Hello, May! The beginning of a new month means it's time once again for another installment of The Secret Recipe Club. My assignment this month is Dancing Veggies written by Amanda, a vegetarian who loves to cook. Amanda's blog focuses on quick and easy vegetarian recipes with simple ingredients you can find at your local grocery store. Being the zucchini addict that I am, I was tempted with many a tasty zucchini recipe, like Zucchini Oat Bread, Spinach & Zucchini Lasagna, and California Enchiladas (stuffed with zucchini). But there were quite a few non-zucchini recipes that also caught my eye: Sweet Potato Lentil Burgers, Greek Baked Eggs, and Herbal Tuna Salad just to name a few.




Secret Recipe Club: Egg Foo Young

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Sopes are one of my favorite traditional Mexican antojitos (street foods). Loaded with delicious fillings like Refried Beans, chorizo, shredded beef, pork or chicken, or a variety of guisados like Picadillo, Pork Chile Colorado, and/or Rajas con Crema (just to name a few). But why stop there?! Sopes can also be topped with shredded lettuce, crumbled queso fresco, Mexican crema, and a variety of fiery salsas for an irresistible treat. For those of you unfamiliar with Mexican sopes the base is like a thick handmade corn tortilla with a small border to keep the yummy fillings from spilling out. And like tacos and tostadas, sopes are eaten with your hands. Traditionally sopes are fried in manteca (lard) before adding the fillings, but vegetable oil works just as well and that is how I prefer to fry my sopes.


How to Make Mexican Sopes (Como hacer sopes mexicanos) - lacocinadeleslie.com


How to Make Mexican Sopes (Sopes de Frijoles y Chorizo)

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Salpicón de Pollo is a refreshing Mexican chicken salad seasoned with cilantro, serrano chiles, lime juice, onion, tomato, and avocado.


Salpicón de Pollo - lacocinadeleslie.com

Salpicón is a classic Mexican salad traditionally made with shredded beef, but it can also be made with pork, fish, shrimp, and chicken. All versions are absolutely delicious, but my favorite is this one made with shredded chicken breast. The fresh lime juice and olive oil combined with the onion, tomato, cilantro and serrano chiles makes for a simple yet slightly tangy dressing. Chicken Salpicón is perfect for hot summer days because it's light, refreshing and super easy to make.

Shredded Chicken Salpicón

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Caprichos de Carne Asada - lacocinadeleslie.com

What do you get when you cross a taco with a quesadilla? Some might call them tacodillas or quesatacos, but here in our small town we know them as Caprichos. Caprichos have all the fillings of a traditional Mexican street taco like carne asada, beans, chopped onion, and cilantro AND each capricho is stuffed with lots of ooey, gooey melted cheese.

Carne Asada Caprichos #ThrowbackThursday

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Pay de Elote is a delicious baked Mexican pie with a creamy sweet corn custard flavored with cinnamon.



Longtime readers of my cocina blog might remember that this blog's tagline used to be "Celebrating food, family, and life in Mexico." Well, the tagline might have disappeared, but my belief that there is always something to celebrate still holds true. And today is no exception because La Cocina de Leslie is celebrating it's 7th blog birthday/anniversary!

Pay de Elote (Sweet Corn Pie)

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Delicious and aromatic homemade guava jam with a hint of cinnamon.


Homemade Guava Jam - lacocinadeleslie.com

Spring has finally sprung in our small town and I am craving all things bright and cheery like fresh strawberries, mangoes, and guavas. Especially guavas! Now that the weather is starting to heat up, big breakfasts aren't that appealing to me. (For now.) Just give me a bowl of oatmeal and a couple slices of toast with Homemade Guava Jam and I'm a happy camper. (Along with a big cup of coffee or Café con Leche.)

Mermelada de Guayaba (Guava Jam)

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Quench your thirst with this creamy agua fresca made with fresh mango and evaporated milk.


Because you can never have to many Agua Fresca recipes, and because anything mango is a sweet, warm weather treat... This Creamy Mango Colada Agua Fresca made with fresh mango and evaporated milk will delight your tastebuds.

Creamy Mango Colada Agua Fresca

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Delicious and moist Pineapple Zucchini Bread with cinnamon and chopped pecans.


Pineapple Zucchini Bread - lacocinadeleslie.com

Hi, my name is Leslie and I am a zucchini-holic. I don't know when this addiction started, but if loving zucchini is wrong I don't want to be right! So when I saw a recipe for Pineapple Zucchini Bread on my assigned blog for The Secret Recipe Club, I really couldn't help myself.

Secret Recipe Club: Pineapple Zucchini Bread

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Hello?! Anyone still out there??? I have been absent from the blogosphere for way too long, and for that I apologize. At first I was missing because we were in the process of moving to my suegro's house and we were waiting for our internet service to be installed. What I had hoped would only be a two week wait, at most, turned into a long, drawn-out five weeks and I was suffering from major social media withdrawals. (FOMO?!) Most of my time during those five weeks was spent packing up things at our old place while also clearing out the rooms we'd be moving to at my father-in-law's, painting, and making minor repairs before we "officially" moved in. The week our internet was finally installed, my in-laws (Alf's brother & sister) both came to visit from the US so that week was spent with the family. The week after my in-laws left we finished moving all of our stuff into my suegro's house. Now all we had to do was settle into our "new" place and I'd finally have some time to sit at my computer to work, blog, and get back to doing what I love most... sharing recipes.


Homemade Tomato Sauce (Salsa de Tomate)

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It's the first Monday of a new month which means it's time once again for The Secret Recipe Club. This month my assignment is Making Memories with Your Kids, written by Erin, a single mom of two who loves to bake and craft. Erin's blog is a fun family-friendly mix of recipes and crafts for making wonderful memories with kids of all ages.


