Tag: Lunch

Healthy Body, Healthy Family

Jugo Verde: Mexican Green Juice

manton

 

 

My sister and I recently went to the City of Oaxaca, and it is always affirming for me to go to Mexico, but Oaxaca is just pure magic. Everything is so beautiful there — the textiles, the architecture, the pride of place, the colors, and of course, the food. We ate magnificently well there, from the 4 star Casa Oaxaca to the unpretentious La Florecita at El Mercado de la Merced. (Have you had squash blossom quesadillas? Amazing!)

We took a fabulous cooking class from La Maestra Reyna Mendoza in Teotitlan Del Valle. We learned how to make Mole Rojo in a beautiful outdoor kitchen. We grinded the chiles and spices on a metate! And then we got to eat everything!  

Everything we did was fantastic — one of the best vacations I have ever taken.  Being with my sister is such a joyful experience! I feel so blessed to be able play and work with her. It’s so much fun to eat with her because she can tell you what’s in the food while you’re eating it, just by taste. Let us not forget that she is La Madrina en La Cocina! She has developed and tested each and every one of our recipes! With the help of the fabulous Malena Perdomo, a certified nutritionist and diabetes educator, we bring you the healthiest food that our test kitchens have to offer.  

This edición is about making small but important healthy changes. We’re with you on your journey to a healthier life. We all know that eating more veggies and fruit are the cornerstone of healthy eating. We are constantly adding more delicious ways to add more plant-based foods to our day.

At De Las Mías, we recommend 3 cups of veggies and 2 fruits every day but the new USDA Dietary Guidelines are recommending that we go above and beyond.  There is no harm in eating more vegetables!

But how do we do that? One way to add more healthy fruits and veggies to your day is to add them to breakfast. Add a bell pepper and some spinach to your huevos, and some berries to your avena! OR….Have yourself a Jugo Verde!

 

 

On our last day in Oaxaca, as we were walking down Hidalgo Street, I was snagged by a beautiful display of bicicletas, in all colors, adorned with handmade wooden baskets at the lovely hotel, Casa de la Sierra Azul. We walked into the courtyard and heard the angels sing! We couldn’t resist the inviting patio restaurant and promptly sat down to peruse the menu and order breakfast.

The Jugo Verde caught my eye and I ordered it. It was the most refreshing and delicious juice I had ever tasted. Lori and I were trying to figure out what it had in it. It was psychedelic green! Not the green goop that you sometimes get from Odwalla in the States, but the most beautiful, vibrant green I’ve ever seen!

We knew it had spinach in it, and I could taste the pineapple but we couldn’t figure out the rest. We asked the waiter and he said it had fresh nopales and yerba santa.  

We struck up a conversation with the waiter and we told him about De Las Mías. He went on to tell us all about the magical properties of Jugo Verde, a time-honored Mexican tradition that promises to bring you good health, happiness, and beautiful skin.  

We vowed to get back to the states, do some additional research and start testing out some Jugos Verdes of our own.

We haven’t tried Jugo Verde with nopales, yet, and yerba santa is not that easy to find in Portland or Santa Fe, but here are 3 Jugos Verdes that I have been indulging in and I feel better already!

Starting off my day with a refreshing Jugo Verde just feels right! It sets the intention for your day, como dicen las del New Age. To feel more grounded I follow it with a strong cup of coffee and avocado toast. Add a handful of almonds for protein, ¡y párale de contar! You’re set!

Jugo Verde is a great way to include veggies and fruits with breakfast. These jugos are simple, don’t require any special equipment except a run-of-the-mill blender, and are packed with at least 2 servings of veggies and one serving of fruit! And that is just to get you going in the morning!  

I also find that Jugo Verde is very energizing for the mid-afternoon slump when all I want to do is plop down to watch depressing news! So slam down some Jugo Verde, put on your tenis, and take your dog for a walk instead! SOOO much better for you than more screen time!

Try these Mexican green juices!

 

 

La Diosa Verde.

This one is my favorite. I feel righteous and strong after this one!

