Montly Mingle Round Up: Let the Fiesta begin!

What a great Mingle this has been! So much wonderful food to share with everyone.

So grab your sombrero, make yourself a margarita, and let's get eat!

Let's start with Megan's dish, for Rivera's Chipotle Chicken Enchiladas, featured on her site Feasting on Art.

Friends and family are able to keep Megan supplied with canned chipotle's so she is able to spice up this lovely dish. For those leery of the heat, sour cream is a must!

You can find Megan's post here.

Next up, a friend of mine who doesn't normally get involved in food posts (though he talks about food with me alot - apparently I make him hungry alot.)

Ktorrek broke into the foodie world with a step by step on how to make his version of a Barbacoa, using his slow cooker. This spicy, shredded beef is a work in progress for him, and has lead to the two of us browsing the online spice merchants for large amounts of cumin (and my trying to find chipotles in adobo somewhere around here, with no luck so far.)

You can find his post here.

If you like hot salsa, then check out this salsa made by Nupur from One Hot Stove, Chili de Arbol Salsa.

This salsa came about as a result of finding a hot and tasty salsa at a local restaurant, and then using the old trial and error method of making it at home. The color was not what Nupur wanted, but the flavor came pretty close.

Frankly, as a liker of mild, cilantro fresh salsas, this salsa scares me, but I am betting my husband would love, love, love it! If I ever come across that wall of dried chilis you were talking about, Nupur, I will have to grab some of these and make some for my hubby.

Next up, we have something a bit less spicy, but I doubt less flavorful, not with all that lovely green color that you get from the spinach and the cilantro.

This Mexican Green Rice comes to us courtesy of Faiza Ali's kitchen, all the way from the United Kingdom.

You can find the recipe for this lovely green rice here.


Soup anyone?

That's what Rara Avis, from Soulful Creations, brings to the Mingle, a black bean soup. I'm new to black beans, so I may have to make up a small batch of this and give it a try. Beans are so good for you, and so inexpensive, that having a good soup in my recipe rotation can't possibly be a bad idea.

You can find the recipe for the soup here.

Next up, Emma brings us a fabulous side of rice to go along with her own Mexican Fiesta (does that meal not look fabulous and make you want to dine Al Fresco tonight?)

The recipe for this side can be found at Food o'del Mundo, along with great step by step photos on how to make this rice.

Hey, Emma, what's everyone drinking with this feast?

Enchiladas are one of my favorite types of Mexican fare, so I was thrilled to see this entry from Supriya for Veggie Enchiladas.

I agree, enchiladas do take more time than a basic quesadillas, but are so worth the effort. And it sounds like Supriya's family agreed, these enchiladas look good and probably taste great as well.

You can find the recipe for these at Queen of My Kitchen.

Not to knock quesadillas when I say I love enchiladas, sometimes a simple quesadilas is just what my family needs for dinner, so this recipe for Chole Quesadillas will come in handy! And it is fusion cooking, combining an Indian chickpea curry with the Mexican quesadillas. What a great idea!

Suparna, I tip my sombrero to you, for coming up with such a unique combination for the Fiesta!

You can find her recipe on her blog, Mirch Masala.

Getting full yet? No? That's good, because there is lots more goodies to come.

Mermaid joins us in her first every blog event, bringing Mexican stuffed baked potatoes to the party. Welcome Mermaid, so glad you could join us!

Baked potatoes are such a versatile vehicle for so many flavors, so I can see how adding in Mexican flavor and beans could make this a meal in itself.

You can find the full recipe for this one dish meal at Naki Kate. Be sure to drop Mermaid a comment when you visit, encourage her to join in on more blog events!

I need a sweet break, so let's take a look at one of the desserts that made their way to the Mingle: Capirotada, a Mexican Bread Pudding.

Using a sugar syrup rather than a custard, and with the addition of cheese to the mixture, this bread pudding looks like a great way to use up stale bread. I know I'd eat it.

Thanks to Curry Leaf, over at Experiments, Emotions, Experiences with food, for this wonderful dessert.

