Category Archives: Food

Food, Frugal Finds

Tuesday Tidbit

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New Trader Joe’s discovery thanks to my friend, Janet!

Red Pepper Spread with Eggplant & Garlic….it’s great on all sorts of sandwiches, especially turkey and avocado! I have started using it in place of mayo. I love mayo on my sammies and prefer to use the full fat stuff rather than the light, but this new “wonder condiment” totally gives the old white goo favorite a run for it’s money.

According to TJ’s it’s a “seasonal” item, so if you try it and LOVE it like me, then be sure and grab an extra jar or two for when they don’t carry it. You will miss it on your ‘wiches once you introduce yourself to it!

Here’s the breakdown per Tablespoon:
Mayo 100 cal, 11 g fat
Spread 15 cal, 0.5 g fat

I’ll save the mayo calories for my tuna or egg salad!

Food

South Of The Border Salad

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Hola!

I kicked off the weekend with my Ladies and Chopped Taco Salad with Spicy Sour Cream Ranch Dressing. All that was missing was a ‘rita on the side!

This salad is perfect for Summer……or whenever!

Chopped Taco Salad

1 head iceberg lettuce, rinsed and chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1 package ground turkey, chicken or beef (about a pound)
1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1 package taco seasoning mix
1 can black beans, rinsed & drained
1 small can corn, drained
2 roma tomatoes, chopped
1 cup shredded cheese (cheddar, jack, pepperjack, whatever floats your boat)
1 avocado, diced

cilantro, chopped (optional)

olives, chopped (optional)

green chiles, chopped (optional)

Sauté the onions in the olive oil for 5 minutes or so. Add the ground meat and brown – breaking up with a wooden spoon. Once the meat is cooked through, add about 3/4 of the taco seasoning package reserving the rest for the dressing. Add about 2 Tbsp. water to the meat mixture and cook for a few minutes longer. Let cool.

I like to layer my salad in a glass bowl – lettuce, meat, black beans, corn, tomato, cheese, avocado, lettuce, meat, black beans,corn, tomato, cheese & avocado.

Spicy Sour Cream Ranch Dressing

1/2 cup low fat Sour Cream
Low fat Milk
Packet Ranch Dressing Mix
Reserved taco seasoning from package

Put sour cream in a small bowl along with about 1 Tbsp ranch seasoning and the rest of the taco seasoning. Add about 4 Tbsp milk and whisk together. I like my dressing a little thinner so add more or less milk depending on how thick you desire your dressing.

Don’t toss until right before serving….the salad can get soggy pretty quick.

Garnish with crushed tortilla chips or, if you’re really feeling naughty, crushed Doritos. Cornbread is a tasty sidekick, too!

Have a wonderful weekend….Adios!

Food

Mmmmmexican Lasagna!

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If you’ve known me in the past 3 years, lived in my neighborhood and had a baby, then you’ve probably had this mexican lasagna.

It’s what I like to deliver to families with new babies or friends that just need a good home cooked meal at one time or another.

Another recipe from Rachael Ray which you can find here.

I hadn’t made it in awhile and was sort of craving it, so……guess what’s for dinner tonight!

I like to serve with a dollop of sour cream or a little guacamole.

Olé!

P.S. You could certainly add a small can of green chiles or chopped olives to the meat mixture, as well.

Food

Tuesday Tidbit

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Aside from my zebra print fetish, I am also currently obsessed with Lean Cuisine’s “Butternut Squash Ravioli”.

This little meal is awesome if you’re like me and LOVE butternut squash, but hate to peel it and cut it up.

Just wanted to share this tidbit with you in case you haven’t already discovered them and need a quick, healthy lunch rather than Kraft Mac ‘n Cheese or PB&J or dino chicken nuggets or junk or a cheeseburger from the Mickey D’s drive-thru!

I’ve just been stocking up on them when they’re on sale and knowing that I have these in the freezer will usually ward off any Del Taco or cheeseburger cravings when they hit (which is fairly often, I’m afraid!).

Family, Food, Friends, Fun

A “PW” Weekend

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Wow! I’m recovering from another awesome weekend.

A “PW” weekend, if you will…

It consisted of “P”lentiful “W”orkouts….

….all because of several “P”ioneer “W”oman recipes that I tried.

We took a little drive and played in some “P”owdery “W”hite!

There were a couple “P”igskin “W”ins to determine this year’s Superbowlers.

So I guess you could say that it was a “P”erfectly “W”onderful weekend!

On Saturday night I made Pioneer Woman’s “most favorite burger ever (for now)”. You can find the recipe here.

They were delish and a nice departure from the turkey burgers with cheddar and horseradish that I’ve been making for the past few years now! Jay was pleased that I finally made some HAMburgers with real ground BEEF!

Here is a “before” pic:

Um, let me just say that what you see above is 2 pounds of meat…PW uses 2 pounds of meat for TWO burgers! What? I mean I know cowboys work hard and all and can put some food away, but WOW! Those’d be some GRANDE burgers! Half pounders are MORE than enough for us!

Here is the “in process” pic:

And, my friends, here is the “after” pic when these babies are all dressed up and ready to go:

Please don’t tell PW that I served her fave burgers with Ore Ida Seasoned Crinkle Fries! Shhhhh!

