Whole Foods Wednesday

Slowly, but surely, we have been moving to a completely "green" life...including eating organic produce. Now, when I say slowly...I mean that literally...we are taking baby steps. So far, we have moved from eggs made from caged hens to free range chickens, and our veggies and fruit are all organic (thanks impart to our weekly delivery from a local farm).
But, still...maybe I am a complete moron for thinking this way, but, it is hard sometimes to distinguish between conventional produce and organic produce...and on top of that, a lot of our produce is genetically modified! How do you know? I know, I know...your thinking, "duh, Lena, it's labeled organic" but really, sometimes it's not. After much research...here is what I found...and my life is so much easier.
It's all in the numbers people!

-The tags (code stickers) on fruits and veggies can help you identify organic, conventional, and genetically modified produce.

-ORGANIC produce stickers start with a 9 and have 5 numbers

-Conventional ones have 4 numbers

-Genetically modified produce have 5 numbers like organic produce but start with the number 8 so be cautious of those fruits and vegetables!!!

-"Choose 9 for peace of mind"

Minestrone with Kale

Last week was a week full of wonderful, healthy recipes thanks to the produce that was delivered to our door. One of the vegetables delivered was kale...I sort of laughed when I pulled it out of the box thinking: "What the heck am I going to do with this?" So I went online, typed in the words: "Kale" and "recipe" and I found tons of wonderful looking meals. But this one was perfect for the cold weather we have been having. It is also very healthy (low in fat, high in fiber), and very tasty!!! When those two descriptions go together, it is a good thing! Here it is!

Ingredients: 2 tsp olive oil, 2 medium zucchini; 10 medium baby carrots; 1 medium onion(s); 2 cup(s) kale; 28 oz canned diced tomatoes, with basil, garlic and oregano, undrained; 4 cup(s) vegetable broth; 15 oz canned great Northern beans; drained and rinsed; 1 cup(s) cooked orzo; 1/4 tsp table salt; 1/4 tsp black pepper; 3/4 cup(s) grated Parmesan cheese, Parmigiano-Reggiano recommended

1. Chop up zucchini (leave skin on), carrots, and onion. I like to chop the zucchini and carrots in larger chunks. The onion can be chopped a little finer.

2. Heat Olive Oil in a large pot.


3. Add in zucchini, carrots, and onion. Saute over high heat until onion is translucent. This took me around 6 minutes.


4. Coarsely chop Kale.

5. Add kale to pot and saute until wilted; 3-5 minutes.

6. Add diced tomatoes, broth, and beans.

7. Simmer until carrots are tender, about 20 minutes.

8. Stir in cooked orzo and salt and pepper.

9. Serve in bowls and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese!

Barbecued Turkey Sloppy Joes

I made this recipe last Sunday for lunch. It was perfect for the football games. I have made it before, and both Rick and I like it's simplicity, but also feel good knowing it is low in fat and has some veggies inside! Enjoy!

The Ingredients: 1lb. of ground turkey, one onion, half red pepper, half green bell pepper, 1 cup of barbecue sauce, 1/8 Cayenne pepper, Four whole grain rolls.

Chop onions, red and green peppers.

Brown Turkey meat in pan.

When cooked, add in pepper and onion mixture, cook for 3 minutes.

Add in barbecue sauce and cayenne pepper. Mix all together.

mmmmm....doesn't that look good?

Add 1/4 of meat mixture to whole wheat bun.

ENJOY!!!

Freezing Parsley

Completely awesome! Love it! Wow! Amazing!
I love the produce that came with our shipment of Farm Fresh To You. It has really challenged me to search the internet and research my giant collection of cookbooks for new recipes.
To be honest, I have never cooked many of the items that were delivered including: leeks, bok choy, or kale. I am happy to say that I found very good, very healthy recipes for each of these ingredients and will post the recipes sometime in the future.

In addition to the fruits and vegetables that were delivered, a huge bunch of parsley was in the shipment. I love parsley, but was a little worried about it going bad before we were able to use it. As you have probably figured out, Google is my "best friend." Here is what I found out: You can easily freeze parsley! Here are the steps:

Materials I used: cutting board, food chopper, ice cube tray, knife, paper towels, four sandwich plastic baggies, and one gallon sized freezer bag.

