It’s heeeeeere! My other half, Esteban, has finally released his book child Chicano Eats into the world. It’s been a long couple years of him shooting and testing and stressing and I couldn’t be more proud with what he put together.

The book has everything: it’s beautiful, fun, informative, delicious, etc. and I love it. Not as much as I love him, but there’s a close-ish capacity.

It was really hard going over everything and figuring out what I wanted to post on the blog and shoot but I landed on something a little more celebratory with cake.

Not just any cake, it’s a strawberry hibiscus cake. Hibiscus tea in the buttercream gives it an insane vibrant color while layers of strawberry filling give it a fruity slap across the face.

His recipe does not look like this in the book, it’s a classic layer cake, buuut the wrecking balls of hands that I was gifted with do not compute making a cute cake. I went with the milk bar naked cake method because it’s nearly foolproof for a good looking cake if you’re into dessert nudity and added some strawberry cake crumbs that are totally optional but not really.

If you’ve ever wanted a fun cookbook, it’s this right here. It’s got all you need to make Mexican food in your kitchen with Crossover recipes to make something familiar you’ve never had before.

Special shout out to the National Mango Board for sponsoring this post and helping keep this site/me moving/shaking/twisting.

Summer’s finally starting to heat up here in the central valley which means more fruity, refreshing desserts. As much as I love a good strawberry shortcake, it’s nice to switch it up from time to time.

Enter the Mango shortcake.

We’re transforming this recipe by adding in sweet mangos (Hello, it’s National Mango Month!) and pairing them with buttery biscuits and whipped cream. Mangos are always in season, and they are especially rich in vitamin C – a ¾ cup serving packs in half of what you need for the day. The juicy mangos are complemented by lime juice and sandwiched between biscuits and cream of coconut whipped cream.

Special shout out to the National Mango Board for sponsoring this post and helping keep this site/me moving/shaking/twisting.

We’re getting closer to Cinco de Mayo, and I don’t know about you, but I’ve been craving a refreshing beverage to celebrate. I enjoyed incorporating mangos into this festive twist on a classic Moscow Mule.

One of the keys to this recipe is making sure you have a ripe mango for the puree. Focus on feel, not color – every variety is a different color when ripe. When you give a ripe mango a gentle squeeze, it will give slightly, indicating soft flesh inside. To ripen at home, store at room temperature (like an avocado), or speed up the process by storing in a brown paper bag at room temperature for two days.

Now let’s get into the fun part – the recipe!

Special shout out to Sprouts Farmers Market for sponsoring this post and helping keep this site/me moving/shaking/twisting.

It’s starting to heat up here in Fresno, what was a 65º Tuesday is now an 85º Tuesday with the sun blasting turned up to high. Whenever the weather heats up I always find myself reaching for the most refreshing of drink flavors. Drinks that take lots of ice, that make me feel like I’m sitting on a beach somewhere.

That’s where this paloma comes into play. The classic paloma is a mix of grapefruit soda, tequila, and lime. I love a good paloma, they’re easy to throw together and I usually have all the ingredients on hand. The twist with this one is the passion fruit juice. This ceres brand can be hard to find at most grocery stores but Sprouts always has it and the flavor is everything you love about passionfruit, minus the high price tag it usually takes to get this much juice.

The classic paloma usually also uses a cheaper variety of grapefruit soda, but whenever I’m going to make it I make sure to grab an Italian grapefruit soda. The flavor usually aligns more with a fresh grapefruit and makes it that much more refreshing. The Sprouts Organic brand is a great option to keep in your pantry.

And last but not least: the Garnish. Sprouts has great looking produce (these grapefruits!) and it’s always in stock. Grabbing a grapefruit with a bag of key limes is a great way to finish off the drinks.

Special shout out to Sprouts Farmers Market for sponsoring this post and helping keep this site/me moving/shaking/twisting.

It’s a little uncertain and crazy right now, Easter’s right around the corner and everyone’s trying to stay at home when this is one of those bigger family holidays. While we’re usually out hunting for easter eggs or cooking a huge meal, odds are we’re stuck at home with immediate family or a roommate or a significant other.

For me the thing that would make this whole situation feel a little better is to make it as normal as possible. In my world that means that we’re making deviled eggs. Family’s always been too far away to celebrate this holiday but every year Esteban and I make at least 1 batch of deviled eggs.

Eggs are in a little bit of a short supply right now, I get that. But it seems that they’re being restocked more quickly and fully as the time goes on. Sprouts has been exceptional at keeping fresh produce in stock and eggs are right there. The cool thing too is that they deliver through instacart so you don’t even have to go into the store with everything that’s going on right now.

These eggs are great because they’re a recipe that only uses 6 (even though I always hard boil 8 because you just don’t know who’s going to decide to not peel easily) and they’re just enough of a departure from the classic so you’ve got the familiarity with a nice kick from the sriracha.

Special shout out to Sprouts Farmers Market for sponsoring this post and helping keep this site/me moving/shaking/twisting.

It seems like every year the citrus selection gets bigger and newer and we get the chance to mix and match the classics with the new options and Sprouts has a great selection of all the old and the new to figure out and find my new favorite favorite citrus.

I was tasked to create a salad using a bunch of citrus, including my new found favorite, the Sumo Citrus Mandarin. Sweet like candy, easy to peel, with so much flavor.

For the salad I knew I wanted to start with the classic stand by of scattered slices of citrus but then dress it up with buttery macadamia nuts and mint to help cut through some of the acidity. To tie it all together I made a syrup with meyer lemon and lime sweetened with honey that I went to salt and accidentally added what I thought was too much but then tasting it realized that it’s actually perfect because it almost brings out the sweetness of the citrus a little bit more, like when you sprinkle salt on melons.

The whole thing comes together fairly quickly, and the citrus can be prepared ahead of time, then when you’re ready to serve you just dress it with the syrup and all the macadamia nuts and fresh mint. It’s an easy way to impress guests at a dinner party but also quick enough to throw together for a weeknight dinner for yourself (impress yourself).