Lean ground beef is an excellent source of meal-prep protein, packed with ZIP (zinc, iron and protein) and only about 150-ish calories for a cooked 3 ounces serving (4 ounce uncooked). My master recipe for Make Ahead Italian Ground Beef is easy to make, economical, ultra-versatile and freezes/defrosts beautifully rendering it ideal for freezer meals, meal prepping and make-ahead solutions.
Time and time again, I’ve used these deliciously seasoned beef crumbles in wholesome, hearty recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The recipe is basic, but the way it can be used in dishes is limited only to your imagination. Read on to get all the details and get a juicy, meaty jump start on your daily protein needs. Continue reading →
If I could pick the perfect pepper, it would be a Hatch green chile. In season for just a short time in late summer, these long, fleshy peppers are amazingly delicious grown in the soils of Hatch, NM along the Rio Grande. Because I’m a bona find Hatch-horder (one time having over 75 pounds of fire-roasted peppers in my freezer), I have yet another delicious recipe to share – Hatch Chile Breakfast Bake!
It’s real family pleaser and can be served for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Heck, crumble up the leftovers in a tortilla, douse in hot sauce and avocado and get to town! Read on to get the recipe and all the details, better hurry before Hatch season ends.
When kids are young, you can have almost total control over their existence, including what they eat. In fact, it’s good parenting to offer a wide variety of wholesome foods, starting early on to get a clean-eating lifestyle established. But, as they grow up and fly the coop, decisions big and small, and not just about food, become entirely up the them.
This month my oldest is leaving two years of dorm life to live in an apartment for the first time. There will be plenty of decisions to make – gas for the car vs. video games, making it to class on time vs. sleeping in, eating ramin noodle cups and vending machine donuts vs. preparing healthy meals at home. All these years I’ve been teaching him how to make good choices, and more recently, how to cook. For my own peace of mind, I’m sending off a care package this week packed with a Chocolate Cashew Baked Oat Cups made with a favorite pantry staple, Silk® Unsweetened Vanilla Almondmilk Bottles.
Are you ready to have your avocado-loving mind blow? In a pinch, you can soften a rock-hard avocado in the microwave in 2 minutes or less!
Most of us know that firm avocados take a couple days or more to achieve that magical yet fleeting soft, creamy state, even using tricks like storing next to a banana, sticking in a brown paper bag, or even burying in a canister of flour. When you need a soft avocado STAT and not “someday,” this microwave trick (probably my best of many avocado hacks yet), will save the day.
Please note, this is not the very most OPTIMAL way to enjoy a softer avocado, because obviously that would be natural avocado ripening. But like I said, sometimes we just don’t have time for that! It’s still an effective avocado softening solution that can help your satisfactorily get of a pinch at meal time.
Pick an avocado: Choose your avocado to “ripen” in the microwave. This will be a hard avocado, not yielding to gentle pressure – because if it does have that “give,” it’s ready to be cut or mashed up and devoured. This technique works best with rock hard to very firm avocados. For example, the avocados I used could not even be cut in half and twisted from the seed. If that seed (pit) seems too hard to get out, an avocado tool can help and is much safer than a knife.
Prepare the avocado: There’s not much to do, except use a fork or small paring knife to add a few prick marks to allow any steam forming to escape. While some have suggested removing the seed before microwaving an avocado, I find that it holds the heat that helps soften the avocado from the middle.
Microwave the avocado: Set whole avocado in center of microwave and use “defrost” or “low” setting to microwave in 30 second intervals. Between each 30 second blast, allow avocado to sit for 30 more seconds to slowly and gently used the heat that is building up in the seed. I usually do 3 to 4 cooking increments (totaling1:30 to 2 minutes of cook time). Use care when removing avocado from microwave, it may feel like a hot potato. When cool enough to touch, gently squeeze to ensure desired softness. If still hard, microwave for another increment or two, until done. Please not that these directions will vary based on 1) the avocado size, 2) the avocado ripeness, 3) the wattage of your microwave, and 4) fate.
The only caveat to this avocado hack is that the taste may not be as blissfully “avocado” as ripening the natural way. Some have said this microwave hack “diminishes” the taste – I didn’t find that to be true. What you will be tasting is an avocado that is not fully ripe but has been tricked into being soft – how can something be diminished, if it has not acquired its fully state of being. There I go being philosophical about fruit again!
Regardless, this little trick is a lifesaver if you realize you have a company coming and your investment in avocados aren’t cooperating. So, you’ll just add a little more lime juice and garlic to your guacamole, the creaminess will still be there! It not guac, then the avocado will still be soft enough for slicing (I like this avocado tool). I was able to put this hack to the test in a big way when I realized I had about 20 pounds of avocado “rocks” last weekend when two hours away from teaching a class on how to grill produce – including grilled avocados.
(Updated 7/15/2020) Over this busy summer weekend, everyone was delighted to have a big batch of my Cherry Wheat Berry Super Salad on hand for a picnic lunch down at the lake and leftovers to pair next day with our grilled steaks. Cherry season makes me want to do a happy dance and this year was no exception, especially because I scored both Bing and Rainer cherries on sale for a pittance!
In addition to sweet cherries, this satisfying, savory-sweet salad features iron-rich spinach, satiating nuts and seeds, and whole-grain wheat berries. Not to mention feta and balsamic vinaigrette for even more flavor. The ingredients all marry beautifully together – you won’t be cherry-picking the fruit out, you’ll be licking the bowl clean! Continue reading →
