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Sit down and stay a while

Just wanted to give a shout out to everyone who just started coming to my little space here. Welcome and I hope you stay a while!

I am super excited about helping people learn to do things they’ve never done before. I meet so many women (and a few men too) who are aching to learn how to cook and just need that little shove to get themselves going. So, consider this my little shove :) I’ve seen friends and even strangers, through the catering I’ve done, change their eating habits and try new things that they are uncomfortable with, only to find they love them! I made turkey burgers for a big BBQ crowd in Vegas and had one lady tell me months later that her family started eating turkey meat in so many dishes. Their son was apparently hard to please in the food department and ended up loving the turkey burgers and then eventually turkey meat in general. How awesome is that? I’ve seen carnivores enjoy vegetarian soups and being satisfied when finished. I love to see people make such good changes! I knew then that there had to be more people who desperately want to feed their families good food but don’t know how, especially with the convenience of takeout food.

So, this brings me to my plan…

I’m going to be starting this series soon about how to make a healthier version of some of your very favorite foods. It’s gonna be awesome! I’ll have a button so you can put it on your own blog or website.

One question I get a lot is about how to bring the kiddos in the kitchen. I’m going to have a little sticker tucked all over like below to give you ideas on how to get the munchkins involved.

Your job: ideas!

Let me know what you want to learn how to make so you don’t have to feel guilty anymore about eating the trashy version. No, I can’t find a way to make sodas healthier but I can suggest a lovely seltzer with crushed fruit and a handful of calories instead. I could also suggest my favorite drink, ice water, but I’m afraid that would leave me with unhappy readers. You get the picture.

Here are some of the Junk Food Remade recipes so far:

What’s on your list?

Vintage Crate Succulent Planter

I have mentioned before that I LOVE old things. The term that is popular right now is “vintage” which sounds cool and everything but before it became “vintage” and therefore popular, it was just something old to be tossed aside. Junk is popular again…wha? I’m sure this will fade in time but right now I am enjoying people noticing things in my house which are “vintage” (but have been there all along). I even have friends who never liked or purchased said old things before, that are falling in love with thrifting and hunting for good finds. It’s fun.

Along with popularity in any area, comes higher cost. I have been searching for many items for years that suddenly got popular and are now almost impossible to find (I say almost because I’ve been doing this awhile and know I can find them :)) I did manage to swipe a few of these crates for $5 a piece which is pretty good these days. Most are more like $25 on Etsy and other sites. Exciting, right?

So, I set out to make this planter concept which I originally saw at the San Diego County Fair a few years ago. When I saw it, the concept of succulents and drought tolerant plants was just gaining popularity. I have to admit, they are not my favorite kinds of plants, but are great for low maintenance planting. I do wish they were prettier, but…what are you going to do? So, I embraced them. The only thing to note about planting in this type of container, is proper moisture control. You can add spanish moss to avoid mold or damaging your crate. Otherwise, you should have no problems.

Enjoy with a loved one and a sunset!

“Black and Blue”

I am loving these fruit drinks this summer, especially since fruit in our garden is abundant! We’ve been super busy lately with end of school things so, I have particularly enjoyed winding down with a drink like this. It has just the right amount of rum for a mama of 3, while still not going over the top :) These fruit drinks are also really easy to make for groups or dinner company.

“Black and Blue”

4 Blackberries
15 Blueberries
1 oz lemon juice
1 sprig of mint
1 1/2 oz simple syrup
2 1/2 oz white rum
ice to fill shaker

Muddle the berries and mint together with the lemon juice. Add the simple syrup, rum, and ice. Shake for a minute, pour over a few more pieces of ice, and enjoy!

Rubber Duckie Race

Miss F’s school had a golf marathon fundraiser recently. The kids got to do a rubber duck race where they sold a ticket to correlate to each duck. The ducks “raced” (read bobbed with a little help from the wind) and the winning duck owner and seller won a lovely prize. The participation was pretty lame, but Miss F enjoyed the process and also meeting new neighbors because of it. Turns out, she won the prize for most tickets sold! My first thought was how awesome it was because she worked hard and my second thought was how a kindergartener could beat out everyone else. Wha? I guess the other duck sellers needed a pep rally or something. In any case, Miss F took a trip to Target this week to get her prize…a barbie scooter. What else could a 6 year-old girl ask for?

This would have been perfect if not for the smudge on the left side…erg…little fingers.

A Proper Freezer Stash

So, I’ve been having migraines a lot lately and have been so thankful that I had a few things hanging around in my freezer to make things a little easier. This week I made soup twice and cookies twice from that freezer.

These scrumptious gingersnaps for some friends.

Rustic peanut butter cookies for houseguests. They are rustic because of my laziness in not wanting to roll them.

Hey, it works.

Tuscan white bean soup with pancetta and cornbread; once for lunch and once for dinner.

You’ll thank yourself later if you just make extra soup and cookie dough and put it in the freezer. I like to flatten my freezer bags before putting them in and find a smooth and level spot for them to freeze. Once frozen, you can “file” them upright or however you want. Be sure to label and date them. You could also just freeze them however you want and not adopt my crazy-weird techniques. Whatever works.

He’s what’s in my freezer that I’ve stashed:

Coq A Vin
Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Mushroom Veloute
Chocolate Espresso Crackle Cookies
Roasted Chicken pieces
Homemade Tomato Sauce
Chicken Stock
Carrots, onions, and potatoes cut for chicken pot pie

Hopefully I won’t need to use it all at once…