My goal and my mission is to cook the home-style food that I grew up with - simple, straightforward, inexpensive and homemade tortillas. Nothing fancy and no cream based sauces - just tomatoes & chiles and nothing pre-processed.

My job is to show people that true Mexican cheese is not neon yellow cheese. We don't eat tacos all day long and we don't eat burritos stuffed with everything in the kitchen sink.

I know how to bring recipes down to the level where people with no experience can feel comfortable making them.

When I heard that Capital One was fostering a conversation about natural connections that exist among all of us, bridged through our travels - I knew I had to get involved.

Tart pomegranates that pop in your mouth make the perfect counterpoint to roasted chicken and salty-creamy feta cheese.

I'm all about simple appetizers when it comes to the holidays.

It's what makes me the happiest - to make beautiful things for the people I love, and to fill my home with love and laughter and music and food and people.

There isn't anything hotter than a guy who cooks.

Most Mexican restaurants serve fake, heavy versions of my home country's cuisine. But real Mexican food is full of brilliant, fresh flavors.

From the time I start prep to serving the food at the table, I like for the whole thing to be beautiful.

San Diego, in fact, is one of the hardest places to sell Mexican food. You just cross the border into Tijuana and they have better food that's more authentic and for half the price.

I really only eat burritos in Tijuana from street corners that come out of coolers from businesses with no name, telephone or website.

I don't make mole everyday nor do I cook Mexican food every day.

Entertaining is much more than a reason to eat and drink; It's a reason to bond with friends and families.

When I'm in San Diego, it's carpools and making dinner and getting the kids to bed. It's real life.

People ask me all the time, 'What do you do for Cinco de Mayo?' And my honest answer is always, 'When I was growing up in Mexico, nothing. Really, nothing. It was a school day. It was totally normal.' But when I grew up and started going to San Diego and started drinking margaritas, that's when Cinco de Mayo celebrations started for me.

More than anything, a lot of our family's history is tied to food. It's just one of those things.

On the 'Today' show, I feel comfortable because I get to interact with people. I love that interaction. I love hearing other people's stories. I would much rather have that human interaction so it feels like a real conversion than just standing there and demonstrating things to the camera.

Queso fresco, which is a very mild cheese, is definitely one of my favorites.

We're a family with a pretty light sense of humor but, still, on the anniversary of my mom's passing we don't feel like getting 'colorful' and remembering her favorite foods. Every March 5th, the anniversary of her passing, we go to church and are sad for pretty much the rest of the day.

I like risk takers. They're the ones that end up changing the world.

There is nothing more satisfying to me than seeing people who eat my food have smiles on their faces. It makes the experience special.

It is very important to cook out of your heart.

We don't eat nachos in Mexico.