Category: cilantro

Guacamole, Dip and more Superbowl Ideas, oh my!

As many of you know I am not the biggest football fan 😉  I enjoy cheering local teams though and since I live less than 20 minutes from Gillette Stadium (and shop at the Trader Joe’s in its shadow!), I am looking forward to next Sunday!  I always love a chance to cook, so here are some recipes and ideas for your Superbowl Sunday feast.

This is my favorite Guacamole recipe! Use it on its own to dip your favorite tortilla chips into or add it to a layer dip. You’ll see my idea for a layer dip below.

Guacamole

Ingredients

2 – 3 avocados (depends on size, 2 large or 3 small)

Juice of 1/2 a lime

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cumin

1/8 teaspoon of black pepper

4 Tablespoons finely chopped tomatoes

2 Tablespoons of minced red onion

1 handful of cilantro, chopped finely

Directions

Add avocado, lime, salt, cumin and pepper to a medium sized bowl. Mash together with a fork. Add tomatoes, onion and cilantro. Mix together. Add more lime juice if needed on top to keep guacamole from browning.

If you want to make a layered dip, here is an idea:

Take a can of black beans and mash with a fork and place on the bottom of your serving dish.  Place a layer of the guacamole. Take 8 ounces of sour cream and mix with 1 teaspoon of chili powder. Add that as the next layer. Top with 1 cup of shredded cheddar, cilantro, chopped olives and chopped tomatoes. Let sit in fridge for 2- 24 hours. Serve with your favorite tortilla chips or add it to a tortilla with some shredded chicken or pork.

Dip, chips, wings, meatballs, ribs, chili, pulled pork, Rainbow pizza or grilled pizza…you name it! There are so many options for your football feast. Desserts? Make these Chex Crispy Bars, Ice cream sundaes, brownies or cupcakes and frost with chocolate frosting and then pipe white frosting to look like laces. Simply having chocolate chip cookies or a bowl of M & Ms or rolos or hershey kisses would be plenty!

What are you having Sunday night for the Superbowl?

Mussels for your New Year’s Celebration

An easy, festive and light idea for your New Year’s Eve celebration is a big pot of mussels! All you need along side it is a good loaf of crusty bread. You can accomplish that with gluten free bread by toasting it and it is just as good to dip it into the broth! You will soon have a bowl of empty shells.

Mussels with White Balsamic Broth

 

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup of diced white onion

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 pounds of mussels, cleaned 

3 Tablespoons of white balsamic vinegar

1 1/2 to 2 cups of chicken or vegetable broth

handful of fresh cilantro or basil, torn

Directions

Heat olive oil in medium sized pot. Cook onions and garlic in oil for a couple of minutes. Add mussels and stir. Add remaining ingredients, stir and cover for about 10-15 minutes, or until all the mussels are open. If a mussel doesn’t open, discard it. Toss with cilantro and serve.

With all the holiday festivities, heavy food and sweets turning toward lighter but still delicious feasts are welcome! What are you serving for New Years?

Eating what we eat

Karina is now eating mostly what we eat. No more double duty! Sometimes the timing just doesn’t work however (mostly when I can’t get dinner ready early enough). The other night we were getting ready to go to a friend’s house for dinner (not until 7pm), so I was trying to figure out what to give Karina for dinner. We hadn’t gone grocery shopping and the fridge was pretty bare. I was wracking my brain, then thought, “what do I usually do when Tim and I don’t have many options = quesadillas! So I found a can of black beans in the pantry, put some shredded cheese, diced up a little tomato and a little cilantro on a flour tortilla and put it in the microwave for 30 secs. I cut it up into bite size pieces and Karina loved it! Later at our friend’s house she tried some pulled pork and sweet potato. Also a big hit!

It has been a busy couple of weeks, so I’ve been trying out some different jarred food. I tried to give Karina soup. Here is the result:

I don’t know how soon we’ll try that again…Good thing it was bath night 🙂

Karina also enjoyed a great steak dinner one night (thanks to Ouma and Oupa for bringing us some steaks from Nebraska). We grilled some steak (med rare) and then cut the end pieces that were cooked through for Karina. She also ate tomatoes and some baked sweet potato with rosemary.

Don't miss a recipe! Follow me in any or all formats you like!