Appropriate Food Portions

Recently, I ran across the fun read "Finding Betty Crocker" and was reading a page out of the original Betty Crocker Cookbook, that spoke about Meat Portions as it referred to stretching the meat that each family was rationed post WWII. That got me to thinking about our portions today. I cringe when I see someone force there child to finish a happy meal that has almost 1,000 calories or a heaping plate of food when I know that child's belly can only process so much at one time. To note, I am not against withholding food from children. But serving up and helping them to understand appropriate portions is an important part of my job as a parent. And my responsibility to taking care of myself is to eat in appropriate portions --- most of the time;)

After a little research, I found a great resource through the myplate.gov. Listing normal foods and appropriate portions. I am still shocked to see that appropriate beef strip steak is only 5oz. I would challenge most people to find this portion already sliced and available for purchase at the average grocer. Instead, the portions that are available to us to purchase make us feel like we are depriving ourselves if we do not eat the entire thing in one meal. Unfortunately, that leads us to overeating... and to where we are today with an ever growing obesity rate and portion distortion that is out of control.

Taco Tuesdays

I've gotta tell ya - I love Taco Tuesdays! Way back when I started planning family dinners weekly, I quickly coined Tuesdays as "Taco Tuesdays." I could eat Mexican food every meal of every day for the rest of my life and be completely satisfied. Sometimes Taco Tuesdays consist of enchilada's, carnitas or when I'm really busy, quesadillas and beans. But tonight was a sincere Taco Tuesday Night. Now, I've been trying to cut back on my fats and eat a little lighter while always hiding lots of hearty vegetables so my kids will eat 'em. Add beans to any plate and my little girl is a happy camper.



TEX MEX LIGHT GROUND BEEF TACOS
(Serves 4)

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 lb. lean ground beef
4 oz firm tofu
Vegetable Oil
1/2 bell pepper chopped finely
1/4 medium onion chopped finely
Steak Seasonings (garlic, salt, pepper)
Taco Seasonings (like Lawry's)
Pace Picante Salsa as needed
1 can Pinto Beans
Taco Shells
1/2 cup Shredded cheese
iceberg lettuce chopped finely
Optional: Sour Cream, Guacamole

DIRECTIONS:

1. Start by chopping all the veggies. Tonight I had a mixture of red, yellow and green bell peppers. Choose whatever is in season.

2. Ground Beef - Heat a large pan on medium heat and add 1 Tbsp Vegetable Oil. Start sauteing 90% of the vegetables in the pan. Add 3-4 dashes of steak seasonings. Add ground beef and tofu chopped into small pieces, break apart and stir while cook. Add taco seasonings and Pace Picante to your liking. Continue to stir until fully cooked.

3. Beans - Heat a medium sauce pan on medium heat, add 1 Tbsp Vegetable Oil and sautee the rest of the vegetables with 3 dashes of steak seasonings in this pan. Rinse and drain beans in colander and add to sauce pan. Heat on medium heat until warm, then keep on l ow until ready to serve. If you prefer refried style beans, mash these up a little and they will be a healthier version of your favorite fried legume.

4. Taco Shells - it's easy to find the pre-made taco shells in most grocery stores. And to tell you the truth, I don't mind them - they remind me of my childhood in the 70's. But for an authentic taco shell, pick up some small corn tortillas. In a small to medium frying pan heat 1-2 inches of Vegetable Oil on medium high until it reaches 350'. With tongs, add one corn tortilla to the oil until it starts puffing. Bend in half and continue cooking for a few more seconds until lightly golden. Remove from oil and place on towels to drain.

Now, you'll want to stuff the fresh taco shells while they are still warm. I prefer a layer of beans, followed by the ground beef, sour cream, shredded cheese, Pace Picante and lettuce. It seems to hold everything together nicely. But fix however you and your kids prefer. This is a fun meal to let kids put together themselves. Just give them the pieces and let them go to town. Tonight my son ate his taco upside down and my daughter removed all the contents from the shell, mixed the beans in with it and ate it with a fork.

