cookbook Archives - ¡HOLA! JALAPEÑO

Big Announcement! My New Vegetarian Cookbook Is Coming This Fall

May 6, 2021 by Kate Ramos Leave a Comment

I’m over the moon excited to introduce Plant Powered Mexican, my new vegetarian cookbook that will be released this fall! This book includes over 70 vegetarian dinner recipes made for busy families like yours and mine each one full of fresh, vibrant Mexican flavors. I just know you are going to love it!

I want to start off this post by saying one very important thing.

Thank You.

Because you read this blog, because you cook my recipes, because you subscribe to my newsletter, because all the things you’ve done to support me and ¡Hola! Jalapeño over the years. Because all of it—Thank YOU!

It is because of you that I was able to fulfill my lifelong dream of writing a cookbook and I definitely could not have done it without you.

Now, let me tell you about this book that I know you will earmark, cook, and eat from because there are so many delicious recipes!

a vegetarian cookbook for everyone!

A pile of peeled rainbow carrots sitting on a white surface.

You know we don’t strictly eat vegetarian food but that’s what makes this cookbook so great. The vegetarian recipes in Plant Powered Mexican are made with every type of eater in mind.

I wanted to create recipes that are hearty and filling enough to satisfy even the most avid carnivores. Lucky for me I live with two of them so if they didn’t pass the Hiro and Armando test, I knew they weren’t going to make the cut.

vegetarian cooking for a healthier planet

One of the main reasons I chose to focus on plant based eating is how much better it is for our planet.

My hope is to inspire more veggie love and meat free meals by making them as absolutely irresistible as possible. If we all eat just one or two vegetarian meals a week that will make a huge difference in the overall health of the planet.

are there vegan recipes?

Purple and white cauliflower sitting on a baking sheet with red sauce drizzled over them.

Yes! About half of the recipes in Plant Powered Mexican are vegan and almost all of them are vegan adaptable.

As I’m sure you know, Armando has a dairy allergy so we don’t eat a ton of cheese or dairy products and many recipes in this book reflect that.

Most recipes use olive oil or avocado oil instead of butter and rely of the intensity of chiles and spices to bring rich flavor to the dishes.

There are a few exceptions where cheese is the main focus of the dish as well as a few recipes for eggs.

But most of the recipes where cheese or dairy appears it can just as easily be removed.

are there gluten free recipes?

Yes! Over half (about 65%) of the recipes are gluten free.

The flavors are firmly planted in the Mexican world of corn, beans, and rice so most of them are naturally gluten free!

foolproof recipes for busy families

If you are anything like me, you are constantly thinking about what to make for dinner but rarely what to drink, have for breakfast or dessert.

This constant need to have a meal on the table at the end of the day is why I only focused on main dish dinner recipes. I think it’s easy for people to think of vegetables as sides but more challenging to think of them as the main course.

Plant Powered Mexican contains a wide range of dinner recipes broken down into seven chapters based on how they are cooked.

There are recipes for the grill, oven, stove top, instant pot, even recipes that require no cooking at all!

Most importantly, there are close to 100 recipes that are scaled down and simple with the busy family in mind.

let’s take a sneak peek!

The recipes included in this book are destined to be new family favorites, because they certainly are in our house. They are easily adaptable and highlight the bright Mexican flavors we all love.

Let’s take a look!

from the stove:

A pan of Fideo with a drizzle of cream and crumbled cheese and kale on top with a wood spoon sticking into one side.

Fideo Seco with Tomato Salsa, Mexican Crema, Roasted Kale, and Queso Fresco

This quick (I’m talking under 30 minutes) meal is incredibly satisfying and loved by all—my kids gobble it up! Thin vermicelli gets toasted in oil then cooked in tomato sauce. On top? Garlic-Chipotle Roasted Kale (recipe in the book), a swirl of Mexican crema and a crumble of soft Queso Fresco.

A black frying pan with mole sauce in it and a hand holding tongs is flipping a tortilla that is inside the sauce.

