Berry, Berry Good

Like most kids, my girls are yogurt freaks. Well, the oldest one is a yogurt FREAK, (capital letters here people)  the youngest is a not quite as freaky, but she could mow down on some Dora yogurt given the opportunity. So when I stopped buying the Princess and Dora yogurt, I thought there may be mutiny on the bounty at our house come breakfast time. But once again, my kiddos surprised me in a good way.

I started off giving them organic honey flavored Greek yogurt and they loved it. The little one said, "Mo hon-ee, peeeeessse." I mean really, of course I gave her more honey yogurt, then I proceeded to buy her a pony. :) Next I started making my own plain, organic, whole-milk yogurt, using this recipe and served it with honey stirred in it. It is a bit more tart than store-bought yogurt so I needed to come up with something to make it more enticing for the girls. Fruit. They may be yogurt freaks, but they are, without doubt, the president and vice-president of Fruit Freak Nation. They eat fruit all day long. And then ask for more. And like the pony, they usually get what the want. I'm kidding. They got a unicorn instead.

Where were we? Back to the yogurt, right.

So I had several bags of fruit in the freezer for smoothies so I figured I would use that up and make fruit on the bottom yogurt, but in this case, the fruit was on the top. You'll see what I mean in a minute.

This is not really a recipe, it's "fake-it-till-you-make-it" kinda things. So work with me here.

Fruit Yogurt Topping:

Grab some fresh strawberries, peaches, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries or a combination on all. You can also use frozen as long as the ingredient list is only the fruit, no sugar, no artificial sweetener, no added colors or flavors. A package of strawberries should read:

Ingredients: strawberries

We like things simple around here.

Here is simple: (These are not organic, but I wanted to use them up and not go to waste.)

Throw the fruit into a large saucepan on medium high heat. Let them cook down and stir occasionally. You can add your choice of natural sweeteners or just have the natural sugars from the fruit. Our palates are so used to such super sweet foods that it will take some time to adjust to the natural sweetness of things, so you may want to start off with honey or agave nectar and slowly lessen the amounts you add. I usually add honey because it sweetens it a little bit more while using a lesser amount than agave nectar. I add about a tablespoon or two, you can always add more to the dish you are serving, so I try not to go overboard.

(p.s., I love this picture. That is fog comming off of the frozen berries as they hit the hot saucepan. Nice.)

Drizzle the honey or agave nectar over the fruit and stir. Turn heat to medium low and continue to stir the fruit and it will start to pop and break down. There is no correct length of time, just until you like the consistency of the fruit syrup. I like mine a little chunky, so I just use a wooden spoon to squish the fruit. you can use a potato masher if you like things smashed to a pulp. I won't judge.

Once you have the fruit to your liking, pour into sterilized jars to keep in the refrigerator for 3-4 weeks. If you want to can the fruit syrup, there is a great link to a great website here that will show you how to do it. I will hopefully be doing some canning in the near future and I'll report back on that.

Once this sets up in the refrigerator, it thickens up a bit and is perfect on yogurt, pancakes, waffles, or straight out of the jar. What? Who? What? Me? Eat from the jar? No, not me. Ok. Busted.

Oh look, a proper picture, taken with a proper camera. I remember those days. Sigh. I'll have a new lens soon and hopefully won't be Instagramming as much any more.

So here is the yogurt with the fruit on top. Just add honey and granola.

Enjoy!

Meatless Monday

Mondays at our house are usually catch-up and clean-up days. I try to catch up on emails or appointments and try to get laundry and cleaning done. Since it is a pretty busy morning, I try to plan something easy for dinner so I can focus on cleaning in the morning and play time in the afternoon. All around the Internet you see all sorts of posts for Meatless Mondays, a movement to lessen the grocery bill and eat less meat. We have a lot of pasta or salad nights here but Mondays just lend themselves to quick, easy, inexpensive meals so we are rolling with it.
I have been trying to plan my menus out as much as possible to reduce the "run to the store last minute and drop $50 bucks each time" little side trips we take a lot around here. So for this Monday I planned a Meatless Monday meal of Big Bold Summer Soup and cheese quesadillas. We loved this soup the first time I made it and I grabbed the majority of the ingredients at the Farmer's Market on Saturday so I am anxious to get all of this in the pot. I was planning on adding black beans this go round but forgot to get those at the store. So strike the bean addition.

I made this a little differently than the original recipe. I wanted to cut out the tomato boiling part because I found it really didn't work that well anyway. I think this soup was the original inspiration for me to put the tomatoes in the crockpot a few weeks ago so since that has worked out so well (yes, I'm a little obsessed, its ok, I'm seeking crockpot therapy) I put the tomatoes in the crockpot with a little bit of olive oil, 4 cloves of garlic, salt and pepper and cooked on low for about 4 hours.

I roasted my pobalnos and jalapenos in the oven under the broiler and this is by far, one of my favorite things to do. They smell SO good and come out all blistery and popping, just delicious. I put them in a plastic bag or Tupperware container, whatever you have to trap in the steam, and let them sit for a bit, and then peel the skin off. The steam helps pull the skin away so it makes the job a bit easier.

