Liz Della Croce - Food from Our Ancestors: The Ultimate Mexican Sunday Dinner Cookbook

Copyright

Copyright 2016 by Liz Della Croce and The Lemon Bowl

All right reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author. Photography by Ral Velasco with Alejandro Photography.

Dedications and Thank You

I dedicate the Food From Our Ancestors series to my sons Asher and Jacob who light up my life every single day. I also dedicate The Ultimate Mexican Sunday Dinner edition to Gabriel Zane Velasco, the newest member of the Velasco family.

Thank you to my husband Rich for your endless love and unwavering support during the past 15 years. You are my number one fan, and Im forever grateful. Thank you for pushing me to follow my dreams.

A special thank you to the Velasco family for welcoming me into your kitchen and home. To Gloria, thank you for being such an inspiration to me as a wife and mother. You inspire me to continue feeding my family the food of our ancestors. To Venancio, thank you for making me feel like a part of your family from the second I met you. You are an incredible father, husband and grandfather.

To Ral, thank you for always trusting me and for encouraging me to follow through with all my crazy ideas. Youre the little brother I never knew I wanted, and Im grateful for you.

To all of The Lemon Bowl readers, thank you for all your support and encouragement over the years. Its because of you that I can pursue my cooking passion. I will forever be grateful.

Last, thank you to all my family and friends who have cheered me along and supported my dream over the years. It is because you believed in me that I could believe in myself.

About The Author

Liz Della Croce is the creator and author of The Lemon Bowl, a healthy food and travel blog. Since 2010, Liz has grown a loyal following of health-conscious readers from all over the world. Focusing on seasonal ingredients and whole foods, her collection of recipes is inspired by ethnic flavors from around the globe and the Lebanese dishes of her childhood. Liz has appeared live on the TODAY Show and tapes regular cooking segments on her local NBC affiliate station. Liz been featured in various publications including Real Simple Magazine, Shape Magazine, Food Network blog, Fitness Magazine, The Cooking Channel, TODAY Food and more. Through healthy eating and regular exercise, Liz achieved long term weight loss success and has a passion for helping others reach similar goals. In 2013, Liz launched Healthy Habits, a feature on The Lemon Bowl where her loyal readers and growing audience can find practical advice, resources and information on creating and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Liz graduated from Boston University with a degree in Hospitality Administration and a minor in Marketing Management. She and her husband reside in Grand Rapids, MI along with their two young boys. Connect with Liz directly on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest or via email: Liz@thelemonbowl.com

Food From Our Ancestors: The Ultimate Mexican Sunday Dinner

The second in a series of eCookbooks profiling Sunday dinner across America, The Ultimate Mexican Sunday Dinner is a compilation of 14 traditional Mexican recipes, including enchiladas, ceviche, posole (pork and hominy in a soup/stew), beans and rice. The inspiration from this book stems from my birthplace, Tucson, Arizona. Although I only lived there six months, we would continue to vacation there every year to escape the brutal Michigan winters. Our visits to our town, located just an hour north of the Arizona-Mexico border, would always include a day trip to Nogales, Mexico, for lunch.

From a very early age, I began to understand that the best steak tacos are topped with fresh cilantro and minced onion. Corn tortillas are the preference, served hot. And just like chicken noodle soup is food for the soul in America, I cant imagine anything more comforting than a warm bowl of sopa de pollo (chicken soup).

I wrote The Ultimate Mexican Sunday Dinner with the help of my dear friend and photographer Ral Velasco. Born in Aguascalientes, Mexico, in 1987, Rals family immigrated to America in the early 1990s to join family members who had already settled in Michigan. His parents, Gloria and Venancio, emigrated here with one simple and selfless goal: to create a better life for their children and all future generations of Velascos.

Ral and I met in 2012 when my husband and I hired him to take photos of our family shortly after having our first child. Over the years, as The Lemon Bowl started to take off, Ral would also help me with occasional business photography needs. In 2015 as my company continued to expand, I hired him as my exclusive food photographer.

Over the years I noticed a consistent theme whenever Ral would talk about his family gatherings: His parents made the most incredible food hed ever tasted. Whether it was his mothers fragrant Mexican rice served at a quinceaera (a huge party for a girls 15th birthday) or his fathers famous steak tacos at a backyard BBQ, Ral typically ate at least eight servings of whatever was prepared that day. Zero regrets.

Although I didnt meet his family right away, I immediately understood. You see, like Ral, my family is also a food-centric family. The love is overpowering, the family bond is unbreakable, and we stay connected to our heritage through the ethnic food of our ancestors. Just as my family often skips the traditional ham and mashed potatoes on Christmas to serve Lebanese food, Ral is more likely to be seen eating a bowl of Glorias posole rojo (posole with red chilies) than a plate of green bean casserole. I get it. I love it. Im down with it.

To help inspire and encourage you to enjoy a traditional Mexican Sunday dinner at home, Im honored to share 14 authentic Mexican recipes from the Velasco family to yours. As always, I hope these recipes and photos leave you hungry for more.

Introduction

Since I grew up within a few miles of my entire extended family, there was always a Sunday dinner, birthday party or holiday gathering taking place. Like any good Middle Eastern family, these events always centered around one thing and one thing only: food.

For whatever reason, while my little sisters were running around the house, watching TV or playing outside, I always gravitated toward the kitchen. No matter how many cousins were over or what movies were on, all I wanted to do was see what my mom and aunts were cooking together in the kitchen.

In fact, from as little as five years old, I can remember peering over the kitchen counter on my tip toes begging my mom to let me help her dress the raw turkey at Thanksgiving. I can still picture my Great Aunt Vieve turning a platter of homemade hummus into a piece of artwork with minced parsley, toasted pine nuts and fragrant green onions.

At the end of the day, it didnt matter what they were cooking, I just wanted in. To this day, food is my love language, and cooking is my favorite form of therapy.

Although I didnt always have a healthy relationship with food, I did reach a weight loss milestone in my mid-twenties. Through proper portion control and regular exercise, I have successfully maintained a 60-pound weight loss for for more than nine years and through two pregnancies.