What an excellent gift for Father’s Day!  I received an awesome steak knife set- Wusthof’s Grand Prix II Four Piece Steak Knife Set in red!  If you know much about American Football- you’d know the Nebraska Cornhuskers’ color is red.  Half the people I know have Husker basements or garages.  The ladies usually put a restriction on where the man can decorate with Husker stuff.   I limit Husker stuff to the garage.  Sorry- not having a huge stadium picture in my basement, excuse me, lower level.  To be somewhat PC, some women like decorating their houses with sports crap.  Anyway – I still like accenting my kitchen with the color red and so red is the color of my accessories that aren’t stainless.  Perfect.

Only filets were worthy of trying out our new knives – so I put my husband to the task of actually grilling the steak.  A man that cooks is a total turn on.  Buuuuut… not my husband- he flips out over every little thing.  “Where is everything?!” “What do I do!?”  “How do I handle the pressure!?”  Of course my handy meat thermometer, which I’ve had over 10 years and has never failed me, had to die while he was grilling the filets.  He was so nervous about over-cooking them, he panicked and needed me to check the thermometer right this second!  In a flustered rush of annoyance, I grabbed the thermometer to pull it out.  I usually just put it in periodically and never actually leave it in.  Oops.  The grill was 400 degrees.  You could hear the quick sizzle of my left thumb and pointer finger.  I ran inside and put ice in it right away and internally scolded my husband and myself for the next few hours.  But miraculously, the steaks turned out perfectly medium rare!  It is possible to properly cook a steak without thermometers.  I only use them for pork and hamburgers actually.  If you’re a man reading this, NOTE: to turn a woman on by cooking – take it all in stride and uh, with a grain of salt.  Do not freak out or you have ruined the whole point.  If you cannot do this, instruct significant other to leave the room so you still seem cool.

The burns were kind of a blessing in disguise for trying out the new knives.  I only had to hold my fork in my left hand for a second while I sliced right through the filet like it was the most tender filet in the world – or like ”hot butter,” in my husband’s words.   I was actually about to buy a nice set of steak knives but opted to get our cheaper ones from 10 years ago professionally sharpened.  Those work much better than they did before- but nothing like these red Wustof’s.  However, I really wouldn’t recommend burning yourself just to check the validity of a knife.

With the whole thermometer fiasco – I knew exactly what to get the husband for Father’s Day!  Shhhhh

If you want to read more on the quality of the knives, click here.  I don’t go into much detail since everyone already knows the quality the Wusthof name brings.  These red steak knives are sold exclusively at Williams Sonoma.  Love that store.  Love love love.

Disclosure: I received free product from Wusthof.  However, if I don’t like a product, I just don’t review it.  I’m the worst liar in the world.

It’s that time of year again for me to get inspired.  When it gets a little warmer and the sun comes out from behind the clouds, my kitchen gets some more use out of it!  I was lucky enough to get six bottles of goods from Saucy Mama - and it really is all sooooo good!  Really, it’s all delicious.  Keep reading, there’s going to be a giveaway.

I love sushi.  Love it.  But making sushi is still a bit terrifying – even though I have an amazing Japanese sister-in-law who will help me if I ask her (I just ask her to make sushi for family events – I’m sure she’s sick of it).  So, I kinda figured I’d just make a more relatable sushi.  Vegetarian though since adding crab to this dish could be nasty…or delicious?  Because I used quinoa instead of rice- we’re getting some more protein in there so the fish isn’t so necessary!  This really is a yummy meal and something totally different than any quinoa dish I’ve had before.  And, this is so much faster and easier than making sushi.

Deconstructed Quinoa Sushi

Ingredients:

• 1 cup quinoa
• 1/2 cup Saucy Mama Pacific Rim Ginger Dressing
• 1 small avocado, diced
• 2 medium tomatoes (I used Kumato), diced  – cucumber could be used to be truer to sushi – but I thought tomato would be better for this
• 8 sheets crunchy seaweed snacks

Method:

• Cook quinoa according to package instructions
• Add Pacific Rim Ginger Dressing to the quinoa – continue to cook on low until sauce is absorbed – about 3 minutes
• Remove from heat and cool- either room temperature or chilled
• Right before serving, add avocado and tomato, stir
• Sprinkle top with seaweed snacks prior to eating – don’t wait too long to eat or the seaweed will lose its crunch!

