This warms the soul.

It’s been a very long time since I’ve posted something made in my crockpot, almost two years in fact. So I was very happy when a crockpot dish won the poll last week.

Plus, it just makes sense. It’s cold and you’re probably busy this time of year so a dish that you can RONCO (set it and forget it) is probably helpful.

Funnily, this soup fits almost all of the categories in the poll last week. I swear that wasn’t planned… sometimes it just works out that way.

I’ve made chicken tortilla soup before, but never posted on it. This version was, by far, the best version I’ve ever made though. Something about letting the flavors just kind of mingle all day long really gave the finished soup an interesting and deep flavor.

You’d be silly not to try this!

Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup

Yield: Serves 5-6

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 8 hours

Ingredients:

1 yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Serrano pepper, diced (with seeds)
1 red pepper, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 chipotle pepper, minced
1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 pound chicken breasts
2 dried New Mexico chile peppers (or poblano)
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 bay leaves
6 cups chicken stock
A few sprigs cilantro
3 corn tortillas, diced
1 cup corn
Salt and pepper

Garnish:
Corn tortilla strips
Avocados
Limes
Cotija cheese
Sour cream

Helpful Equipment:
Crockpot

Directions:

1) Finely dice the onion, garlic, peppers, and celery and add them to a crockpot.

2) Also add in the chicken breasts, canned tomatoes, bay leaves, cumin seeds, dried chiles, and chicken stock. The stock should just cover all the ingredients.

3) Cover and set the crockpot on low. Cook for 6-8 hours.

4) Remove dried chiles and bay leaves and discard. Remove chicken breasts, shred, and return to crockpot.

5) Add in cilantro sprigs, corn, and a few corn tortillas cut into bits. Let the crockpot simmer for another 30-60 minutes.

6) Season soup with salt and pepper.

7) To make tortilla strips, dice corn tortillas into strips and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes until lightly browned and crispy.

8) Serve soup piled high with tortilla strips. Other fun garnishes include lime wedges, crumbled cotija cheese, avocados, and sour cream.

Preparing the Veggies

I know what you’re thinking: ”Holy crap that’s a lot of ingredients!”

True. But hang in there. Most of them are basic stuff and once they are all in the pot, there’s very little work involved in this meal. You can go cross stuff off your list and come home to a delicious soup.

These are the few veggies that you need to start this soup.

Just a few basics.

The key to these is to dice them pretty finely.

For the Serrano pepper, I left the seeds in. You could take them out though if you’re worried about the heat.

Then just toss all this stuff into your slow cooker!

A fine dice.

Besides the veggies you need a few other things to get this soup going.

This is where a lot of the flavor comes from in this soup.

Flavor town.

Add all this stuff to the crockpot along with your chicken breasts. I would shoot for about a pound of chicken but you could use more if you wanted.

For the chipotle pepper, make sure you dice it very finely. Nobody wants a big bite of chipotle in their soup.

For the dried peppers, you can use almost any dried pepper. I went with New Mexico chile peppers, but poblanos would work also. Just break up the dried peppers into a few pieces and scrape out the seeds. Then throw the dried pieces into the crockpot along with the chicken breasts.

Everybody in the pot!

Add in all your chicken stock which should just barely cover all the ingredients.

A Slow Cook

Set your crockpot to a low heat and let this sucker cook, covered, for at least six hours. If you wanted you could cook it for even longer though. Six hours is the minimum.

After that, your house will smell amazing and your soup will look something like this.

6 hours later...

Finishing the Soup

There’s a few things we need to do to finish this soup now that most of the cooking is done.

For starters, take out the bay leaves and dried peppers from the soup and discard them. They’ve given the soup plenty of flavor and there’s no need to hang on to them.

Next, take out the chicken breasts and use a few forks to gently shred the meat. Then you can return it to the crockpot.

Get it?

Finally, there are three new ingredients that I recommend adding at this point as they don’t need to simmer all day long.

First, add some corn and cilantro sprigs. Second, cube up a few corn tortillas and add those cubes straight to the soup.

Just some more flavor!

Cover this and let it simmer for another 30-45 minutes. The tortillas will soften and some will completely disintegrate into the soup which will give it a really rich texture. The cilantro will give the soup a nice herb flavor.

After it’s second cooking, remove the cilantro stalks and season the soup generously with salt and pepper.

The Garnishes

My favorite part of chicken tortilla soup is serving it with tons of fun garnishes and toppings and then people can kind of make their own bowls.

The essential topping (in my opinion) is crispy tortilla strips. These are super-easy to make. Just cut a few corn tortillas into long strips and bake them at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes.

The strips will be lightly browned when the are done and super-crispy.

Great garnish.

Some other topping ideas that I like are sliced avocado, crumbled cotija cheese (or any cheese really), sour cream, and lime wedges.

Some other fun add-ins.

Once your soup is seasoned well with salt and pepper just ladle it into a bowl and pile on the toppings!

From above.

It’s actually a very filling meal for soup because of the chicken, tortillas, and cheese. It’s very warming and just a complete winner of a meal in my book.

Don’t be daunted by the ingredient list here, people. You can and should give this a shot sometime this winter!

The cute little napkins in this post were kindly donated by Oh Little Rabbit.

Best hard tacos ever.

When it comes to tacos, I’m a big fan of the hard shell, but sometimes I find store-bought hard shell tacos to be kind of flimsy. Like with some tortilla chips, I feel like the manufacturers aren’t starting with whole corn tortillas. They’re probably starting with some strange paste that they can mold and fry, but the end results are always a bit sub-par.

Homemade hard shell tacos are a bit tricky though. You need to hold them in place and fry them until crispy. They do make a strange device that will make it possible to do this at home, but personally that seems like more work than it’s worth.

So I came up with a much quicker and easier method for making darn good crispy tacos at home. These are actually a delicious mash up between an enchilada, a taco, and a taquito. But trust me, you’ll have a hard time giving them up once you try them!

Shredded Chicken Hard Tacos

Yield: 12 tacos

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, poached and shredded
1 15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 red onion, diced
1-2 jalapenos, minced
1/2 Cup salsa
6 ounces pepper jack cheese, shredded
12 corn tortillas
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Toppings:
Sour Cream
Avocado
Lettuce
Hot Sauce

Directions:

1) Add chicken breasts to a medium pot and cover with water by 1/2 inch. Bring to a simmer and simmer for about 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
2) Once chicken has cooled a bit, shred it. Also, dice onion and pepper and drain and rinse the beans.
3) Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to a medium pan over medium heat. Once hot, add onions and peppers and cook until soft. Then stir in shredded chicken, black beans, and salsa.
4) Stir mixture until it's heated through and season with salt and pepper.
5) On a large griddle or in a large skillet, add a tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat. Working with one tortilla at a time, add it to the hot pan and top one half with chicken and shredded cheese. Fold tortilla over to form a taco. Press down on it lightly so it holds it's shape and move it to the outer part of the pan while you work on a second one. Do as many tacos as you can fit at once without them overlapping.
6) Cook tacos for about 3 minutes per side until tortilla is crispy and cheese is well-melted.
7) Serve tacos immediately with avocado, hot sauce, lettuce, and sour cream.

