This post is in partnership with California Strawberries. The recipe and opinions are my own.
If you love strawberries, but you’re also trying to cut back on added sugar, you’re going to love this recipe for strawberry hibiscus popsicles.
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This post is sponsored by Teasdale Foods. All opinions and the recipe here are my own.
RELATED RECIPE: Slow-cooker pozole rojo
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This post is part of a compensated campaign with Teasdale Foods. All opinions and the recipe here are my own.
I admit that pozole can be an intimidating dish to make at home, mostly because making the perfect pork broth can be tough to match when you’re up against the memory of a beloved family member’s recipe. But I’ve found an awesome semi-homemade cheat for pozole that’s simple to prepare and easy to love!
I’ve used Teasdale’s new Easy Prep Spicy Red Pozole in this recipe, which is basically just cheating at the broth and hominy preparation—the two factors that often scare people away from making this traditional dish at home if they don’t have a trusted family recipe.
What’s great about it also is that you can choose what kind of meat you want to add; I’ve chosen boneless country pork ribs because they’re easy to find, usually have a mix of dark and light meat, and they cook to tender perfection in a slow-cooker. Nothing beats low and slow, especially when there’s minimal effort involved.
The majority of the prep time for this recipe is for slicing and dicing your garnishes. I’ve also doctored the pozole to my personal taste by cooking the pork with bay leaves and Mexican oregano, and adding more chiles to the broth. The slow-cooker also means that most of the cooking is hands-off so you can be doing something else!
RELATED RECIPE: Slow-cooker carnitas
Pozole is a prehispanic dish that has been enjoyed in Mexico for many generations dating at least all the way back to the times of Moctezuma in the latter part of the 1400s, and the preparation still used and served today goes back to the 18th Century, according to culinary historians.
The three main types of pozole you’ll find all throughout Mexico are pozole blanco, pozole verde and pozole rojo. In Mexico City, where our family is from, you can find many varieties of the three typical colors of pozole served all over the city, including more than a dozen regional varieties from all over the country. And, they can have pork, chicken, shrimp, or be vegetarian-friendly, too. You can find pozole served everywhere from dedicated pozolerías to markets, fondas and even some high-end restaurants that serve traditional Mexican cuisine.
Traditional garnishes with pozole include:
sliced radishes, diced white onion, shredded iceberg lettuce or cabbage, chopped cilantro, fresh limes, dried Mexican oregano and chile powder, such as ground chile piquin.
In Mexico City, it’s very common to serve pozole with tostadas with crema mexicana spread on top, which is to be eaten alternating with a spoonful of pozole, then a bite of tostada.
This recipe is most similar to Jalisco-style red pozole, and I’ve added a few extra ancho chiles to the broth for a deeper chile flavor. I like my red pozole fairly spicy, but you can leave them out if you’re not accustomed to spicy pozole. But if you do want to incorporate more heat, you can also puree the extra chiles with a little broth once hydrated, then strain them into the soup, or just add a sprinkle of ground chile piquin when serving.
Take care not to overcook the hominy, as it can become mushy. (When in doubt, you can always remove the hominy a little early and put it on the side while your broth is still cooking in the slow-cooker. You’ll know the hominy is done when it looked bloomed or fluffy.) Pozole reheats well and can also be frozen. If the broth is thicker than you’d like, you can also thin it out with a bit of chicken broth.
Do you like pozole rojo or pozole blanco better? Let me know why in the comments!
RELATED RECIPE: Frijol con puerco
Prep
Cook
Total
Yield 6-8 servings
Pozole rojo is a classic Mexican soup or stew, traditionally made with pork broth, pork, hominy, and spices, then topped with garnishes such as lime juice, radishes, onion, lettuce and more. It's a popular traditional dish served throughout the country that is representative of Mexican cuisine.
Serve with tostadas and crema mexicana.
Courses Lunch/Dinner
Cuisine Mexican
RELATED RECIPE: Slow-cooker cochinita pibil
This post is part of a compensated campaign with Montejo. All opinions are my own.
