~ The Crystal Dish ~

Clean eating is going great so far and I have been super busy already this morning trying to prep everything for this week.  I decided to make something for Jack so that he would have something to eat for breakfast. I have made these egg muffins before, so I decided to make them this morning for jack, but the clean version. NO CHEESE! I have made 1 batch which made 6 muffins. 2 muffins/day for Jack. You can really put anything you want in these, but since Jack isn't as adventurous as I am with food, I kept his simple. Bacon and Spinach with Egg Whites. Now if I was making this for myself, I would've thrown in pepper, mushrooms, tomatoes, etc. I love crazy amounts of veggies in my eggs. I feel like I'm just being that much healthier. Well, the frittatas were a success and he has something to eat for breakfast through Thursday.     First what I did was browned the bacon and set it aside. You want to bacon to be semi-cooled so that it doesn't begin to...

Jack started this Biggest Loser Challenge  with his family and the poor guy has been  tempted by sweets because of all these yummy muffins I've been baking lately. We do our grocery shopping Sundays, so it's our time to get back on the bandwagon. Clean eating is what we need to be doing. It's so easy to get off track sometimes, but once you tell yourself it's ok to be bad a few times, you fall deeper and deeper off the eating healthy path. We don't think of eating clean as a diet, it's more of a living and eating healthier lifestyle.  As I was shopping, I looked in my cart and $300 later for the next two weeks of food. My cart is filled with mostly fruit and veggies and meats. Keep in mind I do still have some carbs like brown rice, potatoes and quinoa, but for the most part, it's the fruit and veggies. Part of the clean eating will also consist of doing some paleo meals. Even for the kids I'm going to try making some paleo pancakes!  So as far as shoppi...

About a week ago I made Jack The Elvis Presley Sandwich and it got me to thinking a different dish with these ingredients. Bacon. Peanut Butter. Banana. The other day I made muffins with browned butter and decided to alter the muffin recipe and add The Elvis Presley ingredients to the muffins and alter recipe a bit. I decided on mini muffins because I wanted to share these with friends and family to try one of my new concoctions.  Ingredients: 2 cups all purpose flour  1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp nutmeg 2 large eggs 5 ripe bananas 1 cup sugar 1/3 cup peanut butter 1/2 cup butter, melted and browned 6 slices cooked bacon, minced Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a muffin pan with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside. To brown butter,  Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Keep an eye on the butter.  Melt and cook down the butter until little brown bits app...

A friend of Jack & mine posted a picture of Crab Benedict from a restaurant a couple of days ago and that got me to thinking about making a yummy Benedict breakfast.  I have never made the perfect hollandaise, but I knew Julia Child wouldn't steer me wrong, so I attempted to make her recipe. I was right! It was that perfect rich, buttery, creamy goodness. I don't know why I hadn't tried her recipe sooner. I've tried several times to make hollandaise and failed every time, but this morning, every bit of the hollandaise was just perfect. I couldn't believe it! I DID IT! I made homemade hollandaise!  For the rest of the Benedict, I decided to use lobster rather than crab cause lets face it, lobster is so richer than crab and would go perfect with that richness of the hollandaise.  As my husband took a bite, he said, "Oh my God that's good!" I then asked if he liked this better than the regular eggs Benedict and of course he did.  I hope you all try th...

I've been cooking all these sweets lately and they're not exactly healthy, so I wanted to try some creative healthy sweets, or healthier I should say. Jack and the kids ate the loaf of peanut butter banana bread in a day, so I wanted to create a healthier version.  My little helper Nicholas was right there with me helping me prepare these muffins.  I decided to make a pan of mini muffins and a pan of regular sized muffins. Ingredients: Dry Ingredients: 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour 3/4 cup of old fashioned oats 1 tablespoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon cinnamon Wet Ingredients: 1/3 cup peanut butter (I used natural) 3 medium overripe bananas 1 large egg 2/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed 1 and 1/4 cups milk (I used coconut milk) Instructions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease muffin pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients and set aside. In another large bowl, smash the bananas and beat in the peanut butter and egg till well combine...

