Then doctor it up with just a bit of shredded cheese, a dollop of light sour cream, a few chunks of avocado & last but certainly not least, a sprinkling of cilantro confetti.
I served it with Jalapeño Spiked Cornbread Muffins.
This was my first attempt at these and they turned out perfect. I like to use Marie Callender’s mix ~ all you need is 1.5 cups water and about 20 jalapeños, chopped. Whisk water and mix first and then stir in the spicy goodness. I used cupcake liners for easy clean up. Bake @ 375* for 20 minutes.
{Makes 1 dozen}
A little sweet. A little spicy.
Perfect with the soup.
A little cinnamon honey butter is super yummy, too or you can just crumble your muffin into your bowl!
Note: This soup is a WW recipe if you use ground turkey. I splurged and used about 1.25 pounds 80/20 ground beef tonight. I also added a small (8 oz.) can of tomato sauce and about half a can (4 oz.) of water to thin it out a bit. I don’t like it too thick….it was perfect.
But…he wanted a “real” burger and I could tell that he was eluding to a trip to Red Robin.
My penny pinching self sprung into action and after a quick trip to Trader Joe’s, created a burger bash for less than a fifth of the cost of a trip to RR.
Mini Burger Buns: $1.19
One Pound 80/20 Ground Beef: $2.49
Garlic Fries: $2.69
(I had all the other ingredients already on-hand)
I decided to make Pioneer Woman sliders ~ caramelized onions, blue cheese and Tabasco mayo!
And the TJ’s garlic fries are just like the ones from Gordon Biersch….garlic chunks galore!
But, the best part was that the kids ate them, too and I didn’t have to play short order cook and prepare 15 different things!
Ahhhh…yesterday was Mother’s Day…the one day where I don’t feel guilty calling ALL the shots and taking a little time to sit back and take a moment to appreciate being a Mother, but also take a brief break and just BE.
My Mom was here to celebrate, of course, and we started celebrating early with our favorite neighbors on Saturday evening since we wouldn’t see them on Sunday. I made crock pot carnitas and a new dessert pizza with Nutella, bananas and strawberries! I do believe it was a hit. Super easy with the help of Trader Joe’s pizza dough…I just rolled it out, pricked with a fork, brushed with about 2T melted butter and baked as directed ~ I think 450* for 20 minutes. Then I dusted it with powdered sugar once it came out and let it cool a bit:
Then I spread Nutella over it, added sliced bananas and strawberries and finished it off with another dusting of powdered sugar. Cut it in slices as you would a “normal” pizza and serve it up!
The recipe was inspired by one of Giada’s which you can find here.
Sunday morning was greeted with some mimosas:
with our favorite, Wilson Creek Almond Champagne.
We drove into Beverly Hills for my long-awaited reunion with “Bobbie” from Capriotti’s. It was just as I remembered…all the tastes of Thanksgiving on a roll! Couple with some kettle cooked sea salt & vinegar and BBQ chips and you can’t go wrong.
My Mom and I shared so we still had plenty of room for cupcakes!
It was a toss up between Crumbs & Sprinkles, but Crumbs won this time:
We decided on Fluffernutter, Boston Cream, Vanilla/Vanilla with sprinkles (always MY fave) and Candy which the kids chose and was covered in mini M&M’s.
The cupcakes are ridiculously HUGE. They have a $30 cupcake that could serve a small village!
This is what $14.20 worth of cupcakes looks like:
The cupcakes were so good they deserved their own chair…no, we brought this old chair of my Gam’s along because I wanted to try to get some of the kids outside at a park using this special chair as a prop. It was as if Gam (my Mom’s mama) was there celebrating Mother’s Day with us!
Here I am sitting on the park bench indulging in some cupcake love:
NO shame in my game!
The ‘cakes were delish…I only have one complaint, though. They predominantly use cream cheese frosting and I am a buttercream girl through and through. I’m anxious to see what Sprinkles has to offer! Will keep you posted.
Gramma K and the kiddos played on a ginormous tree:
A few of the chair pics:
It was a gorgeous day. I just sat on the bench in the breeze watching the kids play and Jay snap pictures. I looked at the amazing homes lining the Beverly Hills park and thought “What if…?” How would it be to live on one of the breathtaking tree-lined streets off Santa Monica Blvd. with a Rolls parked in the driveway. A private chef. A live-in maid. A nanny. You know, all the things that come along with the 90210 zip code.
