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- 1 cup Maseca corn flour
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 Tablespoon parsley flakes
- 1/2 cup olive oil (divided)
- ½ English cucumber, diced small
- Cornmeal cakes (Gorditas)1 large tomato, diced small
- ½ red onion, chopped finely
- 1/3 cup feta cheese, crumbled
- 1 lemon, juiced
- Salt and pepper to taste
- ½ cup Kalamata olives, sliced in half
- 10-ounce Sabra lemon twist hummus
- Shredded lettuce on the side
- 10-ounce Sabra Tzatziki Greek Yogurt Dip
- Mix 1 cup of corn flour with 1 cup of warm water , perhaps another 4 Tablespoons of water as well. Mix dough with hands as it combines together.
- Pinch about a golf ball size piece of dough and roll, then slightly flatten on hand to create a small disc about ½-inch thick.
- Heat non-stick pan with olive oil on medium heat.
- Add 4 prepared cornmeal cakes onto hot pan and cook on each side for about 6 minutes for a total of 12 minutes.
- Set aside to cool.
- Dice the cucumber and tomato and add to a medium bowl.
- Add the onions and the lemon juice to the mix and then the feta cheese.
- Set aside.
- Slice each gordita partially in half lengthwise, enough to add 2 Tablespoons of hummus on each side of the cake on the inside.
- Add 1 Tablespoon to each cake side.
- Add 1-2 Tablespoons of tabbouli along with a few Kalamata olive halves.
- Add desired amount of shredded lettuce and dip in Tzatziki dip.
- NEW Dreft product line-up
- Little Me receiving blanket
- Ingenuity Booster Chair
- Aden by Aden & Anis Lovey
- Carters 5 Year Memory Book
- 2 cups To-Jo baby bella mushrooms, sliced
- 5 ounces Earthbound Farms Organic baby spinach
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 small red onion, sliced
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper, ground
- 1/3 cup pecans, crushed
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 8-ounces store-bought Alfredo sauce
- 2 cups tri-color penne pasta, uncooked
- Parmesan cheese
- lemon juice
- Heat large non-stick skillet and add olive oil medium heat.
- Add sliced mushrooms and onions and cook for 10 minutes.
- Add garlic and spinach and continue cooking for another 5 minutes until spinach is wilted.
- Add crushed pecans, salt, pepper and lemon zest.
- Add Alfredo sauce and continue cooking for another 10 minutes.
- Cook penne pasta according to package directions.
- Drain water and add cooked pasta to veggie mixture.
- Serve 1 1/2 cups of pasta mixture and squeeze lemon juice over pasta and Parmesan cheese.
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup Spectrum all-vegetable shortening
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 eggs
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 Tablespoon orange zest
- 7 fluid ounces lemon-lime flavored carbonated beverage (like 7-up)
- (makes 1 1/2 cups syrup + 2 cups compote)
- 2 cups fresh rhubarb, chopped
- 2 cups strawberries, sliced
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 Tablespoon orange zest
- 1 tsp ginger, minced
- 3/4 cup Strawberry Rhubarb syrup
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
- Grease a 10-inch Bundt pan.
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter, shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla and almond extracts and orange zest.
- Beat in the flour alternately with the lemon-lime soda, mixing just until incorporated.
- Place chopped rhubarb in a medium pot with water and sugar and heat to medium-high allowing mixture to boil for 10 minutes.
- Add the strawberries, orange zest, and ginger to the mixture and lower heat to medium allowing mixture to boil for another 10 minutes.
- Allow to rest for 10 minutes.
- Run mixture through a sieve allowing liquid to be separated from the fruit.
- Cool syrup completely. Half a cup of the syrup will be used for the glaze.
- Pour half the batter into greased bundt pan.
- Add 1 1/2 cups of the strawberry rhubarb compote over the batter and add remaining batter over the compote.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Allow to cool on a cake rack for 30 minutes before removing from the pan.
- Glaze the cake with the strawberry rhubarb glaze.
- Mix 3/4 cup of the strawberry rhubarb syrup and blend with 1 cup of powdered sugar.
- Add glaze to the cake and serve.
Mediterranean Gorditas for National Hummus Day
May 21st, 2015Disclosure: This is a sponsored post as a Sabra tastemaker. All recipes and reviews are my own.
One of the cuisines I thoroughly enjoy eating is Mediterranean food. I usually cannot have enough of it and try to plan at least one type of Mediterranean meal once a week but usually it ends up being every other week which is why National Hummus Day cannot be the only day that I eat hummus.
