How she cleaned it up - White Chicken Chili

How She Cleaned It Up

* I have been asked many times if I eat solely Organic, to which I respond: "I like to eat clean". This is something that I am very passionate about, and it is coming up more often in my day to day life. I recently got someone to switch over a few things and start their journey, which inspired me to start this series. I want to share some tips, tricks, & any knowledge I come across with you. Like with any of my posts, all of this is said in love and concern for the greater good. However, that being said, I find more and more ridiculous things the further I dig!

 I am saddened by what is happening to children, sometimes without their parents knowledge. I was not educated on any of this for a long while. When I did learn some of these things, I was outraged, I had been feeding my growing babies things I wish I hadn't! I want to help people make a change, but some people HONESTLY think you are borderline elitist if you tell them you eat organic! What is most important in life? Health? Don't get me wrong, we are not necessarily eating "healthy". We are eating  just how my grandmother use to eat when she was young, and she loved her sugar! 

First thing I changed was milk, eggs, & bread. These are the things that we go through the most in our home, and it wasn't a huge challenge to my budget. As I grew and changed more, I am not going to lie, my grocery bill did go up. It was not the money that I was spending the most on, rather the "time spending" that was most difficult for me personally. The more difficult thing for my family, however, was not wasting food. My humble opinion is that we waste a lot of food in today's culture. If we spent more on what we actually eat, throw less away, our grocery bill doesn't have to sky-rocket. Overall, I believe that we need to get back to simpler times in more ways than one (waste, chemicals & pesticides, waiting to have dinners around the table with family)... Like I said, all said in love & no offense meant. Now back to your regular scheduled post:

White Bean Chili

I started off by finding this recipe, and gathered all my ingredients. Knowing that I wanted to make white bean chili, I had soaked beans the night before and pre-cooked them according to the bag instructions. I then put them into a glass jar I previously had. I try not to use canned anything overall. (key word is try) 

As you can see I then used organic chicken broth, I usually like to use "better than bouillon" paste mixed with water. (yes, they have organic as well) This boxed broth was on sale at Sprouts, so I went with it instead. Yes, you caught me, I am using canned chiles... I am not familiar enough with this product to know my other options.

We, as a family, just don't care about having a ton of meat "in" our stuff. Sometimes we just crave a steak, but overall recipes that call for meat get halved. I have noticed a lot of recipes call for two pounds of ground beef... you just don't need that much! So I halved the chicken breast to two and cut them into chunks instead of pulling it apart.

I loved this chili, my oldest did as well. My youngest, well she just doesn't want anything to have any "spiciness" to it, so she did not want it. Let me know what you think!

Giving warms the heart

If you're like me, you want to give and give and give some more around Christmas. I give till I get myself in trouble. I like to shop anyway, and then I continue to see things that "remind me" of this person or that... I have to let them know that I was thinking about them, right?!

Well to keep myself out of trouble, in more than one way, I stay at home one weekend in December and bake & make candies. My munchkins and I have a blast, create memories, & mama spends less dough. {pun intended}

Creating these treats helps me to give baskets to people that I love and think about without breaking the bank. On this occasion, however, I found myself without enough actual baskets to pack in. So here was my innovative solution! Remember the boxes that cuties come in? Yes! I wrapped that sucker in some gift wrap and viola! Instant Christmas basket!

Having girls

Can I just take a minute to express how much I love having two little girls?! I love the fact that they get excited to watch “Cupcake Wars” with me… I love that my little one asks when “Sweet Genius” is going to be on. I just love the fact that I have prissy little girls that love to get excited about the same things that excite me!

Shrimp Tacos!

A couple days back, I was tootilin’ about my garden, & picked just a few pieces of lettuce. As I was walking back into the house, I spotted my cilantro, and picked a bit of that as well.

Thinking, thinking, thinking… what’s for super? hmmm Opened the freezer, and the shrimp smacked me in the face. This got me thinking about a post the other day from a friend, Cheesecake Factory: Shrimp Tacos!

Absolutely. I found what sounded close enough for me over here. I had all the ingredients listed, besides limes, but I did have lime juice, so I dove in.

They tasted wonderful, especially knowing that my shrimp were from Whole Foods, and not farm raised. It was also satisfying that the greens were from my garden.

I believe that the only thing that would have made them taste any better? A margarita would have finished it off, of course!

We have Asparagus!

Last year I planted asparagus, & the package says two to four years till harvest. So imagine my surprise when I was seeing little thin sprigs already year one.

So on Thursday, when I came home from work, I saw this, plus a couple more like it. WooHoo!

On Friday when coming home from work, I had all of these! I know it isn’t a lot, but I have them in a jar of water, awaiting a few more. I think I should have them within a few more days, which really makes me happy.

Cinnamons

I got my Food Network magazine last Wednesday, and when my oldest caught a glimpse of the cover it was on!

