This post post was written in collaboration with Latina Bloggers Connect and Maseca. All opinions are our own.

It’s amazing how a smell can bring back so many memories. The minute a bag of Maseca makes it’s way into my home my mind starts thinking of what to make. It definitely inspires me to cook a traditional meal that I usually only enjoy when I travel to Guatemala or El Salvador. I recently had the opportunity to try Maseca’s new Centroamerica flour mix. I decided to make a traditional pot of beans with bolitas de masa (dough balls). The moment I poured water and salt into the Maseca mix my mind began to travel back to the vacations in Central America that I took with my family as a child. The smell of fresh masa being kneaded by one of my aunts is forever engraved into my memory and immediately makes my mouth water.  All I wanted to do was find a comal, flatten out the dough ball, and enjoy a fresh tortilla. However, I waited for my pot of beans with bolitas de masa to cook.

The end result tastes like beans with a fresh tortilla in a bowl. You can serve it with your favorite toppings like Salvadorian sour cream and fresh cilantro criollo.

Ingredients

Beans

• 2 cups of black or pinto beans
• 1/4 cup of diced onion
• 3 cloves of garlic (whole)
• 1 chile (of choice)
• ½ gallon of water

Dough Balls

• 1 cup of Maseca flour
• 1tbs of olive oil
• ¼ tbs of salt
• ¾ cup of water

Toppings (optional)

• Sour cream (I used Salvadorean sour cream)
• Cilantro (I used cilantro criollo)

Cooking Directions

For Beans

-       Rinse 2 cups of back beans.

-       In a large pot combine 1/2 gallon of water, beans, and 3 cloves of peeled garlic. Bring to a boil.

-       Let the beans boil for about 45 minutes.  Cooking times may vary.

-       After 45 add onion, whole chile, and about 15 dough balls to your pot of beans. Cook for an additional 15 minutes.

-       When your beans are fully cooked serve with fresh cilantro and sour cream.

Note: The beans and dough balls will absorb the water quickly. If beans look too dry add 1 cup of water.

For Dough Balls

- Combine Maseca flour , olive oil, salt and water into a small mixing bowl. Knead until smooth.

- Form small dough balls about the size of bouncy ball. Makes about 30.

For more delicious recipes made with Maseca visit the Maseca website.

This post post was written in collaboration with Latina Bloggers Connect and Maseca. All opinions are our own.

Cooking is one of those activities that definitely draws my family closer together. Over a cutting board that’s been weathered by years of cooking family meals, we catch up on the happenings of the family. That is how I spent last Saturday. I attempted, for the first time, to make Pastelitos Salvadoreños with the guidance of my mom.

Pastelitos, which simply means small cakes in English, are a traditional Salvadorean dish that somewhat resemble empanadas. Inside the pastelitos is a meat stuffing or picadillo. The delicious twist is that it’s accompanied by curtido and fresh salsa de tomate. In case you’ve never heard of curtido, it’s basically a cabbage relish that is a staple side in Salvadorean dishes like the famous pupusas.

Below is my mom’s recipe for pastelitos. Her recipe for most dishes is second nature to her so I tried to keep up with how much of each ingredient she was adding. I’m sure every Salvadorean home has a slightly different recipe for this dish, which makes it all the more special as it reflects that family’s taste. You can easily substitute the vegetables and meat for other ingredients you prefer.

Ingredients

- For Picadillo

• 1 pound of lean ground beef
• 1 clove of garlic (chopped)
• 1 large potato (chopped)
• ½ cup of chopped spring onion
• 2/3 cup of chopped celery
• 1 cup of chopped baby carrots
• 1 table spoon of olive oil
• 1 cube of beef flavored bouillon
• 1 teaspoon of dried, crushed oregano

-For Curtido

•  ½ a cabbage (shredded)
• ¾ cup of shredded carrots
• ½ of an onion cut into long strips
• 1 teaspoon of dried oregano
• 1/3 cup of apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup of boiling water
• 1 teaspoon of salt

Recipe for Pastelitos Salvadoreños (makes 12)

First Prepare the meat picadillo. Chop up your potatoes, carrots, celery, onion and garlic. Set Aside.

Heat up a medium sized cooking pot with one tablespoon of olive oil. Add ground beef, bouillon, and the crushed dried oregano to cooking pot. Use a spatula to stir meat and break it up if necessary.Add vegetables and cover until everything is fully cooked.

Heat up a frying pan with vegetable oil. Add enough oil so that the base of the pan is covered.

Prepare your masa mix while frying pan is heating up. Combine one pound of Maseca with 3 cups of cold water and salt to taste. Knead the masa until smooth.

Finally use a tortilla press (if you have one)  to make tortilla shapes out of your masa. Place 1 to 2 spoonfuls of the picadillo into the middle of your tortilla. Fold over. Press sides closed with a fork.

Fry your pastelitos for about 10 minutes on each side over medium heat. When they are done they should have a golden, crispy texture to them.

Place over a paper towel to drain excess oil. Let cool and serve.

Recipe for Curtido

Combine cabbage, carrots, onion and oregano in a large bowl.

Add apple cider vinegar.

Slowly add one cup of boiling water.

Add salt

Your pastelitos are ready! Serve them with love and enjoy with family and friends.

Among the many foods my husband and I crave from Mexico, enfrijoladas and chilaquiles definitely top the list. My husband is always saying that the enfrijoladas they made in his house growing up were the best (so were the quesadillas and chiles rellenos and romeritos and the list goes on and on and on!)

