Avocado Omelet

I have fond memories of a cooking class in high school. It was always such a treat to eat yummy foods. My children have enjoyed their cooking classes in high school too. It is wonderful they offer them still. One of the things that I remembered making was an avocado omelet. I loved it! It was something I had never had before. That memory is from about 35 years ago.

It is cool how food memories can bring us back to happy memories of the past. I am sure each of us can smell, see or make a certain food and have memories of that food, when we had it in the past come flooding back. Food is an important part of our lives. As long as we keep it in balance, it can bring a lot of enjoyment. I love being in my kitchen creating and having my family around. I think that is important time, for all of us. It is wonderful to create, and have family times in the kitchen. Modern convinces are wonderful, but it concerns me that those wonderful family times are being missed, with our fast paced world.

I loved coming home to my Mom in the kitchen making something. It was also fun to help her create as well. I have fond memories of baking Christmas treats as a family. Make time to create those memories for your family too. Those are the memories that last. =) A couple things my children have had fun with it is doing iron chef. They picked an ingredient, and then they all had to make something out of it. They also had fun video taping their own cooking show. Everyone has to figure out what works for them. Family time is so important.

I decided to try a new version of the avocado omelet. I have found sometimes chopping up the vegetables smaller helps my children to eat them more readily. You can be creative and make one too. The family loved it. They ate the pan clean. Success!

Ingredients:

8 eggs
1/4 C milk
2 T butter
Salt and white pepper, to taste
2 avocados
2 leek chopped in small pieces
3 garlic cloves minced
1 C cilantro chopped up
1 dash of cayenne
1 tsp cumin
2 T olive oil
1/4 to 1/2 C water
1/2 C sliced cheese (I used Gouda)
Directions:
1. Beat eggs with milk for about 2 min. They will turn a pal yellow.
2. Heat a skillet on med. low. Place butter in the pan. Let the butter melt.
3. Pour the eggs in the pan. Let the eggs cook a couple minutes.
4. In the mean time. Place avocados, leek, cilantro, garlic, cumin, Cayenne, and olive oil in the blender or food processor. Pulse 1 or 2 minutes. It was the consistency of guacamole.
5. You scoop the avocado mixture on top. (You could mix it into the eggs after beating them as well)
6. Lift up the edges on the egg , pour 1/4 to 1/2 C water to the sides. Place lid on and let steam. It should cook 3-5 min. I then put a few slices of cheese on and let it cook a couple extra min. I served it right out of the pan. Saves on clean up time.

Whole Grain Steak Soft Tacos

"Nearly a century and a half ago, President Brigham Young spoke to the Saints of his day. 'There is a great work for the Saints to do,' he said. 'Progress, and improve upon and make beautiful everything around you. Cultivate the earth, and cultivate your minds. Build cities, adorn your habitations, make gardens, orchards, and vineyards, and render the earth so pleasant that when you look upon your labors you may do so with pleasure, and that angels may delight to come and visit your beautiful locations. In the mean time continually seek to adorn your minds with all the graces of the Spirit of Christ' (Deseret News, Aug. 8, 1860, 177).

"The more you trust and rely upon the Spirit, the greater your capacity to create. That is your opportunity in this life and your destiny in the life to come. Sisters, trust and rely on the Spirit. As you take the normal opportunities of your daily life and create something of beauty and helpfulness, you improve not only the world around you but also the world within you."Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "Happiness, Your Heritage," Ensign, Nov. 2008, 119

This quote makes me happy! It makes me think about Spring. It also makes happy to think about the things that we can create and do each day. Each day has new opportunities for us to create in so many ways. What are you going to create today? Being in the kitchen is a great way to create. I love it.

This recipe is my latest creation. We had steak a couple nights before. It was a great way to use the leftover steak. I liked all the vegetables in it. My taco was 3/4 vegetables and 1/4 steak. It is a nice meal for this time of year.

Ingredients: Serves 4 or more

1 to 1 1/2 C cooked steak chopped up

2-3 garlic cloves minced

1 leek chopped in small pieces

1 onion chopped up small pieces

1 C bell peppers (yellow and red) chopped up

1 C mushroom chopped in small pieces

3 or 4 roma tomatoes chopped

2 tsp cumin

salt and pepper to taste

6-7 wholegrain tortillas

2 T oil

*I used 1 1/4 C of this too.

salsa and sour cream if desired

Directions:

1. Heat oil in pan. place garlic, leek, and onions and stir and cook 3-4 min. or till soft. Then add remaining vegetables and cook until softened.