Winter Vegetable Enmoladas

There is a recipe in the book for a simple Instant Pot Mole Amarillo. With that mole you can make these truly special Enmoladas. Corn tortillas bathed in mole sauce and topped with tender winter vegetables.

from the instant pot:

A white plate with a piece of enchilada casserole sitting on it and a blue napkin with a fork sitting on it off to one side.

Black Bean Enchilada Casserole

I took our most favorite Deep Dish Black Bean Enchilada Casserole and adapted it for the Instant Pot! Now you can make this cozy casserole packed with good-for-you roasted veggies, black beans, and chipotle sauce in half the time.

from the oven:

A white plate with two cheese enchiladas that are topped with sour cream and slices of avocado. A fork is cutting into one of the enchiladas

Weeknight Cheesy Enchiladas with Homemade Enchilada Sauce

Can you make a pan of deeply indulgent cheese enchiladas—with homemade chipotle enchilada sauce I might add—in under 30 minutes? Yes!!

from the grill:

Overhead image of a stuffed poblano pepper with salsa on top sitting on a white plate with a fork and knife on the side of the plate.

Stuffed Poblanos with Cinnamon-Scented Sticky Rice, Goat Cheese, and Mint

There are many recipes in this vegetarian cookbook that reflect our Southern California lifestyle and aren’t strictly Mexican. These generous stuffed peppers are a perfect example. Grilled poblano peppers filled with a creamy goat cheese and sweet corn rice mixture. They’re easy enough for a weeknight but fancy enough to make for friends.

extras:

A close up image of salsa being cooked in a black cast iron skillet with a silver spoon sticking in one side.

Sunday Salsita

The last chapter of the book are a few little extras to round out any meal. This easy salsa is one Armando makes almost every weekend to go with scrambled eggs, warm tortillas, and bacon. It’s warm in temperature and heat level and simply perfect for breakfast.

plant powered mexican is available for preorder now!

The book will be released just in time for the holidays. Preorder your copies now for all the vegetable lovers in your life! Plant Powered Mexican is available for preorder from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or BAM!

Chicken Street Tacos From The Cookbook Every Family Needs

September 18, 2018 by Kate Ramos Leave a Comment

Raise your hand if meal time is a pain in your butt? I know you can’t see me, but my hand is raised.

You may be surprised to find out that making dinner every night is one of my least favorite tasks. I shared this with Armando the other night and even he was stunned by this news. It’s not that I don’t like cooking—I very much do—it’s just cooking for children that I don’t enjoy.

These Chicken Street Tacos fulfills every family's weeknight dinner dreams: easy, healthy, and truly delicious! From A Chef Walks Into a Cafeteria Cookbook. #chicken #chickentacos #healthyMexican #AChefWalksIntoACafeteria

Rarely do I see a recipe in a cookbook that I think they will eat willingly. It is my firm belief that most cookbooks are made specifically for adults—as they should be I guess, since they are the ones who buy them—but it makes it hard when you are tasked with filling the bellies of small children on a daily basis to come up with something everyone can get excited about.

But, but, but there’s a new cookbook that I’ve been cooking from all summer and I’m not kidding friends, every recipe I’ve made from here my kids have devoured. The book is called A Chef Walks Into a Cafeteria… by Emily Burson, RD, Chef Brandon Neumen, and the entire team behind School Nutrition Plus. It is the most popular recipes that these school lunch pros serve to over 20,000 kids daily so they are definitely kid-friendly but they are also interesting enough that both Armando and I can get happy about eating them too.

Let’s take a peek inside.

Recipes for breakfast like this Quinoa Granola.

Everyone in our house devoured this Bolognese recipe.

And I haven’t tried this Pineapple Slaw but it looks REALLY good!

One of the kid’s favorite recipes has been the Chicken Street Taco. They have an addictive spice rub with just the right balance of cayenne to brown sugar that gives them a little kick but not too spicy that the kids won’t eat it.

Emily and her crew have been kind enough to share a copy with me that I can give to YOU! So head on over to Instagram to enter to win it.

