Mexican Archives - A Calculated Whisk

Plantain Chip Migas

April 9, 2018 By Becky 18 Comments

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Plantain chips are a wonderful alternative to corn tortilla chips in this easy and flavorful Mexican breakfast. And since migas are super fast to make, they’re perfect for busy mornings!

Growing up, I was obsessed with going to Mexico. It seemed so exotic and relatively close, if not to our home outside Boston then to Austin, where my mother and I went at least once a year to visit her side of the family. I had a big, dry-mounted map of the world on the wall right next to my bunk bed, and I’d stare at it every night, brainstorming a list of everywhere I wanted to go. Mexico was at the very top.

Every time we went to Texas, I would beg my mom to take me to across the border. The fact that it was less than a five-hour drive from Austin to another country seemed like too good of an opportunity to pass up. I just wanted to eat some delicious food, poke around a little, try out some of the Spanish I’d been learning, and then we could drive right back up.

Carnitas con huevo

April 24, 2017 By Becky 40 Comments

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Try carnitas con huevo–crispy slow-cooked pork with fried eggs–for a hearty and irresistible paleo breakfast. There’s avocado crema involved, too!

I’m sorry for the silence here last week! I hadn’t planned on taking a week off from sharing recipes, but suddenly Easter and several deadlines for freelance work and a few other things snuck up on me. I’m back, though, with one of my favorite breakfasts of all time: carnitas con huevo (slow-cooked, crispy pork with an egg on top) with avocado crema.

If you’ve by any chance been reading since I started this site in 2013, you may recognize this recipe as one I posted back then during my first attempt at a Whole30. It was long overdue for a reshoot, though. Just for fun, I’ve included one of the original photos below right before the recipe card. I’m constantly working on improving my food photography and styling, but looking back on photos from a few years ago makes me feel really good about how far I’ve come already.

Whole30 Breakfast Nachos

January 30, 2017 By Becky 36 Comments

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These Whole30 breakfast nachos are ideal for game day or anytime you’re craving a decadent plate of nachos but still want to stick to paleo ingredients. They take just half an hour to make!

Where have breakfast nachos been all my life? They’re a million times better than any nachos I’ve ever had before, despite being free of gluten, grains, and dairy. They’re super fast to make and just as welcome in the evening as at breakfast time. What’s not to love?

For these Whole30 breakfast nachos, we’re using thinly sliced potatoes cooked to a crisp in bacon grease instead of tortilla chips. This is one of those healthier substitutions that just so happens to taste way better than the original. The potatoes get really nice and crunchy around the edges, but still retain a little toothsome chew near the middle. I’d happily eat a sheet pan full of them with no adornment whatsoever.

I can’t say no to any of these toppings, though. We’ve got crispy bacon, eggs cooked to your liking (bring on the runny yolks for me!), rich avocado, thinly sliced scallions, crispy bits of radish, fresh cilantro, tart lime, and some salsa on the side. And once you break that yolk and let it mix a bit with the potatoes and toppings, I swear to you it will taste like these nachos have cheese in them! You just have to try it to believe it.

Huevos Divorciados + Salsa Verde

January 9, 2017 By Becky 26 Comments

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Huevos divorciados is a classic Mexican breakfast that’s just as amazing for dinner. Homemade salsa verde makes it extra special!

Huevos divorciados, which literally translates to “divorced eggs”, are one of my favorite Mexican breakfasts. Two fried eggs are served with two different kinds of salsa–in this case, salsa verde and ancho chile salsa. They’re often separated by some refried beans and potatoes, but I like to serve them with a quick sweet potato hash. If you have your salsas ready, this meal comes together in less than 30 minutes. And while homemade salsa is the most delicious (plus fun and easy to make!), store-bought salsas can definitely work, too. Just read the labels carefully if you’re doing a Whole30!

These huevos divorciados and salsa verde are from my cookbook, Paleo Planet. If you don’t have your copy yet, you can order one on Amazon or pick one up at many Barnes & Noble stores and local booksellers. The book has over 125 internationally-inspired paleo recipes, including over 80 that are Whole30 compliant. You can download the Whole30 recipe list right here!

Crispy Chicken Salad with Pineapple Pico de Gallo

January 5, 2017 By Becky 28 Comments

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This crispy chicken salad with pineapple pico de gallo is full of fresh, vibrant ingredients to brighten up your winter. Plus, it’s paleo and Whole30 compliant!

Crispy chicken: I’m starting to worry I talk about it too much. The thing is, it just doesn’t get much better. And it definitely doesn’t get ANY better when we’re talking about a Whole30-compliant salad. This crispy chicken salad with pineapple pico is the stuff dreams are made of!

