Dana

Fudgy Triple Chocolate Cupcakes PLUS #betterbaking

September 30, 2014 by Dana

I know, I know, ANOTHER cupcake post!??! A bit over-board? Maybe. But keep reading!

BUT wait just a hot second because this isn’t just another cupcake post. It is the start of something really awesome here at 3Boys Unprocessed because I’ve taken notice to TONS of crappy dessert recipes floating around the internet. You know, the dump cakes, the poke cakes, the boxed this and that, the cool whip, and the totally refined and semi-homemade desserts that aren’t just 3 ingredients like the title says. Boxed cake mix + box of jello = A LOT MORE than 3 ingredients! Not just that, it also = trans fats, artificial everything, unhealthy oils, and weird preservatives banned in other countries. Say whhhahattt!?!?!

Now, I try my hardest to ignore these dessert disasters because let’s face it, we live in a processed world and our food supply is nothing short of a complete disaster as it stands. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel because all of these recipes can be tweaked just a bit to be turned into something that isn’t so much of a processed mess. You know, like using whole wheat flour, and substituting real stuff for the boxed stuff. It is SO easy, yet people are so afraid of ruining a batch of cupcakes or running the risk that they don’t turn out tasting superb. Using trans fats instead of trying something new out of baking fear??? Doesn’t sound like such a good idea to me! Of course, these recipes are going to contain sugar. Sugar = desserts. I want to post relate-able content that doesn’t make the dump cake people say “Oh no, I’d never try using those weird ingredients,” therefore, I’m sticking to the simple stuff but making it a tad better by using organic versions that aren’t as processed, and don’t contain GMO’s. All of these things are important to me, and I’d much rather see people using organic sugar in their own home before going to the grocery store and buying a cake that contains 100 ingredients, including trans fats and everything else I’m going to talk about here. You get the drift? Good!

Now, I also know most of you aren’t trained Pastry Chefs like myself. That’s why I’m taking the guess-work out of all of this and bringing you #betterbaking (yes I just hashtagged in a post!) so that you can create desserts in your own home, without the processed crap, that taste nothing short of a product that comes from an upscale bakery and is totally amazing. Ready?? Let’s go! Each week I’m going to be posting a brand new recipe that DOESN’T include any of these ingredients:

boxed cake mixes
boxed jello
cool whip
soybean/canola oil
refined grains
artificially dyed and trans fat containing sprinkles (pretty much ALL mainstream sprinkles)
other artificial ingredients (flavors, colors, products, etc.)

Now, just so you know, none of my other baking recipes posted so far contain any of this stuff because truth is, these products don’t exist in my household. A few years ago I woke up to the fact that these products aren’t good for any of us. I know there are lots of people who haven’t realized this yet, so that’s why I’m doing this! The interwebs need #betterbaking recipes!

No sprinkles though!?!? Come now, how can that be? You see, there are these little things called naturally dyed sprinkles, and there are also these little things called cupcake toppers. They both make cupcakes as cute as they should be, without adding a bunch of chemicals and artificial dyes to your food. Problem solved! See how easy that was? I knew you would totally understand the whole no sprinkles thing, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

Since I’m promoting cute cupcake toppers, I’m about to make it ALOT easier by offering FREE printable cupcake toppers. Print them, cut them with those crafty folk scissors, tape them to a paper straw or toothpick, and BAM! Cute and frugal cupcake topper. For reals though, how cute are these fall inspired toppers? More to come, I promise! To get these cuties, just scroll to the bottom of the post, and click the dropbox link.

Now that we have all of that exciting news out of the way, let’s focus on these heavenly chocolate cupcakes that not only look stunning and taste stunning, but use ingredients that are better! These are inspired by all of those “Fudgy Cupcake” recipes that include boxed Jello. I’ve tasted cupcakes with boxed Jello in the past, and yes, they are moist and yummy. But you can do the same thing using milk and yogurt, and yield the exact same texture and fudgy goodness without the boxed stuff! Yes, this is happening! No more boxed stuff just to yield a fudgy cupcake because you can do it with REAL STUFF! Ya digggg? Keep it coming, keep it coming!

Not only are these cupcakes fudgy and moist, they also are dipped in ganache, which is a fancy-pants way to say chocolate and cream, and topped with a DOUBLE CHOCOLATE cream cheese icing. Did those words really just come out of my mouth. Yes, yes I do believe this is real life and if this is what real life tastes like I’m so in. Just incase you didn’t get all that… I created this: Do you feel like you are in high schoolBiology again? 🙂

Why yes, that is a chocolate smudge in the bottom on that picture because I said this was real life, remember? And in real life these cupcakes are a tad messy, so don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Can we talk ganache now because I kind of love that word and it is one of the most ridiculously good chocolate creations ever. I mean, if you’ve never had anything dipped or filled with ganache your life is not complete. Not to mention, it is SO EASY and looks really nice. When choosing a semi-sweet baking chocolate be sure to look for a brand that is using the least ingredients possible, and not using GMO’s. My favorite brand is Alter-Eco, and they have many products with basic ingredients.

To dip the cupcakes all you do is make the ganache in 2 easy steps and dip them. Everything seemed to fall together perfectly when I did this because I chose to use foil cupcake wrappers that include a white wrapper on the inside, so they are double wrapped. This made is so easy to dip them because then the outside wrapper was able to be removed, and therefore didn’t get messy. Dipping the cupcakes isn’t really messy to begin with, but I would highly suggest double wrapping just to mess-proof them. Whew! That was ALOT of info… so let’s recap this post since we are going all Biology Class style today:

We don’t like dump cakes or cool whip
We are providing recipes that are #betterbaking recipes, using whole ingredients and no artificial stuff
We think cupcake toppers are way better then sprinkles with chemicals and trans fats!!!!
We are providing FREE printable fall cupcake toppers and more to come
Ganche is awesome
Fudgy Triple Chocolate Cupcakes are about the best thing that ever happened to whole wheat white flour in it’s entire little shelf life
Double wrap your cupcakes if you want to dip them in ganache
This was a super long post, so thanks for reading! 😉

And here’s more cupcake porn, just incase we didn’t cover that well enough.

As promised.. here is the link to the FREE printable cupcake toppers! Simply click the dropbox link, and download the file. I’m using dropbox links to ensure everyone this is a safe download.

*I use homemade brown sugar, which is simply 1 cup of organic cane sugar to 1 Tbsp of un-sulphered blackstrap molasses. This enables me to always have fresh brown sugar, instead of a hard clump when I want to use it. For more on this check out my Homemade Brown Sugar post.

Double Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients:

1 (8 ounce) package full fat cream cheese
1.5 ounce semi-sweet baking chocolate (non-GMO preferred)
2 Tbsp heavy cream
1/2 cup organic cane sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup organic 10x sugar
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions: Allow cream cheese to soften on countertop. Beat softened cream cheese until very smooth, scraping down the sides of your mixing bowl several times to make sure all lumps are out. In a microwave safe bowl or stove top melt heavy cream and chocolate together. Pour mixture into cream cheese. Sift cocoa powder and 10x sugar into mixing bowl slowly. Add vanilla extract, and additional Tbsp of heavy cream if needed to smooth.

Chocolate Dipping Ganache:

Ingredients:

1.5 ounces semi-sweet baking chocolate (non-GMO preferred)
1/4 cup heavy cream

Directions: Chop chocolate finely. Bring heavy cream to the brink of a boil in a small saucepan on the stove, then pour over chopped chocolate. Allow to sit, unstirred, for 1-2 minutes. Begin stirring, and continue until smooth and silky.

Creamy Lemon Basil Shrimp Pasta

September 30, 2014 by Dana

This pasta though! Move over fancy-pants Italian restaurants because this pasta just swooped in to remind everyone cooking Italian food at home is SO EASY! That’s right, if you have 25 minutes and a few fresh ingredients then you are on your way to this delicious pasta soaked in a creamy sauce, and topped with fresh basil and parm cheese. You in?

Of course you are in or you wouldn’t be here, gawking at that pour shot like a 13 year old boy with a ~~nudie mag~~. I mean, not that I was ever a 13 year old boy or anything, but I was just thinking.. well.. ya know what forget I ever said that and let’s get back to the food porn!

And now…. it is food blogger confession time brought to you by 3Boys Unprocessed! Confessions are as followed:

This pasta is not whole wheat
I’m not as excited about this post because it isn’t a cupcake
I’ve recently become obsessed with cupcakes
Did I mention the word cupcake?

Yes, you read that correctly. I’m using refined pasta but baking whole wheat cupcakes. That totally makes sense doesn’t it? Hmm… I know, I know it’s totally crazy but just let me go on with my crazy self and let’s all pretend they are both whole wheat so I can feel a little less crazy.

My refined pasta was imported from Italy and had a sparkly and official “Italy” sticker on the bag. You know, like the best sticker EVER that we all longed for in Elementary School. A seal of approval, if you will. I looked at it EVERY TIME I was at the grocery store, longing for it’s beautiful ridges to take pretty pictures of and plop some big bad shrimpies on top of. Last time I was at the grocery store somehow it ended up accidentally falling into my cart and I totally thought it was whole wheat when the cashier swiped it over that cool scanner. You know, because my kids were yelling about wanting coloring books and other crap they throw near the cash registers to lure all the parents into buying. Even though I totally said NO WAY to the coloring book, somehow the pasta slipped by my radar. Ok, truth is, it looked cool so I bought it! A slight lapse in Real Food judgment but hey, we are all human right?

And about those cupcakes… you see I was always kind of obsessed with cupcakes (hence a big ol’ pink cupcake tattoo on my foot), but my cupcake obsession was lying dormant for a while I was on an ice cream binge.. I mean eating healthy. 😉 I kid, I kid! The ice cream binge never happened but babies did and I just haven’t had all the time in the world to bake pretty things. Now I have a food blog as an excuse so the cupcake madness just might be back for good!

Now that all my dirty food laundry is aired I guess we can get back to this creamy and delish pasta that could be served up for any occasion, including a Monday night! You can totally throw a curve ball in your life by making this epic pasta on a Monday and surprising your spouse like you are newlyweds or something. Remember, it only takes about 25 minutes to put together so throwing this together on a weeknight is do-able and easy!

Just a little FYI, I used a homemade chicken stock that I did not season yet. If you are using a boxed stock, check the ingredients for MSG (labeled MSG, autolyzed yeast, yeast extract) and choose a stock that is lower in sodium and doesn’t contain anything you wouldn’t put in your own stock. If you are interested in making your own (super easy I promise!) check out my post on Everything you Need to Know About Making Your Own Chicken Stock.

And then that pesky sauce went all up on the side of my sauté pan to ruin this beautiful picture. Please ignore and maybe it won’t happen again! 😉

Pumpkin Whoopie Pie Cupcakes

September 25, 2014 by Dana

This might just be the best thing I have EVER made. ~~Scratch that~~. This is totally the best thing that has ever come out of my oven, and my husband would agree. Of course he would agree with a big ol’ smear of icing in his beard, but hey we’ll take it! 😉

Speaking of the wonderful man I married, he inspired this cupcake creation. Looking for new inspiration I asked him “What kind of cupcakes should I make?” and being a man he said “Whatever kind you want.” *head scratch*

Well gee Mr. Construction Man thanks for helping me. BUT THEN…. in a moment of manly clarity he said “Why don’t you just think of all the ice cream flavors you like and pick one of those.” Then I began to think of the whoopie pie ice cream I had last week (NOT real food btw) and it came to me…. Pumpkin Whoopie Pie Cupcakes!

I started thinking about executing this fab idea, and then it hit me like a ton of bricks. Next month marks 6 years since I graduated from Pastry Arts school. 6 years! Am I old now or am I old now? Ugh I think I’m old! Ask me about it in 20 years and I’ll talk about how young I was back when I was a food blogger. 🙂

In all of my time as a Pastry chef working in bakeries and restaurants I had not come across a Whoopie Pie Cupcake so I knew I had to make this over the top fab because if I’m putting something on the map it better be amazing!

And believe me… this baby is over the top fab, delish, and cute. So cute I even went against all real food rules and sprinkled some powdered sugar on it (organic that is!). Oh the cupcake madness! Of course I also decided to use a dented cupcake for my epic powdered sugar dusting picture so please excuse that lil’ old snaffoo. Trying to dust and shoot proved to be a daunting task so the dent was overlooked.

But WAIT… there’s even more madness to these cupcakes because I’m totally not even close to being over my paper straw obsession. My husband was also wondering why there was a straw in the cupcake. Ummm HELLO! Because paper straws are awesome and they need to be put into various cupcake porn shots to make things even more beautiful. The nerve of him to question my paper straws! hehe He will never understand because he’s a man, and they don’t understand things like cute cupcakes and pretty food. They just want to eat, that’s all. Heck, this cupcake could be in a pile on the floor and he would probably still try to find a way to eat it.

