Mexican it up

My dinner the other night got a nine.. The recipe was just called “Cheesy Beans and Rice.” How could such a simple dish get such a stellar rating? I’ll tell you the secret to giving any food, entrée or meal a boost—Mexican it up!

The recipe called for red beans, white rice, tomatoes and cheese.

I subbed all that for black beans, brown rice, Rotel and shredded Mexican cheese. And of course I added Cumin (even though it smells like body odor). That is the most important part of Mexicaning something up—the Cumin. And if you like your Mexican food hot, you gotta add crushed red pepper.

Other ingredients that are great for Mexicaning things up include avocado, salsa, peppers, sour cream, crushed up Tostitos. Mexican food has the best ingredients! Just think of all the kinds of foods that are better when you Mexican them:

Lasagna becomes Mexican lasagna.
Pizza becomes Mexican pizza.
A regular salad becomes a taco salad.
A sandwich becomes a Mexican sandwich (by wrapping it in a tortilla)


And cheesy beans and rice becomes “Elsa’s Mexican cheesy beans and rice.”

Trust me. You could improve your food by at least two, sometimes up to three rating points by Mexicaning it up. I shared this theory with Frank on the night I received the nine:

“Everything is better when it’s Mexican,” I said. “Pizza, lasagna, salads…”

“Dogs,” he added.

“Huh?”

“You know, like Chihuahuas.”


Okay, so that wasn’t exactly where I was going with that but that did give me a good idea: Mexican hot dogs! You take a hot dog, wrap it in a tortilla, add salsa, sour cream and avocado. Yum!

That’s it. I’ve decided that Mexican people are brilliant. Not only did they invent all this great food but they also came up with margaritas and siestas. We’ll forgive them for the Macarena.