Yes, it would be a nice life, but it wouldn’t be MY life. I HAVE the life I envisioned I wanted as an adult. A sweet, understanding, supportive husband and two energetic, funny, curious, happy, healthy, and at times frustrating pip squeaks. All the 9o210 stuff doesn’t matter when you have what I have.
So, back to Santa Clarita we went. Jay made lumpia and we had leftover Chinese food for dinner followed by Golden Spoon!
See, I don’t ask for much. Just about 30 minutes to sit back, watch my family run and play in front of me, nibble on some cupcakes and remind myself that being a Mom is the best gift ~ a gift that I am so proud of.
Enchiladas are something that I’ve never made much in the past. I am not a huge fan of the traditional red sauce variety. Since I’ve never met a white sauce that I haven’t loved, I’ve tended to lean towards this version and have found a couple recipes that I love…one being here.
Then, I recently came across a recipe that is a nice combination of the red and white sauces ~ like a creamy, spicy red sauce…the best of both worlds!
For this recipe I used 2 cups of chopped rotisserie chicken and added some chopped cilantro to the mix and topped with sliced jalapeños, too! I also used my new fave peach-pineapple salsa instead of the Pace. I decided to use light sour cream and light cheese and nothing was sacrificed ~ I promise!
Sorry, I don’t have a pic because these things flew out of the pan at our last minute backyard soireé with the neighbors this weekend! But I can tell you that they did look like the photo above!
So, if you’re at a loss of what to make on Wednesday for Cinco De Mayo, may I suggest these.
My friend, Sharon, passed along this Chocolate Chip Pudding Cake recipe, however, I don’t own a bundt pan.
Enter my other friend, Lisa…I borrowed her bundt pan and promised to bring some cake to the next park playdate…
Well,
…there’s none left!
We had another impromptu neighborhood get together last night and this cake was that talk of the block!
It’s the easiest thing to throw together and you can mix and match cake mixes and pudding flavors any way you like:
Chocolate cake mix with chocolate pudding
Chocolate cake mix with vanilla pudding
White/Yellow cake mix with vanilla pudding
Marble cake with chocolate pudding
OR
Banana cake mix with vanilla pudding
That’s the combo I chose and it did NOT disappoint!
Then add in a 12 ounce bag of mini semi-sweet morsels and it’s off the charts!
Here is the recipe courtesy of Sharon:
12 oz bag MINI morsels
1 Box Yellow cake mix (chocolate if you are a TOTAL chocolate lover)
1 Box small vanilla (chocolate if you are going crazy) pudding
1 3/4 c. milk
2 eggs
Preheat oven to 350
Mix all ingredients
Pour into greased and floured BUNDT pan (save some of your cake mix to flour)
Bake 50-55 minutes… DO NOT OVERBAKE…. cool at least 15 minutes….
You can frost it with chocolate frosting if you like….
I splurged and used Holden’s whole milk, but lowfat or skim works just fine, too. Also, if you’re concerned about sugar, you can use sugar free pudding, as well. I didn’t! I also did not frost it ~ honestly, it doesn’t need it, but if you want to live on the edge, GO FOR IT!
So, reach into your cupboard and pull out your Bundt pan (or borrow one from a friend!) and make this. Hurry…the weekend isn’t over yet. You can always start your diet tomorrow, right?
I had NO idea what to make for dinner. I had about a half pound of ground turkey that I had thawing out and came across this recipe on this blog!
Perfect.
I did try to healthify it quite a bit ~ used ground turkey, an egg white, double fiber bread, lite jarlsberg swiss and just a tad bit of butter on the bread.
They were really tasty. The grated onion and the garlic powder in the meat made them super flavorful. I just made 2 oblong flat patties to fit on the bread!
Thanks, Katie Lee! I didn’t really care for you on the first season of Top Chef, but maybe I should check out your recipes more often!
I can’t see myself buying a loaf of white bread, but if I do, I may try the full fat “Katie version” of this burger.
Tonight I made a chopped salad with spinach, strawberries and almonds dressed with poppy seed goodness. I’m pretty sure Jay was wondering the whereabouts of the rest of his dinner.
This salad was inspired by my friend, Janet. I needed to make it more of a “meal”, so I added chicken and blue cheese.
Here’s the line-up:
First, I defrosted and grilled about 6 chicken tenderloins with olive oil and some Montreal steak seasoning.
Then I just chopped up some fresh baby spinach, strawberries and the chicken and tossed with toasted sliced almonds and blue cheese crumbles. I added just a touch of the poppy seed dressing and tossed again.
I think this is my new favorite salad!
If your significant other is still hungry after eating this salad, you can offer them the leftover chicken tortilla soup from 3 nights ago.
