Breakfast tacos. On every worth-their-salt Mexican restaurant menu in Texas. The great thing about these is that it doesn't matter if you're vegetarian, carnivore, or somewhere in between, you can fill your taco with whatever tickles your fancy, and have a delicious breakfast in just a few minutes.

I'm pretty sure the first time I made these for my husband, he wept a little.

Hi Everyone,

I had hoped to have another posting up now (I'm aiming for one a week), but life has intervened.

Not only are we in the process of buying a house *waves to Perri*, this past week I was in the hospital for a suspected blood clot in my leg.

Luckily, everything is fine, I do not have a blood clot (though I do have some other stupid genetic thing that causes me leg pain), and I am just happy to be alive, without the threat of a blood clot, and no longer in the hospital.

We're moving in the next few weeks, so I wanted to say, if it's 2 weeks without a post, forgive me!

I think, by popular demand, we're going to do Cinnamon Banana Muffins next, but I'm going to consult my itty-bitty notebook tonight and see if there's something else that catches my fancy (and fits into my schedule) a bit more.

I still have fudge on the request list - I did try to make some a few weeks ago, but it failed miserably. I've never made it before, and it just didn't go well. Who knew fudge could be such a fernickity thing?!

I also have posts coming up of essential kitchen utensils, and essential spices to have in stock. Plus a general 'pantry and fridge must-haves', as requested.

We'll be busy around here, and I just want to thank you for taking the time to stop by, and not forgetting about me if there are a few weeks in between posts!

All the best,

~ Ams x

Mmmm. You wanna dive right in, doncha?

I need to stop though, and take a moment to pay respect. My mother has perfected this recipe with years of experimentation. Everyone that's ever tasted it says she should jar and sell it. So I publish the recipe here with her permission, and the expectation that no one else will try to jar and sell it. I can completely excuse you wanting to. Just don't actually do it, okay?

So let's talk a little bit about taste buds, texture, and flavor.

Even though I grew up in a city where Mexican food is as normal at every family's table as fried chicken and mashed potatoes, I never had a palate that could tolerate much pepper. Two things I'm still ridiculed for every time I go home: I don't dig iced tea, and I'm a wimp when it comes to peppery food. Notice I didn't say spicy.

I'm down with spicy for flavor's sake. Spicy for pepper's sake? Not so much. Truly think it can ruin a dish.

You'll notice that this salsa is more a puree than the chunky stuff sold at stores, or even as seen on other food blogs. I don't have a problem with those types of salsas, not at all. But I will go on record as saying, any hole-in-the-wall, authentic, Abuela-owned Mexican restaurant you walk into in San Antonio, Houston, or even Austin and Dallas these days, does NOT have chunky salsa.

My parents have been frequenting just such a restaurant for the last 12 years, a place called Casa Real. It's behind a mall, and next to a Chuck-E-Cheese. Seriously. But the owners are there every night, and they know my parents by name. And you can get a HUGE plate of food (I recommend the sour cream chicken enchiladas) for approximately $6.95.

When my mom decided she wanted to learn how to make salsa, she asked the owners of this restaurant for help. Believe it or not, they were enthusiastic about helping her learn. I think she even took a few samples to them to taste, to get an idea of how she could improve. She started out with all the fancy stuff you see on other blogs - onions, lemon or lime juice, basil and garlic soaked tomatoes, etc.

And the best advice she got from the restaurant manager was this: Keep it simple.

I don't really know when this recipe came into my grandmother's rotation, but I can say that the entire family got down on their knees and gave thanks that it did. This simple coffee cake is great for breakfast, snack, or after dinner dessert. You just can't go wrong with a combination of brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, and dough.

I've seen it referenced over the year by lots of different names: Monkey Bread, Pluck It Cake, Pull Apart Bread... Some people make it with the big 'Grands' biscuits, others say you have to use buttermilk biscuits rather than homestyle.. Personally, I go for the cheap, store bought 10 count refrigerator biscuits, and it's always amazing. When it comes to Pluck It Cake, I think store brand everything works just as well as name brand.

