My mom has a series of hand-written cookbooks that her grandmother put together over the course of her life. Besides being unbelievably gorgeous, they are an amazing documentation of my great-grandmother’s life. The first page of one states the date in the author’s crisp, impeccable calligraphy. The last pages of that book are written in such shaky scrawl, they are all but indecipherable.

She lived through the Mexican Revolution at the beginning of the 20th century, and many of her recipes are authentic, beautiful, gritty, true works of art and tradition.

Including one of my favorite cold-weather recipes.

Surprisingly adaptable to rushed weekday cooking, and full of protein and flavor, Sopa de Habas (or Fava Bean Soup) is one of my family’s favorites. She used to cook this in a traditional stovetop pressure cooker, soaking her beans for twelve hours, and oiling and toasting dried chile ancho flesh to get just a hint of earthy smokiness at the end. I’ve converted the recipe to a quick Instant Pot version, abbreviated the soaking to make it manageable, and switched out the chile ancho for dried pepper flakes. Still really delicious, but waaaaaaayyyyyyyyy easier and faster.

Who knew my Bisabuelita Titina would one day regularly make her mark at the dinner table of the great-granddaughter she never met?

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[fancy_header type=”2″ subtitle=”Week One”]How Meal Planning Helped Me Save My Sanity[/fancy_header]