While my usual method for crisping up chicken is to use skin-on chicken thighs (see exhibits A, B, and C), this time I wanted crispy breaded chicken. I didn’t want to use bread, of course, and almond flour doesn’t quite produce the requisite level of crunch. I was planning to try crushed up plantain chips, but I couldn’t find any that were made with Whole30-friendly oil. It was in my search for plantain chips that I laid eyes on EPIC’s sea salt & pepper pork rinds.

The ingredients are Whole30-compliant, and I confirmed on the forums that if pork rinds are used in the context of a nutritious recipe and not just for mindless snacking, they’re fine. In this case, I eliminated any (convenient) snacking possibilities by smashing the rinds to smithereens while they were still in the bag.

Anyway, they make a wonderfully flavorful breading for crispy chicken, which then graces the top of this salad that’s already packed with just the right combination of sweet, spicy, crunchy, peppery, juicy, and creamy bites.

Five-Ingredient Instant Pot Carnitas

October 5, 2016 By Becky 22 Comments

These easy five-ingredient Instant Pot carnitas are tender and juicy, with a great citrusy flavor. They are wonderful over rice, in tacos, in lettuce wraps, with an egg on top, or just plain!

These slow-cooker carnitas lettuce wraps are one of my favorite dinners, and ever since getting an Instant Pot, I’ve been working on converting the carnitas recipe so it can be made more quickly. It’s not necessarily weeknight quick because it takes about an hour and a half to make, but that’s a lot less than the 8-10 hour slow-cooking time. This is perfect for whipping up on a weekend afternoon to have a stockpile of delicious meat for the days ahead.

To make this recipe extra easy, I’ve streamlined the ingredients list. You only need five things (not counting salt, pepper, and water). Also, this recipe is made start to finish in the Instant Pot, without any broiling at the end or any other dirty pans.

Carnitas are traditionally made on the stovetop like this, where they cook low and slow, often with spices and citrus juices. Eventually, all of the juices cook off, and the carnitas begin to caramelize and crisp up a little in the dry pan.

When I make carnitas in my crockpot, I have to discard most of the juices and broil the carnitas after slow cooking to crisp them up and get that characteristic carnitas texture. With the Instant Pot’s sauté feature, though, I can cook off all of the liquid pretty quickly without using more than one pot. That means Instant Pot carnitas are just as easy as the original stovetop version, but much quicker.

Grapefruit Jalapeño Margaritas

April 26, 2016 By Becky 10 Comments

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Grapefruit jalapeño margaritas sweetened with honey are perfect for Cinco de Mayo! Tequila quickly infused with jalapeños gives these just the right amount of kick.

How do you feel about spicy cocktails? I’m pretty much obsessed, and these grapefruit jalapeño margaritas are my current drink of choice. I hope this doesn’t make me sound insufferably picky, but I’m starting to feel the same way about non-spicy cocktails that I feel about non-salted desserts. If my sweets are not salted or my cocktail doesn’t pack a punch, I’d almost rather go without. The depth of flavor that the jalapeños give these margaritas really makes them for me.

That being said, I aim to please, and you can definitely skip the chiles and just make a delicious grapefruit margarita if spicy drinks are not your thing. It’s easy to make some margaritas spicy and some not according to each person’s tastes. Ben took a sip of my spicy margarita and declared it “interesting”, but preferred the plain grapefruit ones I made per his request.

The inspiration for these grapefruit jalapeño margaritas comes from my friend Lauren, who shares amazing gluten-free recipes over at Wicked Spatula and has quite an impressive array of creative margaritas. If you read my site often, you may remember that we swapped guest posts back in the fall. Last weekend, we met in real life for the first time! Lauren lives about a three-hour drive from me, and we decided to meet up at her place and road trip together all the way up to Pittsburgh to go to a workshop led by Jessica Merchant of How Sweet Eats.

Smashed Potatoes with Hatch Chile Tomatillo Crema

September 11, 2015 By Becky 25 Comments

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Smashed Potatoes with Hatch Chile Tomatillo Crema | acalculatedwhisk.com

These crispy smashed potatoes served with an addictive hatch chile tomatillo crema are perfect for game time or anytime. The recipe is grain free and there’s a paleo vegan version, too!

Have you ever smashed a potato? If not, you’re missing out. It’s an easy and fun way to get roasted potatoes that are actually crispy, and shaped like beautifully abstract flowers to boot.I saw this smashed potatoes idea over on Oh She Glows about a year ago, pinned it enthusiastically, thought about it often, and didn’t actually try it until last week. That’s one of the perils of reading as many food blogs as I do: there are so many great recipes to try, and so little time!

These smashed potatoes are going into the regular rotation, though. I’m going to offer a brief explanation of why they’re better than plain old roasted potatoes (which are pretty delicious to begin with). When you roast whole small potatoes, only a very small portion of their surface area comes into contact with the hot pan below, and they don’t have any jagged edges elsewhere to crisp up. Thus, it’s really only a tiny spot on the bottom that becomes sufficiently crunchy.

