Tag Archives: family

Black Beans and Rice

Posted on by Run DMT
8

PhotobucketWhen my friend Kelly sent me a Facebook message requesting my black beans and rice recipe, it dawned on me that I had never shared it with my Run DMT readers.  I shared how much I love Cuban food and an old public service announcement video from the 80s, but I never shared my recipe.

Honestly, it’s probably good that I didn’t share my recipe in that post.  That photo was horrible.  Back then, Friday Food Fight was still in its early stage, where we actually fought over who was eating the tastiest food.  Hence, the term “fight” in Friday Food Fight.  In those early Friday Food Fight days, Kirsten, Karen and I tortured each other with bad photos of good food.

So although technically I already shared a photo of black beans and rice, I never shared my recipe.  And since my photography skills and Friday Food Fight have evolved into something more than just food porn and foodie photos, I thought I would serve this dish once again, because it’s a really good recipe.  With one taste of my black beans and rice, you’ll know just how truly Hispanic I am.  Black beans and rice this bueno is in my blood, y’all.

Beans and rice…beans and rice…once or two or even thrice…beans and rice is nice.

Black Beans and Rice

Ingredients

1 Tbsp olive oil

½ cup Spanish onion, chopped

½ cup red bell pepper, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 bay leaf

2 cans black beans

1 cup Pomi chopped tomatoes

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp oregano

¼ tsp turmeric

¼ tsp crushed red pepper

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp ground black pepper

1 Tbsp red wine vinegar

Directions

Heat olive oil in a large skillet on a low-medium heat.  Add onions and sauté until soft, about 5 minutes.

Add red bell pepper and cook until soft.

Stir in minced garlic and cook for 2 minutes.  Add bay leaf to pan and stir into vegetables.

Once the bay leaf appears wilted and warm, add black beans with water from the can to the skillet.

Add chopped tomatoes and all the dry spices.  Stir to combine.  Add red wine vinegar and mix thoroughly.

Allow beans to simmer for about 10 minutes before serving.  Serve with rice.  Top it with salsa or hot sauce.

Thanks for joining our weekly Friday Food Fight! Can’t wait to see what everyone is flinging this week!


*Also submitted at*

Denise Mestanza-Taylor+

A Firework, a Flag and God Bless the USA

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5

Last week, Emmalynn’s teachers planned a Memorial Day program complete with songs, poems and red, white and blue attire. The kids were so cute.  I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house.

Thank you to all the service men and women who sacrificed so much to protect our freedom.

God Bless the USA!

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Denise Mestanza-Taylor+

Chicken and Chorizo Paella

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4

PhotobucketI seriously love Spanish food.  For me, Spanish food is comfort food, like someone’s else mac and cheese.  Throw a bunch of ingredients together and it’s like a latino’s version of a casserole.  Not to mention, there’s just something about the saffron that just makes me happy.

I’m just mad about Saffron. 

So when I found this easy, low-fat version of a Spanish classic, I had to give it a whirl.  Thankfully, my family loved it and now this meal is a regular on our weekly dinner menu.

Now, if I was a better latina, I would go to the bodega to buy my chorizo, but I’m too lazy for that, which is just sad really because there’s a bodega on every corner in Tampa.  However, there is really no need for me to make an extra trip to the bodega, except to support small business owners which I really should instead of giving money to big corporation.

But in one weekly shopping trip to my local Target, I can buy MSG-free Archer Farms Chorizo Sausage as well as pick up a allergy medication, tampons, a cute sundress, some new sandals for my kids and deeply discounted running clothes.  See how I save money shopping at Target?

But this post is about paella not summer deals at Target.

Chicken and Chorizo Paella (Pollo y Chorizo Paella)

(Borrowed from So Easy by Ellie Krieger)

Ingredients

1 Tbsp olive oil

3 chorizo sausage links

1 lb skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes

1 medium onion, chopped

1 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups low-sodium free range chicken broth

½ cup frozen peas

1 cup uncooked white rice

1 ripe tomato, chopped

¼ sliced green Spanish olives with pimentos

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp ground black pepper

¼ tsp turmeric

Pinch of Saffron threads

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 375.

Using a large, heavy skillet with lid, heat olive oil in skillet on a medium heat.  Add chorizo links and cook for about 3 minutes on each side or until brown.  Remove links from skillet and slice into ½ inch round slices.  Return chorizo to skillet and add chicken.  Cook both meats together for about 5 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink on outside.  Transfer chicken and chorizo to a plate.

