Tex Mex Hot Dogs with Jalapeno Crema

 

Do you ever see a recipe and begin salivating before you’ve even finished reading the ingredients? These Tex Mex hot dogs from Country Cleaver were that way for me.  This is my kind of hot dog. Roasted. Loaded with veggies. (Basically the appearance of being healthy without actually being healthy ;) I cannot praise this recipe enough. It is so delicious. The best hot dogs we’ve ever had. My changes included making a jalapeno + cilantro crema rather than a basic crema as called (my husband doesn’t like plain sour cream), and omitting red peppers. Delicious and a really easy weeknight meal too!

Ingredients:

• 4 Hot Dog Buns
• 4 Beef Franks
• 1 cup canned Pinto Beans, drained and rinsed
• 3 ears corn on the cob
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• ½ cup Red Onion, diced
• 2 avocadoes, diced
• 1 tsp. vinegar
• ½ cup cilantro, chopped

Jalapeno Crema

• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 jalapeno, diced (if you want it spicier leave some seeds in, if not omit them)
• 2 tsp. garlic, chopped
• 1/2 c. Mexican crema (or sour cream)
• 1/2 c. mayonnaise

Directions:

1. First make your crema. In a blender or food processer add crema ingredients and blend until smooth. Set aside.
2. Cook corn on the cob in boiling water (or you can grill it). Once cooked, cut corn off and set aside in bowl.
3. Add to bowl or corn, half of the chopped cilantro, red onion, tomatoes, avocadoes, vinegar, and a dash of salt. Mix to incorporate flavors. Set aside.
4. Cook hot dogs (I placed mine on a baking sheet and roasted at 400 degrees for 15 minutes).
5. For last 5 minutes of baking, place hot dog buns on baking sheet and toast until golden brown. The Trader Joe’s hot dog buns are amazing! So thick and well made.
6. Assemble hot dogs by placing them in buns, topping with pinto beans, and then corn salsa mixture. Garnish with jalapeno crema and a little extra cilantro. ENJOY!!

      

 

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Chopped Thai Chicken Salad with Lemon Garlic Dressing

I adapted this salad from Pinch of Yum with the ingredients I had on hand. It originally called for shrimp & lime which I substituted with lemon & chicken. After devouring our salads my husband and I both agreed this was our new favorite salad. I’ve been trying to think up more occasions to make it. You must try it! The dressing is amazing.
Ingredients, Chopped Thai Chicken Salad:

For the Garlic Lemon Dressing:

• ½ cup olive oil
• ¼ cup white wine vinegar
• juice of one lemon
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp. crushed mint
• 1/4 tsp. parsley
• 1/2 tsp. salt
For the Chicken

• 3/4 lb. chicken
• salt
• crushed mint
• parsley
• garlic powder
• 2 tbsp. olive oil

         For the Salad:

• 4 cups of greens chopped thin (I used a mixture of lettuce, cabbage, & kale)
• 2 cups edamame, shelled and cooked
• ¾ cup cashews
• optional: wonton strips, diced carrots

Directions:

1. Sprinkle seasonings over raw chicken breast. Heat a sautee pan to medium high. Once pan is hot pour oil into pan. Quickly place seasoned chicken breasts into hot pan.
2. Sear on each side until chicken is fully cooked. Set aside to rest.
3. Whisk dressing ingredients together, set aside.
4. Combined salad ingredients. Toss with dressing. Slice chicken and place atop salad. Can be served with chicken warm or cold We ate it warm and it was delicious. Enjoy!

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Salted Zucchini Chips

This is one of my favorite go-to healthy snacks. I love the flavor of roasted zucchini with a little salt. Try these and you’ll see! Just keep a couple zucchini in the fridge and when you have an afternoon craving for something unhealthy, roast these up instead.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 zucchini
• sea salt
• olive oil or cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Thinly slice your zucchini. The trick here is to not slice them too thin, but about 1/8 inch disks. If they are too thin they will burn.

Lay zucchini disks out on a cooking sheet and spray with oil (or toss in a bag or bowl with a drizzle of oil). Cook for 4-8 minutes, keeping an eye on them closely so they don’t burn. As soon as they start to get golden brown, remove them and salt lightly. If you eat them right away they will be soft (so delicious), or you can wait for them to cool and set slightly.

