Eat Your Way from Mexico to Argentina with Not Just Tacos

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If you’ve been reading Our Homeschool Studio for long, you know we love geography and especially learning it through tasting recipes from other cultures.  Not Just Tacos by Shirley Solis, fulfills this love for unconventional learning.  The recipes included are authentic and delicious.  They are becoming favorites – not relegated to eating just because we are learning about the country – but included in our regular menu plans.

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One of my family’s favorites is Carne Guisada – a delicious beef stew from Puerto Rico.  It was a great dish to prepare for even my picky eater.  The familiar meat and potatoes combined with the flavors and textures of the Puerto Rican additions (sofrito and green olives) was safe enough to be tried — and loved.

Not only were the meals we made good to eat, they were fairly easy to prepare.  We have not encountered any techniques that are unfamiliar or difficult.  The ingredients for most have been fairly easy to find at our local Meijer store (I have shared before how I love their International aisle and produce selection).  We are blessed with a few options for international markets somewhat close in Indianapolis and Bloomington for the harder to find ingredients.

The chopping and prepping is something my older girls and I enjoy doing together.  Cooking together in the kitchen should be fun family time!  Tasting the fruits of our labors is plenty fun too!

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Not Just Tacos is so much more than a cookbook!  The photographs of the countries (and of course the food) are gorgeous!  The information on each of the twenty-two countries of Central and South America is interesting as well.  If you have a geography program in place, this book serves as a great supplement.  There are many countries not typically included in many geography studies.  No formal geography program this year?  This could serve as a spine for a year-long study.  Add in some map work and literature and enjoy the journey.

The book takes you from Mexico south through Argentina.  It is interesting to see the influences throughout history (explorations and colonizations) represented in the recipes.  There are 68 mouth-watering recipes included, arranged by country.  The only thing I kept looking for was some sort of index.  We bought a lot of plantains, and then couldn’t find all the recipes that used them.

What makes Not Just Tacos even better?  It is being offered F*R*E*E through September 20th (Kindle version)

Thank You Shirley!