Add onions to skillet and cook, stirring often until softened, about 3-5 minutes.  (There should be enough oil in the pan left from the chorizo, but if need be, add 1 Tbsp olive oil to skillet.)  Add garlic and cook for about a minute.  Return chicken and chorizo to skillet and add chicken broth, peas, rice, tomato, olives, salt, pepper, turmeric and saffron.  Bring to a boil, cover and transfer to oven.  Cook until rice is tender and the liquid is completely absorbed, 25-45 minutes*.

*Time may vary depending on oven.  This dish takes closer to 45 minutes in my oven.

Thanks for joining our weekly Friday Food Fight! Can’t wait to see what everyone is flinging this week!



*Also submitted at*

Denise Mestanza-Taylor+

Our Own Joan of Arc

Posted on by Run DMT
10

As we wrap up the end of the school year, it seems like the projects keep piling on.  One of the recent projects required my youngest daughter, Emmalynn, to read a biography, complete with a book report and then she had to either dress as that person or create a puppet of that person for an oral presentation.

Did I mention she’s only six?  I don’t recall having to do these types of presentations until high school.  Nonetheless, Emmalynn and I visited our local library to search through the stacks of biographies for her report.

There were so many wonderful biographies of great people.  Although the choices were endless, we limited our choices to the materials and costumes available in our closets for the oral presentation portion of this assignment.  Should she be Sacagawea?  Mary Queen of Scotts?  Madame Curie?  Hillary Clinton? Miley Cyrus?  Harriet Tubman?
You Wouldn't Want to Be Joan of Arc!: A Mission You Might Want to Miss

The choice seemed clear when we found You Wouldn’t Want to Be Joan of Arc!: A Mission You Might Want to Miss.  She
could totally pull off a Joan of Arc.

With her Bob haircut, a sword, a riding horse-on-a-stick, and a homemade Princess Leah costume, she would be a dead ringer.  Not literally, though.  We would omit the whole burning at the stake part for her presentation.

As we read through the book, we learned that Joan of Arc preferred carrying a banner over a sword.  Therefore, we fashioned a similar banner using the backside of some leftover Christmas wrapping paper.  Emmalynn did her best to draw a few fleur de lys, the angels Michael and Gabriel seated on either side of God and the Latin words “Jesus Maria”.

For a more dramatic effect, Dad wrapped some duct tape around the cardboard tube.  It also helped strengthen the tube.

In the end, we had our own little Joan of Arc, who lived to tell about her adventures.

 

Denise Mestanza-Taylor+

Motherhood Makes Beautiful Things

Posted on by Run DMT
8

In recent months, there has been a resurgence on  “war on women”.  I’m not referring to the “war on women” that has been happening for centuries in the Middle East or the heinous atrocities happening to women in Africa or even the verbal attacks in the U.S. political arena. Instead, I’m referring to the age old war of working moms vs. stay at home moms and the other ugly battle, attachment parenting vs. traditional parenting.  First, it was the ridiculous comments made by Hilary Rosen about Ann Romney.  Then, there was an uproar in response to the Time magazine cover.

Why do we allow society or the media to flame these feuds?

If you work outside the home and still have the strength to raise a family, then you should be applauded.  If your job is a full time mom trying to juggling it all without losing your mind or yourself trapped between a world of toddlerese and Lori Berkner, then your efforts should be applauded as well.  Neither job is easy.  Motherhood no matter how it’s dressed up, be it a corporate suit or yoga pants, requires sacrifice and that sacrifice should be praised not ridiculed.

And yet, somehow that sacrifice opens the door for ridicule or judgment rather than praise.

As moms, we make decisions every day about child-rearing with the sole purpose to do what’s best for our children.  Therefore, how can any reasonable child-rearing choice be wrong?  If you choose to breastfeed your child until school-age, who are we to judge?  If you choose to bottle feed your baby over breastfeeding, who are we to judge?  And if your child stays on the bottle, boob or binky until kindergarten, then that’s also a parenting choice and no one should judge.

No matter which avenue we choose to get there, we all want a stress-free existence with confident, well-adjusted children.  Our ultimate goal is the same.  So why not build a society that mirrors the one created when we cradle infants in our arms, be it on the breast or on a bottle?

Acceptance and support starts with each of us.  As mothers, we need to stop criticizing each other and start supporting one another.  We can’t allow magazine images and political sound bites to open the door to criticism and attacks.

Motherhood makes beautiful things.  Society needs to stop turning into something ugly.

With yesterday being Mother’s Day, I felt compelled to share my thoughts about moms supporting other moms and what better way than incorporating it into a Music Monday post.  What topics and tunes are moving you?

