If it's hot in your neck of the woods tonight, think Tex Mex and make vegetable quesadillas on the grill. Although the recipe has you roast the veggies in the oven, they would be equally delicious charred on the grill. Have the kids help you grate the cheese and assemble the quesadillas. Vegetarians can enjoy the quesadillas as is, but for those who want to throw in protein, cooked bay shrimp, Read more

The dish that I've probably made the most in my life is guacamole. When I started cooking, it's the first thing I mastered; I still remember learning how to make it from my dad. It's a dip that I never get tired of because there are tons of different variations and it's just so good! My latest favorite involves a whole head of roasted garlic. It's amazing how creamy and rich this guac is. The Read more

Sometimes it's nice to prepare a big bowl of beans; then, you can use the beans over and over again to make different dishes throughout the week. Tonight I suggest you throw together a pot of these fragrant and flavorful black beans. The recipe calls for canned beans, so you don't have to worry about overnight-soaking or cooking for a long period of time. Serve the beans in a crispy taco shell, Read more

If you're in the mood for Mexican, but don't want to go the taco-enchilada route, I have the perfect dish for you: fish Veracruzano. It's a fragrant recipe from Katie Lee that was inspired by a meal she had in Veracruz, Mexico. The fish is cooked in a lip-smacking good sauce that's full of onions, jalapeños, and tomatoes. Green olives and capers give the sauce an irresistible salty and briny Read more

On Saturday mornings, I often enjoy watching Marcela Valladolid's Mexican Made Easy on Food Network. She cooks authentic cuisine with traditional ingredients. One ingredient that she always uses is Mexican crema. Somewhere between sour cream and crème fraîche, Mexican crema is a slightly sour, cooling, and creamy condiment. Although you can purchase it at many ethnic markets, it's super easy to Read more

When it comes to making Latin cuisine at home, I normally cook Americanized dishes like nachos. However, at a restaurant, I eat more traditional dishes that involve a side of rice and beans. While the beans vary, sometimes they're refried pintos other times they're saucy black, the rice is almost always Spanish rice. It's orange and has a distinct tomatoey taste. My friend Emily has been making Read more

Normally I purchase salsa verde, the Mexican condiment that's made from tomatillos, but sometimes it's nice to make it from scratch. Like most salsa, it requires a food processor or blender for pureeing. This one gets its reddish-green color from the tomatillos, green chiles, and chipotle chilies in adobo. The ingredients are broiled in the oven before being blended, so the salsa has a nice depth Read more