Plant Powered Mexican: Fast, Fresh Recipes from a Mexican-American Kitchen

In this debut cookbook, Ramos (of the blog ¡Hola! Jalapeño) shares easy-to-assemble recipes, many of them originating from her Oaxacan family. She notes that her family isn’t solely vegetarian, but vegetables are the star ingredients in many of these recipes (part of an effort to minimize meat consumption). Ramos’s recipes pull from an extensive pantry, including herbs from her local Mexican market (Mexican oregano; epazote), and she provides guidance for sourcing ingredients online. This book helpfully includes recipes that don’t require a lot of advance prep, like a marinated-vegetable torta with serrano-lime aioli that relies on cumin and lime juice for added flavor. General tips are scattered throughout the book (e.g., “how to doctor a can of beans”). Delectable color photographs demonstrate step-by-step instructions for the more technical recipes (like squash blossom quesadillas with tomato-avocado salsa).