I'm back

Sorry, it's been over 6 months! I'm back. I've been busy trying new restaurants, new recipes, entertaining friends & family from all over San Diego, LA, Seattle & Madrid. My favorite thing to do. I promise I'll post more soon. Until then, enjoy the two new posts today. Have a great week!

Grandma Tootie's Famous Waffles

My grandma Tootie was an amazing cook. She grew up on a farm so she cherished fresh food & cooked according to the seasons. She passed away a few weeks ago on her birthday. She celebrated her 88th birthday with Jesus, her mom & dad, sister & brother. I'm sure she made them waffles the next morning =)

During her final month, we had many fun conversations and sweet reminiscing. I asked her what was her favorite thing that her mom made. She said "Cakes! She made the best cakes." And my grandma made THE best waffles ever.

Here is her recipe. Passed down from our Swedish ancestors, generation to generation. And yes! I'm sharing it. I don't hide recipes, I share them! You know that. =)

I will tell you one of her baking secrets too. Always use fresh baking powder!

3 egg yolks
3 egg whites
2 cups buttermilk
1/3 C cup oil
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp soda
1 Tbs sugar

Mix all ingredients. Beat egg whites (separate) and fold in (absolutely critical step for a light fluffy waffle).

Enjoy! She liked them with ligonberries or strawberries. How do you enjoy your waffles? Breakfast or dessert or both?

Lazaro Brohams

You can make these “slider style” too (just buy slider buns)perfect as an appetizer or served as the main course, especially good served with my brother's rockin' BBQ corn. {Will post soon}

Ingredients
Meat:
• Pork Shoulder
• 1T Apple Cider Vinegar
• Jack Daniels BBQ Sauce (or Bulls Eye) – small bottle
• Mini can of pineapple juice.
• BBQ seasoning of choice (Lawry’s is a good staple)
Directions:
1. Season pork on both sides, patting seasoning into meat.
2. Place pork shoulder & apple cider vinegar in slow cooker on “high” all day.
3. 2 hours before serving & when fully cooked: drain fat & most of the juice.
4. Meat should pull apart with a knife & fork. {If it doesn’t, it’s okay, it will in two more hours before serving.}
5. Add in entire bottle of BBQ sauce & pineapple juice. Mix.

Slaw:
• Bag of slaw (green & red cabbage w/ carrots) OR make your own
• 2 Stalks of celery, finely chopped
• 2 Green onions, finely chopped
• 2t of sugar, sprinkled
• 1 T lite mayonnaise (you can add more if you like it wet, I don’t)
• 2t of Dill
• Salt & Cracked pepper to taste
Directions
1. Mix all ingredients except mayonnaise & seasonings.
2. Add in mayonnaise. Mix again.
3. Add in spices. Mix again.
4. Chill for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Food Critic = Food Critic

Have a picky eater in your home? I have a new solution! Start a fun family tradition. Whenever a "new" food is introduced have your children "review" it. You can even chime in.

1. Study the food's appearance (color, size, shape and creating a hypothesis of what it will taste like).

2. Take a bite and discuss the texture (mushy, solid, crunchy or smooth).

3. Take a 2nd bite and discuss taste (ban words like "yucky" "gross") Instead ask, is this food bitter, salty, spicy, sweet. "Which of your friends would like this food?"

4. Close eyes and give it a thumbs up or down (parents peek). If thumbs down, child doesn't have to eat it. Thumbs up equals a full serving.

Our family loves watching cooking & baking shows. Creating a "show" at home (like Bella & did with Iron Chef) is just another way to get our children to eat healthy foods and enjoy eating at home.

Teriyaki Turkey Meatballs & Stir Fry

Need dinner in 10 minutes (no joke!)? My daughter & I played "Iron Chef" and she timed me. We were both laughing so hard as I literally *threw* items into the wok. A fun memory and a delicious, low-fat & cal, high fiber & protein meal. What more could you ask for?

I grabbed 2 bags from the freezer & all my remaining fresh veggies. Guess what? The WHOLE family LOVED it!

