Hilda Solis' new job is to make sure you can find one. As Barack Obama's pick for Secretary of Labor, Solis is expected to help create jobs in an economy that destroyed one million people jobs last year.

Born in Los Angeles to Latin American immigrants, the 51-year-old California state senator may have been destined for a career in politics. Her father, a Mexican union worker, and her mother, a Nicaraguan assembly worker, met at a U.S. citizenship class. As the third of seven children, Solis says she learned addition and multiplication by counting uncooked beans with her mother. She also helped raise her younger siblings. "It wasn’t what you would call the all-American life for a young girl growing up," recalls Solis.

After graduating from La Puente High School in 1975, Solis became the first in her family to attend college. By 1981, she had earned a bachelor's degree in political science from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and a master's degree in public administration from the University of Southern California. After interning in the Carter administration, she directed a state program that helped disadvantaged youth make it to – and through – a college education.

In 1994, Solis became the first Latina elected to the California state senate. She quickly built a reputation as a champion of immigrant and workers' rights, passing legislation that made it easier for workers to organize as well as a bill that increased California's hourly minimum wage from $4.25 to $5.75. She says her political ideals were formed at an early age by her father: "He always reminded us that it was important to stand up for your rights, and regardless of who you are and where you come from, to hold your head up high with dignity and respect."

In 2000, Solis ruffled some feathers when she ran for the U.S. House of Representatives against Matthew Martinez, a nine-term incumbent and, more importantly, a fellow Democrat. "I had butterflies. I'm a very cautious person," says Solis, who felt Martinez was too conservative for the primarily Hispanic and Asian residents of East Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley. With key support from Democratic heavies like Barbara Boxer and Loretta Sanchez, Solis won over 60 percent of the primary vote and cruised to victory a few months later. Martinez switched parties and became a Republican.

More recently, Solis authored the Green Jobs Act of 2007, a bill that provides funding to train workers for employment in renewable energy industries. But it's her backing of the Employee Free Choice Act, legislation that gives workers easier access to form unions, that has prompted some Republicans to protest her nomination. Under normal circumstances, her record of supporting unions would probably give Senate Republicans political cover to block her confirmation. But these are hardly normal circumstances. Yesterday, the former head of the National Bureau of Economic Research testified before the U.S. House of Representatives that the national employment outlook was getting worse: “It’s really bad and it needs a fix."

(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."