Author Archives: Dhanistha R.

About Dhanistha R.

Freelance Web & Graphic designer. Loves the beach, photography, fashion, hiking, saunas, dancing, and of course COOKING!

Tacos de Jamaica (Hibiscus Tacos)

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Tacos de Jamaica (Hibiscus Tacos)

photo cred: @sielburt

tacos-de-jamaica

Dear friends & family, what better way to celebrate our Mexican spirit for our team’s enthusiastic performance in this soccer FIFA World Cup (yes I am talking about the Mexican team!). Señores y Señoritas… I present to you a TACO DE JAMAICA recipe! Who in their right mind would not love Mexican tacos??!! This is a special taco recipe because it is made with edible flowers– Hibiscus or Jamaica (in Spanish). Jamaica is a very popular chilled tea that is drank through out Mexico as an Agua Fresca, a natural chilled beverage. It is very easy to find hibiscus dried flowers in any Mexican grocery store, and in this recipe you get tacos and an agua fresca of Jamaica!

hibiscus-tacos

There is something very exotic about eating beautiful flowers, and somehow this lovely concept of edible flowers invokes a feeling of delicacy and romance to a plate. The hibiscus flower has a natural tartness property, so I combine it with the creaminess of avocados and sweetness of caramelized onions to create this ambrosial and tropical taco! I really hope you enjoy this taco. Yay for the TACOS!!! (P.S. keep rooting for the Mexican soccer team!) Continue reading →

Mexican Cilantro Rice

Mexican Cilantro Rice Cilantro Rice The Vegetarian Blog

Today I am feeling very happy for the soccer team from MEXICO 🙂 and in the celebration of their win today at the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, I was inspired to make a Mexican rice; but not just your regular Mexican rice. Ohh no, today I made Mexican Cilantro Rice. In Mexico or (I’m sure) in all most every latin country, everyone has a tía Lupe in their family (tía means Aunt and Lupe is short for Guadalupe). When my family moved to Mexico from the US, my tía Lupe was the first person to serve me a plate of bright green cilantro rice. It was incredible cilantroso!
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Sweet Potato Gnocchi & Rosemary Kale

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Sweet Potato Gnocchi & Rosemary Kale

How about some sweet gnocchi with a garlicky brown butter sauce, infused with rosemary and tossed with lacinato (dinosaur) kale? Sweet potato is one of my favorite veggies, this root is hearty and sweet, filled with nutrients and vitamins, it’s just simply a diva vegetable root. And what to speak about kale??? DIVALICIOUS! Let me say if you cook it nicely, anybody can love it (even my boyfriend, who hates it!) I sneak it in his food all the time :p It’s just soooo gooood and good for YOU too!!! Continue reading →

Enchiladas Morelianas de Papa & Zanahoria

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Enchiladas Morelianas de Papa & Zanahoria

Enchiladas de Papa

Vegetarian enchiladas have a very special place in my heart, they remind me of coming back home from middle school, starving as usual, to my mother’s enchiladas Morelianas (filling with potato and carrots from the capitol state of Michoacán).

Enchiladas Continue reading →

Road Trip to Idaho

Spring is absolutely the best time to go for road trips. The lands are so lush with vibrant green and colorful with wild flowers. This week for “cinco de mayo” (which btw is never celebrated in Mexico), we took a trip to see some friends/family members in Idaho. We drove all the way from our lil’ town in Santa Cruz crossing through Nevada and Oregon, it was such a looooong drive but oh was it so worth it!
The Vegetarian Blog

One of the things I love from road trips are the challenge of getting creative to make awesome lunches & snacks that wont get soggy or gross for hours in the car. I like to cut up fruit, make a hummus, bring chips, make paninis, wraps and baby carrots etc.

Road Trip Continue reading →

Asparagus, Strawberry & Goat Cheese Salad

Aspragus Salad
My two favorite spring vegetables and fruits are asparagus and strawberries because they are sweet, crunchy and refreshening. These guys are just about delicious whether they are prepared in a simple way or in a delicate dish. Today the weather in Santa Cruz, California, is at 89 degrees Fahrenheit! And let me tell you…it is soooo HOT!!! I haven’t felt this heat since I was in Puerto Rico. So I looked in my fridge to see what kind of ingredients I had to make a refreshing salad to cool myself, and I found some fresh asparagus that we picked up the day before yesterday at a farm, and some local strawberries from Watsonville. One of my favorite ways to enjoy a salad and switch it up from the regular leafy salad, is to peel the vegetables into long thin slices. So I peeled asparagus and carrots to give it a nice sweet crunchy flavor and mixed it with avocado and goat cheese. This salad has a magnificent layer of flavors from creamy to crunchy and sweet to sour. I hope you enjoy this salad on such a beautiful hot & sunny day!