Preparing the Filling

There are really no rules when it comes to fillings for these tacos. I used some chicken and black beans, but you could take it in any direction really.

If you do want to use chicken though, the easiest way to prep it for the filling is to lightly poach it in a few inches of water for about 10 minutes or until it’s cooked through completely. Depending on the thickness of your chicken breast, you might need a few more minutes. Then, once your chicken is cool, you can shred it up with a fork.

You could also use leftover chicken from a different meal.

Poached and shredded.

Besides the chicken, I also recommend using some fresh red onion and jalapeno which gives the filling great Tex-mex flavors.

Just dice both relatively small. If you want more heat, then leave the seeds in the peppers.

Good Tex-mex flavors.

To finish off the filling, add a drizzle of oil to a medium pan over medium heat and add your onions and peppers. Cook them until they are soft, about 4-5 minutes, then stir in your chicken drained black beans.

The filling stuff.

I like to add some salsa to mine also which just kind of rounds out the flavors and ties everything together. It’s a bit of a shortcut, but it works like a charm.

Stir this all together over medium heat until the filling is hot.

Salsa is a helper here.

Making the Tacos

These tacos are actually pretty easy to make. Don’t be intimidated!

Corn tortillas are really strong. They don’t burn easily so you have a lot of flexibility in your cooking time which is nice. I like to make mine on a large griddle but you could also use a large skillet.

Just add a drizzle of oil to the pan and get it hot over medium-high heat. Then work with one tortilla at a time. Start by just warming the tortilla up for a seconds and then top half of it with a large spoonful of filling.

Like so:

Try not to overstuff.

Next, top it with some grated cheese. Any cheese will work, but I like pepper jack.

A little goes a long way.

Then the only tricky part is to fold the top part of the taco over. Once you have the taco folded over, press down on it lightly so it holds it’s shape.

The very important fold.

Once you have one taco shaped, you can move it out to the side of the pan and get started on a second taco. When I’m really rocking and rolling, I can do about six at a time on my griddle.

Cook them for about 3-4 minutes per side so they get nice and crispy on the outside.

Nice and crispy.

Toppings and Servings

I made up a plate of some of my favorite taco toppings for these guys including sour cream, avocado, and chopped lettuce. Hot sauce wouldn’t be a bad idea either.

Standard taco fare.

Serve up a few of the tacos with some toppings and you are in for a treat! Three tacos is a pretty hearty meal. Two would be a good lunch.

Awesome plate of food.

These guys turn crispy and delicious as they cook and then you can kind of pry them open and stuff them with all kinds of delicious toppings. The shells are a lot more substantial than those flimsy guys you buy in the store that crack and shatter with the slightest touch.

I know these are good because my Tex-Mex aficionado wife requested them two nights in a row!

Crazy good nachos.

Nachos are a frequent occurrence in our house. They tend to be pretty quick to make and are a great way to use leftovers. You can put almost anything on nachos and it’ll be good.

Also, I happen to be married to a Tex-mex fanatic.

So yea… we know our way around a chip.

My problem with nachos, mainly restaurant nachos, is that sometimes they are made in a careless way. Throw some crappy chips on a sheet pan, pile on a metric ton of random toppings, and coat everything with a two inch layer of cheese. Once you sit down to eat it, it’s like a scavenger hunt: searching through a mound trying to find that one perfect chip. The chip that is crispy, has just enough of each topping, and some melted cheese.

Sometimes it’s hopeless.

So while nachos are a quick weeknight meal for us a lot of times, sometimes I like to really spend time on my nachos to make them something special. I call these Sunday night nachos because while you could make them on a weeknight, they are better if you can spend some time with them.

The time you invest will pay pretty awesome Tex-mex dividends.

Sunday Night Nachos

Yield: Serves 4.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

15 corn tortillas, cut into sixths
1-2 cups vegetable oil, for frying chips

Bean Mash:
2 cans kidney beans, drained and mashed
1/4 red onion, minced
Handful of cilantro, chopped
Salt and pepper

Ground Beef mixture:
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup chopped peppers, poblano, red pepper, jalapeno, etc.
1/2 Cup salsa
1 Tablespoon chili powder
1 Teaspoon cumin seeds
1 Teaspoon paprika
Salt and pepper

Cheese Sauce:
1/4 Cup unsalted butter
1/4 Cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
2 cups grated cheese (I like Monterey Jack)
Salt and pepper

Quick Guacamole:
2 avocados
2 limes, juice only
1/4 red onion, diced
Handful of cilantro
Salt

Directions:

1) For the chips, cut the tortillas into sixths. Add a cup or two of oil to a large sturdy pan and add chips in small batches over medium-high heat. Cook the chips, turning occasionally, until they are lightly browned and not bubbling. Then remove them to a paper towel to drain. Salt lightly.

2) For bean mash, drain beans and lightly mash together with other ingredients. It doesn't have to be smooth.

3) Use any meat or veggie mixed with onions, peppers, salsa, and spices as a second topping for the chips.

4) For cheese sauce, start butter and flour over medium-high heat and cook, whisking frequently, for about 4 minutes. Roux should turn lightly brown. Then slowly whisk in milk until smooth. Once mixture thickens, whisk in cheese. If mixture is too thick, add more milk a few tablespoons at a time. Keep on low heat until needed.

5) Take each chip and top with a small amount of bean mash and meat mixture. Add finished chips to baking sheets.

6) Bake chips for 5-6 minutes at 350 degrees to meld flavors.

7) Stack chips on plates, pour cheese sauce over chips, add a second layer, more cheese sauce, top with guacamole.

Serve immediately!

Making the Chips

Betsy and I burn through a lot of tortilla chips. We snack on chips and salsa a lot or make quick nacho dishes pretty regularly.

But, when I’m looking to make a serious nacho dish, I spend the time to make my own chips. For some reason store bought chips are pretty flimsy. It’s almost like they start with corn tortillas that are 1/2 the thickness as corn tortillas that you buy in the store. While taste and texture is the main motivator for me, making your own chips is also about 75% cheaper than buying the chips.

To make the chips, you don’t need to really deep fry them as some might think. I usually just add a cup or two of oil to a large heavy skillet and get it going over medium-high heat. Then I add my chips in a single layer and cook them, flipping occasionally.

