Whirlwind

This year has been a whirlwind, with having my first child and working, sadly, my blog has taken a back seat (and a little bit of my cooking). I have cooked some fun, creative dishes and, of course, I forgot my camera in the diaper bag, or in the laundry basket, or next to my bed. You may have noticed my new blog name, I wanted to re-vamp my blog. I am hoping to take it the next level eventually. I just felt like this name was more me. I mean what is better than homemade béchamel or whipped cream?

But, I am getting better at keeping my head afloat now. My little girl is 11 months old, her 1st birthday party (expect a special blog featuring this celebration!) is around the corner. 

Lately, my time has consisted of playing with my daughter, work, and focused on moving (back to Colorado we go!) In the midst of that craziness, I've realized how important it is to take time for what I love. Cooking. There is something about taking a bunch of beautiful, random ingredients and conduct them in a symphony of flavor that produces something that makes you smile. One morning, it was that perfect temperature outside that I wanted to start my morning off with a cup off coffee on the front porch. Mind you this mellow morning lasted about 30 seconds, until my daughter wanted to play in the grass. But hey, I had 30 seconds... :) 

To give my plain 'ol coffee a little bit of fancy, I topped it with a whipped vanilla meringue. Added the perfect pop of sweetness, and just made me feel special. 

After my daughter made it pretty clear this was not a morning of relaxation, I decided to introduce her to pancakes for the first time. Since, she is still being introduced to a lot of foods I chose to kick out the sugar, add in goat's milk (what we've decided to transition her to once she turns one), and I had some mascarpone cheese in my fridge, along with some oranges that needed zesting. And voila! Halen's Pancakes. 

Halen's Pancakes

1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
2 eggs
2 cups goat milk (buttermilk or whole milk would work deliciously)
1 tsp vanilla 
zest from one orange
2 Tbsp butter
honey for serving
berries for serving

I started by combining the dry ingredients together. Then I whisked the vanilla, milk and orange zest into the eggs. Then I combined wet and dry ingredients together, I added the butter, being careful not to over mix. Let the batter sit for a few minutes. I got my skillet hot, placed a bit of butter and then I made silver dollar size pancakes for Halen using a tablespoon. For my husband and I, I used a 1/3 measuring cup. 

Once the pancakes are done, I drizzled the adult pancakes with honey and placed a few blueberries and strawberries on top. For Halen's I placed them on her tray along with the berries. Needless to say, she approved! 

My friend's birthday was this past weekend, and with the rising heat I decided a regular cake just wouldn't do. I had seen these watermelon faux cakes on Pinterest and decided to give it a go. I bought a small watermelon, sliced almonds and fruit all from Trader Joes to make this springtime gem. 

Dana's Watermelon "Cake"
one small watermelon
2 kiwis
a handful of raspberries
1 cup sliced almonds
Homemade Whipped Cream 

I sliced the watermelon to model the shape of a small cake, making sure the top and bottom were flat. Then I made my whipped cream. I iced the cake and used my hands to stick the almonds onto the sides of the cake. I sliced up some kiwis and fanned them out on top. I finished by placing a few raspberries on the very top. 






Homemade Whipped Cream
1 cup heavy cream
1 Tbsp sugar

Whip the heavy cream on high, add in sugar. Let beat until peaks start to form. Do not over beat, or you will get butter. 








And for a perfect centerpiece to any dinner table, any celebration you can always make a personalized flower pot. We did this for Valentines Day, and we love using it for all different flowers. Made from yours truly, my dear Halen girl. 

Lunches On The Go-Go!

During the week most people think of lunch last. I'm here to help you make a fast yet healthy lunch that you can grab on the go or take to work.

Beans & Rice with Cheese

1 can of black beans
1 cup Basmati rice
1/2 cup cheddar cheese

Boil your water and add your rice with a pinch of salt. Put beans in a saucepan and heat up until they are nice and bubbly. Shred your cheddar cheese, set to the side for final topping. Once rice is done, spoon into a bowl, top with beans and finally, top with cheese. The cheese will start to melt and create a cheesy, bean goodness. This meal is stacked with protein, calcium and a healthy dose of carbs.

Grilled Italian Panini

two slices of bread
leftover veggies (cooked, from a previous meal)
sliced turkey
swiss cheese
olive oil
almonds
cookies

For this panini, my husband was on his way home for lunch and he was super hungry. I knew I had leftover zucchini, squash and onion, along with a little bit of swiss cheese, whole wheat bread and sliced turkey. I started by lightly drizzling the outside of the bread and placing on the panini press. I heated up the leftover veggies and turkey in a saute pan. Then I placed slices of cheese onto the slices of bread, added the veggies and the turkey- combined both slices and put the press on top of the sammy. After a few minutes the cheese had melted, which glued the sandwich together. I plated the sandwich with some almonds and homemade Snickerdoodles. My husband loved the panini!

