Latest news with #Mexican-style
7NEWS
2 days ago
- Health
- 7NEWS
How to ‘cook once, eat twice' to save time and money on great family meals
Sarah Bell is a nutritionist turned healthy recipe developer. She's been in the health industry for more than 15 years and is the cook behind the popular healthy recipe hub Our Nourishing Table. Today, she will make Mexican-style mince, using it in three different ways. The dishes will include tacos, taco bowls and school lunches.
Miami Herald
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
Check out new Carl's Jr. ad with Alix Earle. It has a surprise cameo
Cheesy, melty and utterly irresistible. That's how Carl's Jr. describes its latest offering, the Queso Crunch Burger. It's an all-beef, charbroiled patty smothered in queso (Mexican-style cheese dip), and topped with pepper jack, pico de gallo and tortilla strips. Also what the Tennessee based company is hoping consumers will find irresistible? Their new ad featuring TikTok star Alix Earle. The Miami influencer – who lured revelers in a spot for Carl's Hangover Burger during Super Bowl breaks in February – is front and center again. This go-around, though, Earle has some company. The fast food chain brought back Paris Hilton for an assist. WARNING: THIS VIDEO CONTAINS SEXUAL CONTENT The reunion comes nearly 20 years after Hilton did her almost too sexy for TV commercial. Back in her day, the hotel heiress was seen in a bathing suit and high heels slathering up a Bentley while basically making out with her lunch. Let's just say it wasn't a sight you'd see at El Car Wash. Hilton (just her head and shoulders) appears briefly at the end of Earle's commercial, pulling up to the drive-through where Earle is trying to order from a googly-eyed server. 'K, so that's hot,' the 44-year-old mom of two says, reiterating the ad's play on words with 'queso.' 'Our guests seek out indulgent menu items and Carl's Jr. is known for our creative burgers and innovative flavors,' said Paz Romero, vice president of brand marketing at Carl's Jr. 'We're thrilled to once again partner with Alix Earle – who fans and followers know loves an indulgent treat. Her craving for burgers AND queso comes to life in this exciting culinary collab.' When Earle, 24, posted the collab on her Instagram, the majority of her legions of followers heartily approved: 'Carl's Jr marketing team on POINT.' 'Epic!' 'I'm obsessed w this partnership …whoever is behind the creative…BRAVO.' The burger is available through Sept. 2, at Carls Jr., located in Doral.
San Francisco Chronicle
12-07-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
S.F. has been waiting 2 years for this beloved restaurant to reopen. What happened?
For more than four decades, Mexican restaurant Don Ramon's was a fixture in San Francisco's SoMa neighborhood, its flavorful enchiladas and authentic dishes from Jalisco, Mexico, and classic margaritas drawing a loyal following of locals and regular appearances by some of the city's leaders. Its sudden closure in the spring of 2023 reverberated throughout the community so much that one of the city's most prominent landlords stepped in. BXP, formerly known as Boston Properties, offered the family-run business a new home within its 3 million-square-foot Embarcadero Center on the city's waterfront. The five-year lease deal at the massive office, retail and hotel complex was brokered with the help of former San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr, and involved unusually favorable terms, including discounted rent. It seemed like a recipe for success. But the restaurant's planned summer 2023 reopening, announced with a decent amount of fanfare, never took place. Now halfway into its lease, Don Ramon's new location at the corner of Drumm and Clay streets sits dark. The windows to the ground floor space, which previously housed seafood restaurant Rubio's, have been papered shut for more than two years with signage reading: 'Coming Soon.' Throughout that time, the trio of sisters at the helm of Don Ramon's — Leonilla, Nati and Lucy Ramirez, all in their 70s — have kept quiet about what derailed the restaurant's reboot, leaving the community guessing and even inspiring a couple of Reddit threads on the issue. Until now. The heavily delayed downtown project is not dead, the sisters confirmed to the Chronicle. But Don Ramon's future remains uncertain, unless the Ramirez family can come up with funds needed to finish the new location's build-out, which is about 60% completed. Inside suite 101 at Embarcadero Center 4, a film of dust covers the booths and seating featuring Don Ramon's signature yellow and red upholstery and traditional Mexican-style wood dining tables — the original furniture from the restaurant's former location at 225 11th St. 'We saved all of the tables and chairs to make it feel like the old Don Ramon's,' Leonilla Ramirez said. They're now banking on the goodwill they forged over decades to see the project through: A fundraising campaign launched this week seeking $75,000 for construction, which is only about half of the needed funding. 'We still need to do electrical and plumbing,' Leonilla Ramirez said. 'We are almost there.' The sisters suffered a number of financial and personal setbacks in recent years that nearly jeopardized their family's legacy. In early 2020, they lost the 11th Street building owned by their family — along with a neighboring building — since the mid-1960s in foreclosure. Leonilla Ramirez blamed it on the pandemic and accused other commercial tenants in the family's leased space of failing to pay rent. She said business at Don Ramon's dropped by about 50% in the early years of the pandemic, forcing the restaurant to stop serving customers during lunch hours. Prior to the foreclosure, Leonilla Ramirez said the family fell victim to predatory lenders in the process of attempting to refinance the loan on their properties, saddling them with $5 million worth of debt and high interest rates. 