Hummus is predominantly part of the any of the meals that I plan because it is great for dipping, spreading on pita, or even eating just as it is. Another wonderful fact about hummus is that meat does not always have to be included in the meal prepared for lunch or dinner since hummus is mainly made from chickpeas which are a complete protein. How great is that?
For those who seek to limit their meat consumption during the week without becoming a vegetarian, eating hummus with a lot of other sides makes for a delicious complete meal any day of the week. When I was thinking of a unique recipe to make with one of Sabra’s newest hummus flavors, lemon twist, I thought of a meal that I would love to have all the time.
Since hummus is already gluten-free, I tried keeping the whole recipe gluten-free for those with a gluten intolerance. One of the ways I had fun with this recipe was fusing two cuisines into one. Even though I am half Mexican, I sometimes think I should or have some Mediterranean ancestry since I love the culture and the food. Since I love both cuisines, I thought I would use masa (cornmeal dough) to make gorditas, which are cornmeal cakes that are pan-fried and then split open and filled with cheese, meat and other toppings.
I guess you would say I made a Mexican version of the Mediterranean -filled pita sandwiches you can get a café or make at home. When making the cornmeal cakes, I used prepared corn flour that only requires water to be added to the dough. I then made ½-inch round patties and pan-fried on a skillet for 12-15 minutes.
I then allowed to cool a bit before slicing each gordita or cornmeal cake in half, but not all the way. I then added about 1 ½ -2 Tablespoons of the lemon twist hummus and added desired fillings, like sliced Kalamata olives, tabbouli, feta cheese, and shredded lettuce. Since the cornmeal cake was still warm, these gorditas were so amazing. I was satisfied with two of them, but knew my husband would like a few more.
If you have still not tried hummus, you are missing out for sure! It is so filling and even nutritious, why not start eating it now? Thanks to National Hummus Day, you can think of trying my recipe or even a slew of other recipes that are on Sabra’s site. Today is even more special because is giving away coupons to celebrate the day.
Check out Sabra’s website to gawk at the amazing different flavors they provide for anyone with a specific craving. I took a whole bunch of hummus flavors to a moms’ play date and they loved the fact they got to taste some flavors they had not had a chance to try yet or had not wanted to purchase, fearing they would be wasting money.
Have you eaten hummus before? How?
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Loving Care for Babies using Dreft’s NEW Laundry Products + Giveaway
May 13th, 2015Disclaimer: This is part of a sponsored collaboration with DiMe Media and Dreft. All opinions are 100% mine.
It has arrived, finally at 28 weeks, I can think of nothing else but cleaning, arranging, purging and making my home suitable for the little girl we are welcoming sometime in July. It has hit me and with that comes the preparation of newborn life. As we dig in our basement for clothes, I realize that I need to have everything cleaned again after 2 years of having them stored since my second daughter was born. Part of that process is making sure that all the clothes we have been storing smell fresh and amazing for our new arrival. Dreft welcomes families to the big, messy, beautiful journey of #Amazinghood with its new line of laundry care products.
When I received the Dreft products I was very excited to use them on my clothes because I know that I need to understand that laundry needs for little ones change as they grow and develop. Dreft, the #1 baby laundry detergent choice of pediatricians, the #1 dermatologist recommended brand for baby clothes and a trusted brand for more than 80 years, has expanded its product line-up to better meet the different life-stage needs of babies and their families.
When my husband brought up the clothes from the basement, I knew immediately I had to sort through the piles of clothing we had accumulated. After that, I was set on running several loads and prepping them for drawers in the nursery. Dreft has two different formulations to use when running laundry. Dreft Newborn is the stage one formula that expectant and new parents can wash their little one’s fabrics with Dreft’s same beloved hypoallergenic formula, designed to be tough on stains and gentle on baby’s skin with the beloved Dreft baby scent.
The newest of the two is Dreft Active Baby, stage two formula, because it is specially designed with a growing, developing baby in mind. The NEW Dreft Active Baby helps to remove 99% of baby food stains and other outdoor messes with a gentle, hypoallergenic formula and fresh scent. I can’t wait to use this when we start feeding solids to our little girls. We sure did make a few messes with my youngest two girls so anything to help with stains is welcome in our home.
The third stage includes the also NEW Dreft Blissfuls which is an in-wash scent booster giving families the baby fresh scent they love. Safe on all fabrics, these beads help bring back that nostalgic, amazing baby scent (and all those memories) with every wash. I ran a few loads of my girls clothes in the this booster and was transported to their baby years. Sigh….I cannot wait for my little squish to be in our lives.
