Sad Celebrity News...=*(

 So sad to hear about these two celebrity news...

R.I.P

(02/10/14)

Shirley Temple Black

R.I.P

(02/24/14)

Harold Ramis



Migas Recipe

I hadn't heard of this dish, but found the recipe in the "All You" magazine so I made it with a few adjustments (to taste) and I liked it. Reminds me of chilaquiles, but it does taste different depending on how you make chilaquiles ofcourse.

MIGAS  
Prep: 10 mins.  Cook: 10 mins.  Serves: 4  Cost per serving: .78 cents (according to what mag. says)

- 6 Large Eggs
- 1/4 Cup Milk
- Salt
- 2 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
- 3 6-inch Corn Tortillas, cut into 1/4-inch strips
- 1/2 Green Bell Pepper, seeded and diced
- 1 Small Yellow Onion, finely chopped
- 1 Medium Tomato, seeded and diced
- 3 oz. Grated Cheddar

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk and salt; set aside.

2. Warm oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add tortilla strips and cook, stirring occasionally, until strips begin to crisp, about 2 minutes. Add bell pepper and onion and cook, stirring often, until softened about 3 minutes. Add garlic and saute 1 minute longer.

3. Add egg mixture, tomato and cheese to skillet. Cook - stirring with a spatula, scraping up cooked eggs and allowing liquid to flow to bottom of pan - until eggs are set, 2 to 3 minutes. Serve immediately.

Feb. Movies- Wk 2 & 3...

WEEK 2
02/08- "Mermaids" =) =) Love Cher, Winona Ryder & Christina Ricci!
02/09- "Moulin Rouge" =) =)
02/10- "Dirty Dancing" =) =) ofcourse.
02/11- "Failure To Launch" =) =) Love Sarah Jessica Parker & Matthew McConaughey!
02/12- "Mamma Mia" =) =) I'm not much into musicals, but I looooove this one!
02/13- "Fever Pitch" =) Not a fan of Drew Barrymore, but I do like Jimmy Fallon so I liked it.
02/14- "Something Borrowed" =)

WEEK 3
02/15- "Lymelife" Watched it because Emma Roberts is in it, but I didn't like the movie and the ending was even worse! =(
02/16- "P.S I Love You"  a bit hard to watch for me, but I loooove it! =) =)
02/17- "Greenberg" =( sucked so I watched "Chocolate" & OMG!!! Love, Love, Love! & Johnny Depp is in it, helloooo?! The little girl and the lady that plays her mother are really good too. =) =)
02/18- "El Cantante" Ofcourse! Marc Anthony is in it. =) =)
02/19- "Sweet November" =) =)Yes! Reminds me of when I was a really big fan of Charlize Theron. Made me want to watch "Monster" again and I love it, plus Christina Ricci is in it. =) =)
02/20- "The Lucky One" <3 =) =)
02/21- "The Lake House" ok years later and I'm still confused about this movie! =/ But I like it =)

Vegan Smart Dogs & Peppers Recipe

- Olive Oil or Cooking Oil
- 4 Lightlife Smart Dogs, cut in half & sliced down the middle to make them thinner
- 3 Cloves of Garlic, thinly sliced
- 1 Medium Onion, sliced
- 1/2 Green Bell Pepper, sliced
- 1/2 Red Pepper, sliced
- 1/4 Chopped Tomatoes
- Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper (to taste)
- 6 Hot Dog Buns (I didn't have any so I used sandwich bread)

1. On a nonstick skillet, cook smart dogs as directed on the package and set aside.

2. Add more oil if needed and adjust stove to medium heat. Add garlic and cook about 1 minute, just until it starts to brown. Then, add the peppers and cook about 8 minutes, until they soften.

3. Add tomatoes and mix well until everything looks well combined. 

4. Return smart dogs to the pan, cook about 5 more minutes or until tomatoes soften and everything is heated through. Season with salt and pepper, mix. Then, turn of the heat.
 (Tip: When I added the smart dogs, I also added a little bit of spinach. The more veggies, the better!)

5. Serve them in toasted or non toasted hot dog buns by placing some of the mixture in the buns.

I only had sandwich bread so I used a big cookie cutter to cut out a circle in the center of a toasted bread. Then, added a little mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup and topped it with the mixture.