'She was in the hard money world. Once you get in that world, it's hard to get out of,' said Ben Young, a local attorney who represented Leonilla Ramirez in the past, referring to financing from private-party lenders that often comes with onerous terms. 'It's expensive money, and you end up owing more and more as you go along,' Young said. After losing their building, the Ramirez family managed to negotiate a lease-back deal with their lender that kept them rooted on 11th Street through early 2023. The nail in the coffin came when the lender raised their rent at the end of 2022 from $10,000 to $15,000 per month. 'That's when I said, 'No,'' Leonilla Ramirez said. The restaurant ultimately shuttered in March 2023. Despite the series of unfortunate events, the sisters also had an astonishing number of lucky breaks — largely thanks to Don Ramon's strong political and community ties. Labor union organizer Rudy Gonzalez said he was having a meal at Don Ramon's when he heard about the restaurant's impending closure. 'They still felt like there was demand — but fell victim to lack of foot traffic like a lot of other restaurant and retail outfits during the pandemic,' Gonzalez said. 'They were struggling to think through what their next move would be, so we put our heads together and said, 'Look, there are major development sites that are going to incorporate ground for retail into their builds. Can we help connect you to some options? '' Gonzalez said the sisters toured a number of locations, including the Brady Block, a new mixed-use development that includes the Local 38 Plumbers Union headquarters at 12th and Brady streets. But the family was 'unsure' about taking a vacant retail space in the development, he said. 'It seemed to me like they were really trying to grapple with what a new Don Ramon's would look like and what the capacity would be,' he said. 'They were rightfully hesitant around whether there would be enough demand and enough foot traffic to justify a sizable space.' 'We were taken to locations where we would not fit as a Mexican restaurant — you have to know your demographic,' said Nati Ramirez. Nati Ramirez has stories for days from her decades of working in the San Francisco District Attorney's Office. She also has connections. A 'check-in' with Suhr — the former police chief, who is now the director of safety and security for landlord BXP — led to the lease deal at the Embarcadero Center. When the sisters toured the downtown space with Christine Yuen, BXP's senior vice president of leasing, the area was riddled with commercial vacancies — fallout from the pandemic, which caused office workers and tourists to flee the area. But the sisters saw potential. 'Willie Brown said, 'Our city is going to come back in five to 10 years,'' Nati Ramirez said, referring to the former San Francisco mayor, who she said is a longtime Don Ramon's customer. The lease, which requires the Ramirezes to pay a percentage of future revenues and waived payments for some time, was mutually beneficial: BXP was one of a number of property owners exploring partnerships with the city to fill vacant retail spaces at discounted rents in order to help revitalize downtown. 'We support our retail partners' success through various strategies and remain committed to doing so. The positive impact of these collaborations with our partners, properties and clients has been significant,' Yuen told the Chronicle this week. The company announced Thursday that it signed eight new retail leases at the Embarcadero Center complex. Yuen declined to comment on Don Ramon's failure to launch, but Leonilla Ramirez said the landlord has been patient. 'I don't want to let them down — they've been with us through thick and thin.' She said that illness in her family and her own personal health issues got in the way of the restaurant's reopening. The sisters also said they were promised pro bono support from community leaders and city officials that never materialized, but declined to provide details. City officials told the Chronicle they did what they could to help. 'In 2023, we awarded Don Ramon's a $25,000 business training grant through a competitive process. This grant helps cover startup and operating costs like inventory, hiring, equipment, rent and utilities,' said Kate Patterson of the Office of Economic and Workforce Development. 'Our staff are well-trained professionals who communicate with interested businesses, nonprofits, about availability of grants and the standard RFP (request for proposals) process.' Regardless of whether broken promises or a series of risky business partnerships were to blame for the sisters' present dilemma, Gonzalez, the labor organizer, said he believes Don Ramon's still has a chance at a 'hell of a comeback story' — particularly as another Mexican restaurant in the Financial District area, Orale Orale, recently announced its closure after some 30 years on Sacramento Street. 'They were part of the fabric of civic life … the place to go for the who's who of politicians. But it was also where local tradespeople made it a point to stop in. It was very much a community hall,' Gonzalez said of Don Ramon's. 'With all that history and all the connections to the community, it would not be hard to get local apprentices and tradesmen together to do a work party and help them. But they have to make the first move.'