Now before we finish let me tell you about how great the texture of these came out. I wasn’t sure how they would turn out because well.. I was adapting from a recipe that was not created to be a cupcake. But the texture is SPOT ON. Super duper moist and cakey, almost so that it reminded me of a cake pop. With the pumpkin, the extra egg, and the yogurt the texture is out of this world perfect. Like I said, these are probably the BEST thing to ever come out of my oven!

*Whoopie Pie recipe adapted from Martha Stewart’s Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Filling

Healthy Lunchbox Ideas: Round 2

September 24, 2014 by Dana

I do believe I’ve discovered something my oldest son absolutely LOVES! Not only does he love it, I’ve heard through the grapevine…ok scratch that, he told me himself that his friend tried to trade him his watermelon jello (naturally flavored and colored) for a pack of fruit snacks. AND HE DECLINED! Hello most wonderful and healthy version of a lunchbox favorite that is now a new staple in my house. 🙂

Truth is, it is so incredibly simple to make jello flavored with real fruit it is almost laughable that companies have ruined such a simple product with weird preservatives banned in other countries, artificial colors, and artificial flavors. Sure, the fake stuff may be slightly brighter and taste fake but, hey….IT IS! We know what comes along with that fake stuff and we aren’t havin’ it! Real fruit people.. because it is flavored and colored too. Ya diggg?

Fresh Watermelon Jello

Ingredients:

4 Tbsp unflavored gelatin (Grass-fed options are available! Check the jello isle to find these products)
3 cups watermelon juice
2 Tbsp honey (I use raw honey)
Juice of a lemon (optional for extra vitamin c goodness)

Directions: Take fresh watermelon (about 1/4 of a melon should give you the juice to do this. If you are short, no fear just add in some water!) and pulse it in a food processor. Pour watermelon through a mesh strainer to remove the pulp (there surprising isn’t a lot of pulp, hence the name watermelon). Take 1 cup cold watermelon juice and pour gelatin into cold juice. Allow to sit 5 minutes. Meanwhile, take the other 2 cups of watermelon juice and heat in a small saucepan on the stove just to the brink of a boil. Add honey. Pour hot juice over set gelatin. Mix until all gelatin is dissolved. Pour mixture into molds/glass baking dish and allow to set up for 2-3 hours.

Also featured in this lunchbox is my new favorite dip… White Bean Dip! Why is it my new favorite? Well because my oldest son thinks Hummus is too much for him to handle, and this dip is a little more subtle in flavor. It takes all of about 2 minutes to make if you used canned beans and it is packed with protein and nutrients to boot. Healthy? Check! Delish? Check! Customizable? Check. Would be awesome with cheese? Check. Would be awesome with veggies? Check. And that is all! Like I said, this is just like hummus but a little more subtle in flavor for those kids on the fence about bean dips.

White Bean Dip with Whole Wheat Pita Chips

Ingredients:

1 can white beans
squirt of lemon juice
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp paprika
whole white pitas (I use Food For Life brand. No weird ingredients, no preservatives.)
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

Directions: Drain and rinse beans. Put in food processor with spices, lemon juice, and a Tablespoon or 2 of water. Process until smooth. For pita: brush olive oil on pita. Add seasonings (I recommend adobo seasoning. My kids LOVE those and it kicks the dip up a notch.) Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes or until crisp.

Moving onto the DIY burrito bento…. can you tell my kids love beans? This is similar to my Chicken Nachos bento, but I switched out the chicken for some spiced black beans, and added lettuce and peppers to put in the pita as well. Kids love putting stuff together themselves, so this is the perfect solution to the “I want a Lunchable” problem! The best part is, this goes together super quick. It is one of those lunches that look like a lot of time was put into, but in reality it was all of about 5 minutes. On busy mornings this bento is a life saver!

Spiced Black Beans for Bento

Ingredients:

1 can black beans
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp adobo seasoning
1/2 tsp chili powder

Directions: Mix beans and seasonings. Voila!

Last but not least we have another favorite lunchbox meal from my oldest. I love sending hot lunches throughout the week because it makes packing lunches seem so much less mundane. PLUS who doesn’t love some soupy, creamy, mac n cheese?! Sometimes I’m on the fence about sending certain items in his thermos because I’ve heard the “Nobody else takes that” line so many times from him, but not the case here. I knew hands down this thermos lunch would come home empty and it did! Maybe, just maybe I wanted some soupy, creamy, mac n cheese too. But shhhh! I totally made it just for him!

In this recipe, I use my own Homemade Chicken Stock but if your not feeling that adventurous look for a low sodium stock that does not contain any forms of MSG (yeast extract, autolyzed yeast, “natural flavors”). If you use a boxed stock you will have to adjust the salt accordingly.

Soupy & Creamy Mac n Cheese (15 minutes to make on stovetop!)

ingredients:

8 ounces whole wheat shells or pasta of choice
4 Tbsp butter
4 Tbsp whole wheat white flour (I use King Arthur’s brand)
3 cups milk (I use whole milk)
1 cup chicken stock
6-8 ounces cheddar cheese
1/4 tsp-1/2 tsp kosher salt
frozen peas to top

Directions: Cook pasta according to directions on box. In a small saucepan melt butter over medium heat. Whisk in flour to create a roux, then slowly add milk little by little, stirring continually. When milk is incorporated, slowly add chicken stock, then cheese and salt. To serve, top with frozen peas.

If you like my lunchbox gear here is what I’m using:

Lunchbots Quad, Lunchbots Bento Cinco, Lunchbots 8 ounce thermos all available here:

*By the way, I LOVE doing business with Lunchbots because they offer FREE shipping, which is always really speedy. Their products have far exceeded my expectations. They even have a new DOTS line that I’ve been eyeing up. Don’t tell my husand! 😉

LunchSkins reusable baggie: *Also available at Target!

Lunchbox Love Cards:

Healthy Loaded Nacho Skillet

September 24, 2014 by Dana

It is officially Football season and the first day of Fall! Yay* for pumpkin everything and tailgating. A bigger *yay* for pumpkin spiced lattes from my good ol’ Nespresso and cold brewed coffee with my very own Pumpkin Spiced Coffee Syrup. Ok, ok we are getting all coffee snob up in herrr so let’s move on to nachos because who doesn’t love some gooey melted cheese, spicy black beans, corn chips, sweet corn off the cob, rice, veggies, and even more gooey melted cheese. And not the fake stuff folks because we don’t get down with Velveeta like that!

That’s right.. nachos do not have to contain Velveeta because cheese is WAY TOO GOOD on it’s own to add a bunch of crap that makes it look like plastic when in cools. You pickin’ up what I’m puttin’ down? Thank You, Thank You, I knew you would understand!

Now let’s forget about that crap and get back to the good stuff because these nachos are the perfect balance of all the cheesy goodness you would expect from nachos, and a bunch of other goodies that are whole and nutritious. Sweet bell peppers, a big bed of lettuce, brown rice, black beans, oh yeah! Loaded nachos say whhhhhaaatttt?

Ok, ok I’m calming myself down but this is something to get excited about. One of my all time favorite snack foods, in a skillet, with nutrition on top?

Now that my rambling nacho madness is over the voice of reason is here to tell you what exactly this Loaded Nacho Skillet is PLUS the fact that it only takes 30 short minutes to put this bad boy together. Cook the rice, add the beans, the cheese, the frozen corn, the chips, more cheese, the peppers, more cheese, and finally broil it for a few minutes until everyone is happy. Got it? Since that way A LOT of steps here is a pretty picture for you to see exactly how to achieve this nacho goodness:

Now if you really want to take these nachos totally over the top try adding a dollop of my Homemade Ranch right in the middle of a big pile of nacho goodness. These two things are basically a match made in food heaven and I would not tell you to do another step if I didn’t think this ranch was basically the best thing that ever happened to these nachos. Nachos meet ranch. Ranch meet nachos. And they lived happily ever after all up in my tummy!

*I used my Taco Night Freezer Corn in this recipe as well!

Crockpot Buffalo Chicken with Creamy Ranch Slaw

September 19, 2014 by Dana

Yes, I just said Crockpot. You know, that ancient thing in my closet that I kind of hate? Yeah. That thing.

I know, I know, I said this was never going to happen. I let down all the new moms who need Crockpot meals, and the busy people who work all day and just want to come home to a good meal. But now, I can sleep easy at night knowing my blog is newly equipped with a Crockpot meal. Not just any Crockpot meal… the Crockpot meal of all Crockpot meals… Buffalo Chicken with Creamy Ranch Slaw!

Once upon a time I was a new mom too. A new mom who was just trying to get some food in my face because my life consisted of sitting on couch with a baby on a boobie. Every time I tried to get the baby off the boobie chaos erupted, crying happened, and I was again faced with the fact that I may never eat again. Then I had a genius idea, I’d use the Crockpot that I hated to make everyone happy and get a meal on the table. I happily searched for recipes and BAM! Buffalo Chicken in the Crockpot appeared and I thought my life was now complete. Being a new mom I had a sudden lapse in judgment because then I proceeded to use A RANCH PACKET in this concoction and wow… what was I thinking?!?! MSG much anyone??

You know the drill by now peeps so let’s hop on the “MSG is bad” train and take a little ride through Hidden-Valley-Sucks Ville while we go over the ingredients in these seemingly harmless packets. They seem so innocent, right? Just a few spices, right?

Wrong. These packets contain Malodextrin AS THE FIRST INGREDIENT. We know from my Taco Night Freezer Corn recipe that you will see this in a lot of spice packets. Malodextrin is a highly processed, likely GMO product that comes from corn. However Hidden Valley doesn’t stop there. They also throw in a little MSG and some “natural flavors.” Moral of the story, forget all that crap and add the spices yo’ self. That’s right. We don’t need their MSG and GMO corn to make Buffalo Chicken in the Crockpot because we have our very own spices! *High five for real spices*

Now that we have all of that out of the way, let’s talk about Creamy Ranch Slaw. Yes, this is a thing now, and yes it is as good as it sounds! So delish, so creamy, so crunchy, so PERFECT to top a spicy Buffalo Chicken. The cream, the crunch, the spice… oh my! You need this in your life if you are a Buffalo Chicken lover. I promise as a former Buffalo Chicken addict myself I would not lead you astray with this one. I’ve had it all… Buffalo Chicken Pizza, Buffalo Wings, Buffalo Chicken Subs, Buffalo Chicken Fries (you know when I was 18 and didn’t care about ingredients in all of this crap!) ALL OF IT! You name it, I’ve slapped some hot sauce and ranch on it, fo’ real. Now let me tell you, this real food version rivals all of that crap and holds it’s own. You will not miss the deep fried crap slathered with hot sauce with a little MSG thrown on top. No, no. You don’t need that no mo’. You’ve got real stuff and it is delish!

Creamy Ranch Slaw

Ingredients:

2 cups veggie slaw (cabbage, broccoli, or any other variety)
1/2 cup sour cream
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp onion salt
1/8 tsp mustard powder
1/8 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp celery salt
black pepper to taste

Directions: Mix spices and sour cream, then combine with slaw and enjoy over a bed of Buffalo Chicken or between some buns.

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

September 16, 2014 by Dana

Caramel and Apples have been friends forever. I am so glad they are besties for life because let me tell you… it makes food blogging so much easier! I don’t have to spend long hours thinking about elaborate cupcake recipes. I don’t have to think up some new and crazy food combination. I just have to put two things together that were made for each other… caramel and apples!

Breaking news: I LOVE PAPER STRAWS! Yes, I saw an isle full of paper straws at Target and boy oh boy do I have about 60 more reasons to continue taking pictures of food now! Are they not just the best thing that ever happened to food blogging? Ummm yes I do believe so. I can now go to Target in all of my yoga pants and messy hair glory and wander through the paper straw isle like I don’t have a care in the world!

In other breaking news if you have a husband make sure he knows paper straws don’t mix well with wee lil’ ones who like to chew on things. Apparently mine wasn’t aware of this information because I found baby Christian chewing the top off of a paper straw my husband put in his cup. Yeah, not a good mix! Fear not, Mommy swooped in and grabbed that straw right out of his cute little mouth and saved the day. Ok, maybe it didn’t go that smoothly but somehow I finangled that crap out of his mouth. Baby Christian is ok and was not hurt in the making of these cute cupcakes!

Now let’s talk about how crafty I’ve become since blowing through the paper straw isle at Target because this is the breaking-est of breaking news. Who knew DIY cupcake toppers could be so easy and so cute. 😉 All I did to make the toppers was cut the straw on an angle, then tape a construction paper leaf onto the straw. BAM! That is it. I do believe this is officially called crafting for the non-crafty folk? Why yes, yes it is. Now please excuse me while I hand model this genius idea.

*Pro non-crafty folk tip: Fold a piece of construction paper in half to cut out the leaf to get it perfect. I do believe I learned this pro-tip in Kindergarten. Thank you Mrs. Margerum!

Maybe we should just get back to food because I’m more comfortable being a foodie then a craftie. There are a few components that go into a Caramel Apple Cupcake so let’s discuss:

The amazing, moist *hate that word*, whole wheat goodness that is the cupcake
Cinnamon buttercream
Apple pie filling
Caramel drizzle

I know, I know, that is a lot of steps! But I promise they are ohhhh soooo delish and totally worth a few extra minutes to make the filling and drizz.

