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We can seriously talk tacos all day long, but is the conversation even valid if we are not talking Vampiro Tacos? Yeah, let’s dive into that dialogue about the cheesy goodness known as Vampiros! If you’ve never had one they are a cross between a quesadilla, taco, tostada, and it’s been on heavy rotation for lent. It starts with the cheese being grilled to a crisp, then a tortilla makes it’s way on top of the cheese…. It’s scraped off the griddle and the melty cheese side sits in the tortilla and the grilled cheese side is used as the base of your taco.

People make all types of toppings to compliment the charred cheese taco from carne asada, al pastor, nopales, and chile mushrooms. You can choose any topping you want, as long as you’re using quality Real California Milk Hispanic- style Cheese in your Vampiro you’ve got the real deal in your hands. Plus I love the fact that when I buy cheese with the Real California Milk seal, I’m buying authentic quality ingredients sustainably sourced from dairy families.

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Today I’m making Calabacita Vampiro Tacos, because you can’t go wrong with zucchini, onion, tomato and cheese! Make sure you let the tortilla harden a little bit from the cheese grease for a delicious bite. I guarantee you will be making vampiros till the tortillas run out and way beyond lent. Enjoy!

Calabacita Vampiro Tacos Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 large zucchini, diced

½ large onion, sliced

1 large tomato, diced

1 corn on the cob, shaved kernels

A pinch of oregano

½ teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

2 cups Real California Oaxaca cheese, grated

8 small corn tortillas

Guacamole

Salsa

Real California Queso fresco

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Directions:

Heat olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium high flame.

Add in zucchini and onion. Mix to coat in olive oil. Cook for 5 minutes.

Add in tomato, corn, oregano, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper. Sauté for an additional 5 minutes. Remove from flame and set to the side.

Heat a comal or griddle over a medium high flame.

Add 1/4 cup of Real California Queso Oaxaca to the griddle and allow it to melt.

Heat a tortilla on the side of the griddle that is not occupied with cheese. Once the cheese is melted place the heated tortilla on top.

Let the cheese continue to cook for a few minutes or until crisp, then flip the tortilla cheese side up.

Allow the tortilla to fry slightly in the grease the cheese leaves behind on the griddle.

Remove the tortilla from the griddle and fill with a few heaping tablespoons of the calabacita mixture.

Top with salsa, guacamole and crumbled Real California queso fresco.

Take a bite out of it like a REAL VAMPIRO!

For more delicious recipe inspiration hop on over to the Real California Milk website. They have an entire section dedicated to the lent season. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Real California Milk. The recipe and thoughts are 100% my own.

Español:

Podemos hablar seriamente de tacos todo el día, pero ¿es válida la conversación si no estamos hablando de Vampiro Tacos? Sí, ¡vamos a sumergirnos en ese diálogo sobre la bondad cursi conocida como Vampiros! Si nunca has tenido uno, son un cruce entre una quesadilla, taco, tostada, y ha estado en rotación pesada para la cuaresma. Comienza con el queso a la parrilla hasta obtener un crujiente, luego una tortilla lo hace sobre el queso…. Se raspa de la plancha y el lado del queso derretido se encuentra en la tortilla y el lado del queso a la parrilla se usa como base de su taco.

La gente hace todo tipo de coberturas para complementar el taco de queso carbonizado de carne asada, al pastor, nopales y hongos de chile. Puede elegir cualquier aderezo que desee, siempre y cuando esté utilizando queso de calidad al estilo hispano Real California Milk en su Vampiro, tiene el verdadero negocio en sus manos. Además, me encanta el hecho de que cuando compro queso con el sello Real California Milk, estoy comprando ingredientes auténticos de calidad que provienen de manera sostenible de familias lecheras.

