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Tomatoes are at their best, and something about the heat and humidity of the Arizona monsoon season makes me almost totally inert and immobile. This is about all I can muster dinner-wise, so I’m lucky that it’s fairly healthy… It turns out that mayo and bacon are better for us than expected, and my versions is also low-carb.
If you bake a layer of Parmesan cheese in the oven it will crackle and pop after a while, turning into a crispy, cheese cracker that’s much tastier than any pizza crust I’ve encountered. I topped this baked cheese crisp with pizza spices and toppings before sliding it into the oven. The results: crustless pizza!
Make this flavorful chicken tortilla soup from the Taste of Tucson cookbook in 30 minutes or less!
Molletes are open-faced breakfast sandwiches made by slathering refried beans onto toasted bolillo rolls and then heaping avocado slices, a fried egg, hot sauce, and lots of cheese on top.
Sweet bell peppers stuffed with creamy nacho cheese, avocado, pickled jalapeños, black beans and crunchy tortilla chips.
Teresa Matias told me that to help satisfy her children’s cries for burgers when buns weren’t handy, she would fold a hamburger patty into a tortilla and fry it. Topped with cheese, lettuce, and tomato, it later became a regular menu item at her restaurant, Teresa’s Mosaic Cafe. Apparently, a lot of moms had the same experience, because the beef patty taco has been standard restaurant fare around southern Arizona since at least the mid-1970s.
Sonoran-style breakfast taco with a crispy egg fried in chorizo and folded with cheese into a tortilla.
This crispy matzoh based breakfast is a cross between molletes and huevos rancheros. I used beans from a can and my homemade chiltepin salsa.
Nuttier and less sweet than its chocolate based cousin, this version of Molé Amarillo is the personal creation of Chef Suzana Davila of Tucson’s Cafe Poca Cosa. She specializes in these complex sauces, and her recipes are longtime local favorites which is one reason why I wanted to feature the recipe in my upcoming cookbook Taste of Tucson: Sonoran Style Recipes Inspired by the Rich Culture of Southern Arizona. Serve this dish with tortillas and a pretty, salad, as Suzana would.
My Sonoran style grilled chicken is made with sweet Hungarian smoked paprika mixed with hot New Mexico chili pepper, some ground unsweetened chocolate (inspired by molés), and a good California red wine blend. Healthy chickens are happy chickens. Look for free range, organic chickens who were raised without added hormones.
Making authentic cowboy steaks is really easy. When I asked Bryan Keith, the Grill Master from Pinnacle Peak Steak House if he had any additional tips he said, “Put some love in it!”
The Moist Maker Thanksgiving leftovers sandwich inspired by the classic episode of Friends, “The One Where Ross Loses it Over a Sandwich,” is made with a dinner roll soaked in gravy in the center, leftover turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce, proving that Monica is a culinary genius.
Recipe for Shakshuka made with leftover Thanksgiving stuffing. Be sure to make extra-extra stuffing for Thanksgiving so that you can make my Skillet Stuffing Shakshuka the next morning with the “leftovers”
Waffles made with leftover candied sweet potatoes are a fun Thanksgiving leftovers brunch recipe that is sure to please.
Recipe for pumpkin pie spiced baked oatmeal casserole infused with bits of actual leftover pumpkin pie.
This spooky spaghetti carbonara with mushrooms is elegant enough for a Halloween themed adult dinner party.
Walnuts taste even better in pesto than pine nuts. Spinach linguine keeps this easy pasta recipe a lovely shade of green.
A modern, flavor-packed, one-pot tuna noodle casserole recipe made with healthy ingredients.
Whatever happened to Rumaki, the Polynesian appetizer served at tiki parties in the 70s? Maybe buffalo-style rumaki will help bring it back.
I marinated myself a flank steak using my mom’s recipe from the 80s, adding in some Mexican oregano and extra citrus to #sonoranize it a bit so now it’s an Ohio meets Tucson recipe.
Rainbow sprinkles for breakfast? Yes! A crunchy and slightly sweet sprinkles cream cheese recipe for everyone who needs more rainbow sprinkles in their lives.
Get the secret to how to make a perfectly melty grilled cheese sandwich with my recipe for a n oven-baked Parmesan crusted grilled cheese sandwich that tastes like lasagna.
I’m pretty sure I invented the Elote Dog when I first developed this recipe for The Food Network in 2018. Since then Elote Hot Dogs, inspired by Sonoran-Mexican Street Corn have become a sensation with hot dog enthusiasts all over the word coming up with their own version. Here’s my recipe for hot dogs topped with elote, mayo, lime and spices and served in a bolillo roll.
Spicy Ranch French Onion Dip. Two Dips That Live As One, Together At Last!