 

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Coconut Banana Bread

My favorite banana bread! The coconut oil gives it such a light a clean flavor. Stays so moist too with the coconut oil.

Ingredients:

• 1 c. coconut oil
• 4 large very ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 c. light brown sugar
• 1/4 c. white sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 c. flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 375 and grease and loaf plan with cooking spray. In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the sugars, vanilla, eggs, bananas and coconut oil and beat until creamy and smooth.

Add flour and baking powder and beat at low speed for about a minute, until you have a creamy batter.  Pour into greased loaf pan. Do not fill all the way to the top because the bread will raise slightly.

Cook for 45-55 minutes, until just barely done. If you cover it right away and let it sit overnight it makes for the most moist banana bread breakfast. My family gobbled this up so quickly. Enjoy!

  

   

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Homemade Eggplant Parmesan

Wow, how is it that I’ve never had Eggplant Parmesan before, until now? It is amazing. Veggies that are deep fried? I’m not sure it’s possible to go wrong. I looked up a couple recipes, and made mine based on what I thought might taste best. We had this when friends came over for dinner last weekend (along with my chicken parmesan & homemade fettuccini alfredo) and they were coming back for seconds of this.

Ingredients:

• 1 eggplant, washed and sliced into 1/4” disks
• 1 c. dry bread crumbs
• 1 c. dry parmesan cheese
• 2 tbsp. dry italian seasoning
• 2 tsp. salt, plus a little more for sprinkling
• 3 eggs
• 2 tbsp. water
• Fresh parmesan cheese for topping
• Marinara sauce for topping
• Olive oil for frying

Directions:

1. Lay eggplant disks flat onto large plate or tray. Sprinkle a little salt over them. Let sit for 20 minutes. The salt helps remove the bitter flavor that can come with some eggplant.
2. Meanwhile, prep your other ingredients. In a large flat dish, combine dry bread crumbs, dry parmesan cheese, dry italian seasoning, and salt. Mix until well blended. Set aside.
3. In another low, flat dish, whisk eggs together with 2 tbsp. water. Set aside.
4. In a frying pan or large sauce pan, pour oil into pan until it comes 1/4” up the side.
5. After 20 minutes, rinse the eggplant and pat dry. Heat oil in pan to medium high heat.
6. Take one eggplant disk and drudge it in the egg wash, and then the bread crumb mixture. Using tongs, lower it into hot oil. Repeat with remaining eggplant disks.They will cook quickly in hot oil! After one minute flip the disks over.
7. Once golden brown, remove from oil. Place in pan and cover with fresh parmesan cheese. You can serve it like this with marinara sauce on the side. Or if you need to set it aside for later, or would like to cook it with marinara sauce in the oven, pour red sauce over the eggplant, along with as much cheese as you’d like, and bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes until cheese is bubbly. Let cool before eating.

      

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Homemade Acai Bowls

A couple weekends ago I was in California for a quick trip celebrating a friend’s birthday. I’d heard about açaí bowls before but never tried one. After eating 3 in 3 days at Banzai Bowls I developed a slight obsession with them. Fresh, fruity, healthy, filling, and açaí berries supposedly have more antioxidants than any other food… what’s not to love? As soon as I got home I started looking up copy cat recipes for the homemade Banzai Bowl Maui Sunrise - and found one I loved from Layers of Happiness here & adapted it slightly. Love homemade banzai bowls! I also found açaí juice at our local Costco. Thank you Costco & Sambazon.

Homemade Acai Bowls:

• 1 1/2 c. acai juice (or 1 acai smoothie pack + 1 c. almond milk)
• 1 banana
• 2 c. frozen strawberries
• 1/2 c. coconut milk

Toppings:

• Granola
• Unsweetened shredded coconut
• Sliced bananas
• Berries of any kind
• Drizzle of honey

Blend together the top ingredients. The mixture will be thick. If you’d like it colder you can add a handful of ice. Pour into a bowl and top with desired toppings. I’ve also tried blending in blueberries, pineapple, and other fruits I’ve had on hand. Tastes amazing really no matter what fruit you put in.

Enjoy!