Ingredients:
1 bag of Trader Joe's Turkey Meatballs
1 bag of Trader Joe's Pre-cooked Organic Brown Rice (organic is key, regular = disgusting)
1/2 bag of Trader Joe's broccoli Slaw
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 zucchini, finely chopped
1/2 container of crimini mushrooms
1 handful of mini carrots, finely chopped
1 stalk of celery, chopped
1 handful of snap peas, sliced on diagonal
{remember: you can just use any hard vegetables left in your drawer, you don't have to use all of these or you could add more)
2 T peanut or vegetable oil (EVOO will NOT work with stir fry, gets too hot)

Sauce:
1/2 C (or more) Soyyaki sauce
2 T cornstarch
2 T honey

Directions:
1. Turn stove onto high heat (7 or 8); Add oil into Wok.
2. When oil is hot, stir in vegetables, salt & pepper to taste & cook until they begin to look transparent. Remove.
3. While vegetables are cooking, defrost meatballs for 2 minutes in microwave (entire bag).

4. Turn Wok heat to medium. Add in sauce & stir quickly, add in meatballs. Keep stirring. Don't let sauce burn. Coat meatballs in sauce until saturated and covered.
5. While meatballs are coating in sauce, put rice in microwave & cook.

6. Serve meatballs over rice, vegetables on the side or add on top of rice, then meatballs.

Enjoy!

Patatas a la Pobre

A typical Spanish tapa. An easy side dish that is loved by every guest of all ages.

Ingredients:
3-4 yellow potatoes (depending on how many people you want to feed, average 1.5 potatoes per person).
paprika
salt
EVOO

Directions:
1. Finely slice potatoes into rounds (about 1/16" thick)
2. Lay flat on a large cookie sheet
3. Coat both sides with EVOO, salt & paprika, mix them around if needed.
4. Bake at 425 for 20-25 minutes (watch)
5. Some will be crisp as potato chips, others crisp and soft.

Serve as a Tapa with sauce (mayonnaise w/ a few dashes of hot sauce mixed in) OR as a side dish to any BBQ meal.

Slow Cooker BBQ Pork

Ingredients:
1 Pork Shoulder
1 bottle of Jack Daniels Original BBQ Sauce
1/2 C brown sugar
1 mini can of pineapple juice
2T of Worcestershire sauce (if you have it)

Directions
1. Put pork shoulder in slow cooker on high for 4-6 hours, until it almost falls off the bone.
2. Once it's completely cooked, skim off fat, remove bone and shred pork. {keep bone for the amazing bean soup recipe posted here}
3. Add in BBQ sauce, sugar & juice - stir. Cook for 1 hour longer (on high or low, depending on when you want to serve it).

Make into "Bro-hams" and serve on a bun with coleslaw, and "patatas a la pobre" {see recipe)

Easy coleslaw: Buy pre-shredded cabbage & mix in with Brianna's poppyseed dressing.

Burning Man Chicken Noodle Soup

Not sure about you, but when I got sick, my mom always made me chicken noodle soup. Guess what? Mom was right! http://www.unmc.edu/chickensoup/

I call this the "Burning Man Chicken Noodle Soup" because if you've ever watched the "Sam, the Cooking Guy" show, you've probably noticed that he burns himself ALL the time. Oscar started watching him a year ago and totally got me hooked. I love our mutual cooking hobby.

Ingredients
A whole chicken (skin + bones too) chopped up ($8 @ Trader Joes)
4 celery stalks chopped, angle
1/2 bag of mini carrots, chopped in 1/2 angled (or 2-3 large carrots)
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
chicken stock (extra broth @ the end, if needed)
Egg Noodles - mini/thin or large - up to you
salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Place chicken in the pot, cover with water so that there is 1" above the chicken.
2. Boil on high for 30 minutes, drain fat from top with a spoon (throw out)
3. Continue boil for 30 minutes.
4. Drain broth & chicken - save broth, set chicken on a cutting board. Remove skin & bones and chop chicken into large bit sizes (if needed), place into pot with broth.
5. Add vegetables into chicken & broth, cook another 30 minutes
6. Add in noodles, cook until done.

Enjoy!

Turkey Meatballs by M. Lazaro

Ingredients:
1lb of ground turkey
1/2 packet of Italian dressing mix
1 C of Italian bread crumbs
1 egg
1T olive oil

Directions:
1. Mix all together, except EVOO
2. Form into meatballs
3. Add EVOO into pan & brown meat balls on all sides
4. Place onto a baking sheet and cook @ 375 for 20-25 minutes (watch).

Serve alone w/ rice OR with your traditional spaghetti and Bolognese or Marinara sauce.

*This is a VERY easy recipe that your children will love to make "by themselves".

New Year, New You!

Over the past year, I have slowly changed my eating habits. I LOVE to cook & eat and two of my biggest vices are BREAD & CHEESE. I refuse to deny myself what I love and I will never diet, so here are some things that I changed in our fridge & pantry last year to make it a little more healthy - getting more nutrients (& less fat) for the same flavor.

