July 2015 - NY Foodie Family

Friday Favorites {Week 25}

Posted on July 31, 2015 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

Happy Friday and last day of July! It’s sad that the summer is officially half over, as the kids start back at school on September 1st. We are planning to make the most of it though and have lots of fun stuff planned for August! Here are this past week’s favorites:

1. Our basil plant – If you follow on Instagram, you may have seen this picture already of our basil plant. I thought there was no hope of us having any basil since we planted the seeds ages ago and didn’t see any growth. It’s finally grown enough that we were able to use some fresh basil in a recipe this week. It sure beats buying a small little bunch for $4 at the grocery store!

2. Netflix – Somehow, this week I have been sucked into binge-watching Revenge. I never watched the show when it was on but it’s been keeping me hooked. Since the Weekend Chef and I watch so many shows together (Orange is the New Black, House of Cards, Breaking Bad, The Killing), I’ve had to find some shows that I can watch on my own.

3. Favorite bookmarked recipe of the week – I found a new recipe link-up swap called “Tuesday’s Recipe Swap” hosted by Green Fashionista and Martinis & Bikinis. I bookmarked this Summer Pasta from Green Fashionista and have already planned to make it for dinner next week. I even get to use some of the basil from my plant!

4. Mommy Dates – I was lucky enough this week to have a dinner date and a lunch date with friends. Somehow, life has been pretty busy and I hadn’t seen these girls in months. It was great getting to catch up. The Weekend Chef and I also got to go out to eat with another couple from Supper Club last weekend and got to enjoy some good eating and drinking!

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5. Currently Reading – Not a favorite book, but I’m currently reading The Knockoff by Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza. I’ll be finishing this book today and will be giving it 3 out of 5 stars.

Hope you have a great weekend! Linking up with Amanda at Meet @ The Barre, Andrea from Momfessionals and Tif from Bright on a Budget!

Universal Yums! June 2015 Snack Box Review

Posted on July 29, 2015 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

This is a VERY late review on our June 2015 Universal Yums! snack box review. This month’s snack box was from Mexico and featured a variety of snacks and candy. I love that the flag of each month’s featured country is represented by colored tissue paper when you open the box. However, although this was only our second Universal Yums! snack box, we were a bit disappointed this month. Let’s review what was in this month’s box:

Barcel Chili Pepper & Lime Peanuts (3.2 0z) – This was a snack that the Weekend Chef got to take to work with him. “Hot” is right on the package and look at all that chili powder on those peanuts. Yes, these were indeed hot and not liked by the rest of us.

Takis Fuego (4 oz) Hot Chili Pepper & Lime flavor – this snack reminded of us rolled corn chips. They had a bitter and spicy flavor. The Weekend Chef was the only one who liked these and he got to take these to work as well.

Sabritas (Adobadas flavor) (1.59 oz) – These were “marinated flavor potato chips.” Sabritas is the brand that PepsiCo sells its Frito-Lay products in Mexico, thus the similar looking logo. These chips weren’t bad. They were a bit salty but not spicy, despite that red chili pepper on the front of the bag.

Pulparindo (0.49 oz) – We received two of these in the box. These are “hot and salted tamarind pulp candy.” Sounds real appetizing, right?! These were bitter with a lingering spicy heat. Needless to say, we were not fans.

Glorias Dulce de leche – We received two of these red wrapped candies. They were nutty and caramel-like. I found them to be very sweet but the kids liked them.

de la Rosa (1.0 oz) – We received two of these in the box as well. These are peanut mazapan that were very crumbly and dry. Our daughter liked these.

Canel’s Gum – We received four packages of this gum in different flavors including banana, apple, strawberry and “fruit” flavor. Each package contained four pieces. The kids ended up eating most of these.

Vero Mango (0.56 oz) – We received two of these in the box. These are mango lollipops covered in a spicy chili powder. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get down to the mango lollipop because the chili powder was just too much for us.

Paleta Payaso (1.59 oz) – This clown wrapped candy was cute and kid-friendly. It was a “marshmallow with chocolate flavored coating.” Yes, not chocolate, but a chocolate flavored coating. There were also gummy drop eyes and a mouth. The kids enjoyed this one.

Salsagheti (0.85 oz) – This was an interesting candy. We received watermelon flavor but discovered it also comes in a mango flavor as well. These are sour licorice-like strings of candy. What makes this snack unusual is that is comes with a packet of sauce that you’re supposed to pour on top of the candy. Well, the sauce is tamarind flavor. Not a fan! However, by themselves, the candy strings weren’t bad.

