Frozen Key Lime Margarita Pie

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Frozen Key Lime Margarita Pie

It's already the next month for the Pass the Cook Book Club. This month is a fun month because it combines desserts, alcohol, and frozen treats! The three selections this month were recipes from the cookbook Slushed, which contains some fun grown up frozen treats.

If you know me, then you know that my favorite alcoholic drink is a margarita, so naturally I chose the Frozen Key Lime Margarita Pie. Although my second drink of choice when I go out is a rum and diet, so I almost made the Cuba Libra Granita (a cuba libra is essentially a rum and coke served with lime) but a good margarita will always win!

This recipe is definitely an easy one and is refreshing for a hot summer day. If you forget to make the pie the day before to freeze overnight, no worries-- I made mine around noon and it was ready to serve around 6! I made just a few changes to the recipe. Three cups of graham cracker crumbs seemed like a lot, so I reduced it to two sleeves of graham crackers that I put through the food processor (it made around 2 cups, maybe a little more). I also wasn't sure whether the crust would actually hold together without being baked, so I baked it at 350 for about ten minutes. Lastly, I tasted the filling before I poured it into the pie crust and couldn't taste the tequila, so I added a couple more tablespoons of tequila-- it ended up being an entire mini, so it was 50ml. The reason it was more mild could be because I used a silver tequila (I prefer silver tequilas), so definitely taste the filling before you add more depending on the tequila you're using.

This recipe is fairly quick to put together and is a creamy, zesty, and boozy treat for all the adults. This would be great for a summer BBQ or a treat that you keep in the freezer for those hot days when you want to treat yourself to something special!

Margarita lovers, definitely check out this recipe! If you're interested in learning more about the Pass the Cook Book Club, click the link or the banner below! I'm already looking forward to next month!

Frozen Key Lime Margarita Pie
slightly adapted from Slushed (page 134)

Crust:
2 sleeves of graham crackers, made into crumbs through a food processor
2 Tbs sugar
5 Tbs butter melted

Filling:
16 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. key lime juice
Zest of 1 lime
2 Tbs tequila (add more depending on the tequila and how strong you like it-- I used 50ml of silver tequila)
Whipped cream for garnish, optional

Put the graham cracker crumbs in a bowl. Add 2 Tbs sugar and melted butter. Mix until combined. Press into a pie plate to form your crust. (I put the crust in a 350 degree oven for ten minutes. Pop the pan into the freezer and chill while you make the filling (after the pan cools if you put the crust in the oven).

Make the filling by microwaving the cream cheese for a minute or two to warm it up. This will make it much easier to stir.

Put the warm cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, key lime juice, lime zest and tequila in the bowl of your stand mixer. Beat on low until the mixture comes together. Then beat on medium-high for 5 minutes, until the mixture is fluffy and uniform.

Transfer the mixture to your prepared frozen pie pan. Smooth surface and freeze overnight. (I froze mine for 5-6 hours and it was fine)

To serve, slice with sharp unserrated knife. If you are having trouble, leave on the counter for 10 minutes before slicing, or run the knife under hot water. Garnish with whipped cream (optional).


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Queso Macaroni and Cheese

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Queso Macaroni and Cheese

I was contacted recently by Latina Bloggers Connect and Real California Milk to create an original recipe using Real California Cheese. California is the number one dairy state in the United States and the number one producer of Hispanic dairy products in the United States. This recipe was both fun and challenging at the same time, and the end result was AWESOME!

One of my good friends, Lisa, makes the absolute best queso. Seriously, no other queso compares to her recipe; it's one of the best things ever. Others who have had it would definitely agree! I decided to adapt the flavors of Lisa's queso into a macaroni and cheese recipe but using Hispanic cheeses. That way you get the flavors of her queso, but in a pasta dish! It came out so delicious! It really tastes like we were eating her queso by the spoon, it was that good. Joe even served himself three whole bowls in one sitting, so you know it had his approval.

I was so thrilled by the offer for doing this post, I didn't even consider how accessible California cheese was here in New Mexico. I figured that since California is just two states away, California cheese would be easy to find. I went to three different grocery stores looking for Real California Cheese. I found some in the deli section of Albertson's, but I wanted individual packages to take home (especially for pictures with the seal). I eventually found the cheeses I used here at Smith's in the Mexican cheese section, but they didn't have non-Mexican cheeses that were Real California Cheese.