Follow these recipes and surely you can create a homemade fast, delicious lunch when you've got to go-go!

xo Lo

Wiatrek-Style Brunch

Every Saturday morning my husband and I love to cook brunch, while our coffee is brewing in our French press I look in the fridge to see what I have to work with. Our brunch philosophy is to grab onions, any other veggies, saute and throw some fried eggs on top...yum! Today we had, smoked bacon sausage, red potatoes, yellow onion, button mushrooms and eggs. The first thing I did was to dice up my potatoes and onions to get them on the grill pan. It is important to cook the potatoes first because they take awhile, the smaller you cube them the faster they will cook. To make yummy home fries, you want them to be crispy on the outside and a little soft on the inside. Next I decided to chop up and saute the rest of the onion and button mushrooms.

Once my base was on it's way I chopped up the sausage to add that to the extra onions and mushrooms. Add some salt, pepper and continue to stir your breakfast items. Once everything is almost done, put a bit of olive oil into a hot saute pan and crack in your eggs. Add salt and pepper to taste then flip after they start to bubble. Once you flip them, turn off your heat. I plated by putting the sausage, onion mushroom mixture on the bottom, potatoes in a sidecar plus your luscious fried eggs on top.

When you cut into this egg, the yolk will flow all over your sausage, put that and some potatoes all on your fork and dive in!

xo Lo

Ay Mamacita! Chicken Enchiladas Suizas

Yesterday was my husband's mother's birthday, she passed away 10 years ago and would've been 57 years old. We decided we wanted to celebrate her birthday and memory by eating what she would've eaten. My husband tells me she loved hamburgers, Dr. Pepper and Mexican food...so he put me up to the challenge to make some homemade enchiladas.

After stopping by the grocery store for our necessities I got to work, if you have a dutch oven or large sauce pan grab it and follow the recipe below.

Ingredient List

3 cups water
2 cups chicken stock (always better than chicken broth)
2-3 lbs of roma tomatoes
2 jalapeno peppers
1 yellow onion
3 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts
1/3 cup of Mexican crema (or sour cream...but Mexican crema is miles better)
1/3 cup Queso Fresca (white Mexican crumbly cheese)
12 white, corn tortillas (try to get the "homemade" kind)
2 bay leaves
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup vegetable, canola or olive oil (for frying)
2 Tbs olive oil
1 can of black beans
salt & pepper

The first thing you want to do is put 3 cups of water, 2 cups of chicken stock, chicken breasts, bay leaves, 2 cloves of garlic (whole) , salt and pepper into your dutch oven or large sauce pan, turn it up on medium-high heat. Once the pot comes to a boil, turn down to medium to simmer and set your timer for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, turn your broiler on high, place tomatoes and jalapenos on baking sheet with aluminum foil underneath- put tomatoes and jalapenos in broiler for 12 minutes.

Start dicing up 3/4 of your onion, turn chicken, tomatoes and jalapeno to make sure all side are being cooked. After 12 minutes put tomatoes into a blender, slice jalapeno in half, de-seed and peel off the skin. Pour remaining juices from the pan into the blender, take out garlic cloves from the chicken pot and put into blender. Place additional garlic clove into blender as well. Puree the tomato-jalapeno mixture until smooth.

Once chicken is done take out of pot and place on a plate to cool. Discard the bay leaves and pour the chicken liquid into a bowl for later use. Drizzle olive oil into the same dutch oven or sauce pan and saute the diced onions for about three minutes, or until they are golden- on medium heat. After the onions are golden, pour in the tomato-jalapeno puree. Change heat to medium-high and bring to a simmer. Add in 3 cups of chicken stock liquid and let the sauce cook down- about 20 minutes.

After the chicken has cooled, shred chicken and discard skin, bones and icky stuff. Add in Mexican crema and half of the queso fresca, let sit until sauce is ready.

Get oil ready for frying in a skillet or saute pan. When tomato-jalapeno sauce is ready pour 1 1/2 cups onto the bottom of a 13x9 deep, baking dish. Save extra chicken stock and tomato-jalapeno sauce for later use, think soups, rice, pasta or chicken!

Fry tortillas 20 seconds per side, immediately stuff about 2 Tbs of chicken mixture into each tortilla roll up, seam down. (This is easier as a two person job.) Once all tortillas are stuffed, sprinkle any extra chicken on top then pour another cup of the sauce on the enchiladas. Sprinkle with remaining queso fresca and remaining sliced yellow onion.

Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes or until hot and cheese has melted throughout. While enchiladas are baking put can of black beans into a sauce pan with olive oil and heat up. To plate pour beans on the plate then pile enchiladas on top with additional queso fresca. If this doesn't make you want to drink a margarita, I don't know what will!

xo Lo