Tortillas, tamales, pupusas, arepas, empanadas are words that need no translation because they are becoming such a rich part of the culinary tradition of las Américas. These traditional foods have one ingredient in common: Maseca, instant corn masa flour. And why is Maseca part of every Latina´s kitchen? Because corn is a healthy tradition in our diets and part of our history, especially if you are from Mexican descent where corn has been a staple grain since Aztec times. SinceRead More ...
A couple weeks preceding Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead), we begin creating and preparing the decorations for our altar. One very important element and colloquial symbol incorporated in the altar is the sugar skull (calaverita de azucar). Sugar skulls represent and honor a departed soul. Customarily, the name of the person the altar is dedicated to is written across the skull’s forehead. If you do not have an altar to display them on, sugar skulls can alsoRead More ...
I have very fond memories of long weekends spent in Guatemala City, a five-hour drive from San Salvador where I grew up. Perhaps my favorite part of going to Guatemala was stopping by the local market and buying bags of canillitas de leche to take back home with me. This traditional candy from Guatemala is made with condensed milk that hardens into a stick, or canillita, and then just melts in your mouth. So simple, sweet and delicious. I stillRead More ...
Summer is over, but the craving for salads isn’t. I just crave heartier salads that can take me through the hectic day and that my daughter will also love. For this month’s Mizkan Cooking Challenge the five participating bloggers had to come up with a Favorite Light Recipe using a Nakano rice vinegar™as an ingredient. It really was easy because their seasoned rice vinegars can be splashed onto so many simple dishes to enhance their flavor. I chose to use theRead More ...
Editor´s note: We invited one of our favorite food bloggers, Nicole Presley from Presley´s Pantry, to share with us two kid-friendly recipes using the New No-Stick Performance spray by PAM. First, she shared these ingenious lasagna cups and now we have the dessert! I’m a huge fan of cobbler and celebrate all that it represents: bringing my family together in the kitchen to get a slice; enjoying our cherry cobbler as a family unit; and us parents proudly watching our 2Read More ...
Editor´s note: We invited one of our favorite food bloggers, Nicole Presley from Presley´s Pantry, to share with us a kid-friendly recipe using the New No-Stick Performance spray by PAM and she came up with something quite delectable. I’ve wanted to try my hand at making lasagna cups for quite a while now, but due to fear of them sticking to the pan I’ve always reserved the occasion for another time. To my delight I stumbled across a New No-StickRead More ...
Editor’s note: This is the sixth post in our Flan Week celebration in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. I grew up in a Cuban household where food, familia, and fiesta were the main ingredients. My father loved to cook and was frankly great at it. Being that I enjoyed and devoured every meal he created, traditional and non, I blamed the curves that were developing to the home cooking. It wasn’t until later on in life that I realized I suffered fromRead More ...
Editor’s note: This is the sixth post in our Flan Week celebration in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. Today is the turn of Ericka, our The Culture of Food regular contributor and author of Nibbles and Feasts. Ericka shares with us a story and recipe of a traditional and easy flan de cajeta from Mexico . We hope you’ve been enjoying Flan Week and come back for the last recipe {Fat-Free Flan?!} tomorrow. The smell of simmering cajeta at my grandmother’s house signified two things:Read More ...
