It’s been awhile since I’ve posted under the ‘Mommy: Just showing some baby love’ section of this blog. I pretty much suck at scrap books and remembering to videotape, so recording memories from my kids’ childhood is really one of the main reasons I have this blog in the first place. Well…just below that time Hint water sponsored Carlitos’ birthday party and the excitement of visiting California for BlogHer. Okay, let’s be honest, recording their experiences is tied for third with ‘holding onto the last threads of my sanity by having some sort of outlet.’
In any event, I have combined some photos that overflow with their cuteness (in my personal, non-biased opinion) with a few pointers on how to best use any leftovers from giant Mexican feasts you may throw.
Before I get to the boys, let me just say that I firmly believe that Mexican food makes for the BEST ‘leftovers turned breakfast.’ The only thing I really added was scrambled eggs and suddenly it went from cena to desayuno. Magic!
Carlitos has a weird doubtful look on his face but I assure you he devoured that whole plate. Oh, I forgot to mention that coffee and juice help turn this meal magically into breakfast the next day. Throw some cinnamon in that coffee and you are practically eligible for a Mexican passport.
And now, Xavi will show you how to correctly eat a taco. Because dude, if a 2-year-old can do it, you can too! For this tutorial, he chose an egg, queso fresco, huitlacoche, avocado combo.
Fold up your tortilla sides…
And then eat the insides with your hands? I was certain you were supposed to leave it rolled up and take a bite of the whole thing. I guess Xavi is trying to teach us that there are no rules when it comes to tacos, or Mexican food, or, well, food in general. Just enjoy it.
Showing me their favorite part of the cactus salad: The cactus. Who’d a thunk it. Sometimes, when getting your kid to eat their veggies, the more worm-shaped, the better.
The only downside of turning your giant dinner into a giant breakfast? Doing TWO huge clean-ups in less than 12 hours. On days like this, Tupperware instead of serving plates and a few Solo cups instead of ceramic ones kind of save me, even if it isn’t so elegant.
Another tip? The more that gets eaten…the less you have to put away again afterward. Luckily, getting your family to gorge themselves on a breakfast this yummy shouldn’t be too tricky.
Enjoy!
Your kids eat very well. Mine (especially C) are more of the “don’t let the different types of foods touch each other on the plate” kind of eaters. Even a bell pepper is slightly exotic to them, sadly.
Where do you get your tortillas? I had fresh tortillas when we were in Mexico, and they are an entirely different substance than the stuff you can buy in the stores around us. The local grocery store’s corn tortillas that I bought recently had a sell-by date of mid-July. The tortillas in Mexico lost their flavor after a few hours and were hard as cardboard after a day. There’s something wrong here…
The really do eat really well! Both of my kids would cry and scream “No!!” if I presented them with that delicious breakfast.
Zoe – Excellent point regarding the tortillas! Even at authentic Mexican restaurants here I never find tortillas that taste quite as amazing as in Mexico. I’ve also never had pizza quite as perfectly delicious here as in Rome, so part of it is just how it goes.
I would suggest a tortilleria, but when I googled one in Brooklyn exactly TWO came up:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/tortilleria-mexicana-los-hermanos-brooklyn
http://www.tortilleriachinantla.com/
While I haven’t been to either, we HAVE been to the well-known one in Queens (that is very close to the NY Hall of Science). We weren’t actually super wowed, to be candid; Despite it’s cool tortilla making machine in the middle of the space and a photo of that spiky haired Diners, Drive-ins and Dives dude on the wall, we weren’t enthralled with their tacos, nor the tortillas they arrived in. But here’s their site to check for yourself:
http://www.tortillerianixtamal.com/
For our Mexican feast the other night, Paola brought tortillas from Mexico 2000 (linked to in the post), which I just noticed were actually made at Tortilleria Chinantla (linked to above). They were good. Better than what you can find at Fairway, but nothing like what you can find south of the border.
For full, FULL disclosure, we also used these tortillas I found on FreshDirect that actually taste the closest to the thick, homemade-by-little-old-ladies variety found often in breakfast tacos and ‘quesadillas’ eaten in Mexico. (Quotations used to accentuate difference between quesadillas in Mexico and here: two different breeds. I’ll let you guess which one is yummier.) My husband and Paola agreed that they were the closest they had tasted to the plump Mexican type, BUT these are made with a corn wheat combo. Strange.
http://www.latortillafactory.com/products-8.aspx
Okay, so you tricked me into writing a secondary full-length post in the comment section!
Carly – Well, part of it is probably that my kids are half Latin and have therefore been fed foods that some would consider ‘exotic’ since birth. They have a grandmother from Panama, a grandfather from Mexico, a great-grandmother from Mexico and even a mom that loves to learn all family recipes (including from her husband’s side of the family) so they were eating queso fresco and avocado long before peanut butter.
The other part is honestly that 95% of the time I make one meal for the whole family and that’s that. Unless the adults are having a salad, in which case, I still serve that to the boys, but also give them pasta or rice or meat or something. Or unless a babysitter is here and makes them mac n’ cheese with some type of vegetable and meat mixed in, which I have discussed before. 😉
I have seen these kids grow up and I think it’s great that you make them at least try everything…even if it is a little “pica” or spicy : ) I remember I was introduced to a wide variety of foods as a kid and it’s made things a lot easier. I am not a picky eater so as an adult it’s very easy to go out to different resteraunts or eat with fiends that have different tastes because I’m willing to try a variety of foods. I think it’s great to diversify your kids’ diet. Cute pictures too!
Thanks, Emily! We have recently had to come up with an arbitrary rule: You are not allowed to ‘not eat’ more than 3 items; if you try to do so, you will be sent back to Start and will have to eat ALL foods.
This was due to Carlitos trying adding black beans to his list of things he won’t eat (avocado, hard boiled egg centers). He’s cut off. 😉
Variety is the spice of life, my dear! I agree! It ain’t a cliche for nothin.