sour cream

Grilled Surf & Turf Tacos

February 19, 2017 by Dana

Tacos are a family favorite here, and these Grilled Surf & Turf Tacos did not disappoint! They are so quick to put together, and a perfect meal for any night of the week.

One quick thing to point out about life in general. Target now has organic flour tortillas and that means my life is basically complete. For years (I’m not kidding) I’ve been looking for a store bought flour tortilla that did not contain hydrogenated oils, also known as trans fats. I was able to find ONE product at Giant that did not. ONE. They are good, but I like options!

Now there are two! So I can now go to Target, get a latte from Starbucks, buy diapers, groceries, and tortillas all in one place. Yeeessss. 🙂

Not only did I find flour tortillas that checked out in the ingredient department, I also found a huge bin of Avocados From Mexico right next to the tortilla section. In the bin I found the perfectly ripened avocado. Not too mushy, not too firm, but right in between. It sliced so perfectly for these Grilled Surf & Turf Tacos. The best part… I wasn’t even there for tortillas or avocados!! haha In fact, I don’t even know what I was there for!

Only. At. Target.

In my Fiesta Grilled Chicken recipe I shared a spice mix that I use for grilled meats for tacos, burritos, quesadillas, etc. This recipe is exactly like that one, in that I just use a few spices and I’m done! No packets for seasoning, or out of the ordinary ingredients. I love these simple recipes and my family does too!

Speaking of packets… a friend was just over at my house the other day and mentioned that she has always wanted to make her own taco seasoning mix but she just didn’t know what to use. I got mine off of the back of a can of beans one day. I have honestly not picked up a packet since then. It is so simple! You can totally play around with ratios of course,and add in other ingredients as you taste test and figure out what you like the best. Per pound of ground beef I use:

2 Tablespoons chili powder
2 Tablespoons cumin
2 teaspoons adobo seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

The adobo seasoning does contain sodium, so I do go light on the salt. This recipe is similar, I’m just using steak instead of ground beef. Those 3 spices are the best together and are a great foundation for making your own taco seasoning. I’m sure I’ll be posting a ton of other recipes using them since my kids love this stuff and so do I!

Creamy Crockpot Taco Dip

December 30, 2014 by Dana

This creamy Crockpot Taco Dip is sure to be your new “Go-To” party recipe! Throw it together the day of your party and keep in warm in your crockpot. Hello delicious!

Today my hideous crockpot is unveiled. I’ve spoke of it, I’ve joked of it, and here it is in all of it’s *older then I am* glory! Doesn’t the color remind you of something your mother got as a wedding shower present? HA! 🙂

Before we get started I’d like to point out the obvious: tomorrow is New Year’s Eve! My whole family is going to a party at our Pastor’s house so that should be fun. I know, I know, it sounds like a big snooze fest but it is not like that at all, I’m telling you! 2014 has been such an amazing year for me. I watched my boys grow up a little more *tear*, started this blog, and was surrounded by amazing people all year long. I couldn’t have asked for anything better. It is amazing how every year seems to get better and better. Ok, I’m done with the sentimental stuff now, I promise! On to the dip….

Even though my crockpot is ugly it doesn’t stop this dip from being delicious, addicting, and pretty. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not claiming this dip to be healthy or fat free….but it is one notch above the Velveeta and Rotel kind of thing because Hello! no random ingredients! So that makes it a little better, right? PLUS it has fresh tomatoes on top and that’s a veggie (I mean fruit, but hey who is being politically correct right now?) so…yeah…tomatoes = healthy. I mean, it was a nice try, right?

Cooking Tips

I only made a half batch of this dip because I was only serving it to my family. The recipe below is a full batch, that will serve roughly 12 or so people.
I waited until the end to add my beans, however you can throw them in with the rest of the ingredients in the beginning if you’d like.
If you want your dip to look like mine, use a plastic baggie to pipe your sour cream in lines! 🙂
I recommend choosing a tortilla chip that doesn’t contain soybean oil, and is non-GMO verified. We love the brand Garden of Eatin’ so check them out! I’ve also found Wegman’s has a decent organic corn chip if you live around one of their stores.
When all of your ingredients are melted together just perfectly, turn your crockpot on warm/low to keep it warm for your party.

Loaded Cheese Fries

November 28, 2014 by Dana

Happy Black Friday! I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving. We had yet another great Thanksgiving with tons of food and time with family. My husband had to work today so no Black Friday shopping for me yet but I might venture out this evening. 🙂

And then…. these Loaded Cheese Fries happened! No mystery Kraft Cheeze Whiz, no bagged fries with tots of extra ingredients including GMO’s, just real ingredients put together to create a real food version of an all time favorite. Say something Kraft, I dare you! And please, if a word contains a Z instead of an S, that might be an indication you have a processed food disaster on your hands!

I must admit, I grew up eating Cheeze Whiz, because again my parents just didn’t understand. Almost every single day I would come home from school and eat a microwaved soft pretzel with Cheeze Whiz (cringe!). I always had to spoon the cold Whiz onto my plate without even looking at it because it actually disgusted me that bad.

