Favorite recipes from the Miles, Rodriguez, Quintero, and Dutile collections.
Memorable family gatherings, holiday celebrations, baptisms, weddings, and funerals always include food and I wanted my children to have access to those recipes. Some foods are expected during specific celebration, like birthday cakes. Cheesecakes and lemon cakes were some favorites that are included here. My family looks forward to specific side dishes with our Thanksgiving Turkey, like Mamacita’s Green Jello from the United Methodist Church cookbook. We know that we will have agua de jamaica and chocolate mexicano when we celebrate Posadas. It wouldn’t seem right if we didn’t have pozole so many nights in a row as we invited people to come over and share in our tradition. The flavors sing Christmas to my family. As a genealogist, I find documents with dates and places. Sometimes we find journal entries or letters that might include events, or information about a relative’s character. Rarely do we find recipes in our journals. Yet I think it would be wonderful to taste foods that our family, our ancestors, once enjoyed. As my children have grown up and moved away, they have learned to make other recipes with friends and I’ve added them to our collection. Because, although they are far away, we still get together and make more memories and do more baking and cooking. Sometimes the memory is sweet during the cooking and baking; I know it was for me. I hope my children will look through these recipes, try some of them, and, as the years go by, teach their own children to cook.
— Amelia Miles
