dinner

Family Recipe: Fruit Salad

Abby H.1 Comment

The other day I was chatting online with a group of friends and I mentioned making fruit salad. One of my younger friends asked, “Can you send me the recipe for that?”

I’ve never really thought about writing a recipe for fruit salad, since I’ve been making it since I was a kid. It was always a staple at family dinners with my maternal grandparents. My Grandma was known to make a literal punchbowl of fruit salad for parties.

This recipe does not make a punchbowl full.  The nice thing about fruit salad is that you can put any kind of fruit into it, and if you don’t eat it all in one meal, it keeps in the fridge for a few days.

I change it up based on what comes in our CSA box each week, and based on which fruits are in season.

Grammie’s Fruit Salad

Ingredients:

  • 2 Apples (any kind but red delicious, those are awful)
  • 2 oranges
  • 2 bananas (not overly ripe or they fall to mush)
  • 3 cups berries, your choice (I recommend 2/1 ratio, sliced strawberries and blueberries)
  • 1 ripe pineapple, cored and skinned. You can also use a can of pineapple tidbits in juice (juice drained off and fed to a kid) if fresh pineapple isn’t available.

Optional, but tasty when in season:

  • 1 cup fresh peaches, skin removed
  • 2 kiwis sliced, skin removed
  • 1 mango, peeled and removed from the pit/core

Note: I don’t like melon in my fruit salad. If you do, add 1-2 cups of your favorite melon (Cantaloupe or Honey Dew hold up well in a fruit salad).

Directions:

  1. Clean, Chop/slice all of your fruit (not needed for blueberries). I try to make each kind of fruit bite-sized, but a different shape. That way it makes for a nice presentation.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the fruit. If you omit the oranges, add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice and toss the fruit to coat. This keeps the apples from browning.
  3. Serve fruit salad cold as a side dish for any meal. If you like it spicy, serve it with Tajin on the side.
  4. Store any leftovers in the fridge for up to 3 days in a covered container.

Talk Back: What are your favorite fruits to include in Fruit Salad? 

Roasting Veggies: Simple and Tasty!

Abby H.1 Comment

Over the past six months, I’ve been trying to get us to eat more veggies. But honestly, you can only eat so much mixed green salads and steamed broccoli. My prior attempts at oven roasted veggies were basically a hot pile of steamed veggies that lacked any of the qualities of oven roasted veggies I knew- none of them were sweet, with crispy edges, tender but not soggy. Thankfully with our CSA box coming straight to our door weekly, were getting tons of tasty new veg to try!

I did some reading in a few cookbooks, websites, and asked some of my friends who are chefs/professional cooks. The secret to perfect oven roasted veg? Space. Room. The veggies need space for the heat of the oven to circulate and heat them evenly.

Second tip: place the pans in the oven and allow them to pre-heat. Once the oven has pre-heated, pull your pan(s) out and place your veggies on the pans, then back in the oven.

Third tip: Half way through roasting, turn over/flip your veggies to ensure they are getting equal roasting time in that hot pan. I say pan, but I use a baking sheet lined in foil, like this one.

It’s all about high temp and short cooking time- 450 degrees! Your veggies will be done in less than 45 minutes and you’ll be feasting away! And anyone can make roasted veggies- as long as you have the following:

  • Cooking pans (like these)
  • Aluminum Foil (I like it because it makes clean up easy)
  • 1-2 lbs of your favorite vegetables, chopped up into evenly sized pieces (the secret to having them come out perfect)
  • 3 Tablespoons oil (I like canola, avocado, or grapeseed)
  • 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon (or more, depending on how seasoned you like your veg) fresh cracked pepper

With the CSA boxes we’ve been receiving weekly, making roasted veggies is a snap. Here are cooking times for a few in season veggies. These times presuppose that you have cleaned/peeled as needed, and cut them into 1-inch pieces as needed. Cooking time is for 1 lb.

  • Beets: 20-25 minutes
  • Carrots: 20-25 minutes
  • Brussels Sprouts (Cut off the bottom, and cut in half): 15-20 minutes
  • Onions (I usually quarter and slice them): 15-20 minutes
  • Garlic (peel each clove- if they are large, cut in half) 15-20 minutes
  • Green Beans: 15-20 minutes
  • Potatoes/sweet potatoes: 20-30 minutes
  • Zucchini/summer squash: 15-20 minutes
  • Bell Peppers: 15-20 minutes
  • Asparagus: 10-15 minutes
Brussels Sprouts and Purple Onions

If you’ve got something that isn’t on this list that you want to roast, I suggest starting with 10 minutes at 450 degrees, then flip the veggies over and see how they are doing. If they are brown and caramelized on one side, give it another 10 minutes for the other side to cook, then test for doneness with a fork. If they need longer, give them another 5 minutes and test again.

