Tag Archive: Food

Avocado Inspiration

August 30, 2012

Recently I was selected to participate in an Avocados from Mexico promotion. I was happy to be included in this campaign because I love avocados. It wasn’t always like this for me. I can remember being a little girl and not liking avocados, even though I had never actually tasted one. Then, one day my parents encouraged me to actually taste an avocado, and I was hooked from that day forward.

Luckily, I don’t have to force my family to eat avocados, because everyone in my family loves them. In fact, I have a hard time keeping avocados in the house. One of my co-worker’s knows this about me, so every time she has an avocado, which in her opinion is too ripe, she will give it to me. There have been many mornings when I walk into my office and see an avocado waiting for me on my desk. (Thanks Ann!)

So, you can see that blogging about avocados is not a real dilemma for me. But what is more challenging is blogging about a recipe I use with avocados. Honestly, we eat avocados very simply, with a squeeze of lime and salt. Diego is a purist though, and enjoys his avocados sans lime or salt. Even though we love avocados, as I considered what recipe to share with you all, I was stuck. I decided to look through my pantry to inspire me to come up with an avocado recipe. Nothing. Then, I opened my freezer and I came across this.

Bags and bags of tuna.

Yellow fin tuna that Juan and the boys caught on a fishing excursion while we were on our family vacation in Cabo San Lucas. The guys caught a total of 18 beautiful tuna. The fishing crew cleaned, filleted, packed and froze it for us. The day we were scheduled to leave we went to WalMart, bought a cooler, packed it all in and brought it all home. We’ve been enjoying it ever since. Last week, while at a family barbecue my brother asked to use some to add to some guacamole he was making. Hmmm….

I was inspired. Now, not only did I have the two major ingredients–avocado and tuna, as it happened, I also had an occasion to cook something. All summer my next-door neighbors had talked about getting together on our porch for a happy hour. The summer was nearly over but we finally managed it. They planned to bring the mojitos, and I would bring the appetizer. I looked on-line for some guidance on what ingredients to include in my avocado tuna ceviche dip. I was missing some ingredients, but fortunately I had found suitable substitutions. I decided to improvise and this is what I came up with:

Avocado and Tuna Ceviche Dip. 

It was a hit. So easy, so good! I was so glad I could use the tuna that the boys caught. Then next day, I had unexpected company so I whipped up another batch. It was gone in a flash, but not before Olivia tried it and raved. She asked if I could make it for her to take to school. Unfortunately, it’s not the kind of recipe you make and pack for lunch. Something about taking raw fish and avocado and storing it in your school locker until lunchtime, doesn’t sound like a good idea. Still, I was happy the kids tried it and liked it too. Even Diego, the avocado purist, loved it. But, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised because the main ingredient was avocados!

Happy hour on the porch.

Here are the details:

1-2 ripe Avocados

1/2 pound raw good quality yellow fin tuna

2 tablespoons chinese chili paste

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/4 chopped onion

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Juice of 1 lime

Chop the avocado and tuna into bite-sized pieces, equal size. Finely chop onion and cilantro. Add the onion, soy sauce and chili paste to a bowl. Squeeze in some of the lime juice. Stir to combine. Add in the avocado and tuna. Stir gently to coat with chili paste mixture. Squeeze in additional lime juice and continue to stir gently to coat. Toss in cilantro. Add additional soy sauce or salt if needed. Serve immediately with chips, or crackers. Eat and enjoy. Repeat.

Do you want to try out an avocado recipe?  Go here for recipes. Or if you’re a purist like Diego then just use the coupon on the sidebar, buy the avocados and enjoy!

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Blogging, Food, Friends, Sponsored Posts

50/50 Friday – Week 49

May 11, 2012

I can’t believe in a little over two weeks I will be one year into my project of 50 Things to Do Before My 50th Birthday. One year down, and one to go. I have accomplished quite a bit, but honestly I thought I would be further along by this time. It hasn’t been easy to do much this month, since May is the month with Too Many Occasions. In this month alone, I will have 5 birthdays, 2 graduations, 3 recitals, Mother’s Day, prom, and the usual assortment of baseball games, scout events and church obligations. The impending one year anniversary of my project inspired me to get back on my cooking bandwagon–that and the purchase of the Pioneer Woman’s new cookbook.

