Bonding with my patients through my anecdotal recounts of cooking in my homeland is what makes me excited to see them every day. I try to evoke the feeling of my Grandma Kika’s kitchen - the delightful cacophony of sweet and spicy flavors, gentle guidance, and radiant warmth - as I present various cooking demonstrations to patients.
“¡Caro, los elotes ya estan listos!” / “Caro, the elotes are now ready!” I quickly dropped my toys and rushed to the kitchen – it was finally time to savor the fruits of our labor, grandma’s spicy, tangy, savory, and deliciously sweet roasted corn on the cob. My Grandma Kika greeted me with a giant smile, “You can have as many as you like, I already added chili powder and lemon to yours”. Hurrying to my plate, I grabbed the still-steaming ear of corn and savored every bite.
This scene repeated itself every summer at el rancho where my uncle and grandfather harvested a variety of produce to supply local food chains. Their biggest crop was always corn, a nutrition staple in Mexican cuisine. It’s most often used to make tortillas, but I always preferred it fresh and dressed as my grandmother prepared it. Throughout my childhood, corn on the cob was - and still is - one of my favorite foods. Every time I enjoy elote, I’m taken right back to my grandma’s kitchen. Each nostalgic bite reminds of just why I love this food – it reminds me of time spent cooking and bonding with my Grandma Kika.
It was my grandma who inspired my passion for nutrition. Her kitchen was always a comfortingly safe space for me. Every time I followed my nose into her kitchen, she would greet me with the warmest smile and beckon me close. I would make my way over and watch her beautifully soft and freckled hands prepare the most amazing dishes. Her attention to detail, the care she poured into each meal, and the patience she showed me as she taught me her recipes nurtured both our strong bond, as well as my love for sharing deliciously nutritious foods.
I have since spent countless hours examining how different savory ingredients (chilis, limes, cilantro, tomatoes) and sweet elements (cinnamon, cacao powder, piloncillo) interact with the other foods to compose meals rich in flavor and nutritional value. As you may imagine, my earliest experiments began in my grandmother’s kitchen. She taught me how to build flavors to create deep flavor profiles. For example, I remember exclaiming, “Grandmother, look! The corn is turning dark brown!” and her responding that the browning was exactly what we wanted. Later, my nutrition studies taught me why certain things my grandma did in the kitchen – like browning corn – worked, transforming an already delicious vegetable into something truly transcendent! All that time in her kitchen, we were taking advantage of the Maillard reaction, a process that enhances flavor through caramelization and the browning of the corn’s surface. Now that I know how to both build flavor and why, I’m able to pass that knowledge on.
Imagine my delight when, as a PritikinLIVE Virtual Dietitian, I learned I’d get to prepare a cooking demonstration using Pritikin's “Mexican Street Corn (Elote)” recipe! Bonding with my patients through my anecdotal recounts of cooking in my homeland is what makes me excited to see them every day.
I try to evoke the feeling of Kika’s kitchen - the delightful cacophony of sweet and spicy flavors, gentle guidance, and radiant warmth - as I present various cooking demonstrations to patients. Cooking is one of the most intimate and meaningful ways for humans to connect and bond and I want my audience to recognize heart-healthy meals can foster that connection. Furthermore, I want patients to recognize that preparing nutritious foods can be just as fulfilling and comforting a process as it had been before their cardiac event. Afterall, the greatest lesson I learned from Kika is the fact that food connects us, food binds us, food is love, food is nature and food is family.
If you'd like to give Pritikin's Elote/Mexican Street Corn a try, here's the recipe I teach my PritikinLIVE patients (found on page 74 in the Patient Guidebook).
Mexican Street Corn (Elote)
Serves 8: 1/2 ear of corn per serving
- Canola oil cooking spray
- 1/3 cup nonfat sour cream
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle powder
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 lime, cut into eight wedges
- 4 medium ears sweet corn on the cob, halved, with husks removed
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro leaves
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional)
Preparation:
- While your barbecue grill is still cool, lightly spray all surfaces of the grates with canola oil cooking spray, or wipe the grates with a paper towel coated (not saturated) in canola oil. Wipe off excess oil and preheat grill on high.
- On a large dinner plate, combine nonfat sour cream, garlic, chipotle powder, cumin, black pepper, and a squeeze of juice from two of the lime wedges.
- Place corn directly on the grates and grill on all sides until cooked and lightly charred, about 8 to 10 minutes. Immediately roll the corn in the sour cream mixture until completely coated.
- Sprinkle on cilantro leaves and nutritional yeast, if desired. Serve with a wedge of lime.
Pritikin Chef's Tips
- If you do not have ground chipotle powder on-hand, a no-salt-added chili powder will work just as well.
- Nonfat Greek yogurt makes a great substitute for nonfat sour cream.
This blog post was written with the 2025 National Nutrition Month® "Food Connects Us" theme in mind.