NewsTaco

By Eres Nerd, NewsTaco

I wasn’t a coffee beaner until college.  When studying, I needed more hours in the day. Beans made the day stretch farther, made me study harder. They gave me the energy to make the As.  The college essentials were books, plumas, notepads,  Alice in Chains’ Dirt, and coffee beans.  As I began my professional life, the only thing that was replaced was the CD. A cup of coffee is  part of my daily ritual.  If it wasn’t for coffee beans, I could not function effectively.   I  would go Eres Nerd Smash!  everyone around me.   I maintain that it  wasn’t for beans, the social-economic system of the world would end.  The weekly Monday facebook posting showing various forms of the “I need Coffee!” picture confirms my point.  The world would stop turning and there wouldn’t be Superman there to rewind it.  He would be too cranky.  Bean withdraw is a serious issue.

I am also a “Frijolero.”  I love frijoles. Frijoles with queso wrapped in corn tortillas are a marvelous thing.  The most important equipment in a Latino kitchen is a re-imagined potato masher turned into a frijoles masher.  Frijoles makes life better and  without them, Thomas Jefferson’s promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is an just an empty promise. There are times when, despite their richness of iron and protein,  I am unable to satisfy my frijoles cravings, such as in work meetings.  It is not professional busting out a bowl of beans, but it is acceptable to drink a cup of coffee.  What is Latino Beaner Frijolero to do if one is craving Frijoles during these situations? Frijoles coffee is the solution.  Frijoles are pinto beans.  Coffee is made from beans.  Therefore, I can brew frijoles.   Based upon this insight, I proceeded to make frijole coffee.

Researching the Internet, I found the process to roast coffee beans, which was applied to frijoles.  I heated up the oven to 475 degrees and let it preheat.  I laid out the frijoles evenly in a pan.  Then the frijoles roasted for 30 minutes.  About every  3 minutes or so,  I mixed the frijoles so they would evenly roast.  The aroma of  frijoles roasting quickly  filled my kitchen.  It was a good smell. A delicious smell.   The freckled beans began to darken into a dark brown.  I removed them and let them cool.

I have a conical burr grinder, which I use every morning to make freshly ground coffee beans. A conical bur grinder is mejor that a blade grinder porque the coffee beans are crushed with little friction.  Thus, making the bean oils more easily extracted, making the beans taste better, smoother, and awesome.   I emptied the frijoles into the conical burr grinder, which crushed them into a nice light brown coarse powder.    I placed the frijoles power into my coffee maker, filled its reservoir and waited eagerly for it to brew.

Tasting the frijoles coffee is like drinking charro beans.  It had a roasted taste with a smooth aftertaste.   The drink was hot and satisfying.  My body reacted naturally to it, my brain began to awaken, the day seemed brighter and a plethora of options seem attainable.  Was this because of an emotional response to my ritual of drinking beans every morning regardless if they were coffee or pinto beans, I could not tell.   I do know it was good. It was a mix of comfort drink and a comfort food.  I filled my insulated coffee cup and took it to work.  I had hot drink with caffeine, iron and protein in the same package.

Frijole coffee solves frijoles craving in a cup.   While everyone is drinking coffee at work meetings, my cup is providing me with essential minerals and caffeine, while it making me fell better thinking of my ama’s frijoles.   Estress is lessen, one is healthier, while getting the recommended daily allowance of beans.

Eres Nerd lives a nerdy life in the borderlands of Estados Unidos and Mexico. Follow him on Facebook or on Twitter @ElEresNerd.

[Photos by eres nerd]

One of the dishes I remember the most from my childhood, are the so called “rollitos de plátano” (plantain rolls) my mom used to cook on a no-meat day. Everybody loved them, except for me. Why? No idea. Today they are one of my favorite dishes, and they are perfect as an appetizer, as an entree with some cheese, or as fingerfood with some salsa roja. They combine savory and sweetness, at the same time, and the texture of plantains is just perfect for a croquette. Try these ones next time you’re craving for some latino flavors!