You don't need a lot of oil.

You’ll know they are done when they stop bubbling and are golden brown (that means most of the water is out of them).

When they come out of the pan, let them drain on a paper towel and season them with a pinch of salt. These guys will be crispy and sturdy: important for nachos.

Thick and crispy!

The Toppings

For me, the toppings on nachos are almost secondary to the chips and the cheese. This is because I’ve learned that almost anything is good on nachos. Any leftover veggie or meat that you have can easily be mixed with some spices and used as a topping.

For this version though, I made a few mixtures that I used for my toppings. The first was a quick bean mash. I just drained a few cans of kidney beans and mashed them up with some red onion, cilantro, and salt and pepper.

It’s almost like refried beans, but there’s no need to cook it really because we’ll bake the nachos later.

Doesn't get easier than mashing beans.

For my meat topping, I cooked my onion and a few diced peppers in a bit of olive oil over medium-high heat until they were soft. Then I added some spices (cumin, chili powder, paprika, salt and pepper) and finally my ground beef.

Once the beef was completely cooked, I stirred in a tiny amount of salsa just to round out the flavors a bit.

Actually pretty optional.

Meanwhile, I mixed up a quick guacamole. This isn’t my full-fledged guacamole which normally includes serrano peppers, shallots, and maybe some tomatoes. This is a quicker version that mainly just has a lot of lime juice which will go great with the nachos.

Not optional.

The Cheese Sauce

A lot of times nachos get in trouble in the cheese department. Don’t get me wrong, I love cheese as much as the next guy, but sometimes people over-do it. Restaurants are particularly guilty of this. They’ll just add pounds of grated cheese to each nacho dish and that works for the first minute or so that you are eating them, but eventually all that cheese solidifies into this strange layer that’s almost impenetrable.

That’s why, when I have time, I like to make a cheese sauce. It’s easier to distribute over the nachos and will stay liquid and gooey even at room temperature. So even if the nachos cool down a bit (which they will do), your cheese will stay melty.

To make the sauce, you need to start with a basic roux, which is just butter and flour whisked together in a pot. I usually cook mine over medium heat for about 4 minutes. It’ll turn a light brown color and that’s when you know it’s done.

You'll roux the day you don't try these.

At this point, slowly whisk in the milk. If you whisk well and start slowly, you shouldn’t develop any lumps in your sauce. If you do have a few lumps, you can usually whisk them out as the sauce heats up.

Once your milk is whisked in and the sauce is thick, go ahead and add in your grated cheese.

What's sunday night without cheese sauce?

Once the cheese is melted, keep the sauce on low and stir it occasionally. If it gets too thick, add a bit more milk to thin it out. Keep it warm until you need it.

Baking the Nachos

The next step for these nachos might be considered a bit overkill by some, but I like it. When I have the time, I like to literally top each chip individually.

This might sound crazy, but what you have to remember is that these chips are way sturdier than normal chips. They are way more filling. When we are done, 15-20 of these nachos will be a very good meal.

And once you get the hang of it you can top them really quickly. It’s takes me under five minutes to do. I just pick up a chip, add a small amount of bean mash, followed by a small spoonful of the beef topping, and add it to a sheet pan. Repeat.

A little OCD never hurt...

The benefit of this is that there isn’t any one perfect chip.

They are all perfect. Every single chip will have the perfect amount of every topping.

Once you get all your chips topped, I recommend sticking them in a 350 degree oven for about 5-6 minutes just to heat them up nicely and meld the flavors.

Plating the nachos

FINALLY! It’s time to eat.

Now that you have your cheese sauce done and your chips topped, you can stack them up!

Layer one.

Once you have one layer of chips and cheese on a plate, you can add a second right on top.

Again, the great part about this is that the toppings are perfectly distributed. Even when you get down to the bottom layer, the chips are just as crispy and just as good as the top layer.

Stack 'em up!

Top the second layer with more cheese sauce and a good dollop of guacamole.

These are ready to eat!

There's no good chip here. They are all good.

I get that these might be too much work for some people. Nachos are supposed to be easy right?

But seriously, you’ll be well-rewarded if you can find the time to make these happen. Make them on a weekend when you can pop open a cerveza and take your time with them.

What do you think? Worth it or crazy talk?

It's like a flat taco!

Betsy would like to thank all of you who voted for the Tex-Mex dish in last week’s poll. She didn’t actually vote and when she saw the results she sighed a sigh of relief.

“I can’t believe you almost had to make a cake. Over Tex-Mex. I would’ve been mildly upset.”

Of course, I explained that much like in a democracy… you can’t complain if you don’t vote!

But she got lucky on this one.

I’ve made a tex-mex style stack before, but this one is a bit more themed around ingredients that normally go in a crunchy beef taco. It’s just layered instead of stuffed which makes it fun!

The Taco Stack

Yield: 4 Taco Stacks

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

12 corn tortillas, fried crispy
1/4 Cup vegetable oil, for frying tortillas

Beef Mixture:
1 pound ground beef
1/2 white onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Cup diced tomatoes
1 small can roasted green chilis
1 Teaspoon cumin seeds
1 Teaspoon chili powder
1 Teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 Teaspoon cayenne pepper
Pinch of salt and pepper

2 avocados, mashed
2 Tablespoons cilantro, mashed with avocado
1/2 lime, juice only (for guac)
Chopped Lettuce
8 ounces pepper jack cheese, grated
Sour cream

Directions:

1) Add oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, add one tortilla at a time. Cook tortilla for 15 seconds and then flip. Cook for a total of 2-3 minutes until tortilla is slightly browned and crispy. Flip occasionally. Then let drain and cool on a paper towel. The tostada will continue to crisp up as it cools.

2) For beef mixture, add diced onion and garlic to a large skillet with a drizzle of oil. Cook over medium-high heat until veggies start to soften, about 3 minutes.

3) Add spices and continue to cook until fragrant, another 2-3 minutes.

4) Add beef and cook until well-browned. Then add chilis and tomatoes and continue to cook until tomatoes cook down, another 5 minutes or so.

5) Grate cheese, chop lettuce, and make quick guacamole.

6) Slather bottom tostada with guac and add a handful of lettuce. Add a second tostada, then cheese, beef, and more cheese. Top with final tostada and a dollop of sour cream.

Frying the Tostadas

You can buy pre-made tostadas in the store these days, but I still like to make my own. The pre-made ones are much thinner and therefore they get soggier and just don’t hold up as well to something like this.

Frying your own isn’t hard. Just add a good drizzle of oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once it’s hot, add a tortilla and let it sizzle for 15 seconds, then give it a flip to get both sides cooking. Cook tortillas for 2-3 minutes total, flipping occasionally.