  • A handful of fresh spinach
  • 4 2-inch chunks of fresh pineapple
  • ½ a peeled cucumber
  • ½ a peeled apple
  • 1 cup of water
  • One or two squeezes of fresh lime
  • 1 teaspoon jalapeño juice
  • Ice cubes if you like ice in your jugo

Blend it on high until it turns into juice.  (Optional: Since I like sweet, I even add a ½ teaspoon of Stevia, but that’s just me.)

 

Amor al Kiwi.

If you like kiwi, you will love this Jugo Verde.

  • One peeled and ripe kiwi
  • A handful of spinach
  • 1 teaspoon of fresh ginger
  • 1 stalk of celery
  • 1 cup of water
  • Ice cubes if you like ice in your jugo

Blend it until it turns into juice. (You can sprinkle Tajín on top for added punch!)

 

Sana Sana, Jugo de Manzana.

I choose a super sweet apple for this one.  Have you tried Opal Apples? They are so sweet and delicious. Pink Lady is another sweetheart.

  • 1 cored and peeled apple
  • 2 stalks of celery
  • 1 cup of water
  • A handful of spinach
  • Ice cubes if you like ice in your jugo.

¡Andale!  

 

A few notes on making Jugos Verdes in the blender: Basically, you can blend anything you like in your blender, so go nuts. You’ll need veggies, fruits and water for jugos. More on licuados and smoothies here. I sometimes add a bit of unsweetened juice, although water is really best. I also add a dash of salt, pepper, lime juice, lemon juice, jalapeño juice, or Tajín. You could even blend up a serrano in there if you dare! Just do what tastes good to you and makes you feel like the Righteous Green Goddess that you are!

I have recommended this little book to you before and I will do it here again: The Blender Girl by Tess Masters. I like her non-pretentious approach to eating more vegan meals and we could all stand to eat less meat and more veggies, fruits and plants of all kinds. Your body and Mother Earth will thank you.

Try these and let me know what you think! Keep it simple and delicious! Do you have a favorite Jugo Verde? Share your favorite with us and we’ll choose a few to feature on our Instagram feed!

 

Healthy Body, Healthy Family, Healthy Mexican Food, Latina Community

Meatless Monday

manton

Meatless Monday – A Fun Way to Start Eating More Veggies

One of my healthy living goals for the new year is to cut down on meat, and eat more more fruits and vegetables.  

A fun way to do this is to start a Meatless Monday tradition. So we agreed that we could try new recipes, and start the week off with a slightly healthier approach. Also, in these times of climate change, I am constantly worried about our poor little planet! Eating less meat is good for our bodies and good for the planet – a win-win!  

I was remembering my life in Nogales and how we had Meatless Mondays at my Nana’s house “across the line,” on the Mexican side of border. And then I realized that it wasn’t just Meatless Monday, but also Meatless Tuesday and Meatless Wednesday. And then, wait! Hold on. We pretty much went meatless every day except for maybe Carne Asada Sunday!  

The reason wasn’t that we were trying to save the planet, or lower our cholesterol. The reason was that my Nana and my aunts and uncles who lived in that old adobe house on the hill, didn’t have the money to buy meat for a giant family.

We ate frijoles de la olla, frijoles refritos, sopa de frijoles, enfrijoladas, burritos de frijoles, frijoles con chorizo, tostadas with you guessed it, frijoles, and even a special trick I learned: Cave out a bolillo roll and fill it with frijoles and queso fresco! YUM! This all paired really well with my Nana’s killer salsa de chile verde. And ¿sabes qué? I never once felt deprived. I felt loved and satisfied and nurtured.

When we were on the Mexican side of the border, we were poor and we had a super healthy diet. We never ate large portions because there weren’t that many portions to go around. But we never went hungry either, so we were lucky.

You’ve heard it here before and we will say it again: the traditional Mexican diet is a SUPER healthy diet! Our Mexican diet was pretty much dominated by protein from beans, eggs and queso fresco, and bolstered by corn, which is the grain of the gods. (No fooling.) Sure, we ate meat with our meals, but they weren’t dominated by large portions of it. If we had meat, it was in very moderate to small amounts, and mostly for taste.

