Happy Cinco De Mayo

Happy CINCO DE MAYO!!!!

Woo Hoo!!!!! In celebration of Cinco De Mayo here are some fabulous recipe's. I have made and tried them as well. They are delicious. Hope you all enjoy it!!

Image Via: Taste of Home

Ingredients

• 4 lime wedges
• 2 tablespoons coarse sugar
• 2/3 cup thawed lemonade concentrate
• 1 cup frozen unsweetened raspberries
• 2 cups ice cubes
• 2 packages (10 ounces each) frozen sweetened sliced strawberries, thawed
• 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 cup tequila, optional

Directions

• Using lime wedges, moisten the rims of four margarita or cocktail glasses. Set aside limes for garnish. Sprinkle coarse sugar on a plate; hold each glass upside down and dip rim into sugar. Set aside. Discard remaining sugar on plate.
• In a blender, combine the lemonade concentrate and raspberries; cover and process until blended. Press mixture through a fine sieve; discard seeds. Return raspberry mixture to blender; add the ice, strawberries, blueberries, sugar and tequila if desired. Cover and process until smooth.
• Pour into prepared glasses. Garnish with reserved limes. Yield: 4 servings

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Now Rachael Ray is one of my favorite cooking ladies. I have a ton of her cookbooks. I love watching her show and reading her magazines.

 Doesn't this look yummy????

 

Image Via: Food Network: Rachael Ray

Prep: 15 min   Cook:15 min  Total: 30 min

Ingredients

• 2 bags corn tortilla chips in 2 colors or different flavors, such as blue corn, red corn, yellow corn, lime flavored, chili flavored or black bean chips -- pick 2 favorites

Pico de Gallo Salsa:

• 4 vine ripe tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped, for medium to hot heat level
• 1 small white onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup, 2 handfuls, cilantro leaves, finely chopped -- substitute parsley if cilantro is not to your liking
• Salt

Beef and Beans Topping:

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 pound ground sirloin
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dark chili powder
• 1 1/2 ground cumin, half a palmful
• 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper sauce, giving you medium to hot heat level
• 1 can black beans, 15 ounces, drained

Cheese Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups milk
• 3/4 pound pepper jack cheese, shredded, about 2 1/2 cups

Additional toppings to choose from, optional:

• Sour cream
• Chopped scallions
• Chopped black olives
• Diced pimento
• Sliced avocado, dressed with lemon juice
• Hot pepper sauces

Directions

Arrange a mixture of 2 varieties of corn chips on a very large platter or use your broiler pan as a platter.

Combine salsa ingredients in a bowl and set aside for flavors to marry.

Heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add oil, garlic, onion and peppers to the pan and saute 2 minutes, then add meat and crumble with wooden spoon. Season meat with salt, chili powder, cumin and cayenne pepper sauce. Cook meat 5 minutes, then stir in beans and reduce heat to low.

In a medium sauce pot, melt butter and add flour to it. Cook flour and butter 1 to 2 minutes over moderate heat, then whisk in milk. When milk comes to a bubble, stir in cheese with a wooden spoon. Remove cheese sauce from the heat.

Pour cheese sauce evenly over the massive spread of chips and top evenly with beef and beans and the pico de gallo. UBER NACHOS! Serve immediately as is or, garnish with your choice of extra toppings from the toppings list.

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To prep for your festivities!!!!

If you need printables Claudia over at Tini Posh has some fantastic FREE printables. Just look at what you can design. Here is a sneak peak. For the full design checkout her Blog.

Que lindos verda?

Image via: Tini Posh 

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Teacher Appreciation Week

Remember that This week is still TEACHER appreciation week. We only have 2 days left to make our teachers feel real special. Thank you to all the wonderful teachers out there. You really do make a difference. To make them feel extra special Theresa over at Lauren Mckinsey designed these wonderful printables to make your teachers feel special.

Aren't these just darling?

Image via: Lauren Mckinsey

Have wonderful day in celebrating Teacher Appreciation week and Cinco De Mayo!!
 ¡Espero que disfrute su día!

xo,

Maylene