Chipotle Mayonnaise!

Good morning everybody! I hope you all had a great weekend and are all fired up to start this new week at work, at home, at school or wherever you are! :) ... We did have a pretty good weekend here, we hit the pool (it was the hottest weekend EVER here according to the records) so I guess we are enjoying our extended summer! Anyway... so, not only we enjoyed the pool but hubby grilled some hamburgers, and as I was in the kitchen I kept wondering what I could do to make those hamburgers even better... so, I checked my pantry and fridge... and it just hit me... OF COURSE... Chipotle Mayonnaise! it is very simple to make and it adds so much flavor, "fire" and oh! it turns any "simple hamburger" into a "gourmet-like" one!

so here is what you need:

- Mayonnaise (as much as you would use, I used 1/2 cup of mayo)
- Canned Chipotle peppers (in adobo sauce) -to taste- I used 1/2 of one chipotle pepper and some of the adobo sauce.
- Salt and black pepper to taste.

Just put the ingredients in the blender and blend it until smooth... Taste and adjust if necessary (add more chipotle for more flavor/heat or more mayo if it was too hot for you)

You can use this "Chipotle Mayonnaise" as a wonderful dressing not just for hamburgers but also for fish fries, fried shrimp or ... be creative and think what you would like to have it with!

I hope you like it as much as we do!

Paloma.

A guilt free Snack... WITH FIRE!

Hello my friends! I hope you are enjoying this blog so far! Today is a hot day in Wisconsin (it's been pretty hot this week) and it got me thinking of what I would be eating if I was in Mexico right now... and I know that for sure I would be stopping one of those "carritos de fruta ambulantes" (mobile fruit stands) which you can find in any street of Mexico, especially during Summer!

But... I can make my own here... at least it will be pretty close to it:

What you will need to make your own "fruta con chile" "fruit with chili powder" (yes, now you know where the fire is!) is:

Note: You can use any of the following fruits... or all of your favorite ones in the list below and mix them.... I highly recommend to use JICAMA (you will see what it is below) and cucumber too!

Cucumber (peeled and sliced)
 Jicama (peeled and sliced) (jicama = jícama = yam bean = Mexican yam bean = ahipa = saa got = Chinese potato = Mexican potato = Chinese turnip  Pronunciation: HIH-kuh-ma)
Slices of a fresh coconut
Cubes of Watermelon
Mango (in slices or cubes)
Orange wedges
Slices of pineapple

FRESH lime juice (about 1/2 lime per cup of fruit), 
Salt to taste
Chili powder (you can use ground bird pepper "chile piquin molido" or the bottles with chili powder  for fruit ... Brands "Tajin or Trechas")

and you are good to go!

If you are going to go for Mango... it's better if that's on its own with the lime, salt and chili powder and not mix it with other fruits... if you go for the other fruits (and the jicama root) they can ALL BE MIXED TOGETHER... it will look BEAUTIFUL! The amount of chili powder will be according to the amount of heat you can tolerate... so start with a little bit and taste it and add more as you like.

Here is an example of jicama with chile:

There you have it! The refreshing flavor of Mexico on your table! I hope you go for it and try it! Whenever I've been on diets and trying to lose weight I've found that eating "jicama and cucumber" like this really satisfies my cravings and I don't need "chips" and things like that.... Jicama has only 46 calories per cup and cucumber even less!!! cucumber has only 16 calories per cup... So... even if you are on a diet you can live the Mexican experience too!

Enjoy!

Paloma.