Lunch for 12

I just had the pleasure of making lunch today for a retirement party of 12 people.  Catering is such a fun outlet for me!  It gives me such satisfaction when I see smiles on their faces after tasting what I have prepared.  Now, for todays event, I actually didn't get to see the reactions.  I will wait patiently to hear how the event went.  I'm crossing my fingers that everyone enjoyed the food. 

The menu was...

Chicken Verde Sliders
Southwest Mesquite Pork Sliders
Sweet Potato Salad
Fresh Fruit Salad w/ Citrus and Agave Nectar

In order to have the meat for the sliders prepared in time for the lunch party at noon, I had to slow cook it over night.  I can't tell you how many times I woke up in the middle of the night to the wonderful smell of slow cooked pork.  Oh my!   

Chicken Verde Sliders
3 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast and/or thighs
1 recipe Roasted Salsa Verde or 1 jar of Salsa Verde
Zest and juice of 1 lime
2 ripe avocados, peeled
1 tsp lime juice
8oz red-fat sour cream
salt & pepper, to taste
fresh snipped parsley
Small rolls or large rolls cut to smaller size
provolone, Monterey Jack, or pepper Jack cheese slices

In a large skillet, brown the chicken breasts and/or thighs in hot oil over high heat.  Place chicken in the crockpot.  Pour salsa verde over chicken cook 7-8 hours on LOW.  Shred chicken with two forks.  Stir in the zest and juice of the lime and the fresh snipped parsley. 

Meanwhile, mash the avocado in a small bowl.  Stir in lime juice, sour cream, salt and pepper.  Refrigerate until ready to serve. 

To serve, spread avocado cream onto rolls.  Top with chicken and cheese.  Enjoy! 

Left: Southwest BBQ Sauce
Right: Cool Avocado Cream Sauce

Southwest Mesquite Pork Sliders 
3 pounds pork roast, fat trimmed
2 recipes Southwest Spice Rub (at bottom of page)
1 1/2 cup water
2 6" squares cheesecloth
clean mesquite pods, broken or mesquite chaffe
1 cup ketchup
1 T cider vinegar
2 T W-sauce
6 T brown sugar
1/4 cup water
Small rolls or large rolls cut to smaller size
cheddar cheese slices

*note:  if you do not have mesquite pods or chaffe, omit the water and use beer or apple cider.  If you would like some mesquite chaffe, don't hestitate to ask me!  I have plenty!

Place pork roast in crockpot.  Rub entire roast with spice rub, reserving 2 tsps.  You may not use all of the spice rub, depending on how much of it you want to use.  Pour water over the roast in the crockpot.  Place mesquite pods or chaffe in the center of the cheese cloth.  Bring corners together and tie with kitchen twine.  Place packages into the water in crockpot.  Cook on LOW 8-10 hours.  Shred pork with two forks.

Meanwhile, for the barbecue sauce, stir ketchup, cider vinegar, W-sauce, brown sugar, water, and reserved spice rub in a small saucepan.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

To serve, place meat on rolls and top with cheddar slices and bbq sauce.  Enjoy!


Sweet Potato Salad    (Rachael Ray - 30 Minute Meals)

1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks

Salt

Extra-virgin olive oil, for liberal drizzling

4 slices good quality lean bacon, chopped

1/2 cup beef stock

2 tablespoons wine vinegar

A few dashes hot sauce

1 teaspoon smoked sweet paprika or sweet paprika

Freshly ground black pepper

1/2 small red onion, finely chopped

2 to 3 small ribs celery, finely chopped

A handful parsley leaves, finely chopped

Put the potatoes in a pot over medium heat and cover them with water. Bring to a boil then salt the water and cook until just tender, about 15 minutes. Drain the potatoes and return them to the hot pot. Heat a small pan over medium-high heat and drizzle in some extra-virgin olive oil. Add the bacon and cook until just about crisp. Add the stock to the pot with the potatoes along with the vinegar and hot sauce and stir over low heat until combined. Turn off the heat and season with paprika and salt and pepper, to taste. Transfer the potatoes to a serving bowl and stir in chopped onions, celery and parsley. Dress the salad with a liberal drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and serve immediately.

Fresh Fruit Salad with Citrus and Agave Nectar
1 pineapple, peeled and cut into bize size pieces
3 bananas, peeled and sliced
1 pint blueberries

2 (11 oz) cans mandarin oranges, drained
zest and juice of 1 lime
1/3 cup orange juice
2 T agave nectar

Place fruit in a large bowl; set aside.  In a small bowl, stir together the orange juice, lime juice, lime zest, and agave nectar.  Pour over fresh fruit.  Toss gently to coat.  Serve or store in refrigerator until ready to serve. 