Gotta tell you, this was fun to make and eat!  If you’re serving to friends it may be cute to give everyone an individual little bowl of crunchy seaweed snacks to sprinkle on their own.  Good times.

Excellent news!  This sauce is part of the giveaway!  Along with Saucy Mama Tarragon Mustard (another recipe coming soon) and Saucy Mama Sweet Heat Marinade.

So, how do we win this delicious package?

Comment!  If you want another chance- tweet this (and clue me in @healthytasty) and comment again that you did it.  The deadline is Monday, May 23rd – but I believe they have extended it- unfortunately, I somehow deleted the email – so keep commenting until I announce a winner and you should be good:)

This is sad, three months later, I am finally writing something.  Here’s why aside from the obvious.  Taking a picture – I wanted to take a picture of what I made but it was too time consuming because I wanted to make it look nice.  Stupid reason – so now I’ll just borrow a shot from the folks at Red Gold! 

So I received this awesome package of a few different types of canned tomatoes to test out, a cookbook using their tomatoes, and a sweet toy truck that my son loves playing with.  And then every time I see it I feel guilty I haven’t written this review yet!  Well, now I am and it’s one less thing to feel guilty about…phew.  I’ve gotta tell you, I love the cookbook- it seems to me more  of a mom cookbook – a pregnant mom who is constantly exhausted and just wants to make something quick ‘n easy.  Well, and also a new mom who is constantly exhausted…or just anyone who wants some easy recipes!   These recipes are also on their website. 

I only have made this one Cheeseburger Macaroni recipe over and over since it’s relatively healthy and my son loves it.  The cooked/caramelized onion flavor adds a subtle flavor kick.  The mild flavor means my son loves it, while it’s flavorful enough that my husband and I like it too- it’s reminiscent of the old grade-school goulash.  You know…the spaghetti kind, not the Hungarian kind.  Or…just a much healthier boxed version:)  We have a good time cooking it together (he helps measure and add ingredients) – and it ended up being one of my cravings.  It was some of the only meat I craved while pregnant and one of the only meaty dishes my son will eat, and since he needs his protein to grow big and strong, I was happy to make this for him.  In fact, I think a craving is coming on as I am typing this.  Haven’t made this in over a month!

Here’s the original recipe and here’s my adapted version:

Cheeseburger Macaroni

• 1 pound ground beef or bison or turkey
• 1/2 chopped onion
• 1 14.5oz can Red Gold diced tomatoes
• 1 cup quinoa pasta veggie curls [gluten free]  (fun colored curls entice my 3 year old son)
• 2 cups shredded mild cheddar

Method:

• Cook onion over medium heat until clear
• Add meat until cooked- drain if fatty
• Add tomatoes and 1 cup water, boil
• Add veggie curls and bring to a boil
• Cook until pasta is done, add cheese, mix and serve

 Disclosure: I received free product from Red Gold Tomatoes

The original Weight Watchers recipe my mom made is here.  Instead of using two light 6oz containers of yogurt, my mom always used three.  What bothers me about the yogurt my mom uses in the original recipe is that it contains aspartame, which I’ve read plenty of negative things about, including that it may cause birth defects.  So, light yogurts and products containing aspartame are definitely out for me!  Then there’s the light Lime Jell-O, also sweetened with aspartame.  The original version has so many more calories to make this a light dessert, that I didn’t want to go that route either…not to mention the artificial colors!  And reduced-fat or regular-fat graham cracker pie crust bought at the regular grocery store always is made with Partially Hydrogenated oils within the first few ingredients.  Lastly, the only other ingredient in there, is Cool Whip.  Oh goodness, where do I start with Cool Whip?  My husband loves the flavor, but I can’t stand buying it or feeding it to my son since it’s just a bunch of fake ingredients.  Here’s an article from Savvy Brown Blog entitled “Cool Whip Can Kill You” that made me smile.  In it, she fills you in on the ingredients and why it scares her.  Of the ingredients in Cool Whip, I don’t mind the water or xantham gum:)  Savvy Brown also gives you some alternative products you can buy, but the brand I bought, TruWhip, isn’t on that list.  I think it’s pretty doggone close and tasty, but my husband, the Cool Whip connoisseur, disagrees.  His taste buds don’t mind fake crap though!  Maybe if I didn’t tell him and put it on top of something, he would never know…  To the folks over at Cool Whip, if you ever happen upon this post, I’d be happy to buy your product if you make a natural version!