So what is Cheeze Whiz anywho? Basically a mix of dairy, canola oil, modified food starch, and preservatives. You know, some processed concoction only Kraft would be able to come up with. What do you really expect from the company who created Cool Whip? I surely don’t expect anything real from them so I made my own cheese sauce that is super easy, uses only 4 ingredients + seasoning and viola! Cheese fries with a real cheese sauce that taste 1,000 times better then that canned crap!

Now that we’ve called out Kraft, let’s talk bacon! We always try to purchase bacon that contain natural nitrates. I know some people don’t think it matter either way, so do what works for you. FYI our natural bacon comes from Aldi, and is a bit cheaper then most mainstream grocery stores. 🙂 Love me some Aldi!

Last but not least, these Loaded Cheese Fries are perfect for tailgating, football parties, Holidays, or any other gathering you can possibly think of. I don’t think I’ve ever met a person who doesn’t love fries so these are the perfect crowd pleaser!

Please excuse this ridiculously huge picture! 🙂

One Pot Chilli Mac

November 12, 2014 by Dana

Comfort food in the best way possible, Chilli Mac!

I know, I know, where have I been? Well, you see there’s this thing called *my oven is like a million years old* and I burnt the skin of a chicken that was supposed to be another post last week. Then there was also this thing called *the lighting in my photo-taking room sucked* and the beautiful reindeer cupcakes I made were basically poo-poo in pictures. And Rudolf even had a shiny nose! 🙁

Speaking of my old oven… that thing! I could seriously just take it outside and have a grand ol’ time with it + a baseball bat. You know your oven is THE WORST when you actually have to Google how to move the racks. I wish I was kidding, but no. I Googled how to move the racks in my oven. *Face Palm* Apparently in the 70’s (I’m guessing) somebody who probably never used an oven decided the best way to move a rack would be to lift it from the very back of the oven. Yeah, totally would of never considered trying that. Just another joyful aspect of apartment living!

But then today… This Chilli Mac happened. And my lighting was nice. And I wasn’t Googling how to use my ancient oven. And there was copious amounts of cheese and greens to throw around to make everyone pretty. I mean really, does it get any better? Comfort food + Happy blogger and boys = Yay!!!!

There is one thing in this recipe that I haven’t talked about lately on 3Boys and that is ketchup. I highly recommend seeking a brand that doesn’t use high fructose corn syrup in their product. Not only is it GMO, it isn’t good for us and the brands using it in their products basically just suck. BOO to them! Don’t buy their crap! Ok, I’m done. 🙂

Now that I got that vent off my chest let’s dive head first into a big bowl of Chilli Mac, shall we? This recipe combines the goodness of hamburger, whole wheat elbow macaroni, sharp cheddar cheese, tons of spices, ketchup, mustard and sour cream into a big, delicious hot mess. This hot mess will make you want to burn the roof of your mouth right off because you can’t wait just 1 minute for it to cool down. I know, I do it every time too. Basically take everything you have in your pantry, dump it into one big hot mess, and enjoy! Chilli Mac it is!

*Don’t forget your greens! I served this with a big ol’ spinach and kale salad and some frozen mango!

Cinna-Swirl Sticky Bun Cupcakes

October 10, 2014 by Dana

Dana Carvell (3BoysUnprocessed)

Yes, I’m still #Betterbaking! And yes, it just got 1,000 times yummier with these Cinn-Swirl Sticky Bun Cupcakes that take two wonderful baked goods and smear them together to create a pretty, decadent, and fall inspired treat like no other IN THE HISTORY of HISTORY!

Now, hold onto your britches because we aren’t stopping there! These cinnamon-y cupcake delights are topped with Cream Cheese Icing that is naturally sweetened with pure maple syrup. Is this real life? A completely pipe-able, smooth, and delicious icing that stays in tact without the use of 10x sugar? My baking life is now complete!

Two things: Yes, this really happened! And yes, I will be using this method to make icing from here on out during our #Betterbaking series. You know, that little thing I created to help people cut processed ingredients like Cool Whip, and Jell-O Pudding Packets out of their lives forever? Cool Whip and it’s trans fats be gone forevs!

So how is it that I can put maple syrup aka something liquid, into cream cheese and still be able to pipe it onto a cupcake in a smooth and delicious looking way? Tapioca Starch! I know, I know, this sounds like some crazy “health freak” ingredient, but remember that pudding? You know, the one nobody wanted to eat in Elementary School because it was orange and confusing? Yep, that pudding is thickened with the same ingredient so apparently it isn’t so weird and “heath freak” after all. You can find it at almost any grocery store in the organic section or baking section and it works just like cornstarch, minus the whole GMO corn ingredient thing.

Tapioca Starch will dissolve JUST LIKE 10x sugar, and tighten your icing up perfectly so it isn’t dripping down the sides of your cupcakes and making you scream “I hate Pinterest for giving me this horrible idea!” If you aren’t too keen on using a new ingredient, go ahead and look for an organic 10x sugar, or a Non-GMO certified cornstarch to use in place. In my Pumpkin Whoopie Pie Cupcakes, I used an organic 10x sugar so those measurements are over there if you’d like to go that route.

