Tender pieces of chicken in a rich, chocolate mole sauce wrapped in warm corn tortillas.

Tacos de Mole - lacocinadeleslie.com


These shredded chicken tacos are a cinch to make especially with the help of an old family friend, Doña Maria. Doña Maria is a brand of mole paste and it's the only kind of mole I ate growing up with my Mexican grandparents. Over the years I've learned to make various mole sauces from scratch, but every once in a while I crave the mole that my grandparents made.

Shredded Chicken Tacos de Mole

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Agua de Lima is a light and refreshing agua fresca made with sweet limes (citrus limetta).

Agua de Lima (Sweet Lime Agua Fresca) - lacocinadeleslie.com

Since moving to Mexico 15 years ago I have discovered (and fallen in love with) many new-to-me fruits native to Mexico like ciruelas amarillas (yellow plums), pitayas (fruit of the pipe organ cactus), and limas. Limas  are by far my favorite. Here in Mexico limas are a variety of citrus limetta (AKA sweet lemon/lime). Sweet limes have the distinct flavor and aroma of a citrus fruit, but without the acidity and tartness. In it's place is a subtle sweetness, hence the name "sweet lime". Although their flavor is subtle at first, it lingers on your tastebuds and in the back of your throat leaving you with a sweet and refreshing taste in your mouth.

Agua de Lima (Sweet Lime Agua Fresca)

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It's the first Monday of the month, which means it's time for another installment of The Secret Recipe Club. This month my assignment is the family friendly blog Hun... What's for Dinner? written by Cindy, a Canadian blogger who is also stay-at-home mom of two adorable little kiddies. Cindy lives in Canada and loves recipe contests. With good reason too. Her recipes have won several awards, including the Rising Star Award in the first season of the Real Women of Philadelphia Canada AND she's had several recipes published in Gooseberry Patch cookbooks. (Something we have in common!) And did I mention that her hubby is a chef?!


Banana Butterscotch Bars - lacocinadeleslie.com

I had a hard time deciding which of Cindy's mouth-watering recipes to make. A few recipes that caught my attention were Cindy's Lemon Cracker Cake, Chicken Club Pasta Salad, Zucchini con Queso, Strawberry Cake, and Jalapeño Popper Cheeseburgers. But then I spotted something that reminded me of my childhood... Banana Butterscotch Blondies!

Secret Recipe Club: Banana Butterscotch Bars

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Breaded pork chops infused with Mexican flavor from a crisp and spicy masa harina crumb coating.

Spicy Pork Milanesas - lacocinadeleslie.com

My family loves milanesas served any way, shape or form. Whether they be made from beef, chicken, pork or fish. In my cocina each type of milanesa has it's own unique recipe. For my Milanesas de Cerdo (pork milanesas) I like to coat them with masa harina seasoned with chile powder and ground cumin. Using masa harina in the crumb coating not only adds texture to the milanesas, but it also adds another level of flavor. And the chile powder and ground cumin add a rich smokiness, as well as spice.

Spicy Pork Masa Harina-Crusted Milanesas

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Another month is upon us, which means it's time for another installment of The Secret Recipe Club. For those of you unfamiliar with the SRC, it's a fun virtual recipe swap with another blogger who has no idea who will be cooking something from their blog. 

My assignment this month was Baking & Creating with Avril, a bright and delightful blog full of baked goodies and family friendly savory recipes. As usual, I didn't have anything specific that I was looking to make, but with the word "baking" in the blog title I was definitely leaning towards something sweet. With so many mouth-watering recipes to choose from Avril's blog did not disappoint. Recipe like Nutella Drop Cookies, Pumpkin Black Bean Soup, and Zucchini Cornbread all caught my eye, but in the end I decided to go with Avril's Honey Bun Cake.

Secret Recipe Club: Honey Bun Cake

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Squeee!!! I can't contain my excitment about today's post. After what seems like forever, I am back in the cocina with my foodie BFF girlichef for another installment of She Made/Ella Hace. Woo-hoo! Our theme this month is "green" in honor of St. Patrick's Day. Heather (aka girlichef) is sharing some festive Matcha Shamrock Shortbread Cookies, while I'm serving up a pitcher of Cucumber Lime Margaritas.

On St. Patrick's Day everybody (in the US) is a little bit Irish. Now I know margaritas and tequila aren't your typical Irish fare, but with it's vibrant green hue these refreshing Cucumber Lime Margaritas with a hint of spice will have everyone wanting to be Mexican Irish.



Cucumber Lime Margaritas {She Made/Ella Hace}

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Welcome back to another edition of What's for Dinner - a weekly menu planning series with inspiration from my Cocina to yours.
Week 9 of weekly dinner menu ideas - lacocinadeleslie.com

This week I was looking forward to getting back to our regular meal planning, especially since we didn't have any leftovers from the weekend that needed to be used up. (Love it when that happens!) We ended up having take-out three times this week, two of which don't surprise me because I usually take the weekends off from cooking. But mid-week I was blind-sinded by a migraine, so take-out again it was. I'm hoping to do better next week.

Our meals this week...

What's for Dinner: Week 9

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Sunshine hued Mango Margarita made with fresh mango and tequila reposado.

Mango Margaritas - lacocinadeleslie.com

It's time once again for one of my favorite foodie holidays...National Margarita Day! And it's also time for my good friend girlichef's annual Margarita Party with some of our food blogging friends.

