(image by D'Arcy Norman via flickr)

The bad news: Americans will have to learn to live on less now that credit is hard to get and jobs even harder. The good news: Latinos should know how to live big on less – especially in the kitchen.

Like most traditional cuisines, Latin American cooking transforms cheap ingredients into richly flavored dishes that can feed a large family for days. Traditional foods are also more likely to be balanced and non-fattening. In most Latin America countries, red meat is a luxury, snacks are non-existent and dessert is a weekly treat.

Here are three of the most popular Latin American dishes. All are healthy, cheap and easy to prepare.

1. Rice and Beans

It's the quintessential Latino food: rice and beans – from black frijoles to white judías, from green gandules to brown pintos. No matter what color or what you call them, beans (technically "legumes") are nutritious and when combined with rice they're a complete protein. You can literally live off of rice and beans.

Cost: Even if you buy the fanciest organic brands, rice and beans are some of the cheapest foods you can buy in a supermarket.

Preparation: Are you ready? Add water and heat. Seriously. You should probably add seasoning. Also, some beans should be soaked overnight. Most bean dishes are prepared with a basic sofrito of onions and peppers.

2. Ceviche

Ceviche sounds exotic but it's straight-up fish in citrus juice and it's enjoyed in every Latin American country, from Baja California in México to the Patagonias in Argentina and Chile. The fish can be whatever you like or whatever is plentiful and cheap. The citrus bath is usually lemons and limes but you can get fancy and use oranges and grapefruits. Because the acids in the citrus bath do the cooking, ceviche is one of the healthiest dishes you can make.

Cost: Some fish can be expensive – but those aren't the ones you want to use for ceviche. Ask the dude in the white jacket behind the counter for cheap fresh fish to use in ceviche. As for lemons and limes, you can't get cheaper produce.

Preparation: Get bowl. Cut fish. Squeeze lemons and limes in bowl. Place fish in juice. Place bowl in fridge. Come back tomorrow. Eat. For seasoning it's the same-old: chopped onions, salt and pepper. Do you like cilantros and chiles? Add some.

3. Papas

Potatoes were first cultivated in Perú by the Incas more than two thousand years ago and weren't exported to rest of the world until the 1600s. They're low in calories and incredibly nutritious. They're also delicious and the main ingredient in dozens of easy to prepare Latin American dishes.

Cost: Is two for a dollar cheap enough for ya?

Preparation: The potato can be boiled, baked or fried, seasoned and then eaten. But it can be even more delicious when you follow a traditional recipe, from the basic Mexican sopa de papa, to the intermediate Peruvian papa a la Huancaína or the involved Colombian ajiaco.

Puerto Rican reggaetonero Yomo used to wipe floors for a living. Now he's the self-described "cleanup hitter of reggaetón.''

Born José Alberto Torres Abreu in Chicago, Yomo worked as a handyman and janitor in Puerto Rico before landing a touring gig with Master Joe & O.G. Black in 2005. On the strength of his live performances, Yomo was tapped to participate in Hector "El Father's" Sangre Nueva compilation, featuring up-and-comers like Árcangel, De La Ghetto and Ñejo y Dálmata. His standout single, Déjale Caer to' Peso, a throbbing club track with Hector "El Father," led to further guest appearances on Más Flow, Chosen Few and Los Rompe Discotekas.

In 2007, Yomo signed a deal with Hector "El Father's" now-defunct Gold Star Music imprint, once home to Alexis y Fido and Trebol Clan. After inheriting his new boss' beef with Don Omar, Yomo dropped the Afrika Bambaataa-influenced single Tu Te Las Trae. But things between Hector and Yomo soon turned sour. Last year, impatient with production delays, Yomo paid $200,000 to be released from his contract. But the 26-year-old says he won't hold a grudge against his former mentor: "He taught me how to crawl and then how to walk."

Yomo's debut, My Destiny, was released late last year. His latest hit single, Descara, as well as a star-studded remix of Tu Te Las Trae featuring Jowell y Randy, Voltio and Ñejo y Dálmata, are currently streaming on MySpace.