I mean seriously. Look at them. I love them. I want to eat them. Get in my belly.

All chopped up and ready to rock.

And the jalapenos all roasted up and cracklin' good.

An easy way to trim corn from the cob is to put in on top on a bowl inside another dish or bowl and all of ther kernels fall into it (instead of on your floor...ahem, back to the corn). Once you have cut the kernels off, take the back of your knife and scrape the "milk" out of the cob. It is the sweetest part of the corn. Your welcome. (You will thank me later, so I'm just being polite here.)

See all that corny milky goodness? De-lish.

Everybody in the pot:

Topped with avacado and cilantro:

Dinner is served. Soup, cheese quesadillias, and pineapple and blueberries.

(Forgive my Instagram photos, still waiting for a new lens. Sigh)

Here is the link to the original recipe from a very lovely blog called Local Lemons. I have changed it up just a little bit, but this is genius in a soup pot.

Big Bold Summer Soup

3 ears of corn, kernels cut from the cob
2 pounds of tomatoes
4 cloves garlic
1 medium red onion, peeled and chopped
2 poblano peppers
3 jalapeno peppers
Handful of chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons of butter
Sea salt
1 sliced avocado



Place tomatoes in crockpot with garlic cloves. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle salt and pepper on top. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours. (See original recipe to boil tomatoes.)

Roast pobalnos and jalapenos under the broiler until charred.

Cut corn from cob.

Melt butter in skillet on medium high heat. Saute onions until translucent. Add peppers, corn, cilantro, salt to taste and tomato mixture from crockpot. Cook on medium about 15 minutes. I used my immersion blender and just roughly chopped everything up.

Ladle into soup bowl and top with avocado.

Mine made 4 good size bowlfuls.

Enjoy!

A Man Obsessed

A few weeks ago some friends invited us out to the lake to play and cook out. We had a great time but I think hubby's favorite part was finding a new beer. Our friends are from Louisiana and so of course, they brought Abita beer. We LOVE Abita but we always had Purple Haze, well now there is a seasonal beer: Abita Strawberry. Since we have been trying to eat clean, we were looking for something that wasn't artificially flavored and hubby did the research and found out they use strawberry puree when making it, not artificial strawberry flavor. Score.

The beer has been a little hard to find, but put this man on a mission, and he will accomplish it.

Here is the proof:

And now we are well-stocked. For a little while at least. :)

Farmer's Market Saturday

We loaded up the girls and took them to one of the many Saturday morning Farmer's Markets. Today we went to the Cedar Park Farmer's Market with our list of fresh veggies needed for this week's menu. The market didn't disappoint and we had most checked off of our list before we left.

The oldest always gets to pick out a fruit or veggie at the market and she has been on a carrot kick lately. Once she gets onto something, she sticks with it for a while. I am seeing lots of roasted carrots in our future. That's ok, because they both chow down on them and I really liked them too. That's a lot coming from a non-carrot liking kind of person like me.

Here is our market swag. You will be seeing these again in various states in the weekly meals.

What we got:
5 tomatoes
2 red onions
bunch basil
bunch carrots
bunch Romaine lettuce (he was camera shy, didn't make it into the pic)
2 Poblano peppers
3 ears of corn
2 yellow squash
4 zucchini

And a few of the girls with their Pineapple Ginger Popsicles. I must recreate these without sugar. They were SO good.

Saucy

A few weeks ago I had some tomatoes in the basket that were looking like they needed to be used soon so I had the brilliant idea (just call me Blair from Facts of Life) to throw them in the crockpot and make some sauce. Hello crockpot roasted tomatoes...where have you been all of my life??? I just threw those bad boys in there with some garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper, and some Italian herbs and let them cook in their little hot tub for about 3 hours on low. I grabbed my immersion blender and whizzed those puppies up into the best sauce for pasta, pizza, you name it. I kept it simple for the girls pasta but added crushed red pepper for the grown ups. If you let it sit for a day or two in the fridge, the heat is perfect.

Tomato Sauce:
2 lbs organic vine ripe tomatoes (any will work)
4 cloves garlic, smashed
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
salt, pepper, Italian herbs, crushed red pepper to liking
Yield: 5 cups, this will depend on how juicy your tomatoes are

Wash tomatoes and put in pot with smashed garlic. Drizzle olive oil over top. Crank salt and pepper on top. Sprinkle herbs all over. You can add the crushed red pepper now but I usually wait until it is cooked, ladle out some for the kids, then add the heat. Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours. They are ready when you can smash the tomatoes with a wooden spoon. It will take a bit longer if you tomatoes are not super ripe. Other add ins we used are mushrooms and peppers, I want to try using spinach in there too.

Smash with the spoon for a chunkier sauce, or use the immersion blender or food processor to puree. I like mine somewhere in the middle, a little chunky and a little smooth. Sort of how I like my men. Ahem, moving on...

