Month: June 2015

Turkey 5 ways

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Last night I cut up a raw 22 lb turkey so I could get 5 meals out of it plus made broth to stock up on from this turkey this week. Even though the turkey cost $24, it is very economical to cut it up and basically use every bit you can.

Last night I diced up one of the breasts and made Chinese Orange Turkey with Fried Rice.

Chinese Orange TurkeyThen I took the caucus and placed it into a stock pot with a bunch of veggies and made turkey broth. Had it on the stove all night and then my husband turned the pot off this morning before he headed off to work. I canned all the broth, removed all the bones and veggies and had 2.5 lbs of shredded turkey left over to make Turkey Salad for sandwiches. However, for lunch I stuffed an avocado instead and it was YUMMO! Recipes will be coming out later this week!

Turkey Salad stuffed in an avocado

Homemade Ranch Flavored Tortilla Chips

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Ranch Flavored Tortilla ChipSince my kids have been out of school I have been trying to make lunch time fun and not so monotonous! Today I decided I was gonna try my hand at making warm panini style pb&j sandwiches with a side of copycat style Cool Ranch Doritos©.

The seasoning mix is quite easy to throw together once you have your tortillas cut and fried.

And with this recipe you can control the use ingredients by using natural ingredients that don’t contain chemicals or have MSG in them.

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Homemade Fried Tortilla Chips

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Fried Tortilla Chip

I love making homemade tortilla chips — it reminds me of the authentic Mexican Restaurants I love to frequent. And they are really simple and quick to make. They go wonderfully with Guacamole or salsa or just to be eaten plain all by themselves.

Homemade Fried Tortilla Chips

Ingredients

  • Olive oil, for frying
  • 10 fresh corn tortillas
  • Salt, to taste

Directions

Heat 1-inch of oil in a large frying pan or cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. If your oil is smoking you have the heat up too high.

Arrange the tortillas in a stack and cut into 4 equal wedges. Fry a batch of chips at a time, not to crowd pan, turning occasionally with tongs, until crisp and lightly browned, about 1 minute or less. Drain chips on a paper towel-lined plate; sprinkle lightly with salt and store in an airtight container.

Honey Butter

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My family loves honey butter, what can I say?

Honey butter is one of those sweet and salty delights that pairs very well with cornbread, bagels or even toast.

Tonight was a stew kind of night, and what goes well with stew is cornbread. And of course I had to make honey butter to go with the cornbread as stated above. 😀

Honey Butter Continue reading →

Polynesian barbecue cubed turkey topped with coleslaw

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On our way home from the beach on Friday we stopped at this trendy restaurant in Santa Clara called World Wrapps. While we can’t eat the wraps/burritos, I can have them make a wrap into a rice bowl instead. The kids and I had their Polynesian Pork Wrapp which was really tasty. It consisted of Pulled-Pork  served with Jasmine rice, a tropically inspired lemon slaw, and a Pineapple BBQ sauce. Now who wouldn’t think this was wonderful?

Today I decided I was going to try my hand at this dish with some leftover barbequed Turkey instead.

I took a can of pineapple tidbits and tossed them into the food processor with a cup of Kinder’s Mild BBQ Sauce to create my base sauce. I then cooked up some white rice and made a batch of coleslaw.

The sweet barbecue sauce with the flavors of the coleslaw go well together with the meal. It may not look like all that, but the flavors are spectacular together well you take each bite.

Polynesian barbecue cubed turkey with coleslaw Continue reading →

OtterBox is the best way to go to protect your Cell Phone or iPad

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Back in January I brought my iPad to the Dentist office. Yeah, not for a check up, but to keep my youngest occupied since it was his first Dentist visit.

As the receptionist called our names and we were walking towards the hygienist, my son dropped my iPad (by accident) on to the tile floor. I instantly heard the glass break. I think my heart stopped for a second and I most likely gasped. As I picked the iPad up off the floor I instantly saw that the screen was shattered. I touched it to see how bad the shattering was and unfortunately cut my finger.

Shattered iPad Screen
Since, the hygienist didn’t offer me a bandaid, I had to sit there in the dental chair while they cleaned my teeth all the while with glass stuck in my bleeding finger. Wonderful, huh?

Anyhow, once I got home I fixed my finger, yet would take months to get my iPad fixed. I needed  the app on it to help my daughter to sell Girl Scout Cookies. The app was to keep track of her sales basically.

So I placed the iPad into a gallon sized ziploc bag and used it as normal. Unfortunately, a cracked was across the lens area so I was unable to use the camera. Eh, no big deal.

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Beach, sand and sun at its finest…

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Seacliff Beach

So yesterday my husband, kids and I trekked many hours across the the sierra mountains to the shining sea. It was around a good 5.5 hours to get to the beach.

My kids and myself love the beach, sand and the wonderful sea air and try to get to the beach once or twice a year if our schedule permits. But in all reality I try very hard to schedule a vacation months in advance.

Nevertheless, we are here having a fabulous time for a few days. However, I am tired and the sea air seems to make it seem more so to where I just want to lay down for a nap soothed by the thunder of the waves.

We arrived in Aptos, California around 2:30pm. The kids were instantly playing down on the beach. They took a break for dinner and then were back on the beach again until night fell.

Seacliff Beach

The moon came out and was a day shy of being a full moon. It was a spectacular site shining over the Cement Boat the SS Palo Alto.

Sea cliff Beach with Moon

The next day was gorgeous. The sun was shining and everyone was having a wonderful day.

Seacliff Beach

We rode bikes to the Cement Boat and took a look inside the Visitor’s Center.

Sea cliff Beach's Cement Boat

I have been coming to this beach since I was a child and love that I can bring my children here. It is one of my favorite places and am very lucky that we are spending our vacation here with my parents and generous Aunt JoAnne.