I never get tired of Mexican food. I strongly believe that food wrapped/rolled/stuffed into things is pretty much as good as it gets, and Mexican food has that down pat. I also love that it’s pretty easy to find satisfying vegetarian options in Mexican restaurants (although beware the refried beans). Most of all, I love that Mexican food is easy to make it home, and that you can usually make it much healthier than you could ever hope to get in a restaurant.

This recipe for creamy baked chicken taquitos began making its merry way around the internet several years ago. After reading wistfully of its charms in blog after blog, it almost began to haunt me – everywhere I went, I seemed to be staring at it, but I couldn’t have it! The humanity! Even the disgusting deep-fried messes they call taquitos at 7-11 seemed to be mocking me as they slowly rotated over and over on their dirty griddle. After suffering through this for years, I finally decided to Take Back the Taquito.

“But Julie,” you may be saying, “how can you take back the taquito when you never had the taquito?” If you are saying that, then you’re arguing semantics. And you know what rhymes with semantic? Pedantic. So there. Now eat one of the taquitos I just took back, and like it.

You’ll need to plan a couple of days ahead in order to freeze and thaw the tofu. Remove the tofu from the package and press gently with paper towels to remove excess water. Place in a freezer-safe Ziploc bag and seal tightly. Freeze for at least a day. Remove the night before or morning of the day you plan to make these and place in the refrigerator to thaw. After thawing but before shredding, gently press with several paper towels again to remove additional moisture. This will give the tofu a firmer, chewier texture.

I’m going to say one more thing about these taquitos before I beg you to make them – whether you’re a vegetarian or not really doesn’t matter with this recipe, so please don’t be put off by the tofu. In fact, I think this is a great introduction to tofu for those who perceive it as a wobbly, spongy, inadequate meat substitute. Freezing it first firms it up a lot, and the shredded texture mimics chicken so closely that I honestly don’t think most people would be able to tell the difference, especially with all the flavor in this recipe. Just this once, give tofu the benefit of the doubt. Your taste buds will thank you.

Tastes like chicken. Actually, better.

Creamy Baked Tofu Taquitos
Yield: about 16 taquitos

Ingredients:
1 package (14-16 oz) extra-firm tofu, frozen and thawed
4 oz light cream cheese, softened
1 Tbsp lime juice
1/3 cup salsa
3 cloves garlic, minced, or 1 generous tsp jarred garlic
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 scallions, chopped finely
1 cup shredded cheese (I used a Mexican blend)
6-inch flour tortillas (you can use corn, but I find flour easier to work with and I prefer the taste)
Cooking spray
Coarse sea salt (optional)

Instructions
Using a vegetable peeler, box grater, or your fingers, shred the tofu into strips and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese, lime juice, salsa, garlic, chili powder, cumin, cilantro, and scallions. Stir well to combine. Add the cheese and shredded tofu and stir until well mixed.

Remove the tortillas from their plastic bag and place the stack between two paper towels. Microwave for about 30 seconds. This will make them pliable enough to roll.

Place 2-3 tablespoons of filling into a tortilla (I did closer to 2 Tbsp because I’m all about quantity and more taquitos = yay! Also makes them easier to roll). Roll the tortilla away from you, as tightly as you can. Place seam side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment or foil sprayed with cooking spray. Repeat with the rest of tortillas and filling, ensuring that the taquitos aren’t touching each other on the baking sheet.

Spray the tops of the taquitos lightly with cooking spray and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the ends are lightly browned. Serve with refried beans, salsa, sour cream, guacamole, and a large margarita.

Source: Adapted and vegetarianized from Our Best Bites

Last week, I impulse bought a 3-pound bag of blood oranges during a 6 AM trip to the grocery store. Clearly, I was not entirely awake, or I would’ve remembered the identical 3-pound bags of blood oranges I bought over the previous two winters that sat unused in my produce drawer until, shriveled and dried up, I finally had to throw them away.

