Sprouts Farmers Market

We have a new grocery store opening here in Norman this Wednesday, Sprouts Farmers Market. We are excited to have a new natural food market going in. 

"Courtesy: Sprouts Farmers Market."

"Courtesy: Sprouts Farmers Market."

We get to have a preview tomorrow evening from 4-7pm.  I plan to go after work and take a walk-through.  Wednesday the store opens in earnest.

I notice that Sprouts is located in the western states, places we travel to.   It will be nice to be able to shop a familiar store. 

"Courtesy: Sprouts Farmers Market."

Dave and I have changed over to eating grass feed organic beef.  It tastes so good.  It's how beef use to be years and years ago.  I have switched from drinking milk to Almond Milk.  Yes it is an acquired taste but I rather like it.  I love the fact that Sprouts has a huge vegetable section  and you can see that the layout looks wonderful and colorful.

"Courtesy: Sprouts Farmers Market."



If you have a Sprouts in your are let me know how you like it.  Have you had your Sprouts for the day?

Peace, Love & Happy Eating!

A Tale of Lasagna...

Our daughter Christie lived in Georgia for a year and before she left home I wanted to fix a nice dinner for her.  I let her make the decision as to what she wanted. After mulling it around for a day she decided on her grandmother's lasagna. My dad loved lasagna but didn't like the texture of cottage cheese or ricotta cheese, therefore my mom decided to try it with cream cheese instead, and it became an instant hit with the family. Here's the recipe that my mom would fix the family.
Teena’s Lasagna (Full recipe)
2 Lbs ground beef (we prefer lean meat)
2 Tbs. Olive Oil
4 Large cloves garlic mashed
1 Large Onion diced
1 large Green Pepper diced
2 bricks of cream cheese sliced short side (you may want to put in freezer for a few minutes before slicing)
1 package of lasagna noodles Regular Noodles can be used if you do not have a gluten allergy. (cooked al-dente) 
Tankyada Lasagna noodles Gluten-Free
1 small can tomato paste 6 oz.
can of water (use tomato paste can)
1 Bag of Mozzarella Cheese
salt
pepper
1-2 Tbs. Basil
Spaghetti sauce mix. Nothing that has cumin or chili spice in it.
1 Large Jar of favorite Spaghetti sauce. I like Prego and or Bertolli Onion, Basil, Garlic sauce

In a large HOT skillet add oil, onion, bell pepper and garlic let sear for 1-2 minutes while stirring, turn fire to low cover and let cook stirring occasionally until onions are opaque. Remove from skillet into a large bowl.

Get skillet hot again and add a quarter of a pound of meat and brown, remove to bowl and repeat process until the whole two pounds are cooked.

Pour all of mixture back in skillet. Add tomato paste, half a can of water, spaghetti sauce mix, Basil, salt and pepper to taste. Don’t use too much salt, save the salt shaker for the table. Mix all together. If too stiff add more water or about a 1/2 cup of spaghetti sauce. Don’t get it soupy.

Cook noodles according to package. Warm your spaghetti sauce in a pan.

Assembling the lasagna

In a large 3 qt. rectangular baking dish spray bottom with cooking spray. Put a drizzle of spaghetti sauce in bottom of baking dish, put in three strips of lasagna noodles. Cover with a layer of meat mixture, lay in a piece of cream cheese into every spot you want a serving to be. Large casserole I figure 1 brick per layer, cover with spaghetti sauce and a light dusting of Mozzarella cheese. Repeat the same with next layer. Last layer leave off cream cheese and top out with rest of bag of Mozzarella cheese covering whole casserole.

Bake in 350 oven for 30 minutes or until Mozzarella cheese is bubbly and has a nice light brown crust. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving. I suggest putting dish on a heavy duty baking tray to catch any drips. Also this will make it easier to remove from the oven. Makes 9 servings.

Serve with a tossed salad and Italian Garlic Bread Sticks.
Dinner is served.

Peace, Love and Happy Eating...

A State Fair Visit...Walla, Fresh Tomato Salsa

Miracle Chopper

 Several years ago Dave and I went to the Oklahoma State Fair on Senior Day. Needless to say we did a lot of walking, as my feet were killing me when we left. Normally I never buy anything at the fair simply because I don’t want to have to cart it around with me, but that year I purchased a Miracle Chopper Salsa Maker, not only did I buy one but three. The other two went to my daughters. Best little gadget ever for making salsa without  electricity.