Once the tortillas are done, let them drain on a paper towel briefly. As they cool, they will continue to crisp up.

Not too hard.

Cooking the Filling

I really don’t love pre-mixed taco seasonings, but you could definitely use one if you wanted. I’ve found a combination of spices that I think makes for a really delicious taco seasoning.

I sometimes play with it a bit, but it almost always has these four flavorful spices: cumin, red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, and chili powder.

Spicy!

When you’re ready to cook the filling, add a drizzle of oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once it’s hot add the onions and garlic and let them cook until they start to soften up, about 3 minutes.

Then add all of your spices and stir it all together. The spices will toast and become really fragrant as the onions continue to cook.

It’ll smell delicious.

Already smellin' good.

Add the ground beef to the onion mixture and continue to cook until the beef is well browned. Then stir in the green chilis and diced tomatoes.

Good flavors.

Stir this all together and cook for another 5 minutes or so until the tomatoes cook down and most of the liquid is out of the pan. Taste it and season with salt and pepper.

The Other Toppings

Since this is a taco after all, there are a few other ingredients that I consider to be essential: Grated cheese, lettuce, and guacamole.

For the guacamole, I went pretty minimalist here and just mashed up avocados and some diced cilantro and then added the juice of half a lime.

Guac is essential.

Making the stack

There’s nothing too scientific about the stack, and you could stack your ingredients in any order really, but I like this order.

Start with one tostada and slather on a good helping of guacamole. Then pile on some lettuce. The guacamole will help the lettuce stick around.

Straightforward.

Then add a second tostada followed by a handful of grated cheese.

Then top with your hot beef mixture and add another handful of cheese on top.

The hot beef will melt the cheeses and the middle tostada will keep any liquids from making the lettuce soggy.

My favorite layer.

Top with your final tostada and add a good dollop of sour cream and some extra cilantro if that’s your thing.

From the top!

Not only was this completely delicious but it also turned out to be a really pretty dish I think.

Well, pretty for a taco anyway.

It might seem like the best way to eat this is with a fork and knife, but Betsy and I discovered that the best way to eat it is to literally just pick it up and eat it with your hands.

The guacamole and melted cheese will keep everything together.

It’s a bit messy, but so is a taco so just go with it.

Homemade Fritos kinda!

A few weeks ago I made a crunchy omelet that has been in my mind ever since. Not for the omelet exactly, but for the corn strips that I fried up for it.

After I fried them, I thought to myself, “Self. Those look like homemade Fritos.”

So I went on kind of a little kick thinking about ways to make these corn strips something special.

It turns out that the most simple application was the best. Just three little ingredients tossed on the corn chips made them one of the most addicting things I’ve made in awhile.

Sweet Heat Corn Chips

Yield: Serves 2-4.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

12 corn tortillas, cut into strips
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 Teaspoons chili powder
2 Teaspoons kosher salt
Oil for frying

Helpful Equipment:
Cast Iron Skillet or any large heavy pot

Directions:

1) Cut corn strips into strips or any other shape really.

2) Mix seasonings together.

3) Heat oil in a large heavy pot. You only need about 1/2 inch of oil in the pot.

4) Add corn strips in batches to oil. Stir regularly as they cook so the strips don't stick together.

5) Cook for about 3-4 minutes until very crispy.

6) Drain chips for 15-30 seconds.

7) Season liberally.

The Quick Prep

It should go without saying that you don’t need to cut these guys into strips. Triangles or rounds would work fine also. Heck, you could cut them into Christmas trees if you wanted.

Easy step...

As far as the seasonings go, I wanted something salty, savory, and slightly sweet. So I picked up one ingredient that would accomplish each of those things: chili powder, sugar, and salt.

If you have the time (and patience), I really recommend making your own chili powder because it’ll be approximately 100 times more flavorful.

I make my own but then store it in an old chili powder container so it keeps longer.

Just three flavors.

Stir together the sugar, salt, and chili powder and you’ll have something awesome. Feel free to adjust this spice mixture to your tastes.

If you wanted it a bit spicier, you could add a pinch of paprika or cayenne pepper. If you want it sweeter, you could add some brown sugar.

It’s probably gonna be pretty good no matter what.

Tastes really good.

Testing Testing

Anytime I’m making a chip product, I always do a test run before going into full production.

This gives you a chance to make sure your oil is at the right temperature and that your spice mixture is right before you start adding it to a whole batch.

This was my quick test batch which turned out better than I was expecting.

Testing. Testing...

Cooking the Corn Strips

Any big heavy pot will work fine for cooking these corn strips. I like to use my cast iron skillet for anything fry-related.

The cool thing about this fry job is that you don’t need a lot of oil. Just about a half inch of oil in the pan will be enough to fry the strips. Once the oil is hot, add a few handfuls of strips to the oil and stir them around.

Try to make sure the strips are separated at the beginning. If you let them sit in the hot oil without stirring them, they’ll all stick together.

Cooking in batches...

One batch will need to cook for about three minutes. It’s a really quick fry, but make sure they get nice and crispy before removing them.

Then just pull out the chips and let them drain on a paper towel for about 30 seconds. You want to make sure to season them while they are still hot and a bit greasy so the seasoning sticks well.

But a quick drain is necessary.

Drain for just a few seconds.

Then dump them quickly in a bowl and season them.

Season them liberally.

Don’t go easy on them.

Feel free to go heavy on it.

The finished chips will be crunchy, salty, a bit sweet, and have this delicious smokey flavor from the chili powder.

You’ll have no problem polishing off a bowl of these guys.

So addictive!

I would only change one thing if I were to make these again…

I would double the recipe!

Kind of a hot mess... but good.

I mentioned it in my near calzone fail on Thursday, but Olathe corn is in full effect right now in Colorado. I’m not sure that I’ve ever heard of this stuff before living in Colorado, but trust me. I know about it now!

It seriously one of the most advertised vegetables I’ve ever seen. There are commercials, radio spots, banners… I swear there was a door-to-door Olathe corn salesman who stopped by a few days ago.

Ok. I made that last one up.

The point is that I’ve felt this intense pressure to BUY SOME FREAKIN’ CORN.

So I bought a lot of corn and now I’m trying to figure out what to do with it. This omelet was a good use for an ear.

Crispy Corn Omelet

Yield: 2 omelets

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

4 eggs, beaten with a few tablespoons of milk or cream
1 ear sweet corn
2 corn tortillas
1 jalapeno, diced with or without seeds
1 tablespoon olive oil
2-3 ounces pepper jack cheese, grated
Salsa
Cilantro (optional)

Directions:

1) Slice tortilla strips and add them to a small skillet with about a tablespoon of oil. Cook over medium-high heat until strips are very crispy and slightly browned, probably 7-8 minutes. Stir occasionally.