     

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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

My husband’s favorite fall treat of choice. I should have probably made them 5 times by now as it is the end of October, but I worry I’ll eat too many if they’re around! We love this recipe and use it every year! I also added a cinnamon cream cheese frosting on top & heated it up so I could spoon it on like a glaze. You must try these! We love them.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies:

• 1/2 c butter room temp
• 1 1/2 c sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 c pumpkin puree
• 2 1/2 c all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar together in a stand mixer. Once mixed well add egg, vanilla, and pumpkin, and mix again. Separately, combine dry ingredients. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet mixture, and then add the chocolate chips last.

GREASE your cookie sheets with cooking spray. This is unlike normal chocolate chip cookies but it helps them slide right off. Cook for 15 minutes or until first sign of brown appears on top.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 1/2 block cream cheese
• 1/2 stick butter
• 2 –3 c. powdered sugar
• 3 –4 tbsp. milk
• 1 tbsp cinnamon

Beat cream cheese in stand mixer until soft and light. Slowly add butter and continue to mix until whipped. Slowly add powdered sugar and cinnamon. Add milk slowly until it is whipped into a thick butter cream. Remove from stand mixer and place into microwave safe bowl. Heat for about 30 seconds or until frosting is melted. This helps the frosting coat the cookies but it will still remain thick. If you simply add more milk to the frosting it will be runny. Spoon the warm frosting onto the cookies and let set. Enjoy!

   

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Trader Joes Carolina BBQ Burger

I love to experiment with new kinds of burgers. The other week I cooked a burger in our favorite BBQ sauce – Carolina Gold BBQ sauce from Trader Joes, topped it with Trader Joes guac and some cheese and tomatoes, and it was the best flavor combo. The whole time we were eating them we couldn’t believe how well the flavors went together. The trick is to actually cook the burger in BBQ sauce – not just put it on top. This is such an easy dinner or meal – you should try it!

Ingredients:

• Ground beef
• Sliced cheese
• Trader Joes Carolina Gold BBQ Sauce
• Guacamole (we love the guac shown below from Trader Joes – it’s made with greek yogurt)
• Sliced tomatoes
• Hamburger buns
• Seasonings for meat (my special burger seasoning combo is below):
• Garlic powder
• Dill
• Onion powder
• Salt

Directions:

1. Place skillet pan on stove and turn heat to medium high.
2. Meanwhile, form patties from ground beef. Season each side with seasonings listed above (or your own mixture!)
3. Turn patties out onto pan once it’s hot. Cover.
4. After 2-4 minutes on the first side (depending on how done you like your burgers and depending on how hot your pan is), flip burger (make sure both sides are seasoned).
5. Cover again and cook for 2-3 minutes.
6. While burger is still in pan, turn heat down to medium low and pour some BBQ sauce over the burger it. Enough to make sure it is covered.
7. Cover and cook again for 1-2 minutes.
8. Then place cheese on top and cover for another minute, until melted.
9. Serve on buns, and add guacamole and tomatoes to burger. Also add more BBQ sauce to the buns before serving.

Get ready for a messy but delicious meal!     

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General Conference Printables

Two weekends a year our church holds a general conference to address all our members and any visitors or investigators, worldwide. We receive uplifting messages, advice, stories, and guidance. It is the best time of the year (twice a year;). Our wonderful leaders are good people but human and imperfect like us. They help us live the Gospel and find ways to navigate the ups and downs of life. I am grateful for these two weekends where I can recharge and refocus! I am grateful for a church and leaders that give us high standards of how to live our lives and are always helping us improve!

Here were some of my favorite quotes from conference so far. Click the photos to access the downloadable PDF links.

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My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

These chocolate chip cookies have been my go-to for almost 10 years. They are fail-proof in my mind! They always turn out thick and chewy. You can make them small for a group or giant and they still turn out great. I love everything about these cookies! They stay soft for days because the butter to flour ratio is so high. My secret for keeping them soft is taking them out of the oven the second you see any brown appear on top. Even the tiniest bit. Then leave them on the tray for at least 10 minutes so they can slightly cook a little more without browning any more. When they come out they won’t be done at all. But in my experience if you wait until they’re all the way done they will be rock hard once they cool! Just take them out early… They will be delicious!

Ingredients, Chocolate Chip Cookies:

• 3/4 c. butter, softened
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. white sugar
• 1 egg
• 3/4 tsp. vanilla
• 2 c. flour
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 2 c. chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugars in stand mixer for 2-3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla and keep beating for 1 min. Meanwhile in a separate bowl mix flour, salt, and baking soda. Slowly add dry mixture to wet mixture and cream. Then add the chocolate chips and mix quickly until incorporated.

