My Height and Healthy Food

 I always admire people that are taller because they can pretty much reach  things that are placed in a higher place.  I am  tiny and short which makes me wish that I am a little taller especially in the store and I want to reach something but I can't because of my height.  But, this is what  is given to me so a step stool is one of the tool that we have at home.  I always use it especially if I need to put or get something up in the closet.  It doesn't matter that I am short anyway because there are things that I can use to compensate my height, right folks?

I would say that my height is  a genetic thing  so no matter  what I do, I won't be any taller lol.  However, I can be as healthy as I can be if I  choose to eat healthy food and  maintain regular exercise.  

Wild Rice, Grilled Chicken, and Veggies

Cooking food at home for your family is  a lot cheaper and healthier.  I am so amazed that I like cooking now.  I hated it when I was still single but now, it is my pleasure to cook for my  husband and children.  I feel good whenever they like what I prepare for them.  I don't  work outside home so I make sure to feed my family  a good meal.

 This kind of menu is very easy to make.  I always buy the wild rice in a box and  the  frozen veggies that I could easily cook in a bag, season it and voila, instant dinner.

One of their favorite  main dish is  grilled chicken breast.  It's a great  pair for the veggies and rice.

Breakfast Basket

On August 16th, my daughter was so eager to cook us some breakfast.  She was however very disappointed of the outcome of her Breakfast Basket as it got burned.  She forgot to  put the timer of the oven so  she forgot that  she was baking something.  Here's what she prepared.

Nevertheless, we ate it anyway.  The  big lesson she  learned was to pay attention when she is cooking.  She was  doing something on her iPod so even though she was  at the kitchen, the food she was baking got burned a little bit.

Chocolate Cake

If there's one family that never  forget to thank Veterans on Veteran's Day is the Mascio Family.  They are the most down-to-earth people I know.  They don't act like they are above anyone else even  if they belong to the  clan of Doctors.  Every year, they give the veterans from our street  a cake to thank them for their services.  I think that it is so sweet of them.  Not many people appreciates Veterans you know.  

I believe this comes from Guss's Goodies.  A popular place here in Weirton when it comes to  cakes, cookies, and other sweet treats.  I like their cakes except the  thick layer of  icing.    I mean the icing is good itself but  it is so thick that it would kind of make you feel sick just by looking at it lol.

Anyway, our heartfelt thanks to the Mascio Family for always remembering lour Veteran at home.  It really means a lot!  

Kahlua Braised Beef

Instead of making stir fried beef, I decided to  make a Kahlua Braised Beef with mushrooms, carrots, and potatoes.  I actually just made this up lol.

Ingredients

1 lb.  stir fry cut beef

2 medium sized carrots

2 medium sized potatoes

1 pack button mushrooms

1 piece  lemon grass

1 large tomato, sliced

1 medium sized onion,  chopped

1/2 cup kahlua beer

1 tablespoon  mirin

2 tbsp. butter

1 tsp basil

salt and pepper to taste

 Procedure:

• Melt the butter in a sautee pan and  add the onion to caramelize.
• Take out the caramelized onion then using the same pan, add the beef and let it brown.
• Add the vegetables, kahlua beer, mirin, and spices.
• Cooked for  45 minutes.
• Add the caramelized onion and cook gor another 15 minutes.  

The beef is so tender and it soaked up all the flavors from the veggies.  Serve it with rice or fried rice and it's yummy!

My husband is not very fond of  mushrooms but he find this dish very delicious so he ate  a bunch of mushrooms as well.  Mushroom is one of my daughter's favorite veggie.

Homemade Pumpkin Pie

I decided to make  some pumpkin pie since I have a bunch of pumpkin puree at home.  I used the recipe that I found online.  The recipe is  courtesy of Nancy Fuller from the show Farmhouse Rules.  I modified some of the ingredients though.

Ingredients:
4 cups pumpkin puree
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup half and half
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs 

1 store bought pie crust

1/2 cup  sliced almonds

Direction:

•  Add the condensed milk, cream, cornstarch, molasses, canola oil, cinnamon, ginger, salt and eggs and combine thoroughly with the pumpkin puree.

• Pour the filling into the crust and bake until the filling is set in the center, about 1 hour.  I added some sliced almonds for some nutty flavor, it was a nice a touch!