I'm here to tell you you can make it any way you want to. Because really, it's about that trifecta of brown sugar, butter and cinnamon. Sometimes I add vanilla, and always there are walnuts or pecans - but it really comes down to that ooey gooey mix that makes this simple cake so good.

So, if you've ever met my dad and spent any significant amount of time with him, you learn two things pretty quickly: 1) He's a musician. 2) He LOVES to eat.

Funny enough about a guy who loves to eat, he couldn't cook a lick when my parents got married. He literally struggled to boil water, according to my mother. While my sister and I were growing up, my dad didn't do a lot of dinners. He'd make us lunch, no problem, and breakfast, woah baby, could he do breakfast. But there were one or two dishes that he mastered for fall back in case my mom was late getting home from work. One of those was tuna casserole, and the other is the dish I'm going to show you today - Chicken and Rice casserole.

Chicken and Rice casserole is by far Comfort Food #1 in my books. It's easy, it's filling, it's full of flavor, and you really just can't go wrong with it.

Carne Guisada (car-ney gea-sada) is a thick Mexican beef stew, typically served in flour tortillas, which, by definition, makes a taco. For future reference - food inside tortilla = taco, regardless of the variable fillings.

You can have it on its own, or topped with cheddar cheese and sour cream. Where I come from, it's a perfectly acceptable breakfast, lunch, or dinner food. Many a San Antonian will tell you its an excellent hangover cure. So will my British husband!

I've had Carne Guisada from many a Mexican or Barbecue restaurant in Texas, but this particular recipe comes to you from the SAFD, the honorable San Antonio Fire Department. J.J., my brother-in-law, is a fireman down there in Texas, and this is a recipe that frequents the firehouse table.

I stayed at my sister and brother-in-law's house when I was recovering from surgery, and secret sweetheart that he is, J.J. made this recipe for me. He says we're not allowed to call it Carne Guisada, because it is such a bastardized recipe that most Mexican citizens would go blech! when they see the recipe. So instead, we call it Carne G.

But I promise you, it tastes the same. And it looks the same.

And it's downright sinfully delicious.

It's also one of these recipes that is very loosey-goosey. It's going to be difficult for me to give you absolutes on the spice measurements, because honestly, it's all to taste. When you make it, you can make it as spicy as you want, or as smokey as you want with the cumin, or, you can do incredibly strange things like my friend Maggy that came to dinner, and request POLLO G - yes, that's right, this recipe made with chicken. It was a first for me, but definitely pretty tasty. I still maintain Maggy is a weird-o. Good thing I love her anyway.

Decision made - we'll start with Carne G, and move on to the coffee cake.

There are lots of ideas coming. It's going to be awesome.

If anyone wants to make some requests, also feel free to do so. For now, just comment on this post, and I'll keep collecting the requests.

~A

Brownies themselves are the stuff of lunchroom bake sales and hot July afternoons, paired with an ice cold glass of fresh lemonade. But I'll tell ya, you don't need no stinkin' box to make brownies. It's just as easy to make brownies with all the pantry standards you already have in stock.

And then there's butterscotch. Heck yeah. It's the stuff dreams are made of. But combine it with chocolate, woooh boy - you've got yourself a new kind of wonderful.

For this entry, I used your bog standard 8 x 8 baking pans, but if you want something truly special, check out this little beauty. Whoever thought that sucker up is a GENIUS, I tell you! (I wish it had been me.)

So let's get started, shall we?

Hello world.

No really, hi! If you're here, it's probably because you know me personally, and have been given the link to this site. So first let me say, thanks for reading. Now let's delve into what this little corner of the interweb is going to be used for.

Those of you that know me well know two big things about me: I love to cook, and I am expressly proud of being a Texan. I don't live in Texas anymore. But what they say is true. You can take the girl out of Texas, but you can't take the Texas out of the girl.

Hello, and welcome to BlueBonnetsAndBrownies.com! There's exciting stuff to come, so stay tuned!