Happy Cinco de Mayo! What are your plans for the day? Do you plan on having a Cinco de Mayo themed party? What about cooking your favorite Mexican recipe?
My family started to celebrate Cinco de Mayo yesterday for dinner. I’m making Burritos for dinner tonight.
My family LOVES fajitas. Fajitas are actually a Tex-Mex meal that can be traced back to the 1930’s.
The only difference between the fajitas I make for my family is that I don’t serve them on a sizzling hot platter like they do in restaurants. Those actually scare me! I don’t order fajitas on restaurants because I can’t imagine trying to eat over super hot dish. I’m a klutz. Knowing me I’d burning myself.
I opted to make both beef and chicken for our fajitas. That is because me and my daughter wanted chicken and my husband and son wanted beef. I compromised and made both so everyone had an option. Actually combining a few chicken and beef strips together tastes pretty good.
Here is the recipe that I used. Normally I just “eye ball” the amounts but for the sake of the recipe I included actual amounts.
Ingredients:
- 1 pound of chicken or beef cut up into strips (you can buy pre-cut meats to make it easier).
- 1 large onion cut up into strips (we like a lot of onions so I sometimes cut up two)
- 2-3 bell peppers cut up into strips (I like to use 2-3 different colors but the farm only had decent looking green peppers this time around)
- 2 tbs. of Olive Oil (or your favorite oil)
- 2 tsp. of lime juice (ideally from a fresh lime)
- 1 garlic clove minced or 1 tsp. of McCormick Garlic Salt if you prefer
- 2 tsp. of McCormick chili powder
- 1 tsp. of McCormick Whole Mexican Oregano
- 1 tsp. of McCormick Cumin
- 1/4th of a cup of chopped Cilantro (if you can’t find fresh Cilantro you can use 2 tsp. of McCormick Cilantro)
- A pinch of black pepper (optional – we happen to like a lot of pepper)
- 8-10 Four tortillas (depending on how much of the meat/veggie mix you use)
Directions:
- In a bowl combine the olive oil, lime juice, garlic (or garlic salt), chili powder, oregano, cumin and black pepper (optional).
- Pour the mixture into a large freezer bag.
- Toss in the meat (chicken and/or beef), seal the bag shut and shake it around until the meat is covered in the seasoning mixture.
- Let the meat marinade for at least and hour (several hours or overnight if possible).
- Remove the marinated meat from the bag and place it in a skillet and cook until done.
- At the same time, in another skillet, cook the pepper and onions (you can add 1 tsp of oil in the pan to keep the vegetables from sticking). Cook until the onions are translucent and the peppers are soft (but not mushy).
- Remove the meat and vegetables from the pans and place on a large platter. Top with chopped Cilantro (fresh or as a seasoning – I prefer fresh) and toss until everything is mixed together.
- Serve with warmed flour tortillas.
Mexican rice is a great side dish to this meal. I was going to make it last night but I opted to make some tonight with our burritos.
McCormick was kind enough to send me the seasonings so I can put together a Cinco de Mayo meal. Or in our case two meals because I plan on making something else for dinner tonight.
I received from McCormick
- Cilantro Leaves
- Whole Mexican Oregano
- Chili Powers
- Garlic Salt
- Ground Cumin
- Black Pepper
I also received two packages of pre-mixed seasonings. One is for Enchiladas and the other is for Tinga de Pollo.
I honestly don’t know the difference between Enchiladas and Burritos. To me they are almost the same thing. I am contemplating using the Enchilada seasoning for tonight’s dinner.
I have never heard of Tinga de Pollo before. I Googled it. It looks like chicken in a chipotle tomato sauce. It’s served in tostada shells with lettuce and sour cream. It sounds really good. I am going to have to try and make this for my family another time.