Woke up this morning wanting to bake something. I needed some inspiration, so as I flipped through my Joy The Baker cookbook, I came across her brown butter blueberry muffins.  They looked so good I wanted to bake these with my little sous chef.   I looked in the fridge to take out 2 sticks of butter and RATS!!!! I only had 1 stick left! I guess I didn't realize how much I've been going through butter with all this baking I've been doing.  I sat their contemplating whether or not to load the kids up and head to the store to get more butter. I fed them their breakfast first so that they would hopefully be content in the store.  Luckily they're both in good moods this am, so I decided to venture out. Those of you who have young kids, you know it's not always easy shopping with two toddlers. Going to the store was a success. I love that Bel Air walks you to your car and unloads your groceries. It makes things easier with the kids. I got everything I needed for muffins....

Growing up I remember cooking with my mom in the kitchen. My favorite was always making sugar cookies because I got to decorate them. I'm so happy Nicholas (2) is so into helping me cook in the kitchen.  I've been cooking so much lately, my egg supply is dwindling down.  This morning when I was getting breakfast ready for my kiddos, I looked at the ripe bananas on the counter and realized I needed to do something with them before they became too ripe.  Jack loves peanut butter & banana sandwiches, so I figured why not make some peanut butter banana bread.  I was on a mission! My little sous chef, Nicholas was standing on a chair right next to me with a look of excitement on his face. This kid loves to cook just as much as mommy does. Our peanut butter banana bread came out great!!! Ingredients: 3 or 4 ripe bananas, mashed 1/3 cup sour cream 1/3 cup peanut butter 3 tablespoons melted butter 2 large eggs 1 cup sugar 1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour 3/4 teaspoon bak...

This was the easiest type of rice crispy treats I have ever made, not that rice crispy treats are hard to make.  I didn't have marshmallows on hand, so I had to get a little creative. Jack and the kids devoured these. Ingredients: 3 cups rice crispy cereal 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter 1/2 cup honey Directions: In a large bowl, measure out your cereal.  Set aside.  Next, in a small saucepan, melt together the peanut butter and honey over medium heat.  Once melted, pour over your cereal and mix until everything is coated and there are no dry spots.  Line a 9x9 baking pan with parchment paper.  Pour your peanut butter and rice crispy mixture into the pan and press down firmly until flat.  Place pan in refrigerator for 1 hour before cutting and serving your Rice Crispy Treats.  Store any extra bars in refrigerator. Pinterest Link: http://pinterest.com/pin/222224562836515960/

Today I have been feeling a little under the weather, so I wanted to keep it pretty simple for dinner so that I wouldn't be on my feet for a long period of time. The Tri-Tip I threw in the marinade around 9am this morning and began cooking it around 5pm so that dinner would be ready when Jack walked through the door from work. For the fixin's to go with the meat, I decided to roast some potatoes and butternut squash in the oven and sautéed a blend of spinach, Swiss chard, and bok choy with garlic. It was a great healthy meal. Brooklyn (1) had two helpings of dinner. She loved it! Nicholas (2), my picky eater ate his dinner, after I put ketchup on plate to dip his potatoes in. All in all, dinner was a huge success and Jack and the kids loved it! Ingredients: 3-4lbs tri-tip 1 (12oz) bottle beer (I used corona) 1 yellow onion, chopped 1 tsp salt 3 tsp cayenne 2 limes, cut into wedges 3 large potatoes, peeled and diced 1 medium sized butternut squash, peeled and diced 2 tbs olive o...

