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Polenta with Shrimp and Kale Pesto

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 23 May, 2014 No comment

Oh- my mouth is watering just thinking about these incredible polenta shrimp bites with pesto. I made these last night and couldn’t get over how incredible they were. This is the PERFECT appetizer or pair this with a delicious smoothie for a great healthy dinner.

My husband prefers this with no avocado but I loved it with the avocado stuffed on top with the shrimp. I thought it was a perfect blend of flavors.

Ingredients:

12 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 tube polenta (any flavor) cut into 12 rounds
1 avocado, sliced

Pesto:

2 cups chopped kale or spinach
½ cup fresh basil
½ cup fresh parsley
¼ cup pecans
1 tbsp minced garlic
¼ cup parmesan cheese
¼ cup EVOO
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
¼ tsp garlic salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a broiler pan with foil and lay cut polenta evenly throughout pan. Drizzle with EVOO, salt, pepper and garlic salt.

Bake for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes turn the oven to broil and broil until lightly crispy (3-5 minutes) keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t burn.

For the Shrimp- Once the polenta is cooked, transfer to a plate and keep the broiler pan lined with the same foil. Lay shrimp evenly on foil and drizzle with EVOO, salt, and garlic salt.

Bake at 400 for 5-10 minutes or until fully pink.

Meanwhile, to make the pesto add all ingredients for the pesto into a food processor.

Puree until well blended (add more oil if needed).

To assemble- spoon pesto atop polenta.

Lay shrimp with avocado stuffed in the middle of the shrimp. If you want to add a little extra touch sprinkle with sea salt and add chopped chives.

If you serve this for a gathering, you will be a big hit!

Prepare to be WOWWED!

Cheeseburger Orzo

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 22 May, 2014 No comment

This is amazing comfort food the whole family will devour. Trying to think of something that would be a good meal while watching three kids has not been an easy task for me. I am beyond worn out by the time later afternoon comes that dinner is the last thing I want to think about.

We have been barbequing a lot lately as it causes for easy clean up, good food and easy makings. :) But when you BBQ, you tend to run through your meat a lot quicker and run out of ideas. So, while starting up the grill has become my friend, not only because it’s easy but also because I’ve just learned to grill and have thoroughly enjoyed it, I decided to steer clear of the grill tonight! :)

Adding a great twist to Mac N’ Cheese and Hamburger Helper, I came up with this…

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey
1/2 cup onions, chopped
1 tsp Salt
3 Tbsp Taco seasoning (or 1 packet if not homemade)
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
2 cups Orzo pasta, cooked
4 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp flour
3 cups milk
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 tbsp. Sriracha (optional)
2 cups cheese, shredded (any kind works)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook turkey with chopped onions, salt and red pepper flakes until fully cooked.

IMG_3991 - Copy

Once cooked add taco seasoning.

Once the meat is cooked and seasoned, set aside. In a medium sauce pan melt the butter over medium heat and add in flour. Gradually stir in milk. Cook until it thickens.

Once thickened, stir in parmesan cheese.

Stir in shredded cheese.

Pour cheese mixture over turkey and Orzo and mix.

Mix well.

Place lid on and bake for 30-40 minutes or until bubbly.

Adapted from confessionsofacookingdiva.com

Vegetable Wash

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 22 May, 2014 No comment

Do you ever stand in the produce isle trying to pick the perfect apple or tomato and “uh-oh” there it goes rolling down the hill onto the floor. You quickly gather it and put it back for the next person to grab.

That being said, we’ve all been there and we’ve all done it! It’s important to wash your produce really well when you get it home from the store. There are many traps of germs along the way. Double bagging produce is a great trick. Even if there is a peel around the item you are purchasing, you still want to bag it. Cutting into it can drag the germs to in the inside of the item if not washed. IE onions, oranges, avocado, lemons, limes and tomatoes.

Another disgusting trap of germs are the conveyor belts at the checkout line. These belts hold many germs from feces to bacteria from raw meat and much more. Carts are a great area for bacteria to continue to grow and fester. All of these little things we don’t think of add many germs that our bodies now have to fight if we don’t protect ourselves from them.

