When I was 18 my friends and I used to sneak off to Mexico.
Okay, for the life of me, I can’t remember if I told my parents I was going off to Mexico with Jenn or not. On one hand I was not a teenager who lied to her parents, ever. On the other hand, why would my parents let me go to Mexico for the weekend with a bunch of friends? Of course thirteen years ago Mexico was a safer place. I mean a little safer. I can recall driving through the border check points and seeing Mexican Federales with machine guns. It was a little shocking. I feel so blessed I was able to spend so much time South of the Border in my youth. I would love to go back to Mexico now, but I kind of doubt it will ever happen what with the drugs, the violence, etc.
When I say Mexico, I actually mean Baja. My BFF in high school Jenn would invite all our friends down to the family beach houses in between Rosarito and Ensenita. When I say invite, I mean Jenn would pilfer the beach house keys from her Grandpa, we would lie to Jenn’s mom, and make a run for the border. Just because I never lied to my mom, did not mean I never lied to Jenn’s mom. I did not grow up in a Mormon household like Jenn, with all the strict guidelines she had to follow.
Every six months or so we would pile all our friends in a few cars and caravan down the mountain and through San Diego county, crossing the border and speeding through the hell hole that is Tijuana. As we sped past the shacks that served as home to millions of people living in a poverty we could not even imagine, we felt so blessed to be US citizens and not residents of this third world country. When we crossed the extremely smelly Tijuana River and saw the Pacific Ocean on the right as we sped up the toll road, one of many crazy Mexico vacations began.
The next few days would surely hold days worth of illegal fireworks, jelly fish stinging adventures, drinking margaritas legally (It was the law in Mexico, you only had to be eighteen!) and running into friends from church in Ensenita (it happened every damn time, I swear!)
When we were not “in town” having these adventures I was whipping up my signature Enchiladas in the beach house kitchen.
Los Olas Enchiladas
1 cup chicken, cooked and shredded
1 package corn tortillas
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 bottle TJ’s enchiladas sauce
1 cup sour cream
1 cup corn
2 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated
Fry the tortillas in the coconut oil and cut into bite size pieces. Layer the chicken, tortillas, sour cream and corn. Put the cheese on top, than add the olives and green onions.
Bake at 375 for twenty five minutes.
Turkey Taco Salad
turkey taco seasoning
ground turkey
corn
Cook the turkey, add the corn and seasoning.
Put all these different toppings in bowls on the counter so everyone can make their own salad
sour cream
smoked cheddar cheese
pepper jack cheese
avocado
romaine
cilantro
Corn Salsa
corn on the cob, grilled
lime juice
red onion, diced
cilantro
sea salt
chili powder
Cut the cooled corn off the husk, mix all ingredients