Ensalada de Nopales-Cactus Salad

It's about 97 degrees here in East bay San Francisco, and all I can think about is what am I going to make for dinner. When it's hot, I'm sure no one likes to be in the kitchen over a hot stove. Well neither do I, so I headed over to our not so local Mexican Grocery store. It's about 15-20 minutes away, but totally worth the drive.

I picked up some ingredients to make ceviche ( a later post on that), and some nopales, also known as prickly pear cactus. 

If you haven't heard about nopales, they have a similar taste to green beans or asparagus, with a little gelatinous center and a bit of a citrus taste. They are high in fiber and low in calories :) 

They are said to be a natural food/aid for managing diabetes and cholesterol.

You can buy them already cut into strips in a jar, or wide pieces with spiny bits still on them, or you can buy them by the package, spiny bits removed.

Buying them in the package is the way to go, you get a fresher taste and you don't have to spend the time slicing of the spiny bits. Just make sure they are tender, not too hard and not too soft.

My mom cooks nopales in a few different ways. Even though I'm trying to avoid the stove on a hot day, this only takes a little bit of stove time, which isn't too bad.

 Chop up however much your going to use, place it in a pot, cover them with about about 1/2 inch over with water. Add a piece of white/yellow onion, sprinkle some salt, and a garlic clove. Medium heat is good. You don't have to wait for the water to boil, just taste a piece and it should be soft. 

Drain the nopales, and put them in a bowl or plate. 

From here you can add some diced up tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and a jalapeño. Mix it all up and it's done.

Or

 Sauté the chopped nopales in some oil with tomatoes, onions, add homemade salsa, cilantro, and eat it with flour/corn tortillas. 

or

Lastly, you can avoid the whole stove part, and take the nopales outside and place them on a bbq. 

Take the whole piece out of the bag and put it on a grill until it gets roasted and tender. No boiling before is necessary for this style.  Slice it up, add homemade salsa, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and eat it with a flour/corn tortilla in a taco style.

There also good by themselves, just sprinkle a little salt and pepper and your done.

The method I chose today was the first method:

I bought my package like this

 I let the mixture sit in the fridge for about 30 minutes, and my cool snack in the middle of a hot day was perfect.

Oh yeah, one more thing. You can always sprinkle some fresh Cacique Cheese- Queso Fresco on top!

National Donut Day!- Epic Fail

As I do every morning, I grab my cell and check my emails.  A lot of the blog emails I got were mentioning that it was National Donut Day today. I scrolled down and saw this email from The Novice Chef Blog.  She had made some Confetti Donuts, and provided the  recipe. It so happened that I had all the ingredients at home. I decided to give it a try.

 I have no idea what happened, I followed this recipe to the "T", but for some reason mine did not look like the picture.

It was an epic fail :(

I had my little guy helping. I think we added to many sprinkles.

Placed the mix in the donut maker/baker, and this is after about 8 minutes in the machine.

Mine did not look yummy nor white.

This is what they were supposed to look like, yummy, colorful, and white!

I really do think that I added to many sprinkles, next time I'm in charge of the sprinkles and my son will be in charge of the camera!

Have a good weekend!

Quinoa Rice and Shrimp Mole Tacos

I am far from being a good cook. Sometimes I will follow recipes to the "t", and sometimes I wing it. Most of the times I wing it.

When I am not following a recipe, I eyeball all my measurements. For right now, it's only my husband, our 4 1/2 yr old son, and me, which means I have to make a small batch, and not all recipes indicate that it serves 2 1/2 people!

I love my mom's cooking, and she cooks authentic Mexican food from Arandas, Jalisco Mexico. I'm more like her when it comes to cooking, no measuring required. 

The only difference between her cooking and mine is that she normally cooks for minimum 5 people on a daily basis. There's always family there and she loves to feed them.

One thing we do have in common is that we try to use what ever food we have on hand and make something out of it. Sometimes it's tasty and sometimes it's not.

My mom laughed when I told her I was making mole tacos. She asked me how I was going to make the mole, and I told her that I bought a jar, and she quickly said that's not mole. 
Her mole recipe is delicious and it's made from scratch. Unless she's with me walking me through every step, I definitely can not make it on my own.

