Fab Foodie Mama

We have had a long, seemingly never ending Winter this year.  It just hung on and did not want to let us go.  Today however, we can say that Spring is here to stay - we saw 62 with blue sky abounding.  There were a few predictions of a Wintry mix on Friday, but nothing came to be.  It was sunny all weekend and it is still 48 degrees now, Sunday evening at 8:30 PM. I had a busy weekend; cleaned some closets, loaded up bags of clothing for charity, gave my laundry room a good Spring cleaning and assorted other chores that I had been putting off. It was also my nephew's 3rd birthday so I went to my brother's house for a little party.  He is a hoot and a cutie.  He was rushing through the pizza and cake to get to the presents! Ron and Will have been in Chicago all weekend for the first Guts Frisbee tournament of the season; the Illinois Indoor.  They play on Team Shottle Bop; our party store being the sponsor.  And guess what?  THEY WON IT!  I watched the final match on a li

I absolutely love Indian food, but here, in the Copper Country,  we have no Indian restaurants and to cook it is both an art and a science. My brother John's girlfriend, Meena is from Chennai, and last fall she cooked the entire family an Indian feast.  She made Chicken Biryani, Daal Mkhani (black lentils in tomato cream sauce), Chicken Tikka Masala (the Indian dish all Americans know), Paneer Tikka Masala, Naan, Basamati Rice and Mango Lassi.  I t was like a dream come true and so very delicious.  She did a fabulous job and cooked for about 20 people.     From time to time, I make an attempt at preparing Indian food, either from package sauces or by following a recipe.  I have made butter chicken, chicken curry and a few other things with limited success.  Tonight, I was looking for a recipe to use up a head of cauliflower I had to use within the next 1-2 days, so I searched on Pinterest and found this.  It was simple to make and the spices worked so well! R oast

I made my second Hello Fresh meal this morning for breakfast......yellow squash flatbread.  The assortment of ingredients and spices made this usually plain dish, quite nice.  The only thing I'd change is to really reduce or even remove the red pepper flakes - too overpowering in my opinion. Another recommendation from Foodie Mama for Hello Fresh. Here is the recipe.  Simple and quick. Yellow Squash Flatbread Ingredients: 1 Yellow Squash 2 Scallions 1 Lemon 4 oz Grape Tomatoes 1/2 Fresh Basil 1 oz Pine Nuts 2 Flatbreads 4 oz Fresh Mozzarella 3 oz Mixed Greens 1 t Chili Flakes 1/2 oz Honey Directions: 1 - Preheat and Prep - Wash and dry all produce.  Adjust rack to upper position and preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Halve the squash lengthwise, then slice into thin half-moons.  Trim, then thinly slice scallions.  Halve lemon.  Halve tomatoes lengthwise.  Pick basil leaves from stems; discard stems. 2 - Toast Pine Nuts -  Heat a large pan over medium h

I have decided to give the delivery box meal a try.  Today I received my first delivery from Hello Fresh.  I selected the Veggie plan to see if I can continue to go as meatless as possible.  Three complete meals for two had arrived and I decided to start with the Grilled Cheese and Veggie Jumble. This was a fab dish; the flavors of the cumin and chili in the cilantro chimichurri, along with the saltiness of the fried cheese and finally the warmth of the sweet potatoes and creaminess of the avocado, my moth was very happy. This took about 40 mins from start to finish.  The directions were very simple to follow; not an overwhelming number of ingredients either.  Mickayla and I had this for lunch today with plenty left over for a snack later. My first meal was definitely a success and something you can certainly make at home.  Here is the recipe for my foodie followers. Foodie Mama's Version of the Grilled Cheese and Veggie Jumble from Hello Fresh! Hello Fresh Grilled Ch

We went to the Miscowaubik Club for brunch today, which was fabulous as usual.  It is so hard to stick to the diet when there is all the delicious breakfast foods such as potatoes O'Brien, beef tenderloin, mocha cheesecake, pecan pie and pasta with sun dried tomatoes.  I had a substantial green salad first and then just a 'bite' of everything.  In any case, I was not hungry until later in the evening. I had bought tomatillos the other day with the intent of making some salsa verde, but since they were starting to get a bit soft, and I had not made salsa, I made fried green tomatillos for my late dinner. Fried Green Tomatillos Ingredients: 4 tomatillos, husks removed and cut into slices about 1/2 in thick. 1/4 C cornmeal OR flour 1 egg, beten 1/4 t garlic salt 1/4 t pepper 1/4 t Kosher salt 1 T Olive oil Directions: Heat the Olive oil over Med High Heat. Put the cornmeal (or flour) in a shallow bowl and add the garlic powder, salt and pepper.  Com

I tried a gadget today that I hadn't used before - the veggie noodle spiral-er.  Mickayla brought it over to our house last summer and I saw her make zoodles and squoodles from time to time, but I hadn't tried it myself.  I do recall moving it out of the way several times, however. So, today I made soem zucchini noodles with pesto and it was great!  No carbs yet the texture tricked me into believing it was full-carb spaghetti.  Definately something I will do again and woudl recommend getting one of these. I heated them slightly after 'making' - about 30 seconds in the microwave - and then simply tossed in about 2T olive oil and some organic grape tomatoes.  Here is a foto of the finished product and the required gadget. Zoodles, Pesto and Grape Tomatoes Spiral Veggie Noodler

My daughter Rachel invited me over to her apartment for dinner last evening.  She lives in one of our apartment buildings and also is the manager of our party store, the Shottle Bop. Rachel has become a good chef in her own right.  She has a very good knack for whipping things up with or without a recipe.  She has also been into the Food Box frenzy that is all the rage now.  The concept is great:  all the meals come to you, all fresh, with all ingredients included.  The downside, for me at least, is that it is hard to know when I will be able to make a meal in the evenings given my schedule, and also the fact that Ron and Will are terribly picky eaters.  I think I may be ready to give it a go, however.  Rachel gets the meal for two plan so she eats it twice or has a friend (or her mama) over for dinner. She made Beef Wellington from her box from 'Plated'.  Although I have been trying to eat meatless, I had to try it; beef wellington is one of my favorite special dishes.  I