aside to cool.

To compose the quesadilla lay the 2 of the tortillas on a flat surface. Distribute the cheese equally on both tortillas. I like LOTS of cheese! Then, spread 1/2 of the squash blossom filling over the cheese. Cover with more cheese and the other tortilla, place on heated griddle on nonstick saute pan with a little oil, and cook for about 2 minutes on each side. Try not to flip until cheese has melted a bit or they tend to come apart .When nice and golden brown on each side and cheese has melted, remove and cut into quarters.

These are sooo good! With the extra tortillas I made quesedillas with sliced avocados in between and quesedillas with corn in between. Also delicious!

¡Buen Provecho!

(Bon apetit in Spanish)