For those of you who don’t know, Tinga is a shredded chicken dish with a spicy chipotle sauce. The way it is served here, is on a tostada that I bought at HEB with a variety of toppings. Because of the simplicity, this meal can be made for large parties or small gatherings. I have a cousin (shout out to Sheila) who absolutely loves this dish! I think of her anytime my family makes it at home. Before I started to prepare, I was nervous that there was going to be a lot of steps and room for error. I could not mess this up, I was in charge of dinner that night so I could not afford any mistakes! To my surprise, it was easy to make, but it was time consuming to do the prep work. The final product was pretty good, but I got some complaints that it was not spicy enough. Tough crowd. Forget the haters, I thought I did a great job considering it was my first attempt. Thanks to my mother for all the help she has given me with this dish as well as future recipes.

If you are curious about the products and brands that I used for this, I have attached links to show you exactly what I bought. I attached links to the baked chicken, chipotle pepper, tostadas, as well as the queso fresco. Hope you enjoy and thank you all for reading!

Ingredients

• 1 whole baked chicken
• 3 tomatoes
• 7.5 oz can of chipotle peppers
• 3 cloves of garlic
• Salt to taste
• Toastadas

For the toppings

• Chopped lettuce
• Refried beans
• Queso fresco
• Diced avocado
• Sour cream
• Refried beans

 

1. I’ll admit, I cheated a little on this part, I used an already baked chicken from HEB. Anyway, shred the chicken and make sure to get as much meat as possible. Set aside. Be patient, this can be a process but once you get a rhythm going, you’ll be done in no time.
2. In a blender, combine the tomatoes, garlic, can of chipotle peppers and salt. Taste once blended and add more salt if needed.
3. In a pan, place your shredded chicken and chipotle sauce until there is enough to cover the chicken. Turn on low heat to keep warm until it is time to serve
4. If you have some leftover beans laying around, heat those up and mash them to spread later. If you must, a can of refried beans will be just fine.
5. To serve, spread beans to the tostada first and follow with the shredded chicken
6. With the topping placed in bowls, add as much lettuce, cheese, and avocados (etc.) as you would like

To continue with this post, I want to go through my reasoning for choosing the food topic. Like many others in America, I am a food lover, and I come from a family that has roots in Mexico. My interest in recipes started in middle school when I realized that the meals I eat at home are not what my class mates would eat in their home. I was fascinated that the idea of foods from around the world could be so different and still delicious. The foods that I learned to love were meals that my grandma had made for my mom when she was young. My mother being the oldest of her siblings, was given the role of caretaker and helped her mom around the house. This included preparing the meals for the family every now and then, so she learned at a young age how to cook and move around the kitchen. I want to be as prepared as my mother is when she is cooking so this blog is my way of documenting that journey.

Something that I have noticed working in the kitchen alongside my mother is that she had made several modifications to the original methods my grandmother would use. For instance, in the case of my recent tinga recipe, the original procedure was to boil a raw, whole chicken and let it cook in the water, then shred the meat. What I ended up doing was purchasing an already cooked chicken from the grocery store to save prep time and speed up the process of preparing the dish. My mom has a very innovative way of thinking and likes to work smarter not harder. I appreciate the initiative to improve traditional methods without sacrificing the authenticity of the food we make. Once I learn everything by heart, maybe I will be able to make my own innovations and continue the tradition. Watching my mom cook, I have also been trying to learn the art of seasoning without measuring any ingredients. It should come as a sixth sense to just sprinkle a little here and a little there and have the flavor come out perfect. I am almost there; it has taken me several tries to get a feel for the flavors.

I have come to realize that I enjoy the desserts more than the savory dishes. I find more joy adding sugar and mixing batters versus chopping and slicing. Towards the end of this journey, I am planning on putting together a multi course meal for my family to test everything I have been working on and figure out how I can make the food my own.