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Lifestyle
- Yahoo
Canned chickpeas are a 'superfood' full of fibre and protein. A chef explains the best way to cook with these versatile beans
Lauren Toyota doesn't exactly recall the first time she tasted a chickpea, but the bean is such a staple that it's hard for her to imagine her eating life without it: 'I have always been a little bit hippie-ish and into plant food. So, it was probably hummus,' she recalls, talking about the classic Middle-Eastern dip made by blending these legumes. 'Tofu is my go-to, but chickpeas are a close second for sure,' the two-time cookbook author and creator of vegan blog Hot for Food tells Yahoo Canada by phone. 'I definitely try to figure out ways to sort of transform them so that they're more interesting and appealing looking — and maybe you don't know what they are right away, because you eat with your eyes first.' This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Contact a qualified medical professional before engaging in any physical activity, or making any changes to your diet, medication or lifestyle. 'You can really transform them into whatever flavour you crave: So if you want barbecue, you can do something barbecue with them. If you want Mexican-style, you can add spices and seasonings that make them that flavour profile. So they could just be very versatile,' Toyota adds, explaining that chickpeas are a protein-and-fibre-rich food that also won't break the bank. That makes it something to consider when you're trying to balance your grocery bill and your eating goals. Toyota's website features dozens of different iterations on chickpeas, from a vegan spin on chopped salad to a chocolate mousse made from the liquid from canned chickpeas (it's called aquafaba and it behaves like egg whites, a boon for egg-free bakers everywhere). View this post on Instagram A post shared by hot for food by Lauren Toyota (vegan chef) (@hotforfood) Chickpeas, Toyota says, 'are a superfood in that they contain protein, fibre and they are a nutrient-dense food, which is what makes them a superfood.' On top of feeling full faster and aiding in digestion, these beans comes with a range of other benefits — and we'll get to those in a minute. Economical, good for you and versatile, chickpeas could be the overlooked pantry hero that keeps your grocery bill lower and your stomach happy. Here, Toyota shares all you need to know to make them your new favourite ingredient. Sometimes called garbanzo beans, chickpeas are a beige-coloured bean that can be purchased dried or canned. About the size of a green pea but with one end that's slightly conical, these little legumes are nutritional powerhouses: Half a cup of canned chickpeas boasts around 10 grams of protein, eight grams of fibre as well as high amounts of iron magnesium and B vitamins. Dried chickpeas need to be soaked in water overnight before cooking, and can be cooked in a slow cooker or Instant Pot for the most hands-off approach. However, you can also cook them in the oven or on the stovetop. Cooking any type of dried bean takes time, but chickpeas are a particular commitment, think between 30 minutes and two hours boiling on the stovetop. That's why canned chickpeas, which are already cooked and are ready to be drained and added to recipes, remain popular — even if they're marginally more expensive than their dried counterparts (about $2 for a 540-ml can versus $3 for a 900-gram bag). A 2015 study from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition echos Toyota's earlier point about making fibre a priority, sharing that less than 25 per cent of Canadians age 19 and older get enough fibre daily. Fibre is an important nutrient for a number of reasons: It aids digestion, helps you feel fuller for longer, can help keep you at a healthy weight and can lower the risk of heart disease, diabetes and some cancers, according to the Mayo Clinic. 'Whenever you're eating a plant protein [like chickpeas], it's got the added benefit of fibre, which a lot of people who consume a lot of meat and dairy are actually lacking in, so that's a quick health point,' Toyota adds. 'Also, beans and legumes kind of have a prebiotic effect: They are good for your gut.' Beans and legumes kind of have a prebiotic effect: They are good for your Toyota, vegan cookbook author 'Dried beans, rice, legumes, even regular pasta is a pretty healthy food,' Toyota lists: 'I think the cheaper foods sometimes get demonized by the food industry and the influencer industry. And I would encourage, especially if you're trying to eat more plant based, to go straight for these sort of pantry staples, because they are the least expensive and they're going to stretch your budget and stretch the amount of meals you can make with them.' Toyota explains she understands that after opening a can of chickpeas, you might ask yourself, ''Oh, what do I do with these?'' But, she adds, making the most of a can of chickpeas is as simple as reaching for your favourite sauce. Toyota mentions chana masala, a traditional South Asian chickpea dish, noting that chickpeas are a staple of Indian cooking: Simmering the chickpeas in a tomato-based sauce with the proper spices until warmed through makes a simple meal that pairs with rice, naan or even quinoa. She adds you could use store-bought butter chicken sauce or even your favourite marinara sauce as riffs on the idea. Moreover, as Toyota notes, this is a faster and less-costly meal than using that same jar of sauce with chicken: There's no need to pre-cook or brown the chickpeas, and a can of these beans is a fraction of the $12- to $28-price tag often slapped onto a package of chicken breasts. While Toyota's recipes focus on plant-based eating, she's quick to add that chickpeas are an ingredient to consider regardless of your own dietary labels. 