When I came to my senses (thank you, caffeine), I remembered those squandered oranges and made a solemn and dramatic vow to myself that not only would I not allow this batch to go to waste, but I would use every single bit of them – pith, peel, juice – in glorious ways (okay, I threw out the seeds). I quickly got to work peeling and juicing (lesson learned: convert your kitchen into something similar to Dexter’s kill room, or risk staining everything within five feet). Then, as I proudly gazed down at my pile of zest and peels and cups of beautiful scarlet juice, I realized that I’d given exactly zero thought to what I was actually going to do with all of it. Drink it straight? Yes, I did have a cup. But after my declaration of grand destiny for this bag o’ blood oranges, simply chugging the juice seemed like a bit of a letdown.

I’d never made my own curd before – the fact that my Trader Joe’s sells lemon curd at a very reasonable price, combined with the very real potential of homemade curd ending up as sweetened scrambled eggs (ew), has always held me back. But how could I resist blood orange curd? I certainly couldn’t buy it at Trader Joe’s, and the odds of ending up with a wealth of perfectly sweet, tart, pale pink loveliness handily trumped the risk of sugary scrambled eggs.

I’m so glad I made this – it’s incredibly simple, tastes amazing, and I’ve already thought of about 354657 ways to use it, including:

• donut filling
• blood orange tarts
• Swiss meringue buttercream
• eaten alone with a spoon

In fact, I loved it so much that I made a second batch. And then I had to go out and buy another bag of blood oranges. Don’t fear for their future, though – I think it’s safe to say that you’ll never see blood oranges go to waste in my home again.

Blood Orange Curd
Yield: about 1.5 cups

Ingredients:
1/2 cup blood orange juice
1 Tbsp blood orange zest
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, sliced into 8 pieces

Instructions:
Combine juice, zest, sugar, eggs, and egg yolks in a medium bowl and whisk to combine. Set bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Add butter and cook, whisking constantly, until thickened. The biggest potential for disaster here is in allowing the eggs to overcook – if you have a thermometer, cook until heated to about 160 F. If you don’t, that’s okay – just cook for about five minutes. The curd should feel very hot to the touch.

Remove from the heat and strain through a mesh sieve to remove any bits of cooked egg. Cover surface of curd with a piece of plastic wrap (this prevents a skin from forming on the top) and allow to cool to room temperature. The curd will thicken slightly as it cools. Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to a week.

I can’t even count the number of times I’ve looked at a glass of red wine and thought to myself, “you know how this would be even better? If I could spread it on crackers!”

Okay, I’m lying. I’ve never thought that. Red wine is pretty excellent in a plain old wine glass, and there’s no reason to argue otherwise. But in the interest of not leaving well enough alone (I love poking well enough with a stick!), this is a way to take the excellent and make it transcendent. We’ve all had red wine, and we’ve given it as the standard hostess gift at every dinner party we’ve been to for the last kazillion years, and that’s fine. But wine jelly? Not only is it a handmade gift from your own kitchen, but hello! It’s also wine. And it’s easy to make. And the recipe conveniently leaves a healthy glassful to relax with while you wait for your jars to seal. You don’t want it to go to waste, do you?

The first few times I gave this out, I’ll admit that I got mixed reactions: “Wine jelly…um…interesting! What do you do with it?”  Now, I get a preemptive “Are you making the wine jelly this year?” I’ve heard varying reports on what people are actually doing with it – the most common is served with cheese and crackers as an appetizer (this method has been me-tested and wholeheartedly approved), but I’ve also heard that it’s been mixed with Dijon mustard for a marinade, and I’ve even gotten a report or two that it’s been used in a grown-up version of a classic PB&J. Again, just another way to make the already-excellent transcendent.

What I love about this jelly is that you can actually taste the wine. It’s never boiled, so the alcohol doesn’t cook out. The downside of this is that you should probably not put it on your morning English muffin (unless it’s the weekend). The upside is that, like I said, you can actually taste the wine. The sugar mellows it quite a bit, and it’s not overpowering in the least. I’m not an expert on palates and finishes and all of that, but I’d describe each bite as a burst of fruity sweetness followed by a hint of the wine flavor at the very end. While it’s definitely not your standard Smuckers, it’s really, really good.

