The Story

Mexico! So many memories but most recently, we went to Puerto Vallarta for 11 days during our parental leave for Andrew. We stayed at the Buenaventura Grand, an all-inclusive hotel, and we had a blast. (Read more on our trip to Puerto Vallarta and things to do and avoid here!) No cleaning or cooking for 11 days with a newborn and a toddler? Priceless. AND the pool, beach and nightly entertainment were available just an elevator trip away. A friend of mine also made me realize that staying here is actually cheaper than our mortgage for our San Francisco 2 bedroom condo. Sad realization but so true.

We had chilaquiles every morning at our breakfast buffet at the hotel, which was delicious and we preferred eating here more than many of the restaurants we actually ate in town! Now that I made it on my own, I appreciate it even more, because I got to eat it (and no dishes after) without any effort.

For this, I used this recipe by Mexico in My Kitchen.

Utensils and Ingredients We Didn’t Have

  • Time to make salsa verde – we used  Casa Sanchez Roasted Salsa Verde. Our favorite!
  • Fresh Epazote leaves – I used dried epazote leaves luckily found at Spice Ace here in San Francisco. I have a feeling I will be visiting this store a lot in this journey!
  • Homemade Shredded Chicken – Used rotisserie chicken. Didn’t have time to cook from scratch!
  • Mexican cream – I could only get creme fresh at our local grocery store, so I used that, but it’s definitely different! I feel like the creme fresh was a bit thicker and it didn’t spread nicely on this dish.
  • Onion – I only realized while I was writing this that the recipe called for 2 slices of onion. Like I wrote below, crazy night.

Reviews

Emily (aka mama/mommy) – The Chef

Tonight was crazy trying to do double bedtime on my own and make this dish, and trying to take pictures of food, etc. Henry was losing it most of the time. Which made me lose it, a lot. Realized I can’t do it all by myself and nights when I know I will be alone, I need to make it a takeout or pasta night and not try to make something new – even if this was the easiest thing to make!! So easy. Now that I know, and won’t have to take fancy food pictures, I will make it again on a chaos night. I made a salad and had the chicken and egg part. So good.  

Tony  (aka dada) – Really Nice Taste Tester aka Husband of the Year

He had his reheated after a night time meeting. I was too exhausted to ask how it was, but I know he mentioned multiple times how good it was.

Henry – The tired cranky toddler (for tonight)

He was a mess when I tried to sit him down for dinner. Did not like that I was trying to put Andrew down for bed and he couldn’t be involved. He didn’t want to eat, but he took a bite of the chip that I set aside without sauce. He also ate some queso fresco. He liked it but he was fighting me on everything so hence the crying face. He didn’t touch the fancy 1 chip chilaquiles I made just for him. He ate some avocados (his go-to every meal) way later before bed. So he can delay his bedtime. His favorite trick. 🙂

Andrew – Sleeping Baby (We just couldn’t get it together before bedtime)

Zzzz… 

Chippy – Our cutest vacuum cleaner 

Got to enjoy the skin of the rotisserie chicken!  

 

Are you from Mexico or have you made this before? What do you think? Do you think this was made authentically? Or did I miss a key ingredient/utensil?