Create an Omelet - Mexican Style

We did something a little special for breakfast this morning. At least it seemed "special" to me. I have never made an omelet before. I was shocked and pleasantly surprised at how easy it was. We are going to be having these a lot more often around here. 

Omelets are easy to make and there is no end to the ways that you can get creative with them. Let your kids pick and choose what they want in theirs or make everyone's the same it is completely up to you. 

I think the only tricky thing about making an omelet is that you have to have all your ingredients ready to go before you start cooking. Once the eggs hit the pan it is going to go pretty fast and you won't have time to start chopping veggies or get the cheese out of the fridge. So get all the yummy ingredients ready before you start cooking. If you want to pre-cook things like bacon, onion, mushrooms, or other meats now is the time to do it.

Crack your eggs into a small bowl and add 1 TB of water, this will help to make your eggs nice and fluffy. Whisk the egg / water mixture vigorously in incorporate as much air into the eggs as possible. Now is also the time when you want to add your salt, pepper and any herbs or seasonings. We added our green onions here. 

Heat your non-stick skillet over medium-high heat until a drop of water sizzles, but doesn't evaporate immediately. Then spray your pan with cooking spray. Add the eggs. Gently tilt your pan around so the eggs can spread out to the edges of the pan. 

Let the eggs begin to set and then start pulling the edges into the center of the pan and letting the uncooked eggs run out to the edges of the pan.  (This part will feel like a mess and you will worry that your omelet is going to really turn into scrambled eggs - Take Heart - You are doing amazing!) 

Once the eggs on the outer edges of the pan start to become cooked and the center begins to set add your toppings down the center of your omelet.  You don't want to fill it too full, even though you have decided on lots of delicious toppings. We add two slices of avocado, some black beans, cheese, and decided top it with salsa when we were done cooking it. 

Once you have your toppings down the center of your omelet just fold in each side (into thirds). And that is all there is too it! 

 You can top your omelet with anything you want. Salsa was what we choose, but I have heard of ketchup and BBQ sauce also being popular choices. (Really I have). You can also use at a topping or garnish some of the ingredients that you put into your omelet, say if you used come cilantro or parsley. 

 The ideas are almost infinite, but here are some suggestions from Food $ense Creates that you might want to try.


Ranch Style Omelet Filling
• Cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• Sliced mushrooms
• Diced red onion
• Fresh parsley
• Cheddar cheese
• Fat-free ranch dressing

Greek Style Omelet Filling
• Sliced mushrooms
• Sliced green onions
• Diced tomato
• Sliced olives
• Feta cheese

Garden Style Omelet Filling
• Sliced mushrooms
• Sliced yellow summer squash
• Sliced zucchini
• Diced red pepper
• Diced onion
• Parmesan cheese
• Basil and garlic powder (added to eggs

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

It has been a flash back to winter this weekend.  We had grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner last week because it was cold and rainy and we thought "this might be our last time for a while". Then it proceeded to rain and be freezing cold the rest of the week and into the weekend.

My husband and I sat around Saturday morning watching it pour down rain outside waiting to hear if soccer games would be canceled or not and trying to play our day of grocery shopping, clothes shopping, sporting events and general mayhem. My husband suggested beef stew for dinner. It immediately sounded wonderful. But truth is, I am not a great beef stew maker, the meat tends to be chewy and the vegetables get over done and are flavorless.

I looked up a few recipes online to get the general feel for what was going to be required and to make a grocery list since we were heading to the store. The list of ingredients was very simple and also inexpensive. This is always a matter of concern when feeding 7 kids. How can I get all their bellies full without spending 50$.  (And sometimes they have very very empty bellies that need a lot of filling - teenager boys can eat a lot)

We got back from the grocery store with the rain still coming down strong and all the ingredients to make our stew.  Together, I prepped the meat and my husband chopped the veggies. We were done in less than 5 minutes and had the whole thing in the slow cooker by 1pm. I turned it up onto high, because we didn't have the 10-12 hours that the recipe called for and hoped that the 4-5 that it was going to get would be enough to give us tender and juicy meat instead of chewy cheap meat.

INGREDIENTS:
2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch
cubes
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups beef broth
3 potatoes, diced  ( I used more potatoes so the recipe would go a little bit further as cheaply as possible)
4 carrots, sliced
1 stalk celery, chopped

DIRECTIONS:
1. Place meat in slow cooker. In a small bowl mix together the flour, salt, and pepper; pour over meat, and stir to coat meat with flour mixture. Stir in the garlic, bay leaf, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, onion, beef broth, potatoes, carrots, and celery.
2. Cover, and cook on Low setting for 10 to 12 hours, or on High setting for 4 to 6 hours.

It turned out amazing and everyone loved it. Even my one child who professed to not like beef stew enjoyed it.  We have enough leftover for a small lunch today and that is just going to be perfect.