“Mommy, please can you make those cinnamon rolls for breakfast?”

Without a thought in my my head I made the biggest mistake a mother can make while having a convo with her children…

“Maybe this weekend honey”

oops! I will blame it on my 1200 calorie diet I’ve been trying to keep up for 2 months now. My brain hasn’t had enough nutrition lately!

Fast forward to Friday evening, when I came home from work. I mixed and mixed, and turned and buttered and wrapped. In the fridge till morning!

This is the point where it was starting to pay off for me. The house smelled delish, and my family was super happy as I pulled it out of the oven.

I snapped one last picture for you, and threw my “not-gonna-be-fat-in-Europe-diet” out the window. I was super pumped at this point: iced coffee & cinnamon rolls.

First bite was eh… yes all that work and eh. If I was going to put all that time in, I really should have stuck with the Cinnabon knockoff that is splashed all over the internet.

It does make for pretty pictures though, right?!

My Dream Garden

I normally do not like to use pictures that are not mine, or that I can not give photo credits to, but I am in LOVE with this garden!

Would anyone out there like to dig my backyard for me? I can’t believe how amazing the detail is on this garden! I think I have a section that I could recreate something similar, but how do I keep those darn bunnies away from something like this?! I also have been contemplating how much I want to do in my garden this year. If I am going to Europe for three weeks, how much attention is a garden going to get? hmmmm…

And so I made cupcakes…

Since I couldn’t have sampita for my birthday treat, I scoured Pinterest for ideas.

I found these Tres Leches cupcakes. I did not, however use the recipe for the icing that goes on them. I found a different one that used a box o’ cream cheese & whipping cream. I know it doesn’t look as pretty, but tasted light & airy, so as not to take away from the amazing cupcakes themselves.

My brother also has a birthday close to mine, two days before actually. He came up to visit, and chocolate is his fav, so chocolate cupcakes of course. I had my best friend on the phone at the time, and I also know that chocolate cake is one of her favs as well. She too likes to use her Kitchen Aid, so I ask what was the best recipe to use. She suggested the one on the back of the Hershey’s cocoa container, pretty good I’ll say. I also have to let you in on the fact that I do not like chocolate cake. *gasp* Love chocolate, but not so much chocolate flavored things.

I have been munching on these Tres Leches cupcakes since Saturday, & still can’t get enough of them. I had one minor hang up: once I got to the ‘use a meat injector for the milk’ I was lost for a moment, then, rummaged through my utensil drawer…. SCORE! I surprise myself some times. I used a children’s medicine dispenser, worked like a charm ;)

Sampita 2 vs. Katrina 0

I originally thought that I could never make sampita because I did not have a stand alone mixer. I attempted it once, with my husband’s help (okay instruction), but it didn’t work out too well.

So, this being the case, I began to dream about a Kitchen Aid, and dream, and dream… I would read several recipes needing a mixer. I would watch Food Network, and tell myself some day.

As you know some day came! First mission was Sampita…

And here you are, 10 egg yolks (for the crust) & 10 egg whites for my dreamy, fluffy, cloud-like delishesnesses. Well, FAIL! what a waste of 10 eggs. The crust turned out lovely, and tasted good, but the meringue is just not gonna happen.

I guess I will have to find a baka (OLD Bosnian grandma) to help me :/

One nice thing happen out of the mess. I learnt how to make my own vanilla sugar. One teaspoon of vanilla to a 1/2 cup of sugar. You need this to make my favorite Bosnian treat, you can buy packets at the “Euro-supermarket”. I thought I had some in my cupboard, but did not on close inspection. So, that being said, I guess I am a domestic Goddess for being able to mix sugar and vanilla, right? LOL

My Birthday gift!

Easter Sunday just also happens to be my birthday this year, yeap! I feel kinda special. There is something else that I am feeling the most special about though. Wanna take a guess? Well, Finally got an extra special gift I’ve been eye-bawling for a few years now.

~~~~.~~~~.~~~~.~~~~.~~~~.~~~~

