- 3 months ago
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00:00Here's what's happening on the ranch. It's fiesta time and I'm making a delicious spread
00:08for a fun get-together. There's stunning spicy Tex-Mex chicken that's slow cooked and shredded
00:14and perfect with fun fixin's, pico, pickled onions, and cotija cheese all piled into incredible tacos.
00:21On the side I'm making my take on beautiful charro style beans that are a real crowd pleaser and
00:28there's totally over-the-top loaded and I mean loaded guacamole with so much good stuff in it
00:34and on it. I'm having all of those on my plate. Then finally an incredible purple fruit syrup stars
00:42in fabulous frozen blueberry peach margaritas in a fruity spin on an all-time favorite cocktail.
00:49Join me for my fiesta feast. I am excited because I have friends coming over for dinner later
00:56and I'm going with the safe and popular choice of a Tex-Mex spread and I'm starting with a low
01:04and slow recipe spicy Tex-Mex chicken. It's going to be the star of a taco bar and I'm cooking it in
01:12the slow cooker just to give me one less thing to do at the last minute. I added the chicken to the
01:18slow cooker first and I use boneless skinless chicken thighs which is always my favorite cut
01:23of chicken. And then I have a whole bunch of things to add to the slow cooker. Some red enchilada sauce
01:30and a can of diced tomatoes and green chilies. It is a staple. And a small can of just chilies
01:40just to kind of drive home that green chili point. And then I have a couple of chipotle peppers that I'll
01:47grab out of this can and I'll add those and I'll make sure to get some of the adobo sauce from the
01:54can as well. Chipotle peppers are amazing. They're smoky, they're spicy, but they're not overpowering. So I
02:02love adding them to like stewed chicken and soups. It adds so much great flavor. And then chili powder,
02:10about a tablespoon or so. And cumin. I seem to always use chili powder and cumin together,
02:18whether I'm making chili or Tex-Mex chicken or lots of soups and stews. And plenty of salt and pepper.
02:27Have I ever told you my strongly held belief about slow cooker recipes? To me it defeats the purpose if
02:36you have to brown something before you add it to the slow cooker. So almost across the board the
02:43recipes that I cook in a slow cooker are basically throw it all in and turn it on. You'll notice I
02:50didn't sear the chicken or brown it. To me I just feel like that defeats the purpose. This is really
02:56the perfect amount of chicken for my friends who are coming over. But honestly you could double or
03:02possibly triple the amounts I just added to the slow cooker and wind up with a big bunch of chicken.
03:09Whether you're having a bunch of people over or whether you want to freeze some of it for later.
03:13And this chicken once it's shredded and back in the juice is perfect for so many things. Tacos as I'm
03:22serving. Nachos. You could put the chicken inside enchiladas and make chicken enchiladas. It is just one of
03:30those recipes that is perfect every time. Okay now the lid goes on and I'm going to cook this chicken
03:37for three hours on high and it's so nice to get that started early. So when friends come over you
03:44got to have drinks so I'm going to make margaritas and I'm going to take the frozen root. I'm going to
03:50make blueberry peach margaritas. I love these. It's such a perfect balance between the blueberries and the
03:57peaches. It's cool and refreshing and always scrumptious. I'm going to make the syrup because that is
04:04something you can easily make ahead of time. I used frozen blueberries and I'm also doing frozen peaches
04:12and then some regular sugar and I'll add lime juice and lime zest. Margarita syrup is such a great thing to make
04:24before you have friends over for a Tex-Mex spread and in fact this syrup could be made one or two days
04:32ahead of time and just kept in the fridge. And I think what I love about it is that there is no limit
04:38to the combinations of fruit. I have done raspberries mixed with peaches. I've done an all mixed berry
04:45version. Any kind of fruit you can imagine would be great in a frozen margarita. Here are just a couple
04:51of ideas. I am a huge fan of salted melon margaritas where you just throw two cups of cubed cantaloupe
04:59into a blender along with the juice of two limes, a third a cup of agave for a little sweetness,