But here we are now, trying to adopt a healthier way of living. And all we Mexicans have to do is look back to the way of our Nanas and Tatas!

In doing research about Meatless Mondays, I found out that Meatless Monday started as a movement by our colegas at the Public Health School at Johns Hopkins University, back in 2003. Through research, they discovered that Monday was the ideal day to try to recover from the overindulgence of weekends. (Overeating, disrupted sleep patterns and possibly even drinking too much.)  

Some of this research showed that people were motivated by making a small but significant change at the start of the work week. That is where the idea of Meatless Monday came from. As more and more people adopted the idea of not eating meat on Mondays, they became healthier, poco a poco, over time. Here is more evidence that small changes over time are the ones that last. It wasn’t a drastic thing, but just one day a week. The idea is that we could become just a little healthier if we took this small step. We would become healthier and the planet would benefit too.  

 

So Meatless Monday took off and other countries and organizations started getting on board. Australia tried it. Paul McCartney promoted it. Even beef-consuming Argentina got into the act in 2017 by declaring Vegan Mondays!

If you want to learn more about the history of Meatless Mondays, see the Wikipedia article. It has a fascinating amount of information that will surely inspire you to try it!

So at De Las Mías we want to encourage you to give Meatless Monday a try. Here’s another way to eat more veggies and fruits for your health and help Mother Earth carry the load.

Here are some of the benefits of Meatless Mondays:

  • Lower your cholesterol and therefore, your risk of heart attack and stroke.
  • Help you get to a healthier weight.
  • Help lower your risk of high blood pressure.
  • Increase your intake of fiber and its health benefits.
  • Take a little stress off the planet (plant-based foods take less energy).
  • Use less water to grow food (plant-based foods take less water than animal-based food).
  • Plant-based foods pollute less than cows.  

Try some meatless dishes from De Las Mías:

And we’re curious…

  • What’s your favorite meatless dish?  
  • How would your family feel about starting a Meatless Monday tradition at your house? Would they be on board?
  • What is the biggest barrier to going meatless on Mondays?

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meatless_Monday

https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2017/10/19/argentinas-vegan-mondays

