Mango, Berry and Banana Smoothie

Mango, Berry and Banana Smoothie

I thought that when my kids got older that my life would get easier. Boy was I wrong. My youngest is in a phase where he seems to eat all day long. As soon as he eats he is hungry again. I spend half of my day making and feeding him meals and snacks. The other half of the day I spend cleaning up his crafts and creative projects. I love that he creates projects etc, I just could do without all the mess that it takes for his creations to take shape. The work doesn't end with my youngest. Getting my oldest up in the morning can be nearly impossible some mornings. He moves so slowly. I feel like I have to nag him from the time he gets up just to make sure that we get to the bus on time. Most mornings we have to run the last block in order not to be late. Then the homework in the evening involves complaining and whining. I really hate whining, it's like nails on a chalkboard. I've decided that life for a mother doesn't get easier as their kids grow, just more complicated.

Since my mornings are almost always rushed I try to have meals that are quick and easy to make. Smoothies are one of my favorite since I can drink them on the way to the bus stop to drop off my oldest. Last week I tried a new recipe for Mango, Berry and Banana Smoothie from Bon Appetit Magazine.

Mango, Berry and Banana Smoothie

This recipe has 7 ingredients. It takes 5 minutes of total time, all of which is active and makes 2 servings. I made a number of changes to the original recipe. First, my youngest kept eating all the frozen mangos that I bought. Therefore, I ended up with only 1/4 cup of mangos. I froze my banana before adding to the smoothie, left out the yogurt and added stevia. I found the smoothie as written was a little too thick so I added additional coconut water.

Mango, Berry and Banana Smoothie

I am a huge smoothie fan. This smoothie was a nice change of pace, it had more of a tropical flavor than other smoothies I had tried before. It was too thick as written, my blender didn't want to even move. In order to make the recipe work I added additional coconut water. I think if I made the recipe again I would try it with pineapple. Pineapple and coconut are delicious together and would work very well with this recipe.

For the recipe go to Mango, Berry and Banana Smoothie. 

Tuna, Cotija and Corn Tacos with Lime and Mango

Tuna, Cotija and Corn Tacos with Lime and Mango

Growing up I told everyone that would listen that I was never having kids. If I did I had already decided that I would adopt and then it would just be one. I grew up an only child, but my mother was the oldest of 12 so at all times one of my aunts, uncles or cousins was either living with us or at our house. It could be a little crazy. Then I met my husband and everything changed. I was overcome with this strange new emotion of wanting kids. Not just any kids, but our kids. It's funny how life can hit you without much warning. What I didn't expect at that time was that I would have two boys. I love my boys tremendously, but having two boys is more work than I ever expected. Right now they are at each others throats everyday, all day. This morning they had a big fight over magnets. While this might sound harmless I have boys so they aren't just verbal fights, they wrestle, shove etc. My oldest starts school next week and I am more than ready to going back to only having one child during the day. I think that I needed a better manual before having all boys, my house can be complete chaos. One of the few things that my two boys can agree on is seafood, they both love it. Today I tried a new recipe for Tuna, Cotija and Corn Tacos with Lime and Mango from the May 2013 issue of Martha Stewart Living Magazine.

Cabell County Courthouse Huntington, WV

This recipe has 11 ingredients. It takes 25 minutes of total time, all of which is active and makes 12 tacos. I did make a few significant changes to the original recipe. First, the original recipe is vegetarian. With three males in my house they just wouldn't have gotten full with just corn and cheese. Therefore I used frozen tuna steaks, which I grilled and then sliced. Then I added the tuna to the tacos along with the rest of the recipe ingredients. I cooked my tortillas in a pan on my gas stove until they had grill marks. My cilantro went bad before I was able to make the recipe so I left it out.

Ritter Park Huntington, WV

The fresh corn in this recipe was delicious. Without the tuna this dish would not have much protein. The addition of the tuna made the recipe for my family. Tuna steaks really are a great source of protein and they have great flavor in tacos. My boys were huge fans of the fresh mango, they ate a whole mango by themselves. If you aren't a fan of tuna, Mahi Mahi would work as well.

The two photos (not of food) in this post are of the town that I live in Huntington, WV. There are a number of large parks which my kids love spending time walking and playing in. 

For the recipe go to Cotija and Corn Tacos with Lime and Mango.

Cotija and Corn Tacos

Recipe Type: Main

Summary:

A simple recipe for tacos using fresh corn and cotija cheese.

