If that's my conscience calling, tell it enough already,

Yeah, she has been calling and I been hanging up on her. OK so this week SUCKED for my healthy new habits. We had a little glitch that prevented me from working out (but oh...can I say I missed it? I did) . My goal is to loose weight by my next birthday in September.
I cannot focus on what I failed to do but instead on what I can do better.

Above all we did have a great weekend now that the weather has greatly improved. I Had a chance to go out with the kiddo to the playground, did some cooking and baking. Wanna see our weekend?



I did manage a few healthy bites. Above is red and green peppers, red onions, tomatoes, low fat shredded cheese and grilled chicken. Yummo. Great on a wrap, pita or sandwich.


Mixing ingredients with the little Princess.

awwww, the fruits of our labor: Brownie covered Oreos!. Thankfully, dear Sis kept most of them to send it to her Hubs coworkers. (above is just the first batch)

Above...My little man ready for our outing...

...and having Dinosaur time. His favorite thing right now is having me sing "we are the Dinosaurs" By Laurie Bekner. I also manage to do a little Pedicure. Love my Ms.Pedicure mint scrub, then a little body butter follow by O.P.I "Bogota Black cherry". I have a few great reds but I tend not to do them often because I hate reds on Christmas or Vdays...seems so cliche to me.

This one makes me happy; maybe I'll even do my manicure with it next.
Hubs is off Monday and I think going for a long walk is in order. Hope
your conscience has been better than mine :)

Over & out

Dessert...and another ER visit

So our little guy is still sick. By Saturday he didn't have a fever and was finally eating. He was a little off, always wanting to be carried. He would be playing and all of the sudden scream. Sunday morning I was cuddling him after his milk and I notice what I though was a little heat rash in his face; but by the time he fell asleep his face was all red, like an allergic reaction and when I lifted his shirt it looked even worst so we rushed to the ER. (not to be dramatic but oldest is deadly allergic to Sulfa and once ended up staying 5 days in the hospital, so I take allergies very seriously).

Thankfully it was not. He has an "undetermined" contagious virus (thank you daycare) and an ear infection- which explains his painful Ow Ow all the time. He is taking antibiotics and already doing better. They told us to watch for "Dengue" and Malaria (come again?) due to our recent travel out of the US. So I have no idea what sleeping is...we basically nap thru the night.

Fun thing is that oldest kid is going to college to become a Doctor (pediatrician) but when he sat with the little guy so I could make some chicken quesadillas he asked:

"Is he contagious?"

Me: yes...

Him: whaaaaat?! and he jump so fast from the bed

I laugh and asked if he was going to do the same with his patients...so he sat back down. Plus since the AC is on, no windows are open, so we would get sick if that was the case. So what is a mother to do? Make Dessert of course!

This one is called "Dulce Frio" or Cold dessert (hey, I didn't name the darn thing!)

It seriously takes 15 minutes and they love it!

Dulce Frio

Lady fingers or Biscotti (enough to fill a 9x11 Pyrex)

1 can of Fruit Cocktail

1 Can of Sweetened Condense Milk

1 box of Vanilla Pudding

2 tsp of Rum (optional)

Prepared the Vanilla pudding according to directions on package, put aside.

Place the biscotti on the Pyrex, drain the fruit cocktail in a container and use that juice to mix it with the rum. If you are not using the rum just pour the liquid all over the biscotti. Then pour the Condense milk all over the biscotti.

Them pour the vanilla pudding all over making sure each biscotti is covered. Use the fruit cocktail on top of the vanilla pudding. Place this is the fridge and let it get cold and VOILA, you are done!

You can use fruit juice instead of the liquid from the fruit cocktail and replace the fruits with whatever fruits you have on hand, cut in cubes. This would look really nice in a Trifle Bowl too.

Oh, and please excuse the horrible lighting from our kitchen.

Over & Out

Cooking with flavor or OMG she actually cooks

Yeah, that's what my mother said the first time she tasted my Spaghetti's. Apparently they are the best she ever had...and if you know the Mom-ster that is a huge compliment.

I must be crazy, but I'm doing it. I'm posting about cooking. :)

OK, ok so sued me. I have not done ONE post about cooking.
Now, I’ve mentioned here that the smell of Clorox and AJAX is like Channel #5 to me. I enjoy cleaning and coming to a well organized home. So cleaning wasn’t that bad, but making me cook was like a punishment to me.

My younger Sis was the one that love to get there and learn stuff. Me? give me the goods when they are done. In my teenage years I got a slight appreciation of baking, which translated to me making brownies…and then sitting down to eat them.

For years, even though I lived alone in the US I refuse to cook. Even when I live with roommates I rather clean the place than to cook. Same when Sister came to live with me. Then, all that changed when I met my husband. He is the most easy going uncomplicated fellow and would be just as happy with a Tuna Melt as with Lasagna. So I felt inspired, motivated, happy, (that, and
the fact he does not cook.at.all).

So the first things first. We do what is called “Sofrito” which is the season base for all dishes. Now you can do it from scratch every single time you make a meal; or do it the easy way (read-my mothers way) and have it in the fridge all ready to go. I choose #2.

So take a Medium red onion (yes, red-it makes a difference),

garlic (I buy this minced...so about 3 tsp)

Cubanela peppers, you can use other non spicy kind if you don't find them, like bell peppers

and chopped everything up, put it a blender or food processor. My Mom also uses celery in it but I don’t like it so I don’t use it.

Then I put about ¼ cup of vinegar and blended all together. If is not blending well, I just add vinegar as necessary. It will smell divine and all you have to do is place it in you fridge in a plastic container. Honestly it will last a long time in there. I never ever had this gone bad.

It would look something like this, although mine looks usually more pinkish due to the red onions.

I season all my meats with this but also use it for soups and beans. For the soups/beans just put a tiny bit of oil, let it get hot and drop 2 tsp in it for 25 seconds and proceed with your regular soup/bean making.

Another way to give your food flavor with things you can buy all ready to go. I have a lot of helpers to make my life easier when in a rush. I don’t like using salt so I rely on using spices to give flavor…so far so good. These are the actual products that I use:

OK, so there is Garlic (already chopped cause I'm lazy *cough* practical) Cilantro, Mojo-which is made out of oranges and limes and is absolutely fantastic for meats, refried beans (that's for my tacos that I will show you in a later post) and Adobo-the almighty seasoning. And yes, they are all GOYA. Nope, I'm not getting paid. I discovered that even the garlic from another brand cost a few bucks more so I'm sticking with Goya. All of the items above cost between $0.99 and $3.99.

If I don't have the "sofrito" which I usually accompany it with Adobo; I just use all of the above items to season my meats...about a Tsp of each. I place some hot oil in a pan and when the meat is in the stop top cooking I add about ¼ of a chicken Bouillon (I use Maggi)...be careful as this and the adobo are salty, therefore I do not use salt at all.
and depending what I'm cooking I also add Tomato Paste when the meat is being browned. (this is what we called "Carne Guisada")

I usually take 30-45 min for dinner since I'm always in a rush. Next stop will be my home made Tacos (although I think everyone knows how to make those) and the easiest chicken quesadillas EVER...seriously, ridiculously easy.

Over & out