Family-Friendly Mexican Food for Cinco de Mayo

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Cinco de Mayo is a favorite holiday around my house for a couple for reasons. Who doesn’t love an opportunity to go out to their favorite Mexican restaurant for some margaritas, or experiment with making Mexican food at home? Guacamole, tacos, nachos, burritos, taquitos, salsas, and fajitas; the options are endless. Truth is though, it is mostly because my husband’s birthday just happens to fall on the holiday.

Cinco de Mayo can be a little crowded at Mexican restaurants, so we headed to Grande Letty’s in Antioch (formerly Grand Jake’s) on Sunday instead. This is without a doubt my family’s favorite Mexican restaurant. The menu options are seemingly endless, and they are great about customizing orders. I am a vegetarian, and there are many choices on the menu for me.

On Cinco de Mayo I will be making my family a Mexican feast. If you’re like me and you try to avoid taking the kids to crowded restaurants on holidays, you may want to try a new Mexican recipe at home to celebrate the day instead. Check out some of my family’s favorite healthier, family-friendly Mexican recipes.

These Baked Southwestern Egg Rolls from Nutritious Eats are great because they are small, and sealed. They are much easier for tiny fingers to handle than burritos or tacos. Serve with mild salsa, guacamole, or plain Greek yogurt (in place of sour cream and it adds a protein punch); you may want to omit the small amount of cayenne for small children or kids that are sensitive to any spice. Also, please note the hidden spinach! Any opportunity to hide green stuff while feeding kids is worth taking, if you ask me.

I like these Sweet Potatoes Stuffed with Black Bean and Corn Salad from Alaska from Scratch because I can make one meal to suit everyone. My daughter can be weird about food mixing. For her, she gets the sweet potato plain, then eats the corn/bean mixture on the side. The rest of us get to enjoy this delicious dish!

Have you ever tried making healthy nachos for dinner? That is a standard, lazy-mom dinner at my house. It’s mindless, minimal prep work with standard ingredients and no recipe to follow. Because of the tortilla chips, my kids think they’re getting a treat, so they always eat it up. Nachos are a great way to customize a dish for a family’s preferences, or allow each person to make their own plate. I line a cookie sheet with foil, put down a layer of tortilla chips & sprinkle on lots of shredded cheese, then bake in the oven at 350 until the cheese is melted. After baking, you can pile on the usual toppings like shredded lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, olives, jalapeños, guacamole, and salsa. I like to experiment with our toppings and change it up a bit since we make Mexican food a lot. Some other options to try are fajita-style peppers, roasted vegetables tossed in cumin and chili powder, corn, or black beans.

With any dish, chips and salsa are always great too. May is also National Salsa Month, so why not experiment with some different salsa recipes? Traditional tomato salsa is always delicious, but there a lots of different recipes out there.

Do you have a favorite family-friendly Mexican dish? Share it in the comments!

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