Now that I've had a bit of dessert, I'm ready for some more yummy Mexican inspired dishes, including this dish from Shri, a Classical Mexican Rice, based on a rice recipe from Rick Bayless.

(Did I mention I passed up a chance to buy Rick Bayless' book at a flea market sale one day? I've been trying to use the books I have, so walked away and have been regretting it every since!)

Sorry, side tracked there.... Shri's rice looks so fluffy and flavorful, and lime juice can only have made it taste better. What can I say, I like lime.

You can find the recipe for this classic rice at Tasty Touch.

New mom Johanna at Green Gourmet Giraffe rarely has time for more than a quick bite, not with a baby to feed first thing in the morning, but still made the time to make these healthy and filling breakfast burritos. Not for breakfast, but who says breakfast type dishes have to always be for breakfast? Not me!

Filled with potatoes and a tofu-scramble, these sure beat a fat ladden burrito for nutrition, and probably taste much better too!

Thanks for taking the time to join the Fiesta Johanna!

By far the most colorful dish on the menu for our Fiesta are these wildly vibrant Beet Chalupas from Yasmeen at Health Nut.

I admit, I don't think I've ever had a Chalupas, but I'm interested now! Look at the color on these. Including the beet greens as one of the toppings for the chalupas just brings everything together.

If you visit Yasmeen, not only will you find the recipe for making these Chalupas, you'll also find a recipe for a Roasted Hot Pepper Cilantro Salsa. You can find both recipes here.


Fellow Tyler Florence Friday blogger Joanne bring us our only fish entry for this Mingle, a Seared Flounder with Zucchini and Toasty Garlic Mojo. (See? There is Rick Bayless' book again! I think I need to go back to the Flea Market and see if it is still there. Maybe someone else was as dumb as I was and its still there. I know, unlikely.)

This fabulous dish a great way to use up some of that fresh zucchini crop you have piling up. Made for two, remember, garlic cancels garlic, so don't be afraid to make this for a special date night.

You can find Joanne and her recipe at Eats Well With Others.

Smitha took advantage of a pile of July 4th left overs to make us some Mexican Fiesta Chutney Quesadillas.

Corn tortillas filled with beans and cheese, along with a choice of chutneys, these babies could easily have been served to her crowd of friends, vegetarian and non-vegetarian alike.

You can find the recipe for these Quesadillas here, at Kannada Cuisine.

Jelly brings us a Mexican dish from Italy, Tortillas "Fai Da Te", or "DYI" Tortillas.

I can't read Italian, so I'm so glad that Jelly gave an English translation to these Tortillas (but I admit, the recipe is so pretty to "read" in Italian.)

You can find the recipes, in English and Italian, for Jelly's Tortillas here, at Fragole & Cioccolato.

I'm running out of room but still have room to try a few more things!

How about this fabulous looking dessert, a Mango Flan, brought to us by Arjun and Soma at eCurry.

Would you believe, looking at this picture, that this flan was made in a pressure cooker? Poor Arjun, poor Soma, no working oven right, now, but my hats off to you for making this in a pressure cooker. I would not have believed you could do that, but I am a believer now.

I hope your oven is better soon!

The Monthly Mingle would not be the same without the wondeful lady that is Meeta. Her pictures and recipes are great, sure, but it the lovely lady herself that brings it all together.

This Mingle would not have been complete without an entry from Meeta, so I'm thrilled to say she was able to squeeze in time to make us some Black Bean and Goat Cheese Quesadillas. Made to feed a crowd of hungry boys (boy, do I know about those!), the boys used their hands to eat their way through ingredients and flavors their mothers swore they did not eat.

I don't think I'd have thought to mix black beans with goat cheese, so I'm glad Meeta did. I think I'll throw a couple of cans of beans in my pantry, and the next time my boys come through with friends taging along behind, looking for a snack, I'll be ready for them!

Many thanks to all the wondeful bloggers who joined me in celebration of a Mexican Fiesta! Ole to you all, I hope you had a great time.

Now, on to the dishes....