an update and a happy, happy mouth!

You may recall my first visit to Qdoba and my disappointment in the shredded beef. I had to go back and try it again since the shredded beef craving just wouldn't go away. I ordered exactly the same thing, and the shredded beef was, again, dry. I traded and ate someone elses nachos. She was happy, I was somewhat happy, all good.

Last week we had one of those nights where it's too late to thaw anything, I just did not want to cook anything that I had on hand, we had a coupon for a free burrito, so the logical choice was Qdoba. This time we went to a different location, closer to home, and I asked to sample the shredded beef first. Same stuff. Then I asked to sample the steak from the Steak Queso Burrito I have heard raves about. It was tasty. So I ordered said Steak Queso Burrito and my mouth was happy! The queso sauce has a nice kick to it, so all in all it was good!

The only remaining problem was: still no shredded beef. So off the the kitchen to whip some up. The first batch, a little dry, but very flavorful. So I was on the right track. I seared a top round roast on all side, put it into an oven safe dish, poured in some beef broth, 2 ground up chipotle pepper, lots of other great seasonings, and baked at 350 degrees for about 4 or 5 hours.

Round #2: a different cut of meat (bottom round), lots of great seasoning, seared it, added the required liquids, slow cooked at 275 degrees for 5 hours. I decided to slow cook after reading several instances where this produced fabulous results. Sorry to say it was dry, dry, dry. Since it was already super dry I just decided to leave it in for another hour and the results were the same.







Enjoy!

recipe experiments

I have been cooking up a storm. Well, maybe a small storm. But since I can't decide which recipe to submit to the BloggerAid cookbook I am not posting these. Once I decide I will have a few more goodies to share.

We have made a few changes in our family eating habits. I have a future-step-daughter, who I call my step-daughter for simplicity sake. She has had a rough life and is overweight, and without a good sense of her body and how food impacts it. She was raised to believe that anything that tastes good or sweet is "bad." And yet, like many people, she has little self control when it comes to food. But she is trying, and learning, and improving.

I have been working very hard to change the way we use and view food in our home. I have been following Nurit and Joie de Vivre on their Weight Loss Weekly posts. I have even gone so far as to answer the questions myself. Call it self education or self preservation. Some of the changes we are making are simple: food & exercise tracking for me, water, water, more water, (I only drink water, just not always enough, that's the challenge), involving the whole family in the meal planning process.

My whole goal with this blog and my cooking was to make healthy comfort food. Food that we love to eat and is healthy too. Taking our favorite restaurant foods, or old family favorites, and making healthy home-made versions. Teaching my family that a good meal is satisfying, fortifying, and not a bad thing at all. So tonight I am making sliders on whole wheat rolls, with grass fed Texas long-horn beef (extremely low in fat,) and various cheeses, good things in little packages. The real treat is the healthier-version dessert to go with it. Let's just call it a miniature meal!

What's you favorite food and have you made it healthy?

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Swedish Pancakes...or Pumpkin Crepes

This morning I made Pancake Swedish Pancakes. Or Pumpkin Crepes.  For a first attempt they were quite good.  And yes, they were orange, although with not quite the yellow cast that shows in this picture.

Pumpkin Swedish Pancakes/Crepes

• 1 cup oat milk
• ¼ cup pumpkin puree
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup oat flour

Mix pumpkin with the oat milk, then add in the eggs, beaten. Add the liquid mixture slowly to the flour, while stirring. Cook on griddle until done.

Next time I will add a bit more pumpkin, and maybe some more milk to thin them out a bit more. I was aiming for swedish pancake style and they were a little thicker than that, but not nearly as thick as a pancake. Still Delicious!!

With our food restrictions this works really well, eliminating the cows milk and wheat flour. Trust me, you won't even notice the difference. You can substitute type of milk or flour for these and get great results.

Enjoy!

Review: Pudding on the Rice

Pardon the fuzzy picture, but it was the best I could do on a dark evening walking down the sidewalk to my car.  However, that should not detract from the fact that this was probably one of the most delicious, rich and creamy desserts I have had in a long time.  

I LOVE rice pudding, and this was excellent.  I had Pumpkin rice pudding on the bottom of the cup, and then S'mores on top of that.  I will say that I don't love the combination of pumpkin and chocolate, but they were both excellent on their own.  K had coconut and some other flavor that escapes me right now.  He said they were both great.  We also split a savory crepe, ham and swiss with mustard and fresh baby spinach (a great dinner snack!) before we dove into dessert!

Rice pudding in all flavors is just fun.  It's not a common dessert, it's all hand made fresh every day by Aaron and Jessica, the local owners.  Jessica developed the recipe for the rice pudding from her Swedish grandmother's recipe.  Hhhmmmm, maybe I should introduce her to my Swedish great grandmothers secret-recipe cookies!  That would be a heavenly combination, and just as unique!

Enjoy!

every kitchen needs one...

Among the many projects we have going, one of them is the redecorating/mini-remodeling of our house.  I have spent the past few years living in a safe black and brown world.  And I love color so I am not sure why I have distanced myself from it.  One of the challenges right now is deciding what color to paint the kitchen.

Not too safe, not too kooky!!  I keep going back and forth on color choices.  But I like fun, daring, and unusual combined with clean, classic, straight lines. Then I found this clock, and so many other color choices by this fun artist here in Portland, made from recycled records ~ Eye Pop Art.  Hhmmm.....maybe she would like some of the hundreds of records we have stashed in our closet!  But one of these clocks will be in my finished kitchen. I just have to decide which color I want!

Enjoy!