If you’re not interested in canning this for long-term storage but still want to give it as a gift, that’s absolutely fine – it will keep refrigerated for several months in sterilized jars. If you’re new to home canning but interested, I urge you to go here to read up on the basics. This was the first recipe I ever canned, and the simplicity of it got me totally hooked. Regardless of how you prepare, preserve, give or store this, I hope you enjoy it – it’s one of my all-time favorites.

Wine Jelly
Yield: about 7 half-pint jars, or 7 cups)

Ingredients:
4 cups red wine (use any red you like. I use a $9 Cabernet blend from Trader Joe’s. Also, your standard bottle is only three cups, so you’ll have to buy two bottles or a 1.5 liter for this, and then dispose of the leftovers somehow. The sacrifices you must make!)
6 cups granulated sugar
2 3-oz packets liquid pectin

Instructions:
Combine wine and sugar in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved. Do not boil. Mix in the pectin and stir until combined. Skim off foam, if any, and discard.

If not preserving, ladle into sterilized jars and refrigerate. If preserving, follow instructions here. Ladle into hot sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space, and process for 10 minutes in a water bath. Turn off heat and let stand for ten minutes, then remove and allow to stand undisturbed for 12-24 hours. You should hear the “pop” of the sealed jars within minutes of removing them, which will warm your heart while you enjoy the last bit of that wine you bought for this.

Unpreserved jelly will keep in the fridge for several months. Preserved jelly will keep at room temperature for at least one year.

Source: Food.com

I am a sucker for anything that ends with “on a stick.” What’s bad that comes on a stick? Lollipops, cotton candy, veggie corn dogs, cake pops, popsicles – all a few of my favorite things, that happen to come on sticks. I even have a cookbook entirely dedicated to food on sticks. So when I found this recipe for hot chocolate on a stick, I knew I was going to make it – it was just a matter of when.

I first came across this recipe right before Christmas, when I was in a frenzy of homemade gift-making. In the three days before Christmas, I plowed through two batches of jelly, a vodka infusion, herb salts, lavender sugar, hot sauce, and two different kinds of shortbread. A diplomat would say I had my hands full; a realist would’ve taken one look at my wild hair, flour-covered clothes, and disaster-scene kitchen and had me committed. As much as I wanted to cram this hot chocolate onto my already unmanageable to-do list, there just wasn’t time. In the madness of the holidays, I ended up forgetting about it until yesterday, when I moved something in a cabinet to reveal the stack of chocolate bars I’d bought just for this and absentmindedly squirreled away. And as luck would have it, it was two days before Valentine’s Day and I’d found (and purchased, obviously) a heart-shaped ice cube tray for $2 at a hardware store (??) just a few days earlier. Clearly my destiny, at least for yesterday afternoon, was to make heart-shaped hot chocolate on a stick.

I was a little bit intimidated at first – I’m no candymaker, and I have a habit of somehow managing to always attract the one drop of whatever ruins things – oil in meringue, water in chocolate, bleach on a black shirt. But this turned out to be so quick and easy I was sure I must’ve forgotten something. Luckily, my only memory lapse was forgetting this recipe existed for a few months.

Aside from being extremely cute and simple to make, these make a damn fine cup of hot chocolate – it’s incredibly rich and smooth, even in skim milk. The red candy melts do give the final cup of steaming goodness a bit of a pink tint and the flavor more of a vanilla tone, but enrobing them is entirely optional. I only did it to make them Valentine-friendly – they are equally adorable and decadent without the added color.

Hot Chocolate on a Stick
Yield: about 16 1 oz cubes/hearts/molds

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1.5 oz/40 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup (4.5 oz/130 g) confectioner’s sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp powdered vanilla (optional)
9 oz (255g) milk chocolate
7 oz (200g) semisweet chocolate
Pink or red candy melts (optional)

Special Materials:
1 oz ice cube trays or candy molds
Lollipop sticks or cinnamon sticks
Piping bag or large ziploc bag

Instructions:
Sift cocoa powder, confectioner’s sugar, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

Chop the chocolate into very small pieces and combine in a microwave-safe bowl. Make sure that the bowl is completely dry. Microwave in 30-second intervals at 50% power, stirring between intervals. When the chocolate is almost completely melted (about 3/4), stir until the remaining chocolate chunks melt.

