Keepin' It Healthy (some of the time)

Many of you who read this Blog know I like to cook, especially recipes by Siriously Delicious. Num. Num. But, did you know the author of Siriously Delicious, Siri, also writes a blog of letters to her son Jack called Dear Jacks,? Well, she does and it's just as great a read as her cooking blog.

So, I was reading Dear Jacks, the other day and Siri mentioned THESE:


(photo)

Just seeing these cute little packets of goodness from Ella's Kitchen made me want to go out and buy them for my children. And I did, the very next day!




I picked up brocoli and spinach ones for Ruby and she LOVED them (probably because they taste more like the pears they are mixed with!). For Sawyer, I got a couple of the smoothies. I also picked up a few fruit smoothies from Plum Tots. Their packaging isn't nearly as eye catching as Ella's, but I wanted to try them as well. All of it's good, organic numminess for the youngins :-)

One thing I noticed while checking out Plums website for this post that gives them a one-up on Ella's is THIS:


A Boon Spoon. Very convenient!



Side Note: Siri is hosting a Giveaway on Dear Jacks,. Check it out!

Sushi

While I was in MN, my friend Kristie and I went to our friend Jennifer's house to make sushi rolls. Jennifer made the rice and Kristie and I helped cut up the fish (we had Tuna and Marlin) and veggies. Then, Jennifer showed us how to roll them up.

Everything tasted as good as if we had gone out to eat! I will definitely be making sushi from home again soon!

Along with nummy wine, we also had cake balls on the menu. When it came time to dip the cake balls in chocolate we had already had a bit of wine... So, our balls were messy! Hehe! Recipe HERE.

Margarita's and Leftovers

Margarita's are the only cocktail I ever crave. I craved them during both of my pregnancies and my first "adult" drink after giving birth was a margarita (actually, I should say 2nd because Mimosa's were served in the hospital minutes after both kids arrived). If you know the Colbert family and have been lucky enough to be invited to a margarita and dip party at their house, you know their margarita is fantastic. The margarita I make is a close second. I got this recipe from my Pampered Chef days.





Margarita's
1 Can Frozen Limeade
1 Cup Tequila
3 Cans Sprite
1 Pacifico

The Pampered Chef recipe calls for 1 Corona, but I have started using Pacifico because I think that it tastes better. I "build" this margarita by first adding the limeade and tequila and stirring them together. Then, I add the cans of Sprite and stir. Lastly, add the Pacifico and stir. Adding the beer last keeps it from foaming up while stirring in the other ingredients.

Last night we had Margarita's and Jucy Lucy's. Num. Num. This morning Jon (who is AWESOME at eating leftovers) made himself a Jucy Lucy Breakfast Sandwich.



That's a 1/4 pound Jucy Lucy burger, topped with a scrambled egg, more cheese, jalapeno's and ketchup.


We get creative with our leftovers here in the Fuller house! :-)

Jucy Lucy & Spicy Sweet Potato Fries

Jon and I were watching Man vs. Food on the Travel Channel last week and the host, Adam, was in Minneapolis (you can catch this episode again on Tuesday, Mar. 30th @ 8:30PM). Adam visited Matt's Bar to try one of their famous Jucy Lucy Burgers. Jon was disappointed with me because I never took him to try one of these hamburgers for himself... I'm a bad Minnesotan! So I promised him I would make him a Jucy Lucy.

Makings of a great flavored hamburger.


Beef mixture.



Beef balls.


Patties.


I love cheese.


Jucy Lucy.


Jucy Lucy - Fuller Family Style



1 lb. Ground Beef
½ tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
1 teaspoon Sriracha
1 teaspoon Tony Chachere’s Original Creole Seasoning
1 teaspoon McCormick Grill Mates - Hamburger
1 egg
8 Saltine Crackers, crushed
Block of cheese, pick your flavor

With your hands, thoroughly combine beef, Worcestershire, Sriracha, Tony’s seasoning, McCormick seasoning, egg and crushed Saltines. If the meat starts to warm up (from your hands) put it back in the fridge, you need to keep it chilled.

Measure out 6 balls of beef mixture. To keep the beef from sticking to your hands, wet them with cold water.

Flatten balls into a thin patties on top of wax paper, about ¼” high and roughly 5” in diameter.

Cut 9-1 inch cubes of cheese from block.

Place 3 pieces of cheese on the center of 3 patties.

On to each cheese-topped patty, flip a second patty to cover the cheese. Crimp the edges tightly so that the cheese will not blow out of the hamburger. Re-cover with wax paper and refrigerate at least 10 minutes.

Preheat a heavy-bottomed pan to medium heat or cook them on your outdoor grill. Note: The burger may puff up due to steam from melting cheese while cooking and this is normal.

Allow burger to cook 3 to 4 minutes on each side, or until desired temperature is reached. When you flip the burger use a toothpick to prick the top of the burger so the steam can escape.

You MUST let the burger cool before eating. The cheese will be very hot and you will burn your mouth if you bite into it right away.

Spicy Sweet Potato Fries

4 sweet potato’s, (about 2 lbs.)
¼ cup olive oil
½ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon oregano
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Cooking Spray
salt and pepper for seasoning, optional

Preheat oven to 500°.