After I ran my laundry, I realized how amazing the clothes smelled and that I need not worry about my baby’s skin due to harsh detergent since it is dermatologist-approved. Both my older girls have sensitive skin so I can only imagine that my third will have the same issues.
Watch a little video on how Dreft makes it easier to for families on every day life.
In addition to all the new products that Dreft has introduced us, they have made an app available for download called “Amazing Baby Days” which is now available for FREE on the App store. This one- of-a kind app helps parents – and parents to be – capture the amazing moments of pregnancy through their baby’s first year and has recently been updated so that moms and dads can make keepsake movies from photos and videos captured within the app!
Are you expecting soon or do you have a friend who is expecting soon? Check out these products we are giving away. There are some baby needs included like the:
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Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” at Theatre Exile {Review}
May 11th, 2015
A week ago my husband and I were able to go on a nice date into the city. Although we usually stay local we love going into the city to listen and watch concerts and performances of all kinds. This time around, we planned it well and got a chance to get our girls’ favorite sitter to come early so we could do dinner and a play at Plays and Players Theater. We were introduced to the Theatre Exile just recently and we were both excited to watch Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf especially since my husband had watched the movie version.
While many friends warned us that the subject matter was not ideally great for a date night, we were confident that we would enjoy the evening no matter what. The last few times we had been in the city we had taken the train in but never quite had enough time to get dinner before the performance or even AFTER a show. We were not happy campers. This time around we had a nice dinner at Monk’s Cafe which came recommended by many.
After dinner we walked over the the theater and grabbed the best seats in the house settled into our seats by reading the actors biographies. I had been able to read a little about what the play was all about and was even more intrigued that the main characters of the play, George and Martha, were being played by two actors who had recently been in another performance sold-out performances. I could NOT wait to see their performances. The duo last were paired together in Exile for last season’s Barrymore Nominated production of Annapurna, where Canuso also directed.
The three-act play starts up in a living room, after a faculty get-together, a middle-aged couple invite their younger counterparts over for a night-cap that spirals into an evening of wicked psychological games. The once loving but now embittered George and Martha invent new ways to get under the other’s skin as they compete for the upper hand. As the drinks flow, unwitting young guests Nick and Honey are caught in the crosshairs of this marital warfare with no place to run. Humiliation, frustration and manipulation explode with every tip of the tongue as everyone’s true self is brought to the surface and a marriage is left in shambles.
The acting was amazing and riveting every moment of the evening since there was a natural chemistry between the older married couple, the George and Martha characters, that certainly made me think there had been serious dysfunction for years. It was definitely believable! The younger couple in the older couple’s life were pretty fun to watch as their characters developed over the evening. I kept wondering what would end up happening. I was in suspense for sure!
Here is a little information about the actors because it is obvious there is serious talent on this stage. Exile’s production of Virginia Woolf is directed by Exile’s Founding Artistic Director Joe Canuso. Pearce Bunting (Boardwalk Empire on HBO, Law & Order SVU on NBC, Mamma Mia on Broadway) and Catharine Slusar (Lady M by Live Arts Festival, Wanamaker’s Pursuit by Arden Theater Co., A Dolls House by Lantern Theater) both return to Exile to play one of theater’s most notoriously dysfunctional couples George and Martha. Emilie Krause (Two Gentlemen of Verona by Delaware Shakespeare Fest, My Romantic History by Inis Nua Theatre Company) and Jake Blouch (Unnecessary Farce by Act II Playhouse, Arthur and the Red Dragon by People’s Light and Theatre Co.) play their younger counterparts Honey and Nick.
I highly recommend catching this play that is still running from May 10th until May 17th. There is pretty much a performance every evening and some matinees in between those dates. Go with a friend or your spouse and have a nice discussion afterwards.
Disclosure: We received complimentary tickets to the performance by Aversa PR. All thoughts are my own.
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Produce for Kids – Spinach and Mushroom Alfredo Pasta
May 7th, 2015This is a sponsored post with Acme and Produce for Kids.
If you opened my refrigerator you would notice that it is overflowing with vegetables. One of the my daily missions is to introduce my children to vegetables is some form whether through smoothies, omelettes, or as a side. While I will admit that my toddlers will not always eat their vegetables daily, they will at least try it. Despite this I know that kids all over this country do not have a chance to get their fruits and veggies the way we do at home which is why I was happy to have the opportunity to learn and share about the 13th annual Produce For Kids Healthy Eating Campaign.