Garlic/Hard nut grater

Another handy little gadget that I like to use when making fresh salsa is a garlic grater dish.  It comes with a brush and a clove roller to remove the skin of the garlic.  Both of these items will be used a lot when we get out on the open road in our trailer. 

Best Ever Fresh Salsa

Ingredients:

3 Medium Roma Tomatoes quartered
2-3 Cloves of Garlic, skins removed
¼ Cup Cilantro, include some stems
½ Yellow Onion cut in half
½-1 De-seeded Jalapeno (or if you like it hot, leave them in) I find Jalapenos to be a personal taste thing.  If you like them, put more in.  I like just a bit of the spicy flavor and am not a big fan of really hot (spicy) salsa.
2 Tbs. Fresh Lime Juice
Pinch of Salt or Lo-Salt substitute

Directions:

Assemble Miracle Chopper according to directions.
Place all ingredients in chopper and turn crank until desired consistency.  Serve with your favorite chips. Mine just happen to be Black Bean Beanitos.  Gluten Free, Corn Free and no GMO’s  
Note: You may have to go counter-clockwise for half a turn before going clockwise to start the chopper. 

Serves 2     ½ cup serving size 

Nutrition Facts:  Per serving Cal 33,  Cals from Fat 3, Total Fat
0.3g, Sat. Fat 0.0g, Sodium 107mg(lo-salt), Total Carbs 7.9g, Dietary Fiber 1.8g, Sugar 4.9g, Protein 1.3g

Peace, Love and Happy Eating…

Let's Get Started...Pineapple Salsa

Once there was a little girl who stood at her grandmother and mother's elbows to learn how to cook. Oops, she also stood at her daddy's elbow as well. My whole family loved to cook even my brother. I recently found out that my Grandfather on my dad's side from Pennsylvania was a hotel chef at one time. My mother's family was from the South so you know what kind of cooking that entails. For us not so much fried, but wholesome and flavorful.

Summers were spent working in the garden and putting up corn in the freezer. We would have huge shucking parties and the whole family was involved. We would drive to Bixby, OK and purchase Merritt Sweet Corn from Conrad Farms, at least 3-4 bushels of it, shuck it, fire up the camp stoves outside, get big pots of water going till they boiled. In would go the corn for three minutes, plunge them into ice cold water to stop the cooking, rush them into the house and start up the electric knife, remove the corn from the cob and bag it up in the old Seal-a-Meal bags and put them in the freezer. We would fill the freezer with corn and it would be enough to last us until it was time to do it all over again the following year.

In the fall I would help my grandmother make jams and jellies. We would can tomatoes and green beans, then would plow the garden under and ready it for winter. It was a good time and there is nothing better than dirt therapy.

But I digress. Oh, did I say I love to cook? I do, I really do. So, I have decided to share with you some of the wonderful family dishes that I've learned how to make. I will be sure to share shortcuts to make it more diabetic friendly and I will try my darnedest to get the nutrition values in and let you know what a serving size is.

How did I come to choose the name Mia Foodies? I guess you could translate it to My Foods. Things I love to fix. So I guess now is the best time of any to get started.

Let's start with a simple crowd pleasing Salsa. My daughter gave me this recipe. Courtesy of Greg Waggoner.

Pineapple Cilantro Salsa

Serves 5

Ingredients:

20 oz. Can Crushed Pineapple in own juice drained, juice reserved

1/4 Cup Chopped Cilantro Leaves

4 Thinly sliced Green Onions

1 De-seeded Jalapeno finely chopped

Directions:

Mix all together, spoon some of the pineapple juice back into mixture, but not to where it is soupy. (Really your preference)

Can be served with Frito Lay scoops or served with pork, chicken or fish.

Serving size 1/2 Cup 

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 11 serving (126.2 g)

Amount Per Serving Calories from Fat 00

Calories 6969

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 0.0g0.0 0%0

Saturated Fat 0.0g0.0 0%0

Sodium 12mg12 0%0

Total Carbohydrates 16.7g16.7 6%6

Dietary Fiber 1.3g1.3 5%5

Sugars 14.2g14.2

Protein 1.2g1.2

Vitamin A 3%3 • Vitamin C 23%23 Calcium 1%1 • Iron 3%

Peace, Love and Happy eating...