05:06a pinch of flaky sea salt and blend it until everything is combined. Then you pour the cocktail
05:13base into a fine mesh strainer over a bowl, strain it through the sieve, push it through slightly to get
05:20all the juice and then you chill it. After that add tequila and orange liqueur, mix everything together
05:27and pour the margarita into a rimmed glass. And once I made blackberry lime margaritas. First I made a
05:34fruit syrup with half a cup of sugar, half a cup of water and the zest and juice of an orange. I heated it
05:42until the sugar dissolved then let it cool. Next I put frozen blackberries in the blender with lime juice,
05:49the orange simple syrup, blitzed it and poured it into an ice tray all ready to freeze. When it was
05:55cocktail time, I threw four of the frozen margarita cubes into the blender with two ounces of silver
06:02tequila, a cup of ice and blended it to frozen deliciousness. Then I poured it into a sugar rimmed
06:09glass and garnished it with blackberries and lime. It was so good and speaking of good, back to the
06:16blueberry peach margarita. Okay and then the zest. And it's so easy because if you use frozen fruit you
06:26can make them all year round. You don't have to wait for blueberry or peach season. Okay I got all of
06:32that mixed together and now I actually need to cook this so I can turn it into a syrup. So it goes on the
06:41cooktop and I'll turn it to about medium high and I'll just cook it until all the fruit breaks down
06:49and it turns into a thick mixture and then I'll strain it, chill it and it'll be all ready for
06:54margaritas. It is so nice to have two things pretty much done already. So next up, cowboy style beans.
07:03I am getting excited for my friends to come over for Tex-Mex food tonight and I am going to make a
07:13delicious batch of charro beans to go with our taco spread. They are so flavorful and full of good
07:20stuff and they're going to be just the thing with the tacos. So I'm getting some veggies going now. I
07:26put some olive oil in the pot and added a bunch of onion and I have some jalapenos that I diced and seeded
07:36and the same with the poblano peppers. You could do colorful bell peppers if you have those on hand
07:43along with some garlic. So much flavor so far and then here we go again with chili powder
07:51and you guessed it it's BFF cumin. I really should just mix cumin and chili powder in one big vat. I use
08:00them together all the time. All right I'm also going to add plenty of salt and pepper. I'm making a lot of
08:09beans. I can always season more later if I need to but it's good to have a salty start. And then I'll stir
08:18this mixture around and let it heat up and let those flavors develop especially the spices. Oh what a
08:26great mixture. I'm going to crank up that heat a little bit. And while the veggies start to cook
08:31I'm going to drain the beans. I have been soaking these pinto beans. They've been soaking overnight and
08:39they've absorbed so much water. When I first put them in the bowl they were covered in water and
08:46they've just slowly absorbed them. I'm going to give them a rinse. And this is a really good way to
08:53ensure that the beans cook evenly and they don't take as long to cook if you soak them ahead of time.
08:59I also think the texture of the beans when you soak them overnight always winds up being better. They're
09:05just softer and they just seem to have a better consistency. All right I'll stir the beans in. This is
09:13getting hot in there. Now in charro beans you usually see some kind of chorizo or cubed meat. So I'm going to add
09:22cubed ham just cut into sort of a large dice. And this is a good time to add in some bay leaves. And for the liquid
09:32I'm just doing chicken stock. And I love doing this with beans. A bottle of beer. I first did this
09:43a year or two ago when I made a huge batch of beans. I actually added just as much beer as I did broth.
09:50And the flavor was so good. So now I just need to stir this. Make sure it's all mixed up.
09:58This is kind of a loaded bean dish. There's so much stuff going on. So it's a great dish to kind of clean
10:05out your produce drawer if you have some odds and ends, different colors of onions, different colors
10:12of peppers, even mini peppers that you're needing to use. You could put zucchini in there. Honestly
10:18anything goes. Just chop it up and throw it in with the onions and it'll become part of the beans.
