Category Archives: Mexican/Spanish Recipes

Main Dish, Mexican/Spanish Recipes, Poultry, Recipes

Quick Chicken Quesadillas

Lots going on this month, the new cookbook on the way and some last minute baking for that for photographs and I’m running behind, then throw in a computer problem or two and my month is kaput.  So, let’s end this month with an easy to put together recipe.  Don’t forget “Sweets by the Season” will be out in October!

Got a little leftover chicken and some cheddar cheese? Add a tortilla and some salsa and you have a quick and simple lunch or dinner.

Chicken Quesadillas

2/3 cup Cooked Chicken, diced or cut into slices
1/2 cup Cheddar or Cheddar Jack Cheese
4 tablespoons Tomato Salsa (about 2 nc per serving)
2 Low Carb Tortillas
2 tablespoon Butter
4 or 6 slices of Haas Avocado (optional)
2 tablespoons Sour Cream (optional)

Warm the tortilla over a hot burner or for about 5 seconds in a microwave. Put the 1/2 the chicken down the middle, slightly to one side, top with half the cheese and salsa. Fold the tortilla over the filling to make a turnover shape.

Heat the butter over medium heat in a skillet until it is melted, then put the stuffed tortilla into the pan and cook it until it is browned on one side, about three to five minutes depending on how high the heat is. Use a spatula to turn the tortilla to the other side and brown it also. This should be enough to heat the chicken and melt the cheese.

Put on a plate and garnish with sour cream and 2 or 3 avocado slices.

Makes 2 servings.

Nutrition Info per serving:
Calories: 347.6 Fat: 23.9 g Net Carbs: 3.5 g Protein: 28.2 g

Nutrition Info per serving (with avocado and sour cream):
Calories: 445.5 Fat: 33 g Net Carbs: 4.7 g Protein: 29.5 g

Main Dish, Mexican/Spanish Recipes, Poultry, Recipes

Spicy Chicken with Cauli-rice Casserole

Spanish rice was a staple when I was growing up and no one made it as wonderfully as my grandmother.  It wasn’t like the pale, barely a taste of tomato Spanish rice you find at Mexican restaurants.  Grandmother’s featured whole tomatoes, onions and peppers in the dish. This made it easy for it to become a casserole dish with a little meat or chicken added.

This is my low carb adaptation of the Chicken with Spanish Rice dish made with low carb cauliflower rice (cauli-rice) instead of the high starch grain.  I also use riced Daikon radish it which rounds out the flavor a little more.

Spanish Chicken with Cauli-Rice

2 cups Cauliflower pieces
1 cup Daikon Radish, riced (Optional)
1/2 Onion, chopped
1 tablespoon Butter
1 teaspoon Better than Bullion chicken
1/2 cup Sweet Peppers, riced
2 cups Chicken, cooked and cubed
1 cup canned Tomatoes, chopped
1 teaspoon Cumin
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Pepper
1 teaspoon Cayenne or Red Pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried Cilantro
1/4 cup chopped Baby Corn
1 cup cheddar cheese

If you’re not using Daikon radish, then use an extra cup of cauliflower rice.

Rice cauliflower and daikon in a food processor or use a grater or ricer. In a large skillet, add 1 tablespoon butter and add the onions. Cook over medium heat until they glisten, then add the riced cauliflower. Stir. Mix 1 teaspoon bullion with 1/2 cup hot water and stir to melt. Add to the pan and mix in. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes. Check the liquid level every few minutes and add water if needed.

Add the tomatoes, peppers, seasonings, chicken and baby corn. Stir and cook for about 10 minutes.
Preheat oven to 360 degrees (F.) Spray a 2 quart casserole dish with cooking spray. Spoon or pour the contents of the skillet into the casserole dish. Sprinkle cheese over the top.

Bake for about 30 minutes until the cheese is melted and lightly browned.
Serves 6.

Nutrition Information per serving:
Calories:172 Fat: 7.3 Net Carbs: 3.9 g Protein: 20.9 g

With 1 cup of riced Daikon Radish
Calories: 158 Fat: 7.2 g Net Carbs:4.6 g Protein: 31.3

Note:  I’ve noticed that with many spiced dishes, they gain more flavor when they’ve been refrigerated for a day or two, so this recipe will store well and get more flavorful on the second serving.

Is this anything like a dish your mother or grandmother prepared?  I think this is more Tex-Mex than traditional Mexican.

Mexican/Spanish Recipes, Poultry, Recipes

Easy to Make Baked Chicken with Zucchini

This is similar to a recipe that I made before for Salsa Chicken that is cooked in a skillet, but this recipe takes it a step or two further and you use your oven or toaster oven to finish cooking it, plus I’ve added zucchini and cheese to make a more complete meal.  Serve it over a bed of cauliflower rice and all you need to add is a small dinner salad to make a great meal.  If you love Mexican or spicy foods, this is a meal that pleases the taste buds.

I used a salsa from my neighborhood grocery store Raley’s that included corn in it.  It is 2 net carbs per 2 tablespoons.  La Victoria Medium Salsa is 1 net carb per 2 tablespoons, so you can save a carb per serving by using a lower carb’d salsa.   Check the nutrition information on the bottle to look for the lower carb’d ones.

Baked Spanish Chicken with Zucchini 

4 Chicken Tenders (about 2 breasts)
1/2 cup Zucchini, sliced
6 tablespoons Tomato Salsa
1 teaspoon Garlic, minced
1teaspoon Olive Oil or Coconut Oil
1 cup Cheddar Jack Cheese, grated
1 1/2 cup Cauliflower, riced
1 tablespoon Butter
1 teaspoon Chicken bullion
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 365 degrees (F.) Spray a baking pan to fit the chicken with cooking spray.

Sprinkle salt and pepper (or any other seasoning you wish) over the chicken pieces. Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat then add the minced garlic. Cook until it begins to brown, then add the chicken. Brown the chicken on both sides. Put 4 tablespoons of salsa over the chicken and stir it in, then add the zucchini to lightly cook.

Cook and stir for about five minutes, then transfer to the prepared baking pan. Spread the remaining two tablespoons of salsa over the top, then sprinkle the cheddar cheese over it.

Bake for about 20 minutes until the chicken is completely done.

While the chicken bakes, prepare the cauliflower rice. Put 1 tablespoon butter in a skillet to melt over medium heat. Add the cauliflower and stir well to coat with butter and lightly toast. Add 1/2 cup of water with the bullion and stir into the cauliflower. Lower the temperature to a simmer and let cook for about 15 minutes. Check the water in it and stir a couple of times while it cooks. If you need to add more water, then add about 2 tablespoons.

The cauliflower will be done about the same time as the chicken. Put 3/4 cup of cauli-rice on the plate and serve half the chicken over it, getting half the zucchini and sauce in the serving.

Makes 2 servings.

Nutrition Info per serving:
Calories: 419 Fat: 19.7 g Net Carbs: 8.6 g Protein: 47.7 g

A to Z Challenge 2015, Beef, Main Dish, Mexican/Spanish Recipes, Recipes

Zest for Zucchini

Zucchini is one of the favorite vegetables of the world and it certainly ranks high in my culinary endeavors. It is delicious almost any way you prepare it and there are countless ways to use it in your cooking from salads, to main course to appetizers to desserts and breads. However, zucchini is part of a much larger family that includes other summer squashes, winter squashes, melons and cucumbers. Yep, they are all related, some a little closer than others.

Greenhouses, importers, and various growing locations worldwide have ensured that we can find zucchini in grocery stores at any time of the year. Others in the family, like yellow, crookneck and scallop squashes don’t show up as consistently. They each have their own unique flavor and blend well together when cooked. Zucchini has a delicate flavor, an edible skin, and a creamy off-white flesh. Generally the smaller, 3 to 4-inch vegetables are the best for eating since the seeds are smaller and edible and the flavor is at its best, I think. As they get bigger, they get tougher, seeds are bigger and the flesh isn’t as sweet. If you are stuffing a zucchini, try to look for about 5” and as big around as you can find.

Besides the delicious vegetables — oh, wait, that isn’t really a vegetable, but a fruit! It is formed in the same manner as fruits, so technically it is one of them. But I will continue to count it in the vegetable column. The zucchini also produces an edible golden flower. I admit, I have never cooked one of the flowers, although they are popular fried. I did have a couple of plants one summer that did not cross-pollinate because the flowers were all I got. The male flower blooms first to attract bees and the female blossom, which has the bud of a tiny fruit under it, needs to be pollinated by the bee. If this doesn’t happen, no zucchini will form. I was once told that you need at least two plants, but that apparently, isn’t necessary so long as the plant produces a female blossom. If no bees are in the area, you can transfer some of the pollen using a Q-Tip to dip into the male flower and put it in the center of the female bloom. Doesn’t that sound romantic?

All squashes have their ancestry in the Americas, but they have spread around the world. They are easy to grow and mature quickly. It’s one of the few plants that I can actually get a decent crop from in the micro-climate of South Reno. Native Americans called squashes one of the “three sisters” in their culture. The other two were corn and beans, which are also native to the Americas. The squash blossom is a popular design motif in Native American art and jewelry.

The squash we now call zucchini was developed in Italy from the root squashes brought back from America. It was cultivated,  in the late 19th century and likely near Milan. The name came from zucca, which is the Italian word for pumpkin or squash and the suffix “ino” or “ina”, meaning little and becoming zucchini in the plural form. The French called it “Courgette” and it is known that way in much of Europe, so if you see that in a recipe, you know it is zucchini or vice versa. They are known as baby marrow in South Africa.

As little as 30 years ago, the zucchini was barely known in the United States and it was referred to as the Italian squash. It was likely brought to the country of its ancestors by Italian immigrants. But it took hold and has become  popular to eat and grow.

Going back to its roots, zucchini, like all summer squash, is delicious with its other two sisters, corn and beans, and popular in Native American and Mexican foods. While beans and corn are used sparingly in a low carb lifestyle, summer squashes are very low in carbohydrates, which makes them awesome!

Nutrition information 1 medium (196 g)
Calories: 33 Fat: 0.5g Net Carbs: 4.0 g Protein: 2.4 g

Recipes

There are several recipes on this site that feature zucchini:

Bacon & Zucchini Stuffed Sole
Zucchini Fritters
Chicken with Tomatoes & Zucchini
Zucchini and Sausages Bake

Featured Recipe

Since Cinco de Mayo is just around the corner and the squash is a Native American, which includes Mexico and South America, crop, it seems apropos that the recipe should honor that heritage. The Mexican name for squash is calabacitas and the Mexican zucchini is similar to the Italian one but more rounded and tear drop shaped. This is an original recipe I’ve developed over the years.

Calabacitas y Carne Con Queso

Mexican Squash with Meat and Cheese
Recipe by Rene Averett

3 cups Mexican Zucchini (or regular zucchini)
1 lb Beef, ground
1 can Chiles, mild or medium to your preference
1 cup Cheddar Jack Cheese, shredded
1/2 cup Mexican Cheese, Queso Fresco or similar
1/2 cup diced Onions
1 cup canned Diced Tomatoes, with juice
2 Low Carb Tortillas
1 cup Jicama, shredded or cubed or Daikon Radish, chopped
1 clove Garlic, minced
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
1/2 teaspoon ground Cumin
1 teaspoon dried Mexican Oregano
2 tablespoon fresh Cilantro
1 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F.)

Slice zucchini into 1/4″thick rounds.

In a large skillet over medium heat, add olive oil and heat a minute or so, then add garlic, jicama and onions. Stir cook the onions until they are fragrant and shiny. Add ground beef and lightly brown, then add seasonings, chiles and diced tomatoes. Stir and cook for about 10 minutes until hot and bubbly. Stir in the fresh cilantro.

Spray a round 2 qt. casserole dish with baking spray. Layer 1/3 of the zucchini on the bottom of the dish. Pour 1/3 of the meat mixture over the top, then sprinkle 1/3 cup of cheddar jack cheese over that. Put a tortilla on top and repeat with another layer of zucchini followed by the meat and cheese. Put the second tortilla on top and use the rest of the zucchini, meat and cheese on top of that.

Bake for 25 minutes until the casserole is hot and bubbly. Sprinkle the Mexican cheese over the top and return to the oven for another 5 minutes to melt the cheese.

Makes 6 servings.

Nutrition Info per serving :
Calories: 260 Fat:17.0 g Net Carbs: 8.7 g Protein: 16.3 g

And it’s Z-end of the the A to Z blog challenge! I will resume my usual Tuesday post schedule next week, but I thank everyone who stopped by to visit and comment during the A to Z Challenge. I hope you will continue to visit now and then.

 

Input for this article came from World’s Healthiest Foods,  Nutrition and You, Wikipedia, and The History of Zucchini.

All photos taken by R. Averett for Skinny Girl Bistro.

A to Z Challenge 2015, Breakfast & Brunch, Mexican/Spanish Recipes, Pork, Recipes

Nurture with Nopal

I have a fairly good-sized prickly pear cactus growing in my yard that arrived there by bird farmers or some other means and it has yielded a few pears over the past two years. Our neighbor’s desert tortoise is particularly fond of the pads and she often snacks on them. The Mexican name for this cactus is nopal or nopales and it is a source of food, nutrition and, possibly, medicines for humans.

Nopales are native to Mexico and spread over the Southwest in general. The root species is the Opuntia cacti. There are actually 114 known species of this cactus family and the leaves of all of them are edible. In Mexico, the cactus pads are popular in many foods dishes, using both raw and cooked pads. In the spring, the cacti produce beautiful, colorful flowers that mature into prickly pears or tunas, a seedy fruit that can be made into jam, jellies and juices or eaten fresh. The taste is described as a blend of watermelon and strawberry, but I haven’t noticed it so much. I tasted the uncooked pad and found a similar taste to watermelon with just a touch of sweetness.

Using Cacti

When dealing with this cactus, you need to take care to avoid the many little spines that inspire the name prickly pear. Gloves or tongs are very useful in handling these items. In order to use the pads or the pears in cooking, you need to carefully remove the spines. Here’s a video from Rivenrock Gardens, a company that sells Nopales, on how to clean the pads.   Cleaning Pads

The pears are equally as tricky to work with, but there is a quick trick to peeling them and using them without stabbing yourself. Using tongs or forks to handle the pear, you follow the basic directions in this video from The Produce Guy for cutting the pear, just being careful not to touch them with your hands. It helps to wear gloves. If you buy them at the grocery, they are probably already cleaned of the spines so they are safe to handle.

Here’s a tip: If you do get one of the spines in your hand, use white glue to remove it. Simply spread the glue over the sore spot, let it dry and pull it out. It will grab the hair fine spine with it.

Health Benefits

At this time, many of the possible health benefits are being researched, but it is believed to be of use in treating type 2 diabetes. It is high in fiber and pectin, which can reduce sugar absorption in the digestive tract. It is also rumored to be good for treating colitis, obesity and high cholesterol. As more research is done, it will be interesting to see if this is an effective food.

Nutrition information for 149 g (about 1 cup)
Calories:22 Fat:0 g Net Carbs:2.0 g Protein:2 g

I have only used Nopal a few times in the past couple of years, but here is a recipe from this site:

Prickly Pear and Orange Marmalade

Here’s a new recipe that uses the pads:

Nopalitos with Chorizo and Eggs

1 young Nopales Pad, cleaned trimmed, and cut into strips
1/2 cup Pico de Gallo
1 Serrano Pepper, chopped
4 large Eggs
1 teaspoon Mexican Oregano
1 teaspoon Chile Powder
1/2 cup Chorizo sausage
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar Jack Cheese
1/4 cup Queso Fresco
4 Low Carb Tortillas, 7 inch

Cook strips of nopalitos in water with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon oregano. Drain when they are tender.

In a skillet, heat one tablespoon oil, then add the nopalitos for a few minutes. Add the Pico de Gallo, Mexican oregano and Serrano peppers and continue to cook until the onions are almost done. Remove to a bowl.

Add a little olive oil to the pan, then add chorizo sausage and stir fry until it is lightly cooked. Add the vegetables back to the pan and add chile powder.

Beat eggs in a bowl, add a bit of salt and pepper and a little more oregano. Add eggs into the mixture, continuing to stir as they cook. Sprinkle cheddar jack cheese over the top and remove from the heat.

Warm up tortillas over the burner or in the oven. Serve eggs and sprinkle a little Queso Fresco over the top.

Serve with tortillas. Makes 4 servings

Nutrition Info per serving
   Calories: 339 Fat: 24.1 g Net Carbs: 6.9 g Protein: 23.3 g

* If you can’t find tortillas, you can eat them with a low carb flat bread or pita bread or without bread. Low Carb tortillas are 3 nc per tortillas, so that would be 3.9 nc for the meat and vegetables.

All comments relevant to my posts are welcome. SPAM is not. If the post has nothing to do with my site content, it will not be posted

Information for this article came from Wikipedia, Web M.D., Nopal Export, Nutrition and You.com and Rivenrock Gardens

All photos taken by R. Averett and copyright Skinny Girl Bistro