Thursday, January 15, 2015

My Homemaker Bibles


The Old School 80's Betty Crocker Cookbook. My mom had the same one and mine was found on EBay, this is nostalgia at its finest! And you can still use the recipes.


French Women Don't Get Fat! If you are not trying to lose weight, this little goody gets you excited again about the deliciousness of food.


If you cannot get your kids to eat healthy, try this one:




Super Sweet Potato

Superfoods are all the super rage right now, and one of my personal favorites is the Sweet Potato (or as we call it in our home, Camote--Spanish for sweet potato). If you are having trouble getting your kids to eat veggies, give the Camote a try!

Pre heat oven to 400. Wrap sweet potatoes in foil:


Add butter:


Wrap a second layer of foil:


Bake at 400 for about 1 hour and 30 minutes:


The Perfect Taco Ground Beef

For a superb ground beef for your taco night, use Ground Chuck rather than lean ground beef. The little extra fat is totally worth the taste. Add water to the beef and be a little generous, 1/2 to 3/4 cup or so. They key is balance, because not enough water will cause the beef to be too dry, but too much and you will have soggy meat. It will be a trial and error until you get what works best for you. When it comes to seasoning, I use the Old El Paso Seasoning. You can buy by itself, but it also comes with their taco dinner kits. I do not use ANYTHING else! No low sodium, no pepper, no all purpose seasoning salt, NO OTHER taco seasoning brand, NOTHING ELSE. Old El Paso Taco Seasoning rocks!







Taco Night

Oh how we love tacos in our home! The key to a great taco is perfectly seasoned ground beef. See my upcoming blog post for ground beef cooking tips. Of course some people like chicken or vegetarian tacos, but for me, the ground beef makes the taco!  Next, the toppings are what can really make your taco night stand out!

Instead of tomatoes and shredded lettuce (although personally, the shredded lettuce does it for me!), try shredded carrots and spinach. Shredded carrots are amazing on tacos! And fresh avocado over guacamole really adds to the taste and texture.


Pre-shredded cheese is easy and comes in endless varieties, but I find that an inexpensive cheese grater and a block of cheese only takes a few extra minutes and the taste is much fresher.


 Popular with tacos in American homes are refried beans. I find black or pink beans to taste much better. And you can easily mash black or pink beans. Simply heat on the stove top, and once cooked, smash in pot over heat with a large cooking fork. I will also sometimes add cheese which will melt nicely into the bean.


If you are looking to cut calories, try non fat plain Greek yogurt rather than sour cream.


And of course, Old El Paso Stand 'n Stuff are the way to go!











Monday, January 12, 2015

Sticker Face

A super rainy day today gave us the chance to play with some of our arts and crafts that often get ignored. My parents' got this sticker book that lets kids pick different facial features and mix and match to various faces. And the stickers are restickable! Fun and cheap way for your kids to get creative. 



                                        

Golden Globes Fashion

As my GH girl Kimberly McCullough tweeted, white was the new black on the Red Carpet last night. Here my top 5 picks, from 5 to 1, with an Honorable Mention at the bottom:


                                                   #5: Lupita  Nyong'o never disappoints...


#4: Sienna Miller's beautifully unique dress looked even better on TV....


#3: Kate Hudson, VaVaVoom! Did you get a little enhancement mama?



#2: Salma Hayek is a CLASSIC GORGEOUS vision in white...


#1: Move over Jessica Rabbitt, Jessica Chastain is flawless dress, to makeup, to hair...


Honorable Mention: Rosamund Pike: Another beauty in white kills it...


Saturday, January 10, 2015

Mad about Mad Men

Just started watching Mad Men on Netflix. Already in season 2 and loving this show!