10:25It'll actually make it even more delicious. You cannot go wrong with these beans. There is very little
10:30way you can mess them up. I think a big pot of beans is always a no-brainer, especially here on the ranch.
10:37It's just so hearty and comforting. And if you cook the beans right, it just can be such a sublime dish.
10:46Okay, I'll put the lid on the pot. I'm going to leave a little bit of a gap so it's open. And I'll bring
10:52this to a boil and then I'll reduce it to a simmer and let it cook for a good three hours. So the beans
10:58will be done right about the time the chicken is. Meantime, I'm going to go get some chores done,
11:04tidy up the house a bit, and I'll see you back here for some cooking later on.
11:12It is almost party time and I am back in the kitchen getting ready to make a batch of loaded guacamole,
11:19which I happen to be very thrilled about. I've just finished cubing four avocados. They're nice and ripe
11:27and I'll get the last into the bowl. Now first I'm going to add kind of the usual suspects that I would add
11:35no matter what kind of guacamole I am making. Lime juice, very, very important. You want to keep that avocado
11:42from turning brown. And then some garlic quite a bit and lime zest just to really brighten up the flavor.
11:52And then I'm going to go in with my big ol' fork and just mash it. I tend to like to have big chunks
12:00of avocado in my guacamole. I don't like guacamole that feels like it's been pureed in a blender.
12:07I really like mashing it by hand and leaving as many chunks as I want to. This is a loaded guacamole,
12:14so by nature it is going to be super chunky, filled with so many wonderful surprises. I like good old
12:23basic guacamole, but I also love just adding pretty much everything but the kitchen sink.
12:30All right, let me just give it a few more mashes or smushes or whatever word we're using.
12:38My gosh, look how good this looks already. Oh, I hope they serve avocado in heaven.
12:45A lot of times I'll just serve sliced or diced avocados, but for this, since I'm having friends
12:51over, I thought guacamole would be the way to go. And I'm also going to serve it with chips so they can
12:56eat it on its own with chips, or they can pile it on top of their tacos, or they can eat it with a spoon
13:03if they want to. You never know where the evening's going to go. All right, this looks fabulous.
13:08I'm going to add some salt and pepper. And then this is where the loaded guacamole comes in. I'm
13:16going to add a whole bunch of good stuff. Pickled red onion. Look how bright, beautiful, and purple
13:24that is. I'm going to add enough to really be able to be seen in the guacamole. I'm also going to add
13:32some diced tomatoes. And keep in mind that everything that's going in the guacamole is also
13:39going to go on the guacamole when I get it all mixed together. So cotija cheese, which is so wonderful
13:47and mild, and I love the consistency that it adds to the guacamole. Some mini diced serrano peppers, or
13:56you could do jalapenos, or you could even do pickled jalapenos if you want to, along with some cilantro.
14:04All righty, now I'm going to stir this. And this is only part of the loaded guacamole story. And look at
14:13how gorgeous this is. You can see those bright purple little bits of pickled red onion. I think it's so
14:22gorgeous. Okay, so that is all mixed together. Now to serve this, this is where it gets really fun.
14:30I'm going to go ahead and switch to a spoon. And I have sort of a shallow dish, and I want to get this
14:37in a big pile kind of right in the center of the dish. I like to use a shallow dish just so you can
14:44really see what's going on. All righty, so I'll kind of get it settled down. And then I'm going to create
14:52just a little bit of a well in the center because I'm going to spread on some sour cream. So you want to
15:01get this nice generous kind of cloud of sour cream right in the center. And then I'm going to go back to
15:08all the ingredients I stirred in and I'm going to sprinkle them on. So I kind of scatter more red onion
15:16around. Then back to the rest of the tomatoes. And you want to get it on the sour cream too. And then more
15:24Cotija cheese. I swear if the goal was to totally cover up all evidence of the avocado,
15:32I think we're going to accomplish that. And then some more Serrano peppers.