BEFORE: Now Eating...

Sandwich bread: "Flat Out" bread, make wraps & Orowheat 100% Whole Wheat "Sandwich Thins" (kids love these toasted...almost like paninis)

Tortillas: "Flat Out" bread, make quesadillas for the kids or sub in any "tortilla" recipe.

Bagels: "Flat bagels" {throw a Morningstar mini sausage & 1 poached egg on top of this or the "sandwich flats" and you've got a killer breakfast sandwich!}

Cream Cheese: Neufchatel cheese (1/3 less fat)

Sour Cream: Fage 0% Greek yogurt. I sub this in every sour cream recipe & sauce. {Add a little Mexican hot sauce and you have the perfect white sauce for fish tacos!}

Granola or Oatmeal: GoLean crunch (brown box) w/ 0% milk; I leave a bag in the car and eat as a snack.

Breakfast = Coffee: Now! Coffee + GoLean (red box) cereal w/ 0% milk, Trader Joe's Vanilla 0% Greek yogurt w/ GoLean crunch (brown box) sprinkled on top, protein shake w/ 100 calorie vanilla protein mix.

I no longer over snack on "empty" healthy foods like carrots & grapes. They serve their purpose and are better than eating chips but instead I munch on a cup of nuts or a high antioxidant fruit like blueberries, raspberries or an apple...or a 1/2 banana or apple w/ peanut butter or a couple wheat/flax crackers w/ 2 slices of low fat cheese.

Eating these snacks in between meals has increased my metabolism and now I'm getting more protein in my diet - building muscle - decreasing fat. It works! Last year, I lost over 3% body fat (in 4 weeks!) by doing this & working out 3x/week {at www.studiosweat.com - thanks Cat!}. And I'm not starving...I'm eating (over 1500 calories of) what I love, just differently.

If you want a great "helper" for the New Year, check out www.myfitnesspal.com - it has the best "app" for the iphone & droid too.

On a spiritual note, if you want to kick off the new year refreshed read Ortberg's book "The Me I Want to Be" - an encouraging way to be all God wants you to be.

Happy New Year!

Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken

6 frozen skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 (12 ounce) bottle barbeque sauce
1/2 cup Italian salad dressing
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1t of liquid smoke (Opt'l)

DIRECTIONS
2 options:
EASY OPTION: Mix all together and cook on high for 4-6 hours.
OR
EASY, but longer:
1. Season defrosted chicken w/ garlic powder, salt & pepper and put in the slow cooker w/ 2-3C of chicken broth - Cook on high for 6-8 hours or until you can Shred chicken 2. Drain off fat & liquid
3. Put chicken back in the pot - Add in sauce
4. Cook for another 2 hours.

TIPS
*I used a small bottle of Jack Daniel's original BBQ sauce; perfect for kids who don't like a "kick" in their sauce, but parents who like a ton of flavor
*Great with boneless ribs & shredded beef - I follow option 2 w/ this meat.

Slow Cooker Chicken Alfredo

Made this last night. Super rich & yummy. I altered a recipe online to make it low-fat & more tasty. Enjoy!

Ingredients
Egg Noodles
2 chicken breasts
1/2 packet of Italian dressing mix
1 can of cream of mushroom soup (you could use cream of chicken, but I don't like it)
1/4C cooking wine {opt'l}
1/4C chicken broth {opt'l - if you want it more saucy}
1/2block of Neufchatel cheese {you can use cream cheese, but this has a 1/3 less fat}
1/4C of 0% greek yogurt {you can use sour cream, but it has *way* more fat & tastes the same w/ the yogurt}

*if you like a "kick" to your sauce, you can add a little chilipiquin peppers @ the end.

Directions:
1. Add in all ingredients and stir - on High for 4 hours or Low for 6-8.
2. Shred chicken or cube it.
3. Mix in Neufchatel cheese & yogurt - cook for another 1/2 hour.
4. Boil pasta
5. Stir (make sure the cheese & yogurt is blended in) and serve over pasta


TIPS:
*I tried cubing the chicken but it was so tender it crumbled into the sauce - if you don't like that consistency then I would highly recommend not adding the chicken broth and maybe 1/4 less of the soup can.

*Most experts say that you should never put frozen chicken in a slow cooker b/c of the risk of under-cooking, but if you leave it in there for 5 hours on high, I'm sure the chicken will be cooked & fall apart like mine did.