1. Wash parsley and dry with paper towels.

2. Cut the stems with knife and discard.

3. Chop the parsley leaves very finely with knife or food chopper.

4. Place a small amount of chopped parsley in ice-cube tray. (I used 1tbsp amount).

5. Pour small amount of water into each form.

6. Freeze.

7. Once frozen, take the parsley blocks and place in small ziplock bag. I placed 3 cubes in each bag.


8. Take one large freezer gallon bag, mark the date with sharpee, and place the filled smaller ziploc bags inside.

9. Place filled freezer bag into freezer.

*When a recipe calls for parsely, take out cubes, thaw and use 'em up!!!

An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

This year, just the same as every year...I have made the goal of becoming a healthier person.
So of course, this means I need to become more active, eat better, sleep better, reduce stress, yadda, yadda, yadda... My problem is, it is easy to say I am going to do these things, but really, will I follow through???
This week, I found out about an awesome company in our area that delivers fresh organic, locally grown, in season produce straight to your door. It is called Farm Fresh to You. The customer has the ability to chose what type of box they order, i.e. mostly fruit, mostly vegetable, mixed box, or what size: small, regular, or large. They can also choose how often deliveries are made: every week, every other week, every third week, or every fourth week. Every week the list of produce changes for what is in season. The customer has the ability to exclude certain items that they do not like on the Farm Fresh to You site. If there is an item being sent for the week that is on your exclusion list, the company will exchange it for another item that is in season. The best part is, it is all on the Internet!
This week, Rick and I decided to sign up. So on Thursday (our designated delivery day) we came home to find a box at our doorstep (located in exactly the right spot I designated on the Internet). This is what we found inside!!!

Yummy!!! It did take quite a bit of time to prep these veggies (just like Rachel Rae tells you to do!) But, I am happy to say, that already today, I packed my lunch! And it consists of two different types of lettuce for a salad and a huge orange! Sooooo healthy!

25 Days of Christmas...Day Twenty Two

Wow...can you believe how close Christmas is!!! Amazing, how time flies! This month has been wonderful for both Rick and I. We have really tried to get into the Christmas Spirit. We still have a few things on our list to do. I really want to decorate a Gingerbread house and also check out some more lights...and of course, Rick is looking forward to Christmas day when he can watch "The Christmas Story" all day long!

As for presents, we are going really simple this year. We still have a few more gifts, but I think Rick has it covered! I am so thankful I don't have to go out into the mayhem of the Galleria Mall again! Tonight, I was busy making homemade Chex Mix. It turned out well, although I think I was a little conservative with the spices. I made three batches, but I think I need to make some more tomorrow! Here is the recipe I used (straight from the side portion of the Chex cereal box). :)

Traditional Chex Mix

3 cups corn chex cereal

3 cups rice chex cereal

3 cups wheat chex cereal

1 cup garlic flavored bagel chips

1 cup mixed nuts

6 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 teaspoons seasoning salt

1/2 teaspoon of onion powder

3/4 teaspoon of garlic powder

2 tablespoons Worchestire sauce

Instructions:

Heat oven to 250

Melt butter in large roasting pan in oven

Mix in seasonings

slowly add the rest of the ingredients

place in oven for 1 hour; mixing every 15 minutes

When finished, spread on paper towels to dry for 15 minutes.

Store in air tight container

Rick and I also had a visit from our adorable little friend, Landon, who lives in our neighborhood. He came with his gorgeous mom to deliver these beautiful ornaments.

I love these ornaments so much! Especially the "Joy" ornament.

Landon in front of our tree. He helped me put the ornaments on the tree.

This is our Christmas card this year:

(I could not figure out how to upoad this card electronically, so this is the best I could do.) :)

Merry Christmas!!!!

