YOU CAN MEXICAN PIZZA

Sex you can, yes you can!

Buenas noches, senoritas! There is plenty of room at mi casa y mi cama for a little bit of this and a whole lot of that. Considering how simple, fast and cheap these pizzas are to create, we can make them all night long. So feel free to invite some of your sexy amigas along. I’m selfless enough to share myself with all of you. It’s what Jesus would have done. And isn’t that what it’s all about? Screaming “Oh God!” or “Dios mio!” into the night demonstrates family values. So let’s do our part. Together we can make this world a more pleasurable place.

Total time: approximately 15 minutes
Projected cost: $5
Drinking Buddy: Beer or tequila

Ingredients (serves 2):
1. 2 medium-sized flour tortillas
2. ½ can of black beans
3. 1 jalapeño de-seeded chopped
4. 1 tomato chopped coarsely
5. 2 handfuls of shredded jack cheese
6. ½ an sliced thinly
7. 2 sprinkles of Menudo mix

Step 1
Preheat an oven or toaster oven to 375 degrees F. Use a fork to spread out a ¼ can of black beans on each tortilla, using as little of the bean liquid as possible. Scatter the jalapeño and tomato evenly over the beans. Place the cheese evenly above and crown it with a sprinkle of menudo mix.

Step 2
Throw the Mexican pizzas in the oven and bake until the cheese melts and the tortillas brown and harden (approx 12 minutes). Remove from the oven and artfully place the avocado slices over the pizzas and chop into quarters and serve. Ole!

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

Um, folks, we have another winner. This one was so good it has bumped another cupcake out of the running altogether. Bye bye regular old chocolate, hello hot chocolate! In Taylor’s words, this is a much more sophisticated chocolate. In Robin’s words, mmmmm. The texture was fascinating. So moist, and yet fluffy and slightly grainy (in a good way). Something about the combination of ingredients that go into the batter, it comes out of the oven full of flavors you can’t quite identify. Deep, rich flavors. While we didn’t add enough cayenne to make it spicy, the pinch we did add brings a depth to the cake like adding salt might, but much more pronounced. It’s like the cayenne becomes a super salt – that brings out the fine details of all the other ingredients within the cake.

In other words, it’s darn good.

We topped these off with a simple cream cheese buttercream, flavored with almond and a touch of vanilla. I jokingly suggested we add some color to the snow white frosting, and immediately both Taylor and Robin shouted “Purple!”. Right, ok, purple it is. And how purple they are. Topped with some pearlescent jimmies, they make for a very glamorous cupcake.

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes. Recipe adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons corn flour or very fine cornmeal
1/4 cup almond meal
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract

For Frosting:
1/4 cup cream cheese (or vegan cream cheese, like Tofutti)
1/4 cup butter or margarine, room temperature
3-3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk or soymilk

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350?F and line muffin pan with cupcake liners.

Whisk together coconut milk and flaxseed and allow to sit for 10 minutes, then whisk in sugar, oil, vanilla, and almond extract.

In another bowl, sift together flour, corn flour, almond meal, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cayenne. Gently mix in wet ingredients.

Fill cupcake liners with 1/4 cup of batter (approximately 2/3 full). Bake for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.

For frosting, cream together butter and creamcheese. Slowly add most of the confectioners’ sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, until mixture is smooth and fluffy. Add soymilk, extracts, and coloring (if desired), and mix until combined. Add remaining powdered sugar, adding more if necessary to achieve proper consistency. Mix at medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Spread or pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

Mexican Seafood Posole

Something different for dinner. This soup had an amazing flavor, we were left wondering where it came from. Extremely simple ingredients produce an incredibly complex broth, paired with a bag of mixed frozen seafood (shrimp, scallops, and calamari), this is definitely something we’ll make again (and we don’t say that often).

Not only is it delicious, it’s easy too. Easy enough that I can cook it all myself while Taylor coats himself (and the bedroom) in paint. Not only cook it, but manage to clean it up at the same time, usually a feat only Taylor can accomplish (sorry, but I’m not as adept at multi-tasking as he is. When I cook, I COOK. And that’s it.) You have to love recipes that require very little slicing and dicing, but rather, just opening a can and dumping it in the pot. Awesome.

Mexican Seafood Posole

Makes 4 servings. Recipe from Epicurious.

INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups (or more) bottled clam juice
1 (15-ounce) can white hominy, drained, rinsed
1 cup salsa verde (tomatillo salsa), medium or mild
2 tablespoons finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes in oil
1 tablespoon finely grated lime peel
1 pound mixed seafood (shrimp, scallops, calamari rings)
4 tablespoons chopped cilantro, divided

DIRECTIONS
Heat oil in large deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté until tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic; stir about 30 seconds. Add 3 cups clam juice and next 4 ingredients to skillet; simmer 5 minutes. DO AHEAD Can be made 4 hours ahead. Cool slightly. Refrigerate uncovered until cold, then cover and chill. Bring to simmer before continuing.

Add seafood and 3 tablespoons cilantro to simmering broth, adding more clam juice to thin if necessary. Simmer until seafood is just opaque in center, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Divide among bowls; sprinkle with remaining cilantro.