Christmas Tacos and Egg Nog Tres Leches Cake

We have started a new Christmas tradition in our house.  Every Christmas from now on, we will be making a different type of ethnic food, with a holiday twist.  For the first annual Ethnic Christmas Dinner,  we chose to make mexican food.  Turkey tacos with a cranberry-jalapeno salsa, with onions and cilantro.  I realize this sounds very strange.  I assure you, it is not.  It is soooo yum.  It has so many different depths of flavor, and they blend together surprisingly well.  The turkey is sautéed with a plethora of spices.  The cranberry salsa is tart and spicy.  The cilantro and onions were the part I was most skeptical about, but it turns out to work just perfectly with everything.  Mexican Christmas Dinner mash up.  That's what this should be called.  They were so good that Jeremy made a trip to the grocery store while I was at work (with the boys!) just to get more food to make these again tonight.  

For dessert, I used some of the HOMEMADE EGG NOG that I made, and used it as one of the milks in TRES LECHES CAKE.  Tres Leches Cake is another traditional mexican dish.  It's a sponge cake that soaked up a mixture of evaporated milk, whole milk and sweetened condensed milk.  To put our holiday spin on it, I swapped out the whole milk for egg nog.  It turned out delicious also.  I also made a nutmeg-spiced whipped cream to top it off.  

I really hope that we keep this holiday meal tradition going, it's fun to think of how to create regular dishes  with a Christmas spin!  We have a few other ideas brewing...Indian, Italian, French, Peruvian, Chinese, etc.  I'm excited!

Any body else have any holiday meal traditions?

Christmas Tacos

Inspired by SimplyRecipes

For the turkey:
1 lb turkey breasts, chopped

cumin, 

garlic powder

red pepper

chili powder

paprika

oregano


Mix turkey breasts pieces with all the spices.  Saute in a large skillet until cooked through.  Set aside.


For the Salsa:

1/2 bag cranberries
1/2 an apple, peeled and cored
1 jalapeño, minced
4 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp fresh cilantro
dash of lime juice
dash of salt


Combine cranberries and apple in a large food processor.  Pulse a few times until shredded.  Add together the cranberries/apples with the jalapeño and sugar.  Let it sit for about 10 mins.  Add in cilantro, lime juice and salt to taste.

For the cilantro topping:


5 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 small onion, chopped


combine together in a food processor.  Pulse a few times until minced up small.

Top tortillas with turkey, salsa and cilantro/onion mixture and enjoy!