Pour melted chocolate over dry ingredients and stir until completely incorporated. The mixture will be very thick and somewhat stiff, but should still be pliable. Spoon into piping bag or ziploc bag and cut off the tip. Pipe into ice cube trays or candy molds. When filled, rap the tray firmly on the counter several times to remove air bubbles and evenly distribute the chocolate mixture (this is one little mistake I made – I should’ve been more heavy-handed here). Insert lollipop sticks or cinnamon sticks into each cube and refrigerate for a few hours.

If using, melt candy melts by microwaving at intervals of 30 seconds at 50% power, stirring between each interval. Dip hot chocolate sticks in melted candy and allow excess to drip off. Allow to set on wax paper or place sticks upright in styrofoam until completely set, at least an hour. Store at room temperature.

To serve:
Heat 8 oz of milk for each chocolate stick. Place chocolate into hot milk and stir. Allow several minutes to dissolve completely.

Source: Adapted from 30 Pounds of Apples, originally from Giver’s Log.

I know a lot of people believe that green tea is magical. The arguments for its numerous health benefits are pretty convincing – preventing and fighting cancer, decreasing cholesterol, reducing the risk of heart disease, clearing up skin, and fighting obesity? Sounds pretty good. So what do you do when you have a packet of powdered green tea, chock full of antioxidants and just waiting to help you lose your winter weight and lower your cholesterol?

You use it to make cupcakes, of course.

Yes, I’m aware that converting green tea into a baked good does a pretty good job of negating all the positive things it can do for you. Counterpoint: cupcakes.

I think we all know who’s winning this debate. Cupcakes always win.

With cold season in full swing, I wanted these to be as close to a warm, comforting mug of tea as you can get in a cupcake – and honestly, it was so close that after tasting these, I wondered for a minute why I hadn’t just brewed myself a cup of green tea and called it a day. This is definitely a subtle, grown-up cupcake, but that’s not to its detriment at all. The fresh, slightly grassy flavor of matcha powder* is balanced perfectly by the tartness of lemon, and the light-as-air Swiss meringue buttercream allows the distinctive sweetness of honey to shine through without being lost under cups of powdered sugar. They may not cure cancer or lower your cholesterol, but I’d argue that they reveal a whole new layer of green tea’s benefits.

*Matcha powder is dried, powdered green tea – it can be found at most Asian supermarkets or specialty tea shops. It’s also great in smoothies and ice cream.

Green Tea, Lemon, and Honey Cupcakes
Yield: about 20 cupcakes

Ingredients:
For the Cupcakes:
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher or sea salt
2 Tbsp matcha powder
1 cup milk or half-and-half
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp lemon extract

For the Frosting:
4 large egg whites
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup raw honey (I used raw because I think the taste is more pronounced, but any honey is fine)

Instructions:
Make the Cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line 2 muffin pans with paper liners and set aside (note that this recipe makes about 20 cupcakes, so line your pans accordingly).

Sift cake flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and matcha powder into a medium bowl. In a larger bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat milk, eggs, oil, and lemon extract on medium speed until completely incorporated. Add the dry ingredients and beat on medium speed until fully mixed, about 2 minutes. Divide batter evenly among lined pans, filling about 2/3 full. Bake for 16-18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans for five minutes, then remove to racks to cool completely.

Make the Frosting:
Fill a medium saucepan with about 2 inches of water. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Whisk egg whites and sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer. Place bowl over saucepan, whisking constantly until sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture is white and glossy (note: to completely pasteurize the egg whites, they must be heated to 140 degrees).

Remove mixer bowl from heat. Using the whisk attachment, beat on high speed until cooled and the egg whites hold stiff peaks, about 8 minutes. Switch to the paddle attachment and add the butter two tablespoons at a time. Beat until fluffy and smooth, about 3-5 minutes, or longer if necessary. Have a mild emotional breakdown when it appears your frosting has curdled and is ruined. Celebrate wildly when it comes back together. Beat your chest in victory. Add the honey and continue beating until incorporated.

Frost cupcakes and dust with a light sprinkling of matcha powder. Enjoy with or without a steaming mug of freshly brewed green tea.