I would recommend this recipe to any and all of you, even those of us that have not had great success with beef stew in the past. It was simple, flavorful and packed with the type of comfort food goodness that you want to provide for your family.  Enjoy! - hopefully soon the weather is going to be warming up to springtime any day now.

Basil Orange Pineapple Chicken

One of my favorite Food $ense recipes, is the Polynesian Skillet. It reminds me of one of my favorite meals growing up that my mother would make, Sweet & Sour Chicken. Which is one of my favorites that I still get when I go to Chinese restaurants. But the Food $ense recipe for Polynesian Skillet is so much less expensive and much much healthier for you. 

This is a recipe that we make a lot around here, it is quick and easy and healthy. The big three things that make a recipe a winner around here. But I was craving something a little bit different last night. I wanted to stay with the same type of flavors. We had a delicious fresh pineapple here to use and I had some peppers in the fridge.

I found the most interesting recipe on Dole.com for Basil Orange Pineapple Chicken. It cooks up the same in a lot of ways at the Polynesian Skillet, but with a few different ingredients in the sauce.

Ingredients:
1 medium fresh DOLE® Tropical Gold® Pineapple
2 teaspoons Butter
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
  salt, to taste
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 small red bell pepper, seeded, thinly sliced, I used a green pepper also for color and added veggies.
1/2 cup frozen DOLE Pineapple Orange Juice concentrate, thawed
1/2 cup white wine, I don't cook with wine so I just used orange juice.
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 oranges, peeled, sliced

Directions:
In nonstick skillet, saute  pineapple in margarine until lightly browned.  Remove. ( I think this extra step of preparing the pineapple first makes it taste Amazing!)

Cut chicken into evenly sized cubes. Season with salt. Brown chicken in oil. Cover, simmer 6 minutes. Remove.

Sauté red pepper in same pan. Combine juice concentrate, wine, mustard, cornstarch and onion powder; stir until blended. Add to pan. Cook, stirring, until sauce boils and thickens. Add chicken, basil and black pepper to sauce. Spoon sauce over. Add oranges; heat through. Serve with pineapple.

The Easiest Way to Cut a Pineapple

What to do with Hard-Boiled Eggs

We are full to the brim right now with hard-boiled eggs left behind by that beloved Easter Bunny.  If you are like us, and have more eggs than you know what to do with you have come to the right place. I happen to have lots of resources about what to do with those eggs that are colorfully taking up so much room in your fridge!

Here is a great place to start the website of the Incredible Edible Egg. With recipes for basics like Deviled Eggs and Egg Salad, you can't go wrong with the classics.

From one of my favorite sites Real Simple - 10 Recipes for Leftover Eggs.  Slice them onto a classic Cob Salad, or how about using them as a Pizza Topping.

Here is a wild website that uses eggs in surprising ways. From recipes for Scotch Eggs to using eggs in Meatloaf. There is even a soup with hard-boiled eggs in it.

Last here is an article from the LA Times on 22 recipes that you can use your leftover eggs in.

All those hard-boiled eggs might be a problem to have, but it is a very good (and very delicious!) problem to have.  Happy Eating!

Like a Pack of Wolves on Jell-O

I made Jell-O yesterday with my 5 year old. It is an easy and fascinating cooking science experiment that you can do with your kids. The only help they need is with the boiling water and that part is over pretty fast, while the stirring and waiting to set can take a while and engage their interest. We, of course, ended up with some finger prints in ours as he had to keep "testing it" to see if it was done yet.

Another really great thing about Jell-O is that you can sneak a lot of fruit in there and kids will still eat it like crazy. We currently have a lot of canned fruit here at our house, so we used some unsweetened pears, but you can use any canned fruit that you have on hand. If you are buying some at the store look for unsweetened or fruit that is store in it's own juice instead of in sugar syrup.

If you are feeling adventurous and want to try some fresh fruits keep in mind that not all fresh fruit will allow your gelatin to set and you will end up with fruit floating around in flavored water. Pineapple, guava, mango and kiwi are just some examples of fruits that should never be mixed with Jello-O because of the proteases they contain. Stick with fruits that do not contain proteases to ensure that the Jello-O is able to solidify.

Apples, strawberries and oranges as fruits that make excellent additions to Jello-O. Berries like cherries, blueberries and blackberries are also good choices. Lemons, peaches and plums work well in lemon-flavored Jell-O. Raspberries and cranberries make colorful options. Add bananas or coconut to give your Jell-O a tropical flavor.

Some fruits can be placed directly into Jello-O as whole pieces. For example, grapes and blueberries do not need to be prepared in any way before being added to the dessert. Other fruits like strawberries, apples, oranges and lemons should be cut or sliced. If you want to use fresh fruits such as kiwi, guava or pineapple that contain proteases, make your Jello-O dessert and let it solidify before placing the fruit on top of the Jello-O as a garnish. You can also make a sauce out of figs or papaya which can be spread on top of the dessert.

So get out there and experiment and see what you like, see what your family likes. You could be creating an amazing creation that will become a family tradition and that will have everyone begging you to make it more.

