Since Christmas is next week, I thought I’d share my family’s Christmas Eve tradition for dinner — TAMALES! I used to think it was a Texas thing until I stopped into Trader Joe’s and saw mounds of fresh tamales this past weekend. I have a weak spot for them too. I don’t eat them all that often, but they make me think of the holidays and being at home.
Along with our tamales, we typically have a variety of salsas — right now Frontera’s chipotle salsa and tomatillo verde salsa are my two favorites — and tortilla soup. We never make the tamales fresh since the grocery always has such delicious pre-made ones. All you need to do is steam them and they are ready to eat. I use a big pot like this one to steam tamales in. You can stack a whole bunch of them up in here too!
I got these chicken and green chile tamales at Trader Joe’s, but Whole Foods and Central Market (in Texas) both have great options too! This year we’ll be in Denver, so I don’t think tamales will be on the menu for Christmas Eve, but I’m looking forward to new traditions with my new family members. Plus, I got my tamale fix this week 