I'm sure there's a lot of you out there like me, so I hope you enjoy this meal if you try it.

Here's me "winging" (not a word lol) up a meal!

These are my ingredients that I used:

I thawed out about half a bag of small peeled and deveined shrimp.

I first grabbed the Dona Maria Mole paste (careful, trying to open the jar is a bit oily and messy). I scooped 2 1/2 spoonful of paste (normal spoon size).  I started to pour in the chicken broth until it got a smooth consistently. Bring it to a boil.

I then cooked the quinoa rice according to the package directions.

Sprinkled salt and pepper on the shrimp, sprayed the pan with pam olive oil, and then sautéed the shrimp. 

Chopped up the shrimp and some oranges for a side fruit.

Warmed up the tortillas, placed the shrimp, some mole, and sprinkled the cheese on.

Easy enough right? A little healthy and a little Mexican all in one!

New Blog/Etsy Look!

I am so happy to announce that my blog has a new look! I have been wanting to create a custom logo, and a blog/etsy design to go with it. My prior look, I did, but I wasn't to fond with it, so my search began for some inspirations.

Then came Nina from Nina's Design Studio, and her etsy shop is here.  I came to her with a vision, and once she provided the logo, I wasn't to thrilled. She provided her ideas, and then I provided mine, and it turned out PERFECT! She was very patient with me, which I probably drove her crazy at times, but after about 5 days, it was done.

So a little bit about the logo, I love to craft and my husband loves to cook. Because I post my husband's cooking here in addition to my crafts, I wanted to incorporate it in the logo. My husband is from Portugal and my family is from Mexico, so I wanted to incorporate that as well. 

The "roof" on top of our logo is a mix of Dahlia flowers, which the dahlia flower is Mexico's National Flower, and the Lavender flower, which is Portugal's National Flower. Within the name Casa De Sousa, are a pair of scissors to symbolize my crafting and a whisk, to symbolize my husbands cooking.

The design is simple, fresh, and perfect for us!

Thanks Nina, you did an awesome job :)

Mother's Day Gifts

When it comes to giving gifts in my family, it can get a little pricey and overwhelming. 

Our immediate family on my side and my hubby's side is a total of about 51 family members. That's a lot!

So every year for Christmas, Mother's Day, and Father's Day, I try to think of a theme and provide everyone with the same gift. I figured out that if you buy things in bulk in can be cheaper, and it for sure beats trying to figure out what to get each individual person.

So for example, this past Christmas every family got a popcorn holder with candy/chocolate and movie tickets. I bought the bulk candy and movie tickets at Costco. Everyone enjoys going to the movies, so I thought it would be great that each family go together and hang out.

This past mother's day, I spent days trying to think of a cute gifts to give to the moms. I brainstormed a little on what a mom means. I came across an anchor image, and thought a mother is like an anchor. 

I decided to give anchors as part of the gift.

I have 7 sister's, one passed away when she was 2 years old, but I still count her in. With their gifts, I wanted to add a little something extra.

I love Etsy,  lot's of creative people on there. I came across this shop, and ordered these bracelets.

My idea was to create a little card and describe each element of the bracelet. 

I typed up the card in Spanish, but this is what it says in English

Anchor- A mother is like an anchor to her children, in a low tide or in a high tide, she always keeps them grounded.

Rope- The rope/string on the bracelet means that a women knows she is strong for the journey, but a women of strength, she knows that the journey is what makes her strong.

Love- A mother's love is forever and unconditional

A little something extra

Infinity charm- Whether we have good times or bad times, tears or laughs, we will always be sisters, and the angel symbolized Elizabeth (sister that passed away), she will forever be our sister and our angel.

With my silhouette cameo, I made these boxes to place the card in.

 For my niece and sister in laws, they got these anchor bracelets. Bracelets are from the same shop 

above.

They also got little notebooks with a their name and an inspiring quote.

I printed the images and modge podge them on the notebooks.

All the moms, were touched and that made me feel great!