Homeschool Spanish Lessons - Online Learning

Hola anybody reading this, we’re back from vacation down at my parents in Rancho Mirage :)

One of my new personal missions is to begin compiling recipes for Mexican food that my toddler will eat, and that contain extra boosts of nutrition in them. I hope some of you will join me by trying out a few of the recipes that I post, and letting me know how your kids respond to them. Inspired by the Sneaky Chef, I’m going to experiment with a new veggie puree this week. I’m looking for something to add so my kid friendly quesadillas, that I do with cheese and orange puree (carrots and yams) – sometimes with turkey, sometimes with different cheese.

I’ve found that homemade tortilla strips make soup way tastier – they add more of a fresh corn tortilla taste than you can get by using chips from the store.  The recipe is simple!

INGREDIENTS:

6 to 8 yellow corn tortillas – I use Mission extra thin small tortillas

olive oil

salt

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Get out a cutting board, some scissors or an Ulu knife and a couple of plates out (I use paper ones for this operation :), and put some olive oil in 1 of the plates.

Use a spatula or basting brush to brush a little olive oil onto each side of the tortillas, 1 by 1.

Put the finished ones on the other plate, and salt them lightly on each side.

Cut the oiled tortillas into 1/4 inch stips. For this I use my Ulu knife – staple in every Alaskan kitchen. You can also use kitchen scissors though.

Then put the strips into a cookie sheet and pop into the oven. I find that the cooking time can vary a little depending on the pan, but somewhere around 8 to 10 minutes leaves you with a nice crunchy tortilla strip that goes great in your Taco Soup or even as a side dish with guacamole dip. Make sure the strips are completely done – they should NOT be chewy – but crunchy – so if you try one and it is chewy, make sure to bake them a couple of minutes more.

There’s no need to flip them either as I read in a cookbook – they get cooked just fine on 1 side.

Pumpkin puree is delicious on its own, but you can also create a lot of great meals around this incredible ingredient. Not only is pumpkin a beautiful vibrant color, but it's packed full of beta carotene and other powerful nutrients that help prevent heart disease, cancer and other serious health conditions. There are many uses for this nutritious vegetable beyond pumpkin pie.

This seems to be one of the few things that always tastes great when I make it! I’m very picky about my avocadoes, making sure they are just right, not mushy, but not too firm.

Tried out a new recipe from Recipezaar.com tonight – I was pretty psyched as it sounded really good based on potato tacos I’ve had before. Came out decidedly bland though, too bad!

This is an easy way to make your quesadillas a bit healthier, and the slightly sweet taste is great for getting kids to eat them! I got the Orange Puree recipe from the Sneaky Chef cookbook, and altered her quesadilla recipe a bit as I didn’t really want to add the white bean puree.

Here is my first submission to Recipizaar.com !

Inspired by the Sneaky Chef cookbook, I've found a way to add a bit more nutrition into my Spanish rice. My nearly 2 year old loves it - and asks for more! I usually make the rice itself in advance and then make the stovetop rice with cheese and "orange puree" whenever I want to serve it.