Gingerbread men are so much fun to make because the decorating possibilities are endless. Sure, you could always make a traditional gingerbread man, who is rather cute and irresistible with his plain sweet smile and buttons. But why not add a little personality with a range of facial expressions – curious, mischievous, deadpan, dour or dreamy.  Or, you could even go further …

I was thinking of how I wanted to decorate these sweet little things this year, when it hit me to make them into luchadores. My bicultural train of thought went something like this: gingerbread = marranitos = panadería = Mexico = lucha libre. Of course, who doesn’t love lucha libre?! I’m a HUGE fan of the masked Mexican wrestlers, especially those vintage folk heroes like Mil Máscaras, Blue Demon and El Santo. I like classic lucha and kitschy lucha, and the idea of two identities and two sides to everyone. And I knew my daughter would just love them, because she could, in her words, “Fight them!” Yeah, too much My Little Pony Equestria Girls for her.

Disclaimer here: I am no cookie artist, so that means anyone can make these. I’m not even that good at baking cookies. As a mom, you work at the things you want to be great or just good at. And you’re okay with being mediocre or even bad at some things. I’m okay with being an okay cookie-maker. I make up for it by being an absolute pro at cookie-eating.

This holiday season, I did use a little help in the kitchen from my old friend Betty. Yup, I bought a box of gingerbread cookie mix (take your pick, from Betty Crocker to King Arthur to Williams Sonoma mixes) and called it a day. We’re in the thick of the holidays, I’ve got a fussy, teething one-year-old who wakes up at all hours of the night, blah, blah. Best decision ever, and they turned out pretty delish. Still, there are plenty of great gingerbread cookie recipes online, and this soft gingerbread cookie recipe by Inspired by Familia looks yummylicious.

If you’re new to decorating with royal icing, it’s awesome (until your hand starts cramping and you have to clean up!). It’s the type that hardens after you decorate, so it’s perfect for using on plain cookies like gingerbread or sugar cookies. One of my favorite cookie decorating blogs is Sweetopia. Who knew cookies could look sooooo pretty? I especially love her 10 tips on how to decorate cookies with royal icing.  In the past, I’ve actually followed her tips closely and come out with Pinterest-worthy cookies. Below is her recipe for royal icing.

For ideas on how to decorate the luchador masks, go to Flickr or Google and just search for lucha libre mask and you’ll get an array of photos showing various masks and designs. Pick a few and practice freehanding the design on wax or parchment paper before actually piping onto the cookie.

My luchadores didn’t turn out perfect looking, but in our house, they were just the thing we needed to give our holidays a bit of Mexican flavor. Here are the two recipes you need to follow. Have fun!

Ingredients:

Soft Gingerbread Cookies (via Inspired by Familia)

• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons molasses
• 2.5 cups flour
• 1.5 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Royal Icing (via Sweetopia)

• ¾ cup of warm water
• 5 Tablespoons meringue powder
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 2.25 lbs./1kg powdered sugar
• **Add one teaspoon of clear vanilla to this recipe if using a meringue powder with no vanilla flavor.

**You will also need several decorating piping bags and tips, available online or in most craft stores. You can also add candy or sprinkles to your gingerbread.

Directions:

Soft Gingerbread Cookies

-Preheat over to 375F

-Cream softened butter and add brown sugar, and beat until fluffy.

-Add egg and molasses.

-Add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, clover and salt.

-Refrigerate the dough for an hour. Roll it out on a floured surface, and cut out into gingerbread men using a cookie cutter. Bake for 10 minutes, and then let cool before icing.

Royal Icing

-In mixer bowl, pour in the warm water and the meringue powder. Mix it with a whisk by hand for 30 seconds. Add the cream of tartar and mix for 30 seconds. Add the powdered sugar, and using the paddle attachment mix on the lowest speed for a full 10 minutes, until icing turns thick and creamy.

-Cover the bowl with a dampened kitchen towel to prevent crusting and drying.

-Now you can tint smaller batches of the icing with food coloring, or thin it by adding small amounts of warm water until you reach the desired consistency.