In the Kitchen with the Medina's: Pasta Primavera

I love, love, love cooking. Sadly, I don't always have the time to do it. But, I think about it...watch it on t.v. (good old food network and Top Chef), and talk about it quite a bit. The past two months, I have made it a priority to make weekly menu of meals. I have become a bit obsessive compulsive, making sure that all the recipes are low in fat (hello...I could stand to lose some weight), full of flavor, and fast. I also have been pretty adamant about having my weekly menu include a different cuisine each night: Italian/pasta, Mexican, Chicken, Fish, Soup/Chili, etc. This weeks menu included: Harvest Vegetable Stew, Enchiladas, Maple Dijon Chicken, and Vegetable Primavera. So the good news is: I can boil water...and, although there have been times when I have had to throw the whole meal in the trash and make a drive thru run to Carls Jr., I can actually cook. :)



Tuesday night, I make Vegetable Primavera taken from Weight Watchers. Luckily, I had my wonderful husband along side me in the kitchen. I love these times where we can hang out and work together. So, I got the water boiling, and the vegetables washed, and my cute sous chef chopped the veggies.

THE RECIPE:
8 oz uncooked whole-wheat pasta, linguine
1/8 tsp table salt, for cooking pasta
4 tsp olive oil, divided
8 oz asparagus, woody ends trimmed, cut into 1 1/2- to 2-inch pieces
4 oz sugar snap peas, fresh, trimmed, large ones cut in half
1 small yellow summer squash, halved length wise, sliced into 1/2 thick pieces
13 3/4 oz canned artichoke hearts, without oil, drained, quartered
1 medium garlic clove, chopped
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed
1/4 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup basil, fresh, leaves, thinly sliced

Yummy, fresh vegetables!!!

Rick, chopping the artichoke hearts and grape tomatoes.

INSTRUCTIONS:
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil; add pasta and cook according to package directions.
Meanwhile, heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat; add asparagus, snap peas and squash. Cook vegetables, stirring often, until vegetables are almost crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Stir in artichoke hearts and garlic; cook and stir over low heat until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Stir in tomatoes, peas, salt and pepper. Scoop out 1/3 cup of pasta cooking water and add it to skillet. Cook, tossing ingredients, until tomatoes soften slightly and vegetables are crisp and tender, about 1 minute.
Drain pasta; return pasta to pot. Add vegetable mixture, basil and remaining 2 teaspoons of oil to pot; toss to mix and coat. Serve immediately.
Yields about 2 1/4 cups per serving.

The Finished Product


THE REVIEW: YUMMO!!!!

Wine and Cheese

Compliments of Carissa C. at the Nugget in Roseville, Ca.

A couple of years ago, I co-hosted a wine and cheese bridal shower for a good friend.
This was new for me...I love cheese...I love wine...but I had no idea what cheeses complimented red wines or white wines.

So my good friend, Lori and I took a trip to The Nugget to get some tips, and boy did we get some good info!!! Since this trip, I have paired the same wines and cheeses at other parties and always have received the best compliments.

Here is what we learned:

Cheeses that go well with REDS:

Canadian Black Cheddar-Sharp

Blue Cheese:

Roaring 40's blu-stronger

Danish-more mild

Gouda-thin strips

Manchego-older

Smoked Mozzerella

Goat Cheese

Cheeses that go well with lighter REDS:

Carmody/California cheese/artisan

Cheeses that go well with WHITES:

Perano

Prima Donna Blue

Manchego-younger

Bruder Basal

Smoke Mozzerella

Asiago

Aged Provolone

One of my favorite cheeses is Telaggio. It is wonderful with honey and candied walnuts or pecans. This yummy dish is great served with a bold RED wine.

Serving sizes: 11/2 to 2 oz of cheese per person

Rick's 34th Birthday!

Happy Birthday Rick!

For Rick's Birthday, he chose to head down to Old Sac, and "crack some crabs" at Joe's Crab Shack. Those of you who know Rick, know that he LOVES Dungeness Crab...so I wasn't surprised at his choice.
Before we left our home in Lincoln, Rick opened his birthday cards and a very special gift his family and I went in on together. A Bushnell 1600 Tournament Edition Laser Range Finder. And unfortunately, I did not get his reaction on camera...bummer! But here is a picture of the Laser Finder...supposedly, this nifty little thing will help Rick's golf game...we shall see!


