I made this cool wreath made out of corn flakes.  It’s the same idea as a Rice Krispie treat… only different.  Click here to see the step by step instructions on Babble and make it for your Christmas table!

Disclosure: This is part of a sponsored campaign with the California Milk Processor Board and Latina Mom Bloggers. However, all opinions expressed and recipe is are 100% my own.

Let me tell you about my Nina… she is a hot little spit fire packaged in a petite frame and has long luscious locks that drape her face. She has green piercing eyes and a voice that can carry through the French alps if it needed to. In other words she is loud and feisty and good looking. This firecracker was always kind to me growing up and bossy at the same time. As you can imagine she gave direction well, and didn’t take anyone’s crap. My Nina has always been surrounded by a gang of yappy little mean chihuahuas who were meaner than the Grinch. If people came to visit her they  would nip at the ankles of the guests and tug at their pant hemlines. I use to find this amusing since that was the opposite treatment they gave me. They would jump on their hind legs with their tongues sticking out and their tails wagging. The baby puppies loved me. I think it might have been because I always shared my food with them. Let me add this tidbit, my Nina is an excellent cook, and makes very traditional foods. One day many moons ago she was instructing me in a louder than usual volume to try this arroz con leche she had made. I dug my spoon in and savored the sweetness in my mouth. She watched with knowing eyes that her’s was the best. Then that little kitchen filled up with her loud bullhorn voice and she said ” You like it ha Mija? It’s probably one of the best you’ve ever had. Right?” I felt like Dorothy  when she first encounters the wizard of oz…. no room to agree or disagree. I nodded my head. That was that… I never asked what was in her arroz con leche, but I surely wanted to know.

In my quest to eat the most magical arroz con leche… I decided to mix in chocolate and dried cherries. I still wanted it to be super yummy and didn’t know if that would do the trick so I made it tres leches, and low and behold I figured out exactly what my Nina had made that day.

Here are more creamy delicious milk recipes for your viewing pleasure! Or download a MILK coupon here.

Ingredients for Chocolate Cherry Arroz Con Tres Leches:

• 3 – cups water
• 2 – cinnamon sticks
• 1 – tablespoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 – cups long grain rice
• 1 – cup dried cherries
• 1 – cup milk
• 1 – can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 – can media crema
• 3 – Mexican chocolate disks

Directions:

1. In a pot over a medium high flame add in water, cinnamon sticks, and vanilla. Bring to a boil. 
2. Add in rice and dried cherries. Mix to combine, then bring to a boil. 
3. Once boiling lower flame to a simmer and cover with a lid.
4. Allow rice to simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Once rice is cooked, remove from flame and discard cinnamon sticks. Allow rice to rest for a few minutes. 
6. While rice is resting. In a separate pot over a medium low flame mix together media crema and Mexican chocolate disks. Mix until fully dissolved and a chocolate sauce is formed. Set the the side. 
7. In a large bowl add in cooked rice and cherries, milk, sweetened condensed milk, and chocolate sauce.
8. Mix to combine and serve either warm or cold.
9. Enjoy!

Here’s a little video showing you how:

Buñuelos de viento =  light as air fritters that are melt in a crunchy type of way delicious. These Mexican fritters are made with a rosette and so easy to make. I know for many people buñuelos are made by rolling out dough or frying a flour tortilla, and I do celebrate that type as well. This year I wanted to make a fancy version for my posada , so I decided to give the rosette a try. In essence a buñuelo is a fritter, it could be shaped in a ball, or flat as a disk, but if it’s deep fried and powdered with cinnamon/sugar then it’s a buñuelo.

Buñuelos are certainly enjoyed throughout Christmas time and served with a hot glass of champurrado. I feel like I’m over explaining this delicate crisp friend of mine, when all I really need to say is …. if you’ve never had a buñuelo…. now is the time. Enjoy them this posada season and never look back.

Watch the short video at the very bottom of this post to see exactly how to make these treats.

