Click here and read how a can of store-bought black beans reminds me of the beans I was served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the highlands of Western Honduras. Just open, heat, and serve these beans with your favorite Central American recipe!
Tina’s Indian fruit salad showcases an array of unique flavors as an assortment of berries, mango, and apple is seasoned with Himalayan pink salt, toasted cumin, mandarin juice, basil, and black pepper. Try it and see how this recipe brings out the best of fruit! (more).
There is nothing like a cup of coffee to jumpstart your day. Needless to say, I’ve had plenty of time to hone this recipe, and as luck had it, I stumbled across two secrets: turbinado sugar and a 3:1 ratio of oat milk to creamer. (more).
My puchero is a fall casserole that I’ve adapted from my Mexican host mom’s signature recipe. My version calls for butternut squash, plantain bananas, carrots, yellow crookneck squash, and Yukon potatoes. It takes its name from squishing the veggies between your fingers, puch, puch, puchero. (more).
These Honey-Glazed, Toasted Pecans are a prize topping for a salad or a treat in of themselves. With only three ingredients and 8 minutes to make, it will become a staple in your household as they are mine! Try them on my Citrus, Bacon & (more).
After years of making mediocre scrambled eggs, by a stroke of luck, I stumbled across this recipe for the Fluffiest Scrambled Eggs Ever. One fortuitous day, by sheer accident, I discovered the golden method revealed in my post and whipped up the airiest scrambled eggs! (more).
With my Freshest Ever Greek Salad, every bite is a burst of flavors—with either a crisp crunch of cucumbers, mixed with a nutty note of black olives and an earthy hint of oregano, or a salty touch of feta cheese, coupled by juicy, sweet tomatoes. (more).
This Heavenly Caprese with Pesto Panini is so blissful that it transports you out of this world. Truly, nothing can beat the perfect flavor equation of Genovese pesto, heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella cheese, and sourdough bread. With only 4 ingredients and 10 minutes to make, (more).
My Genovese Pesto with Bowtie Pasta is the perfect marriage of homemade pesto, made with a mortar and pestle, served with bowtie (farfalle) pasta, pine nuts, olive oil, and topped off with a sprinkle of Pecorino Romano cheese. It’s truly a match made in heaven! (more).
My Roasted Corn and Pepper Salad features twice-cooked corn, once boiled, and once roasted, which gives this dish its rich, buttery flavor. This mouthwatering corn is then given a little kick with the complement of ground black pepper, my secret ingredient. And to round it (more).
This Gourmet Caesar Salad Dressing stands apart from all others, with its unique base of sour cream, buttermilk, cream cheese, and mayonnaise, a creamy foundation that’s enriched by hints of nutty Parmesan cheese, tangy Worcestershire sauce, and savory anchovy paste. Give it a try and (more).
This unconventional Bolognese ranks in my top ten favorite recipes with its infusion of hickory-smoked bacon that permeates the garlic, onion, tomatoes, and freshly shredded Parmesan cheese. Another key to this recipe rests in the sun-dried tomatoes, which are rehydrated, but not preserved in oil. (more).
This stellar cornbread is a combination of all things comfort—from ricotta to white and orange cheddar cheeses to cornmeal, jalapeños, and buttermilk. Serve with my Beef Chili Like None Other or as a treat unto itself. Any way you serve it, you can’t go wrong! (more).
Instead of settling for bland supermarket tortillas, now you can enjoy the best homemade corn tortillas. Here I recount my tips of decades of experience, which I learned from my own trial and error and from Honduran women I met in the Peace Corps.
These apricot crumble bars are out-of-this-world, with a phenomenal pairing of sweet n’ sour apricots, a nutty almond crust, and a pecan topping that will have you pleading for more. This dessert is one of the reasons that I look forward to summer every year! (more).
This mouth-watering dish is one of my favorites to date with the winning combination of fire-roasted green chiles, mildly sweet corn tortillas, and melted cheddar cheese. Yet the secret ingredients are the creamy chive cream cheese, tempered by sour cream, and the earthy black olives. (more).
These green chile and cheese pastry poppers will melt in your mouth as the epic southwestern flavors of cream cheese, sour cream, olives, cheddar cheese, and chilies are complemented by flaky, pastry puff sheets. It will be a surefire hit of any party, as your (more).
I find that salsa verde can be unpleasantly acidic, but here, I temper the typical sour note by omitting the lime juice and pairing it with ripe, charred tomatillos and a dash of salt instead of sugar. Use this as a dip on chips or (more).
I was first introduced to this luscious banana smoothie while in the Peace Corps in Honduras. Ever since, it’s been a longtime favorite and is easy to make, taking only 3 minutes to prep and using only 3 ingredients. Plus, it’s naturally sweet, consisting solely (more).
Sometimes I feel that I have the best hobby in the world. What can beat taste tasting margaritas until I hone the perfect combination of sweet limeade, sour lime juice, and briny sea salt? This recipe took various iterations to perfect, but my family was (more).
This buttermilk dressing is so delicious that you’ll be licking the back of a spoon! This dressing was a failed attempt at making ranch dressing, but what came out of this experiment was a huge win! Try this dressing on my Zesty Mexican Cobb Salad (more).