Whining and Dining

Crunchy and Cheesy Kari's Potatoes

When you're cooking for the masses, it's good to go with simple dishes. This was the case when we cooked for 16 people for our friend's recent birthday. We grilled pork tenderloin, panzanella salad, grilled asparagus and "Kari's Potatoes." With the exception of the late dinner service (it was almost 9 when we got dinner on the table) and an asparagus shortage, our customers were pleased with the meal overall. Whew! Glad we pulled that one off!

I thought you'd like to get the scoop on the potatoes, which were a big hit. Also, this is a great recipe to make with your budding Emeril. Your little one will love crunching up the corn flakes and spreading them on top of the potatoes. So fun!

Warning: This dish is OBVIOUSLY not so healthy. And the ingredients are, quite frankly, appalling. But it's delicious for that party or special occasion, for a little splurge.  The big bonus is that  recipes don't get easier than this. So turn a blind eye to the ingredients and enjoy.

Kari's Potatoes

Ingredients:

1 8oz. sour cream

1 t. salt

½ small onion, chopped

2 c. corn flakes, crushed

1 can undiluted cream of chicken soup

½ c. melted butter

12oz. cheddar cheese, grated

32oz. shredded hash browns, thawed

 

Directions:

Place potatoes in 9” x 13” dish. Mix ingredients together and pour over potatoes. Top with corn flakes and drizzle melted butter over.

 Bake in 350 degree oven for 45 minutes.

Morning Sickness Blues

Morning sickness....bleh....it just really sucks. There's really no other way to describe it. Since I'm pregnant at the moment, it's something that's been on my mind and stomach for the past 20 weeks. Thankfully, most of it has subsided, but it does rear its ugly head every now and then.

This time around, it was much harder with having to tend to a lively toddler. And the worst part was feeding her in the morning. Just the smell of my fridge would turn my stomach upside down. ICK!

So, for all of you pregnant mommies or soon-to-be preggers I thought I would post some ideas on curbing your queasies. Here's what helped me....

1) Frozen grapes - When it was hard to eat anything other than crackers, frozen grapes were a nice treat for me and seemed to soothe my tummy.

2) Pucker up - Sucking on a Preggie Pop or lemon Jolly Ranchers or a lemonade popsicle seems to help some really fight off the vomit when the going gets tough. I kept sliced lemons in my fridge. When the fridge would put me over the edge, I'd quickly grab a lemon slice, suck on it and smell it.

3) Try ginger - Trader Joe's Crystallized Ginger Slices - The Chinese have always treated nausea and morning sickness with ginger. And ginger does help many ladies. Also, ginger tea, ginger ale, etc.

4) Don't forget the protein - Trader Joe's Peanut Butter Pretzels Oh my favorite! Since protein helps keep you from being hungry, I keep a little baggie of these guys in my purse always. At the slighest hunger pang, I would pop one in my mouth. Any ol' peanut butter and crackers will do!

5) Baskin Robbins' Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream  - For some reason, this flav really hit the spot when I had the urge to purge.

6) Sparking water or club soda with a slice of lemon, lime or orange (or all of the above) - This seemed to work better for me this time around. During my first pregnancy, I got so sick of Ginger Ale, Sprite and Gatorade.

7) Seasickness bands - OK, not a food, but a very necessary suggestion. These really help!

8) Peppermint - Whether you go with Altoids or peppermint tea, a good dose of peppermint seems to aid the nausea.

Of course, I'm not a doctor here so you obviously need to discuss with him / her about what is best for you.

What worked for you? Feel free to add to the list in the comment section!!

Going Gluten-Free? Check out this blog...

After years of tummy woes, my friend Amber and Aunt Susan have recently discovered they've got gluten issues. Amber has expressed the trials and tribulations in kicking the wheat habit. Ugh. Seems like it's in everything.

In honor of my peeps and all of you folks  (or your kids) who have gluten problems, I wanted to tell you about Gluten- Free Girl. It's a great blog all about gluten-free recipes and thoughts and musings about a life sans wheat. So, check it out and hopefully you'll find some new recipes for your repetoire.

Yogurt- Covered Fruit Kabobs

It's wicked, wicked hot today in Los Angeles. We ventured out this morning for music class, but have been shut ins (in the AC) for the remainder of the day.

So, I was looking for a yummy snack with several requirements: there is to be no cooking in this house today; we need ingredients that I have kickin' around; and I'd like it be on the healthy side (after our week of having chocolate chip cookies around - see last post). I discovered the below recipe on Kids' Health.com.

Ingredients:

• 1 apple
• 1 banana
• 1/3 c. red seedless grapes
• 1/3 c. green seedless grapes
• 2/3 cup pineapple chunks
• 1 cup nonfat yogurt
• 1/4 c. dried coconut, shredded 

Utensils:

• knife (You'll need help from your adult assistant.)
• 2 wooden skewer sticks
• large plate

Directions:

1. Prepare the fruit by washing the grapes, washing the apples and cutting them into small squares, peeling the bananas and cutting them into chunks, and cutting the pineapple into chunks, if it's fresh. Put the fruit onto a large plate. 
2. Spread coconut onto another large plate.
3. Slide pieces of fruit onto the skewer and design your own kabob by putting as much or as little of whatever fruit you want! Do this until the stick is almost covered from end to end.
4. Hold your kabob at the ends and roll it in the yogurt, so the fruit gets covered. Then roll it in the coconut**
5. Repeat these steps with another skewer.
6. Chill for 30 min. - 1 hour.