Did you know December is National Fruit Cake Month? Ever since I’ve become a food blogger I have discovered that almost every day of the year (or at least every month) has a theme in relation to food. Chocolate cake day, Chiffon cake day, Good Nutrition month, and the list goes on. But instead of discarding these celebrations as pointless and arbitrary, I find this to be a fantastic way to remember those foods that we sometimes leave covered in dust at the back of our memories. The best diet is one that offers a large array of foods and nutrients, and remembering to cook all kinds of different dishes thanks to these celebrations does just that.

It is also a happy coincidence (or perhaps it was done on purpose), that Fruit Cake day coincides with the holidays, since it’s at this time of the year that most fruit cakes have always been prepared. In Peru, for example, people devour Paneton (the Peruvian name for the Italian Panettone), day in and day out throughout December. This cake/bread is full of raisins and all kinds of candied fruits. In England, the tradition is eating mince meat pies, which were originally made with meat, but now are just a super sweet (and incredibly addictive) mix of dried fruits soaked in liquor.

A fruity dessert is always a great choice to end your holiday banquet with a bang. So for this Christmas, I have chosen a recipe I love, and -listen to this-, I’ve made it gluten-free! There are so many people out there with a gluten intolerance or allergy (a lot of them don’t even know it), that everyone will benefit by going gluten-free for at least one course, after all that heavy eating.

The truth is, it’s actually quite easy to turn a cake gluten-free. Granted, the texture is not the same as a regular cake, but some would say it’s even better. By replacing the regular flour this cake usually calls for, with cooked quinoa and amaranth, what came out of the oven was a creamy cake, with a texture similar to that of bread pudding, or even flan. Everyone raved about it. And this was actually the product of an accident, (but now I think it was meant to be); my initial idea was to use quinoa flour instead of regular flour, but when I couldn’t find the package I would’ve sworn I had in the pantry, I used the leftover amaranth and quinoa I had made for breakfast, which was already cooked. Sometimes the best things come out of the most unexpected places.

What I loved the most about this cake (other than the texture and the fact that it’s gluten-free), is the deep Sherry flavor in every bite. It is quite low in sugar, so the Holland House Sherry cooking wine I used really shines through. I’m a big fan of using cooking wines in my food, and this was no exception. And everything came together beautifully when I finished it off with a huge dollop of whipped cream, and some nuts and raisins soaked in even more Sherry. Vanilla ice cream would be another great option.

I hope you enjoy this recipe, and that it teaches you how to give an unexpected twist to any recipe. Never forget to have fun in the kitchen, and to prepare everything with love!

Ingredients

250g raisins

200ml Holland House Sherry Cooking Wine

150ml thick natural yogurt

150ml olive oil

3 eggs

1 cup almond flour

11/2 cup cooked quinoa and amaranth (half of each, or just quinoa).

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup brown sugar

Preparation:

Soak the raisins in the Sherry for at least half an hour.

Preheat the oven at 350F.

Grease and flour a non-stick baking pan that is about 9 inches in diameter.

Mix the yogurt, oil and eggs in a bowl, and beat with a fork until everything is blended together.

In another bowl, mix the flour, sugar and baking powder.

Add the dry ingredients, and the cooked quinoa to the egg mixture. Add half of the soaking raisins. Mix everything well.

Transfer the mixture to the pan, and cook for 40 minutes.

The cake is ready when a knife or fork inserted in the middle comes out clean. It should be golden on top, but don’t let it burn.

Take out of the oven, pinch everywhere with a fork, and pour the Sherry where the raisins have been soaking all over the cake.

Heat in a cooling rack. When cool, pass a knife around the edge of the cake to separate it from the pan.

When it’s cool enough to handle, cover the pan with a large plate, and quickly turn upside down. Then turn it upside down again, to get the golden side on top.

Serve with whipped cream, the rest of the soaked raisins, and some chopped nuts. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

For more recipes, tips and offers featuring Holland House visit their Facebook page and the Mizkan Pinterest board.

Disclosure: We thank Mizkan for their sponsorship.

When one of my daughter’s first words was D-d-d-dora I knew there was something special about this character. As a new mamá, I am watching children’s programs for the first time, getting to know what they are about and trying to figure out which are best for my daughter, Little L. Although she just turned 1, I do rely on some TV to help me with raising her bilingual. Little L’s exposure to Spanish is limited, and as I am away from most of my family and my country I appreciate all the help I can get — even when it comes from a 7-year-old cartoon character.

When it was time to plan her first birthday party and pick a theme, it was a no brainer: Dora the Explorer.