Dinner Planning Tip - pick whatever theme's you like and assign them to a night. Then when you start planning, you have an outline to go by. Here's a few I use: Spaghetti Sundays, Asian Wednesdays, Meatless Mondays, Pizza Fridays, etc..

Potato Mushroom Gratin with Chicken

No sooner did I scrape my plate clean than I jumped to the computer to share this recipe. Seriously, this is one of those easy peasy recipes that seem like you've been slaving away all day in the kitchen. So when you get the accolades, and you will, just say thanks and be at peace because you still have energy to make dessert if you want!

This recipe starts from one I found in my Nigella Express Cookbook, by my favorite foodie, Nigella Lawson. She emphasizes using your preference in the ingredients and amounts, things can be substituted easily and added just as quick. So although, her original recipe was much easier. I found myself at a loss for protein and wanted to make use of the leftover Rotisserie Chicken I picked up at Costco a few days ago. Here's how I adapted her recipe.


POTATO MUSHROOM GRATIN WITH CHICKEN

INGREDIENTS

3 average-sized/1-1/2 lbs baking potatoes, thinly sliced

1-1/2 cups milk

3 Tbsp white wine

salt and pepper to taste

2 Tbsp Butter

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1/4 tsp chopped garlic, approx 1 clove minced

4 oz shitake mushrooms finely sliced

3 stalks green onions sliced

1/2 rotisserie chicken leftovers cut small

1/4 lb jack cheese cubed


DIRECTIONS

1. Heat the oven to 425'F and butter a shallow baking dish or gratin.

2. Bring the sliced potatoes, milk, wine, salt and pepper to a boil in a saucepan, stirring occasionally, and leave at a simmer while you get on with the mushrooms.

3. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil, garlic, mushrooms green onions and cook stirring occasionally, until softened, about 3 minutes.

4. Pour the mushrooms and their garlicky, buttery juices into the pan of potatoes, stir to mix. Warm up the chicken in the pan you were cooking mushrooms in. Once done, add to the potatoes. Mix to combine ingredients and pour straight into the gratin dish. Fold in cubed cheese. Bake for 45 minutes until piping hot, and crisp on the top.


The original recipe called for double the mushrooms - and cremini's, but I didn't realize that when I sifted through the bin at Henry's. In addition to the Chicken, the onions & cheese were wonderful additions that might make the dish a little more complex, but were much worth the extra few minutes to prepare.

Including chopping and extracting the chicken, this dish only took about 15 minutes to prepare. If I had planned it properly, I would have also combined some vegetable, maybe asparagus - and popped it in the oven 1 hour prior to dishing up for dinner so it had a few minutes to cool. Instead I just popped the kids dishes into the refrig. for a few minutes and we were good to go. I'm so looking forward to eating up the leftovers!

Lemon Blueberry Muffins

After spending an adventurous week in Blackberry Land, I came home to find a large carton of fresh Blueberries in my refrig. What to do... Great treats for the kids, but they can only eat so many raw blueberries. So I scoured my recipe books for something that nutrition packed to feed to the kiddos. Kudos to Deceptively Delicious for capturing my eye with these temptuous treats!


LEMON BLUEBERRY MUFFIN RECIPE

Ingredients

1/2 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar

4 Tbsp Butter

1 cup lowfat lemon yogurt

1 cup blueberries

1/2 cup fresh yellow squash finely shredded

1 large egg

2 tsp vanilla extract

Zest of 1 lemon, approx 1 tsp

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup masa, cornmeal

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350'F. Prep muffin tin, makes 12-18 muffins.

2. In a large bowl, beat the sugar and butter with a wooden spoon. Stir in the yogurt, egg, vanilla extract, lemon zest and blueberries.

3. Add the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, soda and salt. Stir just to combine, but do not overmix - the batter is supposed to be lumpy.