2. Then add steak and cook for a couple minutes to heat it all the way up. Serve in tortillas shells.

Now you can make your own creation. :)

Creamy Asparagus Leek Soup

This is a crazy time of year. Sometimes you wake up thinking Spring is here, and the next morning snow is back. The nice thing is that it is not as cold, and the snow melts quick. So my point is that it can still be a good time to make soup. I think soup is good all year. (I have a few kids who think otherwise.) This a delicious creamy soup . I made it yesterday when my daughter Britney came over, and we both really enjoyed it. It has a lot of vegetables loaded into it as well. :) Yum! It tasted so wonderful for lunch today as well.

Ingredients:

1 T olive oil

2 leeks washed and sliced into 1/4 slices

1 large yellow onion chopped

3/4 tsp sea salt

3-4 garlic cloves minced

1 sweet potato peeled and chopped small cubes

1 bunch of asparagus chopped in small pieces

4 1/2 C water

1/4 to 1/2 C fresh parsely chopped in small pieces

2 tsp dried basil

1 tsp thyme

2 tsp rosemary

salt and pepper to taste

(any other spices you want)

2 T cream *Optional

Directions:

1. Heat 4-qt soup pot over med heat and add oil.

2. Pour into the pot leek, onions, and salt and saute for 5 min. Until the onion turns clear.

3. Add the garlic and stir well. Cook another minute more.

4. Add the potato, water, herbs, and asparagus cover the pot, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and let simmer for 20 min.

5. Pour the soup into a blender. Blend it 1 cup at a time till it is creamy! Continue until it is all creamy. I then added 2 T of Cream to make it even more smooth and creamy. Blend the whole amount at one time. It is optional you don't have to add the cream.

6. Then pour back into the pot and heat the soup up again. Serve nice and hot!

A great way to eat a lot of vegetables! :)

Sweet and Sour Chicken and Brown Rice

I took dinner to a friend. It is always hard to know what to make. I decided on this. It is always nice when it goes over well with my family. I feel like there is a good chance the family I took it to, will like it as well. I hope so! :) I am a big fan of sweet and sour. How about you?

Ingredients:

Brown Rice cooked
(I used the pressure cooker. I put 2 cloves of garlic, 2 T fresh marjoram, 2 1 /2 C Brown Rice, 5 C water, 1 T lavender mix. Cooked it for 20 min and let it cool down for 10 min. perfect! Added salt and pepper at the end. You can cook it in a Rice cooker, or how ever works best for you! ) *optional you could add a finely chopped onion.

1 1/2 to 2 lbs chicken tenders (They are on sale this week at Sunflower Market $1.99 lb)
1/2 C soy sauce (I am going to try to cut the soy sauce down to 1/3 C nest time)
1 to 1 1/2 C water
3 to 4 T lemon juice
1/4 to 1/3 C honey
4 fresh basil leaves dried basil 1 tsp
3 to 4 garlic cloves minced
1 T fresh ginger 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp thyme
1 onion chopped up fine
1 leek cut in small pieces
1 orange pepper chopped in small pieces

1. While the rice is cooking. I put the chicken in the pan to cook. You could put in a little water. Maybe a 1/4 C put on the lid. Let it cook a few minutes.

2. Then take off the lid and add the remaining ingredients, Stir it all,till its all combined. I then put the lid back on and let it cook on med to low for about 30 min. Letting all the flavors combine. I then used a pair of kitchen shears and cut the chicken into small pieces.

3. Then I mixed the mixture with the cooked rice. I didn't even have to add any thickener. It combined well and was a nice texture. Salt and pepper as needed. Enjoy

*You could add some other colored peppers to make it more colorful. :)
* You could also not mix them and just pour the chicken mixture over the rice.
*This was so good for lunch the next day! =)

Thai Fried Sweet Brown Rice

This could be a fun dinner for Valentines! I have been reading the benefits of Curry and Turmeric. I have not cooked with them a whole lot. It was fun to try it something new. You should give it a try. We enjoyed it. I hope you do as well.