3/14/2021 Weekly Meal Plan

Abby H.
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Our third CSA Box is being delivered tomorrow, and I know that we’ll have all sorts of tasty fruits and veggies to add to our meals this week. To learn more about Yasukochi Family Farms and our first box, click here. A lot of our meals this week are going to be veggie-heavy. We eat a lot of produce anyway, but now we’re eating more local produce! I’m going to try and get a batch of cookies made later in the week, or possibly over next weekend.

I visited the grocery store on Saturday morning when I went to get the last few ingredients for the big kids birthday cake. There are pictures of it on Instagram. We are pretty stocked up for the week, and possibly into next week, depending on how much milk and butter we demolish.

For those of you that are new to meal planning, I’ve got an easy 101 style post here with super easy tips and steps. After you get that down, here is info about batch or freezer cooking.

I’ve gotten a pretty good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge done (I try to update it after every shopping trip), so I’m able to plan meals and use up what we’ve got with little waste. If you are looking for a kitchen inventory printable, I like the kitchen inventories here. They are great printables.

I only post our dinner plans for the week, because our other meals are usually the same each day.

Breakfast: Coffee with 1/2 and 1/2  for me, and pancakes or something along those lines for the kids.  The kids are nuts about pancakes. The Big Kid has been on a protein shake kick in the AM.

Lunch: The little kiddo and I usually have something quick and filling (I’ve been prepping bean and rice bowls on Sundays for us to have during week) so we can get back to our adventures.  Big kid takes his lunch to school.

Dinner: Usually, I do a crockpot meal on Mondays, but now that we are home all the time, we’ve been having an odd combination of fully home-cooked, scratch meals, and frozen entrees and veggies. I have been posting our meal plans on Instagram too- As well as pics of stuff we are doing to keep busy.

  • Sunday: Chicken Chili, Salad, Roasted Veg
  • Monday: Salad, Nuggets, chips
  • Tuesday:  Ravioli/pasta (I’m not sure which yet) with sauce, Garlic Flatbread, Salad/Fruit
  • Wednesday: Breakfast for dinner: Pancakes, yogurt, fruit
  • Thursday: Chicken Tetrazzini, roasted broccoli, rolls
  • Friday:  Pizza Night!
  • Saturday: Leftover Fiesta

Talk Back: What are you cooking for dinner this week?

3/8/2021 Weekly Meal Plan!

Abby H.

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Our second CSA Box is being delivered today! To learn more about Yasukochi Family Farms and our first box, click here. A lot of our meals this week are going to be veggie-heavy. We eat a lot of produce anyway, but now we’re eating more local produce!

I hit up the grocery store over the weekend for some much-needed bread, milk, and butter. I’m waiting for the grocery ads to come out for this week to see if I can find some deals on chicken or beef. I really would like to make a meatloaf to have for lunch this week (and meatloaf sandwiches for another lunch).

For those of you that are new to meal planning, I’ve got an easy 101 style post here with super easy tips and steps. After you get that down, here is info about batch or freezer cooking.

I’ve gotten a pretty good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge done (I try to update it after every shopping trip), so I’m able to plan meals and use up what we’ve got with little waste. If you are looking for a kitchen inventory printable, I like the kitchen inventories here. They are great printables.

I only post our dinner plans for the week, because our other meals are usually the same each day.

Breakfast: Coffee with 1/2 and 1/2  for me, and pancakes or something along those lines for the kids.  The kids are nuts about pancakes. The Big Kid has been on a protein shake kick in the AM.

Lunch: The little kiddo and I usually have something quick and filling (I’ve been prepping bean and rice bowls on Sundays for us to have during week) so we can get back to our adventures.  Big kid takes his lunch to school.

Dinner: Usually, I do a crockpot meal on Mondays, but now that we are home all the time, we’ve been having an odd combination of fully home-cooked, scratch meals, and frozen entrees and veggies. I have been posting our meal plans on Instagram too- As well as pics of stuff we are doing to keep busy.