Hoy estoy haciendo Tacos De Calabacita Vampiro, ¡porque no te puedes equivocar con calabacín, cebolla, tomate y queso! Asegúrese de dejar que la tortilla se endurezca un poco de la grasa del queso para un delicioso bocado. Te garantizo que estarás haciendo vampiros hasta que las tortillas se agoten y mucho más allá de la cuaresma. ¡Disfrutar!

Calabacita Vampiro Tacos Ingredientes:

2 cucharadas de aceite de oliva
2 calabacines grandes, cortados en cubitos
1/2 cebolla grande, en rodajas
1 tomate grande, cortado en cubitos
1 maíz en la mazorca, granos afeitados
Una pizca de orégano
1/2 cucharadita de ajo en polvo
1 cucharadita de sal
1/2 cucharadita de pimienta negra
2 tazas de queso Real California Oaxaca, rallado
8 tortillas pequeñas de maíz
Guacamole
Salsa
Real California Queso fresco

Indicaciones:

Calentar el aceite de oliva en una sartén grande a fuego medio alto.

Agregue el calabacín y la cebolla. Mezclar para cubrir en aceite de oliva. Cocine durante 5 minutos.

Agregue tomate, maíz, orégano, ajo en polvo, sal y pimienta negra. Saltea durante 5 minutos adicionales. Luego retire de la llama y coloque a un lado.

Calentar un comal o plancha sobre una llama media alta.

Agregue 1/4 de taza de Real California Queso Oaxaca a la plancha y deje que se derrita.

Calentar una tortilla en el lado de la plancha que no esté ocupada con queso. Una vez derretido el queso coloca la tortilla caliente encima.

Deje que el queso continúe cocinándose durante unos minutos o hasta que esté crujiente, luego voltee el queso de tortilla hacia arriba.

Deje que la tortilla se fríe ligeramente en la grasa que el queso deja en la plancha.

Retire la tortilla de la plancha y llénela con unas cucharadas colmadas de la mezcla de calabacita.

Cubra con salsa, guacamole y queso fresco Real California desmenuzado.

¡Dale un mordisco como un VAMPIRO REAL!

This post has been sponsored by MAGGI®. All thoughts, opinions, and recipe are my own. 

Vegetarian Taco Board: A delicious grilled veggie board accompanied by corn tortillas, salsa and queso fresco. Make your taco dreams come true!

Are you SUMMER ready? I love the warm weather and more than loving the warm weather, I love the grilling season that comes with it. I enjoy the whole process of grilling. Choosing the freshest produce; bringing my vegetables home; and making a simple marinade of olive oil, lime juice, MAGGI® Vegetable Bouillon, pepper, and garlic. I feel like the bouillon gives my marinade all the flavor it needs for an extra special grilling day.

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Keeping warm with a bowl of Creamy Roasted Cauliflower Soup has been the trend in my house lately. With all these record breaking temperature lows this decadent soup will definitely sizzle up your belly in the most pleasant way.

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Spicy Chickpea Salad Sandwich, you’ve come to rescue me. I’m a sandwich girl, I think it’s part of my DNA. My grandfather was a sandwich guy and all my aunts and uncles go nuts for a good sandwich as well.  Since becoming a vegetarian a few years (more…)

It’s been decided. My son has expressed his wants and us parents are following suit. Early this year he told us he no longer wanted to eat the lunch his school provides, and instead wanted to take a packed lunch from home. I have absolutely no problem with pulling that together for him. The only problem I have is trying to (more…)

It was Thanksgiving at my house yesterday. I made all the fixings for a Thanksgiving feast, and invited a few friends over to dive in. I decided to post this recipe out of everything that was made because (1) it’s not on my blog yet, and (2) my friends want to make it for there families this Thanksgiving. Sourdough Chorizo Cherry Stuffing…. It doesn’t get better than that.