4. Fill the muffin cups approx 3/4 full. Bake until the tops of the muffins are lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center, 13 to 16 minutes. Turn the muffins out onto a rack to cool.


So, per usual, I have substituted a few things. The recipe called for flaxseed meal, I used masa a corn flour 'cuz I could not for the life of me find flaxseed meal in Ralphs! And I was not about to drop $3.50 for Lemon Extract... She likes margarine, but I can't stand the stuff and somehow feel like I am being healthier because I know butter comes from milk... PERIOD! Didn't have time to pre-make the puree so I just finely shredded the fresh yellow squash which by nature is a very soft vegetable and it seemed to be fine!

The muffins were very light and fresh, blueberries still a bit bitter and surprisingly were mostly still whole after baking. Now, I mentioned a nutrition packed muffin earlier in my thoughts. And you might wonder, there is nothing yucky - besides maybe the masa - in this to make it healthy. But as some may know, Blueberries and Lemons are quite nutritious and full of antioxidants. There wasn't too much sugar, and the added yellow zucchini brings Vitamin A, Calcium, and Potassium to the table.

Yum, yum and yum were the only words to be heard when my toddler gobbled down his 3rd muffin and the baby smeared hers across her face, high chair and new outfit! Incredible, these will definitely be gone in a few days:)

Sliders... the new "it" food

A long, long, long, long time ago.... Costco brought in White Castle sliders to their freezer section. My ex-boyfriend was a frozen food junkie and always had yummy treats in his freezer. The first time I tried my first "frozen slider" I was a little grossed out. It was probably a little over cooked, as they can get when you nuke them until they are hot all the way through without moving them every so often in the circa 1980's microwave... I wonder if he still has that microwave?

Fast forward to 10 or 15 sliders later. There was something about the delicious White Castle, Cheeseburger Sliders that just really called to me. Do they add MSG to these things??? They are delicious! I was on a White Castle kick! The Beastie Boys sing about this chain restaurant. I had heard murmurs that it was an East Coast delicacy. Fast Food Chains are making their way across the nation... When, oh When would San Diego be blessed with the arrival of White Castle?

Then, someone had the bright idea to make a film about 2 stoners and their all night search for a White Castle Burger - Harold & Kumar go to White Castle. Seriously, my search had been about 5 years at this point. Loved the movie, and for those of you who know me... I am the farthest thing from a stoner, but oh am I a foodie! I wore my White Castle T-Shirt (that I picked up at some Hollywood Schmoozefest) with pride!!!

Finally, I found out there was a White Castle in Columbus, OH... and I just so happened to be going their for a business trip. Work was the purpose for the trip, but White Castle was my mission! It was late night. I had convinced my drunken co-workers that we HAD to get some White Castle. After waiting in line for what seemed like forever, I ordered and sat down to wait for my food. When it came out, I wrapped my lips around that first slider so quickly I don't even think I tasted the actual food. By the 2nd slider, I was getting the fresh yumminess that is White Castle.

Every now and again, I crave a White Castle Slider. Now, every trendy restaurant has some sort of slider on their appetizer menu. I've tried them all. Most of them are delicious, some are hack jobs! But nothing beats a White Castle Slider.

Hubby loves my enthusiasm and helped me research how to make a White Castle Slider at home. There are so many different recipes and some of which include beef baby food, bleck! Hubby did a great job and recreating the slider for me. And now, I use a variation of the White Castle recipe, that I no longer even Google. Here's my tips for making sliders at home, the White Castle style. They are not exactly like White Castle... I really don't think we could ever do the white paper hats justice!

SLIDERS RECIPE

Ingredients

Hamburger meat

Onions, chopped

Salt & Pepper seasonings

Buns

Condiments

Cheese, Pickles - optional

Directions

1. Heat pan at medium and add tiny bit of water to cover base of pan. Add onions with salt & pepper seasonings and start to cook. Place hamburger meat, in prepared patties, on top of the onions. Cover pan in with lid. Allow the burgers to cook 5 minutes or so before checking. Drain excess liquid if it becomes too much, but always keep a little in the pan.

