Super Bowl Sunday Fiesta!

In honor of the Super Bowl tonight, my best friend is hosting a small get-together, she's doing fajitas and since I've been lucky enough to get to review a forthcoming cookbook featuring Tex-Mex, I offered to do some sides/appetizer dishes...I was asked to test and blog about some recipes from the upcoming cookbook "Foods and Flavors of San Antonio" - I am thrilled about this as it's a book full of some of my favorite cuisine. Today I'm posting two of the items from this book and two items from me/my family.

First off, a delicious Black Bean Caviar featured in the "Foods and Flavors of San Antonio," some of you may be familiar with Texas Caviar, a very similar item made with black-eyed peas instead of the black beans found in this dish.

"Foods and Flavors of San Antonio" Black Bean Caviar:

2 15oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 10oz can diced tomatoes and green chiles, drained
1 garlic clove, minced
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lime juice
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1 8oz package cream cheese, softened
3 green onions, chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
Tortilla Chips or crackers to serve

In a medium bowl, combine the black beans, tomatoes with green chiles, garlic, onion, olive oil, lime juice, salt and cumin. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Spread the softened cream cheese onto a serving platter. Spook the bean mixture evenly over the cream cheese.

Sprinkle the chopped green onions, tomatoes and cilantro over the top.

Serve with tortilla chips or crackers.

Serves 12.



I think this is a delicious twist on the traditional Texas Caviar that is typically served as a salad...this dip will be a perfect, slightly healthier twist on Super Bowl food than the typical Seven Layer Dip. I love the flavors in this and would like to try this as a salad, leaving out the cream cheese and adding a cup or so of sweet corn to the mix!

After putting this together I decided to try and maximize my time and whip up some flan for desert, for flan, I used my mothers recipe for Flan Napolitano, which you can find on her blog Texas To Mexico. I love custards and flan is no exception. Unfortunately because I've got to drive everything over to Jenn's house I did not want to flip the flan out of the pan before I left, therefor you'll only get photos of the flan in a pan....but it's a neat flan pan direct from Mexico (yea, I didn't know they made those until my parents moved down there).

Done, stuck the flan in the fridge and now off to make Chicken Empanadas, another tasty find in the "Foods and Flavors of San Antonio."











"Foods and Flavors of San Antonio" Chicken Empanadas:
1 15oz box refrigerated pie crusts, containing 2 11" rounds
1 cup water
1 chicken bouillon cube
1 skinless, boneless chicken breast, coarsely chopped
1 4oz package cream cheese
2 tbsp freshly chopped cilantro
4 tbsp salsa
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 medium egg, beaten
Additional salsa for serving

Remove the pie crust pouches from box. Let stand at room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes.

Heat the water and bullion cube in a saucepan to boiling. Add the chicken. Reduce the heat to simmer and cook for 10 minutes to poach. Remove the chicken to a plate and finely chop. Set aside.

Heat the cream cheese in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until melted.

Add the cilantro, salsa, cumin, salt and garlic powder. Stir until smooth.

Stir in the chicken and remove the pan from heat.

Unfold the pie crusts and remove the plastic film. Roll out slightly on a lightly floured surface. Cut into 3" rounds using a biscuit cutter. Reroll the pie crust scraps to make additional rounds.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Place about 2tsp of the chicken mixture in the center of each round. Brush the edges lightly with water. Pull one side of the dough over the filling to form a half circle. Pinch the edges to seal them or press them together with the tines of a fork.

Place the empanadas on the prepared baking sheet. Brush lightly with the beaten egg. Bake for 16 to 18 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve with salsa.

Serves 12

This was so easy and they were so tasty I will absolutely make these again...plus the look like something that took hours to make! The majority of my time was spent waiting on them to come out of the oven and I'm sure they'll be a Super Bowl Sunday hit!


My final recipe for the day (yea I feel like I'm on a roll posting yesterday's dinner today and these four items) is for a favorite twist on the margarita....ok, fair warning these are brutally strong, but man are they good!

Beer Margaritas

1 can limeade
1 12oz bottle Corona, or other light Mexican beer
Tequila, enough to fill the can of limeade
1 can Sprite, 7up, Mountain Dew or generic brand of these

Pull limeade directly from freezer, do not thaw, pour into pitcher. Pour beer and soda into pitcher as well. Fill limeade can with tequila and mix into pitcher. Enjoy!

Originally these were a joke from college for us, but frankly they are so good that my friends and I continue to make them and will for many more years I'm sure.

Just a quick word of thanks to Gloria Chadwick and her publishers for the advanced viewing copy of her cookbook, check out her blog Foods and Flavors of San Antonio for more delicious recipes and check out her upcoming cookbook! Enjoy Super Bowl Sunday!