Making a point to simply wash your produce when you return home is a great tool to better protect yourself and your little munchkins who travel to the store with you and touch everything.

My simple vegetable washing tool is filling the kitchen sink (clean, of course) with water and adding about 1/2 cup vinegar and 1 1/2 tsp baking soda. Drop vegetables and fruit into the water and toss multiple times. Let rest for five minutes to allow the vinegar to coat the outer layers killing any and all bacteria. It’s simple, cheap and will leave your sink dirty from all the junk you were blind to prior to washing them.

The sink was this dirty just from strawberries and blueberries. Makes you think twice about not washing now doesn’t it? :)

Here is an snippet from the Dr Oz show. I saw this and thought it was good to share. His wash is a little different and that is great too. I simply prefer to wash in bulk in the sink for convenience reasons.

This is a great video to watch. Video-Here

Jumbo Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 21 May, 2014 No comment

These are maniac sandwiches. They are piled high of many toppings leaving your mouth fulfilled with delicious flavor.

Ingredients:

4 ciabatta rolls
½ lb bacon
4 pickles
4 slices of pepper jack cheese (or Colby)
2 avocados, sliced
16 slices of turkey

Cook bacon until desired crispness.

Meanwhile, slice pickles, avocado and cheese. Set aside.

In a small fry pan lay turkey and crisp it up a little bit leaving you with warm, fried turkey.

Toast ciabatta rolls and assemble with toppings. Use Mayo if desired!

Serve with a fresh pasta salad.

The Deep Ocean Waters

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 21 May, 2014 No comment

We took a weekend and headed to the beach just the three of us for a GREAT change in scenery. We needed to escape as our house has never ending plumbing issues, I’m watching three kids, my husband works full time, his mother just passed and the “ebb-in-flow” of life seems to not flow so smoothly for the Cook’s.

It was supposed to rain all weekend as usual because we just came from a beautiful week of hot sun. My husband feels he’s doomed as every weekend brings on the rain while he can play but during the week it’s bright and sunny while he’s inside at his desk. Since this is pretty typical for our lives, we took the challenge head on and packed for rain and headed to the coast.

To our surprise, we had not only beautiful weather, but no wind either. It was incredible. Totally unexpected, unplanned and NO people. The usual crowded beach was every but that. We had the best time and surprisingly the water was not the typical freezing temperature as usual.

Cooper did not nap in the car on the way there which was our hope. This un-napped baby was beyond amazing! No fussing, no squirms, no attitude, no nothing. He was so happy he couldn’t even make it far before stopping to through the sand. He was in heaven. We took beach chairs and snacks and got some good sun.

He was so busy he did not have time to realize he was extremely tired. He had the time of his life. He loved the water and went up to his little waist multiple times. We had to drag him back to shore to get a break from the water. :)

I would take him out but he quickly got bored of it because I had pants on so we couldn’t go as far out as he would like. Luckily for me, daddy had to take him. His little brain was so fascinated and captured by the huge, deep waters. His little mind was going miles a minute. You could see him trying to process this vast ocean that was super fun to get wet in.

This was one giant bathtub for my little man.

You can see how deep they went as Cooper could not get enough of it.

Headed back to shore for some more digging!

Sweet little baby!

We ended the day at Mo’s, famous for clam chowder and sat outside soaking it up. Cooper had a blast and ate like a champ. This tired boy crashed within 5 minutes of leaving town. Sweet baby!!!

Cran-Blueberry Muffins

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 20 May, 2014 No comment

These little muffins are delightful and healthy. As I mentioned in my Cranberry Nut Breakfast Cookies, this was a shock to the two additional little kids I am watching to have a “healthy” muffin. I use honey for my sweetener and it helps eliminate the processed sugar. I also use unbleached whole wheat flour as a healthier option as well.

The little boy ate them, but the little girl was not too fond of them as she knew by my mistake of saying they were healthy she wouldn’t be interested. That was my fault!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups cooking oats
1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
¾ cup honey
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
¾ tsp salt
1 ½ cups buttermilk
¼ cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
3/4 cup bran flakes
1 cup blueberries
1 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 400. In a stand mixer, mix first 7 ingredients together. Mix well.

