Hortatas!

An horchata (or-chata) is a vanilla drink made with milk, water, and a bit of cinnamon. In Mexico, they are sometimes made with rice and vanilla and occasionally with cinnamon. It is sweet and has a very light texture, like water. Horchatas were originally home made, but now they are able to be bought at any Mexican restaurant and now they have powder to make your own mix.

They are one of the main drinks served at Mexican parties as well. Tamarindo, Jamaica and Horchatas are known to be "aguas frescas" and are best served cold. Personally, out of all three of them, horchatas are my favorite. Tamarindo and Jamaica are usually more tangy and have tastes of fruits. I enjoy each one, but I have always loved horchatas. They are fresh, cold, and have a very sweet taste. If you haven't tried on yet, next time you go to a Mexican restaurant or take out, I'd recommend you getting one!

Yummy Grilled Cheese.

An easy snack whipped up in just a couple minutes, is known as a grilled cheese sandwich! This sandwich is basically made with two toasted slices of bread with whatever cheese you'd like to add, most commonly used is American cheese. This was created in the 1920s and was extremely popular during the Great Depression. This amazingly delicious treat can be made in many different ways. White or wheat bread, any type of cheese, add a little deli (ham, turkey), tomatoes and what ever you feel like adding to make it your very own sandwich. Personally, I like to have mine simple - white bread with American cheese. It is just delicious and hits the spot.
The recipe to make this sandwich is pretty simple. First, you will want to toast your bread on a toaster just so it is barely toasted. Heat up a pan (nonstick will be good) on the stove at medium low. Once you're done toasting the bread, you will then want to spread butter on one side of each slice of bread and place your cheese (and ham and other condiments if added) on the sides that don't have butter on them, so it looks like a sandwich. Then, you will want to place it on the pan and let it toast for a little bit and then flip it over to the other side as well. You can repeat this as many times as you'd like, just try not to burn it!
This treat is an American classic, and enjoyed by many people at any age.

Cheese Info
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French Toast Breakfast(=

    One thing I absolutely love to eat for breakfast is French Toast. When my mom first taught me how to make it, dipping the bread into egg and then putting it on the pan to toast it up, I honestly thought that it would taste absolutely horrible. But once it was done and put syrup and powdered sugar on it and tasted it. And from that day on, it became my favorite thing to eat for breakfast. It has a sweet taste to it and even though it has an odd texture, I still thinks it tastes good.
  While doing research for this, I learned a couple things about French Toast, also known as "Eggy Bread". It is used as a dessert in Brazil, usually around Christmas time. It also is pretty popular in the United Kingdom and other places in Europe as well. Ironically, the delicious breakfast treat did not come directly from France, but it was created by the French-Canadians who just decided to name it after themselves.
  French Toast is very easy to make. Only a few ingredients are needed to make this. I really enjoy making it and it is really tasty. Just make sure you leave it long enough to toast up or else it would be really raw with the egg batter on it. Here's a simple recipe that you can try at home yourself and enjoy a nice warm breakfast made by you!

Source: Wikipedia
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Chocolate + Strawberries

One thing that me and my sister love to make are chocolate covered strawberries. We usually melt chocolate chips in the microwave or dip them in chocolate syrup and eat them just like that. Simple, but tasty. I personally enjoy having those chocolate covered strawberries or fruits covered in chocolate. I got into eating this when my aunt brought one of those chocolate fountains to a family party. We began dipping marsh mellows in them, and also strawberries. And let me tell you, they are absolutely delicious!

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Even though they have a little bit of chocolate on them, they still are healthier then a bag of chips, well I think they are. Look at it this way: a raw strawberry has about 6 calories and a bag of chips has 150 calories. Even if you add chocolate to the strawberries, the calories are about the same depending on how many you eat and how much chocolate you put on them. But with strawberries, you get those good, natural, fruit vitamins that you need compared to chips. Even though chips are good, I think I would rather have chocolate covered strawberries or bananas.

Cake Boss Style Tuxedo Chocolate Covered Strawberries
Recipe to make Chocolate Covered Strawberries (+Nutrition Facts)

C is for Cookie

This week for Chemistry class, we had to convert measurement from grams, milliliters, and other measurements into cups for a cookie recipe. Not only did we have to do that, but we got to bake cookies at home as homework! Baking something for homework? I can do that everyday.
Since last Winter Break, I really got in touch with my cooking skills and began to bake a lot of things. Mexican desserts, like empanadas, to cakes, to brownies, and, of corse, cookies. Ever since I was little, I loved my mom's cookies. But it seemed as though every time I baked them, they were never as good as hers. However, I finally got it down on Monday night when I was baking my chocolate chip cookies from scratch for Chem class. I guess it was because for once I did not mess up the recipe and I mixed in everything slowly. First I mixed the eggs, vanilla, the sugars, and the butter first, and then I slowly mixed in the flour, salt, and baking soda until it was evenly mixed. I guess that really did the trick, because they came out soft and fluffy. So, I really think the secret when baking things is to just take your time with it and enjoy it. Even though the clean up at the end is a pain, it will be worth it.
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Go Bananas !

If you'd ask me about how I kept cool during the summer, I would give you a one word answer - shakes! Usually I would go for that ice cold soda or for some Dreyer's Mocha ice cream. But this summer, I decided to take a slightly more healthy snack, which of corse was fruit smoothies.  Honestly, I did not chose this for myself out of the blue, it was one of those things my mom began making me drink with my pancakes or whatever else I had for breakfast. I myself am a picky eater and never really liked to eat fruit, but that is just me. But one morning my mom made me a blueberry milkshake, and it was not bad at all. I got used to drinking shakes or smoothies and made some banana milkshakes on hot summer afternoons for myself as well.

It soon was not a thing I had to force myself to have or else my mother would scold me, but it was something that made me feel refreshed and healthy. It kind of changed my way of eating - cutting back on sodas, getting some exercise, and choosing better snaps instead of chips. Although I still love my junk food, I enjoy having healthier choices as well.
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Can't have a party without Mexican food !

If you asked me what I normally eat at home, being in a Mexican household, I'd probably tell you I have Mexican food almost everyday. People might think that's not a bad deal, and I'm not saying it is, but having rice, tortillas, and some sort of chicken or meat everyday kind of gets old. And, of corse, as if it wasn't enough, every family gathering or party on the weekends, theres got to be Mexican food. Not saying I have built a hate on Mexican food, which would be kind of crazy since I'm full Mexican, I have my favorite dishes as well. One dish I absolutely love is enchiladas with salsa verde. Normally enchiladas are made with red sauce, but I personally like the salsa verde, just cause it gives it enough spice to the enchiladas. Over the summer I got to test some of my own cooking skills with my mom, and one of the things we made was this. Sure mine wasn't as good as hers, but I will get to learn it some day. A major tip for making this amazing dish is having a lot of patience and time. There are many steps to making this, such as cooking the chicken, making the salsa, shredding the chicken and rolling it into tacos, and some other steps. It takes a while, but in the end, it's worth it.