I use McCormick spices and seasonings all the time, not must for Cinco de Mayo. If you look in my pantry right now you’ll also find from McCormick ground cinnamon, garlic powder, minced garlic, paprika and onion powder. I also have a few bottles of McCormick seasoning blends – especially garlic pepper. I use garlic pepper pretty much every day from scrambled eggs to stew and just about anything else I make. I even use it in my macaroni salad.
I like the seasoning packets because they are “no brainers”. You don’t have to worry about measuring things our or purchasing seasonings you don’t have another need for. Plus they give you recipes right on the package. They are great for those nights you don’t know what to cook or if you are looking to “spice up” your meals by trying something different.
For more information about McCormick products visit www.McCormick.com. They have A LOT of great recipes on their site (their Easy Layered Salad looks so good!). You can also find them on the various social networking sites (scroll to the bottom of the website for links to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest).
In addition to some great additions to my spice collection (plus a new recipe to try – Tinga de Pollo), I also received some cool products from IMUSA.
If you are unfamiliar with the company, IMUSA is the #1 Hispanic and international cookware company. Their authentic, innovative and affordable products help recipes to life. In addition to Hispanic products they also carry Asian products and many other kitchen gadgets, pots and pans.
IMUSA sent me to review a fabulous tortilla warmer, a tortilla press and a lime squeezer (or citrus squeezer).
I LOVE the tortilla warmer. It keeps the tortillas moist and warm.
I have never used one before. Thankfully IMUSA has plenty of videos on their YouTube channel to show consumers how to properly use their products.
Here is a brief video on how to use the IMUSA tortilla warmer.
I told you it was simple. You can find other “how to” videos for IMUSA products, as well as yummy recipes on their YouTube channel – http://www.youtube.com/user/imusausa.
The IMUSA aluminum tortilla press is a best seller in the United States. I have never used one before. The press helps to flatten your tortilla dough so that you can have tortillas that are round and the perfect thickness.
I looked up videos on how to use the press and it couldn’t be any easier – literally! Just add the down, press and you are done. All you need to do it cook the tortilla.
I haven’t had a chance to try the press out this weekend but I am going to look up recipes for the dough the the right way to cook tortillas and start making some for my family. We use tortillas for much more than just recipes. Me and both of my kids love to spread peanut butter on tortillas and top it with sliced apples (Granny Smith works best) or bananas, then fold them up and enjoy. My kids also like to use them to make sandwiches (PB&J or with cold cuts). You can also brush them with melted butter, coat them with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar and bake them in the over to make your own cinnamon chips (the make a great snack!).
You can even make “on-the-go” breakfasts with tortillas. Simple place some scrambled eggs and vegetables (or some shredded hashbrowns) on a tortilla, fold and go. I like to topped scrambled eggs with salsa when I enjoy it on a tortilla.
The citrus squeezer was fun to use. My kids enjoyed that. It’s a handheld press where you place a piece of the fruit you want to extract the juice from in the “basket” portion of the press, then flip the handle around and squeeze. I was impressed by how much juice is squeezed out – much more then I could do by hand.
I tried the squeezer with both limes and lemons and it worked well with both fruits. I love using freshly squeezed lemon in my tea and in a few of my favorite recipes.
These are fun kitchen gadgets to have. I know I’ll put them to great use. I’m especially excited to start making my own tortillas since my family enjoys them so much.
For more information about IMUSA visit www.IMUSAUSA.com. They can also be found on the various social networking sites too (links found at the bottom of their website).
What is you favorite recipe to make with McCormick spices and seasonings?
Have you ever purchased anything from IMUSA? What do you think about the products they sent me to review? Do you need one (or all) of them in your kitchen? Feel free to share your thoughts.
You can check out other bloggers created for Cinco de Mayo by looking up the hashtag #IMUSA5deMayo.
Kimberly
*I received free product samples in order to do these reviews. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way.
shaunie says
amazing!! this is the third recipe of yours that I have seen today and honestly this one is my favorite. Love it and will be trying this one for sure