I had such a blast putting together this entertaining piece for Kroger Foods’ May 2013 mailer that I just had to share it. One of my regular clients, Dunnhumby USA, asked me to develop a few recipes and craft ideas for a Cinco de Mayo story.
I’m a pretty serious home cook and an occasional crafter but to be honest, I’d never taken on recipe development for publication before. I have worked with many others who style, photograph and develop recipes, but doing it myself … well, that was a whole other thing.
Nevertheless, I’m happy with the results and so is the client. I’m so glad I took this leap and am looking forward to doing more work like this. While I can’t share the recipes (those are property of Kroger now) I’m happy to post the photos with descriptions of some of my favorite ideas. And, as soon as the article becomes available (which will have the full-text recipes) I’ll post it as well.
Special thanks to my good friend Sasha Krebsbach for photographing this collection. I couldn’t have put this together without you.
Happy Cinco de Mayo!
Food coloring and a little marzipan make for some cute little sombrero cupcakes.
Use 3-D stickers, card stock and two round hole-punches to make wine charms.
More card stock and a patterned paper punch make colorful place mats for your buffet.
Cut or tear multicolored tissue paper and fasten it to mason jars using Mod Podge. They’re great for cutlery display and double as beautiful candle holders, too.
Close-up view of those paper-punch mats. So pretty!
The secret to classic guacamole is to use the best avocados. Do that, and you won’t need to embellish with tons of spices and flavors. Fresh is best here, and less is more.
When’s the last time you cooked with hominy? One can livens up any southwestern stir fry. It’s the same authentic flavor a good corn tortilla provides, but in much smaller bites.
Tissue paper streamers liven up a plain cake stand.
A Writer's Life 