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Meatless Tex-Mex Bowls
While I am a carnivore at heart, I do love a good meatless meal. The American Heart Association’s recommendations with meat, poultry, and, eggs are 8-9 servings a week. If you are eating 3 square meals daily, then you have to go without meat or animal proteins for more than half of your meals to have a well-balanced diet. If you consume a breakfast burrito one morning that has both eggs and sausage, that is 2 servings of animal protein and you’ve already eaten 1/4 of your weekly recommended animal protein intake. The science behind this is that animal proteins tend to be higher in saturated fats, which is one…
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Oven Roasted Tropical Kabobs
I love kabobs, but I hate the tedious task of grilling them. Oven roasting kabobs gives the same smokey flavor, without the need to stand next to the grill. Kabobs are also a fun dinner for my boys. There is something about eating their food from a stick…corndogs, smores…that causes them to go nuts. There is a ton of flexibility with kabobs. Basically gather two or three of your favorite vegetables and fruits and a protein and you can create a kabob. One key tip is to soak your kabob sticks in water for a few hours beforehand if they are wooden sticks. This is for two reasons; the main…
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Chocolate Avocado Mousse
Avocados in chocolate mousse sound extremely odd to the typical individual. The thing with avocados is that their natural flavor is rather bland. They can morph into almost any flavor you add to them. Their texture is perfect for pudding or mousse. Avocados are very much a food that either you hate or you love. I have a close friend who loathes avocados and she ended up loving this chocolate mousse. Another friend said that this recipe tastes exactly like the chocolate mousse that is served at the Bellagio on The Strip. Either way, this chocolate mousse recipe has been a huge hit with every person I have had try…
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Mexican Corn Chowder
Right now, the weather has decided to warm up enough to feel like spring…but in the 8 years I’ve lived in Las Vegas, that is rather typical. Winter lasts for approximately a month, or what we natives (or transplanted natives-2 of my kids were born here) call winter. Then usually toward the end of January, we hit 50°F-60°F weather. It is glorious and at the same time depressing…knowing that just around the corner is triple-digit weather. Even though it is the perfect park-playing weather, we are still savoring every moment it is cool enough to consume soup. My kiddos especially love corn chowder, but this time I decided to put…
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Whole Wheat Bread+heart healthy
When my dad was a navigator in the Air Force (30+ years ago), his call-sign was Dough Boy. For the longest time, I thought it was due to his love of all things doughy…donuts, cinnamon rolls, bread, rolls. It was not until I was well into adulthood where I put 2-and-2 together and realized Dough was his name ‘Doug H’. Still, his love of all things doughy has been with him his whole life. After his heart attack and double bypass surgery a couple of years ago, life had to change. My mom began making this recipe to replace the regular white bread that they were used to. This recipe…
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Easy Corn Salad
I love having an arsenal of side dishes in my recipe rotation. While heating up frozen vegetables or chopping up fruit and throwing it into a bowl is easy and tasty, sometimes it is nice to have more. This particular side salad is perfect for a potluck, or BBQ, or to just gorge yourself on at home…it is THAT yummy! A tiny bit of spice, a lot of cheese, plenty of vegetables. What more could a girl ask for? This particular recipe is especially delicious in the summer months when you can easily get fresh corn on the cob, but using thawed out frozen corn still makes it a special…
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Creamy Chicken Mexican Chili
The weather has finally dropped below 90°F here in Las Vegas. The stores are full of Halloween costumes and decorations. Every coffee shop is offering all things pumpkin spice. All I can think about is soups and chilis. I LOVE soup! I LOVE chili…but I cannot bring myself to consume either when the weather is hot. SO…now that the temperature is ‘cool’ by Vegas standards, I am more than ready for soups and chilis. All summer, I thought about this particular recipe. Just like with my cinnamon roll recipe, I love finding variations to chili recipes. There are seemingly endless possibilities. BUT…while I am unlucky and have zero Hispanic genetic…
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Almond Joy Clusters
Sometimes I’m an amazing wife and I create a treat out of Matthew’s favorite candy bar. Other times I just buy him the candy bar. Over the weekend, I decided to be the amazing wife. Almond Joys…really anything with chocolate and coconut, are Matthew’s go-to when it comes to a sweet treat. He even loves to add coconut syrup to his Dr. Pepper. So when I was hurrying through the grocery store last Saturday to pick up last-minute items for dinner, and I ran right past a huge vat of raw almonds, inspiration struck. Isn’t it funny how inspiration just does that at the most unusual times? In my rush…
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Autumn Fruit Salsa
One of my favorite past-times is visiting my grandparent’s strawberry farm/orchard in Oregon and helping eat pick strawberries, cherries, apricots and all things yummy and sweet. For a long, while I refused to eat strawberries that had been washed, I would only eat dirty strawberries right off the bush. My love of fruit has been passed along to my children, so keeping it around long enough to actually do something with it, other than consuming it, is rather rare. BUT…every once in a while, I am able to throw together what I like to call fruit salsa. My favorite is the ripe fruit around this time of year, peaches, apricots,…
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Copy Cat Viva Chicken Stuffed Avocado
If you are a giant foodie like I am, then you too come across some truly amazing finds that you can’t easily obtain. Viva Chicken is one of those finds for me. There is only one…yes…ONE location on this side of the Rockies. Thankfully it is located in St. George, UT which happens to be about a 90-minute drive away. While I am not completely up a creek without a paddle, it is still rather unobtainable on a daily basis. If you have had the privilege of frequenting a Viva Chicken, then you know the amazing Peruvian Rotisserie Chicken flavor they exude. If you live on the Eastcoast, then please…