'Think about an extra layer of how can you add more nutrition and fibre to your meal, and chickpeas don't have to be the replacement — they can be the addition,' the former MuchMusic host says. 'Maybe putting them into a soup in addition to your animal protein. They're a nice, easy thing to throw into or on top of anything. So, I would just buy them and then make a conscious effort to use them, knowing that, again, you're only doing yourself good by adding nutrition to your meal.' If you throw them into a stew or soup, they're not an overpowering flavor. They're just kind of there as texture ... but they're not taking away anything from the Toyota Toyota adds that she likes to 'crisp up' chickpeas by draining a can, patting them dry and spreading them on a parchment lined baking tray to cook in an oven put on 400 degrees Fahrenheit (205 degrees Celsius) until crisp. Anywhere you'd use breadcrumbs, these chickpea bits would be welcomed as a more nutrient-filled alternative. Aside from swapping chickpeas in for meat in your favourite prepared sauces or making a batch of crispy chickpeas to use anywhere breadcrumbs are welcome, Toyota says that a great starting point for chickpeas is to make a tuna salad-style mixture, swapping in a can of chickpeas for the can of fish. View this post on Instagram A post shared by hot for food by Lauren Toyota (vegan chef) (@hotforfood) Recipe: Chickpea 'Tuna' Salad Sandwich A can of chickpeas Lemon One to two ribs of celery, thinly sliced Two to three pickles or two tbsp of capers, diced fine Half a red onion, diced Greek yogurt or mayonnaise Drain and rinse the can of chickpeas using a colander before placing the chickpeas into a large mixing bowl. Using a fork or potato masher, mash the chickpeas into a rough, rubbly consistency similar to that of flaked tuna. Add enough Greek yogurt or mayonnaise to coat, then fold in celery, red onion and pickles until evenly distributed. Add lemon juice and salt to taste. Serve on bread, in a wrap or as a dip for crackers. 'It really, actually does taste exactly like tuna, and it has the same sort of mouth feel,' Toyota adds. 'And of course, you added all the fun, flavourful things to really transform them. I would say that's a very good entry point, and something that's unique as well, that most people haven't tried.'
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
5 business breakthroughs transforming South Mississippi in 2025
Stories by Biloxi SunHerald journalists, with AI summarization South Mississippi's economic landscape in 2025 reveals a trend toward diversified development anchored by strategic investments and revitalized infrastructure. High-traffic commercial projects, such as the expansive Buc-ee's travel center, signal both consumer demand and public commitment to generating long-term economic ripple effects beyond a single business. Historic preservation intersects with entrepreneurship, as efforts like turning a 121-year-old train depot into a brewpub show how restoration fuels the region's creative economy. Well-known brands like ALDI, Chick-fil-A, and Chipotle are reshaping retail and dining accessibility, reviving former spaces and drawing new foot traffic. Meanwhile, local ventures—from a Mexican-style ice cream parlor to a luxe bar and lounge—demonstrate a growing emphasis on experience-driven commerce and community-centered placemaking. The focus has been to get the new bridge and Buc-ee's travel center open along I-10 in South Mississippi. Now it's time to go after more business for that area of Harrison County. | Published January 16, 2025 | Read Full Story by Mary Perez The station was built in 1904 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The restoration will save the building and bring a new experience to downtown. | Published February 3, 2025 | Read Full Story by Mary Perez It's bright and colorful, with dozens of choices of ice cream and other sweets, plus some savory, salty selections. | Published March 4, 2025 | Read Full Story by Mary Perez The Crown will have royal touches like chandeliers and brass accents for an elegant experience. | Published March 24, 2025 | Read Full Story by Mary Perez The popular chicken and Mexican restaurants were announced in June and more restaurants could follow. | Published March 15, 2025 | Read Full Story by Mary Perez The summary above was drafted with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists in our News division. All stories listed were reported, written and edited by McClatchy journalists.