I had never eaten dinner on the field of a Major League Baseball park, so when Montejo, a Mexican beer company I adore, invited me to have dinner on the field at Dodger Stadium — with a Mexican-inspired dinner cooked up by Chef Eduardo Ruiz of LA’s Corazón y Miel — I knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We are big baseball lovers in our household, so I knew I would have a great time even though the Dodgers are not my home team.
Named after Don Francisco de Montejo, the founder of the city of Mérida in the state of Yucatán, Cerveza Montejo was originally brewed at the Cervecería Yucateca beginning in 1900, and is now brewed in Tuxtepec, in the state of Oaxaca, by Cervecería Modelo. Although this tasty Mexican beer has been around for a long time in Mexico, it has only been available in select states in the U.S. since September 2014. As a newer beer to the American market, it was cool to learn that Montejo is an official beer sponsor for the L.A. Dodgers and the Texas Rangers. If you’ve been to other ballparks in California, Arizona or Texas, you’ve also probably seen Montejo sold at the concession stands. And at Dodger Stadium, they even have a Montejo bar behind the right field pavilion!
We’ve had Montejo plenty of times in Mexico, so I’m excited to have it available in the U.S. because not only is it good for drinking plain and making micheladas, it’s also a great beer for cooking — especially when it comes to marinating and tenderizing meats for summer grilling!
RELATED RECIPE: Arrachera borracha…
This post is part of a compensated campaign with Nestlé El Mejor Nido. All opinions and the recipe here are my own. This post also contains product affiliate links to my Amazon store for ingredients and tools I’ve used to make the recipe.
Summer and parillada season is upon us, and I love to serve a dessert that feels special like fireworks at the end of the evening — but without too much fuss.
I was browsing recipes at El Mejor Nido for summer dessert inspiration and came across an easy homemade strawberry ice cream that looked divine. I love the idea of making homemade ice cream with fresh seasonal fruit, but I don’t have an ice cream maker.
So instead, I created this no-churn version of a Mexican vanilla ice cream with a grilled pineapple topping. Sweetened condensed milk folded into freshly whipped cream is the key to this dish, and there’s a surprise ingredient — a very small amount of tequila — that helps keep the ice cream easy to scoop. The only real skill you’ll need is patience while it freezes!
RELATED RECIPE: Frozen café con leche…
Who doesn’t love a good café con leche? I have one a few days each week, but I almost always make them at home instead of buying them. My mom and I share a love for making copycat recipes at home. It’s become almost a game between us, and has been for many years. Why pay $6 or more for a large coffee house drink I can make better at home, and for much less money per serving?
This post is part of a compensated campaign with Nestlé El Mejor Nido. All opinions and the recipe here are my own.
I definitely inherited my mom’s gift for recreating recipes, so I’m grateful that she shared her love of cooking and experimenting in the kitchen with me. I created this frozen café con leche with my mom in mind. She usually will ask me what kind of coffee I’m drinking lately, and then she gets hooked on it too. So even when we can’t have a cafecito together, we can at least enjoy the same drink despite the miles between us.
RELATED RECIPE: Mexican mocha latte…
As a kid, one of my all-time favorite meals was taquitos de pollo (in fact, it still is one of my favorites). Anytime my mom would take me to a Mexican restaurant, I would always order this fried taco dish no matter what else was on the menu—whether it was called a taquito, flauta, or something else.
This post is part of a compensated campaign with Herdez. All opinions and the recipe here are my own.
This post is part of a compensated campaign with Nestlé El Mejor Nido. All opinions and the recipe here are my own.
Of course, no holiday celebration is complete without one of your tías bringing her fanciest gelatina, right? My favorite kind of are the ones with colorful layers!
I was making a list of Easter dessert ideas the other day to bring to my aunt’s house for our family’s celebration and I decided to check out ElMejorNido.com for some inspiration. I love that I can save, organize and rate recipes, as well as make shopping lists and get recipes and special offers delivered my inbox every month. I came across some great ideas and recipes for making gelatinas that sparked a memory….
This post is part of a compensated campaign with Farmland® and Latina Bloggers Connect. All opinions and the recipe here are my own.
I usually serve queso fundido with tortillas (mostly corn tortillas, but sometimes flour) or hearty tortilla chips. But I’ve had a penchant lately to meld together my Mexican favorites with my American favorites, which is what prompted me to create these queso fundido potato skins.