Bake at 365 degrees for 7-9 minutes, until first sign of brown on top. Then remove from oven and let cool on cookie sheet for 10 minutes. Transfer to cooling rack.  

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Herringbone Quilt Tutorial

This summer we decided it was time for our little girl to move to a “big girl bed” … she is very picky about blankets and her sleeping situation so we tried to get her excited about a new place to sleep and a new special blanket to sleep with. Doing this with her as a part of the process was so much fun for the two of us, and really allowed her to get excited for this project. She’s had the quilt for a couple months now and still gets excited to get tucked into it at night. I’d call that a success!

I looked online through lots of quilt tutorials before deciding on the herringbone quilt. I couldn’t find one very detailed tutorial online so I thought I’d put one together here. I can sew okay but I’m definitely not a master seamstress so I needed something pretty simple and also something that would work with the fabrics I’d found. I loved the idea of a pattern on the entire back with the quilt squares pieced together on the front. I went with my daughter to pick out the fabric and get her input. She picked out the floral back and I picked a coordinating front color to match.

Herringbone Twin Quilt Tutorial // 10 inch squares // 7 squares wide by 9 squares long // 63 total squares

• 3 yards solid color fabric (in actuality you need about 2.5 yards but I got 3 to err on the side of caution)
• 3 yards solid white fabric (in actuality you need about 2.5 yards but I got 3 to err on the side of caution)
• 5-6 yards of patterned fabric for the backing (you will actually need about 5 but I had to stitch mine with a couple pieces to get the pattern to line up so you’ll need to consider this when you purchase your fabric. Also all fabric varies in width per yard so measure how wide it will be as well and calculate if you’ll need to double up)
• Quilt binding of your choice (I know a lot of people who make their own quilt binding – I do not! I purchase it by the notions and bias tape. The number of packs you need will depend on the size of the binding so double check before you purchase. I used 3 packs.)
• Twin Quilt batting: You can buy packs of twin quilt batting or you can do what I did – I found an old Twin quilt comforter, cut the edges off and used that as my batting. I’ve always bought loose batting for quilts but this was MUCH easier and the batting stayed together the whole time and was distributed evenly throughout the quilt. You know those cheap twin comforters at Target? Yep that’s what I used! As long as it’s a light color (mine was a light khaki) it won’t show through and it’s probably cheaper as well.
• LOTS of white thread ;) (I used 4 spools)
• Lots of safety pins
• 10 inch square template, preferably made on cardstock or cardboard

Here we go!