*** I normally hate Stevia since it tastes so bitter, I don’t use it.  According to the current research, it’s the most natural zero calorie sweetener and what you should be using.  Everyone says the least bitter brand is NuNaturals – but I bought their liquid drops and found them to be bitter as well.  Giving it one last shot, I bought their box of little powder packets and, at least in this recipe, do not detect any bitterness.  However, it’s a pretty slight ingredient in the pie.

First, a note on the Kefir… I originally bought So Delicious Strawberry Coconut Milk Kefir to give it a shot since, although I love kefir, sometimes the flavor can overwhelm other ingredients in my smoothies.  Also, kefir (milk and coconut milk) has probiotics which are great for your digestive health – and although many people that are lactose intolerant can eat yogurt and kefir with no problem- I figured it’s better to be safe than sorry for my husband – who has that intolerancy we think.  The flavor of this coconut kefir is far more mild with a fantastic hint of coconut.  I love this stuff!

Then there’s the coconut.  There seems to be, over the past several years, a huge new wave of coconut lovers and followers, plenty of coconut oil diets and loads of websites dedicated to the health benefits of coconut.  In Nourishing Traditions, Sally Fallon talks about the health benefits saying, “It provides calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, iodine and many trace minierals.”  She discusses the fact that 60% of the coconut is fat and of that fat, 92% is saturated – but not to avoid coconut products.  The main fatty acid in the coconut is lauric acid, a “medium-chain 12-carbon saturated fatty acid that has potent antiviral, antifungal and antimicrobial properties.”  The medium-chain fatty acids in coconut also strengthen the immune system.  For a few more sources to read on coconut (treating AIDs and candida!), check these out: Coconut Research Center, Weston A Price, Organic Facts and make sure to check out the articles in those sites about Thailand!  In Thailand, coconut is part of the staple diet and Sally Fallon says that according to the National Cancer Institute, of the 50 countries tested, Thailand has the lowest cancer rate.  Coincidence?

Yesterday, I’m looking in the fridge for a new dessert for our dinner menu.  Pineapple, leftover bread, pastry cream, caramel sauce.  Oh, and Puerto Rican Rum brought back from the island two weeks ago.  Usually, as soon as I see leftover bread, I’m already reaching for the milk, eggs, whisky and raisins for a classic warm, decadent bread pudding with whisky sauce.  However, with the pineapple eyeing me in the fridge, I’m also thinking of upside-down cake!

If I have a large skillet and the proper ingredients I am all about making a dessert that requires the very exciting exercise of flipping a cake on to a plate! An “upside down cake” is certainly not new – skillet cakes date back centuries.  Tart Tatin, New England Plate Cake, German Skillet Pancakes to name a few.  These desserts were created because of the mother of invention – home cooks had skillets and pots to cook, sometimes loaf pans or cake pans.  But if they could caramelize the sugar over the heat, add fruit, top it with a lid and bake it – their dessert was finished, all in one pan.  Flipping it on to the plate made for a pretty presentation rather than scooping it out like a cobbler.

But back to my fetish of bread pudding.  I grabbed the bread and started cutting it into cubes, prepping my mouth for the bliss of whisky-soaked raisins and buttery-silky whisky sauce.  All of a sudden, I had a crystal-clear picture of the pineapple rings and brown sugar sauce drizzling DOWN the bread pudding, blending with buttery-silky sauce.  So I continued on the road to Bread Pudding with a detour down Upside-Down Cake Lane.  Voile!  Fresh pineapple rings, pecans and brown sugar on the bottom, soaked bread cube-raisin mix on top of that and in the oven it went.

Photo Courtesy Jessica Raia-Long

For at least an hour, the aroma in the kitchen was fabulous.  (I’m singing that word!)  And once I thinned out some pastry cream with a bit of caramel sauce and drizzled in rum, the sauce was ready to serve.  I didn’t immediately flip the bread pudding on to a plate because the soufflé look is too good to just throw away with a flip of the wrist.  The puffy, golden dessert – I could dig right into it with a fork and like a fondue skewer, dunk into the sauce.  But I did have some sense of self-discipline and conceded to the original, unique idea.  The pudding was flipped and there was my Pineapple Upside-Down Bread Pudding with Caramel-Rum Sauce. 