RELATED RECIPE: Queso fundido with chorizo
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This post is part of a compensated campaign with Farmland® and Latina Bloggers Connect. All opinions and the recipe here are my own.
This recipe is a lot like a BLT — the only thing missing is the bread. (Although you could eat this guacamole on toast as an open-faced sandwich, too.)
RELATED TIP: How to keep guacamole fresh and green…
This post is part of a compensated campaign with McCormick Spices. All opinions and the recipe here are my own.
While this might look like any old regular hummus, the roasted jalapeño, garlic and cumin give it a mellowed, spicy kick for a different flavor than traditional, plain hummus. This anything-but-typical dip is great served with pita bread, pita chips, or tortilla. chips. And in 2015, this snack — which is a fusion of Middle Eastern and Mexican flavors — is actually trendy! Middle Eastern dips and spreads are one of the global food trends in this year’s Flavor Forecast from McCormick Spices.
It’s quite easy to work most of these trends into your daily cooking routines, but I challenge you to try to incorporate at least one trend per week. Chances are, if you’re a Mexican food enthusiast, you may already be cooking according to some of these trends — in which case, congratulations for being accidentally cool!
Check out the full McCormick Flavor Forecast 2015 and get inspired to get cooking with recipe suggestions galore.
There are eight flavor trends to watch in the 15th annual McCormick Flavor Forecast, and here, I’m sharing my five favorites and how you can apply them with Mexican cuisine in your own kitchen.
RELATED: 2013 McCormick Flavor Forecast gives Mexican food a global twist
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This post is part of a compensated campaign with Cacique and Latina Bloggers Connect. All opinions and the recipe here are my own.
When I got an air popper several years ago, I stopped buying microwave popcorn. The beauty of freshly popped popcorn made with an air popper is that you can make as little (or as much) as you want, and you can dress it up differently each time you make popcorn! And you’re not getting any chemical additives either, so you won’t feel unhealthy eating it. If you don’t have an air popper, you can also easily make the popcorn on the stovetop without any oil.
I love to mix and match flavors all the time, but one of my favorite combinations is melted butter, chile powder, queso cotija and a little squeeze of fresh lime juice. Sometimes, I substitute the chile powder for a liquid hot sauce such as salsa Búfalo or Tapatío. If I’m feeling like something really spicy, I might even use a habanero salsa!
Popcorn (also known as palomitas) is also an awesome street food treat in Mexico, so I love recreating street palomitas at home….
This post is part of a compensated campaign with BUSH’S Cocina LatinaTM and Latina Bloggers Connect but all opinions and the recipe here are my own.
The key to what makes huevos al albañil different from other egg dishes is that the eggs are scrambled and mixed with salsa, and cooked together so the salsa fuses with the eggs. They shouldn’t be too soupy when cooked; just wet enough that the salsa keeps everything moist. Whether you prefer to use salsa verde or salsa roja is up to you! The dish is served layered from the bottom up with a fried tortilla, beans, a scrambled egg and salsa mixture and then toppings such as crema mexicana and queso cotija, if desired.
RELATED RECIPE: Trenza de huevo con chorizo…
This post is part of a compensated campaign with Maseca, but all opinions and the recipe here are my own.
It’s a hearty soup that can serve as a meal on its own, or can be divided into four portions for an appetizer or small first course. Perfect for cold winter days, crema de elote will stick to your ribs and keep your belly full. This soup is thickened with whole milk and Maseca instant corn flour. Many crema de elote recipes call for butter or oil, but in an effort to be healthier, this one does not. Many other recipes also include a clove of garlic (sometimes roasted to mellow it out a bit), but I really prefer this soup without garlic so the sweetness of the corn can shine through. The diced poblano chile as a garnish gives it just a little bit of heat, and the optional sprinkle of crumbled queso cotija lends a a salty bite to complement the sweet corn.
RELATED RECIPE: Black bean chipotle soup…
This post is part of a compensated campaign with the National Pork Board but all opinions and the recipe here are my own.
