Entering my yuca era in 3...2...1 !

Plus some Simple_Snacks content and Girl Scout Cookies

Gooood morning to the best part of my Saturday, which is undoubtedly you (and also my apple guy at the farmer’s market, he’s been really giving a new energy lately).

This week was a relatively Simple_Snacks week filled with recipes of relative ease, which always makes me a bit nervous. I feel like it’s my job to show you the *most*, but I also realize that in your kitchen at home, sometimes it’s doing the *least* that is the most fulfilling. So this week is a smaller newsletter, small-ish recipes, and a yuca moment. Because we also need to discuss my cassava era.

Me and my root vegetable <3

I posted a yuca video yesterday that I am currently eating for breakfast with eggs (jammy eggs + garlicky, citrusy yuca = chef’s kiss) and all I can think about is how I wasn’t introduced to yuca until age 21, maybe 22? And how much I was missing out.

It is no secret that I was a late-bloomer culinarily. I grew up in family that didn’t really prioritize food as a sense of self-identity, and it was through cooking in my early 20s that I really started to connect and identify with food (to the thousands of you who have already heard this story, thank you for still being here). So it always makes me immensely nervous to post a video where I talk about something that I learned later in life that is such a culinary basic to others. I worry that by providing context to viewers who might be unfamiliar with the ingredient, that it inadvertently spreads the message of “this ingredient is uncommon,” which of course, is not the case at all.

Essentially, I am afraid of the comments section misunderstanding. Aren’t we all.

But a moment of appreciation for yesterday’s comment section, which felt like a giant pool of sharing experiences and food memories - it essentially felt like people welcoming me in, which I cannot appreciate enough. Especially when food is so cultural and personal, sharing your POV adds an extra layer of community to cooking, even if it’s just a 55 second video on the internet. Yuca queens - I salute you.

And after being a yuca fries enthusiast for 5 years, I think we’ve entered a new level of the yuca era. Get ready for some more cassava in your life (and stock up! She’s very affordable rn).

Now for the weekly round-up!

• If you are like “wait, I’m one of the people who hasn’t heard your background story?!” you can listen to more of it on my episode of Radio Cherry Bombe! This was a big career moment for me, and you can listen here.

• Tofu nuggets were syndicated to IG! I know this is old news, but linking them again, if you too want to get lost in the sauce. Video here, recipe here.

• Yuca con Mojo, crispified. I’m still eating this every day. Video here, recipe here.

• Sambal cabbage, edamame and rice - a video that I filmed with a 30-minute timer, making it 4 servings, 30 minutes, 7-ish ingredients. Recipe here, video will be on Instagram at 9:30am ET.

And that’s it! For my sneaky children who make it this far, I think next week we are going to revive the “Woman Scout Cookies” series. Only this time a bit better, since I’ve learned and grown since then. So what Girl Scout cookies are intriguing you this year? Would you want to see them in cookie form? Or maybe as bars/tarts/cakes?

Let me know! And Xoxo,

Snacks