Yields: 6 pieces

Preparation Time: 30 min

Cooking Time: 20 min

Ingredients:

• 2 big plantains
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 poblano chiles, roasted, without skin and seeds, cut into strips
• 3 plum tomatoes
• 1/2 medium size white onion, sliced
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon of chicken stock powder (Knorr) or half a cube of chicken stock
• Panela cheese or feta cheese to stuff
• Black beans to stuff
• Flour to cover the croquettes
• Canola oil to fry
• Sour cream to drizzle
• Cotija cheese or queso fresco to sprinkle

Directions:

By Aurora Ibarra

Eating healthy doesn’t get any easier, cheaper or tastier than this easy lentil salad. This lentil salad is your ultimate power lunch! Protein-packed lentils, sweet roasted red bell peppers, spicy shallots, fresh basil leaves, and a lemony dressing make this a healthy and fulfilling meal.

Feel free to throw any of your favorite vegetables — this salad is anything but bland and helps you keep those New Year’s resolutions! ¡Buen provecho!

Yields 1 serving

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons dried green lentils
• 1 1/4 cups of water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup roasted red bell peppers, chopped
• 1 shallot, minced
• 2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoons Tamari or low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• Black pepper to taste

Directions:

By Melissa Pitts

Just in time for football season tlacoyos are fun little football shaped fried flattened empanadas filled with beans (and cheese). I had never heard of them until a short while ago and decided to give them a shot — and they turned out so good! They are a little labor intensive and patience is needed, if you have none that just make as bean filled empanadas and I promise no one will really care of notice.

You top the tlacoyos as you would a tostada, so pictured are two of them topped with shredded chicken, avocado, queso fresco, and salsa verde. Of course you can top with whatever you choose, either way they turn out delicious. This is a great appetizer or snack as they just the right size, but you can make them very big and have as a complete meal. Buen Provecho!

Yields: 6 servings

Preparation Time: 45 min

Cooking Time: 10 min

Ingredients: 

For the dough:

• ½ cup masa harina (preferred Maseca)
• ⅓ cup water (add more if the mixture is too dry)
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
• pinch of salt

For the filling:

• Refried beans, black, brown- whichever you like most, seasoned
• 1 cup shredded cheese like Oaxaca or mozzarella (optional)

Directions: 

1. Combine all the ingredients for the dough until it forms a soft ball. Add more water if the mixture is too dry and crumbles. Divide the dough into 6 equal small balls.
2. Using a tortilla press lined with plastic or parchment paper, place a piece of dough in the middle and smash it just as you would as if you were making regular tortillas. Rotate the dough to ensure even thickness. Place 2 tablespoons beans in the middle (and cheese if using). Lift the sides of the tortillas and press the edges together like an empanada. The goal is to really make an oval but mine mostly turned out like empanadas. Press gently so you have an even, flat empanada (or oval, or whatever you come out with).
3. Heat a dry griddle on medium heat and heat the tlacoyo until brown on both sides.
4. Once finished, heat another pan with some cooking oil, either vegetable or canola, and fry the tlacoyo until crisp about 2 minutes each. Drain on a paper towel.
5. Top the tlacoyos as you would a tostada. Serve immediately.

I love food to a ludicrous degree. I think this may because I grew up poor and was raised to truly respect it. Sometimes I eat things so delicious that I nearly cry.  Last week, I had barbeque that was so tasty, I kept yelling at it in disbelief — “How dare you be so good! How dare you, brisket!?” You can say that perhaps I’m a little obsessed. When food is not delicious, especially meat, I get angry. (“Why has little Oinksforth’s life been taken in vain?” “This egg is so bad it’s as if the chicken was raised on crab juice and Cheetos.” “This burger slaps all of humanity in the face.”)

I also judge people — perhaps unfairly — on what they eat.

If someone, for example, eats nothing but chicken fingers and pizza, I will think that he or she is a close-minded dullard. Because food is so important to me, it’s also a huge factor in my relationships. I don’t think that I could date someone who didn’t have an adventurous palate and didn’t deeply enjoy food. If you won’t eat chicken feet from a street vendor in Asia with me, I’m afraid we’re not a good match. If you consider Lean Cuisine to be a suitable meal, I wish you the best, but I will be one my way now. If you want to take me out to Red Lobster, you are not a suitable gentleman caller.

