Huevos Con Longaniza (Eggs with "Longaniza"?)

This is a very simple Mexican egg scramble with "longaniza", onion, garlic, and chili pepper seasoned with salt and pepper to taste.

Mexican pork longaniza is simply called "Longaniza de Puerco" is a type of sausage that is fresh, and can be removed from casing and crumbled I am not sure what it is seasoned with but I believe it has dried "Chile California" maybe cumin, allspice, pepper, etc. not so sure. My aunt who is from Mexico knows how to make this type of sausage from scratch. I'll have to ask to her and make some., she makes the filling and just uses it as needed in certain dishes.

The Mexican "Longaniza" is not the same as the "Mexican Chorizo", the Longaniza is more heavely seasoned, the chorizo is a more pale color and is very very fresh (if you get it at the right places and are observant of what you get) it is also more greasy.

Mexican Chorizo get's a bad reputation for being "overly" greasy, I must say it really depends what brand you buy, and where you buy it, the one I buy is from "Vallarta" (a chain of of stores that sells mostly Latin, Central, and South American products, it cater's mostly to Mexicans) at that store I can find the chorizo fresh, it's not branded I don't know if they make it on site but they have these huge ropes they cut off of when you ask for Chorizo at the deli & creamerie within the store.

A lot of the pre-packaged brands are kinda gross to me, they are toooo greasy, runny, fall apart easily etc. and overly salted, if you are using a pre-packaged one that is like that, be sure that when you fry it in the oil to drain some of the fat.

Ingredients:
-6 eggs
-1 Mexican Pork Longaniza
-1/2 onion minced
-2 cloves garlic minced (optional)
-1 green chili pepper, serrano or jalapeño pepper is what we use (optional)
-salt to taste
-black pepper to taste
-oil for cooking

Directions:
(1)Beat eggs with some salt and pepper (if you wish you can add a small splash of whole milk),

(2)Heat a little bit of oil on medium high heat, remove casing from chorizo and sautee until lightly browned and it renders a bit of fat. (the one I used was pretty lean), now add onion, chili pepper, until onions are a bit translucent (maybe 5 minutes?), when they are add garlic, stir until fragrant (1 minute or so) then add beaten eggs and slide with a spatula, kind of like making a tortilla when it curdles and get's firmer flip in sections until cooked and your done.

(3)Serve with whatever sides you want (like I said typically refried beans, cream or fresh cheese, some type of salsa, and corn tortillas) or you can use it as a filling for corn tortillas to make "Tacos" also you can make a "breakfast burrito" by using it as a filling for a Burrito (made with a big flour tortilla)

PLEASE NOTE:
-This can be made using Mexican chorizo in place of "longaniza" you can prepare refried beans with Mexican chorizo or longaniza, just use lard in place of oil, skip the garlic, chili pepper, and black pepper and fry the chorizo or longaniza and add onion then mash in the beans.

-Here is the basic refried bean recipe:

http://nathanscomida.blogspot.com/2008/12/frijoles-pintos-fritos-refried-pinto.html

Cocido de Res Mexicano (Mexican Beef & Vegetable Stew)

This is another of my mother's highly nutritious comforting soups. It has beef bones and other cuts of beef, along with combination of various vegetables. It is strengthening and healthy. Perfect for the cold weather many may be experiencing and need a picker upper.

In my house we often make meat and vegetable type soups especially in the colder months. Year round we also enjoy different bean/ legume based which we also believe to be very good for you and makes you strong :) (haha now if only I lifted weights and such to get buff)

Ingredients:
-1 lbs. beef bone
-1 1/2 lbs. beef shanks (cut in half)
-1 lbs. beef spare ribs (seperate each little rib)
-1 lbs. beef stew meat (large 2 inch chunks)
-2 large beefy tomatoes chopped
-1 medium onion minced
-2 cloves garlic minced
-water (enough water to make into a stew, like enough to cover veggies)
-3 peeled medium potatoes cut in half into big pieces if small leave whole
-1 chayote cored and wedged about 1inch thick
-3 carrots cut into rounds about 2 inches long?
-1 corn cob cut into 2-3 inch rounds
-1/2 lbs. of green beans, washed trimmed
-2 Mexican squash (may sub for Italian Squash) cut in half then into 2-3 inch thick pieces
-1/2 of a large cabbage or 1/2 a medium or small cabbage cut into 1 1/2 inch medium squares
-1/2 a large bunch of spinach, washed well, coursely chopped
-1 cup cilantro coursley chopped
-salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
(1)To clean meat wash beef bones and beef meat very well in water several times, squeeze lime juice into it and plenty of salt and rub it and rinse and rub and drain a couple more times. Set aside.

(2)Heat oil in a deep-pot that your gonna use to make the soup, add finely minced onion and sautee until golden around 5 minutes, then add garlic sautee another 2 minutes until fragrant, add chopped tomato until it releases juices.

