Easter Dinner

We had a wonderful Easter feast!  I spent hours cooking the night before, but it was much worth it!  I wanted to share with you 3 of the recipes I made (yes, I made more than this...I'm telling you I was a cooking maniac Saturday night!).  They're not mine, they're the Pioneer Woman's.  I felt a bit like her apprentice or something, but man, can she cook some good comfort food!  I made her Bacon-Wrapped Jalapenos, Twice Baked Potatoes, and Homemade Mac & Cheese.  The potatoes turned out awesome, but I messed up the Mac & Cheese.  First off I doubled the recipe, then I let it sit in the refrigerator all night before I baked it, which wasn't such a good idea.  The noodles soaked in the sauce, so when I baked it, it turned out kind of dry and rather bland.  I will definitely make it again, but do it fresh and right next time!  The Jalepenos were amazing!  I'm addicted!  I can feel myself getting fatter and fatter as I eat them, but I didn't care...not today anyway.  They were just too good not to pop in my mouth!  This is my first time making them, so I was a little paranoid about them being too hot, so I cleaned those suckers out, removing ALL the seeds and membranes.  Next time I'll leave a little, 'cause they didn't have much kick to them, but they were still absolutely heavenly!  Thank you Pioneer Woman (again!) for making our Easter delicious!  Here's the links to the recipes:

Bacon-Wrapped Jalepenos

Twice Baked Potatoes

Homemade Mac & Cheese

Carly's FAMOUS Spinach Smoothies

My friend (and old college roomy) Carly posted this recipe on her blog a couple weeks ago.  I'm always in search of yummy, healthy stuff, so I thought, "what the heck, I think I'll try it."  I'm glad I did - it was great!  My 5 year old, who LOVES spinach (thanks to Popeye!) said he didn't want to try it because it grossed him out to have spinach in a smoothie.  When he saw us all drinking them and lovin' it, he said, "well I'll just try a sip."  He sipped, his eyes rolled back in his head and he said, "Oh, this is SOO delicious!!"  Score!  He even asked for it the next day!  Thanks, Carly for your yummy, healthy smoothie!

• 1 cup vanilla yogurt
  
• 3-4 cups of spinach (fresh)
  
• A couple handfuls of frozen strawberries and blueberries or any other frozen fruit you want (peaches, mango, blackberries, etc)
  
• 1 banana
  
• Flax seed (optional)
  
• Water
  

Poor all ingredients in a blender, leaving the water for last.  Poor water until it fills almost to the top.  Blend.

Julie R. (& Carly S.)

Food Thats Oh So Good!

Its been a while since I have done a Good Food Review and there really is so much good food out there.  Here are a few of my favorite indulgences...mmm, makes my mouth water just thinking about them!  Now heed my warning, these are not low fat, low cal items, but every now and then its good to indulge your senses in something absolutely delicious!

Hummus & Tandoori Naan

Lets start with hummus. I had never heard of it until 8 years ago when I married my husband. Its a regular at his family's get togethers and it is good. You really have to have the right stuff, though. I've had brands that are flat out gross, but when its good, it is dang good! I like Trader Joes' original hummus. They have a bunch of other flavors - I've had garlic and tomato & basil (both good, but a bit stronger tasting), and I today I just bought Cilantro & Jalepano for my hubby to try - we'll see. I also like Athenos - my favorite is the roasted red pepper hummus and Sabras (you can buy a big batch, as well as individual serving size containers at Costco). Its good with veggies, on sandwiches, and my personal favorite, Tandoori Naan. Oh my goodness, this is one of my new favorites. I've only had naan (a bread from India) at Indian restaurants until now. My mother-in-law introduced me to T.J.'s. My hubby prefers garlic naan, I like their whole wheat. It is chewy and flavorful and full of yummy goodness. Dip it in some good hummus and I could eat all day long. Mmm!

Gnocchi Gorgonzola

For those of you who don't have a Trader Joes near you, I apologize on this one. I don't think there is a substitute anywhere for it. This is another hidden treasure of Trader Joes for sure! Its in the frozen foods section - it literally takes 7 minutes to whip up and it is delicious! We've hooked most of our family on it. I love this for a "I feel lazy, but want a good meal" kind of night. In fact I made it last night with some grilled chicken and cooked carrots. My husband LOVES it, my 5 year old downs more of this then probably anything else (except for the fish I made here), and I haven't seen my 1 year old eat so much for dinner in a LONG time! Yes, its good stuff!