Preparation Time: 0h, 25m

Total Time: 0h, 25m

Yield: 12 Tacos

Smoky Pork Tenderloin with Pineapple Mango Salsa

Smoky Pork Tenderloin with Pineapple Mango Salsa

Everyone else in my city seemed to be at our local Hot dog Festival today. I was not. I have been twice, but since I can't eat gluten the thought of throwing away a ton of hot dog buns isn't appealing. In addition the last time we went I was pregnant with my youngest and they wanted to charge me 10 dollars for a lemonade. We live in one of the poorest areas of the US, 10 dollars seems like a lot of money given that minimum wage is under 8 dollars an hour. Instead I took my boys to the library to enter their raffle tickets for the summer reading program and then when second hand store shopping. I love going thrifting. I grew up with a super frugal mother that made everything from scratch and stretched money better than anyone that I know. I try to be the same way. Right now we need a new desk for our dining room/home office area. I refuse to buy a desk that comes in a box, that I will have to put together and then will commence to fall apart in two years. Instead I am going to look for a desk that needs a little TLC and then redo it. I love redoing old furniture. I stained our dining room table this summer and it looks so much better. Today was a bust, but I might try the flea market tomorrow. Last week was a laid back food week. I haven't been motivated to be in the kitchen for a long amount of time so I have been trying recipes that takes less than an hour start to finish. I tried a new recipe for Smoky Pork Tenderloin with Pineapple Mango Salsa from Family Circle magazine.

Heirloom Mortgage Lifter Tomatoes

This recipe has 13 ingredients. It takes 45 minutes of total time, 15 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I made a number of changes to the original recipe. First I made two tenderloins since with three males in my house one just wouldn't be enough. I tried cooking the two tenderloins in the oven and they just didn't want to completely temp in the oven, so I pulled them out and finished in a pan on the stove. Honestly for tenderloin I prefer grilling or pan cooking. Over cooked pork can be tough and the oven method is hard to get to temp evenly. The recipes states to let the pork cook until 145 degrees. With a 10 minute rest this is over done. Meat does not stop cooking once it's pulled out of the oven. It will continue to cook when it is resting, normally 5-10 degrees. I pull my pork out at 135 and it always hits temp after the rest period. Obviously it is up to you with what you feel comfortable feeding your family, but I prefer my pork to still be tender.

Garden Strawberries

The pork in this recipe was delicious. The salsa was great also, but I was unimpressed with the mashed sweet potatoes suggested for a side. It was just too sweet and I didn't like the orange flavor. A regular baked potato would be a better side dish or a baked sweet potato if you prefer. As a side note I have decided to start including more photos in my post so there isn't 3 paragraphs with no visual break. I know that I can get bored with too many words, so I am going to make an attempt to show a little bit of my life outside of the kitchen. Today it's photos of my garden, but in the future it will be a variety of scenes from my city and life. Hopefully that will be a little easier to read and give my readers a glimpse into West Virginia life.

For the recipe go to Smoky Pork Tenderloin with Pineapple Mango Salsa. (registration required)

Family Circle Chipotle-Mango Pulled Pork

This is my favorite time of the year. I love when the weather gets colder and my kitchen heats up with slow roasted cooking. Don't get me wrong, I hate having to wear multiple layers and still being cold and my heating bills going through the roof. However, there is something so comforting about cooking in the fall and winter. As everyone has heard me say multiple times, I love my slowcooker. I pretty much use it at least twice a week all fall and winter. I have also shared many times my family's love of all things pork, so any dish combining the two is perfect. The December issue of Family Circle magazine had a recipe for Chipotle-Mango Pulled Pork which combined my family's favorite meat and my love of all things slow cooker related.

This recipe has 13 ingredients. It takes 23 minutes of prep and 8 hours of cooking time and makes 8 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store, which the exception that I was only able to find a 8 pound bone-in pork shoulder, which I had cut in half. I actually prefer using bone-in pork shoulder, the bone adds an extra level of flavor to dishes. I served the dish over polenta, my family isn't big fans of grits. For the chicken broth I used homemade stock, I prefer the flavor to the store bought variety. I followed the remainder of the recipe as stated.

I really enjoyed the flavor from the mango and chipotles. The combination of flavors was pleasant and added a flavor dimension to the pulled pork. The recipe states that it makes 8 servings, but there was enough for at least three meals for my family of four. With only 12 grams of fat and 346 calories, this dish is a great and easy weeknight meal.

For the recipe go to Chipotle-Mango Pulled Pork.

