Spiced-Rub Braised Beef

Sauteing onions, garlic, and crushed red pepper

The most important ingredient, ready to go

the tomato sauce simmering for 20min in the dutch oven

a lovely side of sauteed zucchini & bell pepper

This recipe was so good that I forgot to take a picture of the finished product! I made some white rice and sauteed zucchini & bell peppers for the sides. So use your imagination ;)

 We had it for dinner, and then I packed away the leftovers for lunches. I used the original picture from the recipe, thank you Cooking Light for the beautifully professional picture ;) I am more of a spicy than sweet girl when it comes to meat. So I did not rub brown sugar onto the roast when marinating it, and used half of the brown sugar the recipe called for in the tomato sauce. I also added some cayenne pepper to the tomato sauce for an added kick. YUM YUM YUM.

link to recipe:
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/spice-rubbed-braised-beef-10000001918504/

Endive Fig Appetizer

Got this little inspiration from a quick stop at Whole Foods. They were giving out samples of this appetizer and I immediately fell in love with the light, sweet & crunchy taste. Super easy too!

The base is endive leaves

then goat cheese (I bought honey goat cheese)

fig paste

sliced/slivered almonds

viola!

done!

that's it!!

enjoy!

I really wish I took a picture of the fig paste I bought at Whole Foods (bc of course they were not handing out free samples for nothing, they were promoting too!). It was in a small brick-like package in the cheese aisle. I liked the fact that I just sliced it and put it on the cheese, less of a mess than trying to spread jam. Next time I am there I will need to search for it and take a pic! But in case you cannot find that particular one, you can use fig jam, apricot jam, etc. Whatever your little heart desires.

ran out of endive leaves, so used thin crackers, improvisation at its best.

Shrimp Primavera Pasta with Asparagus, Peas, and Leeks

 

Rachel Ray has done it again...made this last night and really like the light tasting garlicky lemon flavor of this dish. I got her book from the library and made many delicious dinners from it.
It is called Rachel Ray's Book of 10: More Than 300 Recipes to Cook Every Day.
She did the legwork for you because she picks her best rated dishes for each section.

a productive stove-top always makes me happy :)

http://www.food.com/recipe/shrimp-primavera-pasta-with-asparagus-peas-and-leeks-209353 <--recipe

(Although its not the official recipe from her website, someone from food.com copied it directly, in case you were wondering).

Deceptively Delicious

I have been on a mission to get my daughter to eat more veggies. When she was a baby, she did great, never had a problem until after her first birthday: she has refused, spat out, and thrown her "oh so healthy veggies" on the floor. Having a love for nutrition, I knew I cannot allow my daughter's diet to consist of cheerios, crackers, oatmeal and yogurt. I need to feed her nutrient-dense food because it vital to her growth and development! I had purchased this book before I had a baby because I had a sweet tooth and wanted a way to make desserts healthier. So the premise behind this book is that you make a whole bunch of purees ahead of time, say at the beginning of the week, and 'sneak' them into food through out the week (freeze some right away or any leftovers). I must admit it is a bit time consuming, but there are great benefits from it. I think the ideal situation is if you already had an infant on purees and older children; that way you can make a huge batch and feed everyone. So far she has liked my creations, but I am still introducing veggies (not pureed) to her because my end goal is to get her to eat the real thing, and not making purees her whole childhood. But for now it works :)

 This post is mainly of pics of what I have made and for some inspiration if you are going through something similar with your kiddo(s). Jessica Seinfield (yes this is Jerry Seinfield's wife, and she of course has lots of time to be making purees, lol) has a second book which I own as well called "Double Delicious".

Purees finished, cooling

Froze half right away in 1/2 cup portions

She gives you lots of instructions on which cooking method is best for each vegetable.

spinach being mixed into blueberry jam....shhhhhh

Blueberry Oatmeal Bars...they are of coffee shop quality! 

Blueberry Lemon Muffins with summer squash puree

Green Eggs with spinach puree (there is another variation of  this with
cauliflower puree in case you don't want the color to change)

French Toast with either banana, sweet potato,
carrot, butternut squash, or pumpkin puree; lots of choices, made mine with banana

Sweet Potato Maple Quinoa (my daughter didn't like the texture too much)
I also made sweet potato oatmeal & sweet potato pancakes that I didn't get to take a picture of.

Such a pretty vibrant color! Beet Pancakes

Disclaimer: these had a distinct beet flavor, but if your kids don't like
beets too much you can drown them in maple syrup & they taste
like regular pancakes, just a tip ;)

My daughter's absolute favorite: Pita Pizza. Sneaked spinach puree underneath
the pizza sauce. Another combo I did was beet & spinach and she gobbled it up! 

Tortilla "Cigars" with shredded chicken breast,
carrot puree & cheddar cheese

Chicken & Rice Soup with cauliflower and carrot puree...its was
a really 'homey' soup, I made home-made
chicken broth which gave it
a lot of flavor.

And that was one a tiny glimpse of all her recipes! I still have more recipes to try like tomato soup with broccoli puree, apple crumble with butternut squash puree, chocolate yogurt cheesecake with carrot puree, huevos rancheros with cauliflower puree, chicken enchiladas with spinach puree, gnocchi with sweet potato puree, and oatmeal raisin cookies with banana & zucchini puree! The dishes shown above & the ones I still plan to make are were taken from both books. (just so you know ;)

ENJOY!