When I first took my white boyfriend home to meet my family, I was so pleased that he ate everything that he was offered. He will stop at nothing. Cow brains? Sure! Cheese that smells like nasty feet? Of course! Had he not, my mom would’ve probably hated him forever.

Our interracial relationship is also manifested in our meals: a leftover beef roast becomes flautas. A regular chicken soup receives an obscene amount of salsa, becoming another soup entirely. A cottage cheese taco is attempted and then quickly, very quickly, abandoned. Gouda makes a cameo in the refried beans. The food we make is representative of our cultural fusion and sometimes it’s tasty and sometimes it’s really not.

The important thing, however, is the sense of adventure.

I suppose what matters most to me  is respect. I needed someone who respected what I loved and loved it with me. A person who didn’t think me a fool for dedicating my life to poetry, for example, and who wouldn’t think me an imbecile if I got up to do the funky chicken because the fried chicken tastes so damn good. I was lucky enough to find that person, someone to produce strange meals with and join me on my culinary adventures — someone who loves me enough to eat cow brains.

[Photo By Scott]

By Aurora Ibarra

Black beans should be an important part of a healthy vegetarian diet (even if you’re not a vegetarian they are still good for you!). They have a surprising mix of high fiber and protein content (15 gr/cup of both), this promotes a steady digestion process, regulation of blood sugar, and a healthy cardiovascular system. This is an easy recipe for a weekday, so get some black beans in your menu for this week!

Yields 4 servings

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Preparation Time: 10  minutes

Ingredients:

• 4 whole wheat or sprouted tortillas
• 1/2 avocado, thinly sliced
• 1 19-oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 cup sundried tomatoes, drained and chopped
• 2 shallots, thinly sliced
• 1 cup broccoli slaw- you can find this is in the produce section of your grocery store
• oil such as sunflower or canola
• 3/4 teaspoons cumin
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

By Melissa Pitts

An oldie but a goodie. This recipe is a classic- no bells and whistles, just good ingredients blended perfectly to make this staple side. This is a regular in households throughout Latin America, in many different ways using different beans and spices. I made this in the slow cooker but you can of course use a regular pot and follow the directions of the beans to make sure they are cooked through. I don’t have the patience to soak beans overnight so I just rinsed and let the slow cooker do its thing. Here is my recipe, courtesy of a real Regio, buen provecho.

Yields 6 servings

Cook Time: 5 hours

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 pound dry pinto beans
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
• 4 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
• 1/2 white onion, finely diced
• 3 serrano peppers, depending on your preference of heat, veined and seeded
• 3 tomatoes, chopped
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 cup diced bacon
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

While I am no fan of eggs I’ll admit, I am alone in my house in those feelings. This dish is the easiest ( and I’m told tastiest) meal. It’s dirt cheap, can be eaten for breakfast lunch or dinner, and whips up in no time. Machacado is a salted, dried beef from the northern part of Mexico. I first came across machacado in Monterrey, Mexico where it is served in soups, eggs, and lots of other delicious dishes. To complete this meal, serve with beans. This machacado con huevo really is the breakfast of champions.

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Yields 1 serving.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup machacado
• 3 tablespoons oil, such as canola or vegetable
• 4 tablespoons chopped onion
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1 serrano chile, chopped
• 2 eggs
• 3 tortillas

Directions:

1. Fry the machacado with oil on medium heat.
2. When the meat is slightly toasted, about 3 minutes, add the onion, tomato, and chile. Season with salt, if desired (the meat is already salted) and pepper.
3. Once the tomatoes, chile, and onions have softened, add the eggs.
4. Fry the mixture until the eggs are scrambled and cooked through, about 2 minutes.
5. Serve with your choice of tortillas- traditionally this dish is served with flour tortillas. Top with our favorite tomatillo salsa.

I remember being a little girl on my tip toes peeking over to see what my mom was doing, making very methodical sounds, looking very concentrated, staring over a pile of beans on the kitchen counter and carefully allowing them into a bowl before they were washed, then cooked. I’ve always loved beans, but before I knew what was involved in “cleaning” them prior to cooking, it used to look like magic.

