Mexican night

Tonight I hosted craft night with a Mexican food theme: flan, chicken flautas and chili con queso blanco sauce, reheated black bean and corn empanadas, fresh homemade salsa, and chili brownies.This is the same flan I made awhile back.

Chicken Flautas
25 small flour tortillas
2-4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, chopped
olive oil
2-3 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
2 lbs chicken, cooked and chopped (I food processored it)
2-3 tbsp fresh chopped coriander
Mexican/mixed/cheddar cheese

Heat the tortillas one at a time in a large, heavy frying pan over high heat, for 30 seconds on each side. Cook the garlic and onion in the olive oil over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, until the onion is soft. Stir in the cumin and chili powder and cook for another minute or so. Add in the chicken and cook until heated through. Mix in the coriander and remove from heat. Place a large spoonful of filling and a pinch of cheese on each tortilla, then roll up. Line up in a 9" x 13" greased baking dish. Bake at 400 for 30-40 minutes or until crispy. Serve with chili con queso blanco sauce for dipping.

Chili con Queso Blanco Sauce
1 can Ro-tel
1/2 loaf queso blanco Velveeta

Combine ingredients in a saucepan and stir over medium-low heat until melted.

Salsa
4-5 ripe tomatoes
2-3 cloves garlic
4-6 jalapeno peppers
1/2 bunch cilantro
1 onion, chopped
salt
1/4 c sugar
1/4 c lime juice

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and process until slightly chunky. Let sit overnight.

Chili brownies - just a hint of the chilis combines really well with the chocolate. Sweet but not overly sweet.

Teacher Appreciation Week - Monday

This past week was Teacher Appreciation week at Jax's daycare. We showed our appreciation by taking in food each day.

Monday - flan, also for Cinco de Mayo. We got the recipe from ReceipeZaar, but tweaked it a little bit.

Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar, caramelized
5 eggs, well beaten
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Several dashes cinnamon

Directions

1. Coat tube pan with caramelized sugar. (Made in the microwave - combine sugar with 1/8 cup water, then microwave for about 4 minutes, checking to make sure it doesn't burn. As soon as it's golden, take it out.)
2. Allow to harden, then place pan in container with ice cold water until the caramelized sugar cracks.
3. Mix other ingredient in order, stir well and pour in mold.
4. Place mold in pan with enough hot water to come up to the top of the flan in preheated oven.
5. Bake at 350°F for 1 hour or until firm.
6. Let cool, then invert& unmold.