The first new recipe I tried was Spicy Lemon Garlic Shrimp. There is one thing everyone in my family agrees on–we all love shrimp! I knew this was going to be a real crowd pleaser, and this recipe did not disappoint. I also loved the fact that it was easy and quick. The recipe said to serve it with bread for dunking into the juices, but I didn’t like the idea of greasy hands and dripping bread all over the table. Besides, there’s one more thing everyone in my family agrees on–we all love pasta! I put the shrimp over angel hair pasta. Yum!

Spicy Lemon Garlic Shriimp

The next recipe up was Peach-Whiskey Chicken. Once upon a time someone brought me a bottle of whiskey. I don’t drink whiskey. I don’t know anyone in my family who drinks whiskey except maybe my dad. The whiskey bottle sat in my pantry until the night I decided to stink up my house and cook with it. Unfortunately, it was also the night when Olivia invited her boyfriend over for dinner. Olivia, who has the nose of a bloodhound, was mortified when she walked into the kitchen. I reassured her that the smell would evaporate and her boyfriend would be able to drive home without risking a DUI. Then, I opened all the windows and tried to fan away the fumes. By the time her boyfriend arrived the odor had faded and the chicken was stewing in the oven. I thought the dish was pretty good, but it was not rave worthy. Fortunately, Olivia’s boyfriend is much too polite to say anything negative. The recipe called for chicken legs and I obliged. The chicken legs cooked until the skin was falling off so it was pretty messy to eat. Diego did not like it at all. He said, “I really don’t like naked chicken.” Well, I guess no more naked, drunken chicken for my family.

Almost naked, drunken chicken on a bed of noodles.

I have also been doing my part to check off two more wines from my list. My sister-in-law brought this one to a family birthday celebration dinner this month and I really enjoyed it. Robust but not spicy or tannic. On the extra positive side, it’s really inexpensive. It’s only $4 at Trader Joes. I picked up a couple of bottles.

Good, drinkable, any occasion wine with a good price point.

I also tried this one. I picked it up at Cost Plus for about $10. I like big buttery chardonnay and this one fits the bill. It’s a little bit of a splurge for me, but I loved the name of the winery and since I had been shopping for everyone else’s birthday presents I thought I would pick me up a little something too.

This one is better than any cupcake I've ever had.

The last thing I did recently was to take on a cause, number 27 on my list. I have been looking around for a cause I could add to my blog. A cause which really interested me. I have seen this organization before, but when I came across this campaign about giving up your birthday for charity water, I knew I found my cause. Clean water is something that most of us have available and something we probably take for granted. I know that when I have to bang on the bathroom door and tell my kids that 20 minutes is WAY too long of a shower, they are taking this resource for granted. I know that when I see several half-filled water bottles around the house and in my car, my kids don’t realize the value of a clean, constant water source. For this birthday and the next big one, I am asking for donations to this cause. I want everyone to have clean water. I want to impart this message to my kids. Besides, if I can pass up gifts for my 50th birthday, while doing some positive modeling for my kids, and contributing to clean water somewhere else, it almost makes turning a half-century bearable.

Two more weeks to go until my 49th birthday….One year and 19 days until the big one.

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50 Before 50, Food, Food and Wine

50/50 Friday – Week 34

January 27, 2012

Its Friday and another week has passed since I started my list of 50 Things I want to Do Before my 50th Birthday. I am beginning to worry that I won’t be able to check off more from my list before my next birthday, in a little over four months. Yikes! I better get moving. Considering that I am a mother of 4 kids, it’s no surprise that I have to cook and I want to drink. (Numbers 19 and 20 on my list.) I guess it stands to reason then that I am not making much progress on number 18 on my list, lose and keep off 15 pounds, and number 26, drop a dress size.