See: myspace.com/yomoonline

• Senegalese-American singer-rapper Akon returns with Freedom, an album filled with "extremely breezy, Caribbean-tinged songs that are less hip-hop than lucid pop," according to The Boston Globe. "[H]is best songs [are] light, expertly constructed and just a touch insipid," writes The New York Times. Rolling Stone calls Freedom "pure melodrama about love and love lost, delivered in a hooting style over synth-swamped beats that are closer to early Peter Gabriel than to 2008 hip-hop."
• Rapper and actor Common drops Universal Mind Control, his eighth album. Spin magazine loves its retro sound: "While we're used to Common in the role of poetic prophet or self-righteous rhyme slayer, Universal Mind Control is primarily a rhythmic celebration, paying tribute to Afrika Bambaataa and Jonzun Crew jams." The Los Angeles Times applauds his new direction: "Common tries to break away, taking on a harder, naughtier persona and dipping his typically dusty grooves in executive producer Pharrell's cold chemical wash. For part of the album, the techno gambit blows fresh air into Common's paisley pondering."
• American pop-punkers Fall Out Boy release their fifth album, Folie à Deux (Madness For Two). "For all the negatives said, written or blogged about Fall Out Boy (and trust us, there are a lot), it's damn near impossible to fault the Chicago-born band for their creativity, ingenuity and willingness to try just about anything," gushes Alternative Press. The Onion's AV Club gives the album an "A" while underscoring that the band is overshadowed by bassist Pete Wentz's tabloid escapades: "While the adulation of millions of kids has made the Chicago quartet a platinum-selling arena act, the group inspires equally passionate disdain from non-fans, who made 'Wentz' slang for 'douche.'"
• California R&B singer-songwriter Keyshia Cole is back with a new hairdo and a new album, A New Me. USA Today calls it "sexier [and] more playful," featuring "much less pain than on previous works." Entertainment Weekly thinks she's "chosen an odd way to escape" the Mary J. Blige comparisons, since Cole "turns her focus from heartbreak to happiness only a few years after Blige promised she was done with drama." Allmusic digs the change of pace: "Cole pushes herself into new territory and becomes a more versatile songwriter and vocalist in convincing, frequently thrilling, fashion."
• Miami based producer and rocker Kevin Rudolf releases In The City, an album that "cribs tricks from both rap and rock 'n' roll, not in the pursuit of a bastardized Limp Bizkit-type hybrid, but with the intention to produce a crossover rock record with modern hip-hop tools," according to the BBC. Despite the album's flaws, hip hop webzine Rap Reviews enjoys Rudolf's Cash Money Records debut: "In the City offers good production, excellent melodies, and – of course – the same song, ideas, and kinds of guest appearances many times over. Still, I'd recommend it as a blueprint for potential."

Latinos didn't sell baseball tickets. Until "Fernandomania."

Following the trail blazed by Caribbean baseball legends like Roberto Clemente, Orlando Cepeda and Juan Marichal, Fernando Valenzuela set off a fan frenzy in 1981 after winning the first eight starts of his rookie season. Nicknamed "El Toro," the pudgy Valenzuela attracted large crowds of Hispanic fans in Los Angeles who wanted to see first-hand his signature screwball and unorthodox delivery: a high leg kick with both arms raised high above his head and a quick glance at the heavens. Manager Tommy Lasorda recalls how Fernandomania soon went mainstream and national: "Every ballpark we went to, they wanted to see this lefty pitcher who looked up in the sky…I still don't know how he did that."

By the end of his first year, the Sonora, Mexico-born Valenzuela helped the Dodgers defeat the feared New York Yankees in the World Series. He was rewarded for his efforts, becoming the only pitcher to win both the Rookie of the Year award and the Cy Young Award in the same season. A six-time all-star, Valenzuela played for the Dodgers until 1990 and spent the rest of the decade fighting for a starting spot on various teams, including the California Angels, Baltimore Orioles and San Diego Padres. In 2005, Valenzuela was named to the MLB Latino Legends team, both for his on-field exploits and for helping to popularize baseball among West Coast Latinos.

Valenzuela is currently a Spanish-language color commentator for Los Angeles Dodgers radio broadcasts. Jaime Jarrín, who has called Dodger games for nearly half a century, experienced "Fernandomania" firsthand: "Fernando turned so many people from Mexico, Central America, South America into fans."