  • Sunday: Badas Burgers (it’s an amazing food truck that’s taken up residence across the street from our house- so dangerous!)
  • Monday: Salad, Nuggets, fries
  • Tuesday:  Entrees & Fruit Salad
  • Wednesday: Breakfast for dinner: Pancakes, Eggs (scrambled with veggies and cheese), fruit
  • Thursday: Skillet casserole, roasted veggies
  • Friday:  Pizza Night!
  • Saturday: Leftover Fiesta

Please stay safe you guys! The sooner we flatten the curve, the sooner life can go back to normal- whatever that means.

Talk Back: What are you cooking for dinner this week?

3/1/2021 Weekly Meal Plan

Abby H.

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I’m up to my eyeballs in soup! Looking through the freezer to do the meal plan for this week, I discovered that I’ve got 3 different kinds of soup in the freezer.

So on Tuesday we’re having beans and rice OR soup to go with our quesadillas. The kids will probably pick the beans and rice.

I went to the grocery store on Friday for milk, eggs, cheese, and bread. We were still good on everything else. We’re almost out of meat in the freezer, but the meat sales aren’t too great during Lent. I’ll keep my eyes open, but we may be eating more meat free meals until after Easter. That’s part of shopping and meal planning around what is on sale, rolling with the punches, and eating what’s on sale and in season.

For those of you that are new to meal planning, I’ve got an easy 101 style post here with super easy tips and steps. After you get that down, here is info about batch or freezer cooking.

I’ve gotten a pretty good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge done (I try to update it after every shopping trip), so I’m able to plan meals and use up what we’ve got with little waste. If you are looking for a kitchen inventory printable, I like the kitchen inventories here. They are great printables.

I only post our dinner plans for the week, because our other meals are usually the same each day.

Breakfast: Coffee with 1/2 and 1/2  for me, and pancakes or something along those lines for the kids.  The kids are nuts about pancakes. The Big Kid has been on a protein shake kick in the AM.

Lunch: The little kiddo and I usually have something quick and filling (I’ve been prepping bean and rice bowls on Sundays for us to have during week) so we can get back to our adventures.  Big kid takes his lunch to school.

Dinner: Usually, I do a crockpot meal on Mondays, but now that we are home all the time, we’ve been having an odd combination of fully home-cooked, scratch meals, and frozen entrees and veggies. I have been posting our meal plans on Instagram too- As well as pics of stuff we are doing to keep busy.

  • Sunday:  Flavors of East Africa (we’re getting take out)
  • Monday: Salad, Black Bean Burgers on rolls
  • Tuesday:  Quesadillas, and beans and rice OR Soup
  • Wednesday: Nugget Night with veggies, fruit salad, and cheezits
  • Thursday: Quiche, toast, and fruit salad
  • Friday:  Pizza Night!
  • Saturday: Leftover Fiesta

Please stay safe you guys! The sooner we flatten the curve, the sooner life can go back to normal- whatever that means.

Talk Back: What are you cooking for dinner this week?

Ready to Eat Meals from Meal Prep Sunday San Diego!

Abby H.

Friends- This review is for those of you who have told me that you like the IDEA of meal planning/meal prep, but you lack the time, kitchen space, or energy to do it.

I’ve reviewed other Meal Prep companies before, but they aren’t local, so the food is frozen and delivered, and it’s… meh. Full of salt/sodium, bland, squishy textures, or just not satisfying. Hold onto your pants, because…

Meal Prep Sunday San Diego is 1000% different. They are located here in San Diego. The food is prepared here in town, delivered fresh in a custom insulated bag with an ice pack with reheating directions. And if you aren’t in San Diego? No Problem!
Delivery is available in all San Diego, Orange, LA, Riverside, and Imperial counties.

How is Meal Prep Sunday different (aka why is it so cool??):

1. Personalized Meal Prep: By Inputting your physical information, and fitness goal, we portion, and select the right source of ingredients.
2. They Shop for You: Never Frozen, fully organic produce, free-range chicken, and grass-fed beef all provided by our local suppliers
3. They Cook for You: Their team of culinary professionals develops fresh seasonal recipes for you to enjoy
4. Advanced Packing Technology: Their modified atmosphere packaging system naturally keeps your meals fresh for up to 7 days
5. Free Delivery Every Sunday: Every Sunday 3-6 pm you will receive your meals in their custom insulated bag with an ice pack
6. Weekly Rotating Menu: They change your menu every week so you can have a variety of new meals week by week
7. 90 Days Workout Plan: They provide weight and cardiovascular training plans synced with your menu and fitness goals, included with your package
8. Save Time, Money: Save up to 10 hours, and $60+ per week, by removing shopping, cooking, cleaning, thus increasing your productivity

Meal Prep Sunday delivered 6 meals to me last week. You’ve probably seen pictures on Instagram.