“What is she doing? How does she do it?” I remember asking myself, but that was before the mystique of bean cleaning was revealed to me, before I learned the family secret to cleaning the beans.

I’m sure that, back in the olden days, bean cleaning was a much more important part of the entire bean experience. If you were growing your own beans, or buying them from your neighbor, all pre-agribusiness, it was likely you’d get lots of rocks, bugs and pieces of dirt in your beans. Nowadays, however, after opening up the plastic bag and dumping them out onto the counter, I feel lucky that only rarely do I find any rocks in my beans.

Once my mother initiated me into the rite of cleaning the beans, I was amazed to find that not only is the process much simpler than my younger self initially believed, but it makes sense. Do you want your family to eat things they shouldn’t? No, so you take it out before you cook it. Obviously you’re going to remove the rocks, but in my family we also remove the beans that look weird, the halves of the beans and then wash them thoroughly before placing them in the lead-laden jarrito for a few hours.

Now that I’m an adult and have cooked my own countless pots of beans, and even though I do not have my own family, when I’m cleaning those beans I’m sure I share the same look of stern concentration that my mother had when I watched her all those years ago. After all, while we can joke about being “beaners,” the truth is that beans are a huge part of my family’s diet, an integral part of the food that allows us to live our lives.

So, when you learn the rite of passage of how to clean the beans, it’s not just a route process that means nothing. On the contrary, it is a rite of passage, because what you’re learning is how to care for yourself, how to care for the people you love the most, by caring for them in one of the best ways — feeding them good, healthy and clean food.

[Photo By ellmist]

By Melissa Pitts and Abigail Garcia

Sopes are like raised tortilla patties filled with basically whatever you please. Because they be can stuffed with your choice of filling, they please vegetarians and meat eaters alike. We did not fry these sopes but you can certainly heat some oil in the pan to make them a little crispier. They take hardly any effort but look like it took you all day! They are perfect as appetizers or as a main dish served with some salad.

I had never made sopes and had only eaten them on several occasions but now I’m hooked. Abigail walked me through the process and for those who may be a little intimidated to make them- don’t worry! I got you covered and took step by step pictures (thanks Abi for being such a great hand model!)- so set your fears aside and give them a shot!

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Yields 10 sopes.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups masa (recommended: Maseca)

• 1 ¼ cup warm water

• ¼ teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. With your hands, mix the masa, salt and water together into a smooth consistency for about 3 to 5 minutes.
2. Make 1 ½ inch balls with the masa, flatten them out to 4 inches in diameter and ¼ inch thick.
3. Heat a cast iron pan (or a nonstick pan) to medium high heat. Place 3 masa patties on pan without any oil, brown on both sides, approximately 1 minute on each side (until they just start to blister). Remove from the pan.
4. Working on the side that was heated first, pinch the edges of the patty up (this part can be painful as the masa is still hot! But no pain no gain, right?). Then, pinch another small circle inside the patty–this will help prevent the sope from collapsing in once you stuff them-and because Abigail said so.
5. Stuff the sope with whatever you want! We chose to stuff with chorizo that was cooked with tomato and onion and topped with goat cheese, a store bought rotisserie chicken, and meatballs. The most classic way is to first layer the sope with refried beans, add a layer of chicken or beef, top with guacamole, lettuce and some crema–there are endless ways to top sopes!
6. We had lots of good stuff for our sopes!
7. Once you’ve stuffed the sopes, put them back on the pan, heat on medium low heat for another minute and serve.
8. There you have it- BEAUTIFUL sopes!

Flaming Tortillas is dedicated to bringing the best of Latin cuisine, culture, and food news to your kitchen table. It features what’s in season right now,  favorite recipes from all over Latin America and fresh cultural Latin events around the country. Follow us on Twitter and get the latest news on Facebook.

