Us five will use any excuse we can to eat Mexican food. Since long before the bambinos ever arrived on the scene, Mexican has been the #1 favorite for Braydon and me. And we seem to have successfully transferred that love-for-Mexican-food onto our offspring. They will choose Chipotle, hands down, over any other any form of fast food. They will run to the table for tacos. And there is no junk food that the three of them love more than a giant sized bag of Tostitos Hint of Lime Tortilla Chips. Owen is a lover of the quesadilla. Kyle is a lover of the burrito. And as for Meera – well, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree – she’s a girl after my own heart – she’s a lover of chips-and-salsa (add queso dip to the equation and she’s over the moon). She’s really not picky about it (nor am I), she’ll eat just about any salsa, but her (and my) favorite is definitely a recipe that I got from The Pioneer Woman’s blog. For years I’ve been making my own salsa (lots and lots of variations), but the first time we tried this one, well over a year ago now, we fell in love. And I don’t think I’ve made any other version since. We all love it, especially Meera. I stick very close to the recipe, just altering it a bit to take the jalapeño down a notch or two (I’ve learned the hard way to tone it down because no matter how spicy it is, Meera will eat it like crazy, and if it is too spicy she pukes). So…. given that Cinco de Mayo is coming right up, and I—for one—will be making Mexican food this week, I thought I’d link you to this superbly good salsa recipe…. here it is:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/01/restaurant-style-salsa/
And, since we’re on the subject of Mexican food and Pioneer Woman recipes, it would be a shame to not share this one too:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/chile_con_queso/
Seriously, this queso dip is to die for. This recipe was what caused me, about a year ago, for the first time in my life, to buy a block of Velveeta. And it was well worth it. Probably the best homemade queso dip I’ve ever had. Everyone I’ve ever served it to has gone absolutely nuts for it. Including Owen, who has a tendency to just forego the tortilla chips and just eat it with a spoon. (no kidding.) It is that good. Try it and you’ll see. We don’t have this often (just look at the recipe, or the ingredient list on the Velveeta package, and you’ll see why); I only will allow myself to make it 3-4 times a year; but Cinco de Mayo is as good an excuse as any to put Velveeta on the grocery list and whip up a batch of this stuff.
And, of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the margs. We’re big fans of them here— I think the bambinos love tequila-free margs almost as much as Braydon and I love the-real-deal margs. We all like ‘em on the rocks. The dramatic and expressive mixing-and-shaking of the drink shaker is perhaps the bambinos’ favorite part of the whole thing.
Here’s to a great upcoming week! For us it isn’t just Cinco de Mayo week, but the countdown to the boys’ birthday too (which just gives us another great reason to have some margs… by the end of this week I’ll need a good margarita or two!!)!
p.s. The Pioneer Woman recipes make a lot of salsa and a lot of queso dip… which is good because they’re even better as leftovers.
This post made me hungry and thirsty (I too, love margaritas). How beautiful Merra’s hair is in the second pic!
My (Texan by birth) girlfriend has been severely severely busted trying to smuggle both Ro-Tel and Velveeta back home into Australia.
We love good mexican food, but (not for her lack of trying) have never been able to get our hands on decent queso dip, something she is incredibly bitter about! We still do margs and mex on Christmas eve though!
We LOVE salsa here (we even make a salsa-egg-cheese burrito and eat it in the morning!) Will definately try this recipe!