Two Bean Burgers

This was easy to make. I don't eat cumin so I didn't try it, but my family liked it. I got it from ultimatedanielfast.com

Two Bean Burger
- 1 Teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 Tablespoon chopped onion
- 1 Cup canned black beans, rinsed & drained
- 1 Cup canned great northern beans, rinsed & drained
- 2 Tablespoons flaxseed meal (I used whole wheat flour & it worked fine)
- 1 Teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 Teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
Optional: For more texture, stir in 1/4 cup brown rice

Serving Options:
* You can spread guacamole on the burger.
* Top with tomato slices, lettuce and/or onions.

1. Mash beans in a large bowl, leaving about 1/4 of the beans whole and set aside.
2. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion & cook until soft and translucent.
3. Place in a bowl w/beans and add flaxseed meal (I added the whole wheat flour), garlic powder, cumin and salt. (Don't forget to add the rice. Recipe doesn't say to mix, but ofcourse mix until all the ingredients are combined).
4. Return skillet to medium heat and add a teaspoon of olive oil, if needed, to prevent burgers from sticking.
5. Scoop about 1/3 cup of bean mixture for each burger. Add to skillet and flatten with a spatula. Cook 5 mins or until bottoms are browned and slightly crispy. Flip and cook another 5 minutes.

Yield: 4 Servings (serving: 1 Burger)

My Tips:
- Like I said before, I'm not an expert, but I used whole wheat flour instead of flaxseed and smash a few more beans if it wasn't sticking together. It worked well.
- I used less cumin and a little more onions. I also added finely diced carrots & cooked them a bit with the onions.
- I could only fit 2 patties in my skillet so I ended up using more than a teaspoon of oil to prevent my burgers from sticking. Ofcourse, use as less as possible, but add a few drops as needed I'd say, but really it's up to you.
- I used brown rice from the to go little cups "1 minute rice". I microwaved it and used what the recipe called for and the rest, I served it with the burger.
- Another burger I put between lettuce leaves and added some tomato slices too.


I ended up with 6 patties instead of 4 like the recipe said. I didn't want to make them too thick or too big. I served one between the lettuce and the other next to rice as you see in the picture.



Stay in the Mickey Mouse theme...Hair, Makeup and Nails

The Mickey Mouse Party is today and I'm STILL sick! It's cold and it will be an outdoor party so I'm not sure yet if I will be able to make it =(

Either way I would like to show you how I was planning on staying in the theme. I don't really have colorful clothing so I express myself with hair accessories and nail art, if you can call it that since I don't even have any of the things needed for the art. I only have some nail polishes and I do what I can with what I have.

I think you guys will never guess where I got the net looking thing for my hairclip. One night, I was sitting at the kitchen table just thinking stuff & I noticed something yellow in a fruit basket so I pulled it and it was a bag (yellow net looking thing) full of lemons. My brother had bought them so I asked if I could have a piece of his bag and he said yes so I cut it and made a Mickey Mouse hairpiece.

Told you guys... I loooove upcycling! =)
Here's what it looks like...

But in case I end up going, even if just for an hour since it's really close to where I live, I've got my eye makeup ready in the theme colors...



In the crease I have black and red blended together and on the inside of my eyes, I added yellow and on my lid and under my eyebrows I added a little white so I used all the colors of the party.



My nails are ready too!



Mickey Mouse Chocolates & Movies (1st week)

Romantic/Friendship Movies for the Month of February (1st week)...

02/01 - "Julie & Julia" =) =)
02/02 - "All About Steve" =)  It was just ok, it wasn't as funny as the 1st&2nd time I saw it.
02/03 - "Letters to Juliet" =) I really like this movie, not sure if I love it though.
02/04 - "No Reservations" =) =) I love to watch this movie over & over & over!
02/05 - "Tangled" =) =) So funny and cute.
02/06 - "Crazy Stupid Love" =) =) Not sure if this movie will ever stop being funny for me. I really like it.
02/07 - "Catch & Release" =) Same as the other movie. It just wasn't as funny anymore.


I cut a piece of cardstock and a Mickey Mouse picture from an activity book and put it inside this little plastic cup so they can put extra forks and spoons or napkins like the picture is showing.

