The Little Cooks showed up at our house this weekend wanting to make ice cream cones. A grandmother can’t refuse that request right? So, we set up shop in the kitchen and made vanilla ice cream cones with snowflake sprinkles.
For the last four years, my husband and I have started our year with a 21 Day Daniel Fast in order to start the year on a healthy note. Basically, the Daniel Fast allows one to eat anything that comes from a seed and not processed. Doing the Daniel Fast or any kind of no meat/dairy/sugar/processed food, etc. diet can be very challenging so it’s time to get creative…..
Here’s my version of a quick, easy, healthy and delicious salad. Enjoy!
Healthy Quinoa Avocado Salad
1 m cucumber- seeded
1 m avocado
1 c cherry tomatoes
1 c cooked quinoa
1/2 lime- juice
Dash of sea salt
Cube avocado and cucumber
Slice tomatoes in half
Mix and add lime juice
Add cooked quinoa
Toast quinoa before adding water, gives it a nutty flavor
1 part quinoa
2 parts water or broth
Bring to boil
turn down heat to “low”
Simmer approximately 15 minutes
Let sit for a few minutes then fluff with a fork
Add 1 c to salad
Welcome to 2016! I hope you had a great Christmas holiday spending time with family and friends while celebrating the birth of Jesus.
We had some wonderful family time creating special moments that will last a lifetime. Of course, the highlights are the time spent with my grandsons, The Little Cooks. Zealand and Soren love playing Monopoly with the adults which makes the game quite entertaining. Thankfully, we captured some of the moments to share with you.
My grandsons, The Little Cooks are at it again and this time to wish you a Merry Christmas! Christmas tradition around our house includes Zealand and Soren decorating their own little Christmas tree. We originally bought the tree when they were toddlers to serve as a diversion from our regular tree. Every time they would visit us during the holidays, the boys would re-decorate their little tree over and over. Their small tree worked perfect as a diversion from our big tree with breakable ornaments. Its so hard to believe, they are now as tall as the tree they could barely reach just a few years back. We may have to graduate them to the big tree next year?
My grandsons, The Little Cooks, are back to demonstrate how to ride bicycles, how to pop a wheelie and they offer a few bicycling safety tips for kids.
Over the last few months, I’ve been extremely busy creating new jewelry for a 2Dangle show. I had a great time revealing some of my latest designs at the show last week and my heart is always warmed when I see others excited about wearing my creations!
Recently, I began experimenting with copper as I love the rich texture it presents. Copper patinas over time giving it a nice vintage look. While I don’t normally make my jewelry available on line, I decided to start offering limited “one of a kind” pieces. Above is a 3 chain copper bracelet that carries a unique vintage look. The copper is already beginning to patina bringing out a hint of green to compliment the copper. There is only one so move fast if you want it!
When most people think of New Mexican food, they think of red and green chili, tamales and sopaipillas (often mis-spelled as sopapillas) One food many haven’t heard about is an amazing little traditional New Mexican Christmas cookie called the biscochito. The biscochito packs a punch of flavor that will tickle your taste buds just thinking of them. Growing up in New Mexico, we longed for these little Christmas treats almost as much as kids long for the yearly visit from Santa. Anise is the secret to making these cookies so scrumptious as it adds just a hint of black liquorish flavor. Even if you aren’t a black liquorish fan, you will love these cookies as the anise mixes so eloquently with the lightly sweetened shortbread style cookie. I promise these cookies will be a hit! I have been packaging biscochitos as Christmas gifts for years and those who have receive cherish them like gold.
As a special treat, I invited a couple of guests, The Little Cooks, to help me demonstrate the baking process in the video below.
Cream Together
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 cup Crisco
1 cup Butter
Add To Cream Mixture
3 tsp Anise (crushed)
2 eggs
1/4 c brandy + 1 tbs
1/2 tsp vanilla
Mix Dry Ingredients & Add To Cream Mixture
6 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes
Let Cool, Frost and Decorate! (w/ pecans, almonds, sprinkles)
You have probably eaten pine nuts at some point in your life. Many restaurants sprinkle them on salads and some dishes have them added in for flavor. The flavor is super nice but most people don’t realize the elusive process involved in finding and picking the nuts. If you have ever priced pine nuts in a store, you know they aren’t cheap which places a high value on a great harvest! Growing up in New Mexico, we learned all about pine nuts or as we call them piñon. I made a video to show the picking and roasting process we New Mexicans get so excited about!
To celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month, I decided to demonstrate an easy to make flautas and taquitos recipe. During the years I spent in Texas, I discovered these delicious treats. Flautas have become my husband’s favorite meal and taquitos are always a big hit at gatherings with friends and family. One will normally find both on the menus at Mexican restaurants but I find most folks stick to the basic tacos, burritos and enchiladas. Hopefully, this easy to make recipe will encourage you to give them a try and join the celebration this month!
Quick and fresh salsa
1 lb Campari tomatoes
1/2 m Onion
2-3 Jalapeños .. or as much heat as you like… I like a lot of heat;););)
1/4 tsp Garlic powder
1/4 tsp Salt or salt to taste
1 Lime
Chop your tomatoes into small cubes
Chop onion really small
Chop Jalapenos super small
place in bowl and mix
Add fresh lime juice
Toss it all together and enjoy!!