So, I am glad that with the New Year, came new eating resolutions. I have done this before. “This year I will lose 10/15/20 pounds.” But, this year I have taken a different approach to losing weight. In the past, I have weighed myself on a weekly basis. I am a lifetime member of Weight Watchers, which means that at one time I reached my goal weight with their program. You notice I said, “at one time?” That was about 20 years ago, when my metabolism was burning fuel like a furnace. Now, that furnace can barely keep me warm on a cold California winter’s night. Recently, I went to my doctor for a physical. When I complained about the hard time I was having losing weight, she told me that it was normal for a woman my age. Ahem. She said that after 40 a woman typically gains about 5 pounds a year. Glad to know that I am right on target. But I digress. As I was saying, in an effort to lose the dress size, and not obsess about the number on the scale, I have decided not to weigh myself. Instead, I am writing down my food using the Lose It App on my iPhone, and I am exercising. I feel better. My clothes are less snug and my energy level has increased. I will weigh myself when I go back for a follow-up doctor’s visit, but at home I won’t step on the scale so as not to get discouraged seeing the number on the scale.

Another item I did some work on was number 21, visit a local landmark once a month. In December I celebrated my friend Julie’s own milestone birthday. She wanted a low key celebration so we went to the spa, had a nice dinner together and stayed overnight at the Hotel Shangri-La, a renovated art deco hotel in Santa Monica.

Cool bathroom in the art deco style.

I love Santa Monica, but I live on the other side of Los Angeles, closer to the foothills, so crossing two freeways to get to this part of town, makes it feel like a foreign place to me. Consequently, I don’t get out here too often, and when I do, I wonder why I don’t visit this Southern California gem more often.  After our night of celebration, where we were in bed by 10:00 p.m., Juan joined us for breakfast. He brought Diego, and Julie’s daughter Ty with him. We had a great time walking around the 3rd Street Promenade, playing on the beach with the kids, and taking in the Southern California sunshine in December.

Beach Babies

Santa Monica wasn’t the only local landmark I visited lately. I have been able to check off more landmarks from my list. Since I participated in the Amazing Los Angeles Race, I got to visit Grauman’s Chinese Theater and the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

I also made a little progress on cleaning out my attic, number 2 on my list. A couple of weeks ago we had an estate sale at my grandmother’s house. We had quite a few items for sale, and I decided to add a few items from my attic. But it was like two steps forward, and one step backwards, because I brought home two pieces of furniture from my grandmother’s house, and stored them in my attic. Sigh.

Estate Sale

Now that the holidays are all wrapped up and I am settling into the New Year, I hope to make more steps forward and knock out some more items on my bucket list.

What’s on your bucket list? How’s your progress?

 

 

 

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50 Before 50, Friends, Travel

Manic Monday Meals

November 28, 2011

This morning we woke up late and ran around the house trying to get us all ready and out the door before our 7:20 deadline. From the way we were running around you would have thought that Monday unexpectedly arrived one day early. Maybe we were all in denial that the long weekend was over, because I had to unearth backpacks from under the beds, pull school uniforms from a pile of unfolded laundry, and rummage through my pantry to find something suitable to make for the boys for breakfast. Diego has a very limited breakfast repertoire, and Nico is perfectly content with a ginormous bowl of cereal. As I frantically tried to find something to for Diego to eat, I yelled at  asked him what he wanted?

“ Do you want scrambled eggs, toast and jelly?” (His current favorite.)

“No.”

Do you mean, “No, thank you?”

“No, thank you.”

“How about a PB & J?”  (The stand-by breakfast.)

“No.”

“French Toast?”  (A new offering, he has recently grown to like.)

“No.”…”Thank you.”

Pancakes? (What is nutritional about these?)

“No.”

Smoothie? (Love this except for the taking out my blender and washing it part.)

“No.”

Hashed browns?  (The breakfast equivalent of French fries.)

“No.”

Quesadilla?  (The Mexican equivalent of buttered toast.)

“No.”

I was getting desperate and frustrated. The time was ticking and he didn’t want any of my offerings. I ran out of patience and asked  told him to choose something now. He hemmed and hawed and then chose what I had offered him in the first place, scrambled eggs, toast and jelly.

Really?