I love me a good margarita, whether I'm ordering one at a restaurant or making them at home. One of my all-time favorite margaritas is a sweet mango margarita made with tequila reposado. During the cold winter months when fresh mangos are no where to be found I make this margarita with canned mango, but now that spring has made an early appearance here in Mexico I added some fresh mango which helps intensify the flavor and the gorgeous sunshine-y hue. Whether you decide to use fresh or canned mango, you're in for a quite a treat because this mango margarita is like sunshine in a glass.

Mango Margarita

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Welcome back to another edition of What's for Dinner - a weekly menu planning series with inspiration from my Cocina to yours. 

What's for Dinner: Week 8 - lacocinadeleslie.com

There were two main objectives for our meal plan this week. The first half of the week was all about using up the leftovers from last Saturday's birthday party. I'm pretty sure we had enough leftover Carnitas, Frijoles Adobados, Nopales, Mexican Rice, Pico de Gallo, and Chile de Molcajete for another party. This week I was having some tooth troubles and had a wisdom tooth removed on Thursday, so the last half of the week was all about making soft, non-spicy foods that wouldn't irritate my dental work. 

Our meals this week...

What's for Dinner: Week 8

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Wednesday was the first day of Cuaresma (Lent), so you know what that means, right? Meat-Free Fridays are back! Every Friday from now until Good Friday (April 3rd) I'll be sharing a new meat-free recipe. I'll try my best to include pasta and veggie-based dishes, along with seafood dishes.

For our first Meat-Free Friday of 2015, I'm sharing this easy Baked Garlic Lime Tilapia: moist and tender baked tilapia in a simple mayonnaise sauce flavored with garlic and lime. This recipe is one of the first seafood dishes I made for Hubby when we were newlyweds, and it's been a family favorite ever since.

Baked Garlic Lime Tilapia - lacocinadeleslie.com

Baked Garlic Lime Tilapia

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Refreshing agua fresca made with freshly squeezed orange and lime juice, and sweetened with honey.

Agua de Naranja - lacocinadeleslie.com

I think of a more delicious way to combat cold and flu season than with this refreshing Agua de Naranja. And it's a great way to take advantage of the abundance of oranges that are in season right now.

Agua de Naranja (Orange Agua Fresca)

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Fried corn tortilla chips and shredded Carnitas baked in an ancho chile sauce topped with ooey, gooey melted cheese.

Chilaquiles con Carnitas - lacocinadeleslie.com

It's been a while since I've shared a recipe the same day I made it. Okay, if we're being completely honest, it's been a while since I've shared a recipe, period. I know. But today I'm feeling inspired.

I didn't have anything specific planned for today, as all I wanted to do was use up the last of the Carnitas (before Lent starts tomorrow) that were leftover from the birthday party we co-hosted on Saturday for Hubby's aunt. On Sunday we had Tortas Ahogadas, and yesterday I made Tacos de Carnitas. I kind of wanted to make Tacos de Barbacoa, which would help to use up the two and a half kilos of corn tortillas in my fridge (also from the party), but there weren't enough leftover Carnitas to make enough tacos for all seven of us. So it was back to square one.

Chilaquiles Rojos con Carnitas

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Welcome back to another edition of What's for Dinner, a weekly series with menu planning inspiration from my Cocina to yours.


After ordering take-out three times last week, I was determined to get back on schedule this week and stick to our plan. I'm happy to report that there were no surprises this week and everything went according to plan. Woo-hoo! To quote one of my grandpa's favorite TV shows, "I love it when a plan comes together!" (Bonus points for whoever can guess the TV show in the comments below.)

Our meals this week...   

What's for Dinner: Week 7

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Welcome to week six of our weekly menu plan with inspiration from my Cocina to yours.

What's for Dinner: Week 6 - lacocinadeleslie.com

I was debating whether or not to share this week's menu as our meal plan went way off course and we ended up ordering take-out three days this week. Usually we try to order out only once a week. But sometimes you just can't help it because life happens. Do you ever have those kind of weeks?    

Our meals this week...

What's for Dinner: Week 6

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It's the beginning of a new month which means it's time for another edition of The Secret Recipe Club. This month my assignment was Edesia's Notebook written by Lesa, a mid-western wife and mom with two very precious little girls. I was immediately drawn to Lesa's blog just from the title because Edesia is the name of the Roman goddess of food. (I love Greek and Roman mythology!)

As usual the kiddies and I looked through Lesa's blog trying to decide which of her mouth-watering recipes to make. Family friendly recipes like Baked Tilapia w/ Spinach & Tomatoes, Tequila Marinated Steak Quesadillas, and Strawberry Caprese Salad were just a few that caught my attention.

Ultimately we chose Lesa's Bacon Ranch Chicken Pizza because who doesn't love pizza? And with ingredients like ranch dressing and bacon, we really couldn't resist. This colorful pizza was a huge hit with everyone, including my suegro (father-in-law) and my boys who usually pick off the veggies I try to sneak on their pizza. I'm pretty sure it was the ranch dressing that got them to eat all their veggies and I'm totally okay with that.



Secret Recipe Club: Bacon Ranch Chicken Pizza

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Looking for menu planning inspiration? Every week I'm sharing our meals for the week in hopes that they'll give you some new ideas to add to your family's weekly menu plan.

What's for Dinner: Week 5 - lacocinadeleslie.com

What's for Dinner: Week 5

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