How to make delicious, refreshing Strawberry Sorbet without an ice cream maker!

Since it has gotten warmer, I have seen recipes for ice cream and sorbet EVERYWHERE.  Sorbet is one of my favorite desserts, but I do not have an ice cream maker to make any!  Yesterday as I was making something else, I stumbled upon an easy way to get the sorbet you want WITHOUT an ice cream maker!  I couldn't believe it when it happened, I no longer have to go without sorbet :-)  It is SO yummy for a refreshing treat on a hot summer's day.  And the kids love it!

What you do is:

Take about 10 fresh but frozen strawberries.  Place them in  a food processor for about 45 minutes (depending on how hot it is where you are).  What you want is for the strawberries not to be frozen solid (you do not want them to break your processor), but NOT to be thawed.

When they get a bit softer than frozen, place 2 Tbs. of strawberry jam on top of them. Process until frothy, about 60 seconds.  Your sorbet should be frothy but still ice cold/frozen. 

Notes:  If you prefer seedless strawberry jam, that will work too.  I make my own and it is not seedless, however, it still turned out yummy!!  Using the strawberry jam means not only do you not have to add sugar, but it gives it an even stronger strawberry flavor!  I can't wait to try other flavors, especially raspberry, my fave :-)



Turning plain yogurt into something tasy, healthy, and amazing!

Yogurt is such a popular food item.  It always has been, but now with the hundreds of flavors and styles they have, it is even more so.  I have never been a yogurt fan, but I feed it to my young children and they love it. Unfortunately, yogurt, like most things has it's pros and cons.  The pros are that it is a quick, easy snack, there are lots of different flavors, you can cook with it, kids LOVE it, and it "can" be very healthy.  I didn't know much about yogurt years ago.  I used to think that (before Greek yogurt) brands like Yoplait were the BEST because they were brand-name.  I started learning alot more about yogurt over the past few years, and being that I have two very young boys, I am glad I did!

There are certain brands of yogurt that contain the dreaded ingredient HFCS.  Yoplait is one of these.  Most store brands do as well.  Not only do these brands contain HFCS, but they contain a massive amount of refined sugar!  Am I against sugar?  ABSOLUTELY not.  But we do not need refined sugar in everything we eat, because the food we eat already contains natural sugar.  If you look at the backof the yogurt container, you will see in the ingredients "high fructose corn syrup" and "sugar".  That "sugar" is added sugar, not natural sugar.  Also, a lot of the yogurts contain artificial flavors and coloring.  We want to be eating healthy snacks, don't we?  I do not purchase flavored yogurt, even Greek, because of all of the added sugar.  Greek yogurt is the best because it does not contain HFCS and has fewer calories.  The thing is, the flavored Greek yogurts still contain a ton of added sugar.  So even if you ditched the yogurts that contain HFCS, you are still getting a container loaded with sugar.  Here are some ideas to still get any flavor you want, but without the added sugar!

I never fed my children the "kiddie" yogurts.  If you are food educated, you know that yogurts like "Danimals" are terrible for your child.  What, with all of the artificial flavor, coloring, and added sugar.  The added sugar in foods is not good for children and has been said to compromise their immune systems, leading to them being sick all of the time when they shouldn't be.  We do, however buy the Greek yogurt.  When I found out how much sugar was in the honey flavor, I decided to start buying plain only and add my own honey.  The kids loved it.  I realized that they would also love other flavors, and since they don't really enjoy fresh fruit cut up and put on top, I decided to blend any flavor I wanted to make!  I started blending yogurt with strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, ground flax, chia and anything else I could think of.  I used honey as the sweetener, and the texture comes out perfect.  If you have really picky eaters, you can just place the yogurt back in it's original container, and they will never even know you messed with it ;-)

Sounds like alot of work right?  It's really not!  If you make flavored yogurt in big batches, you don't have to do it again for along time.  Your child won't be getting the extra refined sugar, and will also be getting servings of fruit!  You can still make different flavors for your child to choose from.  Your child will still get a choice because they have the ability to pick the flavor, but "you" have the ability to make sure your child eats right and is getting the best nutrition possible.

50 Shades of Grey - Book Review

I understand that I made this blog for strictly food, but I have to switch it up for one post, because if I do not write about "50 Shades of Grey", I am going to burst.

Now, when I first heard about this book, I decided to go look at the reviews on Amazon.  I am NOT one to jump on the book bandwagons.  I can't stand "Twilight", and didn't even attempt to read the other one everyone is so giddy about....what's it called again?  Something about zombies I think?  I forget at the moment.  But they are not my type.  I stick to my virgin novels :-)  I was in shock when I saw all of the bad reviews for 50 Shades.  I thought, "This has got to be the worst book on the planet given these reviews, holy crap!".  I decided no way was I spending money on it.  They say the writing was the worst they had ever seen, which is a HUGE turn off.