Not only does Little L adore Dora, I think she is an incredible role model for adults as well. Dora loves her familia and is proud of her culture; she is a great team player, cares for others, she is forgiving, adventurous but cautious, and is always trying to save the day. The fact that she is not only Latina but also bilingual just makes her even more extraordinary and a perfect example for Little L. I want my daughter to grow up with a kind heart like Dora’s and to be proud and confident to speak English, Spanish and why not Spanglish as well.

As a Latina food blogger I pay a lot of attention to the food I serve, so for this fiesta, I created a menu that was kid-friendly and that represented our Latino heritage. I took this as an opportunity to tell a story of our culture and language. Regardless of planning a Dora theme or not, we can all use food as a channel to engage and enrich our guests. To make the celebration and the menu more personal, I suggest you look into what matters most to you, what makes you unique and what you want to share about it. In this case, it was all about representing a side of Little L’s background that is friendly, lively, colorful, vibrant, diverse and welcoming. I was born and raised in the Dominican Republic and although that is what I am most proud of about my heritage, I realize Little L is going to grow up in a country where she will be mostly seen of Latino descent not just Dominican. So I incorporated a menu that was going to give a tour of the Americas including other Latin American countries and the U.S.

The idea was to use the menu as a map (Dora’s map) for guests to go around the party almost like on a scavenger hunt looking for dishes and food items listed on the map. The labels for the food served were written in español and in English. We encouraged guests to try to read and say terms they were not familiar with out loud, can you say ‘agua’?. This exercise became a fun part of the party and fostered great discussions and lots of learning from both sides. I think it’s an idea that can be applied to any party, so I want to share the menu I created for you to use at your next Dora or Latin inspired theme party.

In this HungryFoodLove post, I have included recipes, ideas and a printable PDF version of the map for you to download. Enjoy!

To check out Melissa’s post with a printable of the map mentioned above click here

Have you had enough of preparing enormous amounts of food for entertaining? We all know how drained a party celebration can leave anyone, especially those hosting it or in charge of the kitchen. It’s one thing to love preparing homemade meals for your family, without having to impress anyone with flamboyant decorations and exotic tastes; but cooking for a large number of people, and making sure everything is ready before they arrive, is a very different story.

Since December is big on social events for most people, and certainly for Latinos who give much greater importance to Christmas than to Thanksgiving, I decided to help out a bit with a cool and delicious idea. If you’re running out of creativity for finger food or appetizers made for home entertaining and parties, and want to do something fun and out of the ordinary this year, how about trying some Japanese creations? Your guests will probably appreciate the surprise, and the fact that at least one of the courses on the menu is low on fat and very healthy in general.

To make these easy sushi squares you can use only rice and salmon if you prefer, or add as many fresh vegetables as you like, turning something simple into a rainbow of colors and textures. For example, I used radishes and avocados along with the rice and salmon in the original preparation. But for the leftovers, I  quickly fried the salmon, put it back in its place, and then covered it with extra layers of thinly-sliced carrots, and mixed greens. It was a completely different experience, but equally enjoyable, and certainly a better option for those who shy away from eating raw fish.

As any itamae in the world would tell you, the key for good sushi lies in the freshness of the ingredients, and in the proper preparation of the rice. The correct method goes like this: You need to get the special glutinous sushi rice, wash 2 cups of it 3 times in plenty of water (this is to get rid of any excess starch), and then cook it in 3 cups of water, without salt, for 17 minutes. When ready, turn the heat off, let cool a little, and season with the special rice vinegar preparation. This vinegar preparation can be made while the rice is cooking, by bringing 1/2 a cup of Nakano All-Natural Rice Vinegar, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1 teaspoon salt to a boil, and then letting this cool to room temperature. Once the rice and vinegar are mixed together (a wooden spoon is best for this job), you must put it in a large dish or container where you can spread out the rice in a very thin layer. With the help of a fan (or magazine), air it until it’s cool. Yes, this may sounds like too much work, but that’s because we’re used to cooking without putting much effort into anything. Let’s face it folks: traditional methods sometimes work better than machines.

Happy entertaining!