Since I didn't want to drive more around the city looking for Real California Cheese, I took about 10 minutes googling all the available Mexican cheese varieties and comparing how well they'd melt. The information that I found on the Real California Milk website was very informative about which cheeses to use. I settled on two cheeses by Cacique, an Asadero cheese and a Oaxaca cheese. The Asadero cheese ended up being my favorite because it was more creamy and buttery of the two. The Oaxaca cheese was more mild, but also good in flavor. So if you're looking for a great Mexican cheese, I highly suggest finding an Asadero cheese.

These two cheese worked wonderful in this dish-- they both melted beautifully and gave the pasta a great creamy and buttery flavor that I was looking for. No butter or boxed cheese in this recipe! Cacique cheeses are gluten free, and all the ingredients I used in this recipe I made sure were gluten free. The leftovers also reheat really well in the microwave and don't separate or get a weird texture, which is another plus! This recipe makes A LOT of pasta, so this is a great dish if you have a family or if you'd like to take to a BBQ.


This post was sponsored by Latina Bloggers Connect and the California Milk Advisory Board. I did receive compensation from this post, but the recipes, opinions, and content of this post are entirely my own. 

Queso Macaroni and Cheese
A T&H original recipe

8 oz. spicy breakfast sausage (I used Jimmy Dean hot sausage)
8 oz. ground beef
3 1/2 c. water
1 12-oz can evaporated milk, divided
1/2 tsp. salt
12 - 16 oz. pasta (shells or elbows), you can use gluten-free pasta here (I used quinoa shells)
1 tsp. corn starch
5 oz. Oaxaca cheese, shredded or cut into small dices (I used Cacique brand)*
5 oz. Asadero cheese. shredded or cut into small dices (I used Cacique brand)*
12 oz. can of salsa (I used a local salsa)

*Alternatively, you can use cheddar cheese and jack cheeses to substitute for these two cheeses.

Cook sausage and ground beef together in a skillet over medium heat until cooked through. Drain fat from meat mixture and set aside.

In a large pot (or Dutch oven), combine water, 1 cup evaporated milk, salt, and pasta shells. Bring heat to medium-high and simmer until pasta is tender and liquid has thickened, about 9-12 minutes stirring frequently. (If you use a gluten-free pasta or whole grain pasta, it may take longer to cook.)

When pasta is cooked, mix together the remaining 1/2 cup evaporated milk and cornstarch in a small bowl. Add to pasta and stir to incorporate. Simmer for another minute or two until the sauce has thickened.

Once the sauce has thickened, add the meat mixture. Slowly add the cheese by the handful, mixing to incorporate thoroughly before adding more handfuls of cheese. Once cheese is fully incorporated, add the salsa and stir until well incorporated. If the mixture is too thick, stir in a couple tablespoons of water.

Serve immediately. (Makes about 8 servings)



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Kahlua Flan

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Kahlua Flan

Happy Cinco de Mayo! I have such a great recipe that I've been waiting to share with you and I figured that Cinco de Mayo would be the perfect day. I originally made this back in the fall, but the lighting was so bad I wanted to wait to remake the recipe with better photographs.

Last year, my friend Maryann and I went to this fairly new restaurant here in Albuquerque called Zacatecas. After our meal, we split a Kahlua Flan dessert that was absolutely divine! It wasn't as egg-y as most flans, but had a more dense and creamy texture to it that I loved.

I originally made Emeril Lagasse's Kahlua Flan recipe to create this flan, but it was more of an egg-y flan than the creamy flan that I was looking for. Recently, I found Jam Hands' creamy flan recipe and decided to combine her recipe with Emeril's to mimic what I had at Zacatecas.

This flan is wonderful and I love the texture of it. The hint of Kahlua in the flan is great, and the Kahlua is a wonderful accompaniment. You can even drizzle more Kahlua on top of individual servings according to your taste. I don't find Kahlua to be too overpowering, so I love to drizzle more on the top!

