Meet Elena, a Puerto Rican food blogger and content creator who is embracing her passion for food, writing and sharing her culture.
As you may know, building and embracing community is a core part of our mission at Healthy Rican. We love collaborating, highlighting and supporting fellow content creators, health and nutrition professionals, and other rising small businesses and entrepreneurs.
In an effort to continue to support and create awareness within our community, we’d like to feature guests on all our platforms including this one. Here are some of the ways we plan to continue sharing and highlighting talented guest contributors:
- Tasty Thursdays – A live cooking show hosted on Instagram where we invite guests to join us, share their skills, talents, recipes and more.
- Featured Blogs – We will feature special guests, highlight their work and talent, Q&A’s and more.
- Collaborations with small businesses – Feature small businesses, products, services, content creation on social media and special promotions.
- Giveaways, Donations, Volunteer work like free cooking classes.
Today, in our first ever blog feature we have Elena from Made with Sazón. I had the privilege of meeting Elena on the wonderful world of Instagram. We instantly connected and decided to join forces and work together. With Elena’s amazing food blogging skills and my passion to share our cultural foods through the Healthy Rican platform, it was a match made in heaven.
Our first collaboration was habichuelas guisadas, a delicious bean stew. From there many other delicious recipes like pollo al horno, pastelón, pavochón for the “Unas Navidades con Healthy Rican” series, arroz con gandules, alcapurrias and more delicious recipes featuring our flavorful Healthy Rican seasonings.
Part 1: Meet Elena Q&A
Elena, please share with our readers more about you…
Who you are, where are you from, and what do you do?
My name is Elena and I am a food blogger and content creator at madewithsazon.com. I am Puerto Rican and I love to share the recipes I grew up eating in my childhood. I currently reside in New Jersey, just minutes away from NYC.
At what age did you learn how to cook?
I started cooking when I was 21 years old. I was living on my own and that’s when I started to cook and experiment in the kitchen.
What got you interested in cooking?
I’ve always loved being in the kitchen. As a child, I used to watch my mom cook and I have learned everything I know from her. Food was a huge part of my life. My mom was always in the kitchen, cooking amazing food. The smell of sofrito always filled my home.
When did you decide to share your gifts with the World?
In my career, I worked as a fashion and beauty editor. I also had a lifestyle blog named curlsnpearlsss.com. After becoming a mother, I put my career on hold to be a stay at home mom. I found myself in the kitchen all the time. I was cooking every day and it reignited my passion for cooking. So I decided to create a food blog and that’s when I became a food content creator. I came up with the name Made with Sazón and rebranded my website. This change made me feel like my stars aligned and I was finally on the right path of what brings me the most joy. My recipes are my love letters to my family and the world!
What advice would you give to someone who is just getting started in learning how to cook?
Don’t be afraid to fail. Mistakes happen and they make us better cooks. The more you cook, the better you’ll become.
What is your favorite cultural Latin/Puerto Rican dish?
Pollo guisado. Let’s make it!
Part 2: Featured Recipe
Below is the recipe for Elena’s Pollo Guisado. Find the original recipe, full blog and more here:
Pollo Guisado
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken drumsticks and thighs skinless
- Healthy Rican Adobo to taste
- 1 tbsp Healthy Rican Sazón
- 1 tsp Savory Spice Mix
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp ground oregano
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp sofrito
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 1 tbsp chicken bouillon
- 1 tsp hot sauce optional
- 2 cloves garlic crushed
- 2 cups water
- 1 pc red onion halved
- 1/2 pc green bell pepper halved
- 1 pc plum tomato halved
- 1/4 cup pimento stuffed olives
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- 2 pcs carrots sliced
- 1 pc potato cubed
- lime juice to taste
Instructions
- Clean chicken and remove skin and any excess fat.
- Season chicken generously with adobo, onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, black pepper.
- Add oil to a large pot over medium high heat. Add sugar and allow it to brown.
- Add chicken and brown on all sides. Allow the chicken to turk dark brown but be careful not to burn.
- Add sofrito, chicken bouillon and tomato sauce. Cook until it becomes fragrant.
- Add vegetable and enough water to cover the chicken fully.
- Cover the pot and simmer for 30-45 minutes until the chicken and vegetables are tender. You may remove the large pieces of vegetables such as the onion, pepper, tomato, if desired.
- Taste the sauce, adjust seasoning as necessary. I like to add a splash of lime juice at this point to enhance the flavor.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Part 3: Our Made with Sazón Favorites
Habichuelas Guisadas:
Puerto Rican beans or habichuelas guisadas are stewed beans cooked in a savory broth made with sofrito and tomato sauce. They are the perfect compliment to white rice and are enjoyed in all parts of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Continue reading and full recipe here.
Pollo al Horno
Puerto Rican style baked chicken or pollo al horno has to be one of my favorite ways to eat chicken! This dish is made with simple ingredients but the result will taste like restaurant-style chicken. You know that Latin restaurant that you love ordering take-out from? YES just like that but even better!
Continue reading and full recipe here.
Pastelón
Pastelón or plantain lasagna is a Puerto Rican dish made by layering sweet plantains, picadillo (ground beef) and cheese in a casserole dish. It’s like lasagna but with Latin flair! If you enjoy the flavors of Latin cuisine, you will love this dish!
Continue reading and full recipe here.
Thanks for reading!
Thank you for your continued support to myself and many other talented creators like Elena. We truly appreciate it. If you are enjoying our content, recipes, and believe in our mission, please help us with a star rating or review on our pages. Reviews allow us to continue to grow and show up for others looking for our content and delicious recipes.
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