2) Dice jalapeno, cut corn off the cob, mix eggs with some milk.

3) Remove strips from pan and add a small amount of oil or butter. Add corn and jalapenos to pan and season with a pinch of salt.

4) Cook until veggies are soft over medium heat, about 2 minutes. Then add in tortilla strips. Pour egg mixture (2 eggs per omelet) over veggies.

5) As the eggs cook, use a spatula to push the cooked eggs to the center and tilt the pan so the uncooked eggs flow out and cook.

6) Once the eggs are 90% cooked, add cheese to one half of the omelet and use a spatula to carfully fold omelet over. Cook for another 30 seconds or so on each side to melt cheese and finish cooking eggs.

7) Serve with salsa and cilantro.

Getting Corny

For what it’s worth though, the sweet corn is really good quality and very pretty.

Well, you know, pretty for corn.

The basics!

Start the prep by cutting all the corn off the cob and dicing up the jalapeno. I left my seeds in the jalapeno for plenty of heat, but you could cut them out if you want.

Here’s a tip for cutting corn off the cob: Set it up straight in a bowl. Then as you cut the corn off, the kernels will fall into the bowl and not scatter all over the earth.

Some basic chopping.

Making the Crispies

Honestly, the corn wasn’t my favorite part of this omelet. My favorite part was my way of adding some texture to the omelet: crispy tortilla strips!

Just slice up the corn tortillas and add them to a hot skillet with a bit of olive oil. Cook them on medium heat for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Eventually the strips will crisp up nicely.

Basically, these are homemade fritos, people.

Homemade fritos anybody?

Making the Omelet

As they say, you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. So go ahead and break those eggs and pour in some milk while you’re at it. Two eggs per omelet will do the trick.

Egg and milk smiley face.

In a small omelet pan or skillet, add a drizzle of oil or butter and then toss in the corn and jalapenos. Give them a sprinkle of salt and cook them for a minute or two until they soften up.

Then toss in the corn strips.

This was some serious corn on corn action.

Cooking the stuff.

Next, just pour in your egg mixture (2 eggs per omelet) straight on top of the other ingredients. Use a flat spatula to move the eggs into the center of the pan and tilt the pan slightly to let the uncooked eggs spill to the outside of the pan and cook. Cook the omelet over medium heat for about two minutes. At that point about 90% of the egg will be cooked, but probably not all of it.

Then add your grated cheese to one side of the omelet!

The cheese is pretty darn important.

Then just kind of fold over the other half and cook it for about thirty more seconds on each side. Use a spatula to flip the omelet. When flipping, I recommend gently rolling it toward the folded side. That’s the easiest way to get it flipped. As the cheese melts, the rest of the egg will cook as well.

Serve the omelet on some salsa and garnished with plenty of cilantro.

Since the eggs are laced with the tortilla strips, the omelet has a really awesome texture.

Chomp!

This was kind of a hard dish to photograph because everything was yellow and it looked like a big hot mess on a plate. Trust me though. It tasted a lot better than it looks!

Tortilla strips in omelets. That’s my tip for the day.

Oh. And BUY SOME FREAKIN’ CORN!

Never making enchiladas again!

I was really excited when Alton Brown won the poll last week. He happens to be my favorite of all the major celebrity chefs because he’s a) smart b) funny and c) geeky. All things that I aspire to be.

Browsing through Alton Brown’s recipes, I wanted to make sure I picked one that really embodied his philosophy. This philosophy, it seems to me, is finding ways to keep all the flavor while making cooking as accessible and easy as possible.

When I saw enchilada lasagna on the list I knew I had to make it. Actually, my first thought was, “Yea. Why would you need to roll up a corn tortilla? Why can’t you just layer it?”

Turns out you can and it tastes identical to real enchiladas. I’m not sure that I can justify ever making real enchiladas again!

Enchilada Lasagna

Yield: 9x13 baking dish

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

Sauce:
2 16 ounce cans tomato sauce (about 3 cups)
2-3 chipotles in Adobo sauce, diced
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 Tablespoon chili powder
1 1/2 Teaspoons cumin seeds
2 Cups chicken broth
1 Tablespoon olive oil
Pinch of salt and pepper

Filling:
1.5 pounds chicken breasts or thighs, diced (you could also use beans for a vegetarian version)
2 poblano peppers, diced
1/2 onion, diced
1 Tablespoon olive oil

Other stuff:
12-14 (6 inch) corn tortillas
1 pound shredded cheese, I used a combination of Pepper Jack and Queso Oaxaca.

Directions:

1) In a medium pot, add a swirl of olive oil over medium heat. Then add diced garlic and chipotle peppers and cook for a minute or two.

2) Add cumin and chili powder and continue to cook for another minute.

3) Add chicken stock and tomato sauce and bring to a simmer with a pinch of salt and pepper. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until needed.

4) For filling, add a swirl of oil to a skillet and add diced chicken. Once almost cooked, add peppers and onions and continue to cook until they are soft, about 3-4 minutes.

5) In a 9x13 baking dish, rub it down with vegetable oil, then ladle in 1/2 Cup of sauce to the bottom.

6) Dip tortillas in sauce and lay them in the bottom of the dish until they cover it. You'll probably need 4 and you might need to cut one in half.

7) Add half of the chicken filling, followed by 1/3 of the grated cheese.

8) Then add another layer of tortillas with sauce, followed by the rest of the filling, followed by another 1/3 of the cheese.

9) Finish with a third layer of tortillas and the last of the cheese.

10) Bake at 350 degrees until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly, about 30 minutes.

11) Let cool before serving.

Heavily adapted from Alton Brown.

Start-to-finish this dish will probably take you 75-90 minutes to make depending on how quick you are in the kitchen. I’d guess this is 25-30 minutes faster than a traditional enchilada recipe.

Making the Sauce

The first step for this recipe is getting the sauce ready. In a pinch, you could use a canned enchilada sauce, but I like customizing my sauces a bit so I always try to make it if I have time.

A really simple sauce.

The only real chopping that you’ll need to do for the sauce is to mince up the garlic and chipotle peppers. I left the seeds in my chipotles to give them extra heat. Just mince up everything pretty finely like so.

Chopped up.

To make the sauce, add a swirl of olive oil to a medium pot and get it heated over medium heat. Add the garlic and chipotles and cook for a few seconds.

Then add all the spices (cumin, chili powder) and continue to cook. This will smell really good and the dry pan will toast the cumin seeds a bit which enhances their flavor. Be sure to stir it regularly and keep an eye on it so it doesn’t burn.

