15 Fiesta Worthy Cinco de Mayo Recipes
I’m not really one for holidays, nor do I even know why Cinco de Mayo IS a holiday.
What I do know is this – I love Mexican food. It tends to be spicy, rice-y, and covered in cheese. You can take the same six ingredients and mash them up in different ways to kill boredom but not flavor. Any time beans, cheese, and avocado are involved you can be pretty sure I’ll be there. I wanted to round up a few of my favorite Mexican recipes for you. Whether you’re planning a Cinco de Mayo celebration or just looking to eat some good Mexican food, I’ve got you covered!
Homemade Taco Seasoning
How much processed food do you eat on a regular basis?
While I think I do a pretty good job filling my grocery cart with fresh fruits, vegetables, and other unprocessed ingredients, we’re still far from a totally unprocessed diet. Things like bread, cereal, mustard, and yogurt still make their way into our house via packaging. I can still make fairly healthy choices in packaged food, but I would love to be able to control every ingredient that goes into our bodies.
The Monday Menu 4/22/2012
Welcome to The Monday Menu! In an effort to beat the dinner blues this week I’m relying on some old favorites. I’m only trying one new thing (pesto chicken stuffed bread) and that’s still pretty close to some of our standbys. I figure I can get excited knowing I’m going to like what I’m serving up, plus none of them take too much effort to put together. Here’s the plan:
Monday – Skillet Lasagna with salad
Tuesday – Pesto Chicken Stuffed Bread with fresh fruit and salad
Wednesday – Penne alla Vodka with salad
Thursday – Veggie Burgers with oven roasted asparagus
Friday – Black Bean Patties with brown rice and salsa
What’s on your menu this week?
The Sunday Brunch Buffet 4/21/2013
10 Discontinued McDonald’s menu items. Blech. But I kind of want to try onion nuggets.
Spilled Milk is a new-to-me blog that really speaks to me with its beautiful pictures.
I love everything about banana bread protein bars!
You know box mix brownies are your favorite, but you can make them at home too.
I appreciate any and all help in finding my personal style. I totally agree with just spending some time seeing what other people are wearing!
I’m not sure how i feel about quinoa in my granola, but I do know I need to try a bite of this crunchy quinoa, toasted almond and dark chocolate brown butter granola, STAT.
My friend Gillian did an awesome four part series on cleaning green. I only wish I could clean as well as her! Check out parts 1, 2, 3, and 4.
Whole wheat chocolate chip cookie bars. Yes, please.
Here’s what I brought you this week:
White Cake with Buttercream Frosting – a simple name for the extraordinary cake I made for my son’s birthday. Delicious and naturally dyed, I couldn’t have been happier with it.
Lazy Lady Salmon Salad – a green salad full of healthy fats, perfect for the days you’ve had too many pieces of cake.
Lazy Lady Salmon Salad
Can I welcome you inside my crazybrain for a minute?
I’m afraid if I tell you how strange I am you may never come back. On the other hand, my quirks might make me interesting enough that day after day you’ll find yourself saying, “What’s that crazy girl up to now? I need to know!”
So here’s the thing – I don’t eat dressing on my salad. I try to eat salad at least a couple of times a week, usually as an accompaniment to round out a delicious pasta dish. I’ve never been a huge fan of dressings in general, usually opting for ranch or Italian. I did balsamic dressing for a long time, and still will once in a while. I think I stopped putting dressing on altogether when I was pregnant and dressing just didn’t taste right and made me gag. I’ve kept it up because, believe it or not, I like it dry! To be fair, I’m not eating it totally dry. I’ll usually combine it with a bite of pasta, pizza, or whatever I”m eating it with. Its kind of like ravioli flavored salad.
White Cake with Buttercream Frosting
Two years ago I gave birth to my big boy.
Casper was a full two pounds heavier than my first baby and when he came out he looked like he was already three months old. I really missed having a tiny baby to hold (turns out its exhausting to bounce another two pounds to sleep). In the two years since he has certainly had his ups and downs. Luckily I think he hit the terrible twos early and is really turning into a sweetheart now. I was so excited to celebrate his birthday on Saturday with cake and a small party for family. Turns out even small parties can be stressful, but it really was a lot of fun.
The Monday Menu 4/15/2013
Welcome to The Monday Menu! Can I have a week off from cooking? i feel like I’ve been grumbling about meal planning for several weeks now, and I apologize. If you’re committed to following me on this journey week by week you know there are ups and downs. Some weeks are exciting and easy to plan while others are pure drudgery. I’m in a place currently where food, cooking, and meal planning are just one more chore on the list. Luckily this week I found some great inspiration around the web on what I’d like to eat. Still, it took my husband and I half an hour just to begrudgingly come up with a restaurant to order lunch from today. I wasn’t even going to have to cook anything and it was still difficult to think about food. Hopefully things will turn around soon, but in the meantime here’s the plan for this week:
Monday – Penne alla Vecchia Bettola with salad
Tuesday – Crockpot Mexican Chicken with tortillas and fixin’s
Wednesday – Loaded Veggie Sandwich with fresh fruit
Thursday – Tortellini Soup with fresh bread
Friday – Black Bean and Potato Nachos
What’s on your menu this week?
The Sunday Brunch Buffet 4/14/2013
Ohhh my goodness. I want to dip these chocolate chip brioche pretzels in melted butter. And then die fat and happy.
The only thing more beautiful than Eva is her workspace!
Check back tomorrow and you’re sure to see this black bean and potato nacho plate on my menu this week.
Is genetically modified food safe? Yikes.
I need reminders like this.
Its also good to know I’m not alone, that some days are hard.
I probably need to make a high chair cover if I don’t plan on just letting my baby sit on the floor while I shove food into his mouth. He starts eating solids this week!
Can I turn broccoli cheddar potato skins into a meal? You’d better believe I’m going to try.
Here’s what I brought you this week:
Banana Bundt Cake with Vanilla Glaze – a sweetly scented cake that reminds me of donuts!
Pecan Pie Larabars – a healthy snack that will satisfy your stomach and your sweet tooth.
Pecan Pie Larabar
One thing I miss about being pregnant (yes there might only be one thing) is needing to have a snack all the time. Like, all the time.
I would have to keep trail mix in my purse and energy bars next to the bed because three meals a day didn’t cut it. There also needed to be about three snacks a day. For someone who loves to cook and eat this is a real treat because you get to try all sorts of different foods every single day. Now that I’m not pregnant the hunger has gone way (way) down and its important to be in tune to that in order to maintain a healthy weight.
While I don’t need three snacks a day anymore, there is that long stretch between lunch and supper where I’m dealing with screaming kids and trying to cook and I get hungry like twenty minutes before supper is ready. I find that a small healthy snack mid-afternoon helps keep that hunger at bay. One of my absolute favorites are these cashew cookie larabars. I’m super excited to be sharing another flavor with you today for pecan pie larabars!
Banana Bundt Cake with Vanilla Glaze
Whenever my daughter sees a bundt cake her eyes go big and she says, “Ooo, that’s a BIG donut!” In this case? She’s not wrong.
I spent a long time eating cake, trying to find the right words to describe the taste to you. Obviously its good (sooo good), it tastes like bananas, and carries a faint air of vanilla. But really? Deep down? I think this cake tastes like a donut. A giant, banana-y, glazed cake donut. I love the slight nuttiness that a little whole what flour can bring in and the yogurt keeps it moist without getting sticky as it sits for a few days.