By Richard G. Santos

Many years ago, as a college student to be exact, I developed an ulcer. The doctor placed me on a special diet that I immediately questioned. My concern was that the prescribed diet did not include a single Tejano dish or item! I jokingly asked if having an ulcer was a non-Hispanic malady or if Hispanics did not get ulcers. He assured me the prescribed diet was the best and I had to follow it for six months. Consequently, for six very long months I stuck to the most bland, tasteless diet until the ulcer was gone. Six months and one day later, I attacked my favorite bean and bacon tacos, calabacita con puerco (squash or zucchini with pork), flour tortillas, super hot salsa and all those Tejano dishes I had denied myself for six torturous months.

I was reminded of this not long ago when sitting at a doctor’s waiting room and picked up a brochure by Merck Pharmaceutical Company. The foldout is title “7 Days of Simply Healthy Meals” created by two nutritionists, one of who is associated with John Hopkins Bay view Medical Center. The 7 day plan is to keep a person to 2,000 calories but not recommended for people with kidney problems.

As interesting as the foldout looks and sounds, I found it amazing not to contain a single outright Tejano dish even though it is distributed in South Texas and specifically the Winter Garden Area. The nearest entry in the foldout that might be considered quasi-Tejano is “Grilled pork with veggies”. This recipe calls for 3 ounces of pork tenderloin, 1 cup mixed zucchini and yellow squash, half cup grilled sweet potato slices, and one tablespoon of trans-fat free margarine. This recipe caught my attention as it reads like a recipe calabacita con puerco. Bear in mind, the Tejano dish can also be prepared with bite size pieces of chicken, armadillo or jabalina.

Two recipes that try to sound Tejano or Tex-Mex but fail miserably are “Turkey Chile” and the outrages “Tuna Wrap”. The so called chili calls for canned vegetarian chili with beans” topped with low fat cheddar cheese. Perhaps some people prepare and eat this on the East Coast or health conscious San Francisco, California area, but not in South Texas and especially not in San Antonio, Texas where chile con-carne originated. Likewise, for some strange yet to be explained reason, some people outside of Texas and New Mexico have taken to calling tacos “burritos” and tortillas are called “wrap”. This leads us to the “Tuna Wrap” recipe that calls for 3 ounces of water-packed (canned) tuna, 4 tablespoons of mayonnaise, 2 tomato slices and one dark-green lettuce leaf rolled into one flour tortilla! Excuse me, I am happy to learn the dieticians like flour tortillas but in South Texas we serve tuna fish as a salad or sandwich and not in a tortilla. So don’t patronize me. Incidentally, the black bean vegetable soup starts off on the wrong foot by calling for a can of beans. The rest of the ingredients are not worth discussing.

It is precisely this type of so called educational material comical and irrelevant to the population of South Texas, Winter Garden Area, Rio Grande Delta and I am sure, New Mexico that prompted the two cookbooks being developed. Moreover, the Manual developed and about to be released by the University of Texas – Panamerican at Edinburg, Texas specifically deals with the nutritional value of Tejano – Tex-Mex ingredients. Finally, there are sites on the internet listing “healthy Mexican” dishes. Unfortunately, not all recipes listed on the internet can be verified.

If the medical profession is sincere in fighting diabetes and obesity, then they should make educational material relevant to the population and not some idealistic, upper socio-economic, East Coast and West Coast group. Let them continue to buy their tamales, beans, enchiladas and chile-con-carne in cans, but in our area regardless of a family’s ethnic-racial or language of the home background, we hand prepare them at home. So, well-intended Medical profession, doctors, nurses, dietitians and clinics, give the people realistic healthy menus and recipes that we can prepare at home. You may continue to call a tortilla a wrap and a taco a burrito, but consider the nutritional value of chile piquin, fresh serrano peppers, nopalitos (cactus pad), tuna (prickly pear and not the canned fish), calabacita (squash and zucchini), caldo (beef, fish or chicken soup) and no sodium corn tortillas as opposed to store bought flour tortillas that will not even puff up when heated and taste like cardboard (perhaps those are the “wraps”) as served in fast-food businesses.