Here they are in their little tomato hot tub:

And if you have a "dancing lid" like mine, use an elastic headband to keep the lid on tight. You don't want your crockpot having a party without you.

And the "smoosh with a wooded spoon phase":

And the finished product:

Meal Planning Week of June 4th - June 10

When it comes to eating clean, one thing you know for sure is that you need to plan and be organized. Those are two goals I hope to reach, but currently, I would consider myself in Planning Preschool and *maybe* Kindergarten of Organization Elementary. I try. I really want to be organized and have a plan, but I am SO easily distracted. I feel like Dory in Finding Nemo. "Oh, look, shiny object!"

So here is my weekly dinner plan. You can click through to the original recipe on the respective websites and I hope to have pics and reviews after I make each recipe if it is new to us. Let me know if you try any of these and what you think.

First off, I am making some sauce to put away for later this summer. Here is a pic I managed to take before I ate all of the last batch! I'll put up a recipe for it this week and snap some more pics as I go.

Monday - Soup and Cheese Quesadillias
I LOVE this soup and so does Chad. I am going to add black beans this time and roast the tomatoes in the crockpot to add flavor.

Tuesday - Pineapple Chicken with brown rice and side salad
Randall's sell frozen Organic brown rice in packets and we are going to try this for the first time. I am southern, but I am horrible at making rice, especially brown rice. I'll let you know how the rice is.

Wednesday - Sweet and Spicy Citrus Tilapia with asparagus
We love roasted asparagus in the oven. Heat oven to 425. Snap asparagus at end to remove tough ends. Set the asparagus in a bowl of cold, filtered water, stem side down, while prepping garlic and heating oven. Mince a large clove of garlic. Spread asparagus out on a cookie sheet with sides, drizzle with olive oil, sea salt, cracked black pepper and minced garlic. Roast for 12 minutes or until tops start to turn brown.

Thursday - Balsamic Grilled Bruschetta Chicken, roasted squash

Friday - Penne with Spinach, Olives, Capers and Feta
Cook 1 box of whole wheat penne pasta according to directions, omitting fat and salt. Drain and set aside. In same pot, add 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, 3 cloves minced garlic, 2 tablespoons capers, 1 cup pitted kalamta olives. Stir until fragrant and heated through. Add cooked past and 3/4 cup feta cheese. Stir until combined and serve warm.

Saturday - Crispy Herbed Shrimp with Chive Aioli, roasted broccoli
Don't omit the lemon on the broccoli, it adds a lot!

Sunday - Fish Tacos with Avocado Mango Salsa
You have to scroll down a bit to see it. :)

What are you eating this week?

A Fresh Start

I started a blog a few years ago to try to give me some type of creative outlet with cooking, photography and a compelling need to be sarcastic in print. Cooking and photography have sort of gone by the wayside with two little ones requiring so much focus but luckily, sarcasm sticks with you for life. Hooray for that! I thought I'd give it a try again since the girls have grown up some; don't get me wrong, there is no more time in my day, but I need to get organized so I thought maybe this would help.

At the beginning of the year, a friend of mine asked me to be a meeting buddy for Weight Watchers and it's been a great year to shed weight of all varieties. I'm down 20 pounds and have reevaluated the way we have been eating. With the new WW Points Plus plan, fruit and vegetables are "free", meaning zero points plus values. I thought that would lend itself to us eating more fresh fruit and veggies and it has, but I just felt like we had to rely so much on processed "fake" food to get us through the rest of the day. Fat free string cheese, puffed cheddar cheese rice cakes, artificial sweetener added to the top of berries, it just didn't seem right. So, for the past few weeks, we have been trying to "eat clean" and cut out processed food and drink, and really work on having natural, nature-made foods. So far, thing are going well and I hope to post pictures of what we are eating to maybe help give some new ideas on the age-old question "What's for dinner?"

Our philosophy on eating is this: To be aware of where and how our food was made and be able to identify all ingredients in any pre-made food. Fresh, natural and from the Earth should be the rule. We are focusing on organic and local food first, and trying to eat seasonably. Our goal is to strive to eat this way 80% of the time. Of course 100% would be great, and anything is better than the way we were eating. We are trying to visit our local farmer's markets and supporting their farms but with two little ones and a hubby who travels, we do hit the local grocery quite often. We do have a new Whole Foods that opened not too far from us so I'm hoping that will be a good resource for us.

This is a learning process for us and we are doing our best, just like everyone else. My hope is for improved health and energy for my family and an awareness and respect for the food that is put on our table, from seed to purchase to plate. I hope out children will learn the same values.

I hope you can join us on our journey and am happy to hear any comments, tips or recipes you may have to share.

And what is a post without a picture? Here is one of my new favorite things...hard boiled eggs cooked in the oven!

Oven Baked Hard Boiled Eggs:
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place eggs in a muffin tin to keep them from moving around. Bake in oven for 25-30 mins. Place eggs in ice water for 10 minutes to stop cooking. Peel, store and give to your kiddos fr breakfast in the morning!