Traditionally, this dish was sometimes also made with the tail and ear as well. However, in modern times, it’s become more common to see the dish made without it. This recipe was originally taught to me by a family friend in 2009 and I’ve since adapted it to my own style.
RELATED RECIPE: Slow-cooker cochinita pibil
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This post is part of a compensated campaign with Maseca, but all opinions and the recipe here are my own.
Pellizcadas can be eaten alone, as an appetizer, or along with a meal such as lunch. In Veracruz, where part of our family is from, it’s common for pellizcadas to be served with small pieces of crushed chicharron and topped with salsa. In other parts of the country, there are many variations when it comes to the toppings. This particular variation is similar to one I’ve eaten in Acapulco, where this dish is sometimes referred to as pellizcadas acapulqueñas….
This post is part of a compensated campaign with Maseca, but all opinions and the recipe here are my own.
Although vanilla, chocolate (called champurrado) and strawberry are the most common atole flavors, there are many other common flavors such as pumpkin, or modern, non-traditional flavors such as blueberry cardamom atole. I love to serve this pumpkin atole with conchas (a type of pan dulce, pictured above).
RELATED RECIPE: Atole de vainilla
Thanksgiving is right around the corner and pumpkin pie is always a staple in my house at this time of year. As a kid, I always used to want to drink the leftover pumpkin pie filling, which my mom would warn me against doing since it contains raw eggs. I’d manage to drink some anyway and usually everything was fine, but occasionally, I’d end up with a stomachache. This atole tastes very similar to pumpkin pie filling thanks to the creaminess from the evaporated milk and has no risk from the eggs like pumpkin pie filling. What more could I ask for? It’s the perfect breakfast or dessert when served with some pan dulce!…
This post is part of a compensated campaign in collaboration with Barilla and Latina Bloggers Connect, but the recipe and all opinions here are my own.
Several years ago, my Tía Annette gave me a copy of a Mexico City Junior League cookbook from the 1980s. The thing I loved most about the book was that it had expat fusion recipes that were Mexicanized versions of American comfort foods, and it was a window into what the most popular recipes were among these women at the time the book was published.
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There are a few key ingredients to this recipe that help you get it on the table quickly: Store-bought rotisserie chicken, tomato sauce and canned diced tomatoes. Like many traditional Mexican dishes, tomatoes are an important flavor as the base of this recipe. And if you shred the chicken in advance or have some help shredding it, you’ll really have dinner ready in no time!
This post is part of a compensated campaign in collaboration with Hunt’s and Latina Bloggers Connect. All opinions and the recipe are my own.
This tangy, slightly spicy, stewed dish originally comes from the state of Puebla and is sometimes also made with shredded beef or pork instead of chicken. Ingredients in this dish can sometimes vary slightly from family to family, but most recipes have a tomato base, call for chorizo and fresh tomatillos—all of which, when combined, lend a little umami flavor and texture to this popular dish.
RELATED: Fideo seco
Cooking with fresh, natural and quality ingredients to feed my family is very important to me and I know it’s important to you, too. I’ve used Hunt’s tomato sauce and canned tomatoes in my kitchen for several years because they’re grown in California, canned within hours of being picked, have no artificial preservatives and are 100 percent natural, so I feel good about feeding my family with healthy, natural ingredients in my recipes that call for tomatoes when they’re out of season or I don’t have time to make tomato sauce from scratch.
Paired with chipotles in adobo sauce and fresh onion, garlic, and spices you surely already keep in your pantry, this dish is sure to become a family favorite if it isn’t already a dish you eat regularly.
And the bonus? You really only need to dirty one pan to make it!
Tinga is commonly served on top of tostadas with garnishes such as crema mexicana, avocado, shredded lettuce and queso fresco. Tinga can also be served on its own with a side of rice, as tacos or inside of a quesadilla (sometimes known as tingadillas).
RELATED: Paella with Spanish chorizo, chicken and Brussels sprouts
Prep
Cook
Total
Yield 4-6 servings
Tinga de pollo is a Mexican dish from Puebla with a tomato base and shredded chicken, along with chorizo, tomatillos and spices. This dish is also commonly known as tinga poblana or chicken tinga.
Serve on top of tostadas with crema mexicana and avocado (as pictured in this recipe); or with a side of rice, as tacos or inside of a quesadilla (known as tingadillas).