Food $ense at Home Lessons

Did you know that you can learn some of the amazing Food $ense lessons right on your own computer? The first basic Food $ense lessons are all available right here on this website.   It is just like going to your local extension of having an agent come to your house! It is a great place to get started and start thinking about how Food $ense can help you improve your life and the health of your family.

Greek Salad - My Style

I have been craving Greek Salad for the better part of this week. So we picked up the ingredients that we needed and decided to make it for dinner tonight.  I haven been so excited for dinner in a while. I couldn't wait to eat this. ( I really had been craving it for a while). 

Greek Salad is super easy to make once you find the right olives. Kalamata olives are the onces called for in the recipe and most super markets carry them nowadays.  Be sure to buy them pitted, because spending a lot of time pitting the olives makes this toss together salad much much harder to make. 

I also add lettuce to mine, while it is not traditional it makes the expensive ingredients like the cheese and the specialty olives go a lot further while using them as ingredients that contribute to taste as well as bulk. 

Ingredients

1 head Romaine Lettuce, Chopped

4 whole Ripe Tomatoes, Cut Into Six Wedges Each, Then Each Wedge Cut In Half

1 whole (large) Cucumber, Peeled, Cut Into Fourths Lengthwise, And Diced Into Large Chunks

1/2 whole Red Onion, Sliced Very Thin

30 whole Pitted Kalamata Olives, Cut In Half Lengthwise

6 ounces, weight Crumbled Feta Cheese

 Fresh Parsley, Roughly Chopped

1/4 cup Olive Oil

2 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar

1 teaspoon Sugar (more To Taste)

1 clove Garlic, Minced

6 whole Kalamata Olives (extra), Chopped Fine

1/4 teaspoon Salt

 Freshly Ground Black Pepper

1 whole Lemon, For Squeezing

Preparation Instructions

Add chopped lettuce, tomato wedges, cucumber chunks, onion slices, halved Kalamata olives, half the feta, and parsley to a large bowl.

Combine olive oil, vinegar, sugar, garlic, salt, pepper, and chopped olives in a bowl. Whisk together until combined. Taste and adjust seasonings (I almost always add a little sugar.)

Pour dressing over salad ingredients, then add salt and pepper. Toss with tongs or clean hands. Just before serving, top with additional feta and squeeze a little lemon juice over the top.

 Adding the extra diced olives to the dressing makes all the difference in the world and makes every single bite extra zingy and special.

You can also wrap all this deliciousness into a pita and make a wrap with it. 

Enjoy! This is something that you can eat and crave all summer long.

Strawberry Avocado Salsa with Talapia

One of the April spotlight fruits is Strawberries. We bought a whole case of them this weekend and we have been putting them in everything. Several of us here have red stained fingers and lips from eating them as fast as we can. Strawberries are one of those amazing foods that taste like absolute heaven when they are fresh and taste less good when they are frozen. So we are getting all the strawberries we can while the gettin' is good. 

One of the more interesting Food $ense strawberry recipes is for a Strawberry tostada. You see lots and lots of recipes for strawberry desserts, there are actually very few savory recipes out there, so I just had to try it. I did a little bit of web research and found a very similar recipe for Strawberry Salsa. 

We ate it plain, tried it with chips and then topped some tilapia with the stuff. It was delicious! The strawberries add a really fun and surprising sweetness to traditional salsa ingredients. This experiment was a wild success.

Buffalo Chicken Salad

Welcome to April and spotlight on Salad Greens!  I absolutely love making salads. There isn't anything that you can't make and dream up when creating a salad. - And there isn't any salad that you can't put into a wrap!  They are so versatile and fresh and so very very good for you. 

I was craving something spicy and tangy last night and this quick salad fit the bill perfectly. 

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup crumbled reduced-fat blue cheese plus 1/4 cup, divided

6 tablespoons buttermilk

4 teaspoons red-wine vinegar, divided

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, divided

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 3/4-inch pieces

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons hot sauce, such as Frank’s Red Hot

8 cups chopped romaine lettuce

3 large carrots, chopped

3 large stalks celery, chopped

1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped

PREPARATION
Combine 1/2 cup blue cheese in a small bowl with buttermilk, 2 teaspoons vinegar and 1/8 teaspoon pepper; mix well, mashing slightly with a fork. Set aside.

Place chicken in another bowl; sprinkle with flour and the remaining 1/8 teaspoon pepper and toss until coated.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until very hot. Add the chicken and cook, turning occasionally, until just cooked through, 6 to 7 minutes. Stir in hot sauce and the remaining 2 teaspoons vinegar and cook, stirring often, until the chicken is coated, about 1 minute.

Combine lettuce, carrots, celery and cucumber in a large bowl; add the reserved dressing and toss to coat.

Divide the salad among 4 plates and top each with an equal portion of chicken and 1 tablespoon each of the reserved blue cheese.