Mix buttermilk, oil and eggs together. Mix in blueberries, cranberries and bran flakes.

Use muffin cups and fill 3/4 full.

Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

If serving to children, don’t tell them they are healthy. :)

San Francisco Love

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 20 May, 2014 No comment

As you all know, my husband and I headed to San Francisco a couple of weekends ago. We enjoyed three full days in San Fran with just the two of us love birds celebrating our second anniversary.

We stayed in Berkley on the marina and surprisingly enough, Berkley was not that great of a town. Worn down and not as nice as I had presumed. We had quite the struggle to find any American Food. We do not mind ethnic food now and again but for some reason we wanted American Food and could not find anything. We drove around for an hour to finally stop at a diner that seemed extremely tasty but found out our hunger overtook the food itself. I realized after I ate almost all my food that there was mold on the bun. I was disturbed the entire rest of the night.

The following day was Easter and we found a fun little place between Berkley and Oakland to eat some delicious Easter Brunch. This restaurant was fabulous, but my husband and I found you can’t go wrong with breakfast places. We love them and love to travel for this very reason!

Easter Brunch-Great Eggs Benedict

After brunch we went to an Easter MLB Game. The Oakland Athletics played the Huston Asteroid’s. Oakland won 4-1, but most of all, it was an amazing day! It was 75 degrees and sunny. Not a cloud in site. We actually weren’t even prepared to have such nice weather that we were sweating out of our jeans and sweaters. My feet and shoulders got burned as that was all that was exposed to the sun, but it was beautiful and not a thing to complain about. We loved it!

That evening we ate dinner at a beautiful restaurant by our hotel. It was on the marina with a great walking trail that took you directly into the water about a mile out. It was a great little walk and beautiful scenery.

The following day was not as nice. We headed to downtown San Francisco and the weather was overcast and definitely chilly on the Pier. We went to Pier 39 after trying the best breakfast place of the trip, Fred’s Diner. They are famous for their Millionaires Bacon and it literally is a millionaire slice. It was incredible. This quaint little place fell in Sausalito, CA and was a beautiful drive along the water. Across the Golden Gate bridge we drove and headed to Golden Gate Park. We took our time walking around as we were in no hurry and our flight didn’t leave until 8:30 that evening.

After walking around the park for some time and seeing all the kids play areas wondering why it’s easy to find kids areas when you don’t have your kid with you but when you do have them, it’s never so easy to find. We wandered down to Ghirardelli Square and Pier 39. Pier 39 has definitely grown since I was last their roughly 12 years ago. So many places to see.

We ate at In N’ Out as it’s a must do when in California. Although I previously hated burgers and beef, I know crave a good Animal Style Burger and Animal Style Fries from their secret menu. It’s AMAZING and so incredibly horrible for you. It is cheap food for good food. I love it!

We ended our trip driving to the airport as we did not want to get stuck in Cali rush hour and parked the car on the water and watched planes take off and land. It was beautiful and very entertaining to watch the strategy they have for the thousands of planes coming and going. In one hour, we were so shocked to see how many planes come and go in pairs. 2 take off as 2 are landing. It was fascinating to sit and watch this for awhile and just enjoy great conversation. As we left San Francisco that night, I was excited to get home to my baby but always enjoy a good vacation. Wishing we were headed off to Hawaii for another 10 days with Cooper. :)

Moment of Truth: A husband and wife NEED time alone together for longer than a date night! It is extremely critical to a marriage to be childless for a night or two! :)

Fresh Beans and Mushrooms

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 19 May, 2014 No comment

I served these fresh green beans with mushrooms with Gorgonzola Grilled Chicken and it was a great side on a HOT summer day! :)

Healthy and tasty!

Ingredients:

1 lb fresh green beans
½ red onion, chopped
1 lb fresh mushrooms, chopped
EVOO
Salt & pepper
Garlic Salt

Leave beans whole and chop onion and mushrooms. Combine together and toss with EVOO and seasoning.