Atun

Sometimes it is hard to find healthy foods that make you feel like you’re eating something filling and worthwhile. Pizza is filling and satisfying. Some nice greasy tacos will never get old! Sometimes though it is important to chill out on the cheese and fried foods and eat a clean fresh tasting snack. Atun is something that my mother had always made for me when I was little after my soccer games or even when I came home from school. We all get the afternoon munchies, it’s ok, that’s normal. As I got older, and realized that the food I ate actually impacted my health, I understood why my mom would make this so often. It was filling, gave me enough energy to go through the day and it was really simple to make. Atun was definitely a go to for me when I was in college because I was still too scared to use a stove. All I had to do was cut up a few veggies, squeeze some lime and it was done.

Makes about two servings.

• 12 oz can of Tuna
• 1 tomato
• ½ onion
• 2 jalapenos
• ¼ cup of cilantro
• 1 lime
• Salt and pepper

1. Chop up the tomato, onion, and jalapeno and set aside. Make sure to remove the seeds of the jalapeno. (If you’re brave, you can leave them)
2. Open the can of tuna and drain any water that is in the can
3. Combine tuna and chopped ingredients into a large bowl.
4. Add a lime, salt and pepper to taste
5. Next combine the chopped cilantro into the bowl
6. Done! Serve with some crackers and enjoy

 

What I love about this snack is the no cook aspect of it and how quick I can make it before I leave for work, or class. As I have mentioned before, the spice level depends on how you prefer it. If you are a little nervous about the heat, start off with one jalapeno and work from there. I have made this for myself countless times when I am not in the mood for heating anything up and I have not gotten tired of it. I encourage everyone to make it for their next workday! Thank you for reading.

It’s finally under 90 degrees here in Austin, TX and I took advantage! We just passed our first day of fall and made my family some arroz con leche. This treat can be eaten as breakfast or even a nice dessert after dinner. Maybe even have a bowl as you watch a movie. Unlike most recipes on this blog, I have made this several times in the past. My first time making it was when I was in my first college apartment and I was missing home. I face-timed my mom and she took me through the whole process. It is a simple recipe and I don’t believe it’s that complicated, but it gives the most warm and comforting feeling when you eat it. With the cold weather coming up, be sure to have this recipe on hand.

This makes about 5 servings

• 1 can of evaporated milk
• 1 can of condensed milk
• 2 ½ cups of milk
• 1 cup of rice
• 1 cinnamon stick

1. In a large pot, pour your rice and cinnamon. Add water until it covers the rice. Place on high heat.
2. Once the water starts to boil, bring the heat down to low flame and leave to simmer for about 15 min.
3. After the 15 min have passed, add all your milks (evaporated, condensed, and regular milk) to the rice and stir slowly to distribute the milk.
   1. **It is important that you don’t over stir. Constantly stirring the rice will cause it to become mushy and that is no bueno**
4. Cook on low medium heat for another 10 min or until the rice is cooked through.

 

And that’s it! Super simple no stress snack/meal that so many people will love. What I really enjoy about making it after dinner is eating it hot and then saving the leftovers in the fridge and eating it cold the next day. The recipe I used does not need any sugar since the condensed milk adds the sweetness. If it is too sweet, you can always add more milk to take away the sugar. Serve hot or cold either way it’s delicious. Super excited for this fall season!

 

 

You guys. They had us in the first half, not gunna lie. I did not want to admit how much of a hard time this recipe gave me but that’s what the point of this blog is. To show you my struggles and how I ended up fixing everything. If it wasn’t one thing it was another, and the weird part was, the recipe never changed. I just over mixed the batter, left it baking in the oven for too long and I was so close to just posting pictures of the chocoflan my mom made and call it a day. But I am not a quitter! Even if I wanted to, I’m not allowed to (Mexican daughter problems). The first attempt, the chocolate cake split for whatever reason and the flan did not set correctly. Chocoflan 1, Aimee 0. Second time, the chocolate cake was so dense it was not fun to eat and I’m not sure what caused it to happen. Chocoflan 2, Aimee 0. The photos you see here are from my final attempt. With some more precise measurements and a little prayer, they came out so good. Just another example of perseverance and learning it’s ok to cry if you mess up (more than once). Anyway, enough of my failures. Here is the procedure for my ONE success.

