Taco Salad

Posted on March 17, 2010 by Momzoo

The first salad in my Sensational Salad series

comes from

Kimberlynn at Autumn Living

My family loved, loved, loved this recipe. I have made Taco Salad many times before, however I had never cooked the meat this way, and the meat is what makes this dinner salad special.

Here is our cast of characters

(minus the hamburger, which was on the stove at this point)

1-2 pounds Hamburger

2 can Kidney Beans drained (I used back bean)

1 can Stewed Tomatoes drained

1 Tbsp Chili powder

1 tsp Cumin

1/2 tsp Chipotle Chili Powder

1/2 cup Water

Salt and Pepper to taste

4 cups cooled Rice, white or brown

Romain Lettuce

Cherry Tomatoes

1 Small Onion chopped (I used green onions)

Shredded Mexican Cheese

Sour Cream

Salsa

Tortilla Chips

First brown the hamburger and drain the grease. Then you add the Stewed Tomatoes, Beans, Spices and water. Stir it all together and let simmer until it thickens.

While the sauce is thickening, prepare the other ingredients.

When the meat is ready, all that is left to do is assemble your Taco Salad.

This salad is very simple and very good. It seems like everyone has their own version of Taco Salad and I have to say I like this one the best out of all those that I have tried. Also, when I was cooking the meat it occurred to me that it would be very easy to cook up a double batch to either freeze or use for lunches.

My family devoured this salad and Dadzoo commented more than once about how good the meat was!

Thanks Kimberlynn for sharing this, oh so yummy recipe!

Enjoy!

Grapefruit Goodness

Posted on January 20, 2010 by Momzoo

I wanted to share with all of you my most favorite way to eat a grapefruit.

I am not a huge grapefruit fan,

I really never ate them, until I started to buy grapefruit for Dadzoo who is trying to eat more fruits. Then I discovered this little method and now I am hooked.

I love it!

First I peel the grapefruit, just like I would an orange.

Then using a sharp knife I cut out the sections.

Aren’t they so pretty sitting there in a bowl.

Then I sprinkle dehydrated coconut flakes over the top. Using the coconut gives it just a little bit of a coconut flavor and adds fat. Fat is good, in moderation. I add it for a couple of reasons, the fat keeps me satisfied all morning long and it also makes the fat soluble vitamins in the grapefruit available to me.

Then of coarse, a nice sprinkling of sugar.

This makes for a yummy satisfying, low calorie, nutrient dense snack or breakfast.

How do you eat grapefruit?

Two Week Menu

Posted on January 18, 2010 by Momzoo

On Friday I was asked to post my two week menu. I grocery shop twice a month, when Dadzoo get paid. I find that if I create a menu then a grocery list I limit the amount of between trips I make and we also save money.

I also find that knowing days ahead what I going to be for dinner makes life easier, especially when cooking from scratch. I was told once when I was a new mother and new wife that I should know what I am having for dinner by 10am that day. I remember thinking “10 am!”. However her advice was very wise and I have taken it a step further by knowing sometimes two weeks ahead. This works really well for me, I know if I need to put beans to soak the night before, or get a chicken out of the freezer, I don’t find myself wondering what to do at 5:00, it is all done and planned out.

Another thing, my menus are very simple. I like good old fashioned cooking, the kind of cooking my great-great grandmother would do. I also try to avoid processed foods in most forms. I have a few hold out recipes from before our big food change, but mostly it is pretty simple.

Ok here goes.

Monday January 18th Vegetable Soup with Rolls

Tuesday January 19th Roast Chicken, Wild Rice, Asparagus, Broccoli and French Bread
Wednesday January 20th Bean Taco Bake, Corn, Butternut Squash and Sweet Corn Bread
Thursday January 21st Chicken Noodle Soup with Rolls or Bread
Friday January 22nd Dinner with Friends, kids get leftovers
Saturday January 23rd Homemade Pizza
Sunday January 24th Tom and Kallie’s Birthday party, Salsa Chicken….(not all the way planned)

Monday January 25th Enchiladas (one of the old hold outs, I use canned sauce, anyone have a good recipe for red enchilada sauce) Peas, Broccoli and Corn Bread
Tuesday January 26th 3 Bean Soup with left over Corn Bread
Wednesday January 27th Spaghetti, Corn and French Bread
Thursday January 28th Sweet and Sour Chicken (another hold out, but it is my daughters birthday and her favorite dinner) Corn and Rolls
Friday January 29th Date Night….Tomato soup for the kids with my Dad’s homemade Cheese and crackers or bread
Saturday January 30th Grandma’s House
Sunday January 31th Roast, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Onions, Corn or Peas, Fried Cabbage, Rolls.