¡Hola, Sabrosa!, English, Healthy Body, Healthy Mexican Food

Jugo Verde: Mexican Green Juice

shared

    My sister and I recently went to the City of Oaxaca, and it is always affirming for me to go to Mexico, but Oaxaca is just pure magic. Everything is so beautiful there — the textiles, the architecture, the pride of place, the colors, and of course, the food. We ate magnificently well there, from the 4 star Casa Oaxaca to the unpretentious La Florecita at El Mercado de la Merced. (Have you had squash blossom quesadillas? Amazing!) We took a fabulous cooking class from La Maestra Reyna Mendoza in Teotitlan Del Valle. We learned how to make Mole Rojo in a beautiful outdoor kitchen. We grinded the chiles and spices on a metate! And then we got to eat everything!   Everything we did was fantastic — one of the best vacations I have ever taken.  Being with my sister is such a joyful experience! I feel so blessed to be able play and work with her. It’s so much fun to eat with her because she can tell you what’s in the food while you’re eating it, just by taste. Let us not forget that she is La Madrina en La Cocina! She has developed and tested each and every one of our recipes! With the help of the fabulous Malena Perdomo, a certified nutritionist and diabetes educator, we bring you the healthiest food that our test kitchens have to offer.   This edición is about making small but important healthy changes. We’re with you on your journey to a healthier life. We all know that eating more veggies and fruit are the cornerstone of healthy eating. We are constantly adding more delicious ways to add more plant-based foods to our day. At De Las Mías, we recommend 3 cups of veggies and 2 fruits every day but the new USDA Dietary Guidelines are recommending that we go above and beyond.  There is no harm in eating more vegetables! But how do we do that? One way to add more healthy fruits and veggies to your day is to add them to breakfast. Add a bell pepper and some spinach to your huevos, and some berries to your avena! OR….Have yourself a Jugo Verde!     On our last day in Oaxaca, as we were walking down Hidalgo Street, I was snagged by a beautiful display of bicicletas, in all colors, adorned with handmade wooden baskets at the lovely hotel, Casa de la Sierra Azul. We walked into the courtyard and heard the angels sing! We couldn’t resist the inviting patio restaurant and promptly sat down to peruse the menu and order breakfast. The Jugo Verde caught my eye and I ordered it. It was the most refreshing and delicious juice I had ever tasted. Lori and I were trying to figure out what it had in it. It was psychedelic green! Not the green goop that you sometimes get from Odwalla in the States, but the most beautiful, vibrant green I’ve ever seen! We knew it had spinach in it, and I could taste the pineapple but we couldn’t figure out the rest. We asked the waiter and he said it had fresh nopales and yerba santa.   We struck up a conversation with the waiter and we told him about De Las Mías. He went on to tell us all about the magical properties of Jugo Verde, a time-honored Mexican tradition that promises to bring you good health, happiness, and beautiful skin.   We vowed to get back to the states, do some additional research and start testing out some Jugos Verdes of our own. We haven’t tried Jugo Verde with nopales, yet, and yerba santa is not that easy to find in Portland or Santa Fe, but here are 3 Jugos Verdes that I have been indulging in and I feel better already! Starting off my day with a refreshing Jugo Verde just feels right! It sets the intention for your day, como dicen las del New Age. To feel more grounded I follow it with a strong cup of coffee and avocado toast. Add a handful of almonds for protein, ¡y párale de contar! You’re set! Jugo Verde is a great way to include veggies and fruits with breakfast. These jugos are simple, don’t require any special equipment except a run-of-the-mill blender, and are packed with at least 2 servings of veggies and one serving of fruit! And that is just to get you going in the morning!   I also find that Jugo Verde is very energizing for the mid-afternoon slump when all I want to do is plop down to watch depressing news! So slam down some Jugo Verde, put on your tenis, and take your dog for a walk instead! SOOO much better for you than more screen time! Try these Mexican green juices!  

 

 

La Diosa Verde.

This one is my favorite. I feel righteous and strong after this one!

  • A handful of fresh spinach
  • 4 2-inch chunks of fresh pineapple
  • ½ a peeled cucumber
  • ½ a peeled apple
  • 1 cup of water
  • One or two squeezes of fresh lime
  • 1 teaspoon jalapeño juice
  • Ice cubes if you like ice in your jugo

Blend it on high until it turns into juice.  (Optional: Since I like sweet, I even add a ½ teaspoon of Stevia, but that’s just me.)  

Amor al Kiwi.

If you like kiwi, you will love this Jugo Verde.

  • One peeled and ripe kiwi
  • A handful of spinach
  • 1 teaspoon of fresh ginger
  • 1 stalk of celery
  • 1 cup of water
  • Ice cubes if you like ice in your jugo

Blend it until it turns into juice. (You can sprinkle Tajín on top for added punch!)  

Sana Sana, Jugo de Manzana.

I choose a super sweet apple for this one.  Have you tried Opal Apples? They are so sweet and delicious. Pink Lady is another sweetheart.

  • 1 cored and peeled apple
  • 2 stalks of celery
  • 1 cup of water
  • A handful of spinach
  • Ice cubes if you like ice in your jugo.

¡Andale!     A few notes on making Jugos Verdes in the blender: Basically, you can blend anything you like in your blender, so go nuts. You’ll need veggies, fruits and water for jugos. More on licuados and smoothies here. I sometimes add a bit of unsweetened juice, although water is really best. I also add a dash of salt, pepper, lime juice, lemon juice, jalapeño juice, or Tajín. You could even blend up a serrano in there if you dare! Just do what tastes good to you and makes you feel like the Righteous Green Goddess that you are! I have recommended this little book to you before and I will do it here again: The Blender Girl by Tess Masters. I like her non-pretentious approach to eating more vegan meals and we could all stand to eat less meat and more veggies, fruits and plants of all kinds. Your body and Mother Earth will thank you. Try these and let me know what you think! Keep it simple and delicious! Do you have a favorite Jugo Verde? Share your favorite with us and we’ll choose a few to feature on our Instagram feed!  

