Monday, December 31, 2012

Guest Blogger: Lisa from Letting It All Hangout


 Hey everyone! My friend Lisa from Letting It All Hangout has graciously agreed to share one of her yummy recipes with us. She is a fellow wife and momma to not only two puppydawgs but also two of the cutest lil munchkins you could ever meet!

Psole Recipe:
I have to say my husband (who is Mexican) is pretty picky when it comes to Mexican food because he grew up on his grandma's cooking and she's an excellent cook! So when I was given this amazing recipe for the yummy soup, Psole, I jumped at the opportunity to see how good it was. Turns out this is such an easy recipe and tastes amazing!!! The best part is that it makes enough for leftovers!

What you'll need:

Serving 4-6 people

Prep Time: 30-45 mins             Cook Time: 1-2 hours

1 family pack of porkchops (bone in or boneless both work)/ if you don't like pork chicken also works with this recipe
1 15oz or 8oz can of tomato sauce
2 chicken bullion cubes
2 garlic cloves minced or garlic powder works great too
6-8 anahiem peppers
1 dried red pepper
1 medium can of Hominy
1 Bay leaf


1. Brown your meat, then cube your meat and put into crock pot or a big pan. Add a little bit of water enough to cook the meat until tender. Add 1 chicken bullion cube, the bay leaf and 1 clove of garlic into the pan to help flavor the meat.

2. While the meat is cooking, roast your peppers. I don't have a grill or a special pan I just turn on my oven to a low broil and put the peppers on the top rack until they the skin starts to look brown, then I rotate to get that affect over the entire pepper. It doesn't have to be 100% brown but roasted. Once I get the look I want I take the peppers out and put them in cold water and remove the top lay of the pepper. I just use my fingers and runthem over the peppers you'll notice the skin will start to peel off a little bit.

3. Once the peppers are skinned then cut the top off and de-seed it if you don't want it too spicy. Keep the seeds for a little more kick. Put all the peppers into a blender. Next add in the tomato sauce, other garlic, and chicken bullion cube. Add the dried red pepper and blend all together. (The dried red pepper also adds a kick to the soup if you need it a little less spicy I wouldn't add it in.)

4. Once the meat is cooked add the sauce you made in the blender to the pan. Then add the can of hominy. Mix and cook on low-medium heat for about an hour-2 hours depending on how long you want to wait.

That's it!  This is really one of the easiest meals I have ever made.

To really make it good you'll also want to add the toppings.

It's traditionally served with chopped up cabbage or lettuce and a combination of diced onions and cilantro. Add both of those on top of the soup and it tastes even better!

The best part about Mexican cooking is that the spiciness is really in your hands. This recipe above gives it just enough of a kick that you're not sweating as you eat it.  So I encourage you to really play with it and fine tune it to your liking.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Do you like your bacon crispy?

I love Love LOVE bacon. Who doesn't?

Growing up bacon was a bit of a bone of contention in our house. 
 Crispy vs Soft.
 I am Team Crispy all the way none of that limp fatty stuff for me!

An unfortunate side effect of being Team Crispy is shrinkage. I have never been able to get a crispy strip of bacon without it coming out half the size of the piece I started with. 
Until, I met my father-in-law who introduced me to this lil beauty.

As you can see Titan knows that the Power Crisp means bacon.

 He is so sweet to selflessly give up his free time to come supervise my bacon making skills.

I really did have every intention of taking a shot of the crispy bacon on a plate so you could clearly see the lack of shrinkage but between the Power Crisp and the plate the pieces disappeared. 
Hubby or Puppy?

Friday, December 14, 2012

Green Smoothie

To make this bad boy I revved up my Breville and juiced:
  • 2 green apples
  • 1 C spinach
  • 1C pineapple
Then I  poured the juice into my blender and added...
 It is my favorite breakfast!


Tuesday, December 11, 2012

I'm still alive

Sorry I have been MIA. It is Finals Week...need I really say more?

We also had a late night trip to the puppy ER. Thankfully Titan is okay!

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Veni, vidi, vici! Kicked Juice Fast Bootay!!

Annalyn and I did it! 
We went four days on juiced fruits and vegetables.

In hindsight it wasn't all that hard.  I had myself prepped for these terrible cravings but to be honest the juices filled me up. However I craved chewing. I know it sounds weird but stick with me here. My thought process is chewing is a habit and I think mentally ingesting food goes hand in hand with chewing but when juicing there is no need but you feel like you should...am I making any sense?

My husband was positively hilarious throughout this challenge.

When we were drinking this
and this

He was Sending my sister and I pictures of this

 and this
 and this
He even left me this
Thats right this lil beauty was sitting right next to my juicer!

I know the big question will be did we cheat.

The answer...

Chelsea: Yes. Day 2 my professor passed around a bag of Werther's Originals and I popped one in my mouth without even thinking about it.
Annalyn: Yes. Day 3 I did Insanity and felt light headed so I had some cheese.

The important thing: we did NOT quit!

Some of our favorite juices are:
Wiwi Juice
Healthy Smoothie for Juicers
Pink Bliss Juice 

Wiwi Juice


This cute video is of my nephew, Aiden, introducing the ingredients of my sissy Annalyn's favorite juice.

Juice
            • 2 "wiwis" a.k.a kiwis 
            •  2 green apples
            • 1/2 C blackberries 
            • 1/2 C pineapple
            • 1/2 cucumber

Healthy Smoothie for Juicers


Juice
              • 2 green apples
              • 1 pear
              • 1 kiwi
              • 1 1/2 C pineapple
              • 1 C spinach/kale
Blend

Put your juice in the blender with one or two bananas (I freeze my bananas beforehand) and blend. Add ice two cubes at a time and once you reach desired consistency drink up.

Pink Bliss Juice


Juice
            • ~8 strawberries
            • 2 green apples
            • 1/2 pomegranate
            • 1 pear 
            • 1 kiwi
            • 1/2 C pineapple
            • 1 C spinach/kale