I finally finished decorating my cereal box and even made chocolates to display in it. First, I got it to look like this...

Then I added alot of tissue paper around the edges, 4 blocks of floral foam, taped them together and wrapped them in birthday tissue paper that was left over from the centerpieces so it can all tie together...

And finally, I made themed chocolate pops that said "I'm 1". To some I added a circle in the the themed colors like mickey's shorts and to the other pops, I added two tiny mickey mouse sprinkles each...

Mickey Mouse Birthday Banner

Mickey Mouse Banner, 1st half...

2nd half...

All together...

I also ended up making more of the napkin wraps...

Mickey Mouse Centerpieces

I made 7 Mickey Mouse centerpieces and they were all double sided. What is supposed to be the back, is the same for all 7, but the front I used 2 different mickey mouse designs.

The pots were regular ceramic pots and I painted them with acrylic glossy paints. The mickey mouse that is standing up, I bought it already made. I only made the other one with a printed mickey face and everything else was traced onto felt and I cut it out and then glued all the pieces together. The Happy Birthday words, I got them from headpieces that I bought already made, but I used the headband to make the mickey mouse ears and the words to decorate these centerpieces.

Oooooh my gosh! since I mentioned the mickeys I bought, let me just say that in one of the stores, they had bigger mickeys and on his ear with silver permanent marker, they had written: MIKI and on Minnie's ear, they had written MIMI! Whaaaaaaaaat?!?!?!? No! WHY?!?! So strange!

This is what the back of all seven centerpieces looked like.



Marinated Tofu

Hi! Guess what? I burned part of this dish and my baking dish is ruined! BUT, there's a bit of good news...actually it's a big deal and happy that not everything burned. The recipe doesn't say to put tofu in the oven without the marinade, it only says "same dish" so that's what I did with the marinade still in it and the marinade & some of the pinapple pieces burned big time! but not the tofu. It was my fault though because I used a slightly bigger dish than called for. Anyway, I'll tell you guys a little later how I saved it.

Recipe from Ultimatedanielfast.com

Marinated Tofu
- 8 oz. Extra firm tofu, drained
- 1/4 cup unsweetened pinapple juice
- 2 Tablespoons soy sauce or Bragg's Liquid Aminos
- 1 clove garlic, minced

1. Slice tofu into 1 inch cubes and place in an 8 x 8 inch baking dish.

2. Mix pinapple juice, Braggs Liquid Aminos (soy sauce) and garlic in a small bowl. Use a whisk to combine. Pour over tofu and put in refrigerator to marinate 30-45 minutes.

3. Preheat over to 350 degrees. Then bake (in the same dish) for 20 mins or until the outside is a deep, golden brown and slightly crispy.

(yield: 4 servings - serving size: about 2 oz)




Mine never got crispy or deep golden brown, but I'm guessing you can cook it longer if making it on the skillet or wok and you want it a darker color. Mine was fine just like this.


Ok so I doubled the recipe but kept both parts separate. I marinaded them separately too. I used the juice from canned pineapples and even though the recipe didnt call for pineapple pieces, I added a few pieces to marinate along with the tofu. Yummy!

When the marinade was burning and tofu was barely looking golden brown, I took it out of the oven, added a tiny bit of oil to a skillet and when it was hot, I added the tofu and the pinapple chunks. When it browned on the skillet, added some of the marinade that wasn't burned, a few extra left over pinapples and pinapple juice that were still in the can. It smelled really good and when my brother tried it, he said it was really good and he couldn't taste anything burned or any bitter garlic so my tofu was saved! I put the tofu on a towel for a few minutes so it could drain a bit.

Then I heated a little bit of oil again, cooked the second batch and did the same thing...Waited for it to brown, added some of the marinade, then some pinapples chunks and a bit of the juice still in the can and when it looked caramelized and cooked, I drained it a few minutes too and done! Served it with brown rice.

My brother liked how the pineapple pieces tasted so if you like pineapples in your food, make sure to add enough. I was experimenting so I didn't add too many. Hope you guys try it on a skillet like I did it or like the recipe says, just make sure you follow every step, unlike me! haha. Don't burn your baking dish! =/

Asian Noodle Salad

My brother and his friend have engaged in the Daniel Fast and I must say, for me it's a bit of a challenge as far as finding recipes with foods that are allowed in the fast. I feel it has more restrictions than vegan cooking so it will definitely be interesting!