So you can imagine I am measured with a really long stick any time I attempt to make any really Mexican meal. I definitely need inspiration and the right recipes to get me going, so I´m excited that Maseca has just launched their Club Mi Maseca where, among many things, I can collect my favorite recipes from their inventory. I can also share my own favorites–like the enfrijoladas de pollo! as well as browse the ones other members have uploaded.

The Club is still in beta stage, but we invite you to check it out, create your own profile and start collecting your favorite recipes using Maseca in one place.

Inside you will also find a planner you can download to take the Healthy Month challenge with meal ideas and snack ideas for a balanced diet.

The Calorie Counter and the Health Quiz are also entertaining to play around with to get a sense of our daily calorie and energy intake.

And last but not least, stop on over to the Amigas Blogueras section where ten Latina bloggers (including us!) are sharing delicious and nutritious recipes using Maseca, as well as stories and tips to cook with our niños.

Some Amigas Blogueras highlights include:

• Nicole Presley (PresleysPantry.com) shares with us how to make a perfect atole.
• The mother and daughter team from PeruDelights.com show us how to use Maseca to prepare a gourmet meal from canapés to dessert.
• Ericka Sánchez (NibblesandFeasts.com and SpanglishBaby Food contributor) gets nostalgic about champurradoand lets us in to her recipe for a frothy hot cup of one.
• Vianney Rodriguez (SweetLifeBake.com) lets us in on her family´s tradition of pumpkin pie tamales.
• Silvia Martinez (MamaLatinaTips.com) gives us handy tips for involving kids in the kitchen to encourage a healthy eating habits.

We would love to know if you joined the Club Mi Maseca and shared any of your recipes using Maseca so we can add them to our favorites!

I also invite you to check out what the other Amigas Blogueras are writing on the blog hop below. You’re also more than welcomed to link up any recipes you have using Maseca and they will appear on all our blogs though the linky!

{Photo by: cbertel}

The smell of freshly made tortillas immediately takes me back to my childhood – specifically the time I was between 6 and 8 years old.

As many of you know, I was born in Peru, but I had the fortune to live in several countries as I was growing up and one of them was Mexico. So, as a child, I would be given one peso so that I could run out and get some freshly pressed tortillas when the tortillero visited our neighborhood. He would announce himself by blowing his horn and my sister and I quickly became friends with him.

Not sure where I learned it, but I would put salt on the warm tortilla, roll it up and devour it! Mmmm! ¡Qué rico!

While we only lived in Mexico for two years, two of my mom’s sisters have made that beautiful country their home many years ago and so part of my family is now Mexican. Therefore, I’ve always had a strong connection to the country and its food. So even though I’m Peruvian, tortillas have always been a part of my diet.

Now that I’m a mom, I’ve passed on my love for tortillas to my children and they mostly like them when I make quesadillas for them. What I love the most about tortillas is that they are versatile and so nutritious.

Did you know that tortillas made with Maseca‘s 100% natural corn flour have no cholesterol, which means they’re good for your heart? How about the fact that they provide the same energy as a banana? My favorite is that they are high in fiber which helps us with digestion and keeping us regular, a huge issue in my house where everyone suffers from constipation.

What I did not know, and recently found out on Maseca’s website, is that tortillas can prevent allergies, which unfortunately both my kids suffer from.

So besides being delicious they are nutritious. What more can you ask for?

For nutritious recipe ideas, head over to the Maseca Buenos Momentos app on Facebook where you can search for meals for anytime of the day.

Why do you love tortillas?

Follow Maseca on Facebook and on Twitter. Join the Amigas Blogueras by following our conversations with the hashtag #ClubMiMaseca and share with us your Maseca love!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored campaign on behalf of Maseca and Latina Bloggers Connect. All opinions are our own. We are thrilled to partner with brands which are an ideal fit.

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.

Since we believe food is one of the bridges to our culture, we are thrilled to be partnering with Maseca, a brand that represents our culture so well, as one of their ten Amigas Blogueras.

If you go to the Maseca brand new website here, you´ll meet all the Amigas Blogueras and see that we´re in great company! If you browse around you´ll find the Mi Chef section with tons of great recipe ideas using Maseca Amarilla, Regular and Para Tamales, which have been cleverly categorized under Niños, Recetas Tradicionales, El Lado Light and, my favorite, Sorprende a tu suegra. I totally need to spend some time exploring those recipes!

And how about this collection of eight tamale recipes from all over the Americas? Nicaragua, Mexico, Perú, Honduras, Guatemala and even the U.S.! I had no idea we had so many variations, and since these are made with Maseca they are simpler to prepare and delve into tasting them all. Forget Taco Tuesday. Let´s make it Tamale Thursdays!

Aside from browsing through some delicious recipes on the new site, you´ll also learn about the nutritional values of la tortilla we love so much and take for granted how healthy of a food it is.

For the next three months we´ll share more with you and the Maseca visitors over at their site. We´ll also let you know about cool new promotions, like this one called Raspa y Gana where you can instantly win Maseca products or even have them pay for your grocery bill.

For now, we´d love to know if you use Maseca and what you make with it.

Follow Maseca on Facebook and on Twitter. Join the Amigas Blogueras by following our conversations with the hashtag #MiClubMaseca and share with us your Maseca love!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored campaign on behalf of Maseca and Latina Bloggers Connect. All opinions are our own. We are thrilled to partner with brands which are an ideal fit.