 Transfer the pie to a rack and cool for 30 minutes. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

 We topped  the pumpkin with the redi whip.

It's my first time making a pumpkin pie amnd it turned out okay.  Hubby said it was delicious but I thought it was a bit egg-ish so I think that next time I would make again, I would reduce the egg.  Also, the  crust did not bake as I wanted it to so maybe, I will make the filling a little thin next time.  I mean,  just  use 3 cups of pumpkin puree instead of 4.

If you want to know how to make a pie crust, here is the recipe:

Easy Pie Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for flouring
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup (11 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Directions
For the pumpkin: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Remove the stem from the pumpkin and scrape out the insides, discarding the seeds. Cut the pumpkin in half and lay the pieces cut-side down on a rimmed baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Rub canola oil all over the skin and bake until fork-tender, about 1 hour. Let cool.

For the easy pie crust: While the pumpkin is cooking, make the crust. In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt. Add in the butter and work into the dough with a fork until the mixture is crumbly. Stir in just enough cold water (4 to 5 tablespoons) with a fork just until the flour is moistened. Divide the dough in half, shape each half into a ball and flatten slightly. Wrap one ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate for another use.

Roll out the remaining dough ball on a lightly floured surface to a 12-inch round. Transfer to a 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Fold the overhangs under and crimp decoratively. Pierce the dough all over with a fork. Chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

Line the crust with foil, fill with dried beans or pie weights and bake until the sides are set, about 12 minutes. Remove the foil and beans. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.

Scones

My 9-year old  pastry chef wannabe has been exploring different kinds of recipe and bake them.  She recently just learned how to make scones.  We watched one of the episodes of  Pioneer woman show on TV and one of her  recipe was to make scones.  

The one we watched was a sweet kind of scones and daughter made the savory ones which was perfect to eat with my home made tomato soup!

I will asked her  to give me the recipe so I could share it here.  

Electric Wine Opener

Disclosure: The author of this blog was NOT financially compensated to write this review. Opinions expressed is not in anyway influenced by other factors. The product/s mentioned below was provided for FREE for evaluation purposes.

With all the stressful situation that we've had the past month, I've decided to open up a bottle of cocktail mix for  me to enjoy.  I bought this cocktail mix last Christmas but I never got to open it. I used  the electric wine opener that I recently received for review from  Ozeri to open the bottle of Rose's Cocktail Infusion.  

This electric Wine Opener rocks!  Imagine the first rechargeable stainless-steel electric wine opener with an infrared wine thermometer and digital LCD screen, that's pretty awesome right?  We don't normally drink wine at home but this is so good to have for entertaining purposes.  I love that it matches our  stainless steel kitchen appliances.  .

The non-contact sensor instantly displays wine bottle and room temperature on its Digital LCD screen.  It comes with a new improved second  generation battery and the motor effortlessly opens up to 80 wine bottles on a single charge.   So if you love entertaining at home with fine wine, this wine opener is a must have.  

The digital battery meter is displayed on an LCD screen so you can gauge whether to charge it or not.  Lastly, it includes an elegant recharging base and compact foil cutter packaged in an black gift box.

You can get this Electric Wine Opener at amazon via this link for a a very low price of $38.97 with free shipping.  This would make a great  gift this coming holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Normally, this cocktail is   good when you mix it with vodka and shake it with ice but since we don't drink vodka, we just drink this as it is is.  

We love pomegranate so this was a perfect choice for us to open.  Even the kids had a sip from my glass and they liked it.  Thanks again Ozeri for this  very modern and  elegant wine opener.

Pumpkin Puree

I pureed  some pumpkin for the first time.  I am planning to make some pie  and  probably soup out of it.  Here's how I did it:

• Cut the pumpkin into desired sizes.  Lay the meat  on a foil and bake it for  90 minutes.  My pumpkin was thick so I had to bake it longer than  regular  thin pumpkins.

•  When the pumpkin is cooked through, peel the skin off and put the meat in the blender.  Blend it till it's all pureed.

• To make sure that the puree is totally cooked, I boiled  it  for an hour before storing it.

I have plenty of pumpkin puree here at home and I am planning to buy me some pie crust so I can make some pies.  My daughter said she is going to make some pumpkin bread.