On another note, I broke one of my own rules and used 10x sugar in the icing. Being a former pastry chef, this is basically the lazy way to make icing but I know some people are intimidated by cooking sugar so I wanted to provide a recipe that did contain 10x, and suggest a brand that is trustworthy and non-GMO. Here is the brand I used. This link is for 20 lbs of sugar, hence the price. You can find it at most grocery stores in the organic section.

Apple Pie Cupcake Filling

Ingredients:

2 large apples (3 small)
1 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp brown sugar (I used my Homemade Brown Sugar)
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions: Dice apples small. Put apples and all other ingredients in a small sauté pan and cook over medium heat until apples are tender and sugar becomes syrupy.

Caramel Drizzle

Ingredients;

1/4 cup brown sugar (I used my Homemade Brown Sugar)
1/8 cup milk
1 Tbsp butter
pinch salt

Directions: Put all ingredients in a small sauté pan and cook over medium-high heat until thick and bubbly, about 5-6 minutes.

*Cake recipe adapted from my favorite baking blog Sally’s Baking Addiction using her Snickerdoodle Cupcakes with Cinnamon Swirl Frosting post.

Homemade Brown Sugar

September 13, 2014 by Dana

You decide it is time to make a sweet treat for your family. You eagerly get all of your ingredients together. The eggs are cracked, the baking soda and whole wheat flour are mixed. You reach for your brown sugar and your heart sinks. Your brown sugar isn’t so brown-sugary anymore.

“Where’re the hammer?” You think because come hell or high water these cookies are going to be made, hard clump of brown sugar or not. You get your hammer and start pounding away. Next thing you know there’s a hole in your wall and your family is getting ready to commit you to the mental institution. Yep, it has happened to the best of us. Right? Right.

Ok maybe the hammer and mental institution thing was all a figment of my imagination (or was it?), but the brown sugar thing was not. Brown sugar just doesn’t stay fresh. You open the package, use it once, and the rest is pretty much garbage by the time you decide to go all cookie exchange on everyone again.

Can we just take a moment to discuss what rock I have been under my whole life? I went to Baking and Pastry Arts SCHOOL and still had no idea brown sugar was nothing more then molasses and sugar. Like for reals? YES! Had I just taken a brown sugar package and flipped it over I would have realized there is no mystical brown sugar tree in shuggy-land pooping out bags of sugar that say Domino on the front. Not only that, there is a huge misconception out there (I think!) that brown sugar is LESS processed then white because it is brown and hasn’t been refined. NOT TRUE! Sheesh we are learning a lot today!

I just mentioned brown sugar is just as processed as white sugar because… it is white sugar! Recently I’ve looked for a “better” brown sugar and haven’t been able to find it. This is what prompted me to LOOK AT THE PACKAGE and get to the bottom of this brown sugar mystery. I wanted a brown sugar that was not as processed, and in making my own I got exactly what I was looking for. Now who wants an apple pie?

So I just told you a few reasons making your own brown sugar is better. Now we are on to the best of the bestie reason…..it tastes better! Yes, taking a minute to whizzzz up fresh brown sugar actually creates a tastier suuuuugggg because it hasn’t been sitting in a plastic bag for… well it’s whole entire wee-little brown sugar life. That’s right… it hasn’t had time to sit on a shelf and think of all the important things in life like figuring out kitchen hacks and where stevia comes from. It hasn’t had time to get in fights with other sugars about who is the best and then have it’s lil heart melt when all the other bags get purchased and it didn’t. It hasn’t had time to make the trip to the bargain outlet store because nobody bought it, and sit on another shelf for another few months until lil ol’ betty comes to get it, only to take it home and let it sit some more before it is turned into a lovely batch of cookies. Then it gets to dry up and turn into a clump o’ suuuugggg until it inevitably ends up in a landfill because it was no longer tasty enough for betty. Ok she’s just too old to break it up with a hammer. Sound about right? I… THINK…SO!

But fo’ real… this is life changing and we should all probably just start saving money today *infomercial voice* and making our own because it is better, way better! Ok, life changing is a bit extreme but it’s totally a kitchen hack. And by the way, the word hack kind of makes me cringe.

I used a pretty dark molasses, but you can use any you’d like!

Homemade Brown Sugar

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp molasses

Directions: Put both ingredients in a food processor and whizzz it up for a few seconds and BAM! Your very own Homemade Brown Sugar! I promise Domino is loosing some brown suuuggg stock right about now. 😉

Mini Meatball Stir fry

September 12, 2014 by Dana

Meatball Stir Fry… is this even legal? Why yes, yes it is and I believe they (whoever they are) like to call this Fusion Food. You know, taking two things and putting them together to create something so much better than the two things by themselves. Yeah, Fusion Food people. Let’s all get on the Fusion Food Train!

Truth be told, there is a restaurant by my house that I pass often called Fusion Fire. They have a bunch of creepy statues outside but I’ve heard the food is good. Another truth be told, when you have kids you don’t get to go out to eat unless you want to deal with someone peeing their pants at the table or knocking a drink over on the waitress. I kid, I kid, those things never happened but they could have if we were brave enough to take our kids out to eat in the first place. Maybe in about, I don’t know, 10 years or so we will get to Fusion Fire, but for now I’m doin’ it homemaker style and it is kind of awesome. 😉

Can I just point out the fact that meatballs are ugly. Like step-sister with a wart on her chin ugly. But come now, let’s not get all judge-y and such. Let’s forget about those warts and remember the truth. Meatballs are delish. And step-sisters with warts are people too!

Now you may have taken notice… I’m using white rice. Yes, I’m a person too (just like that steppy sis) and sometimes I bend the rules. Brown rice is not bleached but it just isn’t the same. If I’m eating a bunch of veggies with a few mini homemade meatballs then I’m going to have my big mound of white rice and drops of soy sauce on top. You know, Fusion Food just isn’t the same without the white rice, right? Precisely.

If you are feeling like you can resist the sticky white rice and soy sauce drizzled on top, please do! Brown rice would also go lovely with this. And just because I used white rice once doesn’t mean I’m selling out and going all Dump Cake on everyone. Don’t worry, the unbleached grains will be back tomorrow!

No Dump Cakes, and no nasty breadcrumbs either. Believe it or not those canned breadcrumbs (Progresso, Kraft, etc.) all contain a slew of ridiculous ingredients that have nothing at all to do with bread. Not even remotely! Progresso’s “breadcrumbs” contain 59 ingredient. Why??????????? Is all I have to say to that! Just so you can’t say I didn’t warn you…. buy the organic whole wheat version or make your own using 2 slices of whole wheat bread toasted and processed in a food processor.

This is a two step recipe. Make the balls (oh the kitchen jokes that come about when people are making meatballs, especially in a room full of guys!), and then make the veggies and sauce. Of course you can throw your rice on at any time during this process as well. If you don’t want your balls to be spicy, just omit the fennel and red pepper flakes.

Veggie Stir Fry

Ingredients:

1 tsp sesame oil or olive oil
1 bell pepper
1 cup sugar snap peas
1/2 cup corn kernels (I removed them from one of my non-GMO sweet corn cobs that I got at the market.)
2 Tbsp reduced sodium tamari soy sauce
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp sweetener (I used molasses. You could also use honey.)
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Directions: Heat large sauté pan with sesame or olive oil. Put veggies in pan, and cook over medium heat until veggies are beginning to get tender. Add tamari soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, sweetener of choice, and garlic powder. Mix everything well and allow to cook to desired tenderness (I like crunchy veggies). Cook rice according to package directions. When meatballs are finished toss in pan with the stir fry and love on some Fusion Food!

Taco Night Freezer Corn

September 10, 2014 by Dana

….And my love affair with Tacos continues. Not Ortega’s tacos, my tacos. The ones that contain real spices, onions, garlic, and sometimes even peppers. No malodextrin here! 🙂

Speaking of malodextrin I’m about to get all PSA up on you again. This is my way of letting everyone know how much I loath those stupid Taco Seasoning Packets. Guess what? Some brands even have gluten free versions now. *Blinking question mark above my head* Yeah, they are basically outing themselves because taco seasoning packets shouldn’t contain anything other then spices. Right? Right!

I’ve used them in the past too, but then one day I realized the first ingredient was malodextrin. Yeah, you probably don’t know what that is and I didn’t either. Come now folks! Let’s figure this out together. Ok, I’m just going to tell you but let’s pretend we are on a super serious mission right now.

This super serious mission involves my bestie Google. Google let me know that Malodextrin is actually just a highly processed corn byproduct. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t buy any of those big name brand’s Taco Night crap anyways because they all use TBHQ and GMO’s in their products and you know that’s not how I do. However, I never thought they would stoop so low as to put random ingredients above actual spices in those packets. Let’s make this real easy. Here’s the seasoning I use for tacos that contains no crap:

The Officially Official No Malodextrin in My Taco Seasoning Recipe

2 Tbsp cumin
2 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp adobo seasoning
1/4 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

I’d also suggest browning beef with 1 clove of garlic and half of an onion. Does that seasoning mix make you want to go “Durr Durr Durr?” Yeah me too. It is that easy and boring it almost isn’t even a recipe, yet somehow we have allowed Ortega to run the taco show forever. Puh-lease Ortega get lost forever and don’t come back.

Mission accomplished!

Now that we have figured that one out together, let’s move on to this Freezer corn that is just about the best idea ever. I returned to my super awesome Farmer’s Market aka Gratz Auction for those of you who are local, and I got a bunch of goodies. My goodies included some non-GMO sweet corn and pretty bell peppers. I also got a BOX of apples for $10, along with some sweet/tart baby grapes that my kids ate by the handful until they were gone.. the next day!

Being the foodie that I am decided to buy a bunch of stuff with the intentions of freezing some of it because truth be told, everything is better in the summer! When I came home with peppers, jalapenos, and corn a Taco Night inspired Freezer Corn seemed like the perfect solution to my abundance of goodies problem. After it was sitting pretty in freezer bags I gave myself a pat on the back and said “You are a genius.” Ok, that never happened because I don’t have time to talk to myself and take care of my kids, but it sounded good didn’t it? 😉

So here’s the deal on the freezer corn…. it involves the word “blanching” which really just means make it hot, then make it cold to stop the cooking process. That sounds a lot easier, doesn’t it? Put the corn in boiling water, then put it in ice water. Easy, easy, easy!

After I blanched the corn, I kept the water boiling and blanched the peppers. I took the corn off the cob, and diced the peppers. Then I mixed them corn and pepper babies and I was done-zo! I divided the corn and peppers into 4 freezer baggies and now our Taco Night is going to be epic without any extra hassle on busy nights. I might even go back next week and get more goodies so we have a few more bags for the winter because I have a feeling this is going to end up in Lunchboxes with beans and rice as well!

So, to recap here is all the info:

Taco Night Freezer Corn

Ingredients and Tools:

12 ears sweet corn
2 bell peppers
2 jalapeno peppers (optional)
large stock pot
ice
freezer baggies

Directions: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Blanch corn by cooking corn in boiling water for 4 minutes, then putting directly into ice water. If you are low on ice in your freezer (like me!!) run ears of corn under cold water for about 3-4 minutes or until completely cooled.

Blanch peppers in the same boiling water (after corn is removed) for 2 minutes, following the same procedure as the corn. Remove corn from cobs with a serrated knife, and dice peppers. Mix in a large bowl to get everything combined evenly, then distribute into freezer baggies, spreading everything out to lay baggies flat (so you don’t end up with a huge frozen clump o’ corn).

To use, remove bag from freezer the day before and store in refrigerator before use. Heat in a small saucepan over low heat. Add a Tbsp of butter and sprinkle with adobo seasoning, salt, and pepper. Viola!

Healthy Lunchbox Ideas: Round 1

September 10, 2014 by Dana

Somehow we already have 2 weeks of school under our belts. How did that happen exactly? No idea! My son is in 2nd grade and here is what he has had to say about 2nd grade so far:

They only get 5 minutes for lunch
They can’t refill their water bottles whenever they want to
The snacks are good (no I’m sorry they are junk food)
The gym teacher makes them walk laps around the gym and it’s huge!
He has already filled a whole stamp card and nobody else has (mom brag!!)
He doesn’t like it
He doesn’t like it
He doesn’t like it
It isn’t fun

Yes, apparently good old second grade is a big snooze fest. There are rules. They get homework. They can’t just walk around the classroom aimlessly. I mean really, what is this preparing them for? The real world? College? Life? Ahhh… yes… life. When you can’t just do whatever you want all the time. How do you break it to a 7 year old that it only goes downhill from here?

Please excuse the horrible middle picture. I know, I know, what is it? It looks like a bowl of nothing-ness but I promise it is one of THE BEST soups in the world. You’ve heard that before, I know food bloggers love to throw that term around. I’ve made fun of those words so many times in the past (The Best Ever ______). However, I promise I would not lead you astray on this one. This soup is amazing. It is so simple, so easy, and so yummy. My kids would literally funnel this soup into their little mouths everyday if I kept making it. I’ve tried time and time again to try to get good picture of this soup but it just never looks that great because it is a broth heavy. Yes, broth heavy is what we are calling it. I’d compare the consistency to Chicken and Stars soup.