Roasted Salsa Verde

I never knew how easy and delicious homemade salsa is to make, until I ordered my first Mexican pack from Bountiful Baskets.  The Mexican pack came with tomatillos, onions, jalapenos, green chiles, cilantro, garlic, limes, avocados.  YUM!  I decided to make roasted salsa verde without really following a recipe.  I tell you what!  It was SO good. :)  I really don't want to go back to buying the jarred stuff.  Plus, I like that I get to control the heat level. 

Here's the recipe I came up with...


Roasted Salsa Verde

10-12 tomatillos
1 onion
1 1/2 tsp canola oil                                                         
1-2 jalapenos
2 cloves garlic
handful fresh cilantro or parsley
1 lime
1 tsp salt, r to taste
1/4 tsp black pepper


Set oven to broil and place oven rack 5-6 inches from broiler.  Remove husks from tomatillos, wash and pat dry.  Cut tomatillos in half and place on cookie sheet.  Remove skin from onion and cut into eighths; place on cookie sheet.  Drizzle the oil over the veggies and lightly toss to coat. 

Broil 8-10 minutes or until veggies are browned. 

Meanwhile, cut the jalapenos in quarters, removing seeds if less heat is desired.  Place in a food processor.  Add the garlic, cilantro, the zest of the lime and the juice of half of the lime.  Pulse 4 times. 









Add the roasted tomatillos and onions to the food processor along with the salt and pepper.  Pulse until desired consistency is acheived.  Store salsa in an airtight container and allow it to cool in the refrigerator before serving. 

 Try making Slow Cooker Chicken Verde using this salsa!  Recipe to come...


 

Andy's 3rd Birthday

Andy's birthday is coming up... in fact, it's only 2 1/2 weeks away!  I can't believe my baby is almost 3.  Wow.  Do you want to know the best part?  I don't have to buy diapers EVER AGAIN!!!  That is worth celebrating, too.  :) 

Andy is SO in to Cars 2.  It's the cutest thing hearing him say Francesco Bernoulli, Holy Shiftwell, and Finn McMissile.  I never did a Cars theme for my older son and I always wanted to.  Now's my chance and I know Andy is going to love it! 


For birthday parties, I really try to keep things simple.  I have the party at home or at the park and try not to get carried away with the extras.  After all, who really needs to spend hundreds of dollars on parties, when the birthday kid really just wants cake and presents? 


Here's my plan...


Andy's friends will come over and play, have a simple snack, open presents, eat a birthday treat.  Then later, for dinner, grandparents, aunts and uncles will come over for a special birthday dinner, probably more presents, and more treats!


My husband and I started coming up with food ideas that work with the Cars/Cars 2 theme.  Here's what we have come up with so far...

Can't Turn on Dirt Cake

Stuffed Tow-Maters
Tow-Mater Soup

  

Wait for Me Mack & Cheese

Radiator Spring Rolls

Ramone's Paint Shop Cookies (Sugar cookies w/ different colored frosting)
Low & Slow Cooked... (Something cooked in the crockpot)

Leaning Tower of Doughnuts or Bagel Bites or Mini Bagels....

Fillmore's Organic Fruit

Some other ideas...

Bugs in the Grill-ed Cheese (Bacon bits for the bugs)

Mixed Lug Nuts

As far as the snacks go for the kids... Well, the grocery store made that extremely easy! 

 

   Stay tuned to see what we decide to make for Andy's special birthday lunch and dinner! 

Homemade Condiments

Ranch dressing is a popular condiment at my house.  That's usually the only salad dressing I'll buy simply because my kids won't eat any other kind.  Well, I get a little sick of the same thing over and over.  We were almost out of Ranch and it was time to do the grocery shopping again.  Looking through my pantry, I realized that I had two packets of Italian dressing mix.  OK, I have sour cream and mayo in the fridge.  I think I'll make some creamy Italian dressing.  Maybe the kids will like it since it looks like Ranch...

Creamy Italian Dressing

6T mayo (I used olive oil mayo)

2T reduced fat sour cream

2T lemon juice

2T white vinegar

1 packet Italian dressing mix

1/2 tsp dried oregano, crushed

Put all ingredients in a jar with a screw top.  Shake until well combined.  Refrigerate.  Makes about 1 cup.

I also remembered that I have a recipe for Russian dressing.  It's super easy to make and I bet you have all of the ingredients in your pantry and fridge already.  Plus, when you make these at home, you know what's going in the dressing and you'll probably save a buck or two. 