Easy Sushi Squares

Ingredients:

Sushi Rice with Nakano All-Natural Rice Vinegar (Read post above for directions)

6-8 oz salmon

1 avocado

8-10 radishes

Sesame seeds

Mitzukan Ponzu Citrus Seasoned Soy Sauce

Wasabi (optional)

Preparation:

Line a chopping board with film, parchment, or a silpat, and spread the cooked and cooled rice all over it. Press it to flatten.

With a mandolin or a very sharp knife, cut the radishes in very thin slices. Cut the avocado and the salmon in very thin slices.

Put a layer of avocado over the rice. Follow with a layer of radishes and a layer of salmon.

With a very sharp knife, cut in squares, pressing the sides with the knife to even out.

Sprinkle with sesame seeds, and serve with wasabi and Mitzukan Ponzu Citrus Seasones Soy Sauce on the side.

Check out  Mizkan’s “Splash Recipe Club!” and sign up for a chance to win great prizes every month.  And visit Nakano on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest  for more inspiring and yummy recipes.

Disclosure: We give thanks to Mizkan for being a SpanglishBaby sponsor.

The biggest fights in the early part of my marriage revolved around a recipe. A Thanksgiving recipe. For stuffing no less! It sounds absolutely ridiculous to me now, typing those words out loud — and frustrating that we wasted so much emotion over an innocuous mass of old bread and drippings. But then, it really wasn’t a battle of corn versus white bread to begin with. If this fight had a name it would be Babita v. Hazel, the battle of two people trying to preserve their grandmothers’ legacies.

Babita was my husband Adrian’s grandmother. She lived next door with her husband (named Babito, of course) raising Adrian and his sister alongside their parents. Babita emigrated from Cuba in 1962,  but she adopted the American Thanksgiving wholesale, cooking up the traditional meal — you know, turkey bathed in mojo and naranja agria (sabrosósimo) with black beans and rice. Lacking her own recipe for stuffing she found two. One she clipped from the local Spanish-language newspaper and is rich with apples and nuts. The other is thick with ham. My husband, keeper of the family recipes, now safeguards both inside a worn cookbook from his grandmother’s Havana finishing school. Each year, he pulls the recipes from La Cocina en el Hogar, makes his shopping list, then sets out to find the butcher in his parents’ neighborhood who can ground the ham  just right.

Me, I inherited my recipes from my grandmother Hazel, who grew up on a dairy farm in rural Virginia. The farm produced enough milk each day to fill a cart that the Neale kids and their horse Fancy delivered to town on their way to school. Her family’s recipes are thick with butter, cream, more butter, and a little corn for good measure. They are also sabrosísimo. It is not Thanksgiving without the Neale family, sage-infused cornbread stuffing.

And therein lies the rub. Our first years together, neither my husband nor I could imagine a Thanksgiving without our own family’s stuffing, nor a Thanksgiving with three stuffings. Our kids didn’t care — they don’t even like stuffing. But that didn’t stop the  tension. There may have been a few barbs of ‘my stuffing is better than yours’ in there, maybe. Maybe that was me. I’m not proud of it, but… entire family legacies were at stake.

One year we finally agreed: In addition to the peaches with mincemeat, corn pudding, brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes, cranberry crumble and pie, we would prepare all three recipes. Peace has reigned in our home ever since. I won’t try to persuade you which recipe is best, though I clearly have my favorite. I’ve left two of the recipes at the bottom of the post, in case anyone would like to try them. I will tell you one thing. My husband is in the kitchen right now, preparing stuffing for his office potluck tomorrow. Smells amazing. And the recipe he is using has an awful lot of butter and corn bread.

From Babita

Relleno de pan al estilo antiguo (source: newspaper)

• Una y media tazas de cebolla, finamente picada
• Una y media tazas de apio, finamente picado
• Un tercio taza de mantequilla
• Ocho tazas de cubitos de pan viejo (cortados de 1-2”)
• Una y media cucharadita de pimienta
• Media cucharadita de sazonador para ave
• Media cucharadita de salvia
• Un cuarto taza de agua
• Un huevo, ligeramente batido

En una sarten se saltean la cebolla y el apio en la mantequilla caliente, hasta que estén tiernos. Se añade a los cubitos de pan colocados en un tazón grande. Se espolvorean con las especias y se mezcla todo bien. Se añade el agua al huevo ligeramente batido y se agrega a la mezcla de pan, revolviendo con un tenedor. Es cantidad suficiente para rellenar un pavo a 12 libras. Da 9 tazas de relleno.