Ingredients for Sourdough Chorizo Cherry Stuffing:

• 8 – cups sourdough bread cubes (2 medium loaves cut into 1 inch cubes)
• 18 – oz. Mexican soy chorizo (plastic casing removed)
• 5 – oz. can of black olives sliced
• 1 – onion (chopped into small cubes)
• 7 – stalks of green onion (chopped)
• 1 1/2 – cup grated carrots
• 1 – cup julienned sun dried tomatoes (boiled to plump/moisten)
• 1 1/4 – cup dried cherries
• 1/4  –  cup fresh basil (chopped)
• 16 – tablespoons butter or Vegan butter
• 1 1/2  – tablespoons fresh minced garlic
• 2 – cups vegetable broth
• 1 – cup shredded parmesan or jack cheese cheese
• 1 – cup salted shelled pistachios

Directions:

1.  Cut sourdough loaves into 1 inch cubes, place in a bowl, and allow to sit over night.
2. Preheat oven to 373 degrees Fahrenheit
3. Place sourdough cubes on a cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Mixing cubes at the 10 minute mark will prevent them from burning on one side.
4. In a large frying pan over a medium flame add in chorizo and cook for 5 minutes until soy chorizo is crumbly and cooked through. I break the chorizo up with a spatula and mix it the whole cooking time to make sure it is cooked properly. Set to the side.
5. In a small pan filled with water bring to a boil and add sundried tomatoes. Boil for 6 to 8 minutes to plump and moisten. Remove from water and drain completely. Set to the side.
6. In a giant bowl add in sourdough cubes, chorizo, black olives, onions, chopped green onions, shredded carrot, sundried tomatoes, dried cherries, fresh basil, pistachios and cheese. Mix with your hands until completely incorporated. Set to the side.
7. In a frying pan over a medium flame melt butter, once butter melts add in garlic and let cook for 4 minutes.
8. Add in the vegetable broth to the butter garlic mixture and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
9. Pour butter/garlic broth over stuffing mixture. Mix well to combine, careful because it is hot.
10. Place entire mixture into an oven proof baking dish.
11. Bake for 30 minutes.

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. However; OXO did provide me with a few cooking tools to aid me with this recipe. The opinions and recipe are 100% my own.  I seriously love OXO.

Holy Moly. This salad puts the WOW in factor, as my fiance found out this afternoon. I watched him dip his tortilla chip into his bowl without stopping for a breather over the course of 20 minutes. When he finally took his eyes off his bowl he said to me “SWOON.” I second that emotion. Easy to make and ready to be served after 30 minutes.

Ingredients for esquites recipe:

• 2 – tablespoons mayo
• 1 – teaspoon chopped garlic
• 4 – corn on the cob
• 1/2 – cup crema (Mexican cream)
• 2 – limes (juiced)
• 1/4 – cup cilantro leaves
• 1 – jalapeno (finely chopped)
• 1/4 – green onion chopped
• 5 – ounces cotija cheese (crumbled)
• 1/2 – teaspoon chili flakes
• 1/2 – cup black beans (small can, rinsed and drained)
• Tortilla chips (I prefer nacho cheese Doritos)

Tools Needed:

• OXO 9″ whisk
• OXO Thongs
• OXO Salad Dressing Shaker
• OXO Corn Peeler
• OXO 4″ Santoku Chopping Knife

Directions:

1. In a small bowl whisk mayo and garlic together. Brush mayo on corn, and place on a hot grill. Grill for 15 minutes. Turning the corn with thongs every five minutes.    
2. While corn is grilling, add any remaining mayo/garlic to the salad dressing shaker also add in crema, and lime juice. Set to the side while you chop cilantro, green onion, and jalapeno. Add chopped greens to salad dressing shaker. Shake well and set to the side till ready to use. 
3. Remove corn from the grill, and with the corn peeler shave the kernels off the corn and allow to fall into the bowl.  
4. Add cotija cheese, chili flakes, and black beans to the corn. Mix well to combine. Then pour salad dressing over the mixture. 
5. Serve salad warm with a nice helping of tortilla chips.