Russian Dressing 

1/4 cup canola oil

1/4 cup ketchup

1 T sugar

1 T vinegar

1 T lemon juice

1 tsp W-sauce

1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Place ingredients in a jar with a screw top.  Shake until well combined.  Refrigerate until ready to use. Makes about 2/3 cup. 

The Grocery Game

How much should I spend on groceries each month?  That question is ALWAYS on my mind.  Maybe I obsess about it a little too much... maybe I don't worry about it enough.  I don't know.  What I do know is that the grocery budget is the first thing I look at when I think we need to cut back our overall spending.  There's plenty of wiggle room there.  Monthly bills (car payments, mortgage, utilities) can't change like the grocery bill can.  


I read a couple of articles recently, one called "How To Eat When You Are Really Broke" and the other called "3 Meals Plus Snacks for $4 a Day".  Both are very interesting articles and give some tips on how to cut food costs and still eat nutritiously.  There are a couple of things from the articles that I want to point out.  


The first article, "How To Eat When You Are Really Broke", states that "the average American family of four spends around $730/month on food". Wow!  That's a lot!  I have a few questions about that statistic.  
1.  How old are the kids? Older kids, especially teenagers, eat a lot more than my two year old.  
2.  Does that include money spent on groceries and eating out?
3.  Does that include the cost of non-food items, (i.e., toilet paper, dish soap, toiletries, etc.)?




The second article, "3 Meals Plus Snacks for $4 a Day", was written by a woman who bought food for, my understanding, just herself.  So, over a month that would amount to $120 for one person.  That still seems fairly impressive.  However, I have some problems with this article...
1.  Again, does this include the cost of non-food items?
2.  She didn't buy any fresh green produce, because it's too expensive. Hmm...
3.  She went to multiple stores (grocery, Walgreen's, Dollar Store, Bakery Outlets, etc.) to find all of her grocery items.  I have 3 kids and not a lot of time to do that...
4.  How would this budget work for a family of 5?  I dont' think multiplying by 5 would be accurate.


As I said before, though, both articles have some good tips on how to cut grocery spending.  I think I have some pretty good ideas too.  So, I've combined all of them here...


1.  Look through the weekly sale ad.  Plan meals with things that are on sale.  Generally, my rule of thumb is that I won't purchase meat over $2/lb and fish over $4/lb.  There are some occasions when I will spend more. 
2.  Buy only what you need.  Even if your favorite toothpaste is on sale for 10/$10, do you really NEED to buy 10 tubes of toothpaste?! Spend $1 on one instead of $10.
3.  Buy produce that is in season, because it's generally cheaper.  Frozen veggies are generally inexpensive.
4.  Use coupons! No, I am NOT an extreme couponer... I do have a life!  However, I cut out the coupons that come in the free newspaper every Wednesday.  It doesn't take that much time. 
5.  Buy whole items as opposed to individually wrapped.  For example, instead of buying a box that contains 8 packages of Goldfish crackers, buy the big box of Goldfish.  Buy a big bag of chips instead of the box that contains 24 small bags of chips.  Buy a whole onion instead of a bag of chopped onions, a whole head of lettuce instead of the bag of pre-cut lettuce.  I think you get the idea!
6.  Don't be afraid to try new things even if it's not a name brand!  The grocery brand of some items are just as good as the name brand.  Check out the nutrition label, though, as some grocery brand items contain a lot more sodium than the name brand.  If the nutrition and ingredients are generally the same then why not try out the grocery brand.  You'll save! 


I suppose I ought to share what my monthly budget on groceries is to prove that my tips are helpful.  I have 5 members in my family, I include everything from food and beverages to toiletries to cleaning supplies to diapers in my budget, I shop at Fry's every two weeks, at Costco once/month, and I order Bountiful Baskets every other week for most of my fresh produce.  My average spending over the past year is $530 per month.  I continue to try to lower that amount.  It's sad but true... it's kind of a fun game for me. :)  




       

Build Your Own Salad

We are always trying to make sure our kids get enough fruits and vegetables throughout the week.  While my kids are great at eating fruits, vegetables are a little bit harder to work in.  Although, I will say our kids are pretty good eaters. 


One evening, I got the great idea to put out a bunch of salad fixings and let the kids "build their own salad".  Well, you would have thought it was pancake night in our house!  You would be amazed at how many and how quickly pancakes are eaten in our house.  The kids ate their dinner in 15 minutes flat!  Usually it takes around 30-45 minutes to pick at their food and eventually eat it.  This is definitely an idea worth keeping!