¡Hola, Sabrosa!, Edición No. 7: Change, English, Healthy Body, Healthy Mexican Food

Meatless Monday

shared

Meatless Monday – A Fun Way to Start Eating More Veggies

One of my healthy living goals for the new year is to cut down on meat, and eat more more fruits and vegetables.  

A fun way to do this is to start a Meatless Monday tradition. So we agreed that we could try new recipes, and start the week off with a slightly healthier approach. Also, in these times of climate change, I am constantly worried about our poor little planet! Eating less meat is good for our bodies and good for the planet – a win-win!  

I was remembering my life in Nogales and how we had Meatless Mondays at my Nana’s house “across the line,” on the Mexican side of border. And then I realized that it wasn’t just Meatless Monday, but also Meatless Tuesday and Meatless Wednesday. And then, wait! Hold on. We pretty much went meatless every day except for maybe Carne Asada Sunday!  

The reason wasn’t that we were trying to save the planet, or lower our cholesterol. The reason was that my Nana and my aunts and uncles who lived in that old adobe house on the hill, didn’t have the money to buy meat for a giant family.

We ate frijoles de la olla, frijoles refritos, sopa de frijoles, enfrijoladas, burritos de frijoles, frijoles con chorizo, tostadas with you guessed it, frijoles, and even a special trick I learned: Cave out a bolillo roll and fill it with frijoles and queso fresco! YUM! This all paired really well with my Nana’s killer salsa de chile verde. And ¿sabes qué? I never once felt deprived. I felt loved and satisfied and nurtured.

When we were on the Mexican side of the border, we were poor and we had a super healthy diet. We never ate large portions because there weren’t that many portions to go around. But we never went hungry either, so we were lucky.

You’ve heard it here before and we will say it again: the traditional Mexican diet is a SUPER healthy diet! Our Mexican diet was pretty much dominated by protein from beans, eggs and queso fresco, and bolstered by corn, which is the grain of the gods. (No fooling.) Sure, we ate meat with our meals, but they weren’t dominated by large portions of it. If we had meat, it was in very moderate to small amounts, and mostly for taste.

But here we are now, trying to adopt a healthier way of living. And all we Mexicans have to do is look back to the way of our Nanas and Tatas!

In doing research about Meatless Mondays, I found out that Meatless Monday started as a movement by our colegas at the Public Health School at Johns Hopkins University, back in 2003. Through research, they discovered that Monday was the ideal day to try to recover from the overindulgence of weekends. (Overeating, disrupted sleep patterns and possibly even drinking too much.)  

Some of this research showed that people were motivated by making a small but significant change at the start of the work week. That is where the idea of Meatless Monday came from. As more and more people adopted the idea of not eating meat on Mondays, they became healthier, poco a poco, over time. Here is more evidence that small changes over time are the ones that last. It wasn’t a drastic thing, but just one day a week. The idea is that we could become just a little healthier if we took this small step. We would become healthier and the planet would benefit too.  

 

So Meatless Monday took off and other countries and organizations started getting on board. Australia tried it. Paul McCartney promoted it. Even beef-consuming Argentina got into the act in 2017 by declaring Vegan Mondays!

If you want to learn more about the history of Meatless Mondays, see the Wikipedia article. It has a fascinating amount of information that will surely inspire you to try it!

So at De Las Mías we want to encourage you to give Meatless Monday a try. Here’s another way to eat more veggies and fruits for your health and help Mother Earth carry the load.

Here are some of the benefits of Meatless Mondays:

  • Lower your cholesterol and therefore, your risk of heart attack and stroke.
  • Help you get to a healthier weight.
  • Help lower your risk of high blood pressure.
  • Increase your intake of fiber and its health benefits.
  • Take a little stress off the planet (plant-based foods take less energy).
  • Use less water to grow food (plant-based foods take less water than animal-based food).
  • Plant-based foods pollute less than cows.  

