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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The best part of summer is the peak availability of so many fruits; it means you can make a variety of sweet treats with little or no added sugar, such as street food-style mango and orange cups with coconut chips, watermelon aloe juice, and all kinds of paletas. With what seems like a surplus of juicy oranges at my local supermarkets, I’ve been using them in many different ways all summer. Whether it’s juicing them, eating them plain, or sectioning them to make a fruity pico de gallo or ensalada xec (a Mayan citrus and jicama salad), there are lots of possibilities.
This healthy snack is one I like to make in advance, freeze and serve by the pool or in the backyard on hot summer days. It’s great to serve to kids as well because even if they eat two servings, they’re eating only one whole orange. Plus, it’s an easy snack for little hands to hold.
RELATED RECIPE: Mango cantaloupe paletas with chile powder
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During the summer, I always want paletas for dessert whenever possible because, well, it’s typically REALLY HOT in the part of Los Angeles where we live. I very rarely buy popsicles in the grocery store because they have a lot of added sugar, and if I’m going to be eating them daily, I need to make healthier choices. Plus, I have a reputation to uphold as the queen of paletas!
Whenever I buy too many bananas (which is basically always) and they start to get spots and are too ripe, I have to get creative with how to use them quickly. So I came up with this frozen treat version of a refrigerated banana chia pudding that I like to make when I’m trying to eat healthier. They’re not overly sweet or too banana-y, they’re very low-fat and not many calories per serving either (for the record, one serving is one popsicle). As you probably know, bananas are packed with potassium and Vitamin C as well as fiber and some other nutrients. Most of the sweetness in this recipe comes from the natural sugar in the bananas. Of course, if you like your popsicles on the sweeter side, you can always add a little extra sugar to the recipe if you want.
RELATED RECIPE: Coconut chia pudding
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I love a good, healthy snack, and I’m always tempted to stop whenever I see a fruit cart on the street. Throughout Mexico, you’ll find these street food vendors with all different seasonal fruits that they’ll cut up and put in a cup and top with chile powder, Tajín, chamoy or some kind of bottled salsa.
RELATED RECIPE: Ensalada Xec (Mayan citrus and jicama salad)…
Some condiments that are commonplace in Mexico, such as chipotle mayo, can be tough to find in mainstream grocery stores in the United States. Although I’ve always lived in cities where I had access to a Mexican grocery store, not all of them carry the brands I like, so I began making my own at home because I always have the ingredients handy anyhow. And considering it takes less than 10 minutes to whip up, I love that I can adjust how spicy it is with ease depending on my mood or what I plan to spread my chipotle mayo on….
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 is a great alternative to mixed nuts because the roasted chickpeas are crunchy, tangy, salty and have less than half the fat per cup. One cup of oil-roasted mixed nuts has about 72 grams of fat, while oil-roasted chickpeas have only about 31 grams of fat (which comes almost completely from the oil)….
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 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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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 collaboration with Wilton. All experiences, opinions and the recipe here are my own.
In Mexico City’s San Ángel neighborhood, there’s an artisanal candy store I love called Dulcería El Secreto. They make authentic, traditional and artisanal Mexican candies—the kind that were made long before commercial candy production, with recipes that have been passed down through generations. They carry a variety of palanquetas, garapiñados, pepitorias, pulpa de tamarindo con chile, and a lot of traditional Mexican candies that may have fallen somewhat out of favor in recent decades, but are currently having a renaissance.
RELATED RECIPE: How to make pepitorias…
They’re usually made with serrano or jalapeño chiles that are sautéed in oil until the chiles are blistered. There are many different ways to make chiles toreados—some people use the chiles alone, but I like to cook onions with them too. There are also a variety of ways to make the sauce, which is part of the beauty of this recipe. There’s no wrong way to make them; it’s just a matter of personal taste.
Rather than cook the chiles in vegetable oil, I’ve opted for a slightly healthier method by using coconut oil spray to cut down on the amount of oil used. No need to worry about your chiles tasting like coconut, though—the taste won’t infuse into the chiles.
I’ve eaten this spicy, salty side dish in both hole in the wall and upscale taco joints and the taste varies slightly from place to place. Some cooks like to add oyster sauce for a little umami flavor, but I prefer to keep mine classic with just lime juice and soy sauce. Kikkoman soy sauce is a versatile ingredient that can be used to cook many different types of cuisines. In Mexico, you’ll also often see chiles toreados served in sushi bars and restaurants, as it’s a perfect pairing for dipping rolls, similar to the spicy mixture of soy sauce and wasabi paste that is traditionally used in Japanese cuisine.