Ricolino Chocoretas (1.41 oz) – According to the enclosed information card, this candy is considered to be the “M&M’s of Mexico.” These were chocolate and artificial mint flavored balls whose flavor reminded me of Andes mints. These were another candy that the kids liked.

Ricolino Kranky (1.41 oz) – These were cornflakes coated with an artificially flavored chocolate. I liked the crunch of this candy but found the artificial chocolate flavor off-putting.

Bubu Lubu (1.23 oz) – This was a strawberry flavored jelly and marshmallow candy bar with a chocolate flavored coating. I do not really like jelly candies so I was the only one who really disliked this candy. Of course, we forgot to freeze this before eating, like the information card recommended. However, I don’t think that would have changed my dislike for it. Everyone else enjoyed it though.

Rockaleta (0.84 oz) – This was a bonus item that wasn’t on the information card. It’s a lollipop with four chili layers. I took one lick and the Weekend Chef tried to eat it but couldn’t get past the first layer. We found it to be more bitter than spicy. But like I mentioned, we didn’t get past layer one.

Duvalin (0.53 oz) – We received two of these hazelnut/strawberry flavored candies in the box. I found it to be super sweet and the taste reminded me of the inside crème filling of cheap Valentine’s Day chocolates. Not a fan! Of course the kids liked it though.

Overall, we were a bit disappointed with the June Mexico snack box. There was a variety of snacks and candy though and I think we got a good representation of what snacks are enjoyed in the country. We just didn’t really like most of them! It appears that Mexico really likes hot & spicy, tamarind and artificially flavored chocolate. This confuses the Weekend Chef since the cacao bean was taken from the Aztecs…..We had a lot of fun though trying the snacks and the kids loved to watch us and see if the Weekend Chef and I would be able to eat the hot and spicy ones (me, not so much!).

We are eating our way through the July snack box and will have a review up soon! Check out the Universal Yums! site to get more information.

*This subscription box was purchased by NY Foodie Family.

Lunch Will Never Be The Same

Posted on July 28, 2015 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

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Lunch Will Never Be The Same (Phoebe G. Green series #1) by Veera Hiranandani
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Phoebe G. Green is a relatively new chapter book series, with this first book published in October of 2014. Phoebe is a third grader who likes to make lists. She meets a new girl in her class, Camille, who is from France. Camille’s father is a pastry chef and Phoebe becomes intrigued with the interesting lunches that Camille brings to school: beet salad with goat cheese, butter lettuce salad with duck, chickpea salad with red peppers and cilantro and more. Phoebe’s family eats the same thing every week: spaghetti on Mondays, baked chicken with boxed mashed potatoes on Tuesdays, etc. Seeing the lunches that Camille brings to school, Phoebe only imagines what dinner at her house must be like. So, she comes up with a plan to get herself invited to Camille’s for dinner, so she can find out for herself.

This book will introduce your child to all different kinds of food from goat cheese and pakoras (Phoebe’s best friend Sage is Indian and she loves the pakoras that his mom makes) to Beef Bourguignon and Baked Alaska. This is a book not just about food (though there’s a lot of it mentioned in the book!). It’s also a tale about friendship and that it’s okay to make new friends and still keep your old friends. I enjoyed that it was the child in this book trying to get her parents to cook new things, versus the usual parents getting their kids to try new foods. Both of my kids each read this book on their own and thought it was an okay read.

This book is geared towards readers in early elementary school (grades 1-3) with short chapters and lots of illustrations.

*This book was borrowed from the library.

Meal Plan Monday {Week 7}

Posted on July 27, 2015 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

Here is a look at what was cooking last week in our kitchen. If you’d like to learn more about our meal planning process check out this post. At least one night a week we try to have a meatless meal. The weather wasn’t too hot this past week, so I didn’t mind turning the oven on to roast some potatoes and tomatoes and cook bacon. Most of the meals were cooked on the stove and I even used the slow cooker once this week.

Saturday: We were up in Rhode Island and had sausage, onion and pepper wedges with corn on the cob and pasta salad.

Sunday: My dad made some ginger-teriyaki glazed salmon that we had with zucchini ratatouille and leftover pasta salad.

Monday: I adapted this Chinese Spaghetti with Spicy Meat Sauce recipe from blog Mika’s Pantry. I’m working on my adaptations and this may be making an appearance on the blog soon. It was an Asian twist on the traditional Italian Spaghetti with meat sauce that the kids really enjoyed. I didn’t add the “spicy” to theirs.

