Homemade White Corn Tortillas

I had picked up the June copy of “bon appetit” and found this very easy recipe for making homemade tortillas. I loved the idea of fresh, hot tortillas made from scratch. I searched everywhere for a tortilla press that they mentioned in the magazine, but none of my local stores had one. I will have to order one online or look in a kitchen specialty store. For today, I just used wax paper and my hands. My Nana mentioned using a rolling pin might of helped, but I kind of like the uneven look to these mini tortillas.

Survived Another Year! 24! Happy Birthday to Me :)

 

My mom baked me a vanilla frosted spice cake. I can’t remember the last time I’ve had spice cake. I don’t think she ever made me one before, but it was the perfect way to end the night. It was peaceful and no stress creeping up. The cards become more important as you get older than just ripping open to find the money like we all did as kids. All of my grandparents sent me a card and a short letter inside. My parents gave me money for the bike I want to get, and my brother hugged me a lot. The kids on my junior high bus ride sang me happy birthday, and I cringed when they chanted “Are you 1? Are you 2? Are you 3?…”

Earthfest 2012 in Boston

On Saturday, I volunteered from 8am-10:30am at Earthfest. This free concert is hosted every year in Boston around this time of the month, and there are always volunteer opportunities. This was my first year finally being able to go because I’ve always become sick around my birthday. Not this year! This year I volunteered and was placed with the Casella Recycling. My job was to set up the recycling bins and make sure that no recyclable items were shoved in the trash. I met a couple of new people who exchanged information with me; Charli and Jess. It was their first year volunteering there as well. I ended up spending more time with Jess than with Charli.

Salad in a Grapefruit. Watching your portions with the rind.

Sometimes to watch my portions especially with meat or even protein packed vegetarian options, I used my grapefruit rinds to hold my meals. It’s a great way to portion out your food and make it look fancy at the same time. I’ve been really into red grapefruits lately. My stomach gets upset or bloated, and the red grapefruit is there to save the day! I used to hate a lot of citrus foods as a kid, but as I’ve grown older I have found they can be my best friends. Packed with rich vitamin C and other things to keep my poor immune system running. When you work with children, especially in the first year, you seem to catch every cold and disease known to man one after the other. It’s constant punches I have to dodge. So such simple meals as the one above help keep it in check.

This has quinoa, broccoli slaw raw, cherry tomatoes, and romaine lettuce. Simple and easy for a quick dinner.

Low Fat Classic Cheesecake Recipe

My friend Kristin’s birthday was today. Yesterday, I decided to make my first cheesecake ever. I am a glutton for cheesecake, but I hate how fattening it can be. So I went searching around on the internet for different ideas that could inspire a little bit healthier version that wouldn’t hurt my hips as much. I came up with this recipe below, and I made two of them. One for my family, and one for my friend’s birthday to bring into my summer job.

The picture above is the first one I made. I felt the graham cracker crust was too thin, so I added more to the recipe. I also used Hershey Light Syrup in the cheese mixture to make a semi swirl on the top before baking it. I’m still not 100% great at the whole swirling a cake or bread. Any advice?

Low Fat Cheesecake Recipe

Mashed Red Pepper Turnips and Tutti Frutti Frozen Yogurt Visit

Happy Mother’s Day to all moms out there or even people who have to act like moms to others! Today is a gorgeous day and I just got back from a family reunion of my dad’s cousins, aunts, and uncles; most I have never met before.

My lovely mother with me at the reunion.

My Uncle Dave and Uncle Bill went with us and spent the night last night. My Uncle Bill happened to notice the turnips that were starting to sprout in my fridge and he asked what I was planning on doing with them. The only thing that could come to mind was a soup of some sort, but I wasn’t completely sold on the idea.

“We used to mash them like potatoes. Boil them up, slab some butter with pepper and salt and mash them up. It’s very delicious,” he said.

Fruity Smoothie and Garden Update

After a long good 5-6 hours working on my garden area, I felt I deserved a healthy and delicious reward. We had a ton of variety of fruit in our fridge, and I needed to take advantage of that. Smoothies are really easy to make and they can be made however you prefer it. All you really need is a blender to make a smoothie.

 

Alicia’s Fruity Sa-moothie

You Need:

1/4 cup strawberries cut

1/4 cup of pineapple

1 cup of mixed berries (blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries)

1/2 cup Orange Juice (no pulp)

1/2 cup peach non fat yogurt

Vanilla Brown Rice Custard

Happy May Day everyone! This is my month! YEAH! Well.. more like my birthday is in 20 days. WOOT! Beyond that, I was in the mood yesterday to have some homemade rice pudding. I found a couple of recipes, but most of them called for an egregious amount of Half and Half. Last thing I wanted was 3 cups of Half and Half in my rice custard. I also wanted to use brown rice over white rice to change it up a bit. This weekend was mostly dedicated towards my garden area and celebrating Arbor day late. So here is a simple and delicious recipe for Vanilla Brown Rice Custard.

You will need:

• 13.5 ounces of milk (coconut milk, soy, or almond would be delicious too)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar for step 1 of the recipe
• 2/3 cup sugar for Step 2 of the recipe
• 1 cup brown rice
• 1 1/2 cup of half and half
• 1 1/2 cup of vanilla non fat yogurt or greek yogurt
• 5 eggs
• 1 Tbs of Vanilla Extract