I tell you, I have a whole new appreciation for the Kaiser Roll! I usually use toasted english muffins for my burgers, but kaisers are a tad crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside! I followed PW’s orders and buttered and toasted them and OMG! Sorry, little english muffins, but these were fantastic and the tabasco mayo, caramelized onions and bleu cheese put them over the top. I used fresh baby spinach as my “green” just so I could feel like there was some sort of healthy component to this meal!

After this scrumptous dinner, I ran to Target to get Holden some boots for the snow since we had a little mini road trip planned for Sunday morning. This is what I found:

Lovin’ all the Paul Frank stuff at one of my favorite stores these days!

I got up early Sunday morning and made some Monkey Bread. Another evil concoction that PW has on her blog!

Now this stuff is like a drug so be careful!

After we ate the sinful Monkey Bread, we headed to Frazier Park for some fun in the snow!

It was a blast and only about 45 minutes away!

And the weekend wouldn’t be complete without me trying PW’s Quesadillas de Camarones.

The quesadillas were good…Jay said the shrimp was “not evident”…hmmm, I think the camarones should be evident in a quesadilla named after them so next time I’ll add more of the little critters. He also wasn’t a big fan of the green salsa, so next time maybe some homemade red salsa to go alongside. After indulging in the monkey bread earlier in the day, I felt guilty about adding butter to the pan to brown and crisp up the tortillas…but I had to follow PW’s orders. Next time I may try to make them a little more figure friendly….I tried to go a little lighter on the queso, too. But overall, they were good!

I also made some quacamole….I can’t blame PW for that. That was all MY doing, unfortunately.

Guac:

2 ripe avocados

1/4 onion (red or white), minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 small tomato, seeded & chopped

bunch cilantro, chopped

juice of 1 lime or 1/2 lemon

salt & pepper to taste

dash cumin

That’s it! Mix it all up and dig in with your favorite tortilla chips.

I think I’ll have to incorporate more “P”lentiful “W”orkouts into this week’s agenda because there are a couple other visions of yumminess I’d like to try on PW’s blog…it’s a vicious cycle!

Food, Fun

Team Ree

Forget Team Edward and Team Jacob, I’m on “Team Ree”.

Ree Drummond AKA The Pioneer Woman. She is too cool for school (literally….read on).

I’ve been following a blog for about a year now that my sister introduced me to. This is where I learned of my new idol. You can check out this super cute blog here. I SO have blog envy!

Getting back to P-dub…

The Pioneer Woman is like a quadruple threat – she can cook, she can blog, she can take amazing photos and she can home school her 4 “punks” as she calls them. Now, I have certain feelings about home schooling, but we won’t get into those here. But she makes home schooling sound “cool”.

Her recipes are so entertaining. She calls the ingredients the “cast of characters” and her step-by-step guides are hilarious and accompanied by beautiful photos.

Her story in a nutshell:

Grew up on a country club in the midwest somewhere.

Went to school at USC.

Lived in L.A. for awhile.

Wanted to move to Chicago and become an attorney, but…

Met a bonafide Cowboy one night at a bar instead.

Fell in love with said Cowboy.

Married Cowboy.

Moved to a middle-of-nowhere cattle ranch in Oklahoma.

Started to cook.

Started to blog.

Became my idol!

(Well, I might of left a few things out, but those are the main bullets.)

I told myself that I wasn’t going to buy anymore cookbooks – ANY recipe that I need is on the internet, in a magazine that I already have or on an index card in my recipe box. I’m trying to simplify, so no more cookbooks necessary. Well, I lied. I am going to get The Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook. Actually Jay is going to get it for me for Valentine’s Day he just doesn’t know it yet.

I am so excited to try her recipes! This weekend I plan to make the quesadillas de camarones and her “favorite burger” with caramelized onions, bleu cheese and Tabasco mayo! She had me at Tabasco mayo.

I can hardly wait to get to the store and get my shrimp! Thank you PW for getting me to eat more shrimp. I have never been a huge fan of the little crustaceans, but I do eat them from time to time. Hope the quesadilla is as good as it looks! On the other hand, I’ve never met a flour tortilla and some melted cheese that I didn’t like!

Of course, I will report back and have some photos of her eats…

If you haven’t already, please check out thepioneerwoman.com.

Cowgirl up!

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Food

I Don’t Recommend Making This

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Yesterday I kept Elliott home from school. She woke up with a cough. It was cold. It was raining. It was windy.

Pros and Cons of being “stuck” at home on a rainy day with a coughing kid:

~Pros~

Plan Holden’s party

Clean

Organize

Straighten up

Make soup

Fold and put away laundry

Do more laundry

Make the guest bed for Uncle Rodney this weekend

Write thank you notes

Less likely to spend money (unless I shop on-line, which I don’t do much)

Have a Chocolate Peanut Butter milkshake while one kid is napping

~Cons~

Have a Chocolate Peanut Butter milkshake while one kid is napping!

Why did I do that? Why did I pull out the Dreyer’s Slow Churned Rich & Creamy Vanilla Bean Light Ice Cream, lowfat milk, TJ’s Organic Midnight Moo Chocolate Syrup and the jar of peanut butter???

Why did I throw it all in the blender with some crushed ice???

Why did it seem like a good idea at the time???

Because it looked like this:

I don’t need to be eating this…a rice cake maybe? Some water? But not this.

So, I don’t recommend making this. It’s NOT good. Who likes chocolate and peanut butter together? Who likes ice cream? Who likes milkshakes?

Today is a new day! I will put on my NB’s this evening and do a little run…I am going to run AWAY from Milkshake Land!