Cleaning out the fridge

Posted on July 16, 2012 by fmadmin

In an attempt to eat more veggies, I tend to pack our refrigerator full of veggies.  I figure, if it’s in my refrigerator I will have to cook it.   I think this may have been a record at our house for most vegetables cooked in one night!  First easy veggie side dish: Roasted Kale with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Second easy side dish: Avocado.  Just slice it and add some salt.  If you are feeling adventurous, squeeze some lime on top.  Third easy side dish: Roasted butternut squash.  Peel the squash, dice, add olive oil salt and pepper. Roast it under the broiler for 15-20 minutes.  To make eating vegetables more interesting to the girls, I offered them some cinnamon sugar to sprinkle on top of the butternut squash.

Fourth vegetable side dish: steamed corn.  With these many vegetables, the girls may not have eaten everything on their plates, but they tried at least one bite.  At their age, that’s really all anybody can ask.  The point is to expose kids to new foods and new flavors.

Cooking a meal like this really puts the food pyramid into perspective.  There were no boxes with a mile long list of ingredients I can hardly pronounce or let alone remember.  It felt good to know that we could fill our plates up with veggies instead of preservatives and additives.  Yes, there were a lot more dishes to clean after cooking a meal like this, but at the end of the meal we all agreed it was worth it.

  • What’s your family’s favorite vegetable side dish?

 

 

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Cherry, Strawberry and Blueberry Crisp

Posted on July 11, 2012 by fmadmin

Last summer Dad found these amazing crisps and cobbler mixes to carry at our market.  The thought of making desert without a lot of ingredient mixing appealed to me right away.  Remember, I’m not really into baking.  I’ll share a little secret, my husband was constantly making the peach cobblers last year because they were so easy and delicious!  I think he was making them at least once a week!  I may or may not  have had a bit of it for breakfast last summer.

Customers really seemed to enjoy these crisps and cobbler mixes as well.  We’ve been getting a lot of requests for them lately with all the yummy summer fruit, so I went ahead and placed an order this morning.  We should have them in stock by Saturday.

To make the “Berry Crisp”, I used 1 container of strawberries, 1 container of blueberries and 1 container of cherries. After thoroughly rinsing the fruit, I sliced the strawberries and pitted the cherries.  I almost didn’t add the cherries, but decided they would be worth the work.  Layer the fruit on one ungreased baking sheet.   The instructions said to add 5 tablespoons of softened butter to the mix and sprinkle it over the fruit.  Done.

Pre-heat oven at 400 F and bake for 25-30 minutes.  We were a bit impatient so ours was in there for 25 minutes.  The smell of the berries and the sugar/cinnamon from the mix was intoxicating.

This is the kind of dessert I like to make.  You can literally put in the oven while you are eating dinner and enjoy a wonderful homemade dessert after.   Everything you need is in the bag.  Just mix with some butter, add your fruit and you are done!  Notice I used the Apple and Fruit Crisps mix.  It doesn’t matter, the label says you can use any kind of fruit.  I think next time I’ll try pineapple and mango.

  • What’s your favorite summer dessert?
  • Do you prefer crisps or cobblers?
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Fajita Chicken

Posted on July 7, 2012 by fmadmin

While reading a friend’s blog, I came across the Paleo Diet concept.  Without reading much about it, the Paleo Diet looks a lot like the Atkins Diet.  I found this Paleo Chicken Fajitas from Paleo Diet Lifestyle and decided to give it a try.  I’ve been looking for a way to make fajitas without buying the pre-made packages because they are often full of sodium and preservatives.

This recipe also called for coconut oil, but you can use any type of oil you have on hand.  Recently I read about the benefits of coconut oil, so I purchased some from the corner store in Plant City.  If you are a fan of coconut, be careful.  This stuff is delicious.

I pretty much halved the original recipe because I was cooking  half the amount of chicken.

The only changes I made:

  • no garlic cloves
  • added 1 container bella mushrooms

I served the “Fajita Chicken” with yellow rice and a green salad.  Not really following the Paleo principles, but tasty nonetheless.  We had mixed reviews with this recipe.  My daughter loved it and even asked for more.  My husband wasn’t a fan.  He mentioned the chicken had a slight bitterness to it.  I’m thinking maybe next time we try it with lime juice instead of lemon juice.

  •  Did you know about the Paleo Diet?
  • Have you tried cooking/baking with Coconut Oil?
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