I’m still co-hosting with Xmas Dolly and her Monday’s Music Moves Me crew (Lorie, Stacy, Callie and Cathy), so link up and share.

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Denise Mestanza-Taylor+

Aunt June’s Struffoli (Honey Balls)

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7

PhotobucketI don’t know what my obsession with balls is lately.  First my MIL’s potato balls and now I can’t get my Aunt June’s sticky balls out of my brain.

Aunt June would make her famous honey balls for every special occasion and they were always a hit.  (Since my mom and her sister are NYC girls, you have to respect the ball and pronounce it as “bawls”.)  Basically, Struffoli consists of small dough balls fried and slathered in honey.  So simple and yet something about these balls always made mouths happy.

I have such fond memories of holidays gathered around Aunt June’s dining table and everyone huddling over a large bowl of honey balls.  My sister and I would always scrape extra honey off the bottom of the bowl before popping a ball into our mouths, which of course, is the proper way to handle my aunt’s balls.

Aunt June passed away two years ago this September after a battle with lung cancer.  Tomorrow I run 5 Miles for Moffitt in her memory.  Today, I share her Struffoli recipe with you in her memory.

Aunt June’s Struffoli (Honey Balls )

Ingredients

2 cups flour

3 tablespoons sugar

¼  tsp salt

¼ teaspoon baking powder

½ stick unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

Canola oil for frying

1 ½ cups honey

Multi-colored sprinkles (Rainbow colored nonpareils)

Directions

In the bowl of a food processor, pulse together flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder.  Add the butter and pulse  a few times until crumbly. Add the eggs and vanilla.  Pulse until sticky.

Remove and form into a ball.  Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough until ¼ inch thick. Using a knife, cut each piece of dough into ½ inch wide strips.

Then cut each strip into ½ inch squares. Roll each piece of dough into a small ball about ½ inch in size.   Lightly dredge the dough balls in flour, shaking off any excess.

Using a small fryer, pour enough oil to fill about a third of the way and heat oil to 375°. Fry the dough in batches until lightly golden, about 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate line with paper towels to drain excess oil. Once cooled, transfer balls to a large bowl.

In a large saucepan, heat honey over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally (about 3 minutes). Remove the pan from the heat. Pour the honey on top of the fried dough.  Stir until evenly coated in the honey. Allow the mixture to cool for 2 minutes.

Serve in family style in a large bowl or scoop a few honey balls into cupcake liners. Decorate with sugar sprinkles and allow to set for 2 hours. Struffoli can be stored in an air-tight container at room temperature for at least a week.

Thanks for joining our weekly Friday Food Fight! Can’t wait to see what everyone is flinging this week!

*Also submitted at*

Sweet Tooth Friday

Denise Mestanza-Taylor+

Mexican Wedding Cakes for Cinco de Mayo

Posted on by Run DMT
10

PhotobucketMy family and I are participating in a Mexican-themed race today called the Crazy Sombrero.  Afterwards, one of our friends is hosting a post-race party where all the guests were asked to being a snack to share for the fiesta.

What to bring?  What to bring?  Margaritas?  Mexican Lasagna?  

As I flipped through the Mexican-flare recipe cards in my mind, I recalled the potluck luncheons from my early teaching days. Back then, I taught in a very rural community of Dade City with a large population of migrant workers, mostly Mexican and some were part of our school’s staff.  Thanks to the lovely senoras on staff, Mexican Wedding Cakes were always part of the potluck and they were delicious.  Similar in texture to a shortbread (Scottish, not Martha’s), they were a tasty light, flaky buttery cookie.

So, to pay homage to my Mexican homies, I tried my hand at Mexican Wedding Cakes like the senoras used to bake.  Traditionally, these cookies are made with pecans or walnuts, but due to my nut allergy, I chose to use almonds instead.

Before beginning the cookie batter, I roasted the almonds on an ungreased baking sheet at 325° for about 10 minutes for a rich fragrance but not burnt.

I let the roasted almonds cool completely before I chopped them in a food processor for a fine, almost mealy texture.

Using a standing electric mixer, I combined the butter, powdered sugar, salt, vanilla, ground nuts and flour.  Then, I rolled them into 2-inch balls and baked them for about 15 minutes until the edges were golden brown.

I let the cookies set and cool for a few minutes before rolling them in powdered sugar.  Once coated with a light layer of confectioners’ sugar, I returned them to the cooling rack.

Honestly, Mexican Wedding Cakes are so easy to make and I think the senoras would be quite pleased with my cookies.  They tasted just like I remembered.  It’s funny how one small taste can send you back in time.

