I remember it like it was yesterday.  I had just crossed the border into Tijuana, Mexico with my Dad (which was a rare occasion, since I hardly ever spent time with him).  He was determined to take me on an adventure and show me all the customs of TJ. From the stories that my Dad shared, TJ was a place with no rules, a grown-up fun house where you could take your shoes off and run through the streets and no one would say anything or look twice.  He also had a big love for the food and was hard set on taking me to his favorite torta shop.  My Dad has always loved a good torta de milanesa and this is one thing I know for sure about him, so I wasn’t surprised when this was the first thing he had on our agenda.

Enchiladas Rojas de Queso make me really happy because I know I’m about to bite into the most heavenly dish. I think it’s fair to say enchiladas are my most favorite thing to eat of all time. They hold such a heavy anchor to my childhood, and my grandfather making them for our family. He would make his own enchilada sauce, and my little eyes would watch worried they might be too hot. They never were…. they were perfect.

As I got older I realized enchiladas were a source of comfort for me, wanting them for birthdays or anytime I needed a little extra pop of pizazz in my life. I learned many ways of making them over the years from canned enchilada sauce to various types of fillings and cheeses. Gotta be honest, it’s only been on a very rare occasion I’ve met one I didn’t like, but nothing quite hits like the ones my grandfather used to make.

I have taken his enchiladas rojas de queso recipe and made it more times than I can count, and have the homemade enchilada sauce down. At this point I believe mine taste just like his and am grateful that I still have that little piece of him here on earth… even if only through an enchilada.

Ingredients for Enchiladas Rojas de Queso:

• 1 white onion
• 2.5 oz New Mexico Chile
• 6 garlic cloves
• 2.5 oz California Chile
• 2 Pasilla-Ancho Chiles
• Salt (to taste)
• corn tortilla 
• vegetable oil
• queso fresco 
• 1/4 of red onion, sliced in rings
• cilantro
• crema

Directions:

Enchilada sauce:

1. Let’s make enchilada sauce! Boil onion, New Mexico chile, garlic, California chile, pasilla-ancho chiles, and salt until chiles soften about 35 minutes. 
2. Remove chiles from water and discard stem and (optional seeds). 
3. Place all chile skins, onion, garlic, and 3 cups of boiled chile water to blender. Blend until smooth. 
4. Pour chile sauce mixture through a sieve and into a bowl. Press chile flesh against sieve to squeeze out all the liquid. Discard any seeds and skin collected in sieve. Place to the side until ready to use. 

Enchilada time:

1. Fill a frying pans with 1 cup vegetable oil over a med-high flame.  Allow to get hot.
2. In a seperate frying pan, fill with 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil over a medium flame and allow it to heat. Pour in 3 to 4 cups of your enchilada sauce. Let the oil and chile combine then lower your flame very low to simmer the chile.
3. Dip your corn tortilla into the frying pan filled with oil, and let it fry on each side for 30 seconds. What you’re looking for is a tortilla that is slightly hard but still bends.
4. Dip the fried tortilla into the enchilada sauce with tongs.
5. Remove the dipped tortilla from pan and place on a clean surface.
6. Fill the center of the tortilla with 2 tablespoons of cheese.
7. Gently roll into a tube shape.
8. Place in a 9×13 baking dish. Then start the frying process all over again until you fill your baking dish with as many enchiladas as you can.
9. Once the baking dish is filled take remaining enchilada sauce from hot pan and spoon over top. 
10. Drizzle crema over the enchiladas, then sprinkle a couple tablespoons of queso fresco and chopped cilantro over the top. Lastly adorn with red onion slices.
11. Enjoy!

Looking for a delicious bowl of lentils? Click here.

Dear Valentine,

I am so grateful for your existence, and feel super lucky to call you my partner.  I wanted to surprise you with a special breakfast, and I know that pizza is your favorite.  Since you are my warm and fuzzy I desired to do something sweet for you.  I ordered everything I needed from Northgate Market so I could give you my Cupid’s Arrow Breakfast Pizza. I made it with Mozzarella cheese, papas, roasted red peppers, and jalapeños. Each time you tear into this heart-shaped pizza pie remember how much I adore you.  Thank you for putting a smile on my face, and for being so supportive always.

xoxo – Presley’s Pantry

Ingredients for Cupid’s Arrow Breakfast Pizza:

• a batch of pizza dough – Click here for recipe
• 2 tablespoons Olive oil
• 2 tablespoons cornmeal
• 4 cups Mozzarella Cheese
• 1/4 cup sliced pickled jalapeños
• 1/4 cup roasted red bell pepper
• 2  potatoes, cooked and cut into heart shapes and arrow
• 4 eggs

Directions:

Bring dough to room temp

Rub a baking sheet lightly with olive oil an hour and half before you’re ready to bake.  

Pull plastic wrapped dough out of the refrigerator to come to room temperature.

45 minutes before ready to put your pizza in the oven, place a pizza stone on rack 1/4 of the way up from bottom of oven.  Preheat oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.

Prepare the ingredients

Fry your potato hearts and arrow pieces. Set to the side.

