Calendar

To make things easier I have added a link at right to this calendar, so you can quickly and easily access it and see the daily recipes.

Taco Night

I know you're thinking - how are tacos gourmet?  Well, listen, you have to feed your kids what they like once in a while.  Although I'm trying to develop their palate to the finer things in life, you still have to love those good ole' dinners like tacos!  So, here was tonight's dinner: Tacos made with chicken.  I have to admit, the guacamole was especially amazing tonight.  The girls' contribution tonight was making "olive finger puppets". 

Then they began eating them before I could snap another picture.

Then Aubrey stuffed her mouth with ALL 5!

Here's our smorgasboard:

Diet Food vs. Good Food

If any of you are like me, you're always trying to eat right, but most of the food tastes horrible.  The fat-free salad dressings taste like the main ingredient is battery acid.  Anyway, I was pointed to a really great site, Hungry Girl, where you can make the food you like but with less calories and without giving up the taste.  I was skeptical at first, but it really is good!  My favorite and really fast breakfast recipe is the Eggs Benedict.  Eggs Benedict Recipe

So, enjoy and keep coming back for more info!

Some things we've made...

Here's the picture of last night's dinner, Pasta with Roasted Vegetables and Spinach.  The recipe was from this month's Everyday Food magazine. It was very good and very easy and apparently very fragrant - right Trish?

I also thought that I would include some pictures of a cake I made for our Christmas Party.  I'm calling it the "Lookie no Touchie Cake".  The reason is that it looks so pretty but it will put you into sugar shock!  I made a devils food cake from scratch, iced it with store-bought whipped cream frosting, then poured melted chocolate wafers over the top and garnished it.  WOW!  It was sweet.  I got the idea from a cake that I saw at our local coffee shop and I thought, "I can make that!"  I think theirs probably has less sugar content.  Oh, and by the way, it was really difficult to cut because once the chocolate on top set up it was solid!  Oh well, good try anyway.

 

 

Here's the girls' gingerbread house that they made with Jeremy.  The only thing I did with this was make the royal icing and decorate the cookies for the sides.  It's pretty amazing!

 

 

 

Menu Calendar & Recipe Links Here!

I have posted January's menu calendar and links to all of the recipes.  It is in my calendar at the bottom of the screen.  I still have to figure out how to get the grocery list on here, but be patient - I'll get it together.  Jeremy thought you may want all the recipes in one place, so here they are:

You may have to scroll to page 5 on this Google Book: Emergency Soup - Page 5
Pasta Fagioli
White Chicken Chili
Delux Divine Chicken Divan
Beef Roast by Robin Miller or you can try this one by Emeril - it's my new favorite! (but the next recipe is based on using half of the first recipe by Robin Miller)Emeril's Garlic Lover's Pot Roast
Asian Beef Lettuce Wraps
Mediterranean Chicken
Panko Crusted Fish Sticks
Scallops, Asparagus Stir Fry  I substituted scallops for the Halibut in this recipe.  In this website look under Halibut, Asparagus Stir Fry in the dinner section.
Cheese Souffle
Creamed Spinach
Beef Rolls
Pasta with roasted veggies and arugula
Garlic Shrimp Pasta  Scroll over to this recipe under dinner


These are some extra things I plan to make this month too, but they weren't on the calendar:
Italian Chopped Salad  Scroll over to this recipe under lunch
Breakfast Casserole
Huevos Sonora Wrap: Scrambled eggs, avocado, fresh salsa and cheddar cheese in a honey-wheat wrap
Boeuf Bourguignon

Finally, a 2010 New Year's Resolution.

After several years of pursuing an idea of starting a cooking show that featured my twin daughters, Angelina & Aubrey, I have decided to take the advice of my sister and friends and begin a blog.  New Year's day came upon me this year and I hadn't made any resolutions, but now I have one - this blog.  I'm not going to lie - I was truly inspired (like many of you) by the movie Julie & Julia.   I wondered what I could write about that anyone would find interest in.  Obviously food is something that is written about all the time, but I think I may be able to bring a fresh twist to it.

Many of my friends are so busy that it becomes a daunting task to come up with menu ideas, not to mention the price of groceries in this dwindling economy.  I have found that by planning the month's meals in advance and getting the groceries all at once, you can save a ton of money!  So, I will take the hard part away and leave only the job of getting the groceries and cooking the meals.  Each month I will post a menu, shopping list and links to the recipes.  Then, hopefully, several times during the month, I will post a video of the girls and I cooking some of the meals together.  This should add some comic relief as they are 4 yrs. old.

Keep an eye open for January's menu - coming very soon!  I just have to have my husband, Jeremy, show me how to get the files on here.