In our modern world, full of fuss and haste, sometimes there is no time to prepare a full-fledged quality meal. After all, food should contain both vitamins and minerals, and at the same time not be high in calories. Some people cook days in advance to shorten the hours they spend at the stove. And many even sin with fast food. Is there a way out of this situation? Frozen vegetables will come to the rescue.
Pros of frozen vegetable mixes
One of the most popular is the Mexican blend. Vegetable Mix is a low-calorie yet nutritious meal. For example, a Mexican rice mix contains approximately 150-160 kcal per 100 g. And the cooking time is only 10 minutes.
You can often hear statements that frozen vegetables do not contain anything useful. This is a totally wrong opinion. Nowadays, vegetables are frozen by quick freezing, which does not allow valuable qualities to disappear from the products.
One of the main advantages is that when cooking, you do not have to spend time cleaning vegetables. In frozen mixes, all vegetables are ready to eat. There are many recipes for making Mexican rice mix, a dish that even the most inexperienced housewife succeeds. By adding certain ingredients or spices, you can get completely different taste dishes that will delight you and your loved ones.
Mexican Rice Mix is one of the easiest dishes to make with a very fresh taste that can be enjoyed all year round. The composition of the mixture may vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, but the base always includes carrots, bell peppers, onions, green beans and zucchini.
How to choose frozen vegetables?
Manufacturers do their best to ensure that we have quality products on the table. For this, the latest freezing methods are used. But how to choose the right vegetable mixes so that the dish is really the most useful and at the same time gives aesthetic pleasure?
Vegetables should be free of snow and ice, the presence of which indicates re-freezing.
Chopped vegetables should be natural in color, dull vegetables have been frozen for a long time at incorrect temperatures.
Vegetables should be shaped and not crumble into pieces.
How to use
Mexican rice mix is a versatile dish suitable for cooking in all ways: boiled, stewed, fried and even baked. The mix can be used as a side dish that goes very well with meat, chicken and vegetables, or as a separate dish, mixed with rice, potatoes or meat. Vegetable mix is very good as a topping for pizza, as well as filling for omelettes.
Mexican Blend Recipes
Very easy to prepare The recipe is very simple. Its big plus is that depending on the method of cooking vegetables, different dishes will turn out.
The easiest recipe: first you need to boil 150 g of rice. 200-300 g of vegetables can also be boiled in water or steamed, salt and spices can be added to taste. Then mix rice and vegetables. The dish is ready! This method is very fond of athletes and girls on a diet.
The Mexican rice mixture is very easy to prepare according to the following recipe: put the mixture in a pan with oil and fry until tender, add spices and soy sauce. Pour cooked rice into the prepared mixture, mix everything and leave on the stove for another 5-10 minutes. If you like seafood, then you can add shrimp, pre-fried with garlic, to the same mixture. This will give the dish a completely different flavor. You will experience the taste of Mediterranean food.
You can also cook rice with Mexican mix in a slow cooker. In this case, about 400 g of the mixture is added to about a glass of rice. Put it all in a bowl, add water, salt and pepper. Turn on the "Rice" function and leave to cook. After 10 minutes, pour in about 150 g of cream. Mix everything and cook until done. In a multicooker, there is no need to constantly monitor the contents. Stirring often is also not worth it, it can turn vegetables into an unpresentable porridge.
It is easy to understand that even a child can cook rice with a Mexican mixture, the recipe of which is simple and does not require high culinary skills. Therefore, let there always be a package of the mixture in your freezer, then there will always be an almost ready-made appetizing dish at hand and you will not be afraid of any unexpected guest on the doorstep.
Mexicans love spicy food, but the Mexican mix is anything but. These are frozen vegetables subjected to shock freezing at very low temperatures. Due to this, they retain a much larger amount of vitamins and minerals.
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From the Mexican mixture you can cook a huge number of a wide variety of dishes. Frozen vegetables can be stewed, boiled, fried, deep-fried. Both vegetarian and meat soups and main dishes are prepared from the mixture. In addition, stewed vegetables are a wonderful side dish for fish.