And my regular, Annie, on her weekly volunteer trip from the local humane society, jumped on the chance to have another one of my passionate desserts.  I think she just likes to her my “how-to” story.

Here’s just another random hodgepodge of some more snack ideas for your toddler.  For my original list, check out Toddler Snack Ideas.  My son is now 2 1/2 and his palate is ever-changing.  I am a huge snacker and usually don’t eat very big meals, so of course I’ve inadvertently taught my son (who I’ll call O) my snacking habit.  I guess this is another reason why I don’t make big meals too often (poor husband), because my son and I snack so much that it’s hard to justify a big meal! 

• Rotisserie Chicken- I like to buy mine from Costco- it’s cheap, bit, moist and always has an excellent flavor (I don’t eat the skin so couldn’t tell you about that).  But when Whole Foods has them on sale, I do feel better about buying them there!  Right when I get home I just rip it all up into small bite-sized chunks and put it into a bowl.  O thinks it’s cool to get an adult sized fork out and go to town on the BIG bowl. I always serve this with fruit on the side and lots to drink- since unfortunately, rotisserie is so salty.  On the other hand, it makes me feel good to finally get some protein in my son since he generally avoids meat
• Pistachios – I used to have a candy bowl at home at all times, but when O got bigger, it just wasn’t worth having that temptation for him.  Depending on the candy, I could ignore it forever, but not my little guy!  So I switched to a healthier habit and put pistachios in the jar instead.  He loves sitting down, trying to open the pistachios and eating them – again, I like to serve it with fruit to counter balance the saltiness.  Pistachios are a softer nut so they are the first kind I felt comfortable with him eating.  Plus, opening them is a fun thing to do for little kids.  (Just make sure your kid is old enough not to eat the shells!)  Cashews are another good soft nut for smaller kids to be able to chew, though not as fun as pistachios and I get sick of them much quicker.
• Sugar Snap Peas- Edamame was on my last toddler snack post, so these are a similar fun snack for him to eat something green.  Plus, they have a natural sweetness that is more appetizing to kids.  The stringier dry ones are no good- look for the plumper kind in-season in the summer.  Sometimes, he has me open them and picks out the peas and sometimes he gnaws on the whole thing.
• Pomegranate Seeds- This is something he asks for all the time and unfortunately, they are not in season so I can’t find any right now.  He gets up on the coutertop and helps me de-seed them in water.  This is a fun activity for him, and then when we’re all done I give him a spoon and he eats the seeds by the spoonful -usually finishing one pom within a day or two!  Again, something I don’t know if a younger toddler is ready for yet.
• Yogurt, berries and chia/salba seeds.  I also use my Chia Goodness.  This snack works best when I make it for myself and he steals it from me.  It’s also a great breakfast of course. 
• Nutella out of the jar.  Yeah, not healthy but I justify it by limiting the amount he eats and the fact that it’s made of healthy hazelnuts and antioxidant chocolate -but of course…it’s not dark chocolate and there are added-ingredients.  Shhh, ignore that last part!  Hey, I understand this snack since half of my family is Italian.
• Orange slices with the peel.  O doesn’t like to eat orange slices unless I do my best to get rid of the insdie and outside skin – which is pretty tough but I do it out of love anyway for him sometimes- otherwise, he ends up spitting it out anyway.  Well, duh, I can just cut up the orange into 8-12 sections with the peel on and there’s a new fun way to eat an orange! 
• So Delicious coconut milk mini fudge bars.  70 calories, dairy free, 3 g fiber, 6g sugars and 1 g protein – a great occasional snack and he thinks he’s getting ice cream!  (He loves these but does prefer ice cream anyway, I love eating these as well!)
• Greens + Energy Bar – I’ve tried other brands and he wont’ eat them and I prefer this kind as well.  You’ve gotta love the ingredients!  You can check it out here.
• Bolthouse Farms Chocolate Soy Protein Drink- from my previous post actually!  It’s been a great snack for both of us.
• Cascadian Farm Fruitful O’s – okay, this is the natural answer to Apple Jacks or Fruit Loops, which I won’t let him try -due to all the artificial ingredients, added colorings, high fructose corn syrup, preservatives and hydrogenated fats.  I do remember eating them out of the box in high school on road trips with girlfriends so the flavor and the thought of them makes me happy.  Now I can take a trip down memory lane myself and enjoy this cereal right along with him!  It has none of the bad artificial crap and it actually tastes really good rather than the slightly sweetened cardboard that some other brands have tried to fool us with!  I actually cannot stop eating them.  I feel like a big kid.  For breakfast, I usually eat an egg and some sort of whole grain toast for some protein and fiber, but I reserve these for an afternoon not-so-guilty pleasure.  These are new, so if you see them, buy them!  We don’t want Cascadian Farm to stop making these!
• Ian’s French Toast Sticks – Cinnamon and Honey - I think they did a darn good job of making the nutrition facts on these far better than your average restaurant french toast stick – and they are made with whole wheat flour.  Not really considered a “health food” in my opinion, but if you are in a hurry, they make a fun snack.  Five pieces have 250 calories, 9g fat, 6g fiber, 6g protein and 5g sugar.  I give him small bowl of real maple syrup – Grade B of course - and he usually eats 2-3 and then he’s finished.  I usually eat what he doesn’t.  Wait a second…as a mom you’re not supposed to do that.  Darn!  Ian’s also makes gluten free french toast sticks, but I have not tried that version yet.   