Produce for Kids partners with the produce industry and local grocery store retailers to host several campaigns each year to raise funds for children’s non-profit organizations while educating families about the benefits of healthy eating with fresh produce. This spring, ACME stores in the Philadelphia area will join retailers nationwide to participate in Produce for Kids’ spring campaign, which will raise money for Philabundance, the area’s largest Feeding America food bank. What better way to support this campaign than to share our love for veggies by getting our girls in the kitchen with me and making this Spinach and Mushroom Alfredo Pasta.
One of the things my girls love to do is eat but I have noticed that my girls will eat a meal even better if they help me so I decided to make a meatless meal for dinner using veggies that from participating suppliers in the campaign. As I placed the ingredients on the kitchen table I explained to the girls what we would be preparing and I even suggested ingredients they might want in their dish. I was surprised that they were eager to try new flavors.
My girls sliced the To-Jo Baby Bella Mushrooms and then we pan-fried them in olive oil, with red onions and garlic. My oldest toddler added the Earthbound Farm Organic baby spinach. It was fun having the girls alternate helping. The girls had chosen baby spinach because it was cute and since they love having it in green smoothies.
Another ingredient the girls chose were pecans. We crushed some pecan and added it to the cooked veggies and added the Alfredo sauce last. While the veggie sauce simmered we cooked the pasta which ended up being a tri-color penne pasta.
Once the meal was finished the girls were excited to try their creation and they ate every bite. In fact, it was the first time that my youngest toddler consumed cooked spinach. I was excited! We all enjoyed a light dinner packed with vegetables that made for a healthy Monday night.
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The campaign will run April 24 through June 4, is supported by 11 participating fresh fruit and vegetable suppliers, representing every major category of fresh produce. ACME grocery shoppers are encouraged to purchase more nutritious fruits and vegetables and, in exchange, suppliers will make a donation to Philabundance through June 4. ACME shoppers can also sample simple, healthy Produce for Kids recipes at select stores on May 15. Many stores will host recipe demonstrations and special events featuring characters from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.
Make sure to check in-store displays and signage, featuring characters from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, which will be displayed in local grocery produce departments and will list all participating companies. The signage will direct shoppers to www.produceforkids.com, which features more than 200 registered dietitian-approved and family-tested recipes, meal planning tools, grocery store specific campaign details, and healthy tips from real parents. Shoppers are encouraged to share their own healthy recipes and ideas during the campaign using the hashtag #produceforkids.
Grocery retail partners participating in the Produce for Kids campaign include: ACME Markets; Associated Wholesale Grocers’ Major Savings, Advantage, Independent, Country Mart, Homeland and United divisions; Meijer Stores; Niemann Foods, Inc.; Price Chopper; Publix Super Markets; and Roundy’s Supermarkets, Inc’s Pick n’ Save, Copps and Metro Market divisions.
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Moist Strawberry Rhubarb 7-up Cake
May 5th, 2015
Mother’s Day is coming up already and I simply cannot believe it! It seems like as soon as we have one holiday there is another one around the corner. Although my mother and mother-in-law are far away, I always keep them in mind and send them something to remind them how wonderful they are in our lives.
When I think of all the wonderful things my mother did for me growing up, I feel like nothing I do will thank her enough. Have you thought of it? The sacrifices, the pain, the toil, the patience — it is pretty amazing. I see myself as a soon-to-be mother of three, and I thank God for all the training and upbringing my mother did for my sister and I to be where we are today. I love her for it and even more, I feel blessed by her and her quiet strength.
No matter what our pasts have been like, always thank God for giving you the mother he did because they were chosen to be your parent. No one tells you about the personal struggles that mothers go through but it is unspoken and understood the emotional and spiritual impact it has on individual lives.
What kind of legacy do you want to leave for your girls? I thank the Lord in heaven for being blessed with my two girls and I pray that he gives me wisdom to raise them according to Scripture. I am thankful for having children and being able to raise them and I thankful for a husband that helps with the girls too.
As a mother, what are you thankful for?
If you are getting together with friends or celebrating YOUR mother, make this Moist Strawberry Rhubarb 7-up Cake. My mother loves 7-up cake and I grew up making it for parties or for friends coming over to visit. I simply took the original recipe, made some strawberry rhubarb compote and added a layer in the middle of the cake and then made a strawberry rhubarb glaze for the outside. It is out of this world good!
It is strawberry and rhubarb season so you simply CANNOT ignore this recipe. You will have leftover strawberry rhubarb compote so make sure you eat it with a bowl of vanilla ice cream. Have a marvelous week ladies!
adapted from my Strawberry-Lime 7-up Cake
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