I also haven’t posted this soup because I have struggled with what to name it. I believe it is something close to Pastina soup, so I looked up what Pastina meant and here’s what I found:

pastina

Web definitions

Pastina is a variety of pasta consisting of tiny pieces of pasta available in a variety of shapes. It is the smallest type of pasta produced. It is made of wheat flour and may also include egg. Pastina is typically used in broth soups in Italian and Turkish cuisine, particularly for children.

Precisely. It is particularly for children, hence this post! 😉 Thanks Web definitions for having my back on this one! Ok, so I’m officially calling it Pastina Soup.

Pastina Soup

Ingredients:

1 stick butter
1 small onion
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups whole wheat Acini de Pepe pasta
8-10 cups chicken broth (I used homemade. Learn how to make your own broth on my post Everything You Need To Know About Making Your Own Chicken Stock. If you use a pre-boxed broth you will need to adjust the salt content to taste, starting with 1 tsp and going from there.)
4 eggs

Directions: Mince onions as smooth as you can get them in a food processor, or dice very fine. Put onions, butter, and all seasonings except salt in a large stock pot. Cook over medium heat until onions are fragrant and translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add broth and bring to a boil. Add pasta and allow to simmer for about 8 minutes. Whisk eggs in a separate bowl. While stirring continuously add eggs in a slow and steady stream. Be careful not to dump all eggs in at once or you will end up with a huge egg clump.

Depending on what kind of stock you use you may or may not have to add salt. I used a homemade stock that I had not previously salted, so I used a whole tsp. of kosher salt. Taste your soup and salt to taste. 🙂

On to the good stuff…. the puddin’ baby! In my cute and convenient LunchBots 4 oz. round I have myself some homemade vanilla puddin’ sweetened naturally with maple syrup and sprinkled with a little cinnamon. I kind of wanted to just keep this at home for myself and I’m sure you will too, but have no fear! This recipe will give you more then one portion so there will be enough to go around. Also featured in this lunchbox:

Oven Roasted broccoli and cauliflower with cheese to go on top (roasted in the oven ahead of time with salt and pepper, then served the next day cold)
Frozen blueberries
Ezekiel pita with almond butter to spread on top. I always send nut butters on the side so the bread doesn’t get soggy
In the top corner we also have some un-sulphered dried pineapple rings

Homemade Vanilla/Maple Puddin’

Ingredients:

1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup whole wheat white flour
2 cups whole milk
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
dash salt
1 Tbsp butter (optional)

Directions: Mix maple syrup and flour in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Slowly incorporate milk while stirring continuously. When milk is incorporated add vanilla, salt, and butter. Transfer to a heat safe container and cool in the refrigerator. Sprinkle with cinnamon before serving if desired.

To make this chocolate: add 3 Tbsp cocoa powder to the maple and flour.

In the other lunch we have:

Sour Cream and Onion Chicken Salad from 100 Days of Real Food
Mini Bell Pepper Rings
Brown bag popcorn tossed in olive oil, garlic powder, and onion salt to taste. Simply put 1/2 cup kernels in a brown bag and microwave approximately 2 minutes and 30 seconds. THAT’S IT! No nasty chemicals or hydrogenated oils. Yes! 🙂
Pumpkin Spice Granola Clusters that weren’t so clustery because my kids ate all the chunks first!
Apple

As always if you like my gear, I am using LunchBots so check them out!

Also pictured:

Pumpkin Spice Granola Clusters

September 7, 2014 by Dana

Pumpkin. Spice. Granola. Clusters.

Yes… fall has arrived. It is now time to re-create every recipe I’ve ever made to fit somewhere into the cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg craze I’m about to embark on. 😉

Two things today:

1. How creepy are people at the grocery store with backpacks? Is it just me or does a man wandering around the isles, but not actually picking anything up, scream

“I’m about to blow the roof off this place any second.”

I mean really, if you want to scare a large crowd of stay at home moms and old people then wander around with a backpack and no cart. Likely everyone will scatter and look for the nearest Exit sign, then you don’t have to fight the crowd. Being creepy might have some perks, but I wouldn’t know because I’m about a -10 on the creepiness scale.

Upon seeing the creepy backpack guy I really just wanted to say

“Man, I just have to know. What’s in the bag? A machine gun? A bomb? A butcher knife? Ohhh.. it’s just your work clothes. Right, exactly what I had in mind. Thanks for clearing that one up. Now if you could kindly grab a cart and not corner me near the checkout that would be fantastic.” And that was all she wrote. 😉

2. I found a really awesome yogurt. Maple Hill Creamery Vanilla Creamline Yogurt. It is beyond my wildest yogurt dreams and so, I kindly took a picture of it so you could love on it too. Usually I purchase plain yogurt, but this vanilla cup intrigued me because it said Creamline. Plus it was about 50 cents cheaper then the other organic yogurts so I gave it a go. Boy, was it good!

Why is it so good, you ask? Here is my humble old opinion on yogurt, so fasten your seatbelts folks! Most low fat yogurts take away the fat, but add a ton of refined sugars. What is the point of that exactly? You got me! I have no clue why Americans think full fat dairy is the devil, but I’m here to be the low fat yogurt voice of reason. Just eat the real thing, it is so much better, and doesn’t require 26 grams of sugar to make it taste good. In fact, this yogurt only has about 4 grams of added sugar and it is creamy, tangy, and delicious without being overly sweet. Top it with the Pumpkin Spice Granola Clusters and you have yourself one of the most enjoyable breakfasts in the world!

*This is NOT a sponsored post. I just love this stuff! In fact, here it is in all of it’s cute tree on the cup glory!

I’m about to get all “health foodie mom” on everyone so please, if you are over that phase in your life or just don’t care skip to the recipe!

We don’t buy boxed cereals at the grocery store, and if we do we buy the organic/better ones that are pretty much just a treat for the kids. I know, I know, some of you may be thinking what the what!?!?! But it is true. The fact is most cereals are just candy coated, GMO junk food. Most boxed cereals even contain BHT, which is banned in most of the world (Hello FDA where are you?) They are no way to start your day… like ever! Yes, they might be fortified but if you are eating right in the first place you don’t need fortified junk food. With the organic/better cereals that aren’t fortified I’ve noticed they contain a whole lot of nothing so that is why I give them to my kids as a treat, not necessarily a breakfast. If you are trying to cut the crap out of your life, then here are my breakfast suggestions:

Homemade granola (because a lot of the grocery store granolas have a ton of unnecessary, added ingredients.
Eggs
Oatmeal (1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup milk, cinnamon, 1 tsp pure maple syrup, blueberries=the best oatmeal ever!!)
Ezekiel muffins/bread with butter
Fruit/Yogurt
Whole wheat pancakes, waffles
Pumpkin Spice Granola Clusters and yogurt 😉

So there you go. A whole bunch of reasons not to eat a bowl-o-crap and a few suggestions of what to eat instead. Phew, I’m glad I got that off my chest! Ok, I promise I’m done and here is the recipe. Just an FYI, this recipe contains 2 egg whites. That means it will be crunchy, plus pack a bit of protein. Perfection I tell ya!

Pork Carnita Bowl

September 5, 2014 by Dana

Let’s just get real here…. these Pork Carnita Bowls are ridiculous. Ridiculously good that is! So ridiculously good that my husband took one bite and said “This is way better than Chipotle.” EXACTLY what I was thinking all day when I was eating it. Yes, I was chowing down on the meat all day because I decided it would be a good idea to make it ahead of time. That turned out to be a horrible idea!

Why is it a horrible idea you ask? Because you will want to eat half of it before the rest of your family even knows it is in existence. You might even think up some evil plot to hide it from everyone and pretend it never happened just so you can have it all to yourself. I’m not saying any evil plots went on inside my kitchen today, but I definitely ate a good third of the meat before anyone else even had the chance to taste it. When my toddler caught wind of what was going on he was trying to smuggle handfuls of meat into the living room without being noticed. Not gonna happen on my watch, bebe, because I know all about them smuggling tricks. I’m the master smuggler with my expensive organic chocolate bars that I’m so NOT sharing with any kiddos. I know all about hiding in a corner or closet and quickly enjoying every delicious bite before someone notices. At which point I pretend like I have no idea what chocolate they are speaking of. Chocolate? Where? 😉

Just incase anyone was wondering what exactly a carnita bowl is, here is my super awesome step-by-step picture thingy for your viewing pleasure. It is basically just like a bowl that you would get a chipotle, minus the random ingredients they use. Speaking of random ingredients I now present you with my Chipotle public service announcement. If you don’t care please pretend like I’m saying this really quickly just like the person at the end of the pill commercial who tells you your probably going to just drop dead as soon as you take it. Here goes:

Chipotle is not healthy fast food. Their wraps contain partially hydrogenated oils (aka trans fats) and a bunch of other crap. They use genetically engineered soybean oil in all of their products. Just because they have cool bags and make claims like “grass fed” and “better” doesn’t mean they aren’t sneaking crap into your food. The End. Now please, look at my cool picture thingy! And while your at it Pin the picture thingy so other people can see how awesome it is.

Wow, that was awesome sauce, wasn’t it? 🙂 Now, let’s talk more about making the meat because I have a serious confession. You may have noticed, I don’t really do slow cooker meals. I know, I know, the new moms need slow cooker meals! But I’m over that phase right now (phew!) and slow cookers are just too boring for me. I need to be able to see the food and play with it while it is cooking because I’m just ADHD like that. I can’t bear the thought of putting my beautiful pork roast in a lonely, not to mention ugly (my mom got it for a wedding gift like 100 years ago and it is that baby poop green color. Anyone from that time want to explain that color to me?) slow cooker and leaving it all by it’s lonesome for a few hours. I mean, come on people, pork roasts need some lovin’ too and my ugly slow cooker isn’t doing the job. I just can’t. This is my officially official apology to all the slow cooker lovers. I’m sorry!

*This recipe would work wonderfully in a slow cooker though, so if your not as ADHD about food as me, give it a try!

So what did I do if I didn’t use a slow cooker? I simply used my stovetop on low heat for about 90 minutes. Yes, 90 minutes to all of this awesomeness. That potentially means you could throw this on the stove when you get home from work along with the rice, go do a bunch of crap that you didn’t really want to do, and come back to some wonderful carnitas. If you are more of a nacho, taco, or burrito person this meat would be amazing served in any of those ways as well.

Carnita Bowl Seasoned Rice

Ingredients:

2 cups rice
1/4 tsp kosher salt
generous sprinkle adobo seasoning
1 sweet bell pepper (red, orange, or yellow preferred)
1/4 cup fresh cilantro

Directions: Put rice, seasoning, pepper, and water needed to cook rice into a pot and cook according to package directions. When rice is cooked, fluff with a fork and add chopped cilantro.

Blanched Green Bean Salad

August 31, 2014 by Dana

Once upon a time I went to the Farmer’s Market and came home with a grocery bag FILLED with green and wax beans. I came home, washed those babies, blanched those babies, and made a delicious vinaigrette to toss them in to make them super happy. I thought that was enough, but no, the beans wanted more. They were already perfect but they insisted they were just too beautiful to leave with ONLY a vinaigrette. I just wanted to make the beans happy, so I gave them some feta cheese and raisins and they were elated. The beans lived happily ever after for only a few minutes until they were gobbled up by the evil witch.

Ok that was true until the evil witch part because we all know I’m no witch! 😉 And well, beans don’t talk so I guess the rest isn’t true either. Ok, I totally made the whole thing up but hey, it sounded like a good story, right? Of course it was a good story, because we all love a cute fairy tale! Maybe I should have come up with something clever about Jack and the Bean Stalk but that seemed way to obvious and these beans are far too tasty for a giant who merely stuffs food in his mouth and swallows without even chewing. At least I think that’s how giants eat but who knows, I’m only 5 feet tall so clearly I know nothing about them.

Now that we have all of that fairy tale crap I just made up out of the way let’s just talk about how delicious blanched green beans are. When I was younger I thought I hated green beans because the only green beans I had ever seen were canned. I have vivid memories of seeing ugly canned green beans being served in the school cafeteria, and thinking who would eat those? YUCK! Canned green beans are all puffy and water logged and well… I hate them. I prefer my veggies on the crunchier side so generally if I’m making green beans I blanch them. Blanching is just a fancy word for submerging into boiling water for just a few minutes, then quickly submerging into cold water to stop the cooking process. No soggy beans here!

Please excuse the vinaigrette dripping off the side of my bowl. You see, I thought it would be a good idea to pick green beans out and eat them while I was taking pictures. Obviously it wasn’t. Photography fail! Just an FYI, yes this is a cold salad. The feta and raisins are optional but I highly recommend them!