Parents Asian Burgers with Pineapple-Mango Salad

In the last couple of months I have made a large amount of soup and stew recipes. While, my whole family enjoys these dishes, I figured it was about time for a change in my menu plan for the week. My oldest son has been going through a fruit stage where he is literally obsessed with any and every kind of fruit that he can find at the grocery store. I'm proud of his love for fruit, but my husband has less of an enthusiasm for getting in his daily fruit requirements. I fall somewhere in the middle of the debate. I grew up in Washington state and never understood that apple prices at the grocery store could be high until I moved to West Virginia. I remember picking wild blackberries by the community college in our area and eating a large amount of locally produced fruit. I never really thought about whether I liked or didn't like fruit in general. As an adult I haven't been as vigilant about making sure that I eat my daily requirement of fruit, so I recently have begun to try to find recipe using fruit as an ingredient, in an effort to make my family healthier and my oldest son happy. Recently, the September issue of Parents magazine had a recipe for Asian Burgers with Pineapple-Mango Salad, which looked like a perfect way to increase my family's fruit intake.

This recipe has 14 ingredients. It serves six and takes approximately 15 minutes. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store, with the exception that I substituted an English cucumber for the seedless variety specified in the recipe. I ground my own beef so that added 15 minutes to my overall preparation time. I chose not to add the parsley to the salad, my children can be picky about parsley in dishes and I knew that without it they would eat the fruit without complaints. I followed the remainder of the recipe as stated.

The fruit salad was the most popular part of the recipe for my two boys. My husband and I loved the flavor of the burgers, but felt that they were very dry. I would suggest adding the hoisin mayonnaise from this earlier blog post of mine. I think the combination of the flavors would be delicious and add greatly to the overall recipe. With the stated modifications I think this could be a great dish.

For the recipe go to Asian Burgers with Pineapple-Mango Salad.

Food Network Magazine Mango-Cucumber Salad

During the summer when fruit prices are inexpensive, I love using as many different types of fruit as I can incorporate into dishes. My two boys love any type of fruit and love going to the grocery store with me and picking out new types and familiar favorites. I have also been trying to introduce my family to more types of  grains, so I was excited when the July/August issue of the Food Network Magazine had a recipe for Mango-Cucumber Rice Salad.

This recipe has 13 ingredients and takes approximately an hour of total time. I had to make a few modifications to the ingredients, due to the fact I was unable to find some of them. I substituted a green jalapeno for the red jalapeno called for in the recipe. I also had made homemade roasted peanuts, but once again my two boys got to them before I was able to prepare the recipe, so they were not included. I followed the remainder of the recipe as stated.

My husband and I loved this recipe, my two boys weren't as big of fans. I liked the combination of the mango and the quinoa, which is very high in protein. This dish made a great side to the seafood dish I prepared with it, and the citrus taste from the lime balanced nicely with the fish. A great side dish for seafood and a good  way to introduce high protein whole grains.

For the recipe go to Food Network Magazine Mango-Cucumber Rice Salad.

Taste of Home Raspberry Onion Relish and Mango Cuke Relish

Growing up hotdogs were a summer food in our household and normally included ketchup and mustard. It wasn't until I moved to the state of West Virginia that I found out that hotdogs were a whole meal onto itself. People here can get very opinioned about the right hotdog stand and way to make the perfect hotdog. After eight years I am slowly accumulating to this new hotdog state and have come to appreciate a well made hotdog with 'slaw and sauce. Recently, the June/July issue of Taste of Home magazine had a recipe for Raspberry Onion Relish and Mango Cuke Relish, which I thought would be got accompaniments to brats and a new twist on my family's hotdog routine.

These two relishes are very easy to put together. The raspberry onion relish prep time is literally a couple of minutes. The mango cuke relish, takes about twenty minutes of prep due to the fruit and vegetables needing to be chopped. I had no problem finding any of the ingredients for either relish and had more than half the ingredients already in my pantry. I followed the recipes as stated with no modifications. I used the relish on stadium brats which I grilled on my indoor grill and used Heiner's sunny buns. My husband and two boys insist that sunny buns are the best buns locally available.

These recipes were a huge hit in my household. My two boys love fresh fruit and were enthusiastic about the raspberry onion relish. My husband liked both relishes, but preferred the mango cuke relish. I liked how easy these relishes were to prepare and they were a great summer spin on a traditional brat.

For the recipe go to Mango Cuke Relish and Raspberry Onion Relish.