Yes, really. Well then, okay. Easy, fast, and Nico likes this too, so I only had to make one pan of eggs.

Next up, came the bigger challenge, lunch.  I have tried to get Diego to eat the cafeteria food but he won’t go for it. I don’t like to buy his favorite, Lunchables, but I found a good compromise. I bought a small bento box and pack it with crackers, cheese and ham. He thinks it’s a Lunchable. I also have a thermos that I pack with pasta, or soup, and sometimes, rice and beans. Those are acceptable lunch offerings. This morning I had very little I could offer him for lunch so I scrounged around in my pantry and found bowtie pasta. I boiled it in chicken broth, and added parmesan cheese and butter.

As he was now happily eating his breakfast, Diego asked me what I was making him for lunch. I told him that I packed him pasta.

He looked at me suspiciously, and asked, “What kind of pasta, the tubes, or the bows?”

Really?

 What about you, do you have breakfast or lunch challenges in your family? Do you have any creative ideas for me?

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Children, Food

50/50 Friday – Week Two

June 17, 2011

This week was really busy, filled with several celebrations. Luckily, I am fairly good at multi-tasking, so in addition to celebrating, I accomplished a few more things on my 50/50 list.

My family got together to celebrate my parents 50th wedding anniversary this week, by going to an Italian restaurant.  The restaurant had a decent wine list but everything was priced pretty high. The restaurant also had a fairly cheap corkage fee, so my brother went to the wine store next to the restaurant and picked up a couple of bottles of nice wine. Even with the corkage fee, buying the wine and bringing it in was cheaper, than if we ordered from the restaurant’s wine list, and we enjoyed some pretty good wine.  We enjoyed the wine so much that after dinner Juan went back to the wine store and picked up a couple more bottles to enjoy at home.  The next day we opened up this bad boy and enjoyed a glass with dinner. Light, crisp, with hints of pear and grapefruit, it is a perfect summer wine. I give you Number 20 off my list:

On our wedding anniversary, Juan and I went out to see my all-time favorite musical.  Pre-kids and, consequently, when I had more disposable income, I used to be a theatre geek. I first saw a production of Les Miserables in the late 80′s. It has stayed with me all these years.  So when I heard the production was touring again, I knew I had to see it. Juan bought us tickets and we saw it this week. My husband, who has been known to bring a book to read at the theater, even enjoyed the show. I love the music, the story and the message of redemption in this play. It was a great way to celebrate my anniversary, and still check off Number 47 from my list.

The last thing I accomplished this week was trying out a new recipe from this cookbook.

It was not easy to find a new recipe to prepare this week. Between all the celebrations and my busy work week, I was all about convenience.  Tonight, I promised Diego I would make breakfast for dinner, so it looked like, unless I could find a new way to make pancakes, I wasn’t going to be able to work in a new recipe this week. But, pancakes for breakfast just didn’t sound good to me, I wanted something more, but something easy, and something like breakfast. So of course, I chose to make what any self-respecting Mexican mama would make, Chilaquiles.  I made Chilaquiles Veracruzanos. These are a little like enchiladas, but the tortillas are crispier and the sauce is usually lighter. They can be served with an egg on top and are usually great for an early breakfast after dancing all night. In fact, one of the most memorable plates of chilaquiles I ever enjoyed was at 3:00 am , following a wedding reception. The wedding ceremony took place on an Acapulco beach, followed by dinner and dancing all night. The happy couple then treated their guests to a Mexican breakfast of chilaquiles in the pre-dawn hours.  Somehow, every time I make chilaquiles I feel like I should be eating them as the sun comes up.  But,  tonight I had to be content with eating them for dinner. They were not as easy as I hoped, and I had to improvise some of the ingredients, but they were still really good. I will definitely make them again.

I used leftover chicken and cut some tomatoes. I didn't have a fresh ancho chili, so I used chipotle chilis. A bit spicier, but it had a nice smoky flavor.

Frying the tortillas took the most time, but makes all the difference in the texture and taste.

Chilaquiles topped with avocado. Buen Provecho!

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50 Before 50, Family, Food, Holidays and Celebrations
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