This particular dish is most commonly made with regular soy sauce, but if you’re trying to keep your sodium intake down, you can substitute Kikkoman low-sodium soy sauce or even the lime ponzu for a lighter, less salty flavor. I typically use the low-sodium Kikkoman soy sauce in my kitchen. If you want to make the dish spicy, use serrano chiles (and if you like it REALLY spicy, add another chile or two); if you want to make it less spicy, substitute jalapeño chiles for the serrano chiles.
Prep
Cook
Total
Yield 2-3 servings
A classic Mexican taquería dish, chiles toreados are roasted serrano or jalapeño chiles, blister cooked with onion and marinated in a soy sauce and lime juice mixture.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Cuisine Mexican
Here’s a video I made of this recipe at the Kikkoman test kitchen after I won a contest and was invited to Kikkoman headquarters in San Francisco in September 2014:
Brazilian cheese bread is a staple at most Brazilian restaurants—especially a Brazilian steakhouse. These addictive, light and fluffy cheese rolls are called pão de queijo in Portuguese, which simply means cheese bread. They’re a popular breakfast item (similar to how Mexicans love pan dulce) or a snack.
I loved these Brazilian cheese rolls so much after having them for the first time about a decade ago that I went on a quest to try to reproduce them in my own kitchen almost immediately. I’ve been making them for years now, and what better time to share this version with you when we’re about to embark upon a summer filled with soccer matches in Brazil!
This traditional Brazilian recipe is most commonly made with Minas cheese or parmesan cheese, but I’ve given my recipe a bit of a Mexican spin by substituting cotija cheese.
This post is part of a compensated campaign from Latina Bloggers Connect and Cacique but all opinions and this recipe are my own.
Queso fundido is an easy dish that even the most inexperienced home cook can make. I share this because with the holidays approaching, menu planning can be stressful and even if you’re great in the kitchen, you may have some helping hands that are not. This vegetarian queso fundido with rajas de chile poblano (roasted poblano pepper strips) and mushrooms is super easy and can be doubled, tripled or quadrupled depending on the amount of guests you need to serve. Alongside a basket of warm tortillas—your choice whether they’re corn tortillas or flour tortillas—this appetizer dish will definitely please the crowd. Especially if you’ve got vegetarians on the guest list, you’ll want to make this veggie version of queso fundido along with my queso fundido con chorizo recipe.
If you’re ambitious and have a little extra time on your hands, you can even make your own homemade chorizo. For this vegetarian queso fundido, you’ll need to know how to roast poblano chiles in advance. …
You may remember from a recent post that my family goes crazy for fruity guacamole. That’s why, when I hosted an #iloveavocados live party with Avocados From Mexico, I wanted to make another version of my fruity guacamole with one of my favorite fruits: Mango. I love to experiment with lots of different sweet and savory guacamoles and this version with mango, pomegranate seeds, red onion and serrano chile is one of my absolute favorit
My guests practically licked the bowl clean and there may have been some arguing over who got the last scoop. Another sure sign that the recipe was a success: Some of the guests sent tweets or posted on Facebook the next day that they wished they could have some more!…
Guacahummus sounds a lot like what you might imagine it to be… guacamole (sort of) mixed with hummus. Actually it’s a blend of hummus, avocados and lime juice. I served this simple, healthy dish at my #iloveavocados live party with Avocados From Mexico recently and surprisingly, most of my guests were having it for the first time. The dish was definitely a hit—they scraped every last morsel out of the bowl.
The main reason why this dish is so great—aside from being very healthy—is that you can make a semi-homemade version with a store-bought hummus of your choice (I like Sabra’s classic hummus), which helps you get this dish from food processor to plate in about five minutes. I use a 3-cup Cuisinart mini prep (available in my Amazon aStore, El Mercadito), which fits the ingredients perfectly. A bonus: This recipe is both vegetarian and vegan-friendly and is also gluten-free.
I recently made several versions for a game night gathering, and this one was the quickest to disappear.
RELATED: Mango and pomegranate guacamole
If you’d rather not mix sweet and savory, you can leave out the jalapeño and garlic if you prefer. But after trying this recipe, nobody was eating the classic guacamole recipe I brought! I love to buy a whole bag full of avocados and make several different versions for parties because it’s so easy to do. Just keep the base the same with avocado, garlic, lime juice and salt, split up the base between several bowls, and add other ingredients as you like. It looks fancy but takes very little time to do.
I use red onion when I make guacamole with fruit because they’re less pungent, have a milder onion flavor, and still give you an added texture and crunch. You can substitute white onion if you prefer, but it will have a different taste. Red onion complements the sweetness of the fruit better, while white onion can overpower the delicate taste of the pomegranate and sweet acidity of the pineapple.