Babita’s second recipe for ham stuffing is handwritten, and there are a few odds and ends thrown in with the ingredients list (papel de cocina y baño) as if the paper doubled as her shopping list. We’re never quite sure on the portions, so we won’t include it here.

From Hazel

Cornbread Dressing (adapted for the modern cook, and reconstructed from memory by my mother)

• 3 boxes of Jiffy corn bread mix (made ahead)
• 4 cups of onions finely chopped
• 2 1/2 cups celery finely chopped
• 1 1/2 tbs poultry seasonings
• 2 sticks melted butter
• 4 eggs well beaten
• 2 cups of turkey stock (though good quality chicken stock will do)
• 1 1b of Italian sweet sausage, removed from casing and browned, or 1 pkg of Jimmy Dean turkey sausage in a round tube

Saute the onions and celery in butter or olive oil in a large pan. Brown the sausage.

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients and either stuff the turkey or bake in a separate pan covered at 350 for 45 minutes, uncover the last 10 minutes.

We usually make a small patty of the stuffing and fry it in a small pan to check the seasonings before stuffing the bird, so that there is time to correct.

{photo by  lookslikeamy}

Even though the days are now prone to get shorter and colder, November is a month of big celebrations. Thanksgiving, of course, is the first thing that comes to mind when using the “c” word, but there are some other, less traditional reasons that make this month special. For example, November is Good Nutrition Month. Now this is the kind of celebration I really like. Even though I love a good pig-out every now and then, and however much I eat on these occasions there will always –ALWAYS- be space left for dessert, good nutrition is the motto I generally live by, and it’s nice to celebrate it and remind others of the importance of eating well.

“You are what you eat.”

“Let your food be your medicine.”

These wise ideas were shared by visionary men centuries ago, and remain as prevalent as ever in these times of sugar addiction, TV dinners, and the likes.

To celebrate this important month, I decided to try yet another recipe using my favorite nutritious ingredient in the world: quinoa. For those of you who don’t know, quinoa is an Andean super seed that has been used since the times of the Incas for its amazing taste, and health properties. I eat quinoa every morning for breakfast (instead of oatmeal, but cooked the same way), and I love to try new ways of making it whenever I get the chance.

Scrawling through the internet in search of inspiration, I found a delicious mushroom and Marsala soup that I decided would go incredibly well (and could be turned into a very filling meal) with the addition of some quinoa. Autumn is when I start craving hearty soups that keep me warm throughout the day, so this recipe sounded like the perfect candidate.

I’m also a big fan of any dish that uses a good wine in its preparation, and many times I add it at random to any recipe. I just love what a good cooking wine does for food! I really have come to consider them an important staple ingredient in my kitchen. For this soup I used the wonderful Holland House Marsala Cooking Wine, and the depth of flavor it gave to the mushroom and quinoa combo was a total delight. Why don’t you go and try it yourself?

And don’t forget to celebrate this Good Nutrition Month with the ones you love!

Hearty Mushroom, Marsala and Quinoa Autumn Soup Recipe

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1/2 cup quinoa

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 pack (about 500 gr) mushrooms of your choice, sliced

1 diced white onion

2 diced carrots

2 finely chopped garlic cloves

1.5 lts vegetable stock

1/4-1/2 cup Holland House Marsala Cooking Wine

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

2 tablespoons tomato purée

Grated fresh Parmesan cheese to serve (optional)

Salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation:

1. To make the quinoa, put in a pan with twice the amount of water. Bring to a boil and cook for 15-20 minutes at medium-high heat. Drain any remaining water and reserve.

2. Slice and dice all the veggies. Heat the oil in a pan over medium-high heat, and sauté the garlic, onion, carrot and rosemary for about 5 minutes, until softened. Stir constantly. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Add the mushrooms and fry for another 5 minutes, stirring. Then add the Holland House Marsala Cooking Wine, stock, and tomato puree.

4. Cook for 30 minutes, adding more liquid (either water or stock) if it becomes too thick. Season with salt and pepper, and add the quinoa.

5. Serve in soup bowls, and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese if desired.

Disclosure: As Mizkan Advocates, SpanglishBaby receives compensation for creating and sharing these recipes with you. All opinions are our own.