After a minute or two of cooking, add the tomato sauce, chicken stock, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and simmer until you’re ready to make the lasagna.

Making the Filling

The filling for this dish is almost as easy.

You’ll just need these things. I added the poblano peppers to give the filling some color and flavor. Alton’s recipe didn’t have this, but I liked the addition.

The basics for filling

Dice up the chicken and add it to a skillet over medium high heat with a swirl of olive oil. Once the chicken is almost cooked, add the onions and poblano peppers and cook until they are soft, about 3-4 minutes.

My poblano peppers in this photo are WAY too big. Be sure to dice yours finer if you use them.

Peppers should be smaller!

Putting Together the Lasagna!

This is the part where you really save a lot of time. If you’ve ever made enchiladas before, it usually involves quickly soaking tortillas in sauce, then adding some filling, rolling them up, and stacking them in the dish.

In short, it’s a messy process that takes some time.

If we’re doing it lasagna style though, all you need to do is lightly oil your baking dish, add about 1/2 Cup of sauce to the bottom of the dish, then start dipping your tortillas in the sauce and layering them in the pan.

You’re just going for an even layer of tortillas here so feel free to rip them up to get that. This was my optimal layout.

Easiest enchiladas ever.

Then just add about half of your chicken filling. This is easy people.

Layer of filling.

Next add a layer of cheese. Use about 1/3 of your cheese.

Then another layer of tortillas in sauce, then the final 1/2 of your filling, followed by 1/3 of your cheese.

Then more tortillas and finally the last 1/3 of your cheese.

This will all take you maybe 10 minutes and be a lot less messy than the traditional rolling method. You’ll end up with this awesome casserole dish full of delicious filling, cheese and sauce.

Lots of cheese is important as always.

Bake this at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes until the cheese is really melted and the sauce is bubbling.

Let it cool for a minute or two before slicing into it.

Nice and bubbly.

The awesome thing about this dish is that I promise if you did a side-by-side taste test between this and traditional enchiladas with the same sauce and filling, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

It tastes the exact same, which is to say that it tastes amazing.

Man these were good.

I forgot to photograph it but I served mine with some Greek yogurt instead of sour cream and it was really taste.

You’ll most likely have lots of leftovers here which is just fine because they re-heat beautifully.

I can’t exactly think of a reason right now why I’ll ever make traditional enchiladas again. This was just too easy and too good.

As always, thanks Alton.

This smelled like my heaven.

Holy Mother of Deliciousness. What have I done? This might not look like the most delicious thing, but trust me, it’s pretty up there in terms of savory brunch dishes in my opinion. This could also have something to do with the amount of beers I consumed the night before I made this.

This dish is a great example of how you can elevate the flavors in a dish by substituting store-bought ingredients with homemade. Instead of using store-bought sausage for the filling, I used some homemade breakfast sausage from last weekend. I also made my own enchilada sauce instead of using the canned stuff.

Prep time on the dish was probably a little over an hour start to finish. Totally worth it.

Breakfast Enchiladas

Yield: Serves 4.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

Simple Enchilada Sauce:
6 large dried chiles (I used 3 anchos, 2 new mexico chiles, and 1 chipotle)
1-2 Cups water (from soaking chiles)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 whole cloves, chopped really finely (or 1/2 Teaspoon ground cloves)
2 canned tomatoes (about a cup... if you use fresh you need to cook them down first)
Big pinch of salt and pepper

Filling:
8 large eggs
1 pound breakfast sausage
1/3 Cup cream
4 Tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter

You'll also need:
12 corn tortillas
8 ounces cheddar cheese
Optional toppings like avocados, hot sauce, sour cream, etc.

Directions:

1) Remove stems and seeds from dried peppers and add them to a medium pot of simmering water. Turn off heat and steep for 10-15 minutes until peppers are soft.

2) Add soft peppers, garlic, tomatoes, cloves, and about 1 Cup of water that the chiles steeped in to a blender and blend until smooth. You might need to add more water depending on consistency.

3) Add sauce to medium saucepan and keep warm over low heat until ready to use. If the sauce gets thick, add more chile water in small increments.

4) Add eggs, cream, and butter to a medium saucepan and over low heat, stir until the eggs start to cook, about 10-15 minutes. They should cook very slowly.

5) When the eggs appear to be about halfway cooked, add cooked sausage to the eggs and continue to stir until eggs are almost done, but definitely undercooked. Remove from heat.

6) To make the enchiladas, take a corn tortilla and dip it in the sauce. Remove it and top it with a few tablespoons of egg/sausage filling. Roll it up and add it to a baking dish. Repeat until all the filling is used (about 12 enchiladas).

7) Pour extra sauce over top of the enchiladas and add grated cheese.

8) Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees until cheese is melted.

9) Serve with sides like avocado, salsa, hot sauce, or sour cream.

The Enchilada Sauce

You can 100% use a canned enchilada sauce and this meal will still be plenty delicious. I just wanted to take it to the next level by making my own. It only takes a few minutes really and makes for a much more interesting and unique dish.

To start, you’ll need some dried chiles. I pulled out a few from a huge bag of random dried chiles I keep in my pantry. Just chop off the stems and shake out the seeds. It’s okay if there are some seeds left.

The only way to go.

Add the chiles to some simmering water and let them soak for about 10-15 minutes until they are soft. Don’t throw out this water! It’s like a chile stock and we can use it to add flavor to the sauce later.

Don't throw out this water!

I used a few basic other ingredients for this sauce. You can make a tomato-less chile sauce, but I really like having some tomato flavor. I used a few fire roasted whole tomatoes from a can. I also chopped up a few cloves of garlic and few whole cloves.

The cloves give the sauce a really unique flavor. I got the idea for the cloves from this Simply Recipes chili sauce recipe. Elise didn’t use tomatoes in hers though and I like the tomato flavor.

Cloves are interesting but awesome.

Add all the sauce ingredients to a blender and give them a whirl! Add some reserved water from the chile steeping in 1/4 cup increments until you get the desired consistency. I probably used about 1 cup of water for mine. Using the chile stock added a lot of flavor.

I don't think I need to tell you how good this was.

Pour the sauce back into a small saucepan and put it over low heat to keep it warm. It’ll probably start to simmer and if it starts to get too thick, just add some more chile stock to the sauce to keep it relatively thin. While my sauce was keeping warm, I probably stirred in another 1/2 Cup of water while I prepped my other stuff.

The Filling

The filling for these enchiladas is a pretty standard scrambled egg and sausage filling. I used homemade breakfast sausage and cooked my eggs using the slow method. For more details on this method (which produces the best scrambled eggs you’ll ever have), check out my how to cook scrambled eggs post.

