So Tasty

I was a busy little bee last night! I was really craving some fajitas, but was sick of the way I ALWAYS make them, so I decided to do a few things differently. Here's my recipe for Open-Faced Steak Fajitas, or Tostadas, if you prefer that:

-1 lb. steak, cut into strips

-1/3 cup oil (I used vegetable oil)

-juice of 1 lime

-2 to 3 cloves of garlic

-salt and pepper

-1 bell pepper (I used 1/2 orange bell pepper, and 1/2 of a red one)

-1 onion, half of it sliced into strips, the other half roughly chopped

-1/3 cup vegetable oil

-1 can of refried beans (yes, I was lazy on this one)

-3/4 cup shredded cheese

-1/3 cup sour cream

-1 avocado

-1 tomato, cut into 1/4" pieces

-6 to 8 small flour tortillas

-1/3 cup vegetable oil.

To marinade the steak, combine the steak, oil, lime juice, salt and pepper in a medium bowl and cover. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours, allowing juices to soak into meat. Once finished marinading, simmer the whole bowl of ingredients over medium heat until you reach your desired doneness (I like mine a bit on the rare side).

In a separate saucepan, heat refried beans over low heat until they get smooth and creamy.

In a separate small skillet, heat the oil for the bell pepper and onion strips. Cook over low to medium heat until soft, but not burnt.

To make the guacamole, in a small bowl mash the avocado. Add chopped onion and tomato and mix well until smooth.

In another small skillet, heat vegetable oil over low to medium heat until a small droplet of water causes it to spit. Using tongs, place one tortilla at a time and fold over into a shell, or leave flat like I did. These cook really fast, about 15-20 seconds per side, so keep an eye out for burning. Cool on a plate with a paper towel to drain excess oil.

To assemble: Top tortilla with cheese, steak, beans, veggies, guacamole, sour cream and a bit more cheese and tomatos.

These were quite messy to eat, but sooooo good. I was really full afterwards. Almost to full for...

Flan!

I love flan, it's just so sweet and caramelly, yum! Here's the recipe I used that I got from my mom:

Ingredients:

-1/3 cup sugar

-4 eggs

-1/2 cup sugar

-2 cups milk

-Cinnamon stick

-3/4 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350F. In a small saucepan, over low heat, warm 1/3 cup sugar until it starts to melt and become runny (don't be afraid if there are a few leftover lumps of sugar, those will melt in the oven). Pour caramel into a 9" round glass pie dish (or other pan if you prefer) and coat as much as possible before it begins to crystallize.

In a large bowl, stir 1/2 cup sugar into eggs slowly. On the stovetop, steep the cinnamon stick in the milk and simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove the cinnamon stick and add the hot milk to the eggs and sugar and add the vanilla (I used the Mexican vanilla I got on my vacation, yay!). Pour mixture into prepared dish. Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean (I'll admit, mine need to cook a bit longer). Another note: you might want to bake yours in a bain marie (water bath, about a half inch of water on a cookie sheet) to ensure even heating.

Once done baking, let cool in your fridge for about 6 hours or until it's nice and Jell-o like. To remove from pan, take a nice and sliced around the outer edges, place a plate on top of the dish and carefully flip over. Pour whatever caramel is leftover in the dish on top of the flan, and garnish as you like.

I'll admit, mine turned out a bit on the eggy side. I think I may have beaten the hell out of my eggs too much before baking, because I could really taste the eggs. I'm not used to making flan without sweetened condensed milk, so maybe I'll go back to that. Also, I won't use fat free milk next time either. Whole milk would have worked out much better, but overall, it was still a nice sweet treat after dinner. The caramel came out lovely, I could drink that stuff!!

Thanks for reading, folks!

~Mehgan~