Ultimate Tex-Mex Tater Soup

There's nothing more comforting than a big bowl of flavor-packed and slightly spicy soup on a cold evening (well, in summer too in our house!), and this Tex-Mex Tater Soup is sure to please any soup lover.

Mexican Chicken and Rice

Mexican-styled baked chicken breasts and spicy rice is an easy and healthy meal, perfect for those busy weeknights. 

Cheesy Chicken Tortilla Soup

Cheese, Chicken, Spice, and a bit of crunch. This soup is jam packed full of deliciousness!

Chicken and Jalapeno Quesadillas

I'm all for super quick dinners during the week when, let's face it, no one really wants to come home only to have to cook a long and complicated meal. We all still want to have a meal that is packed full of fresh, tasty ingredients and quesadillas really fit this bill nicely.

This entire meal, from quesadilla to rice, took around 30 minutes to get on the table. I paired my chicken and jalapeno quesadilla with Jalapeno Rice from Kecias Flavor Breakthrough. Kecia is the master at all things rice and this dish was simple, took very little hands on time, and was the perfect complement to the quesadilla.

Chili Chicken and Jalapeno Burritos and Spicy Rice

There is s much you can do with burritos. My favorite way to make them is with a spicy chicken filling. They are also super easy too!

The jalapenos in both the burritos and rice bring the two parts of the meal together and lend a fantastic degree of spice to the dish.

It's super hard to find fresh jalapenos here in New Zealand. I can only ever manage to find them on the very odd occasion in supermarkets so when I can't get them fresh I go for Old El Paso Jalapenos and they work perfectly as a substitute. I used them here!

Chili Chicken and Jalapeno Burritos with Spicy Rice

Serves 4

Burritos:

400 g (14 oz) boneless, skinless chicken breast. Cooked and shredded

400 g (14 oz) tin diced tomatoes

1/4 Cup sriracha sauce

1 Jalapeno pepper, diced

4 Jumbo tortillas

1/2 Cup grated cheese

Light sour cream to serve

Spicy Rice:

1 onion, diced

1 Jalapeno, diced

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cumin

1/8 tsp chili powder

2 Cups long grain rice, rinsed

400 g (14 oz) tin diced tomatoes

2 Cups chicken stock

1. To make to burritos,  combine the chicken, tomatoes, sriracha, and jalapeno together in a mixing bowl. Spread 1/4 of the mixture into the center of each tortilla. Wrap, sprinkle the top with cheese and bake at 200C (400F) for 20 minutes.

2. To make the rice: Heat a dash of oil in a large saucepan. Fry the onion, jalapeno, garlic, salt, cumin, chili powder, and rice for two minutes. Add the tomatoes and chicken stock and simmer until all liquid is absorbed (15 or so minutes)

3. Serve Burritos over rice and topped with light sour cream. 

Beef Nachos

Not only are nachos delicious, but they make a great quick and easy lunch or dinner. The key to a good nacho recipe is a great chili, and here is mine. I hope you will like it as much as I do! There is also a whole heap of different ways to use up the left overs too!

Beef Nachos

Serves 4

500 g beef mince
1 onion, finely diced
400 g can of tomatoes
400 g can red kidney beans, drained.
3 Tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp Cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp dried chilli flakes
1 tsp garlic powder
1 bag corn chips
8 Tbsp light sour cream
1/2 Cup grated cheese
2 Spring onions (scallions), chopped.


1. Heat a dash of oil in a large fry pan (medium heat). Add the beef and onion and fry until the mince is browned. Add the tomatoes, kidney beans, tomato paste, and the spices and stir well to combine.

2. Bring to a simmer and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the beef is cooked and the sauce is nice and thick.

3. Serve over corn chips, topped with grated cheese, sour cream, and spring onion.

Mexican Tortilla Stack

Here's a twist on both a lasagna and burritos. Using beef mince, beans, and vegetables and layering with flour tortillas to make a sort of Mexican Lasagna.

Mexican Tortilla Stack

Serves 4 - 6

500 g Beef mince
1 Onion, finely diced
1 red chilli, finely chopped (de-seeded if you like it more mild)
400 g can of chopped tomatoes
400 g can of red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
salt and pepper
4 flour tortillas (I used high fiber wholemeal)
1/2 Cup grated cheese (I used Edam)

To serve:

Light sour cream
Spring (green) onion, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Heat a dash of oil in a large frying pan. Add the minced beef, onion, and chilli and fry until meat is browned and onion is transparent.

2. Add the tomatoes and kidney beans, bring to the boil, reduce heat to a simmer and simmer until the mixture thickens (about ten minutes). Season with salt and pepper.

3. Place a tortilla into the base of a 20 cm spring-form can tin. Top with one third of the beef mixture. Place another tortilla in the tin, followed by the next third of the beef mixture, then another tortilla, then the last of the beef, and finally another tortilla.

4. Spread cheese over top of the top tortilla and place in the oven. Cook for about 15-20 minutes, until the top is golden.

5. Serve topped with light sour cream and chopped spring onion.

Mexican Beef Quinoa

Quinoa (keen-wah, I said it wrong for SO long so it's OK for you to admit it too!) is a grain of exceptionally high nutritional value, so much so that last year the UN declared 2013 as "International year of quinoa." It contains antioxidants, anti-inflammatries, beneficial fats, it's high in fibre, zinc, folate, amino acids.. the list goes on. 

Quinoa is very versatile. It can be used in both sweet and savory dishes, in breakfasts (see my quinoa and chia granola), lunches, and dinners.

I wanted to do something a little bit different with quinoa. Most of the time, when you see quinoa in savory dishes it's in a salad of some kind, I wanted to use it in the way you would expect to use rice. This was a really easy dish to put together as well as it all just went into one pan.

Mexican Beef Quinoa

Serves 4

400 g beef mince
3 cloves garlic, finely grated or crushed
1 onion, finely diced
1 red chilli, de-seeded and finely diced
1 Cup uncooked, rinsed quinoa
1 1/2 Cups beef stock
400 g can diced tomatoes
400 g can red kidney beans, drained
Salt and Pepper
2 Spring onions, sliced


1. Heat a dash of oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the beef and brown, add garlic, onion, and chilli and cook for about 3 minutes.

2. Stir in the quinoa, stock, tomatoes, and beans. Bring to a boil, lower heat to a simmer, cover and simmer for 30 minutes, until most of the liquid is absorbed and the quinoa is cooked.

3. Season with salt and pepper, serve topped with spring onion, and cheese and sour cream if desired.