Showing posts with label yumm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yumm. Show all posts

Saturday, February 7, 2015

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!

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

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!

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Full on Coffee Addict!

When I first met my husband, the only attachment to coffee I had was with my memories of mornings breakfasts on my grandmothers farm. I had vague memories of her giving me lots of milk with a touch of coffee when I was young... I did NOT like it, at all! As close I came is my Chantico. Coffee to me was so bitter... and not drinkable at all. At 19 I met my lovely husband as well as his family, and as we have covered in the past, they are Bosnian. This is a metaphor for *big time coffee drinkers*, not just any coffee, what most Americans would call Turkish coffee, or my hillbilly grandfather would've called cowboy coffee. I, at 19, turned my nose at this, coffee to me was so bitter. 

At about 25, we moved into our new apartment, and with it came a new town, and new places to explore! I found a wonderful place for a sugaraholic like me called South Bend Chocolate Company. I decided one day to try their mocha, verses their hot chocolate. I'll be honest, the chocolate spoon did me in. These mochas were extra extra sweet, so when I began to drink mochas from Starbucks they were very bitter in comparison. I had a few friends, however, that I met on a regular at Starbucks, so I drank them for awhile.


You may have already noticed where I am going with this story, now I am a full on coffee addict! Although I am now drinking Bosnian coffee, Turkish coffee, or Cowboy coffee (however you like to call it), I still drink it with tons of sugar and I LOVE cream in it as well. I get teased a bit from the Bosnians about this, apparently I drink coffee *like a child*, but I can tell you this: 
The child me, at grandma's farm, did not like that coffee taste at all!
Its a love/hate relationship with this progression of needing that coffee *bitter* taste :)

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Chantico Dream

A long long time ago in a far away time, I would go to my local Starbucks and purchase this tiny little  (maybe) 4 oz. cup of dreamy chocolate. My younger self was not partial to coffee or the taste of it AT ALL (my how times have changed). This little cup was so cute, and honestly the sugaraholic in me could've drank 5 of them in one day. 


Then one day *gasp* I merrily skipped to Starbucks, only to have my heart crushed! They had discontinued my precious drink, apparently their were not enough people ordering it. I genuinely believe this to be because not enough people knew about it!
Why were they not advertising this magic?!
Okay, I digress...

Fast forward about a decade, no I'm not kidding...
While in California visiting relatives I found some yummy chocolate bars, like the extra special *wine-tastebud-quality* chocolate. This was the kind of chocolate that would be sacrilege to just open and eat, so I brought it back home and stewed over what special thing to do with it.


You guessed it! I had a sudden flashback to my precious chantico, so I got to work trying to find the perfect recipe. I had one shot to get it right, and SO right it was!
I halved this recipe, considering I didn't have enough chocolate to make a full batch, and it was still perfect I assure you.

Friday, October 10, 2014

Pho sure!

Okay guys, I am from the MidWest so please forgive me that I am a little late to the party. I didn't try sushi right away, and now I am guilty of just trying Pho for the first time. BUT... can you say flippin' DELISH?! 

Oh the love. I call myself a foodie very loosely because I am a little skittish to try things, but the heavens opened up for me on this one. I love beef overall anyway, so I tried the rare steak & well done brisket. Lucky for me I had someone with me that was a pro. They explained the Thai basil & bean sprouts, well the saracha too, but I don't do spicy too well so I skipped that.

Now to the point! I wanted to attempt to make this at home.  We all know that it is costly to go out to eat often, however this wonderful dish begs to be eaten often. I first found a lovely recipe on Pinterest for the pressure cooker, but the yield was astronomical. Just when I was about to pull out the grocery list and add freezer bags to the ingredient list, I came across this:


What?! AND its organic??? Yes please! I will be on the hunt for this asap, just add noodles and tender lovely beef. Now how hard is it to find bean sprouts and Thai basil?
Be still my heart... and stomach.

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Thanksgiving Visitors

Now I don't know about you all out there, but when we do Halloween, we just do some trick or treating and call it a day. We load our kids buckets FULL, then the parents sneak the "good candy", and then let the kids go crazy for one night a year. We are not the family that has an elaborate Halloween costume party, although I'd like to do that once. 

We ARE however the family that does more traditional Thanksgiving family gatherings. That all being said, I stumbled across this on Pinterest. I'm in love with how fricken adorable these are. 


I traced it back to tadkapasta and it seems they are calling these to be for Halloween...
I, as you've guessed, would do them for my Thanksgiving gathering. Now all I need to do is get a gathering of people to visit Colorado for Thanksgiving. ;)

Friday, May 17, 2013

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!

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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.

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

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

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.

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

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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.

Monday, May 6, 2013

Getting my hands dirty

Bet you’d never guess what I been doing all weekend?!

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I know I mentioned that I might not be doing a garden this year because of Europe… but I’m crazy like that I guess.

My thinking is that if I promise someone my harvest for that three weeks, they will come water for that time. What do you think? Even enough trade?

Monday, April 22, 2013

Garden of 2013 has begun

Here it is the end-ish of April and it is snowy/rain mix outside my windows, so I am focusing on the positive!

Here are the pictures I took of my garden this weekend. It is now in bloom, although I pray it’s not all getting frost bit as I type :/

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Thursday, April 11, 2013

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!

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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…

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

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.

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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 ;)

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

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…

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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 :/

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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

Monday, April 1, 2013

Everyone have a nice Easter?

I realize I have been away for a few days, but I promise I have good reason! It was Easter and my birthday all in one day…

I made this cute little basket for “my” Easter present. Target dollar spot is where I snagged the basket, but what I want to talk about is how everything is edible. The suckers are so sweet, pun intended, and the bunny? Lindt dark chocolate (holy yumm), and the grass is imported from Germany, it is edible too! It’s not delicious, but not bad either, just eh.

So I know I am a little on the Easter post, but what you think? Cute huh?!

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Tuesday, March 26, 2013

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.

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*drum roll please*

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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

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

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!

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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. 

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Organic Deli Tray

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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?

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

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!

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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? :)

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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.

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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.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

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.

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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…

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Porto’s Bakery

I was first introduced to this wonderful-in-everyway-place by my lovely sister in law. This introduction, unfortunately was over instagram. You see my SIL lives in LA. Once she finished USC (yes, extremely proud over here), she officially took the plunge of living the high life of a studio apartment *sarcasm indeed*. What is not sarcastic however, is that I am living vicariously through her. Who wouldn’t want to be young, with tons of fun friends, on your own, in Los Angeles? So when we went to visit this past summer my only wish was to go to this place. It’s obviously the closest I was going to get to being young and fun in LA, with children behind me. haha So off we went:

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The architecture inside and out was so pretty. I wanted to take tons of pictures, then redecorate my house accordingly.

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Tell me one thing in this case that me, my husband, and my two girls wouldn’t want to take home?! Every. single. thing. I wanted to buy and smuggle on the plane.

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This is what my husband and I settled on: Tiramisu on the left and mochachino on the right. Mine is the right, good thing, cause it was the most delicious one! I could use one right now, this 1200 calorie diet I’ve been on needs to be blown up!