But seriously, how perfect is that icing? 🙂

Now, let’s talk cake because I love me some cinnamon cupcakes to remind me that it is indeed fall and I do need more cinnamon in my life like right now! I took a basic vanilla cupcake recipe and divided the batter in half so I could add LOTS of cinnamon and a hint of molasses and vanilla to the batter to make the swirl. Got it? Don’t worry, everything you need to know is in the recipe. If you aren’t really feeling the extra time to make the swirl, just go ahead and add the extra stuff to the batter. My swirl wasn’t quite as swirly as I would have liked it to be, but I still ended up with a double colored cupcake that was pretty. A girl can’t have everything I suppose.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way I’m going to share some MORE cute-ness in the form of a really cute baby that just happens to be of my making. Usually I don’t share pictures of my kids, but this was just TOO cute not to share. Not only that, my 3 year old asked me if he could have the “pretty cupcake.” See, my boys are coming around! 🙂

And then there was this:

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.

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.

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!
<br>

Tex-Mex Potato Wedges

July 23, 2014 by Dana

I’m just going to throw this out there…. these Tex-Mex Potato Wedges are epic. So epic I’ve included a ridiculous amount of food porn! They are over the top delicious and possibly one of my all time favorite food creations. These potatoes do take a little bit more time to put together then your average baked potato wedge recipe but they are soooooo worth it in the end!

Here are the steps to making these amazingly cheesy and delicious wedges:

I’ve said this before and I will say it again… the key to the perfect oven baked potato wedges is boiling your potatoes before you bake them. This ensures you are going to get a really nice fluffy inside with a super crispy outside. Essentially that is what the perfect wedge is to me! The other important part of this recipe is seasoning the potatoes correctly. I’ve included the spices that I used, which are pretty standard tex-mex spices.

My secret weapon when it comes to the perfect looking potato wedges is paprika. You want color on your potatoes and paprika is going to do that for you. Although this recipe already has chili powder in it, I still sprinkled extra paprika on the potatoes just to bump up the food porn appeal! One last thing to note about the spices… measure your cumin people! Too much cumin will ruin these potatoes so I wouldn’t recommend going over 1/4 tsp.

As for the toppings, the sky is the limit! I topped mine with sour cream (which I consider essential), avocado, and fresh tomatoes. Of course we needed to throw in some fresh produce to combat all of the cheese!

Hand modeling jobs… here’s my audition! Come on… you know you want these beautiful un-manicured hands for your next job! 🙂

Homemade Ranch Dressing-mayo free

July 14, 2014 by Dana

We have all seen recipes claiming to be “the best ever”. I hesitate to call any recipe that because it is a little bit gimmicky. I’m sure at least one of those “best ever” recipes really wasn’t! However, if I were to start coining that term, this would be the recipe I’d start with. It truly is like no other ranch you’ve had. It is better… a lot better!

If you’ve been going the Hidden Valley route, fear not… you’ll never want to eat that crap again after tasting real ranch dressing. Real ranch dressing that doesn’t contain genetically modified soybean oil or any of it’s friends, like EDTA or MSG. The truth is, those ingredients don’t have to be in any dressing, including ranch. So instead of hitting up the middle of the grocery store just grab yourself a container of sour cream and a few spices and you will be all set to make your own ranch dressing.

This recipe is going to give you a dry mix of ranch dressing spices. All you need to do is simply add the spices to 1/4 cup of sour cream, and 1/4 of a cup of milk and stir. When you want fresh dressing, no need to measure all the spices out again. Just grab your pre-mixed ranch spices and add them to the sour cream and milk. You’ll have enough for that day, and maybe one or two more servings depending on how much you love ranch!

You may be wondering, where’s the mayo? Well mayo is kind of the same thing as bottled ranch dressing. It also contains soybean oil, preservatives, and other stuff that doesn’t need to be there. That is why I choose not to use mayo in my household at all. I’ve simply substituted sour cream instead of using mayo because sour cream doesn’t contain any random ingredients or additives. The simpler the better!

I just knew everyone was dying to know what my fingernails look like. I asked my husband to be the hand model but his hands just aren’t as pretty as mine (he is a construction worker). Well, here mine are in all of their unpainted and un-manicured glory. This is what life looks like with 3 kids people. No time for fingernail painting! Maybe someday… 🙂

Roasted Poblano and Cheddar Mac

May 13, 2014 by Dana

My husband brought home a poblano pepper that I didn’t use in chili, so I challenged myself to coming up with a new recipe to use the pepper in. My kids request mac n cheese every time I ask them what they want for dinner, so I combined the two and it turned out to be a great twist on mac n cheese. It was really delicious with just a hint of spice. This side could easily be turned into a main dish by adding some extra veggies and seasoned black beans. If you are tired of the same old mac n cheese, I would highly recommend trying this recipe!

Grilled Surf & Turf Tacos