Cut washed potato’s into 1 inch wedges.

Place wedges in a bowl and cover with olive oil. Add cumin, oregano, crushed red pepper flakes and toss until evenly coated.

Place wedges in a single layer on a greased baking sheet. For a crispier fry, space wedges an inch apart. Sprinkle with salt and pepper (optional).

Bake on the middle rack for 20 minutes. Turn wedges over. Bake an additional 10 minutes, or until crispy on the outside and tender in the middle.

Also served with sauteed zucchini and squash. Delish!

On Tuesday, Mar. 30th @ 9PM, we'll be tuning in to watch Food Wars' - Minneapolis Ju(i)cy Lucy War where Matt's Bar and the 5-8 Club will compete to see which restaurant has the best Lucy! I'm routing for Matt's!

Red Velvet Cake Whoopie Pies

My Red Velvet Cake craving is OUT.OF.CONTROL! All I want to make and eat is THIS...


Since I can not eat Red Velvet Cheesecake for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday, I was really hoping I would LOVE Yoplaits new yogurt with Red Velvet Cake flavoring...

Well, I did NOT love the yogurt. My Red Velvet Cake craving was not satisfied.

Then, I heard about this place called Yogurtland and that they were featuring a Red Velvet Cupcake Batter flavored frozen yogurt. Luckily we have a Yogurtland here in DFW and it's only 30 miles from our house. Yes, I said 30 miles. When Jon got home from work on the day I heard of Yogurtland and their Red Velvet Cupcake Batter frozen yogurt, we piled the family into the car and set off to try this frozen yogurt. When we got to the shop, I stood along the wall scanning all the flavors and did not see Red Velvet... Jon asked the lovely young lady behind the counter where the Red Velvet was... She said they SOLD OUT of it in 3 days! Did I mention Yogurtland was 30 miles away? Ugh! Again, I was left hanging. We did get some yogurt though and what we had was good.

So, I decided to make these...


For the most part, I followed Paul Deen's Recipe for the Pie's. I made them a lot smaller then Paula did and I did not use the nuts. The cream cheese filling recipe I used is from Martha Stewart.

These were OK... I will make them again when I actually have a working oven in my own home. (right now I have to cross the yard to Jon's parents house and use theirs) I would like to keep a closer eye on them because some baked up nice and cake-like and some went flat and gooey... They did taste good though (not great).

Dry Ingredients and my new sifter.



Butter, Sugar, Eggs (1 @ a time).



Liquids.


Mix together slowly.


I put all the batter in a gallon sized freezer bag so I could make the cookies a nice circle shape. I would have used a small scoop if I had one...



Jon gave them his thumbs up of approval! (He is eating the ONE perfect cookie I had set aside to take a picture of... I knew I should have told him not to eat the cookie on the counter!)


Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

Pie Cakes
1⅓ cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons buttermilk
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon red food coloring

Cream Cheese Filing (makes about 2 cups)
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, room temperature
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs 1 at a time. Then beat in the buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla and red food coloring. Once combined, add the dry ingredients to wet. Mix until thoroughly combined.

Onto a parchment lined sheet tray, drop batter using an ice cream scoop, forming 2-inch round circles.

Bake for 10 minutes, until baked through. Cookies should be cake-like and light. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the cream cheese filing:

Place cream cheese in a medium mixing bowl. Using a rubber spatula, soften cream cheese. Gradually add butter, and continue beating until smooth and well blended. Sift in confectioners’ sugar, and continue beating until smooth. Add vanilla, and stir to combine. Spread onto one cookie and top it with another to make a sandwich; repeat with the remaining cookies and filling. Cover the filled whoopee pies with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator.

Final thought: My craving is still in full effect. I think I will have to make myself a cheesecake. (and by "myself" I mean I'm not sharing!)

Reese's Pieces

I made THESE the other day...

And, Ruby had a great time chewing on the Reese's box...




Until she got mad!

Somewhat Healthy Fruity Julius

"Somewhat healthy" because there is a mad amount of sugar in this! But, there is also a huge helping of spinach and fruit. So "somewhat healthy" works as a nice title.

I have been wanting to share this Julius recipe with you for a while, but every time I make them the kitchen is a mess and I can't take pictures. So when I made these this morning I decided I no longer cared it you all saw my dirty dishes. Just try not to look too closely!

There definitely is a healthier way to make a spinach smoothie, but I prefer starting out with an Orange Julius type recipe.


Somewhat Healthy Fruity Julius

1 12oz can frozen orange juice concentrate
1 can water
1 can milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 egg
3 cups spinach, divided
4 cups frozen fruit (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries or a combo), divided

In a blender combined orange juice concentrate, water, milk, vanilla and egg. Blend until well combined.


Pour half of the orange mixture into a large glass and set aside.


To the remaining orange mixture add 1½ cups spinach. Blend until combined. Add 1½ cups frozen fruit of choice. Blend until well combined and desired consistency is reached.


You may want to add ice cubes or more frozen fruit if Julius is runnier than you would like.


Pour into glasses for serving.


Repeat steps with remaining half of orange mixture.

Makes 4-8 smoothies.