"cinco de mayo" news and stories

Each Thursday, we round up a selection of scrumptious links from our friends over at YumSugar. Here's what they've got cooking this week:

• What you should have made and munched on yesterday, Cinco de Mayo: stuffed poblanos.
• If you don't do this, you should.
• Face it, we all love Velveeta, but why use real cheese next time chile con queso is on the menu.
• Show mom some appreciation by staying in for brunch.
• Al fresco shindigs, for the win!
• The have-it-your-way cup o' joe.
• These easy tacos are perfect for any meal, not just dinner.

Commemorate the grand victory of Mexican forces over French occupation by raising a glass of not only tequila for Cinco de Mayo, but also a copita of sangrita.

About 90 years ago a Señor Sanchez and his wife had a little joint in the town of Tequila in the Mexican state of Jalisco. Their special guests were treated to his homemade tequila and her snacks made of pieces of orange topped with salt and chili powder. Eventually the snack evolved into fresh orange juice with salt and chili served as an accompaniment to the tequila. Later tomato juice was added to this and became known as sangrita, Spanish for "little blood."

No matter the true origin, sangrita makes a perfect pair with tequila. In Mexico, you might even hear a customer order a Banderita, meaning "little flag," consisting of shots of lime juice, tequila and sangrita lined up next to each other to resemble the colors of the Mexican flag. Many say the sangrita chaser is a great way to stave off a hangover.

Read on about sangrita and find LeNell's recipe, after the jump...

Nothing says Cinco de Mayo like a margarita and bowl full of fresh guacamole. But with pre-made everything all over the place these days, the thought of creating guacamole by hand might be a little daunting. Who wants to do all that work when you can just buy the stuff? Well, don't believe the hype. This recipe was easy, painless and oh-so-incredibly delicious -- and destroyed the store-bought competition.

A step-by-step in photos and recipe after the jump.

Beer cocktails are especially refreshing during warm weather months. They boast a lower alcohol content than mixed drinks with hard alcohol, and with so many great summer beers available, creating unique concoctions for the season is a breeze.

If you're not up to the heft and tequila of a margarita tomorrow (viva Cinco de Mayo!), consider the Michelada, which has been gaining some traction as a spicy summer alternative to the Bloody Mary. Order it at a bar or mix one up at home but give blah pre-packaged products like Budweiser Chelada a pass; make it yourself and spice it to taste.

Shandys (which generally consist of half pale ale or lager and half lemonade, ginger ale or lemon-lime soda) are a refreshing low alcohol substitute if you're looking to enjoy the sun without immediate inebriation. Using quality ingredients like homemade lemonade and a pale ale with natural citrus notes can produce amazing results.

Ty Fugimura, owner of The Small Bar in Chicago, believes his bar's unique list of six beer cocktails is a major draw. As the Windy City warms up, Fugimura knows "sidewalk sitters want something a little bit lighter," so Small Bar offers a "Beergarita," a twist on the classic tequila drink. In addition to adding white ale, they top it off with Monk's Cafe Flemish Sour Ale and Lindeman's fruity Framboise. Sounds pretty great to us. Got a beer cocktail recipe up your sleeve? Let us know. We're thirsty.

With Cinco de Mayo right around the corner, my brain is buzzing with thoughts of Mexican food -- burritos, tamales, chorizo. But at some point, thoughts switch to faux Mexican dishes, the US concoctions that are more fusion than ethnic. This then leads me to my first forays into recipe creation. I've been cooking and baking since I was a little kid, but it wasn't until I hit puberty and got sick of those too-simple Old El Paso taco mixes that I discovered that recipes are nice, but not necessary.

My mother handed the kitchen over to me, and told me to make my own tacos, since I wasn't happy with the dry, plain mix. In a flurry, I was pulling out old spices that were covered with dust, sniffing, shrugging, and throwing them in. I scoured the fridge for anything that might work and added that. In a blink, I had a meal that was better than any powder or simple sauce. It was just as easy, there was no extra mess, and the result was so very worth it.

Check out the "recipe" after the jump, and let me know what your first unique creation was.