Tonight's Mexican dinner

I've been asked how do I eat Mexican food if I'm allergic to dairy and the entire onion family (including garlic)? Well, I make it from scratch. Here are tonight's recipes. I'm also going to include a couple substitutes for the meat. I normally make the substitutes. Tonight was just that kind of night that we felt like chicken. lol We alternate between flour soft shells and corn hard shells. Tonight, we used corn hard shells. Add lettuce, olives, and your normal taco toppings, and you have a great meal!

Chili lime chicken or Portabella mushrooms

4 chicken breast halves. I use Tyson's skinless, boneless with the fat already trimmed. Or use whole large portabella mushrooms.
4 small limes, or 2 regular sized ones, zest and juice
1/2-1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 1 teaspoon powdered ancho chilies (chili powder has garlic. powdered chilies are only chilies)
salt and seasoned pepper to taste

Mix the seasonings, lime zest and juice in a ziploc bag. Add chicken and shake to coat. I actually keep the chicken partially thawed. Keeping it frozen helps the chicken stay moist. I just put in the portabella mushrooms in whole cuz they are easier to grill that way. Marinate for at least an hour, preferably 4. Grill until done. With them being partially frozen, I grill them around 30 minutes on low. The portabellas I play by ear depending on the size. The chicken comes out juicy! Just slice the chicken or mushrooms and use for your fillings.


Fat free "refried" beans

1 28oz can of kidney beans, drained and rinse
1 10oz can of diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon ground ancho chilies
pinch sugar
salt and seasoned pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Cook over medium high 10 minutes, until beans are soft. Blend with immersion blender until as smooth as you like.


Mexican rice/quinoa taco filling

1 cup brown rice
1 cup rinsed quinoa (We prefer Inca Red for this dish)
1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon ground ancho chilies
salt and seasoned pepper to taste
4 cups water

Combine in rice cooker and cook for normal time. This makes a lot! It freezes well.


Quick vanishing guacamole

1 Haas advocado
juice of 1 small lime
1 tablespoon diced tomatoes with green chilies (yeah, we eat them a lot)
1 or 2 drops green habanero hot sauce (or whatever kind you like, to taste)
salt and seasoned pepper to taste

Enjoy using any of these in your Mexican dishes. They are really easy to make and keep my family happy! By using the same spices in everything, I am able to get dinner to the table quickly and with a minimum of fuss. It's an easy go to dinner for busy days. Oh, and normally, if I plan it out right, the whole dinner costs about $7 for the whole family including my brother in law who ate with us tonight. And yes, the kids have lunch for tomorrow from it also.

So very sick of being sick

Here's the update on the vegan menu from a couple weeks ago. It didn't happen. lol I was sick when I wrote it, but thought it was my normal asthma trying to play games. I am just NOW getting myself caught up. It has been a couple weeks of breathing treatments and having to sleep sitting up because I was so congested.

Part of the reason I struggle so much with my asthma is that I am allergic to or have had serious reactions to just about every maintenance drug out there. Many of them use dairy as binders. So, all I have available to me right now is breathing treatments and rescue inhalers. I have so much albuterol in my system that I don't even get shaky from my treatments any more.

We had a yummy vegan dinner tonight. Quinoa brown rice burritos with sauteed peppers, green chilies and advocado. They were yummy and easy to make. I love my rice cooker. I plan on getting one with more bells and whistles when we can afford it, but that's more of a luxury. I can use it to cook grains, steam veggies, and I've even used it to steam Chinese dumplings. Here's the recipe for tonight's dinner. Um, I really have to remember to take pictures BEFORE the horde at my house gets to it.

Quinoa Brown Rice Burritos

1 cup uncooked brown rice
1 cup Inca Red Quinoa (You can use normal too. I like them both.)
4 cups water
1 can Ro-Tel diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon powdered ancho chilies

Add all of the above to your rice cooker and cook just like you do for normal rice. While that is cooking...

3 sweet bell peppers - I used 1 red, 1 yellow, and 1 orange - sliced thinly
1-2 Tablespoons olive oil
Seasoned pepper (I almost always use Lowry's Seasoned Pepper in place of regular pepper) and salt to taste

Heat the oil over medium heat in a saute pan. Add seasoned pepper and cook for a minute. Add bell peppers and cook until soft and slightly browned. I normally do my mushrooms the same way and have them in this dish, but we eat a lot of mushrooms and ran out last night.

Slice up whatever veggies you want - lettuce, tomatoes, olives, advocado etc.

Once the quinoa and rice is done, warm your tortilla shells and sub the quinoa and rice for the meat. Add your veggies including the peppers and mushrooms (if your family hasn't already eaten them all like my family) and enjoy! This is a great meal that takes about 20 minutes from start to finish to cook. The quinoa is a complete protein so it's a great replacement for the meat. Enjoy!

Well, I'm going to take my meds, which I am slowly weaning myself from, and heading to bed. Night all!