~~~~.~~~~.~~~~.~~~~.~~~~.~~~~

*drum roll please*

~~~~.~~~~.~~~~.~~~~.~~~~.~~~~

~~~~.~~~~.~~~~.~~~~.~~~~.~~~~

~~~~.~~~~.~~~~.~~~~.~~~~.~~~~

She’s like the retro Cadillac of Amazingnesses! Can you tell I am super excited? First moment we will be having together will be Sampita. Here is your mission: comment below your first moment together with your KitchenAid/your favorite recipes that involve the KitchenAid mixer. I need some wonderful things to try!

<3

Oh no! I thought I had that!

The other night I started boiling my pasta, the plan was to make baked rigatoni. I grab my pasta sauce jar out of the fridge only to see it half empty. My first thought was “great this is suppose to be my quick fix go-to meal”, so now what? Off to the store? In my baby-fit manner, I spin my lazy susan quickly around, and something caught my eye! Hmmm I can make pasta sauce homemade, I’ve done it before, but it takes all day of simmering. I grab the tomato sauce can that caught my eye, and rummage through my spice cabinet. There we go!

I pour into my sauce jar the tomato sauce that will fit, and start “doctoring it up”. I throw in about 2 Tbsp. of Parm, and a few, three shakes of Italian seasoning, a dash of garlic salt (I didn’t have garlic powder on hand). I put the cap back on, and give it a good shake, shake, shake. Then I poured it all over my rigatoni as usual. It worked out so good, I had to share it with all of you, my favoritestes peeps. 

Hopping down the bunny trail…

It’s almost that time again! Who else it super excited to color eggs with the children? I don’t know what I love more, their joy or my joy of playing in the pretty colors.

I have been thinking to do the natural dying from veggies & herbs this year. Any opinions or experiences from this you’d like to share?

Organic Deli Tray

First of all, do you or someone you know attend family functions where some or all of the people attending do not care about their food being organic? In fact, some of you out there might even be saying the people attending this family functions do not even seem to care about healthy options at all.

Well, here is a go-to for you, without bringing something too crazy. Something like ‘hummus & whole wheat crackers’?! I just have to smirk at myself, because that would have been me just five or so years ago.

As you can tell from this picture (sorry for the poor quality), it is not all organics on this tray, but you could put your own stamp of approval on it. The trays here are organic veggies & Boar’s Head deli meats. I have not taken the organic cheese plunge, it is just not economically feasible for me. Everything in time though I am sure.

So what healthy options would you add to your tray, that would still be options for your ‘conventional’ crowd?

Frozen Herbs

I love to make, what I like to call, Faux-Chipotle every so often, but I feel like I waste so much cilantro, so I was on a mission. As usual, I turned to my best friend ever Pinterest, and found what I needed. You can freeze herbs!

The thing is, apparently you must layer it in a jar with sea salt. Why sea salt? Ummm I don’t know either, but if something works, why question it? :)

My thinking is it keeps too much moisture at bay, so that they herbs don’t get mushy. That sounds good, right?! Yeap that is the answer I am sticking with.

Also, I haven’t tested this on other herbs, yet, but I want to this summer. My plan is to have an herb garden this year, but we will see how many other things I get to planting. I get carried away every year.

Healthy Fast Food

As I was eating my Panera Bread tonight, I was thinking about the little amount of food options we have here in South Bend/Mishawaka area. We are getting a Whole Foods soon, but could we get a Trader Joe’s or Good Earth store? We are all trying to eat more healthy, and shouldn’t that include organic?

So, more importantly than all the above, when this mama wants a “night off”, I have basically two options. I could go to Panera, which is not organic. My kiddos do love salad from here though, so I feel good about this choice. The other option is Chipotle, there are organic aspects here, but there is a ton of sodium in these meals.

What I am getting at here, with my rant, is why do moms in this area not have more options? Is it lack of funds around the area to start up new places? Or is it the fact that people just don’t care enough about organics? I am starting to feel like the odd man out when trying to get my family to eat healthy.

It really brought everything full circle in my mind when people all around me are raving about how my daughters love salads. I want to scream at them, because my kids were not exposed to fast food non-stop. Yes my kids have had a happy meal, and yes they have played at the Burger King playland, so don’t think I am one of those moms. Everything in moderation though. We always went toward the healthier options. My daughters love salad so much, because this was going out to eat for them. What are we doing to our kids? What are we doing to ourselves? I eat less and less vegetables every year. This was my true wake up call, and the number one reason I started my garden.

Okay, rant over…

Wild Berry Tea

My girls and I tend to go to the play area at the mall on the weekends, it’s cold here, but my girls are still social beings. Once we are done with the play area, however, down that same hall is Teavana. It just came in about a year and a half ago, and the girls learned quick that they have samples! They have two hot teas and two cold teas, somehow they are similar ones or even the sameone every time. My oldest fell in love with the cold berry tea that they have. If you have ever met a child, you know, you do something once with them, you must do it every single time thereafter. So when she asked to buy it to bring it home, I took a look into the cost…let’s just say I made a new promise.

We have a different type of tea at home, and it dawned on me one day.. why can’t I make “cold tea” and have it for everyday?

