The Mother of the One Pot Meals

In continuation of Flavors of Spain *cough cough* THE PAELLA !!!

Good Morning Friends !

After many weeks of writing this Newsletter is starting to feel more natural. I remember when I started I didn’t know what the heck to write about and after all these months I think I finally got it. I knew doing content creating full time was gonna be a lot of work but honestly that doesn’t even cover it ! All this to say, I am just so happy for everything to start feeling natural and kind of part of my routine ! Which is great accomplishment to celebrate in January as its a nice fresh start to the new year.

It feels weird to be a content creator as there is always something going on in the world. It feels weird to record and edit a video ahead of time scheduled to post on lets say maybe a random Wednesday just to find that there are peoples houses burning in L.A and a war in Gaza on the day it goes live. I don’t wanna make this a sad email however I just refuse to have this tiny little platform and not use it as a means of touching on very real things. All I ask is that in moments in matters most even though everything is overwhelming - we really need to talk more than ever and build political efficacy between those we surround ourselves with.

Nowww, back to our usual routine. Lets talk FOOD. We started with the Flavors of Spain series very essential sangria, then moved to the shishito peppers, patatas bravas and soon we will be digging into the very iconic one pot meal queen, the paella.

This weeks review

1. So on Sunday my partner, Lina had a nice idea to take us to the Asian Lantern Festival which was sooo nice ! I really enjoyed talking around sippin hot cocoa, and takin pics of all the cool lanterns and of course each other.

2. You guys know this guy - my professional grump around the house. All I can say is I hope in my next life to be sleepin as good as he does. Fingers crossed I am a very loved and well fed house cat.

3. Here she is, her official debut to the Newsletter ! Soon we may be seeing more of her in videos to come ! ( peep this cool dragon in the background - it was sooo friggen huge ! )

4. Could this be ? A sneaky lil peaky of PAELLA ? You know Substack see’s it all first !

5. I been on a peanut butter fixation lately - it doesn’t help that Peanut Butter & Co. sent me a box of 4 different flavors of peanut butter - and I know what you are thinking as there are like too many peanut butters out there but let me ask you. Do they have white chocolate peanut butter or dark chocolate peanut butter ?! These flavors are so good when I get that late night craving as I will literally eat it off a spoon. For breakfast I go for the classic smooth ! You can get a 4 pack box for less than $20 bucks with my code : DELANIEMCGUIRE at checkout <3

6. Ughhh I cannot get enough of these ! They are so addicting - fried croquettas with roasted pumpkin, chorizo and Violife cheddar cheese. Seriously mouthwatering !!

The Recipe Round Up

Chorizo + Pumpkin Croquettas

Out of the entire Flavors of Spain series this may just be my favorite recipe but I am honestly scared to say that too soon because we haven't even gotten to the paella just yet - these are Spanish style croquettas !

When we visited Spain last year my partner and I was so excited to try so many different variations of these. My favorite flavor combo I tried was a pumpkin chorizo one so naturally you know I had to create my own for this series because pumpkin and chorizo are literally some of my favorite things so marrying them together is just a match made in heaven.

The base is essentially mashed potatoes and you can pay around with the other components - mushroom croquettas are also really popular as we kept finding them everywhere. Luckily I made a big batch of these because I will be eating primarily this for the foreseeable future.

Paella

We all love a one pot meal so say hello the original one pot meal - Paella and if you’ve never tried paella before - imagine it’s like a Spanish fried rice with lots of textures and aromatics !

If you have been following along this is part of a lil series I am doing where I am making plant-based versions of classic Spanish dishes. The recipe and instructions may be a little advanced but luckily I have tried to make it a very streamlined process with picture instructions to go along which can be found down below.

Just don’t forget the golden rule - no stirring - it is not risotto and n paella is complete without that crispy rice left at the bottom of the pan !