For the Caramel

• ¼ cup of sugar
• Water
• Lime juice

For the Flan

• 7 ounces of sweetened condensed milk
• 6 ounces of evaporated milk
• 2 ounces of cream cheese
• 2 eggs
• ½ of vanilla extract

For the Cake   

• 5 tablespoons of butter
• ½ cup of sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 ¼ cups of flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ cup of cocoa powder
• ½ of butter milk

 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease your containers with cooking spray or butter. I used 7 oz oven safe dishes.

For the Caramel sauce

2. In a saucepan, add your sugar and add a teaspoon of water just to get the sugar to stick together. Add a teaspoon of lime juice to prevent the sugar from crystallizing. Leave it on medium heat until the sugar starts to bubble and turn brown. Using a wooden spoon, move the sugar around to get an even caramel color. Once there is a uniform toasty brown color, add a tablespoon of butter and tablespoon of milk to the sugar and stir until combined. Pour the sauce into your dishes and set aside.

For the Cake

3. Add the butter and sugar to a bowl and using a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat until the butter is light and fluffy. Then add your egg.
4. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cocoa.
5. Add ½ of the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix for a few seconds until combined. Add half of the buttermilk and the rest of the dry ingredients then add the rest of the buttermilk. Only mix until everything is evenly incorporated. DO NOT OVER MIX, always make sure to watch the batter.

For the Flan

6. In a blender, combine the evaporated milk, condensed milk, cream cheese, eggs, and vanilla. Blend on high for 30 seconds.
7. Scoop the cake batter into the prepared dishes a little less than halfway up. Slowly pour the flan mixture over the cake batter. Place the dishes into a larger baking pan and pour about an inch of hot water to the pan. Cover in foil and carefully slide into the middle rack of the oven.
8. Bake for about 40 min or until the cake has risen to the top and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
9. When they are ready, remove from the water and let cool to room temperature. This takes about an hour. (Or you can put them in the freezer like I did for 20 min or so)
10. When you are ready to serve, run a butter knife around the edges of the chocoflan and carefully flip onto a plate, serve with fruit on top as a garnish!

If the cake seems to be floating when you first take it out of the oven, no worries. That is normal, and they will slowly deflate when they start to cool down.

Even though this was a tough one, the end result was worth it and super tasty. I chose to bake them in small containers because they are easy to take to work and it is less tempting than eating endless pieces of a larger cake. Hope you guys learned something new and thanks for checking in!

For todays munchies, I attempted to make my Buelas famous tomatillo salsa con chile del arbol. Now let me tell you…….. I was nervous. This salsa is served for every birthday party, every national holiday, and every backyard grill to ever happen. As far as I can remember anyway. One of the biggest days that it makes its appearance is Thanksgiving. Everyone decides who is making the turkey, who is bringing the drinks, stuffing, etc. There is always someone asking, “Ok, but who’s bringing the salsa?” Thanksgiving usually consists of both sides of my family getting together at my house and we make room to sit and eat together. That a being said, there must be a minimum of two large bowls of salsa to have enough for everyone to have extra. After the first wave passes, the men start to make the 5^th or 6^th plate of the night (then the women give in and make their plate after.) So yeah, this salsa is important.

Ingredients

• 10 Tomatillos
• 1 clove of Garlic
• 5 Chiles de arbol
• Cilantro
• Salt
• 1/4 of Chopped onion

Disclaimer- this is a simple process however be warned. The amount of chiles you use can take your salsa from enjoyable to death real quick.  Enjoy!

1. Cover your baking sheet with aluminum foil. The tomatillos might spill some juice so using the foil will make clean up easy.
2. Place your tomatillos on the sheet and place in the oven to broil and leave for about 10 min. Check to make sure they have browned at the top, flip over, and broil another 10 min.
3. Transfer the tomatillos, chiles, garlic and salt to a blender. Pulse 4 to 5 times to incorporate all the ingredients.
4. This is where you get your taste test in. Needs salt? More chile? Now is the time to edit.
5. Once you’re satisfied with the outcome, place the salsa in a large bowl. Chop the onion and cilantro, add to salsa and mix in with a spoon.