As usual, if you have any more ideas, please comment below, and I’d be interested in hearing what you have to say!  I will also continue on as O gets older with new snack/mini-meal ideas!

I’ve been wanting to make some tree-nut free and peanut-free cookies with SunButter for quite some time now, and I finally got around to doing it!  My version tastes like trail mix.  Except instead of hiking around I’m sitting here on my butt typing this.  I’ve actually never tried a SunButter cookie before.  I usually make peanut butter cookies.  But with the fact that pretty much every school has gone peanut free and I didn’t like my last batch of almond butter cookies, I decided to try something different (for me).  You know how when you eat sunflower seeds, you kinda taste them near the back of your tongue on both sides?  The seed butter has the same effect on me so by eating the cookies, I do get that lingering sunflower flavor on the back sides of my tongue.  I’m a pretty sensitive taster, so maybe it’s just me?  Regardless, I like eating sunflower seeds and really like these cookies!

I added oats to bulk up the cookie and make it a little hearty.  The coconut flakes give it little nuttniess.  Coconut can be considered a tree-nut, but most people with tree-nut allergies are not allergic to coconut.  If you are, just omit it.  To read more about tree nut allergies, check this out.  The pumpkin seeds give the cookies a great crunch along with extra nutrients, and the hemp seeds give it a nice kick of Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids.  The raisins add some extra sweetness and chewyness.  All in all, I love the texture of the cookie- a little crunchy on the outside but soft on the inside! 

If you don’t know much about where they come from and only see propoganda videos, it’s pretty interesting to see what most people don’t get to see.  Anyway, details on that another day and back to the egg salad!  Currently, I love how egg yolks contain choline, which is important for everyone but especially pregnant women and nursing mothers.  It helps to reduce the risk of brain and spinal cord defects in the baby.  And you pregnant women thought only folic acid and omega 3′s were extra important!

I lightened up this egg salad  with Greek yogurt.  If you like that idea, check out my Sonoma Chicken Salad!  I still like to add a little bit of mayo for flavor, though I use the organic olive oil version – tastes spectacular.  No, I do not make my own and I don’t think I use it enough to be interested…yet!  To lighten it up even more, you could toss some of the yolks, but I kept them in for the nutrients.  Also, some people chop up a ton of onions for their egg salad, and to me that ruins it.  Too many crunchy onions and after I’m done eating- I still eat far more than I would have just to get rid of the onion taste in my mouth.  It sticks around forever!  However, a hint of the onion is nice so I slice up the green part of green onions and put a little in there for balance.  Personally, I don’t use the stalky white part of the green onion because it gives more of the onion crunch that sticks with me all day.

I was in the mood for a nice and classic egg salad.  Nothing fancy, but a great classic done my way.  Easter is coming up… what are you going to do with your leftover eggs?

I was going to town on this after making it by dipping cucumber slices in the bowl.

Hey!  You may be here to see who the allbarstools.com Le Creuset giveaway winner is!  Random.org picked #35…congratulations Christine!!!