Tuesday: I made Farro with Honey-Garlic Roasted Tomatoes from the December 2014 issue of Cooking Light. This was one of those times that I didn’t read the recipe in its entirety before making it. Only after it was done and I saw that there was not enough in the pot for a meal did I realize that this was meant to be a side dish. The kids were not up for running to the grocery store with me to pick up something to have with it so I ended up scrambling some eggs to fill out the meal. I liked this a lot and have recently come to enjoy farro and roasted tomatoes. The kids didn’t like it so much but did eat it mixed with their scrambled eggs. Whatever works!

Wednesday: I made Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Crockpot Chicken from blog More Than a Mom of Three. I used bone-in chicken thighs because chicken breasts always turn out dry when I make them in the slow cooker. I also used frozen chicken which ended up watering down the dish so we ended up with more of a sauce than a glaze. The kids complained that the chicken didn’t have any flavor. I may end up trying this again with defrosted boneless chicken thighs since it was so easy to prepare. I served this with some sautéed zucchini and roasted potatoes.

Thursday: We had Breakfast Fried Rice from blog How Sweet It Is. Anything with bacon is a winner in our house! And eggs again?! The kids loved it!

Friday: We had homemade pizza. Just tomato sauce and shredded mozzarella on store-bought pizza dough.

What was the best dinner you had last week?

Friday Favorites #24

Posted on July 24, 2015 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

Happy Friday! With summer in full swing, the kids and I are enjoying their vacation! This week the kids weren’t in camp so I got to enjoy some quality time with the two of them! Here are some of this week’s favorites:

1. Rainbow loom – My daughter has had her rainbow loom since it was “the big thing” a couple of years ago. It’s been sitting in her closet collecting dust but out of the blue she recently took it out and has gotten back into it. Her favorite thing to do now is watch YouTube videos on making charms. She’s made all of the charms pictured above by watching videos. It’s hard to tell from the picture but she’s made the letter “A,” a sword, a rainbow with clouds, a bowtie, a popsicle and a gnome. She has also taught her brother how to make regular bracelets (he made the ones picture above). She’s been rainbow looming non-stop!

2. Favorite bookmarked recipe of the week – These Barbecue Bacon Peach Chicken Turnovers from blog Melanie Makes. Barbecue, Bacon, Peach and Chicken are all ingredients my kids love. These will surely be a hit with them!

3. Chuck E. Cheese – I can’t remember the last time that we took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese. When I asked them if they wanted to go, of course they said yes! The smiles on their faces were priceless. Then my daughter asked, “but why?” I told her “Just for fun?!!!” And fun we all had! It was even Carnival Day at the Chuck E. Cheese and in the parking lot there were a couple of games that the kids could play to win free tokens, candy and prizes. And after what felt like hours of playing games, they had enough tickets (351 tickets to be exact) for a blow-up sword, some vampire teeth and some Chuck E. Cheese Fun Loops. Plus, we have enough tokens left over for another trip so the Weekend Chef can join in on the fun!

4. $1 Movies – Yesterday we headed down to Yonkers to the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. They have “Kids Camp” Monday through Thursday where each week they show a different movie at 11 AM and you can choose to pay $1-$3, with all ticket proceeds going to a local nonprofit. We saw Muppets Most Wanted, which we hadn’t seen when it was in theaters last year. I am very happy that I only paid $1 to see it! Although the movie had several stars including Ricky Gervais and Tina Fey, we’ve seen much better children’s movies!

5. My Apt. 9 Zipper Crossbody Bag – This purse from Kohls is an oldie but goodie (similar one on sale for $11.70!). It’s been super convenient this week when going out with the kids. It’s nice not having my big purse that keeps sliding off my shoulder. Plus, my hands were free to play some skee ball at Chuck E. Cheese! This will definitely be coming to Disney with me in August….although I just read in the latest issue of Glamour that fanny packs are making a comeback?!!! Not sure I can pull that one off……..

Linking up with Tif @ Bright on a Budget, Amanda at Meet @ The Barre and Andrea @ Momfessionals! Have a great weekend!