In a grill basket lined with foil to keep the oil on the vegetables, grill veggies until desired crispness has been met. :)

Serve with recipe Gorgonzola Chicken (click here)

He Doesn’t Really Care

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 19 May, 2014 No comment

I think we often forget to show our love to our spouse in the midst of daily routine. We tend to question the love our spouse holds for us or whether they still feel the way they did on our wedding day.

Many questions arise when fights occur, distractions hit, chaos of life takes over and your marriage begins to suffer. The immediate response: “He doesn’t really care!” If he cared, he would clean up after himself. If he cared he wouldn’t leave his dishes in the sink forcing me to come behind him and pick them up. If he cared, he would help out more with the kids. If he cared, he would know I need a break. If he cared, he would…..

Unfortunately, the statements are endless. If you have ever seen the movie Fireproof you would know that in the beginning their marriage is already crumbled and the effort and desire to try and make it work is gone. Someone has to step up to the plate and show that their marriage is worth fighting for. The husband in this case does so. He begins by doing something small for her everyday and while she doesn’t notice it or thinks he’s doing it to prove a point, he begins to get angry and wants to give up again. This is how marriage and relationships work IF you quit trying and focus on the negative. He continued to push through and take responsibility that loves isn’t doing something to get something back. This is something we all tend to agree on but when you continually are showing up every day with something small for your spouse and it goes unnoticed, I too would start to get upset.

So here we are, “fighting” for your marriage and all we can conclude at the end of the day is “he doesn’t really care.”

I read this the other day and thought it was a good reminder that should be shared with all. If you yourself are feeling that He doesn’t really care, keep reading!

“What if I said to you Jesus doesn’t care?? I bet your first response would be, “How could you even say something like that?”
It seems one of the biggest complaints we hear from spouses is that NO ONE cares!! I hear wives daily say,”no one in my family cares what I do for them.”
We sat across from a husband recently as he gently poured out his heart to us and said that he was certain that there w…as no way his wife cared what went on in his day..she just complained. He’d love to talk to her about “stuff”…but she was too busy pointing out what she did and he didn’t notice!Think of 5 things that your spouse did yesterday…just 5 things…went to work..changed a diaper..made dinner… I’m not going to think of them for you… You can do it.Now..do you have them..they don’t have to be big…those were 5 things you didn’t have to do…they may be things you’ve done or do..but yesterday your spouse did them! They did those 5 things because they care…Call them, text then, thank them, go home and hug them.You need to be reminded of something…Even when it seems our spouses don’t care..they DO! We need to tell each other that…Jesus wanted it that way! WHY?
Because HE cared! He wants us to have loving marriages! He cares about every detail!
Can you think of 5 things Jesus did to show us how very much He cared? I’ll help you with this one…
He left His comfortable home in heaven and came to earth as a man.
He died on a cross for our sins.
He chose YOU!
He called you by name!
He forgave us of every one of our sins..we just have to ask!
He cares very much!! He doesn’t care that we may have messed up..He wants us to take that to Him and let Him bury it…But Oh He cares!

Next time you think no-one cares….think about leaving your comfortable home..put on a thousand pound back-pack and try to imagine that you had some pretty serious injuries on your hands and feet, and take a walk around the block…Could you do it??

Remember how very much He cares..He gave you that perfect spouse you get to go home to today!!”
Mike and Laurie (Sunday School Teachers)

Gorgonzola Grilled Chicken

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 18 May, 2014 No comment

I decided since my husband was outside doing yard work and Cooper was playing in the dirt and watering flowers that I should learn to BBQ. I love this easy recipe and really wanted to grill the chicken as we have been in a heat wave lately that starting the oven was last on my ‘to do’ list.

I grilled two chicken breasts and three jalapeño sausages. This was a great way to learn how to grill. I got the chicken extremely moist and was so proud of myself. Cooper at chicken and sausage which made the night even better.

I have been making this recipe for years and have really enjoyed how refreshing it is but this was the first time I have made it will grilled chicken and to be honest, this was probably the best way. :)

Ingredients: