Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with These Tasty Recipes!
April showers bring May flowers and guess what else happens this month? Cinco de Mayo, baby! This festive, fun, and family-centric holiday on the fifth of May is a great excuse for merrymaking, with delectable Mexican recipes you can make at home with your family, along with some refreshing and tasty margarita makeovers!
Taco Tuesday Times 10!
Taking a cue from traditional street food in various parts of Mexico, here are a few authentic, and fabulously-fusioned finger foods — perfect for a backyard fiesta!
Tacos al Carbon is a Tex-Mex evolution of the sizzling spectacle called fajitas and translates “meat over charcoals”. They are essentially assembled fajita tacos and have the same main ingredients: fajita beef (or chicken). In this recipe from The Anthony Kitchen, blogger Kelly marinated flank steak in lime, garlic and cilantro – grills and slices it and combines it with sides/toppings like Spanish rice, charro beans, guacamole, queso, shredded lettuce and pico de gallo.
Epicurious takes a turn with these pineapple and pork Tacos al Pastor. It’s the original fusion food – a cross between guajillo-rubbed grilled pork served by Mexican street vendors and Middle Eastern shawarma (the cooking method brought by Lebanese immigrants to Mexico!). The recipe calls for marinating the pork for four hours and a Smoky Two-Chile Salsa (another Epicurious recipe, and hard to substitute because it’s so fresh and smoky!!)
This hearty quesadilla from Damn Delicious is sure to please the under-10 crowd, who won’t even notice you snuck in the avocado! Ground beef cooked with taco seasoning, your favorite cheese, and thin slices of avocado make for a combination that is simply irresistible!
Superlative Seafood
For anyone who likes shrimp, these Cajun Shrimp Tacos from Yummly will please the most discriminating palate and offer a gluten-free fresh treat with plenty of cilantro, bell pepper, scallions, chives, jalapenos and flavor. The chopping takes the most time in food prep, but even then, you’ll have a meal on the table in under 20 minutes.
We’ve always been fascinated by ceviche – that recipe stable from Mexico. Raw white fish is “cooked” by marinating it in lime juice – and you’d never know it wasn’t baked, broiled or roasted Food & Wine offers this classic summer appetizer recipe – that works with any mild-flavored fish filet – and 1 ½ cups of lime juice! You can marinate the fish a day in advance, but for the freshest flavor, add the onion, tomatoes, chiles, cilantro, olives and avocados right before serving.
Corn, Fruit and Frijoles
Everyday Latina, the creation of Gemma Aguayo-Murphy, shares traditional Mexican recipes (handed down from her parents) and trusted home remedies on her site. Gemma’s Frijoles Charros (Mexican Charro Beans) is part stew, part side dish an all-out traditional hearty and delicious pinto bean soup full of crispy bacon, spicy chorizo and plenty of onion and cilantro.
Two staples of Mexican food are combined in this tasty salad shared by Taste of Home: jicama and mango. This versatile salad will become a fresh addition to all of your summer menus—Mexican inspired or not!
Tasty and oh-so-fun to eat! This favorite street food starts with grilled skewered corn-on-the-cob that’s then rolled in mayonnaise and cotija cheese (Gourmet Sleuth says you can substitute feta cheese), and flavored with colorful spices! The Kitchn has an authentic recipe and lots of helpful hints!
Sweet Drinks and Desserts
Gemma at Everday Latina created an inspired-by recipe patterned after the paletas in Mexico. Her Strawberry Coconut Cream Popsicles are reminiscent of the paletas she used to eat in Chihuahua at a local paleteria (ice cream shop). You’ll need some popsicle molds for these, and while Amazon has all sorts of reusable
The pastry we can’t wait to make are Sopapillas – deep-fried in oil and rolled in cinnamon and sugar, these little pillows puff up before your eyes and are usually eaten with a drizzle (or more) of honey. When you bite into one of these, you get the light crispy dough with sweetness outside and the amazing flakiness inside. Betcha can’t eat just one!
For the kind of margarita you love, get the recipe straight from a real bartender! Downshiftology has a video and recipe for a simple classic margarita, served on the rocks or frozen.
Feeling a bit more festive? Life as a Strawberry uses fresh berries to give this Triple Berry Margarita its gorgeous color, and The Spruce Eats has recipes for 20 different fruit margaritas, including melon and peach!
Party Happy in on the Hill!
The kitchens in the new homes that dot the master-planned community of Colliers Hill are designed with efficient appliances, spacious pantries and convenient eat-in spaces. Whether in the paired offerings built by KB Home, or any of the single-family floor plans from Century Communities and Richmond American Homes. Life is better on the Hill, with amazing amenities and lots of options. Check out the variety – tour the model homes from three top Colorado builders and find the ranch-style or two story to fit your family — from the high $300s.