1. The first thing you’ll need to do is cut out your template. I made a 10 inch square but you could really use any size square you’d like. Use cardstock or cardboard or something thick.
2. CUT SQUARES: Start cutting away. You can use a rolling quilting cutter or good old fabric scissors. You will have 63 total squares, so I cut 32 white and 32 mint green. I put a movie on and cut away. I’m not a perfectionist so not every square was precision to the millimeter, but you do have to keep the sizes pretty close to keep the quilt lined up. Once you cut one stack it in a pile and straighten the pile. As you go you’ll see if any don’t line up straight in the pile.
3. HALVE SQUARES: Once your squares are cut fold them in half on the diagonal, and cut on the diagonal. You will get two triangles. My fabric wasn’t too thick so I could easily run my fingers through it. Stack the colored fabric triangles in one pile and the white fabric triangles in another pile.
4. SEW SQUARES TOGETHER: Now take a white triangle and a colored triangle and line them up RIGHT SIDES IN. Then sew a line down the diagonal / longest edge of the triangle. I left about a 1/4 inch allowance between the stitch and the edge of the diagonal. Once you sew it you can open it up and see what your squares will look like! Keep sewing! You have lots of squares to make.
5. Quality control on squares: Once you’ve sewn your squares, go through each one to make sure it looks square. Sometimes depending on the cut or your stitch it might not line up. If you can trim and edge to make it square, do that, but if not, you’ll need to remake the square. I had to remake a couple that weren’t lining up.
6. LAY OUT QUILT TOP WITH SQUARES: Now comes the fun part, when you can see your quilt coming together! In a very wide open space, start laying out your herringbone pattern. You can also use these same squares to make a chevron quilt if you just change the colors around. My quilt was 7 squares wide by 9 long. If I was to make another twin quilt I might do 8x10 just to make it a little bigger. But 7x9 is also great as a smaller twin quilt.
7. TRIPLE CHECK YOUR PATTERN: After I laid my squares out I noticed a couple were facing the wrong direction. Go through to make sure everything is facing the right direction.
8. SEW ONE ROW AT A TIME: I pulled the squares from one row at a time and sewed the edge of each square together, one at a time, again leaving a 1/4 inch allowance. You’ll want to make sure your allowance on the entire quilt is very similar on all squares so your squares are about the same size! After you sew one row together, go lay it down back in its place on the floor with the rest of the quilt.
9. SEW ENTIRE QUILT FRONT SQUARES TOGETHER: Once your rows are sewn together, you are ready to sew each together. Grab the first two rows, sew them together. Then add the third and so forth. Once you’re done you have your top done! TRIPLE CHECK YOUR PATTERN!! ;)
10. MEASURE YOUR BACKING: Now lay your backing fabric on the floor, and then lay your quilt top over it. Measure the backing to fit the exact size as the front. I had to cut mine in a couple pieces to make it wide enough and to attempt to get the pattern to line up. Pin it together and then cut to size.
11. SAFETY PINS: As a note I only use safety pins for pinning when I’m quilting. Regular pins just come out most of the time for me.
12. SEW BACKING TOGETHER: If you’re lucky enough to have one huge piece of fabric that fits the whole back, you can skip this step, but if not, sew your backing together, keeping the seams turned in so they won’t be visible.
13. QUILT SANDWICH: Now lay your backing on the floor, then your batting, and then your quilt top. Line up everything as close as you can. DON’T trim anything yet. Even if the edges don’t seem to line up you won’t know until you pin it all and sew it. I like to start pinning in the middle and work my way out (I started doing it on the edges and it just wasn’t lining up). Working form the center out takes a while to get right. Put a safety pin in the very center, and then go to the outsides and pull everything tight, and then do it again working your way out to the corners. After you’ve pinned it all flip it over to make sure you don’t have any creases or folds.
14. ROUGH STITCH: I honestly don’t even know if this is the right way to quilt – I just made it up as I went along so I hope this works for you! The main purpose of the rough stitch, in my opinion, is to just get the layers held together. I sewed one long stitch down the entire middle of the quilt to get it held together. (Of course make all your stitches on the lines of the squares.)
15. REVIEW AGAIN: Once you get a rough stitch together lay it down again and tug at the edges to make sure it lines up. If it does then start sewing your rows together. If not you may need to rip out some seams to get it right.
16. STITCH SQUARES ON ENTIRE QUILT One row at a time. Once those are done you’ll need to sew the columns. Let me tell you this was TOUGH with my little basic sewing machine. You have to tightly ROLL your edges in to even get this through a standard machine. If you have a large machine or quilting machine this should be pretty easy. I even found my machine sometimes tuggi ng at my stitches because it was so thick. It took some muscle to pull it through!
17. STITCH DESIGN ON SQUARES: Once you’ve quilted around each square, you’re ready to decide what pattern you’d like on each square. I did two diagonals across the mint fabric and three across the white. If you have a quilter you can do some cool things here too! This took me a while so in the evenings my husband and I would put a movie on and I’d sew as many squares as I could. I did this whenever I could take up a whole evening to sew. I think it took about 5 total nights spread out over a couple weeks.
18. TRIM: Now you can trim all the edges to make them squared up and you also need to go through and trim all the thread ends. I tried to do this as I went, but there were still so many at the end!
19. BINDING: I iron my pre-made binding first to get the creases out. Then I just line it up on the edges, pull it tight onto the edges and try to sew it as straight as I can, while making sure to include all layers of the quilt inside. I had to redo part of the binding on a quilt I made a couple years ago because some of the backing was missed on my stitching, so now I’m paranoid about getting this right. I double stitched the binding on to make sure it was sturdy. You’ll also have to sew the seams together if you use several packs of quilt binding. Wherever one starts and one begins, just layer them over each other and stitch together.
20. Final trim of everything. And now you can actually appreciate all this work! It was much more than I thought I’d be going into it! Just take it one step at a time and you can do it.

    

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