Ingredients for buñuelos de viento:

• 2 – eggs
• 1 – tablespoon vanilla
• 2 – tablespoons sugar
• 1 – cup milk
• 1 – cup flour
• 1/4 – teaspoon salt
• vegetable oil for frying
• rosette set
• cinnamon sugar mixture

Directions:

1. In a bowl whisk together the eggs and vanilla. 
2. Add in the sugar and whisk well.
3. Add in the milk and whisk to combine completely. 
4. In a separate bowl mix flour and salt together then sift into the egg/milk mixture. Whisk to combine. It should have the consistency of a thick cream.  
5. Set batter to the side for 10 minutes.
6. In a small frying pan fill with 2 inches deep of frying oil. Place pan over a medium flame and allow to get hot.
7. Place rosette on the timbale and place to locked position. Then dip the rosette into the hot oil allowing it to get hot. 
8. Remove it from the oil and blot off excess oil.
9. Then dip the rosette into the batter, but make sure to leave the top of the rosette exposed. Do not submerge it all the way. 
10. Then dip the rosette back into the hot oil. Fry the batter for about 20 seconds then the rosette will easily slip off. Once the rosette slips off, place it to the side and use thongs to flip the buñuelo over and cook it on the inside.
11. Let fry until golden crisp.
12. Drain each buñuelo on a paper towel lined plate.
13. Then dip the buñuelos into the cinnamon sugar mixture and serve. 
14. Enjoy!

Since we are in the thick of the posada days (from Dec.16th to Dec.24th), I am going to be making ponche, frying up buñuelos, and singing loud and proud.  I am making posada bags today for my #presleyposada this weekend….. I put step by step instructions on what I use in mine on Babble. Click here to make some.

This is part of a sponsored campaign with Latina Mom Bloggers and Princess House.
However, all opinions expressed are my own.

That’s a picture of my friend Stephen…. He and his husband Art co-create a blog called Latino Foodie. Long story short… Stephen and Art came over for dessert at my house at the beginning of November and were going on and on about the tamale steamer/stockpot Princess House makes (pictured above) . Asking me if I had used it before, telling me about the signature crystal princess house lid and how it’s made of vented glass (which means it allows for slow evaporation of liquid when steaming or simmering food), how the whole  pot is made of stainless steel, and has a lifetime guarantee.  We continued exchanging tamale tips, then Stephen said why don’t we have a tamalada here at your house closer to Christmas? I’m always up for a party and with tamales as part of equation… my answer was YES!

Last week the tamalada happened! Some of my favorite food friends came and spread masa on corn husks and filled them with spicy meat and other delicious filling.

We quickly put the first batch in a Princess House steamer to cook so we could enjoy when we were done preparing all the tamales. Once the food was ready we dove in and celebrated our friendship, culture, and Christmas traditions.

It was a wonderful time, and none of us will forget it. Princess House was super generous in sending a new tamale steamer home with each one of my tamale spreading friends. From this point forward… every time one of us makes tamales, we will pull out our tamale steamers and remember our bonding day fondly.

Here is a picture of the lovely 18 qt. Princess House Stockpot/ Steamer everyone got!

For more on tamales… check out my tamale video by clicking here!

I’m totally behind in LIFE these days!  I haven’t even had a chance to grab Christmas cards to send out this year.  So due to this, here is a little Christmas video to all my friends and family.  Merry Christmas!

Click here:

Do you ever make things in advance to try them out? You know, like try a recipe a few weeks in advance before a party. I’m a little crazy like that. Well I don’t know if you can call it crazy…. I like to think of it as uber prepared. That happened this past weekend. It had been a year since the last time I made ponche, I make it annually but like to change little things here and there each year.  I think the truth of the matter is I was looking for a reason to make ponche, and Walmart tempted  me further by having everything I needed to make it right there in the store. As I walked down the isles I filled my cart up with apples, prunes, raisins, sugar cane, and tamarindo. I told myself as I pushed the cart that I was gonna have my Christmas party / posada in a few weeks and I had to give my ponche recipe a spin. That was enough to convince me, as everyone knows you can not have a posada without a good pot of ponche. Next thing I knew I was home peeling my tamarindo pods and coring my apples. A few hours later my house smelled of Christmas…. the weather was cold outside and my hands warm wrapped around my gorgeous ponche.

Ingredients for ponche:

• 2 – gallons water
• 15 – tamarindo pods (peeled and devein)
• 18 – dried hibicus flowers
• 4 – cinnamon sticks
• 20 – tejocote
• 5 – apples (cut in half and cored)
• 15 – guavas
• 1/2 – cup raisins
• 20 – prunes (pitted)
• 3 – piloncillo cones

Directions:

1. Peel and devein tamarindo. 
2. Cut apples in half and core.
3. Place all ingredients in a large pot over a high flame and bring to a boil. 
4. When the mixture starts to boil,  lower flame to low/simmer and cover with a lid.
5. Cook for 3 hours. 
6. Remove from flame and serve hot. 
7. Enjoy!

Here is a little snippet of how to devein a tamarindo pod.