15:38How inviting is this though, my goodness. Nothing better.
15:45Some more cilantro. And then
15:49that's it because I'm out of ingredients. I use them all.
15:53I put it all in the loaded guacamole. I am so tempted just to go put on my comfortable clothes,
16:01curl up on the sofa, watch a bad reality show with a bag of chips and this dish. But I better not do
16:10that. My friends will wonder what's gotten into Rhee. She's not as sociable as she used to be. So I'm
16:16going to let that sit and I will go ahead and check on the chicken. And it is beyond perfect. The sauce
16:25that it cooked in is so rich. So I'm just going in with two big forks and I'll shred the chicken.
16:33You can shred it to smithereens and just make it super tiny. Or you can keep it in big chunks,
16:40depending on what you need it for. I just want to show you what this chicken looks like after it
16:45cooks. And then just look at how easily it just falls apart. And I love the chicken thighs because
16:53they stay just really nice and moist and flavorful. So I'm sort of shredding it up into big chunks.
17:01And then I'll take a few of the big chunks and shred them into fine chunks. And what's great is
17:06when you build those tacos, you get so much of this sauce. So good. Before I shred the rest of this,
17:14I better take a bite. I'm calling it entertaining quality control.
17:20All right, I better keep shredding. Oh, that's good.
17:28I've got almost everything ready for my fiesta feast with my friends and they're almost here.
17:34So this is the perfect time to whip up a batch of frozen margaritas. Are you ready? Here we go.
17:41So first ice, lots of it. I want to fill the blender, so I'll need a bunch of scoops.
17:47Now I'll add the delicious chilled blueberry peach syrup I made earlier. Oh, the color is so incredible
17:54and so festive. Now for the hard stuff, a cup of tequila. And I'm using silver tequila to keep the
18:01colors really vibrant. Then a fourth a cup of triple sec orange liqueur. And finally the juice of two
18:09fresh zingy limes. So now it's time to blend everything together. It just takes a few seconds
18:15of cocktail patience to turn these delicious ingredients into the most amazing frozen
18:21blueberry peach margarita. Then all that remains to do is take the lid off and admire it. Oh, there is no
18:29prettier color on earth. And just wait till you see this in a glass. All right, everything is officially ready.
18:35So I'm going to set it all out for my guests.
18:42Okay, the food is all laid out. It looks amazing. Everything from the shredded chicken for tacos.
18:49I've got all the fixins to make tacos, that loaded guacamole. And let's talk about these charro beans.
18:57They cooked just perfectly. And all I need to do is just garnish them with cilantro quite a bit.
19:06And then I'll save what's left and put it back on the little taco bar. Looks amazing. Now, I can't
19:14exactly build a plate until my friends get here. So let me give you a preview of what it's going to look
19:20like. First, I'll show you the fixins. Pico, pickled red onion, cotija cheese, cilantro, lime to squeeze
19:29over, and charred tortillas to fill and turn into terrific tacos. And this is how you serve. With two
19:36tacos stuffed with spicy chicken and topped with all the fixins. And of course, guacamole chips and beans.
19:44A little bit of everything. Why not? Oh man, the colors are amazing. And just wait till you taste it.
19:52So I have some little lime slices. And the first thing I'm going to do is just run a slice of lime
19:58around the inside and outside of the rim. And I have a mixture of sugar and lime zest. And so I'll just
20:09kind of set it in the sugar. I have always been a person that prefers a sugar rim on my margaritas
20:18rather than a salt rim. And I love this because you get little bits of lime zest with every sip you take.
20:26And then this beautiful proudly purple margarita. Oh goodness, I went a little overboard.
20:36Again, my friends will understand. And then I'll take another one of these little lime slices and rest it
20:43on the edge of the glass. Wow, what a treat. I'll just sit slowly until my friends get here.
20:50Cheers, friends. Here's to easy entertaining.
20:56Oh, got it on my nose. It's going to be a fun night.
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