Try some meatless dishes from De Las Mías:

And we’re curious…

  • What’s your favorite meatless dish?  
  • How would your family feel about starting a Meatless Monday tradition at your house? Would they be on board?
  • What is the biggest barrier to going meatless on Mondays?

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meatless_Monday

https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2017/10/19/argentinas-vegan-mondays

Healthy Mexican Food

Black Bean Tostada with Mexican Squash

manton

These vegetarian tostadas ¡son muy sabrosas! These Black Bean Tostadas with Mexican Squash are tasty and easy.

Get your tostada on!

Here you will find different ways to get your tostada on. You can make your own tostadas in the oven. You can heat them up on the comal to the point of crispy, or if you’re feeling lazy or rushed, you can just use the ones that come in EL PAQUETITO. Yes, that’s right, sometimes we just gotta do what we gotta do. If you have a hungry crew ready for dinner, just use the packaged ones. We won’t tell! And remember, corn is a whole grain, and we want you to eat more whole grains!

This is a delish concoction of black beans and calabacitas, aka Mexican squash. It calls for canned tomatoes. We suggest Rotel™ although we are not sponsored by them. They just have an honorary place in our pantry for those days when you have to throw something together quick.

The combo of sautéed squash, onion and tomato with the black beans is hardy with plant protein and packed full of flavor. The added queso fresco and cilantro add a nice touch and don’t forget to punch it up with your favorite salsa. We have several salsas for your culinary pleasure. So knock yourself out and make yourself, your honey, Viejo, Vieja, Kiddoes, or whoever is at your table, a healthy dinner!

We love tostadas because the basic street tostada is just as simple as a crispy corn tortilla, a good spread of beans, refried, or just mashed without the extra fat, a few morsels of your favorite meat: carnitas, ground turkey, turkey chorizo, or tofu, if you must, and a robust serving of shredded lettuce, tomatoes, sliced radishes or whatever fresh veggie your heart desires. You got queso fresco? Throw some on there! A little of this and a little of that and you’ve got yourself a Mexican feast,¡Comadre!

¡Qué viva México y que vivan las tostadas!

¡Buen Provecho!

 

Healthy Mexican Food

Turkey Chorizo

manton

This Turkey Chorizo is a twist on the traditional Mexican chorizo, usually made with ground pork, and let’s face it, ground pork-parts with lots of flavor and lots of fat.  Those of us who are taking care of  our hearts and want keep our families healthy want to make healthy changes but don’t want to give up the foods that feed our soul.  You could say “we want our chorizo and we want to eat it too!”   With this fabulous recipe, you don’t have to give up your beloved chorizo.  You don’t have to give up flavor or spice, or anything nice! This chorizo is as delicious as it is healthy. We make ours with ground turkey.  No one in our extended family of passionate chorizo lovers has noticed the difference.  And I don’t think your family is going to notice the difference either.  Don’t even tell them it’s made with turkey.  Just cook it and scramble it up with some eggs, and make those killer huevo-con-chorizo burritos that you’re famous for! If you want to bump up your journey to a healthier life, make your burritos with whole wheat tortillas.

This turkey chorizo makes a mean breakfast taco too.  Just heat up your corn tortilla, add a couple of spoonfuls of frijoles, add the chorizo and garnish with shredded lettuce, tomato and a sprinkle of queso fresco. (Y con un cafecito con leche! Yummy!)  Make your chorizo tostadas in very much the same way.  Start with a nice base of mashed pinto or black beans to spread on the crispy tortilla,  add the chorizo and top it off with your fresh shredded cabbage or lettuce.  And let’s not forget a good plate of chilaquiles with chorizo!  You can add eggs or just top them off with crumbled chorizo and queso fresco. And don’t forget the salsa!

I like to cook up a whole pound of turkey chorizo and keep it in an airtight container in the refri for quick and delicious chorizo-based dishes during a hectic week.

Comadre, this healthy home-made Mexican style turkey chorizo will take you home!