In the Kitchen

Try This: Marina’s Mango Green Smoothies

by Stacy on January 16, 2013

tropical green smoothie

Photo: Yummy Mummy Kitchen

Marina shared her favorite green smoothie recipe the other day and I dreamed about it for a week straight. I finally got to the store and stocked up on frozen mango so I could make these for breakfast yesterday.

They were everything I knew they would be and more, just delicious. I’m thinking of making another one right now! We used Coconut Milk because that was what we had on hand, and I loved the slight tropical vibe it gave this green goodness.

See Marina’s recipe here: Favorite Green Smoothie

Adding this to our breakfast rotation, and searching for more green smoothie recipes to try.

Do you have a favorite green smoothie?

Tell me what’s in it, I’d love to try it next.

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Southwestern Chopped Salad & 3-Ingredient Sangria

by Stacy on September 22, 2012

Add meat and cheese, some tortilla strips would be great too! End up with this, a super simple weeknight meal your whole family will love.

Really, all three of my kids gobbled this up. My 6 year old had three bowls full of this salad. I’d love to tell you he was a salad nut (he does “like” salad), but the real secret was in the spicy ranch, so so good.

May I present you with your new go to weeknight salad:

southwestern chopped salad

Southwestern Chopped Salad

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • finely chopped lettuce
  • finely chopped cabbage
  • shredded carrots
  • diced cucumber
  • cherry tomatoes
  • black olives
  • steamed corn
  • pepper jack cheese
  • grilled chicken (diced or sliced)
  • Avacado (diced – optional)
  • Hidden Valley Spicy Ranch (optional – but so good)

Directions:

This couldn’t be more simple. Grill the chicken however you like, or cook it up quickly on the stove using some EVO and salt & pepper. Dice all ingredients, taking the time to finely dice the lettuce and cabbage. Layer them in a large bowl, sprinkle with cheese (as heavy handed as you need to be) then place cooked chicken on top to serve.

Notes:
In a pinch or on busy weeknights, use store bought rotisserie or grilled & ready chicken. You can even find southwestern chopped salad kits with lettuce & cabbage pre-chopped, ready to go.

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and as long as you’ve whipped up this tasty salad with time to spare, why not make this evening extra special with a 2 minute, 3-ingredient sangria.

3 Ingredient Sangria

Ingredients:

  • Red Table Wine (I used First Timer Red)
  • Orange Passion Mango World Market Italian Soda
  • Bag of Mixed Frozen Fruit (mine had strawberries, mango & peaches)

Directions:

  1. Have a simple sangria ready to go in 2 minutes flat. Pour in red wine, then follow with Italian Soda; the ratio is 1:1. Open your bag of frozen fruit and pour in as much as you want. The fruit will not only chill the sangria, but as it melts the flavors will even enhance it.

Notes:
If you’re like me and you’re not the biggest fan of mushy fruit, then you may want to sip this sangria with a straw. While sure I’d prefer fresh fruit in my sangria, this is a super simple alternative you can whip up just about any time. Perfect for when unexpected company drops by.

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Kids can have their own sparkling punch, just pour in some Italian soda and a few frozen strawberries and/or peaches to jazz it up a bit.

The result is a low fuss, no stress dinner that feels a bit more like a vacation than a chore.

Enjoy!

These recipes were developed as part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™, but all ideas and opinions are my own.

I had such a great time working with World Market, you can find them on Twitter,Google+, Facebook and/or Pinterest!

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School Lunch Idea: Mini Hawaiian Subs

by Stacy on September 4, 2012

kids lunch ideas

I asked all my friends on Facebook how I could be most helpful in getting them back in to the rhythm of balancing school, and work, and family life. I was super surprised to see 90% of them needed some fresh ideas for packing lunches, but you know what? — this seems to be a growing topic in our home too!

I sat down with my kiddos and we did some serious brainstorming.  We took school guidelines, allergy restrictions and all of their unique likes and dislikes into heavy consideration. We came up with a list of lunch ideas for school, some more healthy than others … we could all be happy about.

First up, are the cute little mini subs. Did you know Hawaiian Bread made mini sub rolls now? Me neither. Check it.

packed lunch ideas

These sweet little hawaiian subs have turkey, provolone and a squeeze of Ken’s Lite Honey Mustard. I microwave the meat & cheese on the bread for 10-12 seconds to give it that straight from the deli effect.

These are outstanding at home fresh out the microwave and I havent had any complaints or half eaten sandwiches since we started packing them for school.

healthy lunch ideas

I paired this lunch with some scrabble cheezits (confession: cheez-its are my all time weakness) and some freeze dried fruit, like this.

crunchies mixed fruit

I’ve tried a lot of freeze dried fruit in our house and it doesn’t always get the warmest welcome. This brand however, all 3 of my littles enjoyed.