Mocha Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Posted on July 23, 2015 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

No matter how hard we try to eat them, we often end up with overripe bananas on our counter. I usually stick them in the freezer until I can do something with them. Well, we recently had a couple of summer days where it was surprisingly pleasant and I didn’t mind turning on the oven. So, I made these muffins. I’m not much of a baker, but I often make muffins. With some yogurt and fruit they make a really quick breakfast for the kids! These muffins remind me of these Chocolate Chip Coffee Muffins that I’ve posted but with less of a coffee flavor and more of a banana flavor. We all enjoyed these muffins and I was even able to freeze some for another day!

Mocha Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
Recipe slightly adapted from allrecipes.com courtesy of Shelley Ross

Yield: 15-18 muffins
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
3/4 cups white sugar
1 egg
2 ripe bananas
1 tablespoon instant decaffeinated coffee granules, dissolved in 1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Mix butter, sugar, egg, banana, dissolved coffee, and vanilla for approximately two minutes until combined. Add flour, salt, baking powder, and soda, and combine just until flour is mixed in. Add chocolate chips and mix in with wooden spoon. Spoon mixture into 15 to 18 paper-lined muffin cups.

3. Bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean. Cool on wire racks.

Bon Appetit Pizza

Posted on July 22, 2015 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

As a member of BzzAgent, I was recently able to try Bon Appetit pizza. We rarely eat frozen pizza. The very few previous times that I have attempted to feed my kids frozen pizza I got comments from them like “This doesn’t taste as good as your pizza!” and “I don’t like this.” So, I was a bit hesitant to try this Bon Appetit frozen pizza. However, I’m always on the lookout and game for trying new food products. With the kids in tow, we visited our local Shoprite to choose our pizza. These pizzas come in five different flavors including Mozzarella & Pesto, Spinaci, Pepperoni & Pesto, Roasted Vegetable and Trio Bacon. Of course, our store didn’t have the Trio Bacon in stock, because I know that would have been a unanimous pick.

Instead the kids settled on Pepperoni & Pesto after much debate, comments and questions including “What’s pesto?” and “But I don’t like pepperoni” (from my daughter, where my reply was, well you can pick it off). If I got to choose I would have first opted for the Trio Bacon of course, but the Spinaci and Roasted Vegetable also peaked my interest.

With the kids home for the summer, I saved the pizza for a recent rainy afternoon and had a special movie and pizza lunch. I have to say this pizza was surprisingly small. The box says it is three servings. The kids each had a quarter of the pizza and I ended up eating half of it. However, if I was really hungry, I could have totally eaten the whole thing!

I cooked the pizza on my pizza stone, which I preheated in the oven. I’m not very familiar with frozen pizzas, so not sure if it was the stone, but the pizza had a nice, crunchy crust. I was surprised that the kids didn’t complain, but did comment, that the pizza was a bit spicy. I wish the pesto flavor was more pronounced. When my daughter commented “This isn’t real pizza” I corrected her and told her that it wasn’t home-made pizza. Overall, the kids ate their pizza without any other negative complaints. I will be on the lookout for the Trio Bacon pizza to have on hand in the freezer. While I prefer making our own pizza, this is perfect for those busy nights when I just don’t feel like cooking but don’t want to order takeout. I will need to make two to feed the family, but served with a salad I think it would make a decent dinner. Have you tried Bon Appetit pizza? What’s your favorite variety?

Cora Cooks Pancit

Posted on July 21, 2015 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

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Cora Cooks Pancit by Dorina K. Lazo Gilmore
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This book was a 2009-2010 Asian Pacific American Literature Award (APALA) Picture Book Winner. There are not many children’s books out there focused on Filipino heritage and food. In this picture book, Cora’s older siblings usually help their mother with the cooking of the traditional Filipino dishes. She’s left with the “kid” jobs like licking the spoons. But one day, Cora’s brothers and sisters are all out and she is able to help her mother cook. Cora decides that she wants to make pancit, a popular, Filipino noodle dish. As Cora and her mother make the pancit, the reader is taken through all the steps in preparing this dish. Cora is able to help with all of the grown-up jobs like shredding the chicken and stirring the noodles. The real test for Cora is when her family tries the pancit. Will they like it?! Besides all of the food and cooking, this book also touches upon what it’s like to be the youngest in a family and relegated to “kid tasks.” A glossary is provided in the back with definitions of words like adobo and lumpia A recipe for pancit is also included. I don’t believe that we have ever eaten Filipino food, but this book has made us interested in trying it!

Meal Plan Monday Week 6

Posted on July 20, 2015 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

Last week there wasn’t much cooking going on in our kitchen. We had a lot of leftovers which we wanted to make use of. Plus, it was so hot in the beginning of the week it was nice not having to cook.

