Help! need Mexican snack or dessert

[leonie]

I’ve decided last minute to attend a Posada celebration tomorrow night. We are supposed to bring a Mexican snack or dessert. I don’t really want to cook anything.

Is there anything I can buy off the shelf at the grocery that would qualify?

 

[1ke]

Taquitos from the frozen food section at Wal-Mart/grocery store. You just have to heat them up.

Layer dip with refried beans, shredded cheese, sour cream, guacamole, and tortilla chips and salsa.

Jalepeno poppers, also in the frozen foods section. YUM.

Make a Mexican pizza-- get a pizza crust and top it with enchilada sauce from a can, cheese, taco meat, and pico de gallo or diced tomatos. Put sour cream and shredded lettuce on just before serving.

Desserts-- churros are great, but you’d have to make them.

 

[Lariena]

Chips and salsa are an easy option. You could make it nicer with a special presentation or using colored chips. Can you tell I am NOT a cook!?

 

[StratusRose]

Enchiladas are easy to make! I put about a tablespoon of refried beans, chicken and cheese and roll it in a fajita tortilla. Then I pour on the sauce, sprinkle cheese on top and bake for 20 minutes. They’re soooo good!

 

[ack]

Is there a Mexican bakery where you can pick up a Pastel Tres Leches or similar?

I’m guessing that there’s some kind of Mexican population in your area, because you’re going to a posada celebration…

I’ve decided last minute to attend a Posada celebration tomorrow night. We are supposed to bring a Mexican snack or dessert. I don’t really want to cook anything.

Is there anything I can buy off the shelf at the grocery that would qualify?

 

[SeekerJen]

If you can find Garden Fresh Salsa near your house, you could serve this with tortilla chips and people will scarf it down. IMO this is the best store-bought salsa around.

Alternatively, if you have access to a Mexican bakery, they always have terrific cookies and pastries.

 

[bett_ur_kidding]

This is so easy.

chili con carne with beans
philadelphia cheese

Put in casserole dish, stir and microwave. This is delicious with chips.

 

[childofpeace]

If you have ever been a little timid about going into a Mexican store, now is your perfect excuse! Pretty much everything in the store will “qualify”. There are lots of neat things at least in the ones around here. And next time you need a pinata, colorful soda in a glass bottle, or flan, you will know your spot.

 

[OutinChgoburbs]

Go to the candy aisle of your local Hispanic market, and pick up a batch of Lubu Lubu, Carlos V, or other Mexican candy bars. Twice the sugar, all the fun! My kids also like Gansito cookies.

If you want to make something easy, get a big package of flour tortillas. Make a batch of cinnamon sugar (1 tablespoon cinnamon or more for every cup of sugar). Cut the tortillas in triangles, like a pie, about 6-8 triangles per tortilla. Heat some oil. Fry up the triangles until crisp. As soon as you snatch them from the oil and drain them on paper towels, sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar.

 

[Brenda_V]

This is so easy.

chili con carne with beans
philadelphia cheese

Put in casserole dish, stir and microwave. This is delicious with chips.

Although this sounds really good it is not Mexican .

Some of the other things aren’t either but much closer. I was out of the running for suggestions because I don’t do many none made from scratch types of food . As for Mexican Pizza? I would use a large flour tortilla or two, put a layer of refried beans, a layer of salsa, some chopped black olives (now we are getting kind of away from Mexican), some shredded cheese - bake for 15 minutes at 350. Top with a large dollop of sour cream and sprinkle with chopped fresh cilantro. Slice with a pizza cutter. Or, put a can or two of refried beans in a flat casserole dish or square cake pan (glass makes it prettier) top with a layer of salsa and then cheese, bake until heated through and cheese is melted- then put that large dollop of sour cream and sprinkle with fresh chopped cilantro (can use parsley actually if you can’t find the cilantro it will taste a little different but will still make it look pretty), stick triangles tortilla chips in all around the edges and put a bowl of extra chips on the side - chips and dip.

Of course if you can find a Mexican bakery you can get biscocittos - an anise flavored traditional Christmas cookie (or if you want to make them you can probably look them up on-line, using lard makes them best). Of course, this could be one of those New Mexican things, don’t know, all of my friends who are from Mexico make them every year.

Now, chili con carne is actually more Texan than Mexican and much of what I could recommend would be more New Mexican (yes the cuisines are very different!)

Whatever you do don’t stop at Taco Bell and think you have something Mexican . I like Taco Bell but it isn’t Mexican, Texan or New Mexican cuisine, it is just fast food!

 

[lifeisbeautiful]

Does you grocery store/Walmart have a Mexican section? You can usually find some sort of cookies or prepackaged item there if you wanted to just buy something premade and not have to worry about cooking or transporting it after it is made. If they just have a general “hispanic” section and you aren’t sure about the item, you can check to see if it is made in Mexico. Just because it doesn’t say its made in Mexico doesn’t mean its not something that Mexicans would use, but anyways. I’ve been to Mexico, but just once (got to see our Lady of Guadalupe ), so I am not much of an expert on Mexican food, but one thing I remember is how I was surprised at how they can put hot peppers/spice in their candy. I was once on a trip with two Mexican girls and they had a suitcase full of Mexican candy, all of it hot. Lol, they offered me some but I was too chicken to have any.