This nontraditional recipe is perfect for any party or get-together with family or friends, especially if they’ve never had anything but classic guacamole before. I hope you enjoy it as much as my family does!
One last note: Always use fresh-squeezed lime juice over the bottled kind. The flavor becomes dull and sometimes bitter due to time since bottling means it’s pasteurized and has preservatives in it. The brightness from fresh lime juice can’t be matched by the bottled stuff.
Every kid I know loves paletas—and every mom I know wants to reduce the amount of sugar in their kids’ diet. With summer upon us, I’m already seeing watermelon everywhere in the farmers markets and grocery stores. I love watermelon and would eat it for three meals a day if I could, so I’ve been getting more creative with how to use it. These are especially great on a really hot day! A bonus: Because these natural paletas aren’t like traditional popsicles, they’re much less likely to drip and stain clothing if that’s an issue with your kids.
And you don’t need to have kids to enjoy these simple paletas! You can honor your inner child or summer cravings for a popsicle with a healthier twist. For those with diet restrictions, these paletas are gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan-friendly. This “recipe” isn’t really a recipe; I like to think of it more as a healthy tip I’m passing on to you. Don’t discard leftover pieces that don’t make the cut: Sprinkle Tajín and squeeze a little lime juice on it for a snack, or cut them into bite-sized pieces and freeze to use as watermelon ice cubes to flavor your water….
This is a sponsored post in collaboration with Latina Bloggers Connect and the California Milk Advisory Board. The recipe and opinions are my own.
We’re spending tons of time outside with family and friends now that summer grilling season is here and this is a great dish to take to any parillada! This vegetarian dish is one of my favorites for serving as a quick dinner side dish as well as for taking to parrilladas (barbeques) that are typically full of meats but lacking enough veggies. If I’m making it for just the two of us, I refrigerate half the recipe and grill it later in the week so that it’s fresh off the grill at dinnertime.
Now that we live in California and have such a variety of fresh, local dairy, produce and meats available to us year-round thanks to the climate, I’ve been consciously trying to eat more locally (and by that, I mean seeking out locally grown produce at the farmers markets and other foods made in my new home state). California is the country’s leading producer of Hispanic dairy products, which are sold nationally, and is the nation’s second largest producer of cheese. In fact, California produces more than 25 kinds of Hispanic cheeses and many other dairy products. A Real California Milk seal means your dairy products are made from 100 percent California milk.
This is what the calabacitas should look like inside the foil packet when it’s done or almost done cooking:
We’ve been making an extra effort to eat healthy in our house, especially since we moved across the country and have access to more local produce than ever before (hello, California citrus!). This crunchy, spicy, juicy citrus salad from the Yucatan area of Mexico is the perfect healthy snack. Ensalada xec (xec is Mayan for “mixed,” and is sometimes spelled as “xeec,” “xek” or “xe’ek” and is pronounced “shek”) is a staple dish in the region and is sometimes also made as a salsa without the jicama.
I served my ensalada xec for a salad-themed Food Bloggers LA meetup once, and it was a big hit. I love this recipe because it keeps crunchy in the refrigerator for a few days in the event that you have leftovers. I find this dish keeps best when refrigerated in a covered glass bowl. Some recipes for ensalada xec call for ground cayenne pepper, which is perfectly fine, but I prefer to use fresh chile. Habanero is frequently used in the regional cuisine in the Yucatan, so I used it in this recipe. If your tastebuds can’t handle the heat from a habanero pepper, you can substitute a finely chopped serrano chile or just use a dried chile powder of your choice. You could also use Tajín (the popular Mexican chile, lime and salt seasoning) sprinkled on top if you don’t want to use fresh chiles; if you use Tajín, remember to leave the salt out of the recipe….
I love baked kale chips, but have you seen what they charge for them in the grocery store? It’s a crime! That’s why I started making my own baked kale chips at home with a Mexican twist: Spiced with ancho chile powder. It’s just enough spice to give the kale chips a little kick, but not too spicy. Trust me when I say you’re going to want to eat them all in one sitting… and it’s OK if you do, because these chips are healthy for you!
RELATED RECIPE: Roasted chickpeas with Tajín
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Whether it’s Thanksgiving or Christmas, I’m always looking for a way to infuse Mexican ingredients into our family’s holiday traditions. I came up with this turkey stuffing recipe that’s a riff on my mom’s traditional turkey stuffing, but with a little kick from jalapeño chiles and soy chorizo (aka soyrizo).
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