Month

The one thing I look forward to in every meet-up with friends is their stories about their kids. In our group, half are married, and they’re the life of the party because of these stories. Just recently, Alva, a mom of two, shared with us a story about her little Tom’s mini rebellion. I know Tom. He’s adorable with his fluffy and bouncy hair and chubby cheeks. However, I have to admit that he can be a little brat sometimes most especially if he doesn’t get what he wants. Alva kind of spoils him because she is a single mom who wants to prove something to the father. One way of spoiling him is cooking every food he loves to eat. And Tom loves sausages a lot. He requests them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Alva, tired of cooking the same thing all over again, tried to revamp the recipe a bit. Since Tom loves baseball, he must like the sausage balls that she made. Contrary to what she expected, Tom hated the balls. It’s not because they’re balls, but mostly because “they’re not sausages”. “Sausages were supposed to be long and not round!”, Tom had said. He didn’t eat the whole day until Alva told him he wouldn’t be allowed in his next baseball game if he wouldn’t eat. Eventually, he came out and ate, begrudgingly at first. His plate was clean right after the meal. One point for Mom!

Photo and recipe courtesy of Southern Bite.

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Quick Tip: If you prefer bolder flavors, stir in some garlic powder and your favorite spices to mix it up a little.

So Good, You’ll Slap Your Knees And Say Hallelujah

I have to admit just a while back I had never even heard of chimichangas. A friend of mine mentioned them in a conversation and I had no idea what she was talking about.

She’s from Texas and she couldn’t believe I had never tried them. The following week she came over with a bag full of ingredients and told me she couldn’t go on living her life, knowing that I was completely unaware of this beautiful dish! She made her recipe which, according to her, was a very traditional one – deep frying and all. I thought the chimichangas were delicious but I was concerned about the deep frying. I’ve been trying to avoid deep fried foods, so I wanted to find out if there was a way to make these using another method.

Finally I came across this oven-fried chicken chimichanga recipe! It solved my problem and I couldn’t wait to try it. I had some pulled pork leftovers in the fridge so I decided to use that instead of chicken. They turned out even better than my friend’s, if I dare say so!

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Quick Tip: This recipe is incredibly versatile! Use whatever you happen to have at hand for these chimichangas.

A Breakfast Recipe Your Kids Are Going To LOVE

When I was a kid, my Mom used to bake bread once a week. She would make rye bread, flat bread and dinner rolls, huge batches of them, and then freeze them.

That way we always had delicious and nutritious homemade bread, and hardly ever had to buy any from the store. My parents had a small farm so we would have fresh flour straight from the mill – I know, I know, we were spoiled that way!

For some reason Mom didn’t make oatmeal bread very often. I don’t know why; maybe she thought having oatmeal every morning was enough. But occasionally she did make the bread, too, and it was always my favorite. Somehow she managed to create such a beautifully moist and tasty loaf that it was hard to compare it to any other bread I had ever had before. When I grew up I started baking bread myself. Oatmeal bread is still one of my favorites, and this delicious recipe brings it to a whole new level.

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Quick Tip: Kneading the dough long enough will give your bread the perfect consistency!

Long gone are the days where lemonade was what refreshed a person’s body on a hot summer day. As tasty as a tall glass of ice cold lemonade is, when you spend the day in the pool and get out for a break, you want something a little more filling. Am I right or am I right? Yeah, I know… I am right. Well anyway, lemonade just was not doing it for me when I would get out of the pool after a long swim in the sun. So I figured there had to be something better to do than just drink up a glass of lemonade.

As I was sipping on my unfortunate glass of lemonade, I noticed a delicious chocolate trifle dish my sister was making. It had layer upon layer of chocolatey goodness: brownie pieces, chocolate pudding, chocolate chips and cool whip. One layer after the other it seemed so amazing. That is when it occurred to me: I can make a similar dessert that is refreshing, too! And that is how this lemon trifle dessert was born. It is layer upon layer of creamy refreshing goodness that feels so good when you eat it up and fills you up a bit, too!

Recipe courtesy of Melissa’s Southern Style Kitchen. Image courtesy of Served Up With Love.

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Quick Tip: Use homemade cake or just buy a pound cake to save time.

I love a good Italian meal. Oh gosh, how I love when my husband tells me that he is in the mood for Italian! With him, it does not come often. He is just not a pasta kind of guy. He likes other things and although he will eat Italian, it is definitely not his favorite. That is why when he tells me he is in for some good Italian cuisine, I jump at the opportunity. A lot of times, we go to my favorite restaurant, Mike’s (ironically, that is my husband’s name too!) and I get a classic ravioli or maybe a lasagna.

This last time we visited my favorite restaurant (in the world!!), as the waitress was passing out the garlic rolls, she told me that they had a new special. She knows I love lasagna so she thought I would like this: lasagna roll-ups. Yep, they are kind of like fruit roll ups, but they are even more delicious. They take the layer of lasagna noodles, and add the ricotta cheese mixture as well as tomato sauce and meat and then roll them up and bake them in a casserole dish. It is a neat way to serve something so delicious!

Photo and recipe courtesy of Cooking Classy.

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Quick Tip: Use your favorite homemade meat sauce or just jarred sauce if you want to save time.

The other day, Anne was organizing a little get together for all the neighbors. We were all so busy over the holidays that we did not have time to spend time together or have a Christmas party as we usually do, or at least ring in the New Year. Anne, being the social butterfly that she is, could not stand that it did not happen, so she organized some stuff to make sure it would happen. So, what was this event about? She called it an “after party.” She thought it was funny because it sounded like what the celebrities have, but it was just really called an after party because we had a party after all the other ones. It was a practical name, believe me.

Well, as usual, Anne went crazy over what to put on the menu. She tried assigning specific dishes to different people, but that did not seem to be working, so instead she created a document online and told everyone to write their name along with what they would be bringing. It was so easy, everyone signed up! And the one thing that caught my eye? Mrs. Smith’s Strawberry Cream Cheese White Chocolate cookies. Oh, yessss.

Photo and recipe courtesy of OMG Chocolate Desserts.

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Quick Tip: Add chopped nuts into the batter if you’d like.

The other day I was at the supermarket with my shopping list, buying everything I needed to start eating healthy the next week. I had filled my cart with greens, apples, bananas, oatmeal and the like and there was nothing unhealthy in my cart… until I passed the prepared pasta section. You know, the one where they sell the stuffed ravioli or tortellini? Yeah, that’s the one. It was full of delicious kinds of pasta and I simply could not resist. I ended up with all the healthy stuff as well as two packs of tortellini with everything I needed for making an Alfredo sauce. Healthy, huh?

Well anyway, the first thing I did when I got home that night was prepare that dinner. My husband was coming home from work starved and I knew with the help of this prepped up tortellini, I could get a delicious meal on the table in no time. Well, that was the case! In about 30 minutes, I had a garlic alfredo tortellini with chicken on the table for my husband, along with garlic bread. Oh, did I not mention I also picked up that garlic bread at the supermarket? Whoops…

Photo and recipe courtesy of Damn Delicious.

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Quick Tip: Top with your favorite protein.