It’s Día de la Candelaria and I have to confess: I’ve been so busy with non-bloggy things (you know…normal life, work, family obligations, Mr. H’s birthday, etc.) that I just haven’t had a chance to make my own tamales yet, let alone photograph and write up my recipe to share. But I promise I will soon.

In the meantime, I wanted to share with you a very special recipe from my friend Leslie that really touched me when I read it this morning. I immediately asked her if I could share it with all of you. Gracias, Leslie, for sharing this story and your abuela’s recipe, and for letting me borrow this photo to show everyone your beautiful tamales de puerco.

Head over to La Cocina de Leslie for her abuela’s recipe for tamales rojos con puerco; she’s provided an awesome step by step guide with photos to help you through the recipe—especially great if you’re making tamales for the first time ever. Bet you can’t guess her abuela’s secret ingredient!

• What are your favorite kind of tamales?

I made enchiladas verdes for dinner earlier this week. To make them a little healthier, I changed up the recipe a bit and didn’t lightly fry the tortillas as usual; instead I just heated the tortillas on the comal to make them pliable enough to roll up with chicken inside. And I used just a little less cheese for melting on top. They were still so good! These were the last two that ended up as lunch the next day.

• What do you do to cut calories, but not taste, from your family’s favorite dishes when you’re trying to eat healthier?

A few weeks ago, I was running errands with my Dad and we stopped at Costco. I could not believe my eyes when I saw a two-pound bag of chia seeds! Not sure how I feel about buying them in bulk.

• Are chia seeds that de moda right now?

Long, cold winter nights mean one thing in my house: we’re making hot drinks to warm us up! One of my favorite cold-weather drinks is atole, especially because it’s customary to drink with breakfast or after dinner. The two most common flavors are vanilla and strawberry—atole de vainilla y atole de fresa. If you make it with chocolate, it’s called champurrado.

It’s a masa-based drink where the dissolved masa acts as a thickening agent to make this hot drink the kind of hearty treat that will really stick to your ribs. I’ve talked before about the availability of atole that comes in powdered packets, but next to my champurrado recipe (which uses prepared store-bought masa from my local tortillería), this version using Maseca instant corn masa flour is even easier to make and a sure step above the flavor from a packet. It’s a homemade taste without all the work of grinding your own nixtamal or having to dissolve masa using cheesecloth. It’s what you might call a semi-homemade version, if you will.

This drink dates back to pre-Columbian times in Mexico and is well documented as a form of sustenance amongst the Aztec and Mayan cultures. Historical texts tell us it was often flavored with fruits, spices or chiles.

Sometimes atole is also made with different colors of corn (I’ve personally tasted atole made with white, yellow and blue corn bases) and milk or water as the liquid. I don’t like my atole to be too thin so I have a habit of making it very thick at the beginning and then thinning it out with milk or water as needed. If you prefer yours to be thinner, you can use all water instead of milk, and reduce the portion of Maseca instant corn flour to your liking.

If you want more berry flavor, you can add another whole cup of strawberries and use more water than milk so it doesn’t thicken too much or dilute the berry flavor.

This recipe produces the best strawberry flavor when you use berries that are very ripe. A trick to my recipe is that I macerate the strawberries before I put them in the blender (which just means I slice them up and, place them in a bowl and sprinkle sugar over them to allow the natural juices to come out).

If you won’t consume the atole immediately after cooking, store in an airtight container with plastic wrap pressed to the top of the liquid so a skin doesn’t form over the top. If a skin does form, you can gently remove it with a spoon, but then you’re not getting to enjoy your whole batch. A final note: make sure the Maseca you’re using is specifically for tortillas and not tamales or you’ll get a different consistency.

RECETA | RECIPE
Atole de fresa

• 1.5 pounds of strawberries, hulled and sliced
• 1/2 cup of sugar plus 1 tablespoon (the tablespoon is for macerating the berries)
• 3 cups milk (the more fat in the milk, the thicker it will make the atole)
• 3/4 cup Maseca instant corn masa flour (you can use white or yellow)
• 1/2 cup water (to blend the berries) plus 1 1/2 cups (to thin the mixture) or more to desired consistency

• Tools you’ll need: A blender and a fine mesh strainer

Begin by removing the stems of the strawberries and slicing them into quarters. Place them in a bowl and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of sugar. Allow them to macerate for 30-45 minutes so the juices come out.

When the berries are macerated, add them, their juice, 1/2 cup of water and the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar to the blender. Puree until completely smooth. Set aside.

In another bowl, pour the cold milk and whisk the Maseca corn masa flour until it completely dissolves. Add the mixture to a saucepan and heat over medium-low.

Hold the fine mesh strainer over the saucepan and gently pour the contents of the blender through the strainer to prevent the seeds from going into your atole. Press the inside of the strainer with a spoon to make sure all the liquid is pressed through, and then scrape the outside of the strainer to get every last bit that is still clinging to the outside.

Whisk the strawberry mixture into the masa and milk mixture and continue heating over medium heat until it starts to thicken and bubble gently. You can begin adding the water to get to your desired thickness for the atole. Continue heating and stirring for about 20 minutes.

If at any time it seems too thick, you can add a little more water. But if it seems too thin, just continue cooking and stirring until it thickens more.

Yields about 5 cups.

•  How do you make your atole de fresa?

This is a sponsored post through a campaign with Maseca and Latina Bloggers Connect. Though I am being compensated for participating, all opinions, recipes and stories are my own.

I spotted this amazingly huge jicama in the grocery store a few weeks ago and couldn’t believe my eyes. I didn’t think anyone would believe how big they were, so I had to take a photo! I picked one up and don’t think it would have fit on the piddly little fruit scales in the produce department. Two of the largest ones I picked up were definitely each heavier than my laptop.

• Have you ever seen jicama this huge?

¡Feliz Día de Los Reyes a todos!

We took a long vacation with family for the holidays and part of our trip included a day in Ensenada, located on the West coast of Mexico in the state of Baja California (the northern part of the peninsula, a little more than 70 miles south of Tijuana).

Since we wouldn’t be together on Día de Los Reyes, we found a little rosca to celebrate a few days before. And guess who got el niño Jesus… again. I swear it’s a conspiracy because I get the baby in my piece of cake every single year. The rosca was so small that I didn’t even think there would be a baby inside, but there he was when I broke my piece off. Guess I’ll just have to make tamales for Día de La Candelaria on February 2!

Read more about how we celebrate Día de Los Reyes here on The Other Side of The Tortilla and check out the links below to see how some of our friends celebrate as well. If you haven’t celebrated yet, it’s not too late. Even if you can’t buy a rosca, you can certainly try making one on your own! You can also serve Mexican hot chocolate or champurrado alongside your cake.

RECIPES FROM OUR FRIENDS
Rosca de Reyes from Leslie at La Cocina de Leslie
Rosca de Reyes with cranberry-almond filling and eggnog glaze from Yvette at Muy Bueno Cookbook

HOW SOME OF OUR FRIENDS CELEBRATE WITH THEIR FAMILIES
Cutting the Rosca de Reyes from Silvia at Mamá Latina Tips
Villancicos for Los Reyes from Monica at Mommy Maestra
Celebrating new and old traditions for Día de Los Reyes from Nadia at Justice Jonesie
Making my first roscón from María Amelia at Mommylogue

• How do you celebrate Día de Los Reyes with your family?

Check out these beautiful pink and white nochebuenas I spotted in the grocery store last week. They’re a variation of the traditional all-red poinsettias but just as lovely.

¡Feliz Navidad!