Pumpkin Spice Coffee Syrup

August 30, 2014 by Dana

I saw an orange leaf on a tree. I did, I swear! It was there. I promise. Not that I think I’m jumping the gun on this one or anything, because let’s face it September = Fall. I even got a fall pamphlet from Bath and Body Works in the mail which reminded me of all the wonderful fall smells, like freshly baked apple pie and pumpkin cream cheese quick bread. I can’t wait to begin baking fall goodies but before anything exceptional happens I need my coffee. And just in case you didn’t know, I take my coffee very seriously!

Fall just isn’t fall without Pumpkin Spice coffee and lattes aka happiness in a Cup-O-Joe! I love me some cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg but hate me some nasty ingredients used by many popular companies who produce Pumpkin Spice things…. like Coffee Mate, and that other really popular company that I’m never calling out because I kind of like them. You know who I’m talking about, right? Right. I knew you would!

That company, you know, the one I’m not calling out… they use high fructose corn syrup and caramel coloring in their Pumpkin Spice drinks and I’m not too fond of that. As much as it pains me, I won’t be partaking in their festive drinks because I have will power (ok sort of) so I’m making my own coffee syrup to enjoy in my delicious coffees (cold brewed preferred!) and guess what? There is no nastiness in my version, and it is made with just a few pantry staples. I feel like I just won the Pumpkin Spice lottery or something! I kind of did though, let’s be honest!

As for Coffee Mate and the like, I CAN’T EVEN. Those non-dairy creamer companies deserve to go out of business today for using the horrible ingredients they use, mainly partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oil. Can someone say the WORST product on earth? I mean seriously, the only reason to make a product like that is just to kill people, but I’m no conspiracy theorist so I’ll leave it at that. Just please, do your health a favor and stay away from that crap!

When I realized just how easy it was to make my own Pumpkin Spice Coffee Syrup I kind of cried on the inside about all of the money I have spent at that place that I kind of like. At $3.87 a pop, you could almost go broke buying a few drinks, not to mention all the receipts you might have to hide from your spouse! There are also 52 grams of sugar in their grande Pumpkin Spice latte and that my friends is what I would call a boat load. I understand the desire to indulge once in a while but 52 grams of sugar in something you could easily down in less than 5 minutes is kind of silly. I’d rather just drink a plain coffee and then go have an ice cream cone. Obviously that would only happen on a day I ate a salad for dinner though! 😉

What is important to remember about Pumpkin Spice stuff is that it isn’t about the pumpkin, its about the spice. So no, there is NOT pumpkin in this recipe. Forgive me if I’m wrong but pumpkin puree in coffee just doesn’t sound appealing. The spice though… that is where it is at!

100 Days of Real Food Cookbook Review

August 28, 2014 by Dana

I’ve been a huge fan of Lisa Leake of 100 Days of Real Food for quite some time. Lisa’s blog was actually the first real blog that I followed, so I am honored to be reviewing her book today!

First, I’m going to have to bring out the warm fuzzies for a minute because like I said, Lisa is awesome! Not only is she super classy (because she doesn’t even bat an eye at the drama people bring to her peanut butter posts), she is what I would call a Real Food Pioneer. Before Lisa, I’m not sure that people were really throwing around the term “Real Food” as much as they are today. That speaks volumes about how much she has accomplished through her blog, and is super inspiring.

Now I’m going to fan-girl out a little because Lisa SIGNED my book. *insert teenage-girl-pitched scream here* Yes, I’m officially cool! Ok I’m not but please don’t burst my bubble while I’m fan-girling (and don’t get a restraining order either) 😉

So what makes Lisa’s book so awesome you ask? Everything! The book is broken up into two parts so I’m going to discuss my thoughts on both parts because… well I like to pretend like I’m organized sometimes. Just go with it. I promise I know what I’m doing, I’m a food blogger with a signed booked. That means I’ve got it together, right? Right.

Part One: The Plan

Although I love the recipes in Lisa’s cookbook, I find Part One to be the MOST important part of this book. Lisa goes through everything from how to read ingredient labels, to understanding the sugar content of packaged foods, to going through ingredient lists from popular products. The stuff she packed into part one is so valuable because it is a great tool for helping other people understand where you are coming from if you’d like to start changing the way you look at food. The information is also a great tool for beginners. One of the biggest questions I get is “Where do I Start” and Lisa’s cookbook goes over ALL of that. It even includes a 14 Week Mini-Pledge for those on the fence about Real Food in their life, and a tracking chart for progress. Lisa also talks about portion sizes, how to shop at Farmer’s Markets, and all of the tricky labeling companies use to confuse people about the ingredients in packaged foods. If you can think of a Real Food question, Lisa probably covers it in Part One.

I can’t tell you how many times I would have loved to have a “handbook” to show people what is actually in processed foods and why the ingredients aren’t what I want my family to consume. When people you know just don’t get it, this book is the perfect solution. Here are a few other highlights from Part One:

Identifying Artificial Sweeteners
Why Low-Fat Products are Not Real Food
How to Find “Real” Eggs
More Tips on Reading Labels
And MUCH, MUCH, more!

Even for someone like myself who is a food blogger already living an unprocessed life, I learned a lot from Part One and was reminded just how awesome it is to be eating real food. Believe me, when I looked at the pages that contained the ingredients in all the processed foods that a lot of people are still consuming on a daily basis, I was reminded of why I choose a Real Food, Unprocessed life.

Part Two: The Recipes

What I love most about the recipes in Lisa’s book is that they are all relatable to the everyday family. This isn’t the GOOP, or a super fancy and out of your league lifestyle book. It is a down to earth approach to making meals that your family will love. There wasn’t one recipe that I looked at and thought “What the heck is that ingredient?” There were a ton of recipes that I thought my kids would just gobble up (especially the Macaroni Casserole), and every recipe was accompanied by a beautiful picture. I mean seriously, there isn’t anything NOT to like about these recipes because… well… just take a look at a few of the recipes I will be adding to my Real Food Bucket list:

The Best Pulled Pork in the Slow Cooker
Veggie Pancakes
Teriyaki Flank Steak Salad
Cinnamon Apple Chips
Southwest Chicken Wraps

I have already tried one of the recipes, which far exceeded my expectations. The recipe I went straight to was the Cinnamon-Raisin Quick Bread, which was pictured in one of the lunchbox idea pictures. Lisa spreads cream cheese in the middle of the bread and serves it as a sandwich, which goes perfectly with the bread. She also suggests using it to make French Toast which I might just have to try tomorrow morning!

I should admit, this recipe calls for applesauce and I have NEVER tried baking with applesauce. Boy, I must have missed the “Knowers That Applesauce Makes the Best Quick Bread” club because the bread was so light, fluffy, and texture-ific. I made the bread in both a loaf pan and muffin tins and of course I took pictures of the muffins because their tops were bangin’. You know how I feel about those muffin tops! Overall, I loved the recipe and am sending a muffin in my son’s lunchbox tomorrow. My husband also highly recommends the muffins slathered with sunflower butter (had to throw that in there just incase the peanut butter haters are upon us). 😉 😉 But really, he did slather it with sunflower butter immediately and proceeded to eat half of the loaf.

Of course you can also throw some raisins around and put two liners on your muffins. I did, and it was really fun. Not to mention, it made for a great picture to show off those muffin tops!

Everything Else You Need to Know About The 100 Days of Real Food Cookbook (From 100 Days of Real Food)

No white flour or any refined grains are used
No sugar or any refined (or artificial) sweeteners are used
No recipes call for packaged foods containing more than 5 ingredients
Familiar and easy-to-find ingredients are used (you probably already have most of them on hand!)
71 recipes are (or can easily be) Gluten-Free
79 recipes are (or can easily be) Vegetarian
49 recipes are (or can easily be) Dairy-Free
42 recipes are Freezer Friendly (my secret weapon when it comes to packing wholesome school lunches!)
A beautiful color photo is included with each and every recipe
70% new recipes – not previously published on the blog

If you are not familiar with who Lisa Leake is, this video describes her family’s journey and gives you a look into their life. Her book is also ON SALE NOW in stores and on Amazon.com. I’ve attached a link for your linking pleasure. Be sure to get one for yourself and gift one to a friend in need of some Real Food inspiration!

Thank you so much Lisa for inspiring all of us to change the way we think about the food we are eating, and a big congrats on your book dreams coming true! Make sure you check out the recipe for Lisa’s Cinnamon-Raisin Quick Bread as well!

Classic Alphabet Soup

August 25, 2014 by Dana

Is Alphabet Soup awesome or is Alphabet Soup awesome?

I think it’s pretty awesome if I do say so myself! You know what is even better? 100% from scratch Alphabet Soup. Yes, this amazingly comforting and delicious soup is 100% real! No fake stuff, no gimmicks, no MSG, no Campbell’s crap. Just the good stuff. You know, like my favorite Kenny Chesney song all wrapped up in veggie goodness and served in a cutesy bowl from Pier 1.

You know your life is pretty simple when your bowl from Pier 1 makes you smile! 🙂 But hey, it’s the little things in life people, like Alphabet soup and Kenny Chesney songs.

Speaking of the little things in life, I’m about to get all sentimental up in here so bear with me folks… this is THAT soup! The soup that your kids will remember momma making forever. The soup that I will teach my kids to make so that one day they will be able to make it for their own kids. *tears!* The soup that is nostalgic, comforting, nutritious, and just all around lovely. The soup that is simple in the simplest form, and food in the most loving and comforting form. It is THAT soup that will leave memories of dirty hands and little feet running around in my mind. I will remember the days of my kids loving my Alphabet soup forever! One day my 80 year old self will make this for my husband and we will talk about the good old days when our kids were little and we couldn’t even pee alone. I mean really… *tears* Ok, ok I’m stopping with the sappy stuff now!

Ok now that we’ve got the tears and warm fuzzies out of the ways let’s talk soup. I made this soup in 25 minutes the other night with a baby sitting at my feet and a toddler crying nearby. It was that time of night. You know, that time when everyone is spent, hungry, and hasn’t napped all day. It can be done that quickly, so why not? Here are the steps to making this soup:

Dice onion and carrots and throw them in large stock pot. Add beef, brown, and drain.
Add tomatoes, stock, green beans, peas, and seasonings.
THAT’S IT! Sigh of relief because dinner is made and everyone is looking for the letters of their name in their bowl!

I should also mention that I use no salt added, glass jarred tomatoes. I also use a homemade stock. If you are using tomatoes or stock with salt added you might have to adjust my recommended amount of salt accordingly.

*If you are looking for Alphabet Shaped pasta here is the one I use. I’m also including the tomato product I use, if you can’t find this product look for something of a similar measurement and get as close as you can. A little more or a little less won’t ruin the recipe! Both of these links include more then 1 of the item, hence the price.

Back to School Lunchbox Preview: Healthy Lunchbox Ideas

August 21, 2014 by Dana

My son is going back to school next week, should I do a happy dance or cry? Maybe I’ll cry while I’m doing a happy dance! Have you seen the mom on youtube who posts videos every year of her kids riding away on that big yellow bus while she sings “Bye, Bye, Bye?” Yeah, I probably could have done that a few times this summer as well. Believe me, I’m kind of excited to go to the grocery store and Target with only 2 children during the day. Life is so much easier when all of your kids can ride in a cart. Plus, maybe then all the old people will stop staring at me like I have 3 eyes. I know, I know, I look young and well… I am young. But seriously the stares I can do without. I get it, I’m crazy, my kids are crazy, and you hate us all when we are screaming in the isle you are occupying. Sorry for disrupting your otherwise quiet day, excuse me while I reach around you to get that pack of diapers (not your kind of diapers anyway, try the pad isle lady). Ok now my crude humor is coming out, we better move on before things get ugly! 😉

Last school year I learned a lot about packing lunches, mainly I need a good lunchbox system and my son will not suddenly like something new because it was in his lunchbox with a cutesy pick stuck in it. I think many other parents were in the same situation because my son came home one day and proclaimed “The teachers told us to tell our parents only to pack things we like.” What’s that you say now? I should pack stuff you like? Hmmm… I’ll think about it and get back to you on that one, ok honey? Truth be told sometimes that old lunchy-lunch came home barely touched. I can’t blame myself though, because turns out my son is talker. Yeah, that means he never shuts up. Believe me I know, I’ve spent a whole summer listening to him re-enact every move he has ever made playing Super Mario on his Nintendo Ds, including the sounds, songs, and random Italian accented Mario voice he decided to make up. Sometimes I find Mario and Luigi in my freezer… frozen… I mean not frozen, we don’t say that word in my house unless we want to listen to that song… that damn song… let it go people, let it go. Ok I’m done.

So here is my first batch of lunchbox recipes and guess what? They are ALL simple, easy, and lunchbox friendly. No soggy sandwiches, no disgusting lunchables… just real, nutritious food that does not take hours to put together. No, you don’t have to wake up at 5 am to do this!