Courses Lunch/Dinner
Cuisine Mexican
Get more recipes—in Spanish and English—from the Colección de recetas de Hunt’s y Kraft.
This post is part of a compensated campaign with the National Pork Board, but all opinions and the recipe here are my own.
Carnitas are typically a true nose-to-tail kind of dish where almost the entire pig is used. My husband loves this recipe and says that it’s similar to ordering maciza, which is mostly lean and white meat. If you’re used to eating carnitas and order “surtido” (which includes a little bit of everything), you can simulate that by buying a pork shoulder that has a cap of fat on one side. The fat will partially cook down and melt in the slow-cooker, and the soft remains left over at the end can be chopped up and mixed in with the shredded meat. (And you can use some of the liquid fats to moisten the meat before storing, so it doesn’t dry out when reheated, too.)
RELATED RECIPE: Slow-cooker cochinita pibil
This recipe is made with pork shoulder which can also be called Boston butt roast or pork butt, depending on the region of the U.S. where you live. In Mexico, this area of the pig is often called espaldilla or cabeza de lomo, which are adjacent cuts that come from the top of the front legs of the pig and just above. These cuts are typically well-marbled and are very versatile, but the best way to use them, in my opinion, is to cook them low and slow (at a low temperature over a long period of time) so that the meat becomes fork-tender.
If you’re not very familiar with pork shoulder, you may have already eaten it before without even realizing it; when you buy ground pork from the grocery store, it’s oven made from pork shoulder. And it makes great chorizo!
RELATED RECIPE: Homemade pork chorizo
If you can’t find a boneless roast, you can buy a little larger piece to account for the weight of the bone. You can cook it the same way, just leaving the bone in, and then remove the bone before serving. A bonus to cooking this cut low and slow: you can also render your own pork fat—the same way you would with bacon—and transfer to a jar and store in the refrigerator.
This recipe serves four people for a light meal (about three tacos each), or two people for a larger meal. If you wish to serve more people, or simply have more leftovers, you can double the size of the pork roast to 4 pounds, add three slices of thick-cut bacon and two more dried bay leaves.
Ingredients
Instructions
For more information and recipe ideas visit porkbeinspired.com or The National Pork Board’s Spanish-language website, porkteinspira.com.
This post is part of a compensated campaign in collaboration with Cacique and Latina Bloggers Connect. All opinions and the recipe are my own.
Traditionally, pan de muerto is perfumed with orange blossom water, has dough adornments on top that represent bones, and then is baked and dusted in sugar. Similar to a baked brie, this dish envelopes panela cheese and something sweet into a flaky puff pastry crust that, when finished, resembles pan de muerto but has a tasty, sweet and savory surprise inside!
I’ve used quince paste in this recipe, known as membrillo in Spanish; you can also substitute guava paste if you prefer….
This post is part of a compensated campaign with Maseca, but all opinions and the recipe here are my own.
Atoles date back to pre-Columbian times in Mexico and are well-documented as a form of sustenance amongst the Aztec and Mayan cultures. Historical texts tell us the drink was often flavored with fruits, spices or chiles.
Vanilla, strawberry and chocolate are the most common flavors of atole nowadays, but you can sometimes also find mora (blackberry; one of my favorites), nuez (pecan), pineapple, elote (sweet corn), piñon (pine nut), and many other flavors. In some areas of Mexico, you can even find savory atoles—one made with with green chile is called chileatole.
This post is part of a compensated campaign in collaboration with Barilla and Latina Bloggers Connect, but the recipe and all opinions here are my own.
What makes this dish different than any typical pasta dish is that the pasta is first fried, which brings out a somewhat nutty flavor in the pasta, and then is soaked in a tomato-chipotle puree to absorb the flavor. It’s cooked by baking in the oven, and when finished, the consistency is moist but not soupy.
This is a sponsored post, though all opinions and the recipe here are my own.
It can be a bit laborious to make this dessert completely from scratch, as homemade cajeta can take several hours, but thanks to a few store-bought ingredients, you can whip up the same fancy taste in your own kitchen in about 20 minutes from start to finish….