All done!
I like to eat it when it’s hot with some chips during a get together we usually have going on. And when the first bowl in finished, I bring out the back up for the tacos we made for dinner. My experience making this wasn’t too scary. It was pretty straight forward for the most part and there was not much room for me to mess up. If you end up having leftovers, the salsa can easily be saved in the fridge for the next two days and be used in breakfast tacos, sandwiches, quesadillas, tamales or even those flautas I shared last week. Super versatile and easy to make. Special thanks to my Buela for the recipe and my mom for showing me how its done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for visiting Mexican Munchies!

Today, I am going to take you through the steps of making Flautas de Papa. These crispy bites are usually what my family ends up having for dinner when we want to chill in front of the TV and watch a movie or listen to my brother scream at the Lakers when they have a game. You can put together as many as you like and have them served as finger foods or, if you’re like my mom, you can fancy it up with some garnishes, sides and salsas. “Make it look pretty” is what my mom always says. Recently, we had a bowl of sopa de fideo to go alongside the flautas so that recipe will be included as well. Hope you enjoy the food and if you make this for yourself at home, please comment at the end of this post and tell me how it went.

Ingredients- Makes 6-8 flautas

For the flautas

• A pack of corn tortillas
• 1 lbs of Yukon golden potatoes (peeled and halved)
• 1 tbs of butter
• ½ tsp of cumin
• 1 cup of shredded white cheddar

For the sopa

• 3 roma tomatoes
• ¼ small onion
• 1 clove of garlic
• 3 cups of chicken broth
• ½ cup of fideo
• 1 tbs Cilantro (optional)

1. To make the flautas, preheat the oven to 375 F and prepare the filling. After you peeled and halved the potatoes, put them in a pot and fill with water until it almost covers them. Put the pot on the stove and once the water has come to a boil bring the flame down and leave the pot covered while simmering until the potatoes become soft.
2. While the potatoes are on the stove, prepare the sopa (soup). Put the tomatoes, onion, and garlic in a blender and liquify for 30 seconds. Set aside.
3. In another pot, drizzle with olive oil and let it heat up on medium high heat. Then pour the fideo and immediately stir to get the oil evenly distributed.
4. Let the fideo toast for a couple minutes until it starts turning golden brown
5. Next, take the tomato mixture and pour it, but be careful, it might splash a bit so don’t burn yourself. Stir and let it sit for 30 seconds.
6. Then, pour the chicken stock, add salt to taste, and mix to get everything incorporated. Let this simmer on low heat for about 20 min or until the fideo is cooked through.
7. Once your potatoes have cooked, move them to a bowl big enough to fit your other ingredients. Combine the butter, cheese, and cumin and mash everything until smooth. Use a masher to get a good consistency, oooor find your nearest childhood cup and that works just fine.
   • It is important to do this while the potatoes are still hot so the cheese can melt. Now the filling is all done!
8. For the assembly, sprinkle some oil on the corn tortillas and pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds (more or less). This keeps them from cracking when you roll them.
9. All you have left to do is spread the potato filling, roll the tortillas and place them on an oiled baking sheet so they don’t get stuck to the pan.
10. Put them into the oven and let them get crispy which takes about 25-30 min.
11. **back to the sopa** Once the fideo is ready, chop some cilantro and stir into the soup.

 

One way to serve this is by eating it plain jane with the soup on the side for a chill meal and no mess (depending how bad of an eater you are). For funzies though, I drizzled some sour cream and pickled red onions with avocado of course. I made some of my Buelas green salsa and bam… a beautiful dish. Multitasking was difficult for this one. My brain was all over the place thinking, “the potatoes!…..oh! the soup!….wait, how much cumin?!” Again, I found myself yelling, “Mama!!” I called on her less than last time. Baby steps. At least I was able to get everything done without setting off our smoke detector. Anyway, I had fun making this and I had even more fun eating it after all the pictures were taken. Leave me a comment down below if you have any suggestions on what munchies to make next! Go easy on me, I’m still at level 1 in the kitchen. Love you all. Thanks for reading.