The composition of the Mexican mixture includes: - carrots; - string beans; - green pea; - Bulgarian pepper, cut into pieces; - corn.
Some manufacturers add celery and onions to the composition.
mexican salad
This dish is a very satisfying snack. For its preparation you will need: - 1 pack of Mexican mix (400 g); - 200 g of ham; - 200 g of smoked sausage; - 1 can of canned red beans; - crackers; - ground black pepper; - mayonnaise.
Stew vegetables in a saucepan for 10-15 minutes. Water and oil should not be added. The frozen mixture will release the required amount of liquid when heated. Cool the mass.
Cut the ham and sausage into strips. Open a can of canned beans and drain the liquid. Combine beans, chopped sausage, stewed vegetables and crackers. Add pepper to taste. Dress the salad with mayonnaise to taste.
In this recipe, sausage can be replaced with boiled meat.
Mexican soup
To prepare this dish, take: - Pork or beef bones; - 1 pack of Mexican mix; - 3-4 potatoes; - salt and pepper to taste; - cream; - greenery.
Boil the meat broth. Remove the meat, separate it from the bones and cut into portions. Strain the broth until it is clear.
Peel the potatoes and cut into cubes or small cubes. Put in boiling broth and cook for about ten minutes. Add the Mexican mixture to the soup and cook for another 10-15 minutes. Sprinkle the finished soup with herbs and season with cream to taste.
The soup can also be made spicier by adding a chili pepper while boiling. When the dish is ready, remove the pepper, otherwise the soup will turn out to be too hot and spicy.
The Mexican mixture at home for the winter is much better than the one sold in bags. We offer you a very simple recipe for freezing. It will take you about 15 minutes to prepare such a mixture, but in winter you can enjoy frozen vegetables almost for free. By the way, last time we offered.
Ingredients:
- carrot;
- black Eyed Peas;
- green pea;
- corn on the cob;
- red bell pepper.
The proportions are not specifically indicated, everyone makes a Mexican mixture for themselves. Someone loves more than pepper, someone more than peas, someone, so that everything is equally divided. To save time, we will only blanch the corn. It needs to be cleaned of leaves and hairs, cut the cob in half. Dip in boiling water for five minutes, cook over medium heat. 
Remove the corn with a slotted spoon and put it in a bowl of cold water, in which you need to add 10 pieces of ice (depending on the amount of corn). It is important that the corn from boiling water immediately enters the ice water and cools down immediately. The faster the cooling occurs, the juicier and denser the grains will be. Soak the cobs in cold water for 5 minutes. Then take a sharp knife and cut off the corn kernels. 
De-seed red pepper, rinse it. Place on paper towel to drain excess water. Rinse the carrots and green beans too. If the carrot is young, it can be cleaned with an iron sponge. If the peel is quite thick, use a vegetable peeler. Clean the peas from the pods, remove the peas. For asparagus beans, cut off the tips and a dense longitudinal vein, then cut into pieces 2-3 centimeters long. Cut red pepper and carrot into cubes. 
Place all vegetables in a single layer on a tray and place in the freezer for an hour. Then, when all the vegetables are frozen, take them out and pour them into a deep bowl. 
Stir to evenly distribute the vegetables in each bag. The main thing is to do all this quickly, because defrosting vegetables and re-freezing are unacceptable. 
Pack in bags that close tightly, squeeze out excess air. You need to pack in portions. One serving of vegetables at a time. No need to open the package, take two tablespoons and close it back. Just make bags of different sizes to prepare different dishes. The shelf life of homemade Mexican mix is 10 months. 
Can be used in the preparation of any dishes. You don't need to defrost before cooking.
See also,
It often happens that there is no time at all to prepare dinner, and the family is already banging spoons on the table. Then frozen vegetable semi-finished products can come to the rescue. They are useful and do not require special skills from the cook. Compliance with proportions is also not necessary. A great option is to make a frozen Mexican mix. It is rich in vitamins, tasty and liked by children for its beautiful, bright appearance.
