Monday, June 22, 2009

Get Out And Picnic!

Posted by Anonymous at 9:37 AM 9 comments
Have you ever noticed that the same exact experiences feel totally different as an adult than when you were a child. A picnic was like a really super fun day with climbing monkey bars, chasing birds, watching watermelon juice drip down your arm, etc. As an adult, the experience seem much different. Making and bagging sandwiches, cutting up watermelon, remembering napkins, loading the car, keeping ants off the food, packing everything up, lugging everything home and cleaning everything up. Again, same experience; different perspective.

So the question is, how do we make picnics enjoyable for adults so that we plan them more often for our kids. First of all, keep it simple. If you hate cutting up fruit but want to include it, buy a fruit tray at the deli of your local grocery store. That way any leftovers are neatly stored and ready for bringing home. Second, be sure to include the kids in preparation. Letting the kids help you make sandwiches and salad creates anticipation for the picnic itself. Let them do a job they have never done before such as spread mayonnaise with a butter knife. They will feel accomplished and you will ease the work load. Of course, you can use paper plates, plastic silverware and cups to make clean up a cinch.

The point is, get out and go! Make sure your kids have the same summer picnic memories as you do. Don't let the adult perspective keep you from enjoying outdoor fun with your family. Now to tackle those monkey bars!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

A Quick Taco Soup Recipe

Posted by Anonymous at 1:50 PM 12 comments
















My good friend, Miss G. gave me this wonderful Taco Soup Recipe that is easy, healthy and family friendly.

My kids love this recipe so much that next time I make it I will double it up and have more leftovers.

We like to eat the soup the first night with Organic Corn Chips from Costco. On the second time around, we have drained the liquid and put it right on top of salad for a quick and nutritious Taco Salad. Miss G. says she like to use it the second night for tacos.

Don't be fooled by this simple recipe, it really tastes delicious.

Quick and Easy Taco Soup

1 lb of Ground Lean Turkey (you can use hamburger or shredded chicken, also)
1 Medium Onion
1 pkg Taco Mix
1 can Kidney beans (do not drain)
1 can Black Beans (do not drain)
1 can Corn (do not drain)
1 can Diced Tomatoes

Brown your meat and onions. Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Then simmer until you are ready to eat.

For Garnishes:
Sliced Olives
Sour Cream
Corn Chips
Cilantro

I hope your family enjoys this as much as we do.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Cooking With Kids

Posted by Anonymous at 12:19 PM 7 comments
During my daily web hunt for great recipes, new food products and gifts, I found this great website that outlines the benefits of cooking with your kids. Although, I do love to cook with my kids, I am almost always left with a big mess or finishing the batches of cookies as the children get bored and run off to do the next best thing. It could make any delightful gourmet not so delightful! This article helped me to remember how important cooking with your kids really is. Here are a few of the concepts cooking with kids teaches young ones:



Self confidence, healthy eating, preparedness, apppreciation for the cook, sanitation, time management, team work, creativity, cause and effect, measuring and fractions.

These are just a few of the great things you can teach your kids. What better way to teach a teen age boy how to respect his future wife than by making him know how much energy goes into cooking a meal himself? One of the hardest things I had to learn after I was married was how to cook a meal from start to finish. That meant starting certain dishes at different times to ensure the meal was completed at just the right time. Starting early helps kids learn how to do this so they won't have to stress about it in their young adulthood.

So I have decided to continue cooking with my kids even though there may be a disastrous mess afterward. Now, I just need an article to help me figure out how to get them to help me clean up!

Friday, June 5, 2009

The Delightful Gourmet Is Making A Change

Posted by Anonymous at 11:52 AM 12 comments
It's official! I am tired of being unhealthy. I am a self proclaimed fast food junkie. Don't get me wrong, I love to try new recipes, explore the globe for the latest gourmet trends and bake up fabulous desserts but when it comes to day to day eating, I grab fast food before I start my next task. Being a mom, business owner, blogger, wife and running maintanence on many websites has made me put my health on the back burner.

To illustrate, I will give you my Mon-Fri. eating schedule:




  • Breakfast-Coffee. Not sipped with enjoyment but swilled down like a tequila shot before I begin running my business and getting kids ready for school.

  • Lunch-A piece of bread with peanut butter that I shove down my throat as I supervise the gift basket designers, blog, answer emails, phone calls and errands.


  • Dinner-By 5:00 I fall into my chair and beg my husband to go pick up something so we can start our administrative work for the business and deal with kid's homework and bedtime.

There is my eating schedule for the week. Of course, on the weekends I am looking for fabulous recipes to prepare for my blog. SO I AM MAKING A CHANGE. I am going to make myself a priority and begin cooking dinner more often. I will admit, I will start with extremely easy recipes and even boxed sides. This still has to be better than fast food. So here goes. These are some pictures of my first meal under my new WAY OF LIFE. It was delicious and easy.

I printed this recipe from Better Recipes.com and adapted it for ease.

Pepper Jack Chicken:


4 bonelesss skinless chicken breast. (Have your butcher cut the breast in half making them thinner and faster to cook.)

Worchestershire Sauce

Soy Sauce

Half Onion Sliced

8 oz. Pepper Jack Cheese

1 tbsp Butter

  1. Marinate chicken breasts in worchestershire sauce and soy sauce. I just dumped some into a plastic freezer bag. No measuring needed.

  2. Coat pan with Extra Virgn Olive Oil and heat for a few minutes. Grill chicken and add your favorite spices. I just throw in a little Lawry's season salt and a pinch of garlic salt.

  3. While chicken is cooking, add butter to another pan and let heat. Throw in sliced onions and sautee. Remove from heat when finished.

  4. When chicken is finished (no longer pink) remove from pan and place in microwavable dish.
  5. Place pepper jack cheese slices over chicken and top with sauteed onions.

  6. Put in microwave long enough to melt cheese.
I paired the chicken with bagged salad and boxed rice from the grocery store and we had a fabulous chicken dinner that took me less than 30 minutes. I will try to post my fast dinners often and let you know my progress.

If anyone else suffers from FAST FOOD ADDICTION, please join me in the fight to make our family's healthier, stronger and happier. Please comment on any struggles, successes and set backs you have encountered. Join me today. We can do this together.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Triple Layer Chocolate Bars

Posted by Anonymous at 10:03 AM 13 comments
Here is my latest weekend baking project. Triple Layer Chocolate Bars! Yummy! I am usually not a big fan of coconut but these bars turned out delicious. Two weekends out of the month, I try to do a cooking project with my kids (my fifteen-year-old has outgrown the tradition). I let them pick out the recipe and we go shopping for the ingredients and we come home and bake or cook it. My seven-year-old loves to carry the list at the grocery store and find all the ingredients. This recipe was pretty simple. It was practically dumping one layer ontop of the previous. If you are looking for a quick baking recipe for kids, this is a good one.
You will need:

  • 1/2 cup margarine or butter

  • 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

  • 7 ounces packaged flaked coconut

  • 1 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk

  • 1 12 ounce package of semi sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and melt butter in a 13x9 baking pan. Sprinkle evenly graham cracker crumbs over butter. Top with coconut then evaporated milk. Bake for 25 minutes. In a small sauce pan melt peanut butter and chocolate and spread over coconut layer. Cool 30 minutes. Chill and cut into bars. Here is a helpful hint. Don't crush the graham crackers by hand. It was a big mess and I actually had to give my dog a bath from all of the flying crumbs!

 

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