Jalepano Smokehouse Almonds

Last, but certainly not least are my almonds (yes, MY almonds!). They're Blue Diamond's Bold Jalepano Smokehouse Almonds. These are so not me! I don't like very spicy, I'm not a huge nut fan, but WOW! I (or rather Santa) actually bought these for my husband's stocking, but when he opened them up, he said, you would love these. Boy was he right! He had about 5, then I took immediate ownership over the can. I've been in love ever since. I really have to hold restraint with these puppies...they're so not low fat (although almonds are the good fat, right? :) ) and they can give me heartburn, but every now and then its worth it for a few minutes of bliss!

Rainbow Popcorn

Since Halloween is coming up pretty soon, I thought I'd post a few Halloween-ish recipes.  Most likely they'll be a lot of candy, popcorn, and pumpkins, but isn't that what this season's all about? :)

As a kid, my mom was really good about making sure there was a snack ready for us when we came home from school.  Of course (from what I can remember anyway) they were mainly homemade.  Now that I have a child in school, I appreciate just how hard it is to have a snack ready daily, let alone have it be homemade.  This was one of my favorite after school snacks.  I remember my favorite flavor being lime, or maybe thats just what my mom made, I don't know.

• 10 cups popped popcorn
• 1 cup butter or margarine
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 (3 ounce) pkg desired-flavor gelatin
• 3 Tbsp water
• 1 Tbsp light corn syrup

Remove all un-popped kernels from popped corn.  Place the popcorn in a greased 17"x12"x2" baking pan.  Keep popcorn warm in a 300° oven while making syrup mixture. 

 Butter the bottom and sides of a heavy 2-quart saucepan.  In the pan combine butter or margarine, sugar, gelatin, water, and corn syrup.  Cook mixture over medium heat till boiling, stirring constantly.  Clip a candy thermometer to the side fo the pan.  Continue cooking over medium heat, stirring constantly, till the thermometer registers 255° (hard-ball stage).  Pour syrup mixture over popcorn and stir gently to coat popcorn.  

Bake in a 300° oven for 5 minutes.  Stir once and bake for 5 minutes more.  Remove from oven.  Turn popcorn mixture onto a large piece of foil.  Cool completely.  Break popcorn mixture into clusters.  Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.  

Makes 13 (3/4 cup each ) servings

Julie R.

AG, CA

Fresh Salsa

Our garden seems to have tomatoes growing in every direction, so today we decided to make some fresh salsa.  I didn't use a specific recipe and everything is pretty much "to taste," so you can make it to your liking.  Am I the only one who has a problem chopping cilantro?  Every time I do, my eyes tear all up and it kind of hinders my breathing - its worse then when I cut onions...am I just weird or is there someone else out there who has this problem, too?  Anyway, as I was making the salsa my son said "yuck, I hate salsa!"  When I was done, I was tasting it and he came over and said "mmm, that looks good."  He tried it, then took the bowl and bag of chips from me and scarfed it all down.  When he was done he said "that was so good I even drank the juice!"  It WAS good!

• Fresh tomatoes
• Sweet onion 
• Cilantro
• Garlic clove, minced
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• Hot Sauce to taste (optional)

Chop tomatoes, onion, and cilantro;  place in a bowl (if you like juicy salsa like me, then include the tomato juice too).  Add minced garlic, salt and pepper.  If you'd like a little kick, add a few drops of hot sauce to taste.  Enjoy!

Julie R.

AG, CA

Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

I made these tonight.  They're a good alternative to store bought ones full of corn syrup and junk.  Mine were kind of dry, but were great dipped in milk!  I also kind of messed them up, 'cause I baked them in an 8"x8" dish instead of the 9"x13" which made them thicker and kind of hard to bite, but my kids really liked them, so for that it was a success!

• 4 cups of quick cooking oats
  
• 1/3 cup canola oil
  
• 2/3 cup honey
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
  
• 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Spread oats into an un-greased cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, stirring a couple of times. Allow oats to cool to room temperature. Combine remaining ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add cooled oats. Spread mixture into a 9x13-inch baking dish that has been sprayed or oiled, pressing down hard to compact it.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool completely and cut into bars.

Recipe adapted from Whole Foods.

Julie R.

AG, CA