Selection and preparation of products
If the mixture is purchased in a store, then it is important to choose the right one. When the goods are sold by weight, you can check the color of vegetables, their condition. There should be no ice on the product.
The composition of the package with the Mexican mixture should be constant: green beans, corn, peas, onions, carrots and bell peppers. Many people think: since Mexico, then this is the use of hot peppers and savory spices. But there is nothing of the kind in the frozen semi-finished product. During the cooking process, you can add seasonings and salt to taste yourself.
The Mexican mixture does not need to be thawed. You can immediately start heat treatment. But if defrosting nevertheless occurs, then you need to cook the product immediately. You can not re-send the mixture to the freezer. Therefore, it is convenient to store it in separate packages of small volume.
Another option is to make your own Mexican mix and freeze it properly. To do this, select fresh vegetables, peel them and wash them. Cut into small pieces. Add beans, corn and peas. Mix and divide into serving containers. Sign the date and send to the freezer.
Frozen Mexican Mix Dishes
The Mexican mixture may well act as an independent dish. It is also used as a side dish, an additive to casseroles, soups and salads. For example, from a Mexican mixture you can cook:
- Vegetable garnish. The mixture without prior defrosting is sent to the pan and fried with a small amount of vegetable oil for 2 minutes. Spices and salt are added as desired. Then you need to pour a little water and simmer under the lid for a couple more minutes. A great addition to meat or fish is ready!
- Vegetable omelet. Based on the Mexican mix, you can make a delicious and hearty breakfast by adding a couple of eggs. First, oil is heated in a frying pan, vegetables are added, fried, salted and seasoned. Cook for 2 minutes covered. Then you need to beat the eggs with milk and pour the semi-finished product with this mixture. Simmer until the dish is completely cooked.
- Soup. While the potatoes are cooking in the pan, you can prepare the mixture. It is heated in oil with onions and mushrooms. Then all the ingredients are mixed and cooked until fully cooked. Spices, bay leaf, salt are added. This is the base for soup, any cereals and meat can be an addition.
- Pizza. It is necessary to bring the Mexican mixture to readiness in a pan. Take a ready-made pizza crust or make your own dough. Lubricate the layer with sauce or tomato paste, put vegetables, salt. Top mugs of tomatoes, grated cheese. You can cook in the microwave or oven until the cheese is melted. This type of pizza is vegetarian. You can also diversify the recipe by adding meat or ham.
- Salad. The frozen mixture must simply be boiled in salted water. Sue, season with olive oil, add fresh herbs. The original salad will be a great addition to meat dishes.
Pros and Cons of the Mexican Blend
Like any dish, ready-made frozen Mexican mix has its positive and negative qualities.
Pros of using a Mexican blend:
- fast cooking;
- simplicity;
- profitability;
- does not require defrosting;
- use of various techniques and recipes;
- the benefits of the products;
- excellent taste and aroma.
The product has a very low calorie content. By itself, it is considered dietary. The mixture has many useful substances, saturates the body with vitamins and minerals. Thanks to quick and proper freezing, all the benefits of natural ingredients are preserved.
The only downside to this product is that it belongs to the category of convenience foods. The dishes based on the Mexican mixture are simple, quite difficult, almost impossible to make something gourmet from it. But at any time you can get a pack of vegetables and quickly feed the whole family.
Methods for preparing the Mexican mixture
Various ways of processing the product allow you to get dishes that are original in taste. The mixture can be fried in a pan, boiled or stewed, using the method of baking in pots. Even easier is to cook a semi-finished product using a slow cooker or microwave.
in a frying pan
The easiest way to feed your family a delicious dinner is to cook vegetables in a pan. To do this, you just need to pour a little vegetable oil and fry the mixture for 5 minutes under the lid. You can add water or broth. Other ingredients that can make the dish more interesting are also welcome.
