Love Potion cocktail | #SheMadeEllaHace

It's time for another round of She Made, Ella Hace with my friend Leslie from La Cocina de Leslie, and this month, we're creating Valentine's Day inspired recipes. Even though we had this planned in advance, today really snuck up on me, and I was scrambling last minute to create something.

Bacon-wrapped Water Chestnuts

My friend Leslie from La Cocina de Leslie and I started the series She Made, Ella Hace over 5 years ago. The past couple of years, our posting has been very sporadic, but we've decided that there is no better time than the present to get back on track and start post on a regular monthly basis again - hooray! We're kicking off the year with appetizer recipes, in anticipation of the Super Bowl (can I type that out loud?) this coming weekend.

Today I'm sharing a recipe that has been in my family for as long as I can remember. We've always referred to them as "water chestnut hors d'oeuvres" or simply, water chestnuts (e.g... "who's making the water chestnuts this year?"), but I'll refer to them bacon-wrapped water chestnuts for clarification purposes.

Slow Cooker Posole Verde

I'm so excited to be kicking off another year of cooking virtually alongside my friend Leslie from La Cocina de Leslie for what we affectionately call She Made, Ella Hace! Although we try to get together every month, sometimes we blink and it's been longer, but we've managed to connect almost every month for 4 1/2 years...and that makes me smile. Since January happens to be National Soup Month, Leslie suggested that we kick 2016 off with soup. This girl loves soup more than most other things, so I said yes!

But do you know what's funny? And this has happened more than once. We both wound up making the SAME kind of soup. We didn't consult ahead of time. We didn't choose a type of soup or theme for the soup. Yet still, out of the thousands (at least) types of soup we could have simmered up in our kitchens today, we both wound up with a pot of Posole (pozole) Verde! Great minds, I tell you...great minds.

Fresh Peach and Whiskey Ice Cream

I've got a double-whammy to share with you today—Eat a Peach Day and this month's round of she made, ella hace with my friend Leslie from La Cocina de Leslie! Two reasons for one delicious post. Well, I guess it's actually two since both Leslie and I are sharing a recipe. Hmmm, so maybe it's a triple-whammy. Or would that make it a quadruple-whammy? I'll let you ponder that (or not) while I turn my attention to PEACHES!

My kids went back to school this past week, but we still have another month of summer to go—that means tons of fresh produce is still rolling in. My kitchen looks a little ridiculous right now. My counters and table are overrun by tomatoes, chiles, zucchini and yellow squash, corn on the cob, and green beans. I'm not even the one with a garden, my neighbors are. Not that I'm complaining (much), but I find myself without any space in my teeny-tiny kitchen to prepare or put it all up!

So what do I do? Hit up the market and roadside stands for deep ruby plums and fuzzy peaches. You know, so I can fill in the tiny gaps and form teetering pyramids. The fruit disappears in a flash, though, so I had to snag a couple of those peaches to make this ice cream. Yeah, I'm still in full-on ice cream mode, too.

Slow Cooker Baked Beans

Lately I've talked a fair deal about grilling, cold cocktails, and frozen treats as ways that I like to beat the heat during the hot summer months, but I also like to take advantage of my slow cooker(s). It's great to have that comforting scent of food cooking without melting every time you walk into the kitchen. So, when my friend Leslie suggested that we plug in our slow cookers for this month's edition of she made, ella hace, I thought that was a brilliant idea.

Last week I shared Apple Barbecue Grilled Ribs and Old Fashioned Creamy Potato Salad recipes that were both part of the same meal. Well, guess what else went along with that meal? You guessed it—baked beans. While the ribs were parbaking in the oven and the potatoes were cooling, I poured a few different kinds of canned beans into my slow cooker, along with some smoky bacon, some veggies, and some classic baked bean flavorings like ketchup, molasses, vinegar, mustard and more.

Strawberry Atole + Strawberry Atole Paletas | #SheMadeEllaHace

Did you know that May is National Strawberry Month? That only seems natural since this is the month that the sweetest, juiciest strawberries are grown in my neck of the woods. As a nod to this delicious month, my friend Leslie from La Cocina de Leslie and I are sharing strawberry recipes for our May edition of she made, ella hace!

If you know me, you know the first place my mind went was to popsicles, followed very closely by a cocktail. Since Leslie and I usually lean towards a Mexican-inspired twist during our time together in the kitchen, I decided to make an early morning pot of atole de fresa, or strawberry atole.

If you've never tried atole before, it's a warm drink that's thickened lightly with masa. It can be made in pretty much any flavor you can imagine, but it's that earthy corn undertone that makes it so recognizable...and loved.

Matcha Shamrock Shortbread Cookies

We're baaaaaack—I'm so excited to be spending time in the kitchen with my good friend Leslie from La Cocina de Leslie again (finally) for another edition of she made, ella hace! I don't know how it happened, but somehow SEVEN months has gone by since we last did a little kitchen collaboration. I tell you, time only goes faster with each passing year.

Since it's March, we decided to get in the Irish spirit and choose GREEN as our theme, in honor of both St. Paddy's Day and the start of Spring. I was totally down with this idea, because I'd been sitting on a bag of Matcha Green Tea Powder for a couple of months, just waiting for the right time to use it. Using it as a natural way to infuse green into some shortbread cookies shaped like shamrocks couldn't be more fitting.

This shortbread dough is perfectly buttery and delicate, flecked with tiny bits of almond, and the delicate taste of green tea lies subtley underneath. My oldest son and I are the shortbread lovers (total understatement) in the house, and we've both declared that these are our current favorites. We'll be making them throughout the year...shaped like shamrocks for St. Paddy's Day, leaves for the start of spring, pine trees for Christmas...or just plain slice-and-bake if no "special" shape seems to fit.

Black Bean and Bacon Flautas

Last month flew by so quickly that I wasn't able to hang out in the kitchen with my foodie bff, Leslie for she made, ella hace. But we're back this month, and you'll never guess what ingredient we decided to bring with us! Okay, maybe you will. I mean, I've only been using the same ingredient in full-force all month long. Mmm hmm, it's BACON!

Fortunately, when I asked Leslie if she'd mind if we chose bacon {as if} as our theme this month, she said that she was thinking the same thing. See, there's a reason why she and I get along so well.

When trying to decide what I wanted to share today, I knew I wanted it to be something with a Mexican twist. You may know that we eat Mexican food on a regular basis. We also eat bacon on a regular basis. But when thinking about it, I was hard-pressed to think of a time when the two were combined. Huh.

Migas con Nopales

My foodie bff Leslie and I are squeaking in on the last day of June to bring you another edition of she made, ella hace with our theme: Nopales! I buy my fresh nopales, or cactus paddles, at one of my local Mexican markets. They make look intimidating with all of the needles sticking out, but armed with a pair of tongs, they're not so scary.

And then  you get them home. What now!? Remove those prickly needles, that's what. I use a kitchen towel or a wad of paper towels to grab the stem end. Then I cut a thin layer off, all the way around the outside edge of the paddle - there are a lot of small prickers around the edges. Then, I grab the paddle from the opposite end, and cut off the stem end. Next, using a longish, sharp knife held at a very small angle, slice down the paddle going against the needles. Flip, repeat, then rinse the whole thing off. Some markets may even offer already de-stickered whole cactus paddles for sale. Mine often sells them already cleaned and sliced in baggies. If all else fails, you can usually find them in a jar.