Mac N Cheese by B. Walker

Here is a fantastic Barefoot Contessa recipe i tried the other night...I left out the nutmeg.. Soo yummy and makes enough for 8 people!

Ingredients

* Kosher salt
* Vegetable oil
* 1 pound elbow macaroni
* 1 quart milk
* 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, divided
* 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
* 12 ounces Gruyere, grated (4 cups)
* 8 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar, grated (2 cups)
* 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 3/4 pound fresh tomatoes (4 small)
* 1 1/2 cups fresh white bread crumbs (5 slices, crusts removed)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Drizzle oil into a large pot of boiling salted water. Add the macaroni and cook according to the directions on the package, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain well.

Meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan, but don't boil it. Melt 6 tablespoons of butter in a large (4-quart) pot and add the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk. While whisking, add the hot milk and cook for a minute or two more, until thickened and smooth. Off the heat, add the Gruyere, Cheddar, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Add the cooked macaroni and stir well. Pour into a 3-quart baking dish.

Slice the tomatoes and arrange on top. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, combine them with the fresh bread crumbs, and sprinkle on the top. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the macaroni is browned on the top.

Organic Beef Stew

Jamie (my sister's sister-in-law...follow?) made this on Christmas Eve and said it was the best beef stew she's ever had!

INGREDIENTS
3 tablespoons Organic Valley Cultured Butter or Pasture Butter, divided
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 Organic Prairie Boneless New York Strip Steaks (each 8 ounces), cut into 1-inch pieces
1 bottle (12 ounces) stout beer
6 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups beef stock
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon crushed thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried sage
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 large onion, chopped
2 cups finely diced carrots

PREPARATION

1) Heat 2 tablespoons butter in heavy large pot over medium heat. Toss beef pieces with the flour and saute until brown on all sides, about 5 minutes. (For better browning, do this in two batches.) Add garlic and saute 1 minute.

2) Add beef stock, beer, tomato paste, honey, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves, herbs and spices. Stir to combine. Bring mixture to boil. Reduce heat to low, then cover and simmer 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

3) Meanwhile, melt the remaining 1 tablespoon butter in another large pot over medium heat. Add potatoes, onion and carrots. Cook vegetables, stirring often, about 20 minutes.

4) Add vegetables to beef stew. Simmer uncovered until vegetables and beef are very tender, about 40 minutes longer.

5) Discard bay leaves. Let beef stew stand off the heat 20 minutes or longer. Spoon off any fat. Reheat before serving.

15 Bean & Ham Soup

Danielle made this last week and it was one of the best soups I've ever had! Such a great winter day recipe.

"15 bean" bag (Albertsons has a *great* one but didn't use the pork seasoning); You have to rinse these beans - you can soak them the night before.
8 cups water (or chicken broth if you don't have a ham bone for extra seasoning)
1 large onion, chopped (1 cup)
2 medium celery stalks, finely chopped (1 cup)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 ham bone or 2 pounds shanks
3 medium carrots, cut into 1/4-inch slices (1 1/2 cups)

1. Heat beans and water to boiling in 4-quart Dutch oven. Boil uncovered 2 minutes; remove from heat. Cover and let stand 1 hour.
2. Stir in onion, celery and pepper. Add ham bone. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer about 1 hour 30 minutes or until beans are tender.
3. Remove ham bone; remove ham from bone. Trim excess fat from ham; cut ham into 1/2-inch pieces. {I didn't have a ham bone so I skipped this step}
4. Stir ham and carrots into soup. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer about 30 minutes or until carrots are tender and soup is desired consistency.

{this recipe can also substitute beans for split peas}

Chicken Verde

The title sounds good but it was SO yummy. Get ready for the easiest meal of your life...just made it up!

2 chicken breasts - butterfly cut them so they're thin
1 can of TJ's verde salsa
1 small yellow onion
* yep! that's it. The salsa is so mild but FULL of flavor, it's all you need.

Directions:
1. Sautee onions in 2T of olive oil until onions are caramelized/clear.
2. Place chicken in a 9x9 pan.
3. Drizzle onions over chicken.
4. Cover with the entire bottle of verde salsa
5. Cover with tin foil.
Bake at 400 for about 25 minutes (until cooked all the way through).

*Serve with black beans, corn & rice. Could be great w/ mashed potatoes too, instead of a Mexican meal, make it an American one.

Happy New Year!

Happy new year everyone!

The San Diego weather has inspired me to make some healthy comfort food. I'll post two new recipes & then I'm trying out two new slow cooker recipes this week. If they're worth sharing, I'll post them here this weekend.