Steak, Salmon, and Chicken. Yum. Not shown, but gobbled up quickly: An amazing omelet with andouille sausage, veggies, cheese, turkey bolognese with pasta, and a southwestern chicken dish with pulled chicken and southwestern veggies and black beans.

Everything was flavorful, tasty, and easy to re-heat.

One of the things I like about Meal Prep San Diego is that when you sign up, they ask for your age, weight, height, gender, fitness level (how much you are active per week), and what plan you want (build lean muscle, burn fat, balanced, or senior). Meal Prep Sunday San Diego uses these answers to generate a plan that is as unique as you.

They have three plans available.

For restaurant-quality, organic food that is ready to eat in 5 minutes or less and delivered straight to your door, that’s a great price.

The meals change weekly. For those of you who live alone, or if you are finding that you are eating out/getting delivery frequently, a meal delivery service once a week is a great way to save money and eat better.

A steak, mashed yukon potatoes, and green beans is a lot healthier than a burger and fries! not to mention more filling, and cheaper than a trip through the drive-thru.

Meal Prep Sunday San Diego delivered 6 meals to me to facilitate my review. I received no financial compensation. For more information, please see my disclosure page.

2/21/2021 Weekly Meal Plan

Abby H.

0a5e9dab796cea8a07eabe4eb4795b9e.jpgThis week is going to be a lot calmer/slower than the past few weeks. We are down to our usual weekly appointments only. Thank goodness, I don’t think I could handle a third marathon week.

I cleaned out/rearranged the freezer, fridge, and cupboard this weekend. I found a lot of great stuff I had forgotten about. I did the quarterly trip to Costco yesterday and grabbed a few things beyond our usual stock up of household goods (trashbags, laundry soap, dishwasher tabs, etc.). I grabbed a rotisserie chicken (good for at least three meals) and some fruit to get us through the week. If you need ideas for what to do with rotisserie chicken, there are ideas here, here, and here.

For those of you that are new to meal planning, I’ve got an easy 101 style post here with super easy tips and steps. After you get that down, here is info about batch or freezer cooking.

I’ve gotten a pretty good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge done (I try to update it after every shopping trip), so I’m able to plan meals and use up what we’ve got with little waste. If you are looking for a kitchen inventory printable, I like the kitchen inventories here. They are great printables.

I only post our dinner plans for the week, because our other meals are usually the same each day.

Breakfast: Coffee with 1/2 and 1/2  for me, and pancakes or something along those lines for the kids.  The kids are nuts about pancakes. The Big Kid has been on a protein shake kick in the AM.

Lunch: The little kiddo and I usually have something quick and filling (I’ve been prepping bean and rice bowls on Sundays for us to have during week) so we can get back to our adventures.  Big kid takes his lunch to school. He’s been digging on Bear naked protein granola in his lunch lately. It’s his new favorite.

Dinner: Usually, I do a crockpot meal on Mondays, but now that we are home all the time, we’ve been having an odd combination of fully home-cooked, scratch meals, and frozen entrees and veggies. I have been posting our meal plans on Instagram too- As well as pics of stuff we are doing to keep busy.

  • Sunday:  Rotisserie Chicken, Salad, & Roasted Veg
  • Monday: Hashbrowns, eggs, Banana Bread, fruit
  • Tuesday:  Dream Dinners Entree (our last one), Roast Veg
  • Wednesday: Nugget Night with veggies, apple slices, and cheezits
  • Thursday: Crockpot Meal
  • Friday:  Pizza Night!
  • Saturday: Leftover Fiesta

Please stay safe you guys! The sooner we flatten the curve, the sooner life can go back to normal- whatever that means.

Talk Back: What are you cooking for dinner this week?

Frugal Recipe: Beef Machacas (Slowcooker recipe)

Abby H.1 Comment

Look at the delicious marbling!

This is an easy recipe, and it is divine! You may already have most of the ingredients in your kitchen too!