Keto recipe for Arizona cheese crisp that’s the perfect comfort food. A cross between a Mexican pizza an an open-faced quesadilla, Southern Arizona restaurants started selling the dish more than 50 years ago and it’s become a staple of our local Sonoran style cuisine.
Healthy burrito bowl recipe with quinoa, black beans and avocado tossed in a chipotle lime vinaigrette dressing.
A decadent single-serving brownie in a mug with marshmallows and a soft, melted chocolate center. Make this recipe in the microwave in minutes, just for yourself, day or night.
Chocolate Coffee Biscotti with Pistachios dipped in a dark chocolate with sprinkles on top.
Why isn’t corn used in more desserts? It’s naturally sweet, and the kernels add a nice pop. These paletas are made with sweet corn, cinnamon and Tajin.
Corn, beans and squash are three of the earliest domesticated crops grown by Native Americans in the Sonoran region. For this recipe, prepared corn masa, which is usually used to make tortillas or gorditas, is pressed into a cast iron skillet for the crust. If you’ve never tried tepary beans, this recipe is an excellent way to experiment with them, but you can substitute black beans instead if you want.
Canadian bacon, eggs, herbs, and cheese baked inside slices of crusty baguettes. From the Unofficial Elf Cookbook by Jackie Alpers. A visually stunning breakfast casserole that is elegant, yet quick and easy to prepare.
Everyone needs a good buttercream frosting recipe. Here’s yours! From my cookbook, Sprinkles!: Recipes and Ideas for Rainbowlicious Desserts.
Sweet and creamy butternut squash hash, hearty wheat berries and protein rich eggs merge into the perfect breakfast bowl.
MIni Sweet Mini Pepper Poppers stuffed with jalapeno cream cheese and topped with panko bread crumbs. Recipe development and food photography for the Food Network.
This dessert has it all, Omega 3 packed chia seeds, antioxidant rich frozen berries and dark chocolate, and a 5-minute prep time.
Ohio meets Arizona! Cincinnati chili cheese nachos. “Cincinnachos” are the best of everything for snacking season. Cincinnati Style Chili, tortilla chips, kidney beans, cheddar cheese, raw onions and jalapenos.
An unusual amount of butter and the broth from the potatoes help make the spiciest, creamiest mashed potatoes, biscuits and sausage gravy.
Make any day a celebration! Just barely sweet, these sparkly sandwiches make a fun breakfast surprise, after-school snack, or party food.
Inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem “Fairy Bread” from A Child’s Garden of Verses, fairy bread is a popular treat at children’s parties in Australia, New Zealand, and other little pockets of the world.
This recipe is from my book Sprinkles!: Recipes and Ideas for Rainbowlicious Desserts. The photograph is previously unpublished
These Sonoran grilled chicken wings are more spicy-hot that sweet. The heat index will vary greatly from the chili flakes and bbq sauce used.
What is the nature of art? Can it exist in popsicle form? Is it still art after the popsicle has been eaten? How does the process of melting affect the piece? These are some of the questions that I pondered while creating, and then ingesting this popsicle. made it from diamond shaped sprinkles in primary colors and Sno-Caps candies.
Three Johnny Marzetti recipes, including the original recipe for the pasta dish, low carb, and Paleo versions.
I want some figgy pudding! How could I not after hearing that song year after year. So, I came up with this recipe for Chocolate & Coffee Figgy Pudding. Make your Christmas past a Christmas present.
Mini pizzas made with a herb and cheese crust and a combination of both hot and cold classic Italian toppings.
Until recently, the only biscuits I ever made at home came from a Pop n’ Fresh can, so when friends from overseas asked me for a real American biscuit recipe, I scoured every book I could find, starting with the biscuit tome Southern Biscuits by Nathalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubart, and ending with Alton Brown’s always insightful analysis in I’m Just Here for More Food: Food x Mixing + Heat = Baking.
A crunchy, keto Sonoran and Jewish deli snack mashup that is definitely not kosher. Chopped liver pate smeared onto pork rinds and topped with cornichons!
Cincinnati chili does not exist in Arizona, except for in a suspicious canned variety, so I went on quest and figured out how to cook it up myself.
This is a great snack when you want something sweet with not a lot of calories. It’s high fiber with balanced protein and very tasty
4 Triscuits or Woven Wheat Crackers
Here in Southern Arizona, our famous Sonoran style Mexican food is often garnished with pickled red onions and Mexican limes. I’ve incorporated those flavors into this mayonnaise-free spicy potato salad tossed with a chile-lime vinaigrette.
Wake, roll and bake for breakfast with these crispy rolled and baked sausage, egg and cheese breakfast tacos, with instructions on how to make rolled tacos.
What’s black and white and read all over? My recipe for white cheese nachos with black beans and salsa rojo.