Doesn’t this jar remind you of sun tea? My grandmother use to make that all the time on the farm. I think I will try it that way this summer. For now, I put boiling water over the tea bags. I put in 6 tea bags to 4 cups of water. I am not sure if that was the correct ratio, but it works for us.

This is how my girls like to drink their tea, even when it’s cold… tiny cup, and “ice cubes” like my little daughter like to call them. I think this tea, with some true ice cubes, would be nice, in the summer. I have a perfect double-walled Starbucks come that would do the job perfect! Doesn’t that remind you of their new passion fruit tea?

Cabbage Rolls in the Crockpot

 * If you are here from Pinterest, Welcome! I have been asked for the recipe,

it is at the bottom in the comment section.

There are a ton of crockpot recipes flying around the internet these days & if you’re partial to Pinterest, I’m sure you’ve noticed. I also have noticed that a bunch of them are full of package mixes and lots of canned soup bases. I’m not sure about you, but I am trying to slowly get away from all of these processed things.

Cabbage rolls are like my chicken pot pie I make… it’s a big comfort food for me.

Cabbage rolls drum up a whole lot of nostalgia in my mind and heart. Every year for Thanksgiving, my cousin would come from Alaska for a mini-reunion, this was her chance to get grandma’s cabbage rolls.

As you can imagine we liked to go and do tons of stuff while she was visiting, which brings me to my point. Did you know that you can slow-cook cabbage rolls? I didn’t realize thing till my grandma told me a couple years back. I’m so happy to have learnt so much from her!

I’m sure you’ve already guessed that there is some prep-work before hand, but it is so worth it. Just pile those yummy little packages of stuffed cabbage in the crock with some kraut and tomato juice, turn on, and go. Go do some “running” as my grandma would call it. For you young pups out there, that’s code for “shopping, errands, etc.”

The best thing about this idea? When you come home, it’s all done. It’s a meal in itself, no post-prep on this meal. We like to eat them with crescent rolls and cottage cheese. Cabbage rolls are just one of those meals that warms your belly and your soul in the middle of winter.

Grateful for Lil’ Helpers

I have many fond memories of baking/cooking in the kitchen with Grandma, so when my daughter asked to help, how could I say no? I hesitate a bit when she asked, I have two daughters & they fight over things (you know like sisters do). My oldest loves to be “grown-up” and she does everything very carefully and meticulously, but I still picture a big mess in my kitchen that I will need to clean up afterwards. May I also add, time is limited on “work nights”, and by the weekend, I wish to do nothing. (Sometimes I feel like a crappy mommy, not doing enough with my children) :/

Well on that note, sorry for the Debbie Downer moment, it is Christmas time! Time to bake cookies & make candies, and decorate the tree. All things that it is time for me to allow my kids to help with, and be thankful for their help as well!

She is such a good girl.. I told her to make sure her hand was behind her back the entire time so she didn’t smash her little fingers. As for the powdered sugar? less than a half a teaspoon on the counter by the time we were done! Such. A. Good. Girl! I have to give her more credit. She doesn't like messes either.

Then it was time to wrap gifts, for the “rest” of the family, of course. She once again asked to “help” and I hesitated (sucky mommy, yadda yadda). She took it upon herself to wrap the gifts that were going to her friend in the mail. Okay, I thought, I also am best-friends with the mom, & she will love the note that I will include. *Alisa wrapped all these herself* I already know the meaning of this will bring a smile to her face and a tear to her eye. Our kids are 3 weeks apart, and growing up together, no matter how many miles apart we are.

Once again she surprised me with how great she did! I need to remind myself that she has that perfectionist quality about her. Great job to both my girls: the older one for “helping” me, & the younger one for entertaining herself and not getting in her sister’s hair along her “helping” process.

Baby it’s cold outside..

So why not make it feel like summer inside?! Literally this weekend it got down to 13! Burr..

I was asking myself what can I make to get the ambiance of summer in my home for a night? Mango salsa was weighing heavy on the brain, so I had to pick one up at the store. I must also tell you, I had some visitors over Thanksgiving from Alaska, namely my first cousin & her family. She is such a lovely person, and to show how lovely they are, they came bearing gifts…halibut & salmon, yummm. Do you see where I am going with this?

Mango Salsa made ahead, because we all know it tastes so much better after marinating for a couple hours.

Add to this halibut, on a bed of rice? Yes please!

                    

Although my family didn’t appreciate this meal. (My 5 year old daughter told me the top part “just tastes too crazy mommy”) I am sure you will, right?

Rainy Gloomy Monday…

& you don’t feel like cooking, right?! Well… I don’t claim to be the “best cook/mommy” but I do know this: In order to have a super quick meal (think faster than Rachel Ray on 30 min. meals) you don’t have to sacrifice any form of nutrition.

Try not to go all judge on me, and I will tell you one of my quick “go to meals” when I really don’t want to cook!

I guess I should have told you, that my daughters refuse to eat the “yellow” of an egg.

Seriously though, how Quick is this meal. Popp a tube of biscuits, boil some eggs in one pot and broccoli in another. 15 minutes tops! And let’s be honest here, this is obviously NOT one of those meals that you have to be at the stove for.

Easy Peasy