La Cocina de Leslie

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

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.

15 April 2015

Spicy Pork Masa Harina-Crusted Milanesas

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.

05 April 2015

Secret Recipe Club: Honey Bun Cake

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.

12 March 2015

Cucumber Lime Margaritas {She Made/Ella Hace}

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...

02 March 2015

What's for Dinner: Week 9

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

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.

22 February 2015

Mango Margarita

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...

21 February 2015

What's for Dinner: Week 8

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.

20 February 2015

Baked Garlic Lime Tilapia

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

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.

19 February 2015

Agua de Naranja (Orange Agua Fresca)

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.

17 February 2015

Chilaquiles Rojos con Carnitas

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...

15 February 2015

What's for Dinner: Week 7

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...

08 February 2015

What's for Dinner: Week 6

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.