Me gustan mucho.

Mexican Wedding Cakes

(Adapted from The Joy of Cooking)

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature

½ cup confectioners’ (powdered) sugar

¼ tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup nuts (pecans, walnuts or almonds), toasted and finely ground (See above.)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup confectioners’ sugar for topping

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°.

Grease or line two cookie baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat liners.

Using a standing electric mixer, beat butter, sugar, salt and vanilla until well combined.  Then, add finely ground nuts and mix on a low setting for about 15 seconds.  Add flour and mix on a low setting until well combined.

Shape into 1-2 inch balls and arrange about 1 ¼ inch apart on the baking sheets.  Bake one at a time until edges are golden brown, about 15 minutes.  Remove sheet from oven and cool on a wired rack for about 5 minutes.

While still warm but cool enough to handle, roll each cookie in confectioners’ sugar and return to cooling rack.  Just before serving, sift additional confectioners’ sugar over cookies.

Yields about 2 dozen

Thanks for joining our weekly Friday Food Fight! Can’t wait to see what everyone is flinging this week!



*Also submitted at*

Sweet Tooth Friday

Denise Mestanza-Taylor+

SeaWorld’s TurtleTrek

Posted on by Run DMT
12

From the moment they hatch, sea turtles face many great challenges on their way to the sea.  From mistaking lights on the beach for the moon to the numerous predators, sea turtles must overcome great odds to survive.

SeaWorld’s newest attraction, TurtleTrek, teaches visitors how to help sea turtles as they make their journey.  With a little education, conservation and awareness, we can make a difference in the life of a sea turtle.  As the exhibit proudly proclaims, each of us has the potential to be everyday heroes to help make the world a better place for all.

TurtleTrek’s  up-close observation deck allows guests to encounter West Indian manatees and sea turtles in a naturalistic habitat.

In one corner of the exhibit, a model of a turtle nest offers a real-life example as to how some everyday heroes protect sea turtles on the beach.

Also on the observation deck, visitors can play Race for the Beach, an educational video game displayed on massive screens.  After selecting their species of sea turtle, guests swim the ocean munching on favored foods while avoiding hazards like nets and plastic bags.

As guests follow the TurtleTrek trail below, they become immersed in underwater life.

Schools of more than 1,500 Caribbean-native fish, sea turtles and manatees greet guests on their way to the world’s first 3D 360 dome theater. With the aid of a state of the art film, Nyah, a sea turtle shares her amazing journey and there are no bad seats in the house.

Once I learned a portion of each dollar spent in the TurtleTrek gift shop benefits in-the-field research to help save animals, I couldn’t resist purchasing some gifts for my children.  With small trinkets, I would be an everyday hero to my little critters as well as sea creatures.

For residents and locals, the best way to experience TurtleTrek again and again is with a Fun Card or annual pass. Each provides unlimited visits to SeaWorld Orlando and all the park’s special events and festivals including Halloween Spooktacular and SeaWorld’s Christmas Celebration.  Even better, there are no blackout dates!

For more information or to buy your Fun Card or annual pass now, go to www.SeaWorldOrlando.com

*I experienced SeaWorld’s newest attraction, TurtleTrek, as part of a grand opening media event and received no compensation for this review.*

Babes and Blossoms

Posted on by Run DMT
13

While the weather is pleasant, Little Lion Man and I have been partaking in the preschool-appropriate fun at our neighborhood shopping center. With camera in tow, I try my best to snap photos of a rambunctious toddler who is more interested in shopping cart shaped like police cars, trains and fountains than lizards and hedgehogs.

So although I couldn’t capture a decent photo of Liam, I was able to snap some photos of the flowers cascaded through the plaza.

Spring is definitely in full bloom at our favorite stomping ground, The Shops at Wiregrass, which is perfect timing for the Leap into Spring! Photo Challenge.

For these photos, I decided to have fun with Field of Depth so you could truly experience the sights and smells of spring in my neighborhood.

Now, gather a whiff of the Jasmine bush growing wildly outside our front door.  With its twined vines and pungent fragrance, it welcomes you to our home.

Well, it would welcome you to our home if one particular little man would stop the picking the flowers.  Otherwise it will just be bush with a bunch a leaves waving hello.

spring photography challenge, kristi live and love out loud photo challenge, project alicia photo challenge, bumbles and light photo challenge,Mama's Losin' It

 

“Has Spring sprung? Post a photo journal of what Spring is looking like in your neck of the woods!”

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Denise Mestanza-Taylor+