Muy Caliente!

I have egg on my face (pun intended as a hint about today's post) over my despicable blogging.  I have a lot of "issues" I have been dealing with.  I am a flawed human (I know you all knew this, I am saying it out loud/writing it for myself in a cathartic kind of way).  I would like to discuss more of the emotional/spiritual stuff that has been going on....but I am not ready yet.  I am trying to dip my toe back into the pool of blogging and it's much easier to start with the fun stuff isn't it? So let's shelve the issues for now and I will gather some emotional dusting supplies and we will tackle those some day when I grow some gumption.

Thanks. I knew you would understand.

So I never do anything small. Especially when it comes to the kitchen.  You have noticed this haven't you? And I have a husband who is a HUGE fan of Mexican food, so am I if you think about nearly every other meal I make is covered in cilantro :) So every year I sort of make a big deal about the Cinco de Mayo.  Although I confess I have no idea what May 5th means to the Mexican people I am sure I could find out between mouthfuls of flavor bliss if I asked my historian husband. But to me it's sort of just an excuse to make awesome food.  This year I went way overboard.  I was planning a huge meal for Breakfast, Lunch AND Dinner. It was after all a Saturday.  But then I realized we would have eaten ourselves sick, I would have spent the entire Saturday in the kitchen and each meal was literally big enough to be a main course so no need to cram it all into one day.  Which was actually an exciting prospect, celebrating the Cinco de Mayo....all week long!!! So you get a three part series CHOCK full of Mexican flair.  And it gave me a reason to blog three times and get over my fear and trepidation of getting "back in the saddle", I guess of a burro in this case. So here you go, prepare to dance to some Mariachi music and shout Ole'!!

Mexican Breakfast Feast (that's good enough for dinner!)

Amanda's South of the Border Benny

I love Eggs Benedict, my husband loves anything Southwest themed on his eggs (he is one of those people who always puts salsa on his eggs and if he doesn't have salsa he uses - gag - ketchup!) So this meal is literally a marriage of our tastes.   And this meal was a team effort. I don't make the eggs in our house, my husband possesses that skill and I could not have done this meal without his excellent Sou Chef skills.  If you are working solo it will take lots of planning to orchestrate but you can do it.  First assemble toppings, that's the easy part!

I will mention I had totally intended to also include black beans but forgot until the meal was all plated.  You have to remember I also have the additional chaos of trying to photograph food too! Ai Yi Yi! So include beans if you wish. Or if you are a vegetarian you could substitute the meat for beans.  Here we have 2 avocados diced and sprinkled with garlic salt and a capful of lime juice, chopped green onion, and salsa (I always buy Jack's fresh salsa but if you wanted even more fresh you could make or buy your own pico de gallo).  For the meat I wanted Chorizo however every package of Chorizo at the store said Hot! on it and that didn't seem like a good plan with kiddos.  So I opted to buy plain pork sausage (ala Jimmy Dean) and season it myself.  I used 1/2 of one of those tube pkgs of sausage and browned it and then sprinkled the following: Cumin, Garlic Salt, Mrs. Dash's Fiesta Lime, Ancho Chili Pepper and Roasted Ground Coriander.  This is what I added and you can come up with a Mexican flair without having this specific combo. I was worried about it being too hot and only did a dash of each and it was perfect!! Less is more, you can always add more if it is bland but once you have gone overboard it's too late. The kids gobbled it up with no mention of it being "too spicy" and yet I thought it was full of smoky flavor with a touch of a kick so I luckily got it just right.  Any adult that wants a touch more heat a handy bottle of Tabasco would make a nice condiment.

To layer/stack your Benny: 1/2 toasted English muffin, egg (I don't do eggs and have never attempted poached, my Hubby made us perfectly expertly cooked over-easy eggs for this!), toppings (see above + beans if you wish), drizzle with Hollandaise sauce (I just use the packet, I am all about cutting corners) and dust with paprika, or cumin or coriander (more or less for looks!) But don't dig in yet we have 2 side dishes (see why I needed help!)

Amanda's Hacienda Hash

OK I am getting carried away with my titles.  I diced up redskins and sauteed them in EVOO (covered) for about 10-15 min stirring occasionally. Then I sprinkled them with all the spices I put on the meat above.  And sprinkled lightly with Mexican blend cheese.  These are awesome!

Finally I figured we needed something sweet. And corn bread is traditionally a Tex-Mex influenced bread (actually originated with the Native Americans but is now more associated with Southern cooking!) and when I was growing up my Momma would make corn bread muffins and serve them to us for dessert with butter and syrup on it and we called it

Johnny Cake 

 According to Wikipedia (for whatever that is worth):

Johnnycakes: Pouring a batter similar to that of skillet-fried cornbread, but slightly thinner, into hot grease atop a griddle or a skillet produces a pancake-like bread called a johnnycake. This type of cornbread is prevalent in New England, particularly in Rhode Island, and also in the American Midwest and the American South. It is reminiscent of the term hoecake, used in the American South for fried cornbread pancakes, which may date back to stories about some people on the frontier making cornbread patties on the blade of a hoe.

So there you go, don't you feel informed! And Holy Fiesta this was like a party for the mouth! Worthy of a big Saturday Morning breakfast or filling enough for a breakfast-style dinner.  It was awesome! Want to see one more pic, in CinemaScope even...

Since I am apparently teaching History in this blog entry I felt guilted into looking this up. Again thanks to my friends at Wikipedia:
Cinco de Mayo: The date is observed in the United States as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride, and to commemorate the cause of freedom and democracy during the first years of the American Civil War.  In the state of Puebla, the date is observed to commemorate the Mexican army's unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguin. Contrary to widespread popular belief, Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico's Independence Day -- the most important national patriotic holiday in Mexico—which is actually celebrated on September 16.

For the record I asked my husband to summarize the significance of May 5th in one sentence and his "brief" explanation was three times as long as the above and the sort of mind-numbing eyes-roll-back-in-my-head kind of answer that is the reason I don't ask him these things.  When I read their much more concise explanation to him, he shrugged, "That's what I said!" Sure honey, exactly. So there you go. Hope you all had some yummy Mexican grub this weekend also.  Prepare yourself for the two more entries coming your way you will have more than enough ideas for your next Mexican craving. Hasta La Vista, Baby!