To start, add the eggs, cream, and butter to a large pan and put them over low heat. That’s right. Low heat. You want to cook them slowly, not quickly. That keeps them silky smooth.

Good scrambled eggs.

Break up the eggs and slowly stir them. As they heat up, they will start to cook. After about 10 minutes of slow stirring you’ll have something that looks like this (you’re about halfway done).

Worth the wait people.

At this point, I added my sausage (which I reheated first) and put back on low heat. After another 5-10 minutes of slow stirring, your eggs will be done.

They should be a bit undercooked. Remember that we are going to bake this all together so the eggs will set-up at that point.

Still a bit undercooked.

Making the enchiladas

I like to use corn tortillas for my enchiladas, but flour would work also I think. I just dunk the tortilla in the hot enchilada sauce which loosens it up a bit and then set it on a plate.

Put on a few tablespoons of filling and roll it up!

The fun part!

It’s a messy job, but doesn’t take too long. I was able to get about 12 enchiladas out of this filling. I filled out two small baking dishes (or you could use one 9×13 dish). I added some extra sauce on top as well.

All lined up.

Cover this dish with grated cheese and pop it in a 350 degree oven until the cheese is melted and bubbling (about 15-20 minutes).

Then serve up the enchiladas with sides of your choosing. I went with avocados!

I wish Macheesmo had smell-o-browsing.

These were pretty sloppy but as far as enchiladas go they were awesome. There was a bit of sweetness from the sausage and the eggs were perfectly cooked.

The whole dish was just pretty scrumptious. In my opinion, this is a good example of how much you an improve a dish by taking a few extra minutes to make something from scrach. In this case, the enchilada sauce really stole the show even though the sausage was also homemade.

The thing I remember most though was not the emergency room, but the amazing brunch I had the day after the emergency room. It involved this thing called migas. I haven’t been to Texas in a very long time and I had definitely never had anything like migas before!

It’s possible that their image is somehow permanently etched into my mind due to my blunt force trauma incident because I’ve been dreaming about them ever since! So I decided to make me some migas last weekend!

It's impossible to go wrong here.

I later learned that there are actually two different kinds of migas. There is a Spanish version that involves fried bread and chorizo. This is not that version. This version of migas has strips of fried corn tortillas, lots of veggies, eggs and cheese all served on a flour tortillas. It’s heaven.

This is the version I whipped up. I’m not sure how similar it is to the Texas version, but it’s close.

Tex-Mex Migas

Yield: Serves 4.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

8 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/4 - 1/3 Cup neutral oil. I used Canola. You need enough oil to have a solid layer on the bottom of the pan.
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 red pepper, seeded and diced
1 poblano pepper, seeded and diced
1-3 jalapenos, seeded and diced depending on how hot you want it
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 corn tortillas, cut into 1/2 inch strips
1 Cup shredded cheese, I like a good cheddar
Salt and pepper
Flour Tortillas, for serving

Basic Refried Beans:
2 16 ounce cans kidney beans, drained
4 Tablespoons butter
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 - 1 Cup water
Salt and Pepper to taste

Additional things:
Refried beans
Avocado
Salsa or hot sauce

Helpful Equipment:
Cast Iron Skillet

Directions:

1) Chop up the veggies for the migas as evenly as possible.

2) Dice up your corn tortillas into strips. Heat oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat and fry corn strips until they are very cripsy. About 5-6 minutes should be good.

3) For refried beans, melt butter in a large skillet. Add onions and garlic over medium heat and cook until they are soft, about 3 minutes. Then add drained beans and a small amount of water. Use a fork or spatula to lightly mash the beans as they cook.

4) After your corn strips come out of the pan, pour out any extra oil. You only need a thin coat. Then add all the veggies and turn the heat to medium.

5) Cook the veggies until they are soft, about 4-5 minutes. Then add the corn strips back in and mix everything well.

6) In a separate bowl, whisk eggs with milk. Pour egg mixture over the veggies and corn strips.

7) Cook for a few minutes so the eggs start to firm up nicely, then add grated cheese.

8) Finish the migas in a 400 degree oven for 5 minutes or on the stovetop. Just heat until the eggs are firm and the cheese is melted.

9) Serve with beans and tortillas and plenty of hot sauce.

Prepping your Ingredients

I’m pretty sure that the version I had in Austin had tomatoes in it, but tomatoes aren’t the best this time of year in DC so I just skipped them. I think the migas may have been better with tomatoes, but I didn’t miss them too much.

A little heat won't hurt.

This is one of those dishes where I think it pays to take some time and chop your veg up as evenly as possible. Plus it’s good practice!

A good dicing.

Frying the Corn Strips

One of the big things that sets this dish apart from say a frittata is the fried corn strips. The give the final product a great texture.

Start out by heating up your oil over medium-high heat in a large heavy skillet. I used my cast iron skillet to cook this entire dish in. It’s a one dish meal.

You need enough oil to have a good solid layer on the bottom of the pan. I probably used about 1/3 of a Cup of oil. Once your oil is hot, add all your sliced corn strips in at once and let them start to fry. Turn them a few times to make sure they are cooking evenly.

After 5 or 6 minutes they should be nice and crispy.

Crunchy and Delicious

Refried Beans

I decided to make some refried beans to serve with the migas. I happened to have some beans already cooked, but otherwise I would just use canned. A lot of refried bean recipes call for lard, but I just used butter. They were still delicious.

Get your butter melted in a large skillet and then add your onions and garlic and cook them for a few minutes until they are soft. Then add in all your beans and a small amount of water.

You could definitely use canned for this.

Then using a spatula or fork (don’t use a fork if you are using a nonstick pan though), mash up the beans as they cook. If they ever look dry, add more water. I like mine kind of rustic and not totally smooth.

It’s kind of a workout, but they are worth it!

Refried goodness.

If you don’t use all of these for the brunch, just make frozen burritos with the leftovers!

Making the Migas

After your corn strips come out of the pan, don’t wash the pan! Instead, pour out any extra oil that’s left from the frying. Now you only need a thin coat. Then add all your vegetables to the pan and keep it over medium heat.

Smells good!

Cook those vegetables until they are a bit soft, but not soggy at all. I cooked mine for maybe 4-5 minutes. Then add in your fried corn strips and mix everything together.

Add the crunchies.

Once everything is mixed together, combine your eggs and milk in a large bowl and whisk them together. Then pour the eggs into the skillet!

Genius. So genius.

Let those sit for a minute or so over heat to firm up a bit and then mix them up slightly with a spoon or spatula. Then add your shredded cheese!