2. Once burgers are cooked mostly through. Add a pickle and cheese (both optional) and place top of bun on top of burger while it is cooking in the pan. Cover again with lid for another 2 minutes or so. Toast the bottom of the bun and add condiments.

3. When burger is done cooking, slide the burger onto the spatula and slide it off to the bottom of the bun. Wa-la, you are done!

Just a note. You can do this with full size burgers- eat whole or cut into quarters, or prepare mini "slider" size burgers and use Hawaiian Bread Rolls or any other small roll as your bun. If you notice that there is an increasingly large amount of grease puddling around the edges of your burger, just wipe it away with a paper towel after you have removed from pan.

These burgers may not be the healthiest for you, but MmmmMmmm if you can find a yummier White Castle slider from your home!

La Jolla Rec Center

It was a dreary morning and I decided to get the kids out early, before any chances of thunderstorms could come our way. We headed down to the La Jolla Rec Center off of Prospect and Draper. Just a few blocks from the ocean, neighbors to the La Jolla Presbyterian Church, The Bishops School, La Jolla Tennis Club and La Jolla Art Institute.

I usually head there on a weekday and find parking right outside of the fence. Not today! We parked a couple blocks away and walked up there. Even though it was barely 9am. They get an early start around there!!! For an, open to the public, rec center in La Jolla the place was buzzing. Every tennis court was filled, there were kids on all the playground structures and the basketball courts were full, and heard screams from inside the center.

This park is great because there are swing sets for every age group, a structure for older kids, toddlers and a smaller one for the younger babes. Play ship, play firetruck and playhouse! And if you want to keep your kids out of the sand, which is the soft ground for most of the play structures, you actually can let them play on one of the structures that just has soft padding for the ground. There are also novelties like tether ball and kids basketball hoop. Bonus for us moms with our hands full, apparently you can borrow balls from the center when they are open!

The kids loved every moment and everyone was friendly, not something you always encounter in La Jolla. And despite the dreary day, it was quite sunny and extra windy (what you get when you're so close to the ocean). There was a cute art walk set up on the grassy area outside the center - away from the fenced in playgrounds. No security worries because the fences keep the kids in and the bums out. Nice time had by all!

Let them eat cake!

For babies first birthday we celebrated at Kate Sessions, Thunder Road, Concert on the Green. The Bruce Springsteen Tribute Band played the last concert of the season. The kids rocked out, the adults hung out and we ate a fabulous cake.

If you're not familiar with Kate Sessions Park, it has one of the most beautiful views in San Diego. It is in North Pacific Beach on top Mount Soledad. Whereas the Cross at Mount Soledad overlooks LaJolla and everything North. Kate Sessions overlooks Mission Bay and south, down to the Ocean Beach Pier. During the Fourth of July you can watch 4+ sets of fireworks. Alcohol during the day is permitted ~ since the beaches are dry now, many parties have moved up here.

There is a large grassy hill as it is going up the mountain. When hubby was young, he and several friends would cram themselves into a large carnation barrel and make their way tumbling down the grassy hill. Dogs are also permitted, on leash. There is plenty of picnic areas and shade by large trees.

There are walking trails throughout a large canyon behind the regular park set-up. And there is a nice playground for the kids. Small structure for toddlers and bigger structure for the 3-5 year old set. Wood chipped ground complete with a set of swings.

There are always safety factors at any park. I somewhat worry that the playground is close to the busy Mount Soledad fairway, Lamont Street. And with the large canyons and long history of the park, sometimes I see some odd passersby that makes me wonder if people might be living in the canyon.

For our family, we will always have fond memories of this park. It was where hubby spent many fun childhood afternoons. Both Toddler & Baby had their 1st birthday's there. And it's only a few blocks from home.