I was invited to a sneak preview of Wreck-It Ralph a few weeks ago, along with a chance to interview the cast of the film. Here are a few things the stars had to say about the making of the film which premieres everywhere today.

John C Reilly (voice of Wreck-It Ralph):

You were so perfect for this character, I’m just wondering, did you know you had the voice for Wreck-it Ralph because it fit you like a charm?

John:It was kinda the process of becoming perfect for the character or the character becoming perfect for me. When I started out I was a bit weary of this animation process, they throw all kinds of crazy ideas around. At one point I was this horned monster with orange skin, it’s a video game character so it could be anything, all I had to be was the bad guy. So I watched all these different versions coming through… That’s the wonderful thing about how they start at the beginning.  The artist can do whatever they want. Whatever comes in their head they do all these crazy experiments, stream of consciousness ideas coming out on paper. So I sort of became Ralph and Ralph became me through the process of doing it.

Sarah Silverman (voice of Vanellope Von Schweetz):

What was your favorite part about playing Vanellope?

Sarah: I think her strength, her perseverance , her scappyness, especially at the beginning she’s obnoxious and precocious and she’s tough, but like any tough kid she’s protecting this scared little girl that’s rejected who just wants to play with everyone else. It’s the survival skill, and you know that kinda makes her every girl.

How does Sarah Silverman go to PG or a Disney film? I would have never pictured you in a Disney movie, do you think it’s logical?

Sarah: They just cut out all the curse words. There’s probably an audio blooper reel. No seriously, on one hand when Disney wanted me, I was like are you sure Sarah Silverman? But I’ve always been a huge Disney fan, I’m a huge baby and kids person, even though I don’t have any of my own. I was really happy they could see beyond those things. Or I was like do they only know me from Monk and Yo Gabba Gabba? But at the same time the filthiest comedian from when I was growing up is Eddie Murphy and he’s made quite a home with Disney. I know how to bite my tongue.

Jane Lynch (voice of Sergeant Calhoun):

Were you ever a gamer?

Jane: NO! I never even stepped foot in an arcade. Maybe except to drag my brother out of there. But I did play Astroids in the 80′s a few times.

How did recording Wreck-It Ralph work with your schedule? I’m sure you are uber busy with Glee. Did they work around your schedule?

Jane: Yeah, I would get an email from my agent saying we’re gonna do a Wreck-It Ralph this week, let me know what your schedule looks like. Then I would say I have Friday morning free and I’d come in and record during my free time from Glee. Then I wouldn’t hear from them for 3  months. Then I’d come in for an hour here and there. By the end they only would need me for 15 minutes.

Would you like to see a spin-off of your character?

Jane: Oh YEAH! I think there are many stories to be told in the arcade world.

For a review of the film and a look at my Sugar Rush inspired cake click here.

I was so inspired by the film I decided to make Ralph a medal… Here is a sugar cookie medal you can make at home with your family to honor the brave Wreck-It Ralph and all his hero characteristics! Take a big heart shaped sugar cookie and decorate it with blue icing. Then with white icing pipe the words “You’re My Hero” on it. Decorate the edge with sugar candy sprinkles and attach a ribbon to it. Or better yet eat it while watching the film. Go see Wreck-It Ralph, it’s sure to touch your heart.

Check out the Wreck-It Ralph trailer here:

It was one of those days…. I was missing my Tio who passed away 3 years ago.  With Dia de Muertos / Day of the Dead (Nov.2nd) around the corner, I decided to start building an alter in his name.  I put on his favorite song “Miss You” by the Rolling Stones and played it loud on repeat.  Choked up with tears stuck in my throat, I tried my best to belt it out and get to the rest of the song without a complete break down.  The title “Miss you” seemed perfectly appropriate.  My Tio loved Kellogg’s Rice Krispies, he use to eat them all the time.  He also loved his caramel, so why not combine the two to make the perfect treat.  My family has always observed Dia de Los Muertos but it takes on a completely different meaning when you are honoring a close family member dearly missed.  I dedicate this recipe to him and hope that where ever he is now, he’s eating his favorite foods with his friends having the best time.

Ingredients for Chocolate Caramel Almond Dia de Muertos Rice Krispies Treat:

Non-Stick cooking spray

1 – stick butter (melted)

6 – cups mini marshmallows

2 – tablespoons milk

50 – caramel candies (plastic wrapper off)

1 – box of Kellogg’s Rice Krispies cereal (12 oz.)