It’s pretty flexible when it comes to the meat- You want a good roast with some marbling. Chuck Roast, Tri-tip, Round Roast, Rump Roast are all good options. This recipe cooks low and slow all day. Break out your slow cooker my friends!

Let’s dive into this beefy, delicious recipe!

Machacas

Imgredients

Directions

  1. In a heavy-bottomed cast-iron skillet or dutch oven, heat canola oil, add beef, and sear each side for 5-8 minutes. You want a nice brown crust on each side. If the piece is large, cut it in pieces to fit into your slow cooker.
  2. As the meat is searing, in your slow cooker pour frozen vegetables.
  3. In a mixing bowl, mix tomato sauce, salsa, and spices.
  4. Place the meat in the slow cooker, and pour water into the pan that browned meat. Stir and scrape off any browned/burned bits off the bottom of the pan. Pour that water into the sauce bowl and mix thoroughly.
  5. Pour sauce over meat and cook on low in the slow cooker for 10+hours.
  6. Pull meat out, and shred with two forks. Return to the slow cooker, and keep simmering on low until the sides are ready to eat.

I serve this meat with beans, rice, tortillas, Corn and Avocado Salsa, and a green salad. It keeps well in the fridge for a few days, and you can freeze it as well. It’s also excellent in the morning with eggs in a breakfast burrito.

2/15/2021 Weekly Meal Plan

Abby H.

0a5e9dab796cea8a07eabe4eb4795b9e.jpgToday is a national holiday here in the US (President’s Day), so no school for the kiddos, but that doesn’t mean that I get any reprieve in the action.

I did a little shopping yesterday (we ran out of milk, ohs noes!). But it was a pretty small shop. Once again, we’re eating a lot from our pantry and freezer. I scored some great produce last week and we’ll be eating that for most of our salads.

I did some meal prep over the weekend, including making up beans and rice for lunches (and Sunday’s Dinner), and I made a HUGE batch of Machacas yesterday- half of it went onto the freezer for another meal in a few weeks.

For those of you that are new to meal planning, I’ve got an easy 101 style post here with super easy tips and steps. After you get that down, here is info about batch or freezer cooking.

I’ve gotten a pretty good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge done (I try to update it after every shopping trip), so I’m able to plan meals and use up what we’ve got with little waste. If you are looking for a kitchen inventory printable, I like the kitchen inventories here. They are great printables.

I only post our dinner plans for the week, because our other meals are usually the same each day.

Breakfast: Coffee with 1/2 and 1/2  for me, and pancakes or something along those lines for the kids.  The kids are nuts about pancakes. The Big Kid has been on a protein shake kick in the AM.

Lunch: The little kiddo and I usually have something quick and filling (I’ve been prepping bean and rice bowls on Sundays for us to have during week) so we can get back to our adventures.  Big kid takes his lunch to school. He’s been digging on Bear naked protein granola in his lunch lately. It’s his new favorite.

Dinner: Usually, I do a crockpot meal on Mondays, but now that we are home all the time, we’ve been having an odd combination of fully home-cooked, scratch meals, and frozen entrees and veggies. I have been posting our meal plans on Instagram too- As well as pics of stuff we are doing to keep busy.

  • Sunday:  Beef Machacas, Beans, Rice and Salad
  • Monday: Black Bean Burgers, Chick’n Nuggets, Cauli Fries, salad
  • Tuesday:  Dream Dinners Entree, Salad (green or fruit)
  • Wednesday: Protein shakes, Meal of Snacks or leftovers
  • Thursday: Soup, Grilled Cheese sammiches, fruit
  • Friday:  Pizza Night!
  • Saturday: Leftover Fiesta

Please stay safe you guys! The sooner we flatten the curve, the sooner life can go back to normal- whatever that means.

Talk Back: What are you cooking for dinner this week?

Rare $15/$100+ Coupon at Sprouts (ends today)!

Abby H.

I love Sprouts! We grew up shopping for produce there, and as an adult, I love shopping there too. I discovered this coupon buried in my email, and it expires today!

This coupon is perfect if you are primarily a Sprouts shopper, or if you want to stock up on some of the goodness that Sprouts sells. I love that you can use other coupons too (either paper coupons, or in-app coupons from the Sprouts app). And to sweeten the deal, you can use cashback apps too- that saves you money after the fact.

However you use this coupon- It’s a rare deal!