Chicken Nachos (Lunchables alternative)

I’ve been told numerous times by my son the kids who take Lunchables everyday…..yes everyday! I always tell him “______’s mom probably just doesn’t know what the ingredients are in those things.” So he proceeded to try to tell his friend they were crappy. Not sure how that turned out, but I think it went something like “Lunchmeat is healthy.” Sure it is, sure it is. Anyway, kids love the idea of the Lunchable. It is fun, they can get creative, and they feel like their lunch is special. I thought chicken nachos would be a fun and easy way to create something that was deconstructed and my son loved it! Here is what you’ll need:

Shredded chicken (I make whole chickens frequently during the school year so that I always have a stash of chicken in the refrigerator to throw in pasta salads or use for meals)
Seasonings: adobo, cumin, and chili powder
Baked pitas: I used a Food for Life Ezekiel pita. I cut it into triangles, brushed it with olive oil, then sprinkled it with adobo seasoning. These are SO good plain and the pitas are loaded with nutrition and cheap! There is nothing in these pitas that doesn’t need to be there, and no mystery ingredients.
Shredded cheese
Sour cream
Fruit/Veggie of choice

Simply season your chicken, season pitas and bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, and your done!

Sweet Potato Matchsticks

These are awesome! My kids love sweet potato fries but they are kind of hard to send in a lunchbox because they tend to get soggy. I solved this problem by cutting the sweet potatoes really thin, and baking them until they are crisp. Remember those potato sticks in the can we all ate as kids? Yeah, this is them… except in sweet potato form minus that crappy oils and preservatives. You can make these up ahead of time and freeze them, or just make a batch and store them in the refrigerator until it is time to transfer them to a lunchbox. My kids eat them hot and cold, which makes them ideal for a lunchbox. Here is how I make them:

Slice sweet potatoes as thin as you can get them
Toss in olive oil and cinnamon
Turn out on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees until crispy, about 30 minutes

Homemade Trail Mix

I LOVE homemade trail mix! It is so easy to put together and I find it to be cheaper then the pre-made mixes that sometimes contain hidden ingredients that don’t need to be there. Here is what I threw together for my homemade trail mix:

raw almonds
raw pumpkin seeds
raw sunflower seeds
dried cherries
Enjoy Life semi-sweet mini chips

Whole Wheat Banana Muffin with Cream Cheese Filling

Ok, you didn’t think I would do a lunch post without plugging another recipe, did you? Of course not! So here is my shameless plug. I made these amazing muffins. They are moist, they are banana packed, they are whole wheat and naturally sweetened, and last but not least they are sprinkled. Yes, muffins can have sprinkles too and I sprinkle muffins because them muffins need to feel pretty once in a while too now ya’ll! They have been sprinkle-less far too long people! My sprinkles were veggie dyed and my muffins loved them. Then they all lived happily ever after. The End. Now click this link to my shameless plug. 🙂

Whole Wheat Biscuit from 100 Days of Real Food

Yes, I do use other blogger’s recipes! I’ve been a long time fan of Lisa from 100 Days of Real Food and I love her Super Easy Whole Wheat Biscuit recipe. I followed the recipe as written, and sprinkled the top with a little cheddar cheese to jazz them up a bit. Generally I would send the lunch with the biscuit included with a hot thermos filled with a soup or pasta, but I didn’t feel like defrosting any of my thermos freezer stash so I will share a hot recipe next time, I promise!

Dat Other Stuff

oranges
frozen peas
spinach salad with dried cherries and goat cheese
carrots
watermelon (or watermelly as we call it in my house)

Well there you have it… my Back to School Lunchbox Preview just in time for lunch packing next week. Hope everyone’s little ones have a good first day! 🙂

*If you like my lunchboxes check out LunchBots.

Whole Wheat Banana Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling

August 20, 2014 by Dana

I’ve been gawking… foodgawking that is! One thing I’ve really been gawking are all of those cutesy desserts covered in sprinkles galore. I’ve always loved sprinkles because they are cute, colorful, and well, they can make ugly things look pretty. However, once I grew up and realized what sprinkles actually were we kind of had a falling out. How could they have been lying to me this whole time? Pretending to be cute when in reality they are chemical bombs covered in artificial colorings! We’ve been broken up for quite some time now, and every time I see a sprinkle my heart sinks a little more. Until now!

I have no idea why it took me so long to realize that there ARE naturally dyed sprinkles out there, and they were right in front of my sprinkle-less little eyes this whole time. I’ve passed by them time and time again, never looking twice at their vegetable dyed awesomeness. One day when my kids weren’t screaming for Annie’s crackers (yes I do fall victim to those stupid bunnies sometimes too) I had a moment of clarity in the grocery store for the first time in over 7 years. All of a sudden there they were… the sprinkles I have been longing for all this time, so I scooped them up for $1.99 and was on my merry way home to think of reasons to use them.

Naturally I thought I’d be using the sprinkles for cupcakes but when I made these banana muffins I thought they needed a bit of a sprinkle face lift. My husband said “Don’t waste sprinkles on muffins” but seriously, he’s no food stylist so I started sprinkling, and how cute are these!?!? Muffins are no longer the “ugly cupcake” or the “stepchild of cupcakes” or the “duff” (totally not explaining that one if your not familiar with that term 😉 ), but they are now holding their own on the cuteness scale. These muffins are worthy of being a healthy classroom treat, or the lunchbox item all the kids are secretly longing for. We’ve re-invented muffins here people and I’m loving these!

What I love most about these muffins is they aren’t just cute muffins… they are healthy muffins! I don’t play the “whole wheat” game that is actually half whole wheat and half refined flour. What is the point of that again? Not only are these muffins whole wheat, they are also naturally sweetened which is almost always my goal when baking. On top of that they have a rich and creamy center with just enough cream cheese to make you feel like your eating something dreamy and decadent. Even better then all of that, they are so easy to make. Simply mix wet, mix dry, and combine just until mixed and bake.

Muffin Tip: I always fill my muffins to the top of the liner because nobody likes a muffin without tops!

*If you are looking for naturally dyed sprinkles here are the ones I used. It is a bulk pack but if you love sprinkles as much as I do it might be worth it!

Overstuffed Sweet Corn and Jalapeno Peppers

August 19, 2014 by Dana

Embarrassing food geek confession: I was super excited when I saw purple and black bell peppers at a local farmer’s market and endless recipe ideas flooded my head as soon as I saw these beauties. The best part… I filled two grocery bags full of beautiful produce, handed it to the gentleman running the stand, and he said $6 please. $6!!!!! For two heaping bags of produce. Helllllooo Gratz Auction, Thank You for being so awesome (and no I did not get a fish sandwich or pretzel to anyone who knows what I’m talking about). 😉 Another amazing find at the market… Non-GMO sweet corn! I got a dozen ears for $4, and left a happy, happy girl because my hopes of finding sweet corn that I trusted to be Non-GMO this summer were slim. Somehow I missed the yellow watermelons but hey, this girl can’t have everything. Maybe next time!

My husband kept asking why I wasn’t standing the peppers up because according to him “they look better that way.” Ummm… last time I checked you aren’t a food stylist hubby, so maybe you should keep your food styling tips to yourself! 😉 However, I explained the method to my madness and he totally got it. Stuffed peppers are delicious until you hit the bottom and you realize… you are out of stuffing. Now what? Do you eat the soggy bottom? Do you push past the guilt of wasting food and toss it? Problem solved right here folks, lay your peppers down and stuff the heck out of them. Stuff them babies till they are stuffed-out, heaping brown rice and goodies, and there is no way possible you or any army of men will ever run out of stuffing. Ever!

Sweet corn and jalapenos were truly meant to be friends. They go together so well, especially when mixed with rice and beans. I really wanted to keep these peppers simple so I mixed in other ingredients I felt most people would already have stocked in their pantry. I used black eyed peas, but black beans would also work great in this recipe. I also used homemade chicken stock I had already prepared and froze (speaking of stock I need to go strain my pot on the stove now!) however you could look for a low sodium, boxed stock that doesn’t contain any artificial ingredients or MSG (also look for other forms of MSG such as yeast extract and autolyzed yeast). If you use a boxed stock, you might have to adjust the adobo according to the salt content of the stock.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

August 18, 2014 by Dana

When the words “whole wheat chocolate cupcakes” come out of my mouth you are probably envisioning a dry, cardboard-like cupcake that was better left un-eaten. SO not the case here people! I would never suggest a dessert recipe that my family hasn’t thoroughly enjoyed, and these cupcakes are no exception. They are dark chocolate, moist, and have the creamiest cream cheese icing in the world that goes perfectly with the chocolate. This is my go-to chocolate cupcake recipe, and being whole wheat is just a bonus. No flavor is compromised here because if I’m eating the calories that come packed in a cupcake…. it better taste delicious!

I love a cupcake that tastes like it came straight from a high end bakery. One that uses whole, real ingredients and yields a product far superior to cake mixes and trans fat laden whipped topping. There is something so much tastier about a product that comes right out of your own oven, and looks beautiful! These babies are truly classic and satisfying. If your sweet tooth is over powering your brain take a few minutes out of your day and treat yourself, your family will love you for it! 😉

My secret ingredient in these: coffee! Coffee is going to do two things in this recipe. 1) Give your cupcakes a “dark chocolate” flavor and 2) give your cupcakes a light, fluffy texture. I didn’t even tell my husband I put coffee in these and guess what? He didn’t know because you can’t taste the coffee. It is simply there as a flavor booster and acid. Acidity in baking makes things lighter and fluffier so it is always a good thing (just like the buttermilk in your pancakes). When I make cupcakes I always include something acidic for this reason.

My other secret ingredient: orange zest in the cream cheese icing. I learned this trick almost immediately in pastry school. I can vividly remember the day… we were making Danish. Our instructor presented us with the option of using a filling she made and when I tasted it I just about melted. It was one of the best fillings I had ever tasted! I just had to know what was in it and she filled me in. Zest, zest, zest! ZEST! Orange zest will kick up the flavor of a cream cheese icing and take it to a whole ‘nother level! I mean a whole ‘nother level you’ve never known before! You have got to zest them oranges baby because that is the key to the *in Oprah voice* best EEEEVVVVEEEERRRR cream cheese icing!!!! So gimmicky of me, yet so true. Please excuse my gimmicky food blogger talk… because… you know that’s not my style! 😉

*Recipe measurements adapted from Death By Chocolate Cupcakes by Sally’s Baking Addiction.

Creamy Tomato Soup With Cheesy Pita Dippers

August 14, 2014 by Dana

Creamy tomato soup with cheesy pita dippers. That is it, that is all she wrote. Need I really say more? If there was ever a time I wanted to leave it at that, the time is now!

Before we start can we just take a quick moment of silence (aka pity party) for me, the mom at the grocery store whose kids are repeatedly yelling the word “Crotch.” I don’t know how, I don’t know why, but one day that word rolled off my lips while telling my son to zip his pants and the rest is history. NOT…A…DAY has gone by since then that they haven’t used it in every way, shape, and form they could and at the grocery store is the worst! Can you imagine, me, a young looking mom, standing next to the smug, know-it-all old couple while my kids say “I’m working in the crotch.” What does that even mean!?!?!? Please, pray for me people. Pray that my kids will find it in their hearts to stop saying “crotch” in the grocery store because if it happens again I might just jump into a bulk bin and never come out!

Moving on, this soup is the perfect blend of creamy and tomato with a hint of cheddar. Not only that, it is very dip-able, hence the pita dippers! The dippers can be put together in just a minute and thrown in the oven to complete the soup in a way that your kids will love. This soup is lunchbox friendly, freezer friendly, and versatile as I have even made it with extra veggies. This recipe is a large batch recipe, so I created it specifically for the moms looking to save some time by making a large batch and freezing some for later. The recipe filled my 8 quart stock pot, so the large batch is large! I freeze this soup in half pint ball jars to use specifically for my son’s lunchbox thermos and it is always a big hit. If you are only looking for a regular sized batch, just cut the recipe in half (included below).

Cheesy Pita Dippers

Ingredients:

Store bought pitas (Food for Life Prophet Pockets Recommended, if you can’t find them check the ingredients in your pitas! They should not contain any weird ingredients, especially partially hydrogenated oils, preservatives, or bleached flours!)
Extra virgin olive oil
Pink Himalayan or Kosher salt
Freshly grated cheddar/parmesan cheese or cheese of your choice

Directions: Cut pitas in triangles and brush with olive oil. Lightly salt pitas, top with cheese, and bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes until slightly browned and crisp.

Regular Batch Measurements

1 stick butter (1/4 pound)
1 garlic clove
1/2 cup flour
4 cups milk (whole or 2% recommended)
4 ounces cheddar cheese
6 cups (48 ounces) strained tomato (I buy strained tomatoes in a glass jar as I am not fond of canned tomato products. You can use any jarred/canned tomatoes as close to measurement as possible that are smooth and do not contain added salt)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 +1/4 tsp pink Himalayan or Kosher salt
black pepper to taste

*Just for reference, this is the tomato product that I use. Look in your local organic section or specialty store and they should carry it. If you can’t find it, again any smooth and unsalted tomato product will work. Amazon also carries the product but it is more expensive online even in the bulk quantity.

