5 Mexican Inspired Dishes

Disclaimer

So I grew up eating 'Mexican' food available in Canada and the United States. And like most cuisine that is re-engineered for the local public, I am aware that the American take on Mexican food is not authentic Mexican food. This is why I call these dishes Mexican-inspired rather than authentic Mexican dishes. But they might be authentic or might not be, let us know.

Also, since these are vegetarian and Mexican cuisine largely isn't (I assume), that adds an extra layer of a lack of authenticity.

My Other Entries

• Entry 1: Bread
• Entry 2: Oats
• Entry 3: Pasta and Noodles
• Entry 4: Hot Chocolate

So the base for each dish is the same except for the corn chips and french fries. Sautee up your choice of veggies with a Taco Spice Mix. My go-to is the Taco Spice Mix from Old El Paso. I recently tried the avocado spice mix which I enjoyed. So I can see myself going back and forth between the two.

My standard choice of veggies are onions, green bell peppers, jalapenos, and corn. I might occasionally use lettuce (tacos), mushrooms, red/yellow bell pepper (especially in my quesadillas), and spring onions. I do sautee my onions, bell peppers, and mushrooms but not the rest.

Some other ingredients I use for most dishes include sour cream, cheese (cheddar, queso, or tex mex), cilantro, and lime juice.

Tacos

• I generally use boiled plain red kidney beans and do not cook them with the veggies as I would with burritos
• I just mix all the veggies with the seasonings like a salad
• Use cheese and sour cream as a spread and call it a day
• Unless I start out with making burritos and am feeling too lazy to go the extra step of cooking my burrito the next day I might just have a cooked veggie-bean taco instead

Salad Bowl

• Same idea as the tacos
• I might do a rice, quinoa, or couscous salad bowl (I'm contemplating tofu for the future let's see)
• Combine the grains, the sauteed veggies, and beans
• Top it off with sour cream, green onions (optional), corn, jalapenos and cheese
• Garnish with cilantro (optional)

Burrito

• The key difference here is that after sauteeing the veggies, I do cook the (crushed/mushy) beans with the veggies
• Often times I might use salsa or taco sauce instead of the taco spice mix for the mixture (depends on what I am feeling, each provides a unique flavor profile)
• Assemble the cheese, choice of grain (I don't like rice in my burritos so I don't but it is common), and the bean mixture onto a tortilla
• Fold it into a burrito and heat it up in the pan until golden brown and crispy on both sides (or go cold turkey, I do often enough)
• Combine sour cream and cilantro for a nice dip
• I don't usually sautee corn and jalapenos. But for this dish I do more often than not.

Corn Chips Nachos

• Same process as the salad bowl
• But gasp, I do eliminate the beans and the actual nacho chips and use the horn-shaped corn chips instead (it's a happy medium for my mouth that dislikes hard crunchy mouth injuring foods)
• No cooking going on here only assembling

Fries Supreme

• This dish was inspired by Taco Bell's fries supreme so...
• I might or might not use beans. Most often I don't. But when I do, they are cooked.
• Combines fries, queso (a must), tomatoes, sour cream, and green onions
• And gasp, ketchup!
• Honestly, it's that simple

Quesadillas

• Assemble your tortilla with sauteed veggies and cheese
• Load up the cheese, not only because it tastes great, but also to ensure your veggies are not slipping out. It needs glue!
• I might or might not use beans. Most often I don't. But when I do, they are not cooked.
• Sour cream dip, as is, or with cilantro
• So good!
• I generally use one tortilla and fold it in half. But I am contemplating using two tortillas and cooking the quesadilla like a sandwich (for lack of a better word).

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