So, here's what I do...
I use the biggest cutting board I have and load it up with anything I can find in the fridge that would taste good on a salad.  Use your imagination and think outside the box!  The result may look something like this:

From Top Left: Honey Dijon, Lite Ranch, Italian Dressing, frozen corn, mini pepperonis, chopped tomatoes, shredded cheese, chopped green chiles, romaine lettuce, sunflower seeds, sliced cucumber, red onion 

Then, I let the kids come up and load up their plate with whatever they want and as much as they want.  There are a couple of rules, though...  They have to pick at least 2 veggies on top of the lettuce and if there is a protein, then they have to take some of that as well. 




I had told my good friend, Tracy, about this idea.  She makes a taco salad that her son, Zachary, never wanted to eat.  So, she followed the "Build Your Own Salad" idea and put all of the ingredients out separated.  Then she told Zachary that he can build his own salad like Ethan.  Well, that was so exciting for him that he put every ingredient on his plate and ate it up!  It's funny... Even the smallest amount of independence given to a kid can give a great result!


Not only is building your own salad great for kids, it's great for adults, too.  My sister, Candice, told her friends about the idea as well.  Their next playdate with the kids was at lunch time and guess what they had?  That's right!  Each mom brought a couple of their favorite things to toss into a salad and shared with the group.  How fun!


Try it out!  Maybe you'll turn your kids into salad lovers, too!   


Need some salad ideas?  Here are several:

• lettuce (romaine, spinach, iceberg, spring mix)
• proteins (cubed chicken, chicken nuggets, hard-boiled eggs, lunch meat, bacon, leftover steak, pepperoni, turkey, shrimp)
• veggies & fruit (tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, onion, shredded carrots, sliced mushrooms, avocado, corn, beans, jicama, peppers, mandarin oranges, apples, dried cranberries, raisins)
• other (nuts, seeds, crushed tortilla chips, croutons, goldfish crackers, salsa, bbq sauce)
• shredded, cubed, crumbled cheese 
• dressing (offer a variety... try mixing salsa or bbq sauce with Ranch dressing) 

Brown Thumb Turns Cucumber Green

I admit it.  I have a brown thumb.  In fact, it is so brown that I managed to kill a cactus. Seriously.  How difficult can it be to keep a cactus alive?!  Apparently, difficult enough for me. 


Well, I've been bound and determined to turn my thumb green.  For the past couple of years, Chad and I have thought it would be cool to have our own vegetable/fruit garden.  We would love to be able to grow enough produce to feed our family.  Maybe we would have to supplement with produce from the store as well. 

Last year I got the kids excited and involved with starting a garden from seeds.  I should mention that the orchids are fake. :)  We planted cherry and roma tomatoes, jalapenos, green chiles, sunflowers, and cucumbers.  They were off to a good start... I watered them daily.  Occasionally the kids would water them.  And then, oh, about a month into it, the watering came less and less until well, I think you can guess the ending of this story.  Why do I always start something and can't follow through to the end?


After about another month, I finally cleaned out the pots and put them back in the garage.  Darn!  I failed again! 


My dream of having a garden is still there.  I just need to quit being lazy with it and follow the Nike motto: Just Do It! 


During one of my trips to the grocery store I saw some seedlings for sale.  This time I'm going to do it right!  I bought a 6 pack of Anaheim chile peppers, a 6 pack of pickling cucumbers, and 4 packs of strawberries.  I brought them home, transplanted them, watered them, talked to them, etc.  :) 


I honestly don't remember how long ago I bought those seedlings... Maybe that's something I need to know?  However, I have managed to keep them alive!!  Not only are they alive, they are producing fruit!!  That's right.  Infact, there are 23 Anaheim chiles and 2 cucumbers.  I managed to keep the strawberry plant alive enough to produce a small handful, but let's face it, strawberries don't grow to well in the desert. 


I also decided that I wanted to try growing some plants from the leftover seeds from the last attempt.  Even those are doing well!  You know what my trick is?  I put all the pots under our big mesquite tree to get some shade and they are in the perfect spot to get water from the sprinklers every night.  Honestly, why didn't I think of that before?


Just today I picked the very first cucumber, which I didn't even know existed for the longest time.  It was growing behind the pot.  I had no idea it was there!  I researched online to see when cucumbers are ready to be picked.  Apparently, you should pick them when they are smaller as opposed to larger as they will lose flavor the bigger they get.  I also wondered why the cucumber was yellow.  Well, apparently, I didn't pick it soon enough.  OK.  I can handle that.  I still managed to grow a cucumber.  And I think that's pretty cool!  There's one more growing in the pot and now I know to pick it sooner.

As for the Anaheim's... they are beautiful.  As I wrote above, there are 23 chiles!  Oh, how I LOVE roasted green chiles.  Actually, I need to pick a couple of them because they are starting to turn red.  Maybe I should research a little more, but I'm fairly sure I should pick them before they turn colors.