**Roll your kabobs in something besides coconut. Try granola, nuts, or raisins, or use your imagination.

The Award-Winning Chocolate Chip Cookie

In my book, nothing is as good as the chocolate chip cookie. Or how about a warm cookie a la mode or a cookie sandwich like from LA's own Diddy Reese. Oh yeah. It's the stuff I dream about.

Since I am about to enjoy one of these delectable cookies, I thought I should share the recipe with you. Because you are my friend and faithful reader, of course.

Honestly, I don't know what award this recipe has won, but I do know that about 5,000 people have rated this a top notch cookie on Allrecipes.com. And that's good enough for me. So, here goes....

Ingredients

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 cups butter, softened

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

1.             Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.

2.             In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

3.             Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.

Yield: 72 servings

Tip: Since this makes A TON of cookies, unless you have the Cookie Monster at your house, you may want to consider freezing the extra dough for later. After you bake the cookies that you want, stick the dough in the freezer for about 30 minutes to harden the dough. Roll remaining dough into balls and stick them in tupperware and back in the freezer. Then, you can have a hot, fresh cookie anytime you want. My husband also likes that it kind of serves as a portion control. Bake just 1 cookie for yourself, and you won't have the temptation to eat half a dozen of 'em.

Tomatoes Gone Bad??

Tomatoes gone bad?? Yes, that is the word on the street and just in time for tomato season (one of my very favorite seasons of the year.... oh those heirloom tomatoes have my heart). But this year, we'll have to keep a watchful eye on tomatos that we buy due to the recent salmonella outbreak.

After attending a work event, I swung by Fatburger to grab a turkey burger for the road. Not even thinking, I ordered tomato on it. The cashier quickly responded saying, "Mam, we are not serving tomatoes due to the recent outbreak." It was comforting for me to hear that many food vendors aren't taking chances.

In case you aren't aware of the recent news, here is the story....

Reuters - Los Angeles, CA --U.S. health officials on Wednesday said they are still receiving reports of people falling ill from eating Salmonella-tainted tomatoes and that they now have 167 reported cases from 17 states. Click here for the rest of the story.

So, are there ANY tomatoes that we can eat right now? Yes, there are. Here's what the FDA says...

At this time, FDA is advising consumers to limit their consumption of tomatoes to the following types of tomatoes. The following types of tomatoes listed below are NOT likely to be the source of this outbreak.

• cherry tomatoes
• grape tomatoes
• tomatoes sold with the vine still attached
• tomatoes grown at home

FDA recommends consuming raw red plum, raw red Roma, or raw round red tomatoes grown and harvested only from the following areas that HAVE NOT BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH THE OUTBREAK:

Alabama
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Delaware
Florida (counties of: Jackson, Gadsden, Leon, Jefferson, Madison, Suwannee, Hamilton, Hillsborough, Polk, Manatee, Hardee, DeSoto, Sarasota, Highlands, Pasco, Sumter, Citrus, Hernando, Charlotte)*
Georgia
Hawaii
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Minnesota
Mississippi
New Jersey
New York
Nebraska
North Carolina
Ohio
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
West Virginia
Wisconsin

Belgium
Canada
Dominican Republic
Guatemala
Israel
Netherlands
Puerto Rico

* Shipments of tomatoes harvested in these counties are acceptable with a certificate issued by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Click here for more from the FDA's site.

Tomato alternatives? You betcha! Here's a helpful video on cooking with alternative fruits and veggies.

The Snack Planner from Whole Foods

Thank you, Whole Foods, for your handy Snack Planner. The good folks there have basically laid out ideas for a week's worth of healthy snacks for your kids. They know that you're trying to squeeze snacks between piano lessons and soccer practice, so many of their ideas are perfectly portable. Also, they ensure that you'll child gets in their whole grains and the recommended 9 daily servings of fruits and veggies.

If you are a parent who is on the go with your kids, trust me, you'll be grateful for this chart!

Click here for the link. Happy Snacking!

Cool Gadget for Kids with Food Allergies

Got a child with food allergies? This one's for you! The ICE Packet is a super cool gadget to alarm other caregivers of allergies and other important medical information about your child.

From Cool Mom Picks....(It's) "basically a little doodad that hooks to your kid's backpack or a keychain that holds a USB flash drive. On it, all your kids' medical and emergency info that you've input using a very smart, very simple application. Just stick the drive into your computer (macs too) and start filing in the blanks. It couldn't be easier. And the little medical icon on the outside tells caretakers and EMT-types right away that this is what they're looking for should (heaven forbid) the occasion arise.

Check it out on the fabulous Cool Mom Picks blog.

Lemonade Popsicles

Lemonade + popsicles = a refreshing cooldown on a hot summer day. I'm excited to try these this summer as frozen lemonade is definitely one of my favorite summer treats.

Thanks to Elise from Simply Recipes for this one. Click here for the recipe. I'm going to substitute the corn syrup for Agave Nectar to scale back on the sugar content.

Enjoy!

Toddler Test Kitchen: Meatless Corn Dogs from Trader Joe's

Nitrates. Ugh. Just another chemical we have to worry about when feeding our kids. Especially when it comes to hot dogs, which seems to be high on every kids' list of favorite foods.

Recently, I discovered the Meatless Corn Dogs from Trader Joe's. We LOVE them! And what fun to introduce my daughter to a "corny dog" (as I called when I was kid back in TX, the home of Fletcher's Corny Dogs). She loves to hold the stick and dip it into ketchup. And honest to gosh, they taste like the real thing. You would NEVER know that there's no meat.

Find them in the freezer section of your local TJ's. Enjoy them this summer! Such fun. No nitrates. No worries. YAY!