Ingredients:

4 C sweet brown rice
2 C canned coconut milk
1 1/2 C water
4 T coconut oil
3 garlic cloves minced
1 whole onion chopped fine
3 T grated ginger root
1 lb of chicken tenders (cut in small pieces)
1 red bell pepper
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp turmeric *optional
2 eggs beaten
1 leek chopped fine

Directions: Serves about 4

1. Cook brown rice with the water and coconut milk. You may have to adjust your liquid according to how you cook it. I cooked mine in the pressure cooker. Allow enough time for the rice to cool, before it is added to the mixture. Otherwise the rice will absorb to much oil. I spread the rice on a cookie sheet to cool it faster.

2. Heat a wok or frying pan add 2 T of the oil. Then add ginger, garlic, and onion. Cook for about 3 minutes while stirring.

3. Then add the chicken and 2 T oil to the pan. Cook until it is all cooked. Then add the rice with
cook on high heat for 3 min.

4. Stir in the peppers, curry, *turmeric with salt to taste. Cook tossing it for 1 min. Stir in the eggs. and cook until the eggs are completely cooked. Garnish chopped leek. Enjoy!

Triple Onion Cream Soup

This is not a low fat meal, but it tasted really good. You could cut down the fat by using half and half. Which I usually do, but this time I splurged. I incorporated 3 different kinds of onions. Yellow onions are a sweeter onion and a little more potent. White onions have a little less tang to them. Leek added another dimension as well. The picture does not do it justice.

Ingredients:

1/2 C unsalted butter
3 white onions sliced
3 yellow onions sliced
1 leek chopped fine
2 bay leaf
8 C chicken stock or vegetable stock
1 1/3 C heavy cream (You could use half milk)
a little lemon juice (optional)
salt and pepper , croutons, chopped chives to garnish


Directions:

1. Melt 1/4 C butter in large pan. Stir in all of the white onions with the bay leafs. Stir to coat with butter and cook on low for 30 minutes. Onions should be soft but not brown.

2. Turn up the heat and add the broth, and leek. Add a little salt and pepper too. Bring to a boil lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

3. Set soup aside to cool down. Take out the bay leaves. Puree the soup in a blender or food processor. Pour the soup back into the pan.

4. Melt the rest of the butter in a frying pan. Cook the yellow onions slowly until soft, but not brown. Take off the lid and continue to cook until the onions are a golden yellow. (These onions add a nice texture and buttery flavor to the soup.)

5. Add the cream to the soup, in the pan with heat on low until the soup is hot. You can add some lemon juice for a nice added flavor. Pour in the yellow onions. Stir for 1-2 minutes. Serve with croutons, chopped chives, or crackers. Yum!

Golden Potato Vegetable Soup

I was riding in the car today and heard them talking about soups on the radio. I love eating soups of all kinds. I like to incorporate a lot of different vegetables into them. It's a great way to get the family to eat vegetables. :) They started talking about a potato leek soup and I couldn't resit trying it out. It is a perfect meal for a winter night. We enjoyed it. I served it with homemade tortillas, that I made into quesadillas. It was a great meal!


This is what the finished product looked like. I even made my own vegetable broth for the base. You can do that, or buy it already made at the store. Hooray for soup!

Ingredients:
3 C leek, chopped
4-5 C gold Yukon potatoes, cut in cubes
3 C vegetable broth*
3 C water
2 tsp thyme
small bunch of fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste
2 T olive oil
1 T butter

Directions:

1. In big quart pan pour in oilve oil and butter. Turn on to medium heat. Add the leek and let simmer a couple minutes. (Make sure you wash the leek in all the nooks and crannies.)

2. Scrub the potatoes and leave the peels on. Cut them in to cubes. (I love the cooked skins on yukon potatoes--they aren't even noticeable.) Add to the leeks.

3. Pour in the water, broth, salt, pepper, and thyme. Let cook until potatoes are soft. About 20 minutes. Put on the lid. I left it on low till ready to eat. I added the fresh parsley about 5 min before serving. Enjoy!

*I made homemade broth by putting about 5 C water, 3 peeled carrots, half an onion (cut up), garlic clove. salt and pepper and simmered it for about an hour. Then poured the whole mixture into the blender. This made extra broth than needed for the recipe. I put the extra in the freezer for later.