I'm packing up this flan in about an hour to share with my family this evening at our Sunday dinner. What are you making for Cinco de Mayo?

Kahlua Flan
Adapted from Emeril Lagasse and Jam Hands


3/4 c. sugar
1 14-oz. can evaporated milk
1 12-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened
5 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 Tbs. Kahlua (plus more for drizzling)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small saucepan, cook the sugar over medium heat until it starts to melt. Lower the heat and cook until caramelized to a golden brown. (Do not stir or touch the sugar, but swirl the pan to melt evenly.)

Pour into a metal flan mold or 9-inch cake pan. Turn the dish and swirl to evenly coat the bottom. Let caramel cool and harden.

Place evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, cream cheese, eggs, vanilla, and Kahlua in a blender; cover. Blend until smooth. (Alternatively, you can do this using a mixer or a hand-mixer. Make sure to cream the cream cheese first before adding the eggs and other liquids so that there aren't any clumps.) Pour mixture into the dish (over the dissolved sugar).

Place the dish in a larger roasting pan and add hot water to come halfway up the sides of the baking dish.

Bake until set and just firm in the center but still jiggles slightly, 50 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. Refrigerate until well chilled, at least 2 hours.

To serve, run a thin sharp knife around the rim of the flan. Place a platter or large plate on top of the flan and gently flip over so the plate is on the bottom.

Cut into wedges and drizzle with extra Kahlua to taste. Serve immediately.


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Kielbasa Stir-Fry

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Kielbasa Stir-Fry

It's been awhile since I've shared a family recipe with you! This recipe isn't a New Mexican recipe, but one that my parents used to make while I was growing up. It's one of those recipes that when I moved out on my own that I asked my mom to show me how to make.

Stir-fries are incredibly easy to prepare, and once you know the basics of creating a stir-fry, you can adapt the recipe to incorporate other flavors. When I asked my mom how to make this dish, she told me that it is just like making my family's fried rice recipe but just to omit the egg, rice, and change the meat. (I hope to share my family's fried rice recipe with you very soon-- since that recipe is all the way from Hawaii, can you guess the meat??)

Like I mentioned above, this recipe is very versatile. Cook down onions, cook your meat of choice, add your favorite vegetables, then flavor the stir-fry with garlic, sesame oil, soy sauce, and some sugar/honey to balance out the acidity. Lastly, serve over rice or quinoa-- you can probably serve these up with some noodles as well, which I haven't tried yet but I bet it would work well though you'd probably have to use some more oil in case the mixture dries out with the noodles. You can really play with this dish however you'd like, but I love the salty bites of the kielbasa.

This is also an incredibly fast meal to make and takes less time to prepare than it takes for quinoa or rice to cook. Joe was impressed how short it took to prepare and liked the meal so much that he served himself three servings so we hardly had any leftovers for the next night.

I hope that you enjoy this dish as much as I do, it really is one of my absolute favorites!

Kielbasa Stir-Fry
A T&H family recipe

1-2 Tbs. vegetable or canola oil
1 medium/large yellow onion, sliced
1 lb. kielbasa, sliced and cut into halves or quarters
1 package of stir-fry vegetables, fresh or frozen (I like Trader Joe's frozen stir-fry vegetables variety)*
1 tsp. garlic, finely chopped or grated
1/2 tsp. sesame oil
1-2 Tbs. soy sauce (for gluten-free, use gluten-free soy sauce)
1/2 tsp. sugar or 1 tsp. honey, optional
3-4 c. cooked quinoa or rice, for serving

*(If you don't want to use a frozen stir-fry mix, use 2 c. snow peas, 3/4-1 c. carrot diced, 1 c. mushrooms, and 1 small can of water chestnuts, drained-- you really can use whatever vegetables you like.)

In a wok or large skillet, heat a the vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook until soft and starting to turn golden, about 5 minutes. Add in the kielbasa and cook until the meat starts to brown, 3-4 minutes. If the onions and meat start cooking or browning too quickly, lower the heat a little bit.

Add in your mixed vegetables and cook through but still a little crisp, about another 5 minutes. (Frozen vegetables will take longer.)