Some of the recipes will include ingredients that might not "technically" be allowed in the Daniel Fast so its really up to the person to decide how many modifications they are willing to make, if any at all. Therefore, please research the ingredients. I'm definitely not an expert on the Daniel Fast or any type of ingredients.

The recipes I will be following are based on what my brother is allowed to eat, but I'm sure adjustments can be made to what you can eat.

This recipe is a cold noodle salad and both my brother and his friend tried it before they started the Daniel Fast and they liked it, so I will be making it again in a couple of days. It's from a book titled "The Daniel Fast" by Susan Gregory and I just noticed that above the recipe, it says: "You'll be coming back for more on this recipe." I guess so! She's right. 

ASIAN NOODLE SALAD



Ingredients:
- 8 ounces whole wheat thin spaghetti noodles
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon or lime juice
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon creamy peanut butter
- 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 cup peeled, seeded and sliced cucumber
- 1 cup sliced snow peas
- 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
- 1/2 cup pinapple chuncks, cut in half
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the noodles according to package directions until al dente. Drain well (do not rinse), toss with canola oil, and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine the cilantro, soy sauce, lemon juice, garlic, ginger, oil, peanut butter, and red pepper flakes. Stir until well blended.

3. Add the cucumber, snow peas, bell pepper, pineapple chunks, and noodles, and toss. Let stand, covered, at room temperature for 1 hour, stirring occasionally so the flavors soak into the vegetables and pineapple.

4. Adjust the seasoning with the salt and pepper, toss again, and serve.

Makes 4 servings

Adjustments I make:
- I double the recipe
- I don't add red pepper flakes, salt or pepper. I leave it up to the person eating it, to season it if they wish.
- I quarter sliced water chestnuts and add them instead of snow peas.
- I add both red and green bell pepper.
- I cut down a little on the cilantro and the lemon measurements

Feb. 1 - Movie: "Julie & Julia"

Valentine's Day is coming up so my plan was to watch romantic comedies, romantic dramas & all that, to stay in the theme of this month, but wanted to start with "LABOR DAY" movie. As I mentioned before, I can't go anywhere because I'm a sickie soooo I had to watch something else at home instead and I went with "JULIE & JULIA".

I really enjoy this movie because I feel it's about real people being lost, about learning, finding yourself, and doing what you love. I'm sure many of us, at some point in our life, we wish we could wake up one day and have a life changing idea, but ofcourse some of us are too scared so we'll never know, but it's nice to see people that go for it and don't give up and later find out it's one of the best decisions they've made.

This movie also includes lots of food and a blog so ofcourse I love it! It's also nice to see that both characters have a loving, supporting partner that's involved, gives ideas and enjoys their cooking. Who wouldn't want that? I love to see couples that love and respect eachother. And though, some people would think it's "depressing" to watch romantic movies so close to Valentine's Day if you're single and also after a break up (based on a comment someone made), I just can't agree. I love beautiful true love stories even if just in movies, books, or if someone else is telling them because not only does it make me smile, but it also gives me hope that sweet, gentle, solid, respectful, honest love exists soooomewhere out there in the world. Right? Any power couples out there? Hard to find, but sure they're out there.

HAPPY FEBRUARY! <3

Grandma's Special Day!!!

Unfortunately, I'm still home sick and couldn't be with my grandmother on her special day. She wanted me to bake her a cake, but I got sick unexpectedly and it also lasted longer than we hoped, so I feel bad. =(

I spoke with her earlier and she sounds very happy and sounds good, compared to the way she sounded a few days ago. I feel so blessed to still have my grandmother and to see that she is enjoying her day and her guests and hopefully soon she'll also enjoy her belated birthday cake! =) I'm so glad people from church and family have been visiting her since early in the morning. I'm so grateful to them for making her so happy.

I also want to thank my cousin Marisol soooo much for putting grams on the phone for me and for the cute pictures. I love them!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABUELITAAAAAA!!!
QUE DIOS LA BENDIGA Y QUE SE MEJORE PRONTO.

TE QUIERO CON TODO MI CORAZON MI VIEJITA LINDA!

Hope to see you soon, miss you.