Sunday: Pizza – Our son had his friend birthday party. While we didn’t get a chance to eat at the party we ended up eating some pizza later on that night for dinner.

Monday: Leftovers – The Weekend Chef’s parents came over for dinner Saturday to celebrate our son’s birthday. Our son requested breaded chicken cutlets, homemade mac and cheese and roasted broccoli. There were enough leftovers for us to eat this again. Not cooking on a HOT summer day = happy mama!

Tuesday: Ham steaks, mashed potatoes and corn-on-the-cob. Our son requested this for his birthday dinner.

Wednesday: Leftover pizza. We might have overestimated how much pizza we’d need for our son’s birthday party. We had enough left over for us to get another meal out of it!

Thursday: I made this One-Pan Orecciette with Chickpeas and Olives from blog Big Flavors from a Tiny Kitchen. Our friend Ashley writes this blog. She is a member of our supper club and takes really awesome pictures! Please check out her blog! I adapted this recipe a little bit by not adding the rosemary. The kids and I agree that rosemary tastes like we’re eating a Christmas tree and we dislike it! I enjoyed this meal and it was easy to prepare. The kids weren’t big fans because of the arugula, chickpeas and olives (is that all?!!). But, they did eat the pasta.

Friday: Leftovers. The kids had leftover ham and mashed potatoes while the Weekend Chef and I had some leftover pasta.

Friday Favorites #23

Posted on July 17, 2015 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

Happy Friday! I hope you all had a great week! This was the kids’ first week of summer camp. They enjoyed a week that included tie dyeing t-shirts, Color Wars, swimming in the pool every day and more! Here are some favorites from this past week:

1. Our son turned 7! I can’t believe my “baby” turned 7. While he loves getting older it doesn’t make me y happy to know that I’m getting older as well! Between his summer birthday celebration in school back in May, a family celebration over the 4th of July weekend, a celebratory dinner with one set of grandparents and his birthday party with his friends last weekend and then his actual birthday Tuesday which we celebrated with his other set of grandparents, I feel like we’ve been celebrating this boy’s birthday forever! This is what we sing to him with on the day of his actual birthday AFTER he’s already had ice cream brownie sundaes, ice cream cake, cupcakes and rice krispy treats over the past week or so!

2. Favorite bookmarked recipe: Although not a recent recipe, this Smoked Salmon Breakfast Pizza from 84th &3rd is new to me. I think it will taste okay even without the salmon caviar!

3. Winner winner! Our local radio station held a kid’s summer joke contest. Each week they pick one joke as the winner. The child tells their joke on the radio and wins a family four-pack of tickets to Hershey Park. Well, this past week, our daughter was chosen as the winner! Ready for her winning joke?!! “You go into the bathroom American. You leave the bathroom American. What are you in the bathroom? ….. You’re a-peein!”

4. Scandal – So I finished watching the newest episodes of Scandal on Netflix. I tried holding off on those last two episodes as long as I could because I knew I’d be in Scandal withdrawal! While I’ve been watching House of Cards, although it’s about politics and the White House, it definitely does not have the same suspense and drama as Scandal. I have started watching The Killing, and have been sucked in, but not sure how they got so many episodes since so far season 1 revolves around one murder. If anyone has any Netflix recommendations for suspense/drama shows I’m all ears! I’ve already watched The Blacklist and enjoyed that a lot as well!

5. Gap Shopping – Since I’m not working over the summer, I shouldn’t be shopping. But luckily, I still have a GAP gift card from Christmas (?!!). I went to the mall on Tuesday to try to find my daughter a bathing suit at Children’s Place (no luck – they have back-to-school stuff out!) and ended up stopping at the GAP. I can’t NOT go in when they’re having a super take 50% off the lowest clearance price sale! I got the Weekender shorts pictured above in “true indigo” (navy blue) for $9.99! Online they’re currently selling for $31.99. It’s nice having small feet and being able to fit into a girls size 4 shoe. I got these Scalloped sandals for about $7 and they match the shorts I bought! Online they’re currently priced at $9.99 which is still a pretty good deal! Not sure if the in-store sale is nation-wide or if the take an additional 50% off sale is still going on, but it’s worth checking your local GAP to see!

I hope everyone has a great weekend! We are off tonight for a quick weekend trip back to Rhode Island. It will hopefully be a little quieter with just our family this time! Linking up with Amanda from Meet @ The Barre, Andrea @ Momfessionals, and Tif @ Bright on a Budget.