Once the vegetables are cooked through, lower heat to a medium-low or a medium heat and stir in the chopped garlic and cook for an additional minute. Drizzle the mixture with sesame oil and toss to combine. Drizzle the mixture with soy sauce until you get the color and flavor you like, I usually put 1-2 tablespoons. Add in 1/2 teaspoon sugar OR 1 teaspoon honey and give the mixture one final toss.

Serve stir-fry on top of warm, cooked quinoa or rice.

Makes about 4 servings


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Peanut Butter and Jelly Baby Lattice Pies

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PB&J Baby Lattice Pies

Through one of my favorite blogs, Juanita's Cocina, I found out about this new "book club" called "Pass the Cook Book Club." It's a group that picks a couple of recipes from a particular cookbook to make every single month. So every month bloggers will select one recipe, make it, and feature the recipe on their blog at the end of the month. Last month was Guy Fieri, but I just didn't have time to participate.

This month, the club selected recipes from the Picky Palate, which is one of the most popular and creative food blogs available. I've featured one of Jenny's recipes on this blog actually, her famous Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies. She's got so many creative dessert recipes, I was so excited to try out another one of her recipes for my blog this month!

Naturally, I chose her dessert recipe, Peanut Butter and Jelly Lattice Pies. This looked like a very easy recipe and appealing recipe, and I had all the ingredients on hand. Instead of using pre-made pie crust, I made my Easy Homemade Pie Crust. I was a little confused with her recipe because it didn't indicate which type of muffin pan to use, so I looked up her recipe on her blog and it used a mini muffin tin so I used that. Her recipe also stated that it made 12 mini pies, but I got an even 24 mini pies using her recipe. This is reflected in the recipe below.

While these pies were baking, the house smelled wonderful. It smelled like strawberry Pop-Tarts in the best way possible! Unfortunately, all of my jam oozed out during baking, and it made my pies very peanut-buttery, so I ended up putting a dollop of extra jam on the top when I served them up. I think next time I bake these, I'll put the peanut butter mixture on the top of the jam to hopefully prevent them from oozing out too much. I've also added these notes to the recipe below. I actually really liked the extra dollop of jam because it gave a fresh flavor that the cooked jam didn't add, so I would definitely add extra jam again when serving.

This was a fun recipe to make and to serve to others! I'm so happy that I found out about Pass the Cook Book Club and am already looking forward to next month. If you'd like to join the club or find out more information, please click the picture below to be taken to their page.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Baby Lattice Pies
slightly adapted from The Picky Palate Cookbook by Jenny Flake (page 179)

1 9” refrigerated pie crust, at room temperature (I used my Easy Homemade Pie Crust recipe)
1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
1 Tbs. sugar
1/2 c. strawberry jam preserves (or another flavor you like!)
1 large egg white
sugar crystal sprinkles, for sprinkling
powdered sugar, for sprinkling
strawberry preserves, extra for topping


Preheat the oven to 350 and spray a 24-count mini muffin tin with nonstick spray.

Unroll the pie crust onto a lightly floured countertop. With a 2 1/2 inch round cookie cutter, cut circles out of dough. Press the dough rounds into prepared muffin pan. Roll the scraps of dough to an even thickness and using a sharp knife, cut 1/4 inch strips for the lattice topping.

Add the peanut butter and sugar to a medium bowl and mix to combine. Drop 1/2 teaspoon of jam into each mini pie crust. Do the same with the peanut butter mixture. (I placed the jam on the top of the peanut butter mixture and it ALL oozed out. I'm changing this to put it on the bottom of the pie crust in hopes that it won't ooze out as much.) Use the pie strips to form a lattice top. Cut the excess dough from the edges of the pies. Add the egg white and 1 teaspoon water to a small bowl, whisk to combine. Brush over the tops of the pies. Sprinkle with the sugar crystal sprinkles and bake for 25-35 minutes, until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and with the top of a knife, loosen the edges where jam has oozed out. Let the pies cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan. Dust with powdered sugar to serve. (I skipped the powdered sugar and topped my pies with about 1/4 tsp. of more jam. Since the jam oozed out, the peanut butter overpowered the pies, so topping the pies with jam really helped!) 



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