Take one of your dough balls and place on a lightly floured surfaced and shape into a disk.  Then continue to pull out into the desired size of your pizza by draping it over the back of your hands, and continue to rotate dough with the back of your hands in a clockwise motion with the aid of your thumbs.

Sprinkle your lightly olive oiled baking sheet with a pinch of cornmeal then lay pizza dough directly on top to form shape.  Continue to go around the edges forming a slightly raised rim with the tips of your fingers by pinching and gathering the dough. Then shape into a heart.

Drizzle a 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil on the inside of the heart and then spread it around the inside with you fingers avoiding the rim.

Top with 1 cup mozzarella cheese,  a few jalapenos, red roasted bell pepper, and a few potato hearts. Break a raw egg in the middle and place pizza in oven for 11 minutes or until crust is golden!

Bake

Bake each pizza one at a time. Place your heart shaped  pizza on a plate and decorate with potato arrows, and serve with coffee,  fresh fruit, a little salad.

Almond Coconut Nanaimo Bars…. these unique bites make the perfect valentine sweet for that special someone in your life. I think they will work great for your treasured galentines too! If you never had a Nanaimo Bar before …. they start off sweet but as you continue chewing they become creamy and full of texture. I would describe them as a cross between a truffle and a cookie…. gifting you the best of both worlds. The three layers are also a nice touch and oh so inviting.

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Inmar Intelligence and it’s advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #MyMazolaMoment

February is Heart Health Month! Hello February…it’s time to think about our tickers and make some good for the heart adjustments. I’ll kick it off by sharing my Vegan Frijoles De Olla recipe. I use Mazola® Corn Oil in my better for you bean recipe to add a fuller taste to my beans. A clinical study showed Mazola® Corn Oil reduces cholesterol 2x more than extra virgin olive oil. To learn more about this claim, visit MAZOLA.com.

A challenge many face when trying to diversify the types of cuisine they cook is finding varied ingredients needed for new types of cuisines, or better-for-you ingredients. Another common barrier that keeps people from healthier cooking is a lack of knowledge. Numerous people, including family members have asked me what they could eat that is lighter option. One of the first tips I give, is letting them know having an all-purpose cooking oil on hand like cholesterol free, Heart Healthy* Mazola® Corn Oil​ makes it simple and easy to prepare lighter meals.

Before becoming a vegetarian, I used to use lard in my beans by adding a few slices of bacon to the frijoles while they boiled. Once I decided to go meatless I found I didn’t have to sacrifice flavor. Simply replacing lard/bacon with Mazola® Corn Oil​ in my Vegan Frijoles De La Olla not only made for a lighter recipe, due to the saturated fat content, it still made a full flavor pot of beans that in my opinion taste even better. The chile de arbol, onion, garlic, and bay leaf work together with the Mazola® Corn Oil​ creating a tasty bean broth that will have you sipping till the last drop.

Ingredients for Vegan Frijoles De La Olla:

• 1 pound dried pinto beans
• 11 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 white onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 3 chiles de arbol
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 tablespoons Mazola® Corn Oil
• 2 teaspoons salt

Directions:

1. Clean dried beans, by removing any little rocks or cracked beans. Then rinse beans under water rubbing them with your hands to remove any unwanted particles.
2. Place beans in a large pot with 8 cups of water, onion, garlic, chile de arbol, bay leaves, and Mazola® Corn Oil​ over a medium high flame.
3. Once water is boiling, cover pot with lid and lower flame to a simmer. At the two hour mark add in 3 1/2 more cups of water and continue cooking for an hour.
4. Add in salt. Mix to combine.
5. Serve with corn tortillas, cilantro, and (optional) queso fresco.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Very limited and preliminary scientific evidence suggests that eating about 1 tablespoon (16 grams) of Mazola® Corn Oil daily may reduce the risk of heart disease due to the unsaturated fat content in Mazola® Corn Oil. FDA concludes that there is little scientific evidence supporting this claim. To achieve this possible benefit, Mazola® Corn Oil is to replace a similar amount of saturated fat and not increase the total number of calories you eat in a day. One serving of this product contains 14 grams of Mazola® Corn Oil. 

Mazola® Corn Oil​ is cholesterol-free food that contain 14g of total fat per serving. See nutrition information on product label or at Mazola.com for fat and saturated fat content.

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It’s time for game-day !!!! Are you ready? Who are you rooting for? I’m team #SuperCrispy Football Cone Soy Chorizo Totchos! Decided to serve my Grown In Idaho tots in a cone this year to make it easy to keep the food separated. If you are watching with your own household (I hope you are), then allow them to spill all over a table and scoop into a cone… either way you will score big this these delicious Totchos. They make the perfect hearty snack to munch on while watching the game, all the commercials, and the HALFTIME show too. Enjoy!

Once upon a time when I used to eat meat… I loved picadillo. So much so I made a video singing about it (I recorded this in my bathroom). It was one of the things I missed when I decided to go meatless (never a second of regret). With the evolution of plant based ground meats I am now able to enjoy a hearty bowl of vegan picadillo with all the traditional flavors in tact. I hope you’ll try my recipe… it’s song worthy and ready to be your next meal!