I am excited to get the ball rolling with a favorite of mine, Huevos Rancheros. To start things off, I wanted to make something that was easy and quick to make. That was the plan anyway, I ended up taking longer than expected because I had no clue what I was doing. Five minutes in I found myself yelling “MAMA!?” After she told me how many jalapenos I needed, I got to work! I have the list of ingredients with the procedure to follow.

Huevos Rancheros

Ingredients:

• Tomatoes [5]
• Onion [1]
• Jalapenos [2]
• Garlic [3]
• Eggs
• Tortillas
• Black beans [1 can]
• Avocados (optional, for some. Mandatory for others)

I’m going to be honest with you, I did not measure anything for this recipe. There was this meme I found a while back that described the Mexican process fairly accurately:

Thankfully, I had my mom on the other side of the counter top telling me when to stop adding salt or how much water needed to go into the beans. I took an educational guess and put the quantity in brackets for you if you give this a shot.

Directions

Enough for 5 people to have one

For the sauce-

1. Gather tomatoes, half the onion, jalapenos, and garlic on an sheet pan and put to broil on high until lightly charred on one side. Once the vegetables start to get some color, flip them to char on the other side.
2. Move all roasted veggies to a blender and add salt to taste. Pulse 4-5 times until well combined and set aside.

For the beans-

3. Chop a “tablespoon” of the onion into small pieces along with some chopped garlic, and sauté in olive oil for 30 seconds.
4. Drain a can of black beans pour into saucepan, and stir carefully
5. After 5 min, mash the beans and add more water if needed to create a spreadable consistency.
6. On a clean pan, add olive oil and let the pan heat up for a minute or two.
7. Grab a tortilla and set in the pan for 30 seconds on each side, or until crispy.
   • An alternative to this method is place the tortillas in a toaster oven to get the same crunch.
8. After the tortilla is ready, place an egg in hot oil and cook the egg as you prefer it. It is best to make it over easy or over medium.
9. For the assembly, spread the black beans onto the tortilla first then add your egg on top
10. Pour some of the ranchero salsa over the egg and top with avocado or cilantro (Maybe both)
11. To make a more filling meal, add some golden potatoes sautéed with garlic salt and some pepper.

If you decide to make the potatoes, start cooking them on the stove while the vegetables for the sauce are roasting in the oven. I completely forgot about them, so I wasted time making them after everything else was done. Do as I say, not as I do and learn from my mistakes.

The spice level really depends on how many jalapenos you use. In my sauce, I used two and it had a nice spiciness to it and I had no issues breathing while eating it. So it depends how spicy you like your food.

Something I learned about cooking the way my family grew up, is it’s all based on instincts and that is something I DEFINITELY don’t have right now. But I’m working on it, my attempt at huevos rancheros came out pretty good. My dad loved it; he even thought my mom made it. Big win for me. The only thing that sucked was eating my creation, and then turning around to see the mess I had to clean up. It was worth it! If I can pull this off, then you will have no problem putting this together yourself. If you take the time to try this out, post it on Facebook or Instagram and make sure to tag me! Links to my social accounts will be at the bottom. Thanks for reading and come back Thursday for another recipe.

Facebook – @mexicanmunchies20

Instagram- mex_munchies_

 

Hola!

Welcome to my new project, Mexican Munchies! My name is Aimee Castelan Torres (because my mom made sure I had her maiden name as well). I live in Austin, TX and am currently working on my master’s degree in digital marketing at the St. Edwards University. I work at a start up in the operations department near downtown. I decided to create a blog around food because, you know, we need it to survive, but also because I have fallen in love with the food my family has made over the years. I plan to feature recipes from my mother, my father and the original queen, Buela (my grandmother). By starting this blog, I’m hoping to learn my way around the kitchen and maybe even memorize these recipes by heart.

As you might have figured from the title, I will be showing you what kind of snacks you will often find my family eating. There will be some familiar foods but maybe I’ll be able to introduce you to something new. Recipes will range from small lunches, yummy tacos, and common street food all made from a home kitchen. Unfortunately, the corona virus has limited our social hangouts and restricted most of us from searching for a new restaurant to try. A great way to pass the time is by putting together an easy snack and share it with your kids, family and roommates. I look forward to sharing this part of my life with you and I hope you stick around to try them out for yourself.