Healthy Cinco de Mayo recipe roundup
Good morning! <3 Hope you’re having a lovely day so far.
One week from today is a beloved holiday: Cinco de Drinko Mayo.
Despite our Hispanic background, my family has never been big into Cinco de Mayo celebrations. (16 de Septiembre is higher on the significance totem pole.) It wasn’t until late in college that I really understood the hubbub surrounding May 5th celebrations.
(We do like to wear sombreros for random gatherings.)
If you’re planning a little fiesta of your own for the upcoming weekend, I thought I’d share some of my favorite Mexican food links and recipes:
Party menu:
Appetizers:
Chips and salsa
Cheese stuffed and bacon-wrapped jalapeños
Sides:
The best (and easiest) beans recipe
Entrees:
Enchiladas with homemade sauce
Dessert:
Tres Leches cake (ok, so this one isn’t “healthy” per se, but necessary. Just do it.)
To drink:
Tequila sangria
Recipes that aren’t linked above:
Cheese stuffed bacon wrapped jalapenos
-Seed the jalapeños, doing your best to keep them intact. (I usually use a paring knife and scoop it out of the middle, while the Pilot watches me and envisions taking me to the hospital after losing a finger. Be careful, mm k?)
-Stuff with slices of goat gouda.
-Wrap each jalapeño with bacon of choice (I like turkey bacon) and poke a skewer though to hold it place. (Tip: soak the skewers in water for a little while so they don’t catch fire.)
-Broil or grill until crisp and glorious.
Easiest bean recipe ever:
-Take a bag of pinto beans, wash them, and soak them in water overnight.
-The next morning, rinse them and add to a pot or slow cooker with enough water to cover the beans, 2 whole heads of garlic (don’t chop or cut them, just throw them in!), some oregano and a decent amount of sea salt.
-Set the slow cooker on low, or you can bring to simmer on the stove, for a few hours. THE KEY: make sure there is enough water to cover the beans at all time (like an inch above the beans) so they don’t burn. You’ll have to check them often, but it’s worth it. When they’re soft and lovely, remove the garlic heads and add more salt, oregano and a little bit of cumin if needed.
Tequila sangria:
-Chop up a mix of your favorite sangria fruit. I like to do apples, orange, lemon and limes. (Pineapple is fantastic, too).
-Set the fruit in your sangria pitchers, and then sprinkle with sugar to lightly coat. Top with tequila (enough to cover the fruit) and set in the fridge, covered, overnight.
-The next morning, add your cheap red wine (the secret is CHEAP. Expensive stuff doesn’t work as well, I promise!), and some fresh citrus juice (orange, lime, lemon or a mix all work well!). Cover and allow to cool in the fridge until serving.
Watch out for that tequila-soaked fruit! It doesn’t mess around 😉
Are you having a fiesta this upcoming weekend? (It’s ok to think about the weekend, even though it’s Monday haha.)
What’s your favorite healthy Mexican dish?
A little tip: the Edie Gorme station on Pandora is perfection.
Hope you have a great day! See ya this afternoon with a giveaway.
xoxo
Gina
27 Comments
Leave a Comment
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Oh yay! I’m making enchiladas for the first time this week and I needed a sauce recipe so this is perfect! I have absolutely no Hispanic heritage but that totally is not going to stop me from celebrating because I have a huge love for Mexican food and salsa (both the food and the dance)!
I’m not a huge lover of Mexican food. I did make a ton of healthy Mexican this weekend like black lentils with mahi mahi with baked spicy plantains and homemade salsa. All coming to a blog near you this week!
I could (and would) happily eat my weight in guacamole. I could also do that with tres leches cake which is my favorite cake of all time. Ever since trying it on Puerto Rico about 6 years ago, it’s the only cake I really love! Not healthy, but after eating it, I’m never sorry. 😉
For sure we have a fiesta! I LOVE Mexican food so I will be all about the chips and gauc!
The Mariachi station is another good one on Pandora for a fiesta.
Thanks for the Sangria recipe. I am definitely going to try it. I LOVE Sangria-especially eating the fruit pieces! it is kinda of a problem.
Thanks for sharing all of your recipes! I love making healthy enchiladas, complete with homemade sauce (which is easier than you’d think). We use Emeril’s recipe.
I’m so excited for Cinco de Mayo! Omaha has a parade and lots of festivities in Southern Omaha, where there’s a large Spanish population. I’m excited to eat delicious Mexican food and drink yummy margaritas!
I’ll be in Mexico for Cinco De Mayo this year, so I’ll obviously be eating a ton of guacamole and ceviche (even though they don’t actually celebrate the holiday in Mexico). Can’t wait!
We do celebrate it! But only here in Puebla. We have a month-long fair and then a parade on the day-of.
Yes, lets think about the weekend and Cinco de Mayo!! I love chips and salsa or guacamole. Yummmm. I also love making enchiladas. Thanks for all of the recipes, I can’t wait for a little fiesta this weekend.
Oh I do love Cinco de Mayo! Or maybe it’s actually margaritas that I love 😉 I’m definitely going to try that tequila sangria though!
My best friend’s birthday is May 5th and I always thought that was an awesome day for a birthday!
I love Mexican, can’t wait to celebrate with some healthy recipes!!
I love fish tacos and ceviche! I recently made ceviche and now I’m craving for some more!
There is a small Mexican place near my house. Best mole sauce I have ever had!
We aren’t doing a Cinco de Mayo party this weekend, but we just might be going to a Cinco de Mustache-eo party next weekend. A whole lot of dirty mustaches (and drinks)!
that is the best idea ever
My last final exam is on Monday night and I’d like to say that afterwards I’ll be enjoying some Tequila Sangria but I might just be so wiped that I’ll celebrate on Tuesday 🙂 The office I work in is celebrating with burritos though so as long as they have a veggie one, maybe I’ll take part 🙂 The tres leche cake sounds heavenly though!
Mexican food is something that I don’t have much experience in cooking — perhaps I’ll have to change that! 🙂
I spent YEARS living in Albuquerque, NM (and my husband’s family is Hispanic as well), but we never really celebrated Cinco de Mayo either. Now that we don’t live in NM and have a fellow NM friend who lives nearby, we decided to have a fun little weekend celebration, centered around the grill and margaritas. 😉
good post, thanks for all the tips! question Gina- do you use organic/non-gmo corn tortillas for your enchiladas? i can’t really find them, got them once at WF.
i’ve used trader joe’s before, but i really like the alejandro brand (in tucson). i’m pretty sure the trader joe’s ones are non-gmo, but definitely not the alejandro
hmm yeah i don’t think the trader joe’s ones are non-gmo, at least where i am (L.A.). i’m kind of freaked about eating gmo corn or anything gmo for that matter…anyway, i still plan to try making your enchiladas!
yeah gmo corn is some scary ish. check out whole foods! the food for life brand doesn’t use gmos and they have corn tortillas
These all sound fabulous!! 🙂
Thanks for linking up my margaritas, Gina! I appreciate it! 🙂
Your tequila sangria looks awesome! Wow, I could go to TOWN on a couple of those 🙂 I’m sure there will be tons of festivities this weekend in San Diego and the weather is supposed to be great so hope you guys have something fun planned!
Oh man. I’d really like to make those jalapeño poppers! And that cilantro rice sounds perfect for week-of-prepacked-lunches!
This isn’t exactly a “dish,” but I love jícama with chile powder and/or chamoy.