After a few days at home I was looking forward to some yummy food on my return to Brighton. The idea sprung to mind of a big Mexican meal! Automatically I was thinking nachos, taco, quesadillas, fajitas and ALL the toppings. However, realistically we ended up scaling down slightly, deciding on nachos and fajitas- plus ALL the toppings.

After a trusted trip to…guess where…Aldi, with very full bags, including 36 tomatoes- this was a bit excessive- 10 avocados and 9 chicken breasts, it was safe to say we definitely weren’t short of food. A quick pop to Co-op allowed us to grab some final bits: seasoning, tortilla wraps and fresh coriander- which I would like to add I did NOT add into any of my food!

After a stiff G&T was poured, myself and Ellen began on the prep. I chose to make a mango chilli salsa first. I have never tried this before, and I partially followed this recipe:

https://cookieandkate.com/2015/fresh-mango-salsa-recipe/

My ingredients were:
– 2 Mangos
– 1/2 Red pepper
– 1/2 Red onion
– 1 Tomato
– 1/2 chilli
– 1 Lime (juiced)
– Oil

I combined all these ingredients in a bowl, after dicing, and drizzled with the lime and the oil.

Onto the next topping, Ellen made a tomato salsa following a Jamie Oliver recipe. This was super simple, quite like the mango salsa, Ellen combined: tomato, red onion, red chilli, lime juice. Once again, this was drizzled with olive oil- straight from Italy (thanks Mum)!

Next we made guac and spicy beans. For the beans I used:
– Mixed beans
– Tinned tomatoes
– 2 Garlic cloves
– 1/4 Red onion
–  Cayenne pepper

I heated garlic and onion over a medium heat, and added the drained beans and tinned tomatoes. After seasoning I let the mixture simmer and it thickened up, all yummy and spicy- I was really proud of myself for this.

For the guac Ellen combined 8 avocados, tomato and a whole onion with lime juice. To be honest, the Mexican cooking was all very easy, especially shopping wise, as we literally only used 5 main ingredients. The guac was super super good, thank you Ellen ❤

I would like to say that this meal was for 6 people, including one very hungry boy. However, as both me and Ellen were positively starving when we were shopping, we are now subsequently left with a lot of tomatoes! Eyes bigger than our bellies??

Whilst we added chicken, pepper and fajita seasoning into two big pans we made a little snack for a starter… nachos.

In a big baking tin we covered tortilla chips with cheese until golden and melted. With the guac and salsas, the nachos were delicious.

As there were a few of us we created a big Mexican buffet on the table, which was great as everyone could serve themselves and pick and choose from spicy and otherwise.

The chicken was moist, and really flavoursome; I would really recommend the Co-op fajita seasoning, especially over packets like El Paso. A cheap, and longer lasting quick Mexican fix!!

Once again, like the shopping, when it came to the eating, my eyes were bigger than my belly. However, I have had lots of lovely leftover meals, for example my chicken and rice (pic on my Insta) and easy lunchtime wraps. Also, I must add that between 6 of us, it came to about £6 each, but we did really over purchase, it could be done A LOT cheaper.

This meal was a great success and I want to thank my lovely pals and housemates that came and enjoyed everything too, and my joint head chef, Ellen Cooley.