Around 5, we left for Joe's. I have to say, our whole night was full of luck...
When we got into Old Town we entered the parking garage along with 50 other cars and right when we pulled in, a car on the bottom level right by the entrance backed out...NICE! When we got into the restaurant to put in our name, the hostess informed us that it would be a ONE HOUR AND FORTY FIVE MINUTE wait! Yikes! I was ready to walk out, but, Rick quickly responded with "That's fine." Guess the guy really wanted his crab.

Rick on his 34th birthday! Looking Good!

Rick is smart and always finds other options rather than just sitting around, so he suggested we go next door to Rio City Cafe and have a drink at the bar while we wait. I had never been there, but I was impressed. We sat there for about an hour had a few drinks and an appetizer and enjoyed ourselves. We left, and walked into the Crab Shack just in time! They called our name 5 minutes after entering the restaurant! Our table was outside looking over the river and the bridge. It was beautiful! We both ordered steam pots of Dungeness Crab, mine with Old Bay seasoning, and Rick with the "hot and spicy." So good, although Rick informed me that by the end of the meal, his lips were flaming!!!



All in all, the night was gorgeous and the food was perfect! I know nothing better than spending quality time with the one person I love the most. Rick, I hope that you had just as good of time as I did...you deserve the best...and this year, I pray that God blesses you more than you can even imagine.

Happy Birthday, with love,
Lena

Donuts and Baseball

Last Sunday, Rick and I traveled to San Francisco with our dear friends, Blake and Becky. We met early Sunday morning, grabbed a coffee and headed to the city. Rick and I wearing our Giants hats, and Blake and Becky wearing blue...Dodgers, that is. It was a peaceful ride...seriously, it was. On the way down there, Becky told us about a show she watched that week that was "all about bacon." On the show they featured a donut shop located in San Francisco that made homeade maple bacon donuts....mmmmmmmmmm. Let's just say, the car turned to auto pilot and in no time we were at Dynamo Donuts and Coffee. Let me tell you, as an inconsistent "vegetarian"(I don't eat four legged animals, but sneak it in occasionally), this adventure away from tofu was AMAZING...Here are a few pictures and a video review:


After our fun and sugar filled trip to Dynamo's, we headed off to AT&T Park to see the Giants and Dodgers battle it out! It was a lovely day and we had the perfect view of the bay. And of course, a baseball game is not a baseball game without a hotdog and a beer...and garlic fries. Yum yum! Ending score: 7-2...Giants win!

Swan Oyster Depot

Rick and I are celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary this weekend!!! To celebrate we drove out to San Francisco for the day and ate at Swan Oyster Depot, which is our favorite "hot spot" in the bay. Although very small...and somewhat uncomfortable on the tush (the stools are hard), the food is FRESH and the experience is awesome!!! If you like seafood this place is a must!!! And believe us when we say...if there is a line...wait it out...it is definitely worth it!

Here are some pictures and a review!


First opened in 1912, this historic fish market is also a famed oyster bar that draws fans both near and far. If you're visiting San Francisco, this is one place you should stop by for breakfast, lunch, or a midday break. Nevermind the tourist-y spot of Fisherman's Wharf. The Swan Oyster Depot in Nob Hill offers its own great menu of seafood favorites, from fresh shrimp cocktails to a bowl of steaming clam chowder. And what's more, the dining experience is truly unique, one you're not likely to forget.


Indeed despite its popularity and renown, the establishment remains simple and modest. The marble countertop provides surface for dining, with a mere 22 barstools lined for seating. Dining conditions may seem tight, but it helps maintain the spot's "hole in the wall" charm. Visited by local regulars daily, the landmark is also discovered by new patrons every hour, on the hour. When you arrive, you'll likely find a queue (during lunch, a long one!), but the wait is well worth it. Plus, the line moves quickly. Before you know it , it'll be your turn to sit at the bar for an order of clams, cracked crab, or shrimp salad.

True to its old-fashioned, mom 'n' pop feel, the Swan Oyster Depot does not accept reservations, nor does it take credit cards. Cash only.

1517 Polk Street / Between California and Sacramento Streets