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As I’ve gotten older, I have realized more and more the importance of remembering who I am and where I came from. I was always eager to move out of Phoenix and experience something new besides the same Mexican food, trips to California, and camping across my home state of Arizona. When I finally moved away, though, I discovered that I miss home and those things I sometimes took for granted. Now that I live in Chicago, far away from my family in Mexico, Arizona and California, I find that eating traditional or Mexican-inspired foods reminds me of home and makes me feel more inspired to explore the world. It’s not just about food; it’s rediscovering the inspiration to keep exploring new places, foods, and experiences.
One way I do that is revisiting the simple but delicious foods I ate growing up and that were staples at our dinner table. These include tortillas, beans and pickled jalapeños. These simple ingredients were a constant for me. For you it might be something else, but for me, these three items signify home and comfort. While I struggle to make the exact (and amazing) dishes my mom cooks at home, I use them as inspiration for my meals now. I try to make easy and healthier versions of the foods of my childhood in my everyday life to fuel me as I continue to explore and mold my purpose in this world. I plan to continue that so my daughter grows up knowing and loving the same flavors I did and has a connection to our culture through her dinner plate.
While I have always been known to put jalapeños on everything because I prefer savory over sweet any day, I have recently rediscovered LA MORENA®, which has been around for longer than I’ve been alive and is a trusted brand of authentic Mexican products. I have since been challenging myself to find new ways to use this kitchen staple in my meals. Cooking Mexican food has been slightly out of my comfort zone only because my mom set the bar pretty high with her cooking, and I sadly did not study it enough before moving away from home two and a half years ago. It has since become one of my missions to not only learn to cook those dishes I grew up with but to improve my Spanish speaking.
I always have a glass container with jalapeños ready to go on top of anything. But now I want to use it more as an ingredient rather than a flavor enhancer. Lately, a favorite breakfast of mine has been savory and filling breakfast tacos incorporating LA MORENA® Whole Jalapeños (13 oz). (These are also available in 7 oz and 28 oz cans, as well as sliced.) They are super easy and quick to make, and they leave me satisfied and with enough energy to take on the day, whether it’s trying something new (like a new fitness class), checking out a new part of Chicago (to me) or revisiting favorite places in our city.
Before I share this recipe, be sure to enter LA MORENA®’s sweepstakes to rediscover your own passions!
#VivaLaMorenaSweepstakes(7/19 to 8/23)
Now I’ll share the yummy breakfast tacos I love to make before a busy Chicago summer day. I like to top them a Chipotle sour cream using LA MORENA® Chipotle Sauce that I’ll share as well. Over the weekend I fueled up with three of these before heading out on a 5-mile half-marathon training run on the Chicago Lakefront Path. (I later ate the leftovers before kayaking on the Chicago River.)
First, I find all the ingredients I need for this hearty breakfast at my neighborhood Jewel-Osco. You can spot the bright LA MORENA® packaging in the Hispanic foods aisle. My local Jewel-Osco store also carries LA MORENA® Chipotle Sauce for the Chipotle sour cream sauce in the salsa aisle. Most of the other ingredients you need for this recipe are typically found in the Hispanic foods section.
To make the breakfast tacos, you’ll need:
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| LA MORENA® Whole Jalapeños (28 oz) are often thought of as a garnish, but they add more flavor when they are actually prepared in the dish. |
Makes about six tacos.
- Cooking spray (or oil)
- 1/2-3/4 cup chopped spinach or mixed greens (about 1 ounce)
- 1/4 cup of black beans (drained and rinsed)
- 1/4 cup chopped red onion
- 2-4 chopped LA MORENA® Whole Jalapeños (amount of jalapenos depends on your preference) You can also use LA MORENA® Sliced Jalapeños (7, 13 or 28 oz cans).
- 4 eggs
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 6 corn (or flour) tortillas
- 1 tablespoon of Mexican cheese (either shredded cheese or Cotija cheese)
Heat sprayed cooking pan on medium-low heat. Add chopped spinach, black beans, chopped red onion, and chopped LA MORENA® Whole Jalapeños and sauté them for a couple of minutes. Whisk eggs, season them with salt and pepper, add them to the pan and stir. Cook for a few minutes to desired consistency. Heat tortillas on separate burner or pan (or warm them in the microwave) for about 30 seconds to a minute. Wrap cooked eggs in the tortillas and add your desired toppings.
Suggested toppings: Sliced avocado, pickled carrots from the can of LA MORENA® Whole Jalapeños or Chipotle sour cream sauce (recipe below). Add as much cheese as you’d like!
NOTE: You might find that LA MORENA® Sliced Jalapeños are easier to chop, which cuts back on prep time. I buy both Sliced and Whole Jalapeños for various uses. Be sure to transfer unused jalapeños to a glass storage container for later use. LA MORENA® has lots of recipes for traditional dishes to use them in.
I like to use the pickled carrots from the can of LA MORENA® Whole Jalapeños or Sliced Jalapeños (7, 13 or 28 oz) to top my tacos, along with sliced avocado and Cotija cheese. (Use shredded Mexican cheese if you prefer.)
For the Chipotle sour cream sauce you will need:
- 1/3 cup of sour cream (or crema Mexicana)
- 4 teaspoons of LA MORENA® Chipotle Sauce
- Juice of quarter to half a lime
- 1/2 teaspoon of garlic salt
- 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
Mix all ingredients in small bowl. Add more LA MORENA® Chipotle Sauce as preferred in 1-2 teaspoon increments. Drizzle some of the sour cream sauce on top of the tacos for added flavor. You can make more than you’ll need and save it for later. It goes on just about anything!
Note: Be sure to transfer the leftover LA MORENA® Chipotle Sauce to another container and store it in the fridge for later use in your favorite dishes.
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| Before mixing LA MORENA® Chipotle Sauce and sour cream. |
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| I added some lime juice, pepper and garlic salt based on my preference. |
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| My completed tacos with avocado, Cotija cheese, pickled carrots and Chipotle sour cream. |
These are perfect to enjoy on a weekend morning before heading out on the day’s adventures. If it is just me eating the tacos, I save the rest of the eggs and sauce for breakfast on the following day. It saves time that I can instead use to explore.
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| Orange juice and breakfast tacos to keep me energized. |
Let me know if you make these super simple and tasty tacos and what you thought of them. Also, be sure to enter LA MORENA®‘s sweepstakes (top of this post) and let me know where it takes you! Have you tried LA MORENA® products?
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Coming soon on my Instagram: Watch out for a post on where LA MORENA® is taking me this summer!
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