Chicken Street Tacos From The Cookbook Every Family Needs

Yield: 12 tacos

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Recipe shared with permission from A Chef Walks Into a Cafeteria by Emily Burton, RD, Chef Brandon Neumen and School Nutrition Plus

Ingredients

Southwestern Dry Rub:

1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons granulated garlic
1 tablespoon ground mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne

Tacos:

1/4 cup Southwestern Rub
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts
24 (4.5-inch) corn tortillas
6 tablespoons chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Favorite salsa
6 lime wedges

Instructions

For Southwestern Dry Rub:

Mix all dried spices together in a bowl. Use 1/4 cup to make the tacos, and store remaining rub in an airtight container.

For Tacos:

Combine 1/4 cup rub, oil, and lime juice in a bowl. Toss chicken in marinade. Rub all over chicken. Cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat; cook chicken 2 minutes on each side.
Place chicken on sheet pan and bake in oven 12 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165°F (mine took 20 minutes).
Pull from oven. Tent with foil and let it rest for 10 minutes.
Dice chicken and heat tortillas according to package directions. Divide tortillas into 12 stacks of 2 tortillas each. Divide chicken evenly among tortilla stacks. Top with onions, cilantro, and salsa. Serve with lime wedges.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 443Total Fat: 16gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 13gCholesterol: 129mgSodium: 467mgCarbohydrates: 26gFiber: 4gSugar: 10gProtein: 50g

OTHER RAMOS FAMILY FAVORITES:

YOUR TURN

Share your latest dinner success. What’s been popular in your kitchen lately?

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Mexican Short Rib Tacos from Laura Fuentes’ Taco Tuesday Cookbook

August 28, 2018 by Kate Ramos Leave a Comment

How do you feel about tacos? I had the best tacos of my life not too long ago in Tijuana, they were beef birria tacos in the most perfect chili sauce-drenched tortillas and were the quintessential combination of simple street food meets restorative cuisine. But that happens every time I go to Mexico—just when I feel like I’ve eaten the best taco of my life, I find a new one I can’t live without. I fall more deeply in love with tacos each passing day. So when Laura Fuentes new book The Taco Tuesday Cookbook arrived at my doorstep I couldn’t wait to dig in.

Braised beef short rib tacos from Laura Fuentes new Taco Tuesday Cookbook. Falling off the bone beef with smoky chipotles and cumin. Made in a slow cooker! #shortribtacos #beeftacos #slowcookertacos #tacos #tacorecipe #tacotuesday

Laura is the founder of MOMables which provides healthy meal plans for busy families and knows a thing or two about cooking meals that the entire family will love. She is a dedicated speaker, recipe developer, and all around talented, creative lady who might be as taco-obsessed as I am—and she has the book to prove it.

The cookbook has 52 taco recipes—one for every #TacoTuesday of the year! Not to mention, lots of good stuff to round out your weekly taco party, like salsas, drinks, and recipes for making your own tortillas. Many of the fillings can be made in the slow cooker and include a huge variety of taco options from breakfast tacos, vegetarian, and more.

If you’re a taco purist there’s lots of good recipes here for you, like Chicken Salsa Verde or Baja Fish Tacos. If you think outside the traditional taco box there’s lots of those too, like the Hawaiian Pork Tacos (pictured up top) and Barbecue Chicken Tacos (pictured above).

For me, I couldn’t resist these smoky slow cooker beef tacos. Here’s what Laura has to say about them:

Tender, braised beef falling off the bone is the star of these Mexican short rib tacos. Cooked low and slow in the oven or the slow cooker with Mexican chiles, these are about as satisfying as it gets. And, to me, they are the epitome of comfort food.

How To Make Short Rib Tacos on the Stove Top

I lost my slow cooker over Cinco de Mayo (don’t ask) so I made these in my trusty Le Creuset Braiser on the stove top. I browned the ribs as indicated in step 1 and transferred them to a large plate instead of the slow cooker. Then I poured off most of the fat from the pan and browned the onions.

After the onions were soft, and just started to brown, I deglazed the pan with and extra cup of beef stock, poured the chipotle sauce in the pan, and returned the ribs to the pot. I brought the whole thing to a boil, then reduced it to a low simmer. I covered the pot and let them cook over low heat for 2 hours or until they were falling off the bone. You could also stick them in a low oven (about 300°F, covered, for the same amount of time).

Then pick up the recipe in step 4.