(3)Now add water, bring to boil with beef bones, beef spare ribs, beef shank, and beef stew meat bring to a boil with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer on medium low covered for about 1 hour and 30 minutes. When meat is boiling skim off any darkness that rises to the top (it shouldn't even rise if you cleaned the meat like I suggested in the directions)

(4)Add potatoes, carrot, corn, chayote, green beans, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes.

(5)Now add cabbage and squash, cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

(6)Now stir in spinach and cilantro, add more water if necessary. Stir in until it starts wiling about 5-10 minutes.

(7)Your done :) the typical way to consume is with "Arroz Rojo" (Mexican Red Rice) and hot corn tortillas along with a hot sauce to add to taste in you plate and maybe a couple lime wedges. I just ate it simply alone with hot sauce and had the my mother's version of "Arroz Con Leche" (Rice Pudding) for dessert to warm me up further.

PLEASE NOTE:
(1)These types of vegetable and meat soups and be done with Chicken, Beef, or Pork. My mom makes a really similar almost identical meatball soup called "Caldo de Albondigas" which uses the same vegetables just cut smaller and it's quicker, in it you steam little rice and mint meatballs until cooked.
(2)Another different stew you may be interested in is my post for "Cocido Salvadoreño" ( which is Salvadorian Beef and Vegetable Stew) seasoned differently and in addition to the veggies I used it uses Cassava Root (Yuca) and Yellow Plantains.

(3)You don't have to use the all the cuts of meat my mom likes to use if you want you can use just beef bone and substitute the rest of the meat for beef stew meat. You can even add some delicious ox-tail in addition to the other meats, etc.

(4)You can cut the veggies as small or as big as you want it depends on your preference.

(5)Don't drown it with tooo much water, it's suppose to have liquid but just enough to keep the veggies & meat in the stock not to drown them in. Although if you like it really soupy I guess it's okay.

Frijoles Pintos Fritos (Refried Pinto Beans)

This is a very simple simple Mexican dish. It is not refried despite the name, I don't know why in English they call it "refried beans" but whatever it's only fried once and it's not even fried it's just boiled beans that have been mashed to a paste with not a lot of oil.

The recipe I am showing to you is the most BASIC, AUTHENTIC, MEXICAN way of preparing them, there is more elaborated delicious way's to make it but this is the typical way it is seasoned for accompanying almost any Mexican dish in place of "Frijoles de la Olla" (lightly seasoned boiled pintos)

Ingredients:
-1 basic "Frijoles de la Olla Recipe" (leftover or cooked the same day don't do anything fancy to it don't need to click on recipe I'm a show it here again along with the rest)
-1/2 onion minced
-4 tablespoons lard or bacon grease or "brown lard" (the leftover lard from frying meats and pork rinds)
-salt to taste

Directions:
(1)After making "Frijoles de la Olla" (honestly it is so simple I thought twice about posting it, just put like 3 - 3 1/2 cups pinto beans rinsed in a pot, plenty of water, 1/2 onion, 2-3 cloves garlic and bring to boil and cover on medium low when cooked salt it) cook til tender.

(2)Heat lard in frying pan, add minced onion and fry until well browned (about 10 minutes more or less) I left for awhile so they burned a little but not really still good.

(3)Scoop out beans with a spoon that drains them and add to the pan let stir a bit and start mashing with a potato masher carefully, it may seem to dry so add a little bit of the bean broth to make into desired constistency, keep mashing and bring to boil until it get's a thick but not to thick consistency.
(4) Serve with any Mexican dish as a side with corn tortillas and a hot sauce, it can even be eaten alone with just corn tortillas and hot sauce it is very filling because of all the fiber from the pinto beans.

PLEASE NOTE:
(1)This dish is eaten in 3 different consistencies usually, like firstly we will fry them until really smooth and super thick calling them "Frijoles Chinitos" when it is this thick and cooked it is used to spread on bread along with other ingredients to make Tortas (type of sandwich made with Bolillos a type of french roll) the second way is like a loose gravy consistency this is used to lightly spread and moisten a tostada topped with other stuff like in my recipe for "Tostadas de Pollo". The third way is the way I prepared it which is for eating with anything as a side.

(2)Again this recipe is very basic you can make more elaborate versions for example fry it with bacon grease from rendered bacon along with with the bacon crumbled, you can fry it with Mexican chorizo and make "Frijoles Con Chorizo o Longaniza", you can scramble eggs fry in the pan and add the beans to mash in for "Frijoles Revueltos Con Huevo" (very popular to give to baby's), you can sautee the onions and add a dried "Chile Negro" or "Guajillo" add beans and reconstitute and infuse the chili flavor by adding some of the broth letting it boil and mashing beans in. There is a lot of way's but again the one I showed is very basic and true. I almost forgot but some also re-fry it then let cheese melt over the top to make a cheesy topping, or also when serving add a dallop of cream or crumbled fresh Mexican cheese over the top also using a dry stinky cheese that smells like feet is popular to called "Queso Cotija" a type of "Queso Añejo"

(3)WIth the leftover broth you can also make "Enfrijoladas" or drink it (I know sounds gross but it's tasty and high in iron might make you fart though haha)