I started making this simple salsa many moons ago, as a fast tasty sauce for my tacos. Just a handful of ingredients and a few minutes and you have the ultimate salsa. I love the simplicity of the chile de arbol and tomato combination that this salsita brings to my burritos, eggs, steak, or popcorn…. It makes any meal perfectly spiced. Click here to watch a quick how to make this yummers salsa video.

Ingredients for Chile de Arbol Salsa:

• 4 – cups of water
• 1 – tablespoon salt
• 3 – tomatoes
• 16 – chiles de arbol (stems removed)
• 5 – garlic cloves
• a pinch of oregano
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. In a pot over a medium high flame add water and salt and bring to a boil.
2. Once water is boiling add tomatoes and chile de arbol, and boil for 30 minutes.
3. Remove pot from flame and add tomatoes and chile de arbol to a blender. Use one cup of water that you boiled the chiles in and add to the blender as well.
4. Add garlic, oregano, salt and pepper to blender, and blend on high till smooth.
5. Pour into a bowl and enjoy on tacos or anything that tickles your fancy.

The twinkling of light that glimmers through these cookies is the old magic of Christmas. It will forever remind me of days when I was only a few years into this life and Christmas was made of candy cane, sugar plums, yummy fruit cakes and stained glass cookies.  They remind me of a blizzard-like fairy tale.  They could be used for all types of reasons… for instance:

If your reindeer gets lost in the woods, let your Christmas Stained Glass Cookies lead him back to the sleigh. 
If you’re feeling sappy and don’t want anyone to hear you singing “Kumbaya” line up your cookies “camp fire style” and sing away. 

If you want to creep in on Santa as he drops off his gifts, you can look through the cookie and he would never know you’re there. You little spy, you. 

If you feel the need for an Andy Warhol factory inspired cookie photo shoot, the Christmas Stained Glass Cookies is all the rage.

My son asks for potato chips every meal, that’s what our meal time has come to recently.  I try and bribe him, give him ultimatums, replace his chips with other food but it always comes down to “chips.”  Even his teacher is on to it, she says to me the other day “Max ate his sandwich during lunch” then she smiled real big and said with a wink “I gave him a chip every other bite.”  What?  Seriously?  The only way to get him to eat or try other foods is if the food is followed with a chip.  Thank the stars I have the cool Zyliss 2-in-1 Handheld Slicer, it’s like a mini mandoline.  It makes slicing my potatoes paper thin a fast task.  Instead of making chips this morning, I fooled my son and told him all the chips stuck together to make a potato chip hash brown.  He believed it and ate the hash brown. One point for me. 🙂

Ingredients for Potato Chip Hash Browns:

2 – medium sized Idaho Potatoes (peeled and cut paper thin)

3 – tablespoons vegetable oil

2 – teaspoons Lawry’s seasoning salt

1 – teaspoon black pepper

1/2 – teaspoon garlic powder

Directions:

Peel and slice potatoes then add them to a big bowl and mix in the spices and seasoning salt.  Set to the side.

In a large frying pan over a medium high flame add vegetable oil. Allow oil to heat for about 3 minutes before adding in potatoes on a single layer.  Then with the extra potatoes add a top layer.

Let fry on the first side for 10 minutes or until golden brown.  Then carefully flip the potato chip hash brown, and cook the other side for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy!

I’ve always been a fan of figs.  Happens to be one of my favorite fruits.  I’ve been known to tell people “If someone sends you a basket full of figs, that is a sign of true love.”  In my opinion figs are considered a perfect fruit, and one every person should enjoy.

Do you know my buddy Ericka Sanchez? She recently teamed up with The National Honey Board and made this appetizer for them.  Something decadent enough for the holiday table, but something so simple you could have it on the table in about 10 minutes. I think I’m gonna have to make these. 🙂  Enjoy.

Serves: 8 / Recipe by: Ericka Sanchez

Ingredients:

Preparation:

1. In a small saucepan, heat port, honey and peppercorns over low to medium flame.
2. Bring to a boil and continue cooking until the consistency becomes syrupy; this should take approximately 2 minutes. Set aside and let cool.
3. Remove peppercorns.
4. Cut the stem off of each fig. Then cutting the fig crosswise, gently open them like a flower.
5. Place a teaspoon of cream cheese in the center of each “flowered” fig and drizzle with honey port syrup.

I like to call them “cooking carnivals” a day when all I do is cook and bake.  I almost wish I could take it a step further and hang a sign on my door that lets everyone know to stay out of the kitchen.  Last week I was having one of those days.  I made chorizo stuffing, sweet potato casserole, gingerbread pumpkin empanadas and then I realized I had all the ingredients to make a flan with some of the left over items from the dishes I had created.  Here it is, my first pumpkin flan.  I never got to taste it myself, it was gone before I knew it.  Happy Holidays!

Ingredients for Pumpkin Flan:

• 1/2 – cup cajeta
• 4 – ounces cream cheese (room temperature)
• 1 – 12 0z. can of evaporated milk
• 1 – 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk
• 1 – tablespoon vanilla extract
• 5 – large eggs
• 1 – cup canned or fresh pumpkin puree
• 1/2 – teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• pomegranate seeds

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit

Spray a bundt pan with a non stick baking spray, then fill the bottom with cajeta.

   

In a blender add cream cheese, evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract, eggs, pumpkin puree, and pumpkin pie spice. Blend for a minute or until completely combined. Pour flan mixture over the cajeta filled bundt pan.

Cover the pan with aluminum foil and place inside a large pyrex baking dish. Pour hot water into the pyrex baking dish to fill up half way.

Then place the baking dish into the oven and bake for 1 hour.

Once out of the oven, remove from water bath and uncover to allow cooling. Run a small knife around the edge to ensure it from sticking.  Let the flan rest for two hours then flip it over onto a plate. Slowly lift pan up away from plate. Then put in the fridge for 5 hours or overnight.  When ready to serve sprinkle with pomegranate seeds. ENJOY!!!!!!

It’s finally here! Sara O’Donnell of Average Betty and I made a video celebrating 3 ways to make Mashed Potatoes. We had a Mashed Potato Party and invite you to come on over and celebrate with us! Make our Mashed Potatoes for your Holiday table this year!

For the recipes click here.

Many thank you’s to our beloved Idaho Potato Commission for making this video possible!

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Are you lucky enough to have had a Mexican Corn on the Cob? This addicting treat is a favorite in my house. We make it often or buy it from the street vendor who frequents my neighborhood everyday. Next time you are craving a spicy cheesy treat, give Mexican Corn on the cob a try, it’s the caramel apple of corns.

To watch my video on how to prepare this delicious kernel treat, click here.

Ingredients for Mexican Corn on the Cob:

• 1 – cooked corn on the cob (grilled, boiled or steamed)
• The juice of 1/2 a lime
• 1 – tablespoon butter
• 1 – tablespoon mayo
• 1 – tablespoon cotija cheese crumbled
• cayenne pepper to your liking

Directions:

1. Squeeze lime juice onto hot cooked corn on the cob.
2.  Spread butter on corn.
3. Slather it in Mayo.
4. Sprinkle the cotija cheese on top.
5. Last spice with cayenne pepper.