 

[yellowbird]

Mexican Wedding Cake:

2 c Flour
2 c Sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
2 eggs
1 c chopped walnuts (divided - save 1/4 c for topping)
1 20oz. can crushed pineapple (don’t drain)

Place all ingredients in bowl & mix well by hand.
Bake in greased 13x9 350 degrees, 45 minutes

Icing:
8oz. cream cheese
1 stick butter or margarine
powdered sugar to taste (I just keep adding, tasting)
1 tsp. vanilla

Beat well, frost cooled cake, spinkle w/ walnuts.

Edit: Opps! Sorry - I just reread your OP and saw that you wanted something off the shelf. Oh well - I’ll leave this post in case someone else wants a yummy dessert receipe.

 

[Rob_s_Wife]

Since you don’t want to cook - is there an ethnic aisle at your grocery store or local wacko-mart? If not, look inthe phone book for a mexican grocery store, I bet there’s one listed. We have several of those here.

---

**I’d be able to go there and just pick something up! **

 

[puzzleannie]

I’ve decided last minute to attend a Posada celebration tomorrow night. We are supposed to bring a Mexican snack or dessert. I don’t really want to cook anything.

Is there anything I can buy off the shelf at the grocery that would qualify?

look for bunelos
they are tortillas fried crisp and shaken in cinnamon sugar
to die for

or buy a bag of good corn chips and a can of bean dip and a jar of salsa, get one jar mild, one hotter.

is there a Mexican market or grocery store with a Mexican section near you?

look at Sams in the food section they have all kinds of desserts and appetizers, they have a mexicon taco thing you bake, also flan, tres leches cake, and rice pudding. Individual rice puddings (try the dairy case) sprinkled with cinnamon

 

[1ke]

The OP may not have a Mexican grocery store available. She’s in Indiana. While they certainly do have them in IN, they are not nearly as prevalent as where puzzleannie or some others live. Having moved from TX to the Midwest, it’s quite a shock that the “Hispanic” aisle at the grocery store is not an aisle… it’s a shelf. And Ortega taco shells, Pace picante, and some canned refried beans are about the extent of it. Not very much selection.

Yes, there are Mexican grocery stores, but some are quite a drive away. She may not be able to get to one on such short notice. That’s why I suggested things that are readily available at a mainstream grocery. Certainly if she could find a Mexican bakery or grocery then she could be more creative.

leonie-- what’s in your area?

 

[OutinChgoburbs]

The OP may not have a Mexican grocery store available. She’s in Indiana. While they certainly do have them in IN, they are not nearly as prevalent as where puzzleannie or some others live. Having moved from TX to the Midwest, it’s quite a shock that the “Hispanic” aisle at the grocery store is not an aisle… it’s a shelf. And Ortega taco shells, Pace picante, and some canned refried beans are about the extent of it. Not very much selection. Au contraire. I live within walking distance of not one, but four Hispanic markets, short driving distance to eight. They carry everything from Boing! horchata to Lubu Lubu. Fud is displayed prominently in the deli case, along with ciccarones of full skin. Ace and Suavitel with the mexican scent is on the shelves. There is also the Meximart masquerading as a Walmart, retooled to appeal to that segment of the population. There are elotes and palates trucks making the rounds.

 

[The_Wife]

This is so easy.

chili con carne with beans
philadelphia cheese

Put in casserole dish, stir and microwave. This is delicious with chips.

I was going to write that! You beat me to it. Find a good can of chili and some cream cheese. Stir in some cut up tomato if you want, but it’s not needed. Serve with tortilla chips. It tastes homemade but its really easy.

 

[puzzleannie]

The OP may not have a Mexican grocery store available. She’s in Indiana. ?

NW Indiana has a big and growing Mexican population and I saw at least 3 Mexican groceries in and around Gary this year.

but most of what has been suggested can be found in a regular market

 

[cthulhubryan]

Most Wal-marts and other large grocery stores now carry hispanic foods. You can get some Bimbo snacks (Bimbo is a brand name, not an adjective) that are very good though they are not particularly low in fat.

 

[JustAnotherThou]

The OP may not have a Mexican grocery store available. She’s in Indiana. While they certainly do have them in IN, they are not nearly as prevalent as where puzzleannie or some others live.

Not sure where in Indiana OP lives, although we have a few in Lafayette, there are some in Frankfort, a bunch in Indy, I have seen some in South Bend and Ft. Wayne, Elkhart has one. Basically every town that is large enough to have a Walmart usually has one. At least all of them north of Indy, I don’t travel south of Indy much.

Actually, I have found more Mexican grocery stores in Indiana than I did when I lived in Colorado Although I haven’t found anyone roasting red or green chiles on the roadside like they do in CO

OP, if you live in the Lafayette area, there is a really good mexican grocery store on hwy 52 and Greenbush/Union (I forget which one) I can give you directions though