Watermelon Raspberry Agua Fresca

May 14, 2015 By Becky 12 Comments

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Watermelon Raspberry Agua Fresca | acalculatedwhisk.com

I “graduated” from my master’s program on Monday. We all walked across the stage, shook the provost’s hand, and got our picture taken with a little rolled up “diploma” that, when opened, basically congratulated us on having ALMOST finished our degrees. Even though the speech-language pathology program goes through August, my school only has one graduation ceremony a year, which means we all walk before taking our comprehensive exams and before our final semester has even begun.

Although it was, as my classmates are calling it, a “frauduation”, I deemed it cause for an actual celebration.

And what better way to celebrate than with a refreshing drink?

This agua fresca is so easy to make, but its unique color and flavor make it feel special. Agua fresca is often made with just watermelon, but I added raspberries here, too, to amp up the flavor and deepen the hue. The cool, sweet watermelon and tart raspberries make a great pair.

Grilled Adobo Chicken & Sweet Potato Bowls with Jicama Guacamole

April 22, 2015 By Becky 8 Comments

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I have a bone to pick with boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

I mean, there aren’t any actual bones in there to pick, but I’m trying to say I have a problem with them. Ninety percent of the time I eat boneless, skinless chicken breasts, they’re no good! Dry, flavorless, and boring. One hundred percent of the time, I would much prefer chicken thighs.

(Side note: Back when I was a kid and McDonald’s still used dark meat in some of their chicken nuggets, I would refuse to eat the white meat ones. I would actually take a bite out of each nugget to check and only eat the ones that passed muster, which was usually 2-3 per order. I was a super fun kid. Thanks, Mom, for putting up with me!)

Anyway, chicken thighs are one of my go-tos (and luckily, McDonald’s chicken nuggets no longer are). I love bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs for pan-searing and roasting or braising. I am even willing to go to the trouble of deboning thighs myself to make Nom Nom Paleo’s amazing cracklin’ chicken. And I love boneless, skinless chicken thighs for grilling and making curries. They’re moister and more flavorful than breasts, and won’t dry out even if you overcook them slightly. I’m super paranoid about making sure my poultry is fully cooked, so I like that extra flexibility.

Mexican Almond Pulp Brownies

February 20, 2015 By Becky 12 Comments

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Mexican Almond Pulp Brownies | acalculatedwhisk.com

These grain-free, paleo-friendly Mexican almond pulp brownies are a delicious way to use up almond pulp and satisfy chocolate cravings at the same time.

Have you tried making your own almond milk? It’s really good, and nothing like the store-bought kind. I like to put it in my coffee, add it to smoothies, or just drink it plain, alongside a delicious paleo baked good. (If you’re not a fan of almonds, you can follow the same steps to make milk using pecans instead! If I had to choose my favorite between almond milk and pecan milk, I would have a hard time).

So, if you have made your own nut milk, then you know about the pulp problem. After squeezing the last vestiges of creamy milk out of the cheesecloth or nut milk bag, you’re left with a bunch of pulp.

It’s sad to just throw it away. Especially when you could use it to make brownies instead!

These Mexican almond pulp brownies are adapted from a brilliant recipe by Alanna of The Bojon Gourmet. (Alanna takes some of the most gorgeous food photos out there, so if you haven’t visited her site, be prepared to want to make every single thing.) My version gets its unique flavor from a teaspoon of cinnamon and a dash of cayenne pepper. The result is like a Mexican hot chocolate in brownie form.

Pico de gallo de frutas

May 2, 2014 By Becky 4 Comments

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This pico de gallo de frutas is a spicy take on fruit salad that is paleo, gluten free, and vegan. It’s perfect for Cinco de mayo or anytime!

After I graduated from college, I moved to Houston and became a bilingual teacher. I had the most amazing group of students, and was lucky enough to be their teacher for three years in a row: kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. We spoke Spanish almost all day, except for an hour or so of ESL. Their kindergarten year was my first year of teaching, as well as my first year living far away from home. While those things made it a difficult year for me, my kids and their families were absolutely fabulous. A lot of people may say this, but I truly think I could not have asked for a better group of students. They worked as a team almost from the beginning–embracing me, each other, and all the new students that trickled in (and sometimes out, and sometimes back again) over the course of our three years together. They were unbelievably kind, patient, tolerant, bright, and hilarious.

At the end of three years, I had learned a huge amount of Spanish (I had thought I was fluent before taking the job, but the Spanish spoken in Texas is so different from what I’d practiced while studying abroad in Argentina that I had to learn new words for much of what I wanted to say). Most of them had learned a huge amount of English, and had learned to read in both languages. I had also learned so much about teaching, about children and families, and about life. I know that sounds very expansive, but it was a foundational experience for me, and I think of those kids and their families almost everyday. Shockingly (to me, because it makes me feel so old), they’re in middle school now, and I’m happy to still be in touch with several of them.