In a slow cooker
It takes more time to prepare the mixture in a slow cooker than in a microwave or a frying pan, but the advantage of the method is that constant control over the process is not needed. The device will turn itself off at some point.
The basic recipe for making a Mexican mixture in a slow cooker:
- Set the machine to the "Baking" mode.
- Saute onion and garlic in butter in a bowl.
- After 5 minutes, add the mixture and sour cream.
- Simmer under the lid for an hour on the "Extinguishing" mode.
in the microwave
It's easier not to think of it. Without preliminary preparation, the mixture is placed in a glass dish and sent to the microwave for 5 minutes at high power. You can add spices, a little water or broth. Serve with boiled rice, any kind of meat or fish.
In the oven
The method is good because it does not require the use of oil. The dish turns out to be dietary and healthy. Great option for kids lunch. The finished mixture can be ground in a blender and fed to the baby.
The frozen mixture is poured into a special dish for the oven. You can use heat-resistant glass or clay pots. Water is poured, covered with a lid. Prepared for 20 minutes at 180gr.S.
Semi-finished products often help us out in cases where there is no time for cooking. On the shelves of shops you will find not only frozen cutlets or fish sticks, but also vegetable mixtures. You can make your own mix of vegetables, but it's much easier to buy a ready-made product. Mexican vegetable mix is versatile as it can be combined with any dishes.
The manufacturer indicates cooking instructions on the packaging. If it does not contain the necessary information, use our advice. You do not need to peel and cut vegetables, you just need to open the package and follow a couple of simple steps. With proper preparation, the mixture will retain its bright taste and beneficial properties.
Although the mixture is called Mexican, it does not contain spices, so you can add your favorite seasonings in the right amount yourself. The composition contains vegetables such as green beans, carrots, sweet peppers, peas, corn and onions. The composition of the mixture is universal, it cannot be changed productively.
Check out our article How to make Corn Soup
How to make frozen mexican mix? There are several ways to prepare it, which we will discuss below. You can simply put it out and serve it with meat, fish or potatoes, porridge.
Vegetable stew. If you don't have time to prepare any dishes, simply simmer the mixture and serve with whatever your heart desires. Pour some water into the pan, add a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil and salt. Pour in frozen vegetables, add your favorite spices and cover. Simmer over medium heat for about 10 minutes.
Fragrant soup. Such a dish perfectly saturates and reduces the feeling of hunger; it can be consumed even by those who are on a diet. You can cook both vegetable soup and meat, if desired, add a couple of potatoes. Cut the meat into small pieces and fry it until golden brown for 10-15 minutes. Then put it in a saucepan, fill with the right amount of water and cook until tender. Add the Mexican mixture to this and cook the soup for another 10 minutes. Add your favorite spices and garnish with fresh herbs.
Bright and tasty omelet. First you need to boil the vegetables, then drain the water from them. Preheat the pan, add vegetable oil and pour in the vegetables, pour them with the egg-milk mixture and cook the omelette in the usual way. Add grated cheese if desired.
with rice- even men will like this dish, it is very satisfying and nutritious. For 500 grams of vegetable mixture, you will need about 120 grams of rice. We also recommend adding a couple of cloves of minced garlic. Cook rice according to the usual scheme until fully cooked, do the same with vegetables. Heat the pan and add vegetable oil, add chopped garlic and fry it for a minute. Then add vegetables and rice, salt and other seasonings. Fry over medium heat for about 5-7 minutes, remove and serve.
For kids
If you do not know what to feed your child, use the ready-made vegetable mixture. Such a dish will delight not only with a beautiful and rich color, but also with great benefits. We advise you to make a gentle puree from vegetables, for this you need to boil them until tender. Then drain the water and use a blender to grind the vegetables to a puree consistency.
If you do not have time to stand at the stove for hours, but at the same time you want to maintain your health and beautiful figure, we recommend that you always have a versatile Mexican mixture on hand. From it you can cook both a light soup and a vegetable stew with meat, as well as an omelet for breakfast.