1 1/4 – cups whole almonds

2 – cups milk chocolate chips (melted)

I decorated my calavera with the following items:

Royal icing

sugar cookies

smarties

mini marshmallows

raspberry gummies

Kellogg’s Fruit Loops

edible metallic decorative balls

colored sprinkles

pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

Spray a 9×13 pyrex glass baking dish, one pot, a big mixing bowl, and mixing utensil with non-stick cooking spray.  Set to the side.

1. In the sprayed pot over a medium flame add butter and marshmallows.  Mix until marshmallows are completely melted and smooth.
2. In another pot add milk and caramel over a low flame and mix until melted and smooth.
3. Then take both mixtures and pour into the big sprayed mixing bowl. Mix until combined.
4. Next pour Kellogg’s Rice Krispies and almonds into the marshmallow caramel mixture.

1. Mix until completely combined.  Then pour mixture into 9×13 sprayed pyrex dish and press to make mixture even. Allow to cool completely in baking dish.
2. Once cool, flip over onto a cutting board.
3. I drew a big calavera (skeleton head) on a piece of wax paper, then cut it out and used it as my stencil.  Place stencil on top of rice krispie slab and cut around it.
4. Remove excess pieces and either eat or use later for decoration.  That’s up to you.
5. Once you have cut the calavera, leave the wax paper on it and flip it onto a different cutting board with the wax paper facing the cutting board.
6. Then take the melted chocolate and brush the entire calavera with the chocolate and along the sides as well.  Allow the chocolate to harden for at least 4 hours.

Decorate!

Once the chocolate is completely dried, take a small knife and run it along the edges to detach it from the cutting board.  Then flip it over and remove the wax paper.  Chocolate surface down, exposed Rice Krispies on top.  Then decorate as you wish.  Pull inspiration from my photo or anything else that makes you happy. To you and your loved ones departed or living this Dia de Muertos.

Disclosure: We are one of the Kellogg’s Champions of Great Starts bloggers and proud to have Kellogg’s as a SpanglishBaby sponsor.

Continuing with the theme of my last post, today I want to talk about eating more veggies. Our culture seems to have a love/hate relationship with this food group: we know it’s good for us, but we are much more tempted to eat “tastier” veggie-less foods that are thrown on our faces day in and day out. Eating vegetables always ends up feeling like homework, and nobody likes doing homework, right?

What I have found out through many years of making my food and nutrition a priority, however, is that the more vegetables I eat, the more I crave them. I’m not saying that eating them becomes an addiction, the way eating sugar does; but they do seem to awaken some “wise” part of my mind, body, and appetite, which suddenly realizes these are the foods I need, and starts asking for more and more of them. Some call this “intuitive eating”.

So how do you start eating and enjoying more vegetables, when all you want is a huge slice of pizza or chocolate cake? I’m a big advocate of learning to eat fruits and veggies (and seeds, and nuts, and legumes, and everything that is good for you!), without even noticing it, so you have a positive attitude towards them and don’t stress out. In my last post I wrote about putting your salad in a sandwich. That has worked wonders for me, and for everyone that I’ve introduced to this habit. Another way I use to eat more veggies, is turning them into the perfect accompaniment to something I really like. Cabbage, for example, is not a vegetable I’m crazy about, but luckily for me, I do have one way in which I love eating this power veg, which I inherited from my Nicaraguan family and I’m immensely grateful for. If I’m given raw cabbage by itself, I get tired of it very quickly and it doesn’t satisfy me as a meal, not even as an appetizer. But put it next to fried plantains, beans, and cheese, like Nicaraguans do, and this salad becomes a total delight that I keep devouring and adding more of to my plate because I can’t get enough of it. The saltiness of the fried cheese, combined with the other fried foods makes one crave something fresh and watery to balance the dish out, and that’s where cabbage comes in to save the day! And granted, maybe the first half of the dish is not what the doctor prescribed, but it’s delicious and one ends up eating very little of it because the cabbage is so filling.