One final word of advice to the medical profession that is, buy a wrist watch or a wall clock. When you set an appointment for a specific time, please do not make the person sit one to two hours in the waiting room before they are taken to an examining room where they wait for another 15 to 45 minutes before the doctor waltzes in, does his examination and prescribes medication in about ten minutes. And get better reading up-to-date material instead of last year’s throw away magazines and health tips that seem comical and irrelevant to South Texas patients. So let’s get serious about fighting diabetes, obesity and health problems.

He dicho.

Richard G. Santos is a writer who lives in Pearsall, Texas.

[Photo By The Travelista]

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What Makes These Beans Taste So Good ? It’s The Lead

You know, and I know, that there’s nothing quite as yummy as beans cooked in a jarro, or earthen pottery. I think we both know, also, that it’s because of the lead. You know, that silver stuff that only leaks out of it when you cook in the pots, shining over the top and the sides of your jarro. But, hey, if it’s that lead that makes the beans taste so good, small price to pay, no?

I was cooking up a yummy pot of pinto beans today when I noticed the silver stuff leeching out of the top of the jarro I bought when I was living in Mexico. I have two other jarros, both belonged to my grandfather, and as I was thinking this it occurred to me that over the years I probably have eaten a lot of lead from these pots! And yet — no brain damage!

Is this like another one of those conspiracies, like in my youth, when they tried to say the chile candy from Mexico was filled with lead and we were all going to die from it? I don’t know, but what I will say is that I am very reluctant to give up eating the beans from my abuelito’s jarros. He ate from jarros his whole 80 years and, when he did die, it wasn’t from lead poisoning.

In all seriousness, sometimes I do get a little worried about that lead, but then I remember that we live in a world of constant contamination. Smog, second-hand smoke, E. coli outbreaks, plastic leeching into our water, hormones in municipal drinking water, etc. I think about all these potential pollutants, weighed against the consumption of more lead with my beans, and suddenly I’m not so worried.

Darn it all, if a little lead in my beans gives me the feeling that I can still be close to my abuelito while downing some yummy beans, let’s do it. I could do a lot worse in my daily life anyway.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD

By Melissa Pitts

Black beans are the ultimate comfort food for me–and for my family. After leaving Guatemala in the 1980s these beans were always in our fridge growing up and served as a constant reminder of who we were (you can imagine the ridicule I suffered when everyone else had PB&J sandwiches while I had black bean sandwiches!). My mother once told me she could eat black beans with bread and fresh cheese (queso de capas as it’s known in Guatemala) everyday–and that’s not a joke!

In Guatemala black beans are pretty much the only beans that exist, they’re cheap, fill you up and are high in protein–which is perfect for a country where rampant poverty exists. With these recipes you take one bag of dry black beans and create three different ways to enjoy them: refried, as a broth (to start a meal), and whole (and it’s a great way to use your crock pot). A classic breakfast for me is a black bean sandwich with some cream cheese. I hope you enjoy this simple and classic comfort food as much as I have.

Cook Time: 10 mins

Preparation Time: 10 mins

Yields 6 servings.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound dry black beans
• 1 medium white onion, roughly chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 teaspoons salt, and more to desired taste

Directions:

1. Rinse the black beans under cold water for a few seconds.
2. Transfer the beans to a crock pot and add enough water to cover the beans about an inch to an an inch and half (about 5 cups).

Add the onion, garlic and salt. Turn the crock pot on low for 4-5 hours. Serve as is if you want to keep your beans whole.

**To make refried beans: wait until the beans have slightly cooled. With a slotted spoon transfer the beans to a food processor or blender, add about ¼ cup of the bean liquid and puree until smooth- add more liquid if the beans looks dry and pasty. Heat a medium sized pan on medium heat with two tablespoons canola or vegetable oil. Add the pureed beans and cook until warm. Serve with bread and fresh cheese or cream cheese if desired.

**For the broth: If you hate to waste food like I do, I take the remainder of the liquid from the crock pot and serve in mugs with a touch of sour cream as an appetizer.

Flaming Tortillas is dedicated to bringing the best of Latin cuisine, culture, and food news to your kitchen table. It features what’s in season right now,  favorite recipes from all over Latin America and fresh cultural Latin events around the country. Follow us on Twitter and get the latest news on Facebook.