Mexican Side Dishes

I love love love love love Mexican food. There is a restaurant in Denver that I have been going to my whole life... My mom started going there when she was in high school and there is a reason it's still around (not that you're old, mommy!). Smothered bean burritos! Green chili! Shredded beef enchiladas! Huevos rancheros! ... and don't forget the Shirley Temple. I swear, it's like root beer and pizza - shirley temples and Mexican food are the ultimate food+drink combination.

Now, it's pretty simple to whip up a mexican main dish (burritos, fajitas, tacos... same basic ingredients, just a different method of putting it all together). Side dishes, on the other hand, are easily forgotten in my experience. Here are some tried and true sides (each with three variations!) for your fiesta.

Guacamole

Ingredients:

• 2 large avocados
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• Salt/Pepper to taste
• 1/4 tsp. dried thyme

Directions:
Halve the avocados, toss the pit, mash with remaining ingredients in a bowl. 

Variations:

1.  Simple Guacamole: add in 1/4 finely diced red onion, 2 chopped tomatoes, and a dash of cumin.
2. Spicy Guacamole: add in 1/2 finely diced jalepeno, a dash of hot sauce, and a pinch of cayenne powder.
3. Loaded Guacamole: add in 1/2 cup corn (you can even sautee them to give a more roasted flavor), 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, and 3-6 roughly chopped slices of pickled jalepeno.

Refried Beans

Ingredients:

• 1 can refried beans
• Salt/Pepper/Cumin/Dried Oregano

Directions:
Add the beans to a small sauce pan, cook over low heat until ready to serve, stirring occasionally (5-10 minutes).


Variations:

1. Drunken Beans: Add 1 can of beer to the beans. 
2. Spicy Beans: Add 1/2 chopped jalepeno, 3 dashes hot sauce (Cholula!), 1 minced clove of garlic  and oil. Cook on low for 2 minutes before adding the beans.
3. Veggie Beans: Add a dash of hot sauce, chopped black olives, corn, chopped cilantro, and 1/4 chopped red onion to the beans.

Salsa

Ingredients:

• 4 large tomatoes
• 1/2 yellow onion
• Cilantro
• Salt/Pepper
• 2 bell peppers (red, green, yellow, orange, whatever!)

Directions:
Chop all ingredients to the desired size (I like everything to be roughly the same so it all has an equal chance of making it onto a tortilla chip) and mix in a large bowl. Refrigerate :)  This salsa is best when the flavors have had at least 6 hours to meld... The longer you can hold out, the better!!

Variations:

1. Roasted Salsa: Preheat oven to 450. Chop all ingredients and put all except cilantro in a 9x13 pan with a drizzle of oil on top. Roast for 20+ minutes, or until tomatoes are starting to wrinkle and your oven smells like heaven. Let the veggies cool, then puree them with the cilantro in your blender.
2. Sweet and Savory Salsa: Add diced mango/pineapple/apples. Any and all are great additions!
3. Garlicky Salsa: You guessed it.. add garlic! You can lightly toast it first, sautee it in oil to infuse the flavor even more, or add it in raw!