To finish off the migas after you add the cheese, you have two options: 1) add the pan back to the heat and let them cook until the cheese is melted and the eggs are done, probably 3-5 minutes or 2) stick the pan in a 400 degree oven for a few minutes to melt the cheese and finish cooking the eggs. I went with the oven route just because I was worried about burning the eggs on the stove.

I think either option would work fine, but if you have an oven safe pan, I’d go the oven route.

Any melty cheese will work!

Then serve up a healthy portion of the migas with some beans and tortillas. I also served mine with some sliced avocado and plenty of hot sauce.

Too many beers? Try this.

These were pretty much my ideal savory brunch after a long night out (and a short stint in the ER). Neither of those things are exactly necessary to enjoy this awesome brunch meal though!

It’s also fun to stack layers of spicy rice and beans between freshly fried tostados. Depending on your hunger you can stack as high as you want!

Yum.

I’ve made various versions of rice and beans before and I’m always experimenting with new ways to do it. For this one I used whole spices which added a great flavor to the dish. I think I’ll probably start doing that from now on.

Tostado Stack

Yield: Serves 4.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

Rice and Beans:

1 1/2 Cups long grain rice (not instant)
1 (15 ounce) can black beans (or any bean that you want)
1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 medium onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon cumin seeds
1 Tablespoon coriander seeds
1 Teaspoon crushed red peppers
2 Teaspoons paprika
3 Tablespoons olive oil or butter
Salt and pepper

12 corn tortillas (or as many as you want to stack I guess)
Canola oil for frying
8 ounces cheddar cheese, grated
Sour Cream (optional)
2 Avocados, for guacamole
Hot sauce (optional)

Helpful Equipment:
Spice Grinder
Deep fry thermometer

Directions:

1) Add spices to the pan and toast them for 5 minutes over medium-high heat until they start to smell really good. They should turn slightly tan, but don’t let them burn!

2) Give them a quick whirl in spice grinder. If you wanted it really spicy, you could up the red pepper a bit and also add some cayenne.

3) Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large pan with a lid. Add onions and garlic and cook for just a few minutes until they are translucent. Then add all spices and stir well to combine.

4) Stir in rice. Stir everything together for about 30 seconds.

5) Add canned tomatoes and about 3 to 3 1/2 Cups water. Bring this mixture to a simmer and cook it covered over low heat for about 20 minutes.

6) To make tostados, add canola oil (or peanut oil) to a large frying pan until it comes about 1/2 inch up the side. Heat it until the oil is 350 degrees.

7) Once oil is hot, toss in one or two tortillas at a time depending on the size of your pan.

8) With some tongs, gently turn the tortilla over every few seconds to keep it as flat as possible.

9) Move the tortillas to a paper towel or a paper bag to drain off the oil and add some salt to them right away.

10) After 20 minutes or so, check rice and beans. Add beans near the end (drain them from the can) and also add a good pinch of salt and pepper.

11) Stack! Start with a layer of rice and beans. The basic layer is tostado, cheese, rice and beans, hot sauce (optional), and another tostado. Top the whole thing with sour cream and guacamole.

Making the rice and beans

You could add some sort of meat to this if you want, but honestly, I think it’s so flavorful from the spices that I don’t really miss the meat at all. Plus it would add time onto your prep so for me this is a great vegetarian meal.

Good stuff.

If you are using whole spices, add them to a pan and toast them for 5 minutes over medium-high heat until they start to smell really good. They should turn slightly tan, but don’t let them burn!

This will make your house smell good.

Then give them a quick whirl in your spice grinder. The spices that I used for this version don’t make the rice and beans really spicy, but they do make it flavorful! If you wanted it really spicy, you could up the red pepper a bit and also add some cayenne to the party.

Lots of flavor in this bowl.

To get your rice and beans started, heat your oil over medium-high heat in a large pan with a lid. Add your onions and garlic and cook for just a few minutes until they are translucent. Then add all your spices and stir well to combine.

Next stir in you rice. Sort of like making a risotto, you want the rice to absorb some of the spices and get hot before you add your liquids. Just stir everything together for about 30 seconds. It will smell good and it should look like this.

Kind of like a risotto!

Next add your canned tomatoes and about 3 to 3 1/2 Cups water. Depending on what kind of rice you use exactly, you’ll have to adjust the amount of water. Just remember that there’s some liquid in your canned tomatoes also.

Beautiful color.

Bring this mixture to a simmer and cook it covered over low heat for about 20 minutes. Again, check your rice package as the cooking time will vary a lot based on what kind of rice you are using. I usually check mine at about 20 minutes and give it a quick stir just to make sure the rice isn’t sticking. You can also add a bit more liquid at this point if you need to.

Making the tostados

I think you can buy tostados already made, but I think they are better fresh (as with most fried things). They are easy to make than tortilla chips even. Just add canola oil (or peanut oil) to a large frying pan until it comes about 1/2 inch up the side. Heat it until the oil is 350 degrees. It helps to have a thermometer for this, but if you don’t have one, just rip off a tiny piece of tortilla and toss it in as a sacrifice.

Once your oil is hot, toss in one or two tortillas at a time depending on the size of your pan.

When the tortillas hit the oil, they’ll have a tendency to form a bubble. With some tongs, gently turn the tortilla over every few seconds to keep it as flat as possible. Eventually then will start to brown nicely and stop bubbling. This means that most of the moisture is out of the tortilla and therefore it’s super-crispy!

Move the tortillas to a paper towel or a paper bag to drain off the oil and add some salt to them right away.

Nice and crispy.

After 20 minutes or so, as I mentioned, check your rice and beans. Add your beans near the end (drain them from the can) and also add a good pinch of salt and pepper. Depending on your tomatoes and spices you might need more or less salt so just taste it and adjust.

When tasting it, notice how amazing it tastes.

Good just like this.

Making the stack

This is pretty self-explanatory. The only tip I would give is to start with a layer of rice and beans so that your stack doesn’t slide around on the plate. The basic layer is tostado, cheese, rice and beans, hot sauce (optional), and another tostado. Top the whole thing with sour cream and guacamole.

If you’re a visual person, here ya go:

Get it?

Betsy usually does just one layer, but I like two. If you want to be all crazy, you could try three or four. Three tostados packed with the rice and beans and cheese and topped with guacamole and sour cream (or Greek yogurt if you want) is a pretty hearty meal.

Oh and for those people on a diet, maybe don’t slather sour cream all over the top like I did.

Go as high as you want.

Start to finish I would say this meal takes an hour. Totally doable on a week night and the good news is that it makes a lot of food. Betsy and I eat it for days. It’s fantastic for lunch or a quick dinner later in the week.

If you wanted to change it up you could also use the extra rice and beans for a burrito.

You have to love Tex-Mex.