So there you go. It isn’t fancy or Martha Steward worthy, but it is good, simple and feeds my family well.

On a cold winter day

Posted on December 11, 2009 by Momzoo

For cold noses and toeses.

On cold days I like to make a special herbal tea to warm up my frozen little munchkins.

My kids call it Sweet Milk.

First I make a really weak chamomile tea, I boil water in a teapot and add two tea bags. While doing that I get my cups ready add a little less than a teaspoon of either honey or raw cane sugar.

One the tea is ready I fill the cups up about half way.

Then I fill the cup the rest of the way with milk.

(The big cup is for ME!)

This is the perfect way to warm up kiddos when they show up at my door like this.

You What? Butter?

Posted on November 5, 2009 by Momzoo

Yes, I do, make our butter.

I don’t make all of our butter, but for buttering toast, bread and veggies I make and use wonderful raw, grass fed butter. Not only is it yummy it is actually good for you! Imagine that!

(for more information go here: http://www.eatwild.com/healthbenefits.htm)

(this is my grandma’s old butter churn, I wish I knew where she got it from and if she used it!)

Over the last year I have been reading and researching alternative methods of eating and nutrition. It isn’t as much alternative as it is traditional, the kinds of food my great-great grandparents would have eaten. It is a far cry from the processed foods that are considered “health” foods. If it has a bunch of ingredients, or I can’t pronounce any ingredients or they have been “fortified” we have been slowly eliminating them from our diet.

One big change we have made is from drinking organic grain fed vitamin D fortified processed milk (homogenization and pasteurization is processing) to whole raw grass fed organic milk.

For more information you can go here:
http://www.westonaprice.org/splash_2.htm
http://www.realmilk.com/
http://www.raw-milk-facts.com/raw_milk_health_benefits.html

Because my milk isn’t homogenized the cream rises to the top of my milk jugs and I figured I could start making my own butter.

First I collect the cream from off the top of my milk. I don’t skim it all off, I want some of the butter fat in the milk so the fat soluble vitamins could actually work when we drank the milk. Once I had collected a couple of quarts it is butter making time! I let the cream sit for a couple of hours on the counter to warm up, then I pour it all into my churn.

Then we crank the handle and churn away, the kids really like to help with this.

The cream gets nice and frothy.

And in a little bit the butter fat will start to separate from the liquid.

Just a bit more churning and the butter fat collects into a nice big lump floating in the sweet butter milk.

Once the butter is out of the churn it need to be rinsed and rinsed in cold water until the water runs clear. I need to get all the butter milk out, so it won’t go bad sitting out. Isn’t it pretty and yellow, this yellow coloring is all the vitamin A concentrated in the butter fat. A lot of commercial butter will add a little coloring to give their butter the yellow color.

The color of grass fed butters change over the season. In the spring the butter can be almost orange from all the vitamins gleaned from fast growing spring grasses. In the winter it will be whiter, because the hay has less vitamin A in it.

After that, a little salt

I then pack it into little jars and put it in the freezer until needed. The jar that I am taking butter from stays in the fridge until it is needed, then I take it out for a couple of hours before hand to soften.

(I love these little squaty bottles)

The left over butter milk (it is sweet, very different from cultured buttermilk that we are all familiar with) is saved for use in recipes.

Is making butter this way cheaper than what I can buy at the grocery store? No, but the extra expense is worth it to me. We literally are what we eat, if we are eating overly processed foods with synthetic vitamins and minerals our body is not going to function very well. We will be chronically tired and suffer from degenerative illnesses. Our bodies have been eating natural whole foods for thousands of years, it has only been in the last 100 years or so that we have changed the foods we eat, even something as simple as milk and butter are completely different that what our ancestors ate long ago. It isn’t surprising to me that the incident of degenerative disease has gone through the roof in the last 50 years.