Mediterranean Orzo and White Bean Salad

August 12, 2014 by Dana

Truth be told, I learned something about myself today. I don’t know how to spell the word Mediterranean. I tried many times. Is it two d’s? Two t’s? Heck I have no clue, I still don’t think I could spell it right if I wanted to! I’m not even convinced Google knows how to spell it. Thank you auto-correct! Regardless, that doesn’t take away from how much I love this pasta salad! *Insert blogger sales pitch about how amazing this pasta salad is* The orzo, the feta, the veggies, the beans, the salty sweetness, I mean really it is just a party in a bowl all around. I searched high and low for whole wheat orzo because I wrongly assumed it was a thing. Why wouldn’t every grocery store carry it? We are living in 2014, you know… the future, where people have woken up to the fact that the bleaching and enriching process is poo-poo! Thankfully, my search ended at Wegman’s where I ran into a box of whole wheat orzo and the rest is history.

I have been making pasta salads all summer because they are quick, easy, and able to pack protein and veggies. I love putting pasta salads over spinach or greens and eating it for lunch (no dressing required). My lunch is usually just shoving some food in my face because I’m too busy feeding hungry boys to even think about what I am eating. Even though I’m home with them I can relate to the people at day jobs who feel too busy to eat and a lunch like this is a great solution. You don’t have to fiddle around with those stupid plastic dressing containers, or a bunch of baggies. Throw some spinach and pasta salad in a container and you have a meal in a bowl. One bowl, one spoon/fork and there you have it!

The dressing for this salad is a mix of a few bold flavors, which is what makes is so good! Whole grain mustard, tomato paste, and red wine vinegar come together to create the perfect companion for olives and feta. My husband’s grandparents hooked us up with some yellow tomatoes and they were super sweet and complimented the saltiness of this salad perfectly. If you can’t find a sweeter tomato, I would suggest adding a few extra sun dried tomatoes, or even a handful of dried cranberries to give the salad a nice balance.

I struggled with what to call this flavor bomb, but I think Mediterranean White Bean and Orzo Salad about sums it up, right? Sheesh I really need to start getting more creative but it seemed better then “The Best EVER Pasta Salad Recipe!” agreed? 😉

Perfectly Sweetened Cold Brewed Coffee

August 11, 2014 by Dana

Coffee… one of my most loved things in the world! I have been searching for the best iced coffee for a long time and by long time I mean a few years. I’ve had a Keurig, I have a Nespresso, I’ve tried numerous different roasts and blends but one thing I just couldn’t master was getting an iced coffee that was just like what I would get at Starbucks. Yes, I’m one of those people. The people who shamelessly admit to going to Starbuck’s frequently. The people who have a card, and an app, and know the drive-thru person. The people who know what month their seasonal drinks come back. Ok, now this is just getting embarrassing but I think you get the point… I love caffeine in iced coffee form preferably from Starbuck’s but without the huge price tag!

I admit, I felt kind of stupid when I realized I don’t need any pricey gadgets to get my perfect iced coffee. I don’t need pods that cost $1 each, or a fancy machine. All I need is a bag of course ground coffee, water, and a cheesecloth *insert sad face here for every penny I have spent on coffee* Yes, it is true… all I really needed in my quest to find the perfect iced coffee was course ground coffee, water, and a cheesecloth.

Right now, I need to publicly thank Ali Ebright from Gimme Some Oven for her Cold Brewed Coffee post. Thank You Ali for enlightening me on how to cold brew coffee. I never knew this was a thing until I saw this post on Pinterest. I don’t want to say it changed my life because… well.. real life changing events are marriages and births but this ranks somewhere slightly below those events. My husband also greatly thanks you for all the money I am now saving! If you want step-by-step pictures of exactly how to do this go check out Ali’s post because it’s pretty awesome.

What really makes cold brewed coffee extra special is the fact that it is strong. Yes, that is the missing link when you try to brew coffee and then ice it. Unless you are doubling the amount of grounds you use, you probably don’t have a strong enough coffee. Pair that with trying to ice it, then the ice melting and you have the makings of a horrible cup of iced coffee. We have all been there, believe me I have too. My expectations are high only to be disappointed by a watered down mess. It is just NEVER…GOOD…ENOUGH when you know there is a deliciously strong and slightly sweetened (with a natural sweetener) cup of iced coffee out there somewhere. Here it is though, guess-work gone! I’ve posted a Caramel Vanilla Bean coffee syrup in the past, and I have taken the same concept and tailored it to this cold brewed coffee recipe to create the perfect iced coffee. The best part? Make this at the beginning of the week and enjoy it for a few days before you have to make more. This is really what I would consider a coffee concentrate, and you can enjoy many cups from just one brew! It is as simple as putting grounds and water in a container over night, then straining it in the morning. Once your coffee is strained you can make your simple syrup (which takes less than 5 minutes), pour it in the coffee and viola! Just like Starbucks!

I used coffee that I bought at Starbucks, the Kati-Kati blend. They only run this blend in the summer but with fall approaching their Anniversary Blend will be coming out and that is fabulous as well. Since you need course ground coffee to do this, the easiest thing to do is buy a bag of whole beans in one of their stores and they will ask you if you want it ground. All you have to say is course ground and they will know exactly what you are talking about. Alternatively grocery stores usually have grinders in their coffee isle so you can buy whatever blend you like and grind it there. The problem with a finer ground coffee is that it is really hard to strain out, and you are more likely to end up with grounds floating in your cup. I know not everyone has cheesecloths laying around but Target carries them in their kitchen section for about $2.83 or so. One package will last you a few brews.

Ok, so now that I’ve officially embarrassed myself with all of my coffee talk and Starbucks knowledge here is the recipe. The recommended amount of sugar will give you a sweetness that still lets the taste of the coffee shine through.If you don’t like sweetened coffee, omit the simple syrup. If you like an iced coffee that is just barely sweetened I would cut the sugar amount in half. Although this isn’t super sweetened, it falls somewhere in the middle.

Cajun Shrimp and Broccoli Pasta

August 10, 2014 by Dana

My husband went away for an over-night trip with friends and dropped one of my boys off at his Meme’s house on the way. Boy, did my house seem eerily quite! I don’t know if any other moms can relate but don’t things seem so weird even if just one child is gone? Sheesh it was like I was on a vacation from my life or something! So naturally, I decided it would be a great time to cook a spectacular meal seeing I was dealing with a 1 year old who could obviously care less, and a 7 year old who was convinced I was trying to hide copious amounts of broccoli in his food (it was parsley!!) Off to Wegman’s I went to purchase the biggest, most beautiful wild caught shrimp I could find. I came home and slathered those babies with a creamy sauce, cheese, and generous amounts of Cajun seasoning and boy did I ever feel bad that the rest of my family was gone when I sat down to eat this meal!

I mentioned that naturally the baby would care less about this pasta. How wrong did he prove me when he was begging and begging for more! Not only did he beg for more, he continued to climb into his high chair over and over until I fed him more pasta. Then when he was done with that he grabbed his brother’s plate off the table and proceeded to park his little tushy on the floor and have a little feast by himself! How could I really be mad at that cute little face covered in sauce though? 🙂 Plus, he was eating broccoli so that made Mama happy!

For the noodles in this dish I used whole wheat lasagna sheets and cut them in half (they were really narrow to begin with). I have been looking for whole wheat lasagna sheets for the longest time and was finally able to find some! Funny how a product that is so widely used is so hard to find in whole wheat. Regardless, you can use any pasta you’d like for this dish because the pasta doesn’t really make the dish. I did enjoy a different type of noodle in this but if you want to switch it up a whole wheat rigatoni or penne would work fantastic! I used 8 ounces of pasta total.

Here are the Steps I Took to Cook this Meal:

Cook the Pasta: I used 8 ounces of lasagna noodles, you can use any kind of pasta you’d like!
Season and Roast Broccoli: Sprinkle broccoli generously with Cajun seasoning and roast in the oven for about 25 minutes while you are cooking your other ingredients.
Boil the shrimp: Self explanatory! After you boil the shrimp peel them if needed.
Make the sauce.
Layer in skillet.
Bake.
Be Amazed at How Delicious it Was! Ok this is bordering on being a gimmicky catch phrase food bloggers use, but seriously it is really good!

The quicker way to do this would be to boil the pasta, and within the last few minutes throw in the shrimp and broccoli. I prefer oven roasted broccoli so that is why I didn’t do that, but if you are looking to save time this would be the way to do it!

My First Canning Experience: Canning Peaches With Honey

August 9, 2014 by Dana

Canning Peaches with Honey is easier then you may think! In this post, I will go through everything you need to know and all the obstacles I faced during my first canning experience.

This year I really wanted to try canning some fresh summer produce to enjoy through the winter, and to help me pack lunches for my son that I feel are nutritious. Last school year I felt myself sending the same few fruits the whole winter because there aren’t as many options in season during the winter. Eating in season has so many benefits, but my main motivator is that is it is much cheaper to eat produce that is in season because of the abundance at that time. Abundance = lower prices! When I saw peaches for 39 cents a piece, I HAD to bite the bullet and give it a try, so my husband and I went to Target and purchased the necessary equipment… and then I procrastinated!

Equipment I Used

Products from Amazon.com

As with anything I’m skeptical about, I waited. I waited, and waited, and waited. The peaches weren’t going anywhere, and they weren’t going bad either. I was scared! What If I screwed this up and wasted all of these beautiful peaches? A friend at church who has been in a canning frenzy lately told me this: it isn’t hard, it is just a process.

Being completely unfamiliar with the process, I was intimidated to say the least. I got a canning book and I read up about everything on the internet but every source explained things in a different way. Did I need to sterilize the jars? How much water did I need to put in the water bath? Would I be able to do this WITHOUT cups upon cups of sugar, as suggested by Ball? These are a few of the questions I had, but I worked my way through the process and guess what? It wasn’t as complicated as it sounds!

My Obstacles

Let me just throw this out there, I have a SMALL kitchen, and by small I mean galley style in an apartment with about a square foot of working space. If you have more space (you almost have to) then this process will be a lot easier for you. I guess my biggest obstacle was space and timing, but that is essentially why I’m writing this. A lot of the directions tell you what you need to do but don’t necessarily say do all of these steps at the same time then go on to these steps at the same time.

My other obstacle was the amount of sugar that my Ball canning book suggested using. I just don’t understand the concept behind taking fresh produce and dumping mass amounts of refined sugar on it, so I did not follow Ball’s suggestion for the syrup. Even their honey based syrup was equal parts honey to water. I’m not judging here, don’t get me wrong. If you’ve canned with refined sugars and you are fine with that, then awesome! What works for you, works for you. But for me, I would never purchase sugar laden fruit cups at the grocery store so I sure won’t be canning sugar laden fruits at home.

Ball suggests using 20% sugar for their “extra-light syrup” which equals 5 1/2 cups of sugar and 6 cups of water. WHOA! Basically this is equal parts sugar to water, and this is the “extra-light”. Stated above the syrups chart, it says that you CAN can whole, halved, or sliced fruits in water. This let me know the sugar isn’t essential. I read a few times on various canning sites that sugar helps with browning so maybe that is why people use so much sugar. I was willing to take the chance that I might have a slight color change over using refined sugar. My solution was that I was just going to mix up my own syrup to taste using raw honey and water. I ended up using about a Tablespoon of honey per cup of water. To me this was actually pretty sweet. In comparison to Ball’s ratio, mine would be 1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons honey to 6 cups of water. Ball’s suggestion for their honey syrup still contains a full cup of refined sugar + a cup of honey per 4 cups of water. To me this is still a ton of sugar even if you are substituting some of the refined sugar for honey! Overall, my syrup tasted just sweet enough for me and so far I haven’t had a ton of color change.

To recap, the solution I used and I’m suggesting is 1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons of honey to 6 cups of water. I used about a cup of syrup per jar, so this would have given me about 6 pint jars filled with about 10 peaches

The Steps I Used

As I mentioned before timing is essential. Somehow I timed everything perfectly but it kind of just happened that way. You will need all four burners of your stove to do this. I’m suggesting to get everything hot ahead of time so when your peaches are ready you can go, go, go!

Start your syrup: Place your water and your honey in a pot and bring it to a simmer. Keep it hot, because you need hot syrup to pour over your peaches.
Start your lids: Place your lids in a small saucepan and bring them to a simmer. Your lids also need to be hot when you put them on your cans. Having them already hot is a good idea because then you don’t even have to think about it later. Yes, you are doing this kind of early but it is better to have everything ready to go.
Get your cans hot: You can do this by putting the water in your canning pot and using the rack with your cans upside down. The steam from the boiling water should make your cans hot, and sterilize them at the same time. You can leave the water boiling so your cans stay hot until you are ready to use them. It will take some time to get your water boiling, so this is why I’m suggesting to do this ahead of time.
Peel your peaches: Bring a pot of water to a boil and submerge your peaches into the water. While your peaches are in the water, take a large colander and place it in the sink. Also take a large cutting board and get it ready to use. After about a minute take one peach out of the boiling water and run it under cold water. This is a test to make sure your peaches are ready to be peeled. If you take your thumb and try to push the skin to remove it and it moves, then they are ready and you can drain them and peel the rest. If not, return it back to the water and give them another 30 seconds to a minute. Your peaches should peel easily unless they are under ripe. Once you run them under cold water the skin should slide off with some help from you.
Pit and slice your peaches: Cut along the “buttcrack” of the peach and it should separate perfectly with a little pressure. If it doesn’t separate, this might indicate that your peaches are not completely ripe, which isn’t a good thing if you are canning them. The center should be nice and red as well. You can slice your peaches or keep them in halves. I chose to slice mine.
Fill your jars: At this point, everything will be set up perfectly for you to fill your jars with ease. Place your peaches in your jar leaving 1/2 inch headspace (according to Ball). Ladle hot syrup over peaches, again leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove any air bubbles using the rubber spatula tool included in your canning kit. Place hot lid on top of can using the magnetic lid grabber from your canning kit, and seal lid with hot ring. Set aside until you fill all of your jars, making sure each lid is on tightly.
Process your jars: This is the easy part! You’ve set everything up, now you get to let some boiling water in your canning pot finish the job. Move your rack down to the bottom of your canning pot and make sure your jars are submerged at least 2/3 of the way up with water. Your jars should never touch the bottom of the pot. You may have to add additional water to your canning pot and that is fine. I had to, and I used a liquid measuring cup to add the additional water. Before you start your processing time your water has to be boiling! Bring your water to a boil then start your time and place the lid on your canning pot.
Remove your jars and wait: After your processing time (25 minutes for pints, 30 minutes for quarts according to Ball) remove your jars with the hot jar handler from your canning kit and set them to cool on a kitchen towel. This is the part that takes some patience, because of course you want to know if your jars sealed correctly right away. It does take quite some time for the jars to cool completely so leave them alone and walk away!

How to Tell if Your Jars Sealed Correctly

This was the big question for me, did I do it correctly? Obviously, I had no idea of knowing how to tell if my jars were sealed correctly so I stumbled upon the website PickYourOwn.Org that had all of the information I needed to know. According to Pick Your Own here is How to Tell if Your Jars Are Sealed Correctly:

Your lid should not be able to spring back up at your when you press on the center. I knew my jars were sealed because the center was firm. I could not have moved it!
Lid should make a ringing sound when tapped with a metal spoon. If you tap your lid with a spoon and it sounds dull, your jars are not sealed correctly.
At eye level the middle of your lid should be curved down slightly. If your lid is flat or bulging in any way, your jar could possibly be unsealed.

There is a ton of other great information on Pick Your Own of what to do if your jars aren’t sealed, so check that out!

My Closing Thoughts

I thought it was going to be really hard.. heck I even procrastinated quite a bit. I might have never even done the canning had I not kept thinking my husband would be so mad at me if I wasted all of those peaches!! But after I was finished I realized I was my own worst enemy because IT WAS SO EASY! The most important part is really setting everything up ahead of time and making sure you have everything hot and ready to go. One of the first thing I learned in Pastry School were the words Mise en Place, which just means “Everything in It’s Place” and that is exactly what I recommend. Get everything in it’s place, then start. If you don’t have everything in it’s place, you will be thinking AHHHHH I don’t have the lids or AHHHH my jars aren’t ready. Again, I am NO expert, heck I wasn’t even planning on talking about these peaches here, but I thought why not? There are plenty of mom’s out there thinking canning is hard and I know now that it is super duper easy. The only thing I might have done different was I would have tried to put more peaches in each jar. After the fact it looked like I could have fit more, and I could have filled the jars a little bit more. I might have been over concerned with the 1/2 inch headspace, but hey… I sealed the jars and I’m happy about that.

Frozen Banana Acai Bowl

August 6, 2014 by Dana

Breakfast can be a really chaotic time at my house, and with back to school approaching it is bound to get a lot worse. I am then going to be accountable for making sure another little human is well fed until lunch time. I sure don’t ever want to send my child to school with no food in his belly, but boy sometimes it is really tempting to whip out a box of crappy cereal and tell him to have at it! Then I would be able to get my last 5 minutes of sleep (does this qualify as a snooze button?) But who am I kidding, my son would be overjoyed if that happened! However, there is a healthy voice inside my head that says “Dana, it is time for breakfast, the most important meal of the day. It is now time to get up and make sure your son is nourished and energized to go to school and learn. Please get up and prepare something super awesome and nutrient dense for him!” Of course I always listen to the healthy voice because I know it is right! This year nutrient packed breakfasts might not be as hard as they used to be. I’m always looking for new ideas because let’s face it, when you don’t eat processed foods your options can be limited when time isn’t abundant. Most of our mornings contain eggs, oatmeal, or homemade whole wheat pancakes. Thankfully over the summer I found a new breakfast that my family has really been fond of to put into the routine….. acai (ah-sah-ee) smoothies and bowls! I know, it sounds really “health nut” of me, but I’m telling you… they are glorious! So, I have to throw this in here…I saw this “bowl” concept on Istagram and didn’t really get it. There were lots of colorful and nutrient dense foods on top but what was underneath? Well, I can’t say for sure that all of them are Sambazon Acai Smoothie Packs, but that is what I recommend and that is what this recipe contains. Essentially it is a thick, smoothie-like consistency that you put all of the beautiful toppings on. It is served cold, just like a smoothie. What makes this recipe I’m sharing a little different is the banana is frozen beforehand, so the consistency of the bowl is thicker, creamier, and even more delicious! Ok, I may or may not have gotten the frozen banana idea from Instagram too, but who is keeping tabs?!?! 😉

Let’s talk nutrients… this bowl is packed to the brim. Acai is loaded with antioxidants (2 times as much as blueberries) and also contains a heafty dose of Omega fatty acids. Hello awesome breakfast! Pair the acai with a banana, various other fruits, nuts, and oats, and you are set until naptime, I promise! My kids really loved the smoothies with watermelon and banana, and I really loved the bowls just like the ones pictured. Both are awesome options but you can really get creative and throw in what you have on hand. We don’t always keep the same fresh produce on hand so I tried a number of fruits in my Rio Bowl and all of them were great (watermelon was my favorite!!)

If you’d like to know where to find Sambazon Acai Smoothie Packs in your area their website can tell you exactly where to go! 2 stores in my area had their products and I don’t live in a huge city. They also have various other smoothies and health products in grocery stores as well. Also very noteable, their products are Non-GMO verified, USDA Organic, EcoCert Fair Trade, Vegan, and Gluten Free!!

Brown Butter and Honey Glazed Carrots

August 2, 2014 by Dana

Brown butter… what can I say.. if you’ve never made it I suggest you put it on your bucket list of cooking immediately. I don’t want to say it will change your life because that is kind of gimmicky, but it will. Once you taste it, your mind will start going a mile a minute thinking of how your going to use brown butter next. I have just what you are looking for right here with this Brown Butter and Honey Glazed Carrot recipe!

I don’t know what is better, brown butter or raw honey. After we started becoming more conscious of our sugar intake and source, I found raw honey. Boy, was I ever missing out when I was purchasing those cute little plastic honey bear bottles! Turns out honey, like the really liquidy honey bear kind, is actually more refined then you would think. It is filtered of all the good pollens, enzymes, minerals, and vitamins, and pasteurized. The pasteurization process takes many of its health benefits away as well. Honey has long been used to treat many illnesses, and I can verify that raw honey will soothe a soar throat in minutes! Of course like most foods, raw honey is more expensive then its refined counterpart but do yourself a favor and give it a try, you will never be tempted to squeeze that cute honey bear again!

Here are a few notes about browning butter for those of you who have not done it before. It is really easy, but at the same time complicated because you need to remove the butter from the heat at the correct time. My best advice is to stand with your butter the whole time, and watch it transform. You should be whirling your butter around your pan the whole time, and this will help to ensure your butter doesn’t burn. To watch the color of your butter transform you will need a pan that isn’t dark colored. A dark colored pan will make it impossible to see when your butter is done so the non-stick pans will not work for this (I don’t use them anyway). When you start smelling something REALLY good, your butter is getting to the point of almost being done. You will smell it first, then see it go from tinted, to light brown, and finally a darker brown will be reached when you remove the pan from the heat. I know it sounds intimidating but what is the worst that can happen? Some burned butter? Let me assure you, burning some butter is totally worth discovering how amazingly delicious browned butter is!

LunchBots Back to School Giveaway! (closed)

August 2, 2014 by Dana

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Just in time for back to school, one winner will receive a Quad Lunchbox courtesy of our affiliate LunchBots! I love their lunchboxes because they are durable, simple, and fun! My son loves taking his Lunchbots to school and guess what? It is easy to clean and comes home empty (ok unless he talking the entire lunch time!) No gimmicky, spammy e-mails to deal with just simply follow the directions above to enter. One winner will be shipped their Quad directly from LunchBots. Winner must reside within the United States.

P.S. – If you want more from the blog, and to hear about future giveaways, subscribe to my feed and get new posts directly to your inbox 🙂

Here is the last lunch I put together with my own Quad this week!

Goat Cheese Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms

July 30, 2014 by Dana

Goat cheese makes everything delicious and these Goat Cheese and Herb Portabellas are no exception. I could do a write up of how amazing they are, etc. but I’m not even going to go there. These are beyond amazing.. end of story! I could have eaten 10 more if I wouldn’t have been thinking in the back of my mind that I needed to save some for my family (plus there is a lot of cheese in them!)

What I would like to address is how to make these on a budget. Believe me, I have 3 kids and I don’t have a day job! I know how important it is to pinch every penny and when I create a recipe like this one, money is in the back of my mind. I never want to provide recipes to people that cost a ton of money to make, and that can be eaten in a matter of a minute. Goat cheese, pine nuts, portabella caps…. all grocery store items that do cost a bit more money. However, my family has found Aldi, the grocery store where you can buy real food on a budget (some even organic) and not spend a fortune! I got the goat cheese for $1.99, as opposed to $5.00 at Giant. I got a whole bag of pine nuts for $2.00, and the portabella caps for $2.50, which are $4.99 at Giant. I was able to make this delicious recipe for less money by shopping smart. Believe me, there is a lot of junk food at Aldi too, just like any other grocery store. However, their produce prices are ridiculously cheap and we have found some great stuff there that helps us save money on groceries. We even found the same organic carrots there that they sell at a pricey “health food” store in my area for $5.00 cheaper. How stupid did I feel when I saw the same exact product at Aldi for so much less! This isn’t in any way endorsed by them, I’m actually just a real mom with a family and know all too well how expensive it is to eat good food. Just wanted to let everyone know, check it out! Speaking of discounts I found these cute little appetizer dishes at TJ MAXX. I need to remind myself NEVER to go in that place because they have so much kitchen stuff it is just too much for me to handle, I want everything! Even broken things in the clearance isle appeal to me because I can still photograph an item that is chipped or cracked without it being seen. If I buy one more prop my husband might disown me so I need to stay far, far away from TJ MAXX. But seriously how cute are these little appetizer dishes?

One last note, the breadcrumbs. Please, I beg of you, do not use standard store bought breadcrumbs! They are one of the worst products I have ever seen on grocery store shelves, and if you haven’t noticed you can keep them for YEARS without them going bad. Instead, I would suggest just making your own with a piece of whole grain bread (real whole grain bread, not Sara Lee’s crap with 30 ingredients), salt, pepper, and whatever spices you’d like to throw in. I have a step by step guide on my Whole Grain Breadcrumb recipe so check that out. If you are completely scared by that idea I would suggest looking for an organic product because the Progresso-type brands all contain trans fats, high fructose corn syrup, and MSG.

Dana

Double Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing

Chocolate Dipping Ganache:

Fresh Watermelon Jello

White Bean Dip with Whole Wheat Pita Chips

Spiced Black Beans for Bento

Soupy & Creamy Mac n Cheese (15 minutes to make on stovetop!)

Creamy Ranch Slaw

Apple Pie Cupcake Filling

Caramel Drizzle

Homemade Brown Sugar

Veggie Stir Fry

The Officially Official No Malodextrin in My Taco Seasoning Recipe

Taco Night Freezer Corn

Pastina Soup

Homemade Vanilla/Maple Puddin’

Carnita Bowl Seasoned Rice

Part One: The Plan

Part Two: The Recipes

Everything Else You Need to Know About The 100 Days of Real Food Cookbook (From 100 Days of Real Food)

Chicken Nachos (Lunchables alternative)

Sweet Potato Matchsticks

Homemade Trail Mix

Whole Wheat Banana Muffin with Cream Cheese Filling

Whole Wheat Biscuit from 100 Days of Real Food

Dat Other Stuff

Cheesy Pita Dippers

Regular Batch Measurements

Here are the Steps I Took to Cook this Meal:

Canning Peaches with Honey is easier then you may think! In this post, I will go through everything you need to know and all the obstacles I faced during my first canning experience.

Equipment I Used

Products from Amazon.com

My Obstacles

The Steps I Used

How to Tell if Your Jars Sealed Correctly

My Closing Thoughts

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