A few weeks pass.  I hear more and more about it, quite a few of my friends have read it.  I finally decided I would get the book.  50 Shades of Grey is an "erotic romance", not at all my thing.  I decided to give it a go anyways.  I am a few chapters in the the book when I am shocked at what all of the bad reviews were about, thus far, I was loving it.  I am telling you folks, I was so captivated by this book, I couldn't put the darn thing down for 5 minutes.  I read it in between everything I had to do!  I was in total shock, again, given the TERRIBLE reviews.  I finished the book today, and couldn't leave the house fast enough to get the second book in the series, "50 Shades Darker".  Here is what I have come up with:

As everyone knows (and I am going to be quite frank, so don't be shy here), this is an EROTIC novel.  I am sure everyone who knows about it, it has been referred to as "mom porn" ha.  As much as I am loving this series, I will tell you that I understand the negative reviews.  The writing is not the best.  They repeat the same things constantly in the story, it gets very old.  Everyone knows that a sex scene in a book is going to make it "interesting"....not when it is on almost every other page.  I agree with the reviews when they say it is "not erotic" at all.  The author uses the same phrases on almost every page.  She also uses the "erotic" fiction WAY too much.  Anyone who plans to buy this book for that, don't, because it may disappoint.  I would prefer a lot less of it, and quite frankly, I would have to wonder about you if you said you don't think "that" part of this book is any big deal at all (maybe better not to tell us....).  It is very intense, basically based off BDSM, not something I find appealing at ALL, so naturally it is not something I would want to read about.  Somehow though it goes perfectly with the story, just way, WAY too much repeating of it.  Also, I am not fond of the constant foul language.  This book would have been much more appealing without it all.

What makes me love this book.  Nobody said there was a "love" story to this...there IS!  This book, minus the annoying repetitive sex scenes, has a full blown love story to it.  It is one of those books where you can't get to the next page fast enough.  It will captivate you, make you feel like the characters are real, and make you long to have it go a certain way.  As I sit and type this, I am still so confused on the 1 star reviews this book got (and hundreds of them!).  I am not one for bad books and movies.  If it is bad writing, I can tell.  Yes, this has bad writing, but not NEARLY as bad as everyone makes it out to be.  In fact, I would not even bother writing this if I didn't love the book so much.  Despite all of those cons, the story that this series carries is definitely worth the read.  I would give this book a 4 star.  This is not based on how good or bad the writing is, but based on a captivating story.  Basically, I wanted to write this because I am sure there are so many out there just like me who read reviews and said there is no way they'd want to read this.  Maybe give it a try.  You might be as surprised as I was.  I hope so.

Here is an excerpt since I did not go in to details about what the book is about, characters, etc. 

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/47062319/ns/today-books/t/fifty-shades-grey-peek-inside-steamy-novel/

Garlic Butter Cheddar Chicken - The best chicken you will ever eat!

Sure, it is called Garlic Butter Cheddar Chicken because that's what it is!  But I prefer to call this Lick-the-Pan Chicken or, 5-Nights-a-Week chicken, because THAT'S how good it is.  I have had this recipe for years and years, and it is not only my favorite chicken recipe (since chicken can be kind of boring), but my favorite dinner recipe PERIOD!  You will finish dinner and go over to get the remains out of the pan......TRUST ME!

This chicken recipe is not only amazing, but easy as can be!  Everyone in my family that I have shared this with has LOVED it and passed it along, and I hope you will too!  I can't believe it has taken me this long to share it.  Enjoy, and have fun fighting for the leftovers!

Ingredients:

5-6 boneless/skinless chicken breasts

1/2 C. butter

4 garlic cloves, minced

3/4 C. dry bread crumbs

1/2 C. freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 1/2 C. freshly shredded cheddar cheese

1/4 tsp. dried parsley

1/4 tsp. dried oregano

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/8 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat and add garlic until tender, about 5 minutes.

3. In a shallow bowl, mix the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese, and the 4 seasonings.

4. Dip each chicken into the garlic butter and turn to coat, then press into the bread crumb mixture, coating well.

5. Arrange the coated chicken breasts in a 9 by 13 baking dish

6. Drizzle with any remaining butter and any remaining bread crumb mix.

7. Bake 30 minutes in preheated oven, or until inside of chicken is no longer pink.

Serve with vegetable of your choice and potatoes.

(The picture doesn't do this baby justice)

Notes:

I can't tell you enough how the FRESHLY grated cheeses make all the difference.  I have used bagged cheddar, and even resorted to using the dry Parmesan in the plastic container.  I thought it was good then, but NOTHING like using the read deal.  If you are going to bother making this, use the real stuff.

Also, the baking dish does not need to be sprayed, but I like to coat it with butter in case the cheesy goodness sticks.  The butter makes it all that much better, trust me folks!