Friday, January 25, 2013

Quick Veggie Soup

I'm starting a New Year Health Challenge in my neighborhood with a focus on clean eating. My doctor gave me this recipe a couple years ago and it continues to be one of our favorites for Meatless Monday (yes, yes, I know it has chicken broth...).


Quick Veggie Soup

Ingredients:
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 cup chopped carrots
1/2 tbsp butter
3 cups low sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 sweet potato, chopped
1/2 tsp dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste

Optional: May add squash or other vegetables as desired

Preparation:
Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and carrots and saute until the onion becomes translucent.

Add the broth, celery, broccoli, potato, and spices. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Pee Wee Bees

I'll preface this by saying that we have not been to Pee Wee Bees YET, but I've heard great things about it and every time we pass it, my kids are drawn to it. I will report back after we get a chance to try it out!

Pee Wee Bees is a indoor playground for kids from 6 months to 7 years old. Conveniently located in the Alamo Ranch Shopping Center, on 1604 at Culebra, Pee Wee Bees is the perfect place to bring your little ones and let them play from 10 AM to 6 PM, 7 days a week. You can even take the kids home for a nap or meal and return later that day.
Pee Wee Bees offers great, full service birthday parties which include your choice of theme, custom invitations, pizza, cake, ice cream, decorations, and goody bags. For more information click on this link.
http://peeweebees.com/


At this time, you can save $25 on a grand party at Pee Wee Bees thanks to US Family Guide!

Monday, January 7, 2013

Chef'n Grapefruiter Sectioning Tool

Every year, on Christmas morning, my Mom would make breakfast for everyone after we saw what Santa had brought us. After breakfast, we would get to open our presents. As an incentive to tear us away from the gifts, breakfast included homemade cinnamon twists and that was the only time of year she'd make them. However, we'd also have grapefruit and oranges in salad bowls.

It sounds so simple, yet for years I've failed to recreate how she made the simple fruit combination. There was nothing added to it, just oranges and grapefruit, but it was the perfect combination of fruit and juice. If I try to peel and section the fruit, there was hardly any juice. If I tried to just cut off pieces of fruit, there was too much membrane. This year, I asked her to do while I watched and while I still can't do it the same way, I've figured out she skins the fruit with a paring knife then uses the knife to cut off sections of fruit.


I love grapefruit, so I'd had my eye on this little grapefruiter sectioning tool for a while, but wasn't sure if it was worth trying. I'm glad I got it though because not only is it great for sectioning the grapefruit for east in eating, but it can also pull sections out, which makes it great for making fruit salad. I only have one problem with it, it's not quite long enough to get the entire grapefruit section so a lot could go to waste. However, for just eating the grapefruit it wasn't a problem as it had loosened the whole section and was easy to get it all with a grapefruit spoon. All in all, I'm glad I got it and would recommend it to others.