My favorite way of making this salad is to thinly slice a whole cabbage and a red onion, add some chopped tomato and grated carrots, olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. And now that I’ve discovered Nakano‘s Seasoned Rice Vinegar, I can even skip the salt and pepper, and just splash this over the cabbage and get the perfect taste. My favorite combination of healthy, easy and appetizing!

Nicaraguan Feast (Serves 4)

Frijoles Fritos (Fried Beans)
2 cans red beans
1/2-1 cup water
2 chopped onion
2 chopped garlic cloves
Oil for frying
Salt

Rinse the beans under running water to remove the canned taste. Puree in a blender with the water (add as much water as you need). Heat the oil in a frying pan and saute the onion and garlic for a few minutes over medium heat. Remove the onion and garlic from the pan (but not the oil), add the beans, and fry, stirring every now and then, until they have the consistency you desire.Season with salt.

Queso Frito (Fried Cheese)

A few slices cheese
Flour
Oil for frying

Heat a pan over medium/high heat, pass the cheese through flour, and deep fry for a few minutes, turning and frying on the other side to make sure it’s golden on both sides. You should choose a cheese with a simple taste, that won’t melt easily, such as queso fresco or halloumi. You can ask your cheese monger which cheese would be best

Tostones Fritos (Fried Plantains)

1 green plantain
Oil for frying
Salt

Peel the plantain, and cut in 2-inch slices. In a saucepan with hot oil, Pre-cook them in a saucepan with hot oil, but do not let them color. They should be partially cooked. Remove from the pan and drain with paper towels. Press every piece with the bottom of a glass or cup, making it almost flat, but being careful not to disintegrate them. Heat some more oil, and deep fry the plantain slices until golden. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with salt.

Ensalada de Col (Cabbage Slaw)

1 cabbage
1/2 red onion
1 carrot
1 tomato
2 tablespoons olive oil
A generous splash of Nakano’s Seasoned Rice Vinegar

Thinly slice the cabbage and onion. Peel and grate the carrot. Chop the tomato. Put everything in a bowl, add the olive oil and Nakano’s Seasoned Rice Vinegar.

Check out  Mizkan’s “Splash Recipe Club!” and sign up for a chance to win great prizes every month.  And visit Nakano on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest  for more inspiring and yummy recipes.

Disclosure: We give thanks to Mizkan for being a SpanglishBaby sponsor.

One of my biggest challenges this summer has been cooking for three kids, three times a day. Although I like to cook when I have time, space and money, those factors have been seriously lacking of late. We have certain staples that are always a hit (cinnamon pancakes…for dinner!), but I’ve discovered a roadblock that I didn’t expect. The greatest obstacle to keeping their bellies happy? Requests for Latin foods that I don’t know how to make, or (more often) that I refuse to make because they are unhealthy.

My son wants some arroz con habichuelas and lechón like his abuela makes, and my stepdaughters are constantly requesting flan and tostones. Basically, they want salt, sugar, and grease! I’m the last person on the planet that anyone should look to for unhealthy foods. I can bake up a storm, but usually only do so for special occasions.

I’m a huge fan of the flavors in Mexican, Cuban, and other varieties of Latin food, but I try to avoid the ones that are fried or soaked in lard. Nor am I the drive-thru mom. I run in the other direction when I see a greasy plate of anything, and unfortunately, I associate a lot of Latin foods with this very image.

Part of this reluctance on my part to venture into true Latino cooking is my paranoia that the kids will end up like all of their grandparents: with diabetes and high blood pressure from years of sugar and salt overload. Hispanic Americans are nearly twice as likely as non-Hispanic whites to be diagnosed with diabetes, and it freaks me out that our children already have the genetic odds stacked against them. Half the time (with the other parents), they are exposed to the dietary factors that may eventually create health issues, which makes me feel pressured to fight that with healthier habits at our house.

Does this mean I’m denying them an important cultural ritual, or looking out for them?

I don’t want to leave a bad taste in their mouths about the foods they love and associate with family, but there must be a better way to preserve the positives than to feed them the lethal goodies, right?

I love the healthy, flavorful recipes that have been shared on SpanglishBaby, and wish there were more resources for those of us who did not grow up cooking traditional Latin recipes. I’m searching for ways to make healthy foods, disguised as the Puerto Rican meals they love.

How do you balance nutritional concerns with your kids’ taste for the bad stuff? Any advice on how to cook up culture with a little less grasa?

{Image via Daquella manera}