Cooking with Daisy

Lazy girl dinner, but make it high protein 🍽️

This came together in 15 minutes. It’s creamy, crunchy, a little tangy, and keeps me full. And yes, store-bought refried beans are totally okay 🫶🏼

High-Protein Esquite Tostadas
Makes about 6 tostadas

Ingredients:
5 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
1 can of corn, drained
1 tbsp mayo (I used avocado mayo)
3–4 tbsp plain Greek yogurt
Cotija cheese, as much as your heart wants
Tajín to taste
Juice of 1 lemon or lime
Store-bought refried beans
Tostadas

Instructions 👇🏼
In a bowl, mix the chopped eggs, corn, mayo, Greek yogurt, cotija, Tajín, and lemon or lime juice.
Spread about 1 tbsp of refried beans on each tostada.
Pile the esquite mixture on top.
Add extra cotija and Tajín if you want, and enjoy!

Tip: If you’re in a calorie deficit, swap a few of the whole eggs for extra egg whites. The yolks have a lot of the nutrients, so I like keeping them, but this cuts calories while keeping the protein high 💪

Save this for your next “I don’t feel like cooking” night 💛

Street food is such a huge part of the culture here in LA. One of my favorites has always been bacon-wrapped hot dogs, loaded with grilled onions and peppers.

This Hispanic Heritage Month, I wanted to bring that same street food spirit into my kitchen with a fun mashup: crescent dogs inspired by the classic LA bacon dog.

Simple, nostalgic, and full of sabor. 😋

Ingredients
4 strips bacon
½ large onion, sliced
3-4 jalapeños and/or serranos, chopped
Salt and pepper
1 whole egg, for egg wash optional
1 tbsp water, for egg wash optional
1 can Crescent Rolls (8 count)
4 hot dog links
Sesame seeds
Pico de gallo (optional, for topping)
Mayo, mustard, and ketchup (for topping/dipping)

Instructions
1. In a skillet, cook the bacon to your desired doneness. Remove from the skillet, leave the drippings in the pan. Sauté the onion and peppers in the bacon grease. Season with salt and pepper, then set aside.
2. For the egg wash (optional), whisk together the egg and water in a small bowl. Set aside.
3. Unroll the Pillsbury Crescent dough, do not separate into triangles. Cut the dough along the perforations down the middle crosswise and lengthwise to make 4 rectangles. For each rectangle, pinch two triangles together to form one long piece for each hot dog. Each container makes
4. For each dough rectangle, place a hot dog link in the center along with one strip of bacon. Top with a bit of the sautéed onion and peppers.
5. Close the dough around the filling, pinching to seal. Brush with egg wash if using, and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
6. Bake at 375°F for 20 minutes or until golden brown
7. Cut a line down the middle of each one, just enough to tuck in a little pico de gallo, if you'd like. Serve with mayo, mustard, and ketchup for topping or dipping.

I stored leftovers in the fridge and reheated them in the microwave. They heated up really well! My husband even took some for lunch and said they were just as good the next day. Enjoy! 😊

Cooking with fire when it’s 100+ degrees in San Bernardino, California? I’ve done it, and it literally feels like my face is melting 🫠 I don’t recommend it. And the one time we tried cooking when it was windy... never again 😩 Finding the perfect weather out here is harder than you’d think.

That’s why I wish we had built more propane burners into the layout. Right now I pull out my Camp Chef and use it separately, but I would have loved to have it built into the kitchen from the start.

Even with that one regret, this is still one of the best investments we’ve ever made. We use it all the time. Most of our gatherings out here never even make it on camera, and those are some of my favorite moments ❤️

What would you put in your dream outdoor kitchen? 👇🏽

This is what zero food waste looks like in this kitchen. 🌺

The cost of living is too high to be throwing away soaked jamaica leaves. So I folded them into a loaf cake instead.

Hibiscus Loaf Cake Ingredients 👇🏼
¾ cup soaked jamaica leaves, chopped (or less depending on how much you have leftover. I wouldn’t use more than that for one loaf)
1 boxed cake mix of your choice
Eggs, water, and oil per box instructions
Pink Hibiscus Glaze:
Powdered sugar to taste
A little bit of your leftover agua de jamaica
More soaked hibiscus leaves, optional

Instructions 📝
1. Follow the instructions on your boxed cake mix. Whisk together eggs, water, and oil then fold in the chopped hibiscus leaves. Bake accordingly.
2. For the glaze, mix powdered sugar with a little hibiscus water until you reach your desired consistency. Too thick? Add more hibiscus water. Too thin? Add more powdered sugar.
3. Optional: stir in more soaked leaves and pour over the fully baked loaf.

Notes:
Make sure your hibiscus leaves are fully soaked before folding them in. Do NOT use dry leaves ‼️they are a choking hazard ‼️ Only use leaves that have been soaked from making agua de jamaica.
I used an almond flour cake mix and the bread and leaves were super moist 🍰

“Stay at home moms don’t do anything” 🫠 I can’t stand that mentality, especially coming from a man.

So I documented my day. And this was actually a chill day. No grocery run. No collab filming. No appointments. Just a regular day at home and it still looked like this.

To every mom holding it down at home, I see you. And if you’re married to a blue collar man who works a lot, it’s rough. I see you too. 🫶🏼

As a mom, I can never just sit down and eat while my food’s still hot. There’s always one more thing that needs to get done first. By the time I actually sit back down, it’s cold, every time 😭

Some weeks it just feels like a lot 🫩 Prices keep climbing, there's a new recall every time you turn around, and you're standing in the grocery store wondering what's even safe anymore.

Just trying to make the week a little easier, one small thing at a time. 🫶🏼

Fall mornings in our house just hit different. 🍂

There is something about September that makes me want to slow down and actually cook together instead of rushing through the morning. This is one of those breakfasts.

French toast is already good. But when you make it with bolillos and add a little pumpkin spice? It’s a completely different experience.

This is our favorite fall breakfast and honestly it might be yours too after you try it. 🧈🍂