May is a month of M holidays, with Cinco de Mayo, a commemoration of the Mexican Army’s victory over the French in the mid-1800s that has morphed into a celebration of Mexican American culture on May 5 and, of course, Mother’s Day. Both are our kind of holidays because, yes, food is the main event. May seems like an appropriate time to indulge my love of Star Wars, too. This makes sense as the first movie was released just a month after I was born. Perhaps it is a testament to the story that Star Wars was still going strong when I became an actress, and actually played the role of Sith Lord to Freddie’s Jedi in Star Wars Rebel.

Gia and I had a great time coming up with clever ways to present our favorite Mexican food. A cookie cutter turns a traditional quesadilla into the shape of a cactus; a muffin tin stands in as a handy serving platter for multiple dips and is also the vessel in which we bake cheesy bean cakes that require only your hands to eat. Our Star Wars–themed menu is entirely focused on snacks: cheese and crackers, cookies, and snack mix. Preparing it requires little more than a cookie cutter to create the likeness of Chewbacca. When it came to planning Mother’s Day, our inspiration began with a bouquet of edible flowers, the petals cut from colorful Holland peppers and the centers black olives and cherry tomatoes. We both agree that this was among our—and we hope your—favorite food crafting moments.