There you have it, our first back to school lunch idea. Stay tuned for more ideas for school lunches.

The containers we’re using are glad products. They are BPA free and we have them in sandwich and snack size. I like that I can fit the snack container into the sandwich container like this. Handy. Dandy & Cheap. :)

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I have partnered with The Glad Products Company through DailyBuzz Moms to help promote their BPA-free Food Storage products. I have been compensated for my time and efforts. However, my opinions and ideas are, as always, entirely my own. I have not been paid to publish positive comments. Thank you GLAD!

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Basalmic Chicken & Toasted Tortellini

by Stacy on March 21, 2012

It’s been quite a few Valentine’s Days since my first go round with the goodness that is brown butter and basalmic vinegar. I remember our first Valentine’s Day as new parents, we couldn’t go out for a romantic dinner so I made us one at home. That night it was brown butter & baslamic toasted ravioli (awesome!), but this version with tortellini was equally good and pretty kid friendly too.

Basalmic Chicken; Toasted Tortellini w/ a Caprese side salad

Basalmic Chicken & Brown Butter Toasted Tortellini

Heat some olive oil & minced garlic in a large pan. Add your chicken breasts or tenderloins and after a few minutes add a few tablespoons of a nice quality basalmic vinegar. I think we used 4-5 small frozen breasts here with 1.5 tablespoons of vinegar, increase the amount based on how much chicken you are using. Let the chicken cook until the juices run clear and the outside starts to brown and get a bit crispy.

Cook tortellini according to package directions (we used grocery store brand frozen spinach & cheese tortellini), drain and set aside. Melt 4-6 tablespoons of butter in a frying pan and continue to heat until butter starts to turn brown (5-7 minutes). Add tortellini and a tablespoon or two of baslamic vingear (depending on how much tortellini you have). Stir around until tortellini are coated in butter & basalmic vinegar and then a few minutes more until tortellini starts to “toast” a bit.

close ups

Sprinkle with parmesan cheese & sit down to enjoy this truly fabulous meal with your family.

Served here with one of my favorite summer salads — the caprese salad.
So simple, yet so tasty. All you need are some mixed greens of your choice, cherry tomatoes cut in half (any tomatoes will do, dice a larger one if that’s what you have on hand), some fresh mozzerella (we used tiny mozzerella balls, so simple), a bit of olive oil, a bit of baslasmic vinegar, basil, and some salt & pepper. Sometimes I add parsley and oregano too, if I have it on hand.

If you’ve never cooked with or experimented with Baslamic Vinegar … then we have lots to talk about! It’s a staple in my pantry and I would love to help make it one in yours as well.

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bowl full of happiness

by Stacy on March 8, 2012

Eat with me Wednesday #3

Bowl full of happiness

Cream of Wheat w/ Brown Sugar, Dried Cranberries and Toasted Almonds

There are just some foods that whenever I make them take me back to another time and place. Every time I make this dish, which by the way needs to be a lot more often, I’m suddenly transformed back to that tiny, long-haired little girl I used to be; sitting on my Daddy’s lap, scooping up heaping spoonfuls of warm cream of wheat, and biting in to sugary sweet cinnamon toast (not pictured). I can smell the deliciousness even as I type this.

I didn’t know my father very well when I was growing up, but I vividly remember him eating cream of wheat. I remember, because he always poured milk into his creating this odd souplike mixture and I could never understand why anyone would ever want to mess with the thick, just plain perfect texture that was cream of wheat (malt o meal for some of you, no?). Memories like this are important to me, those little moments we did share versus the oh so many moments we did not get to share.

Sharing moments isn’t a problem around here, but I would like to put on the record for my own children the way I like my cream of wheat. :)

Thick, but not too thick. Sweet, but not too sweet with a brown tint you can only get from lots and lot of cinnamon and just enough brown sugar. I’ve learned from my own children that dried cranberries are the perfect accessory for this meal and this time I thought I’d try some honey roasted almond slices because, well – why not!

It was delightful, my own little bowl of happiness. And one last tip about building the perfect bowl of cream of wheat – if it gets too thick for your taste, you could add a ton of milk like my Dad used to do, but I prefer a tablespoon or two of hot tea — the way my Momma used to do it.

Cooking Tips: Follow the instructions on the box to make the amount of Cream of Wheat you need. Do this on the stove, trust me, it is way better this way. The mixture will thicken the longer it sits (see previous paragraph). Sweeten your bowl to taste and don’t forget the cinnamon toast! Perfect for eating and dipping. Butter some bread and sprinkle generous amounts of cinnamon sugar on top. Broil or bake on the top rack until the face of the toast gets just a bit crusty. You still want some of it to be soggy (mmm, melted butter and cinnamon sugar). Be careful if broiling toast. It happens quick, so keep an eye on it.

Do you have any foods that remind you of your childhood?

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