With so many festive recipes to choose from a few that caught my eye were Bread & Butter Pickles, Bacon Double Cheeseburger Dip, and Twinkie Pie. I ended up choosing Erin's Pumpkin Crumb Coffee Cake because I had some leftover Calabaza en Tacha (Mexican candied pumpkin) sitting in my fridge just waiting to be used. I had seen similar recipes on Pinterest where you simply combine cake mix with pumpkin puree, but the crumb topping is what ultimately won me over. Not only is this cake super easy to whip up, it's also incredibly delicious... like a cross between a pumpkin bread and old-fashioned pumpkin pie. My family and I are completely smitten with this recipe!

Secret Recipe Club: Pumpkin Crumb Cake

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Learn to make Cocada de Forno, a sweet and irresistible Brazilian delicacy.


Baked Coconut / Brazilian Cocada - lacocinadeleslie.com

Happy February, amigos! Can you believe it's already the second month of the New Year? Not only is today the first day of the month, it's also the first Monday which means it's time once again for The Secret Recipe Club. Yay! My assignment this month is Bewitching Kitchen, written by Sally who aside from being a talented food blogger is also an awesome biochemist. Sally has been sharing her love of food on her blog since 2009 and has an impressive catalogue of recipes to choose from like Feta Cheese Zucchini Loaf, Roast Chicken w/ Clementines, and Cremini Mushroom Meatloaf.  Sally was born and raised in Sao Paolo, Brazil and also shares traditional Brazilian recipes which were what really drew me in. Her Coxinha de Galinha (chicken fritters), Pao de Queijo, and Brigadeiros are all on my "to make" list.

Secret Recipe Club: Baked Coconut (Cocada de Forno)

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Chicken Pozole Verde is a traditional Mexican chicken and hominy soup in a tomatillo and roasted poblano pepper broth.


Chicken Pozole Verde - lacocinadeleslie.com


For our final entry in our #SoupWeek celebration I have something very special for you... Chicken Pozole Verde AND the return of She Made/Ella Hace with my good friend Heather (aka girlichef) from the blog All Roads Lead to the Kitchen. (Pausing for a 30-second happy dance!) Heather was one of my first blogging friends and she was the mastermind behind us starting She Made/Ella Hace oh so many years ago. I've enjoyed hanging out in the cocina with Heather over the years, and I'm so happy that we'll continue to cook up wonderful dishes together in 2016.

She Made/Ella Hace: Chicken Pozole Verde #SoupWeek

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Pork Chile Colorado is a traditional Mexican stew seasoned with dried ancho and guajillo chiles, oregano, cumin, onion, garlic, and masa harina.


Chile Colorado de cerdo - lacocinadeleslie.com

Making a list of my favorite soups and stews would not be complete without Pork Chile Colorado. I first shared this recipe back in 2010, and over the years this recipe has gotten lost in the shuffle, and I thought #SoupWeek was the perfect time to give this beloved family recipe a little #ThrowbackThursday love.

Comfort Food Classics: Pork Chile Colorado #ThrowbackThursday

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Traditional Mexican garbanzo soup made with smoked pork chops, onion, tomato, fresh jalapeño, carrots, and spinach.


Sopa de Garbanzos - lacocinadeleslie.com

Sopa de Garbanzo (Mexican Chickpea Soup) is another of my childhood favorite soups. My recipe is a combination of both my grandfather's recipe and my suegra's (mother-in-law). Pappy loved making bean soups, and garbanzos were among his favorites. He always made his Sopa de Garbanzo in the crockpot with a couple of patitas de puerco (pig's feet) because he loved the flavor they added. I wasn't a big fan of pig's feet back then (and I'm still not), but Pappy was right in that they added a ton of flavor to the broth. To serve his soup Pappy would garnish it with chopped onion and tomato, and a little crushed oregano. I loved it and it was always a special treat when he made it.

Sopa de Garbanzo (Mexican Chickpea Soup) #SoupWeek

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Traditional Mexican fideo soup in a roasted poblano and tomatillo broth.


Sopa de Fideo Verde - lacocinadeleslie.com

January is National Soup Month and to celebrate I'll be sharing some of my favorite soup recipes every day this week (Monday through Friday). First up in our #SoupWeek celebration is Sopa de Fideo Verde, because when I think of my favorite childhood soups, Sopa de Fideo (of any kind) is high atop that list. My abuelita (grandmother) used to make this soup using a can of green enchilada sauce, which always resulted in a delicious soup. But making your own salsa verde with roasted poblano peppers and cooked tomatillos takes the flavor of this soup to a whole other level.

Sopa de Fideo Verde (Salsa Verde Mexican Fideo Soup) #SoupWeek

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Bite-size pieces of apples and oranges in a cinnamon infused sangria made with red wine, whiskey, and orange liqueur.


Red Wine Sangria - lacocinadeleslie.com


Because I hope we'll all have plenty of reasons to celebrate throughout the year the first recipe I'm sharing in 2016 is my favorite Red Wine Sangria. This fruity sangria has a little bit of everything like fresh apples and oranges, cinnamon, apple juice, orange juice, a splash of lime juice, red wine (of course!), whiskey, and orange liqueur. It packs quite a punch, especially if you forget to add the club soda. (I may or may not be speaking from experience.) For this particular sangria I used whiskey, but you can also use tequila, rum, brandy or vodka. All of which make for a delicious sangria. This is my go-to cocktail to make for family get-togethers because it's super easy to make and it's a definite crowd pleaser.

Red Wine Sangria

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