Baja Cooking on the Edge by Deborah Schneider

I‘m a professional chef with 30 years of hands-on cooking experience. I’m also a food writer with a taste for the unusual, and author of 4 cookbooks that focus on the food, culture and flavors of Mexico – my next door neighbor.

My cooking career has taken me from yachts in the Greek islands to some of the finest restaurants in Southern California, and most recently to SOL Cocina in Newport Beach – an exciting new restaurant on the water, based on my writings and travels in Baja California. Check us out when you’re in So Cal!

I’m thrilled to be the co-author of Williams-Sonoma’s new cookbook, Essentials of Latin Cooking, and proud of my continuing association with Rancho La Puerta’s gorgeous cooking school and organic gardens, where I learned that great-tasting food can also be healthy and good for the earth.

As for food, I love simple food made with great ingredients. I’m happiest at any taco stand, watching the cooks working over a smoky grill, surrounded by bowls of green onions and pickled jalapenos and their deliciously unique salsas, chowing down on a perfectly fresh, succulent taco (or 10)…. prowling through markets piled with ripe fruit and chiles, beans and spices, the most beautiful food you’ve ever seen all begging to be taken home and turned into something fantastic.

I encourage everyone who loves eating as much as I do to support a green restaurant culture, sustainable seafood and local organic farmers, so that future generations will enjoy all the pleasures of the table – at home and away.

Check out my books and articles, and my blog, Cocina La Vida. I hope you’re inspired to cook something great!

Cooking with the Seasons at Rancho La Puerta: Recipes from the World Famous Spa

Chosen by the Today Show as one of the years best!

In this book, our goal is feeling good: full of energy, vitality, creativity and Deborah’s favorite word- joy.

Food and cooking can be one of the great pleasures of your life. When you eat well and enjoy yourself, you’ll feel better. Well-being is not just about living a long life. It’s about feeling great for every beautiful, irreplaceable day of it. Read more…

Rancho La Puerta is truly an exceptional place-when you arrive you feel an instant connection to the beautiful landscape. And when you prepare the fresh, seasonal, delicious meals in this book, you begin to understand that something as simple as the food you eat can put you in direct harmony with the natural world.

- Alice Waters, Chez Panisse

The recipes in this new book from Rancho La Puerta look so fresh and delectable-and I know from experience that they are. This garden and ocean-based collection of seasonal dishes finally connects spa food with real food and demonstrates how deep Rancho La Puerta has grown its culinary roots in the past decade.

- Deborah Madison, Author of Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

What a glorious and gorgeous book! More than a cookbook, it is a guide to the seasons and the unique ingredients that each turn of the earth provides us. The recipes are all fresh, beautiful and healthy, and the menus provided are whimsical, but also useful. This book is the magical Rancho LA Puerta at its very best.

- Joan Nathan, Author of The New American Cooking

Video: Visit La Cocina Que Canta

Video Recipe: Bananas Flambé with Chocolate and Pistachios

This is fun to cook right at the table if you have a chafing dish and brave guests. The dish is very fast, so have all your ingredients ready before you turn on the heat. Serves 6

Welcome!

Cooking with the Seasons at Rancho La Puerta: Recipes from the World Famous Spa

Video: Visit La Cocina Que Canta

Video Recipe: Bananas Flambé with Chocolate and Pistachios

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