As a stay at home mom, I need to change it up with breakfast for my kids. Mine love these pancakes, and they're healthy too! You can't beat that.  I don't even need to put syrup on them. That's how good these pancakes are.  This morning, Nicholas(2), wanted to help mommy makes these yummy breakfast pancakes, and what a great helper he was. Of course he kept trying to eat the batter, but he was a good listener when I explained to him we cannot eat it because of the raw eggs.  Typically I use almond or coconut flour, however I was all out, so decided to use whole wheat. They still came out great.  Healthy Fruit and Nut Pancakes Ingredients: 1 cup whole wheat flour 1/2 cup old fashioned oats 2 tsp baking powder 1/2 cup roughly chopped nuts (I used walnuts) Pinch of salt 1 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp nutmeg 1 banana 1 egg 1 1/2 cups coconut or almond milk 1 tsp maple extract 1 cup berries Directions: In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, nuts, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and ...

I think scallops are one of the hardest things to cook. My mom and I have tried cooking scallops several different ways and we could never nail them spot on. One day the kids and I were visiting my grandma and she just happened to be cooking scallops. The sear she had on the scallops was perfect. I had to try one. I took a bite of a scallop and it seemed to just melt in my mouth. This was definitely a restaurant quality scallop. I then of course ate about 3 more of them. They were so delicious! For those of you who cook scallops, or even those who don't, temperature is everything. If your temp is too low, it's not going to get that good sear and you will most likely end up over cooking them. So just remember one thing..... High Heat! Ingredients: 8 sea scallops salt pepper 1 tablespoon olive oil Prepare the scallops by removing the side muscle, if necessary. Rinse and pat dry. Season with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a large pan over high heat. Sear scallops for about 1 1...

The first time I made Korean style meat was with ground beef and it was delicious. I wanted to try a vegetarian version of this and I liked it even better.  I decided to make this for lunch one day and both kids and I loved this creation. The perfect balance of spice and sweet. This is a very simple, fast meal to cook. You can even cook the night before and you'll have something for lunch the next few days.  Ingredients: 1 cup quinoa 1 8oz pkg firm tofu, cubed 1 red bell pepper, chopped 1/2 cup onion, minced. 5 mushrooms, chopped 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup soy sauce 2 Tablespoons sesame oil 3 cloves garlic, minced 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger 1/2 - 1 teaspoon crushed red peppers (depending on how spicy you like it) salt and pepper 1 bunch green onions, diced Directions: Cook quinoa in a pot of salted boiling water according to package instructions. While quinoa is cooking, add h eat a large skillet over medium heat and brown tofu with 1 tablespoon of sesame oil. when tofu has b...

So today I got to spend part of my day baking with my mom. Last night I received a text from her asking if I wanted to come over and make pretzels.... Um YEAH!!!  I could already taste the pretzels and began craving some homemade pretzels. This was such a fun cooking experience and bonding time with my mom and kiddos. We of course took shifts rolling out the pretzels and chasing kids around the house. I love these fun bonding moments with my momma. They came out great!  Ingredients: 1 pkg of yeast 1 tablespoon of sugar 1 -1/2 cups of like warm water (105-110 degrees) 3-4 cups of flour 1 tablespoon of salt 1 egg Mix water, yeast and sugar in glass dish. Let sit till foamy (5 min). If mixture does not foam throw away and start over.  Mix three and a half cups of flour and salt in bowl. I put in my Kitchen Aid mixer bowl, add yeast mixture and mix with dough hook on medium until mixture turns into a dough  Turn dough onto working surface and dust with enough of the rema...

A couple of days ago, Jack shared with me a combination of his 3 favorite things... Bacon. Bananas. Peanut Butter. This sandwich was Elvis Presley's favorite sandwich. I of course wanted to jump at this new breakfast meal for him. I will probably stick to my egg white omelet this morning, but as I've said before, what my hubby wants, my hubby gets. This will be my first attempt at this meal. Fingers crossed it will be a success. Ingredients: 6 slices of bacon, cut in half 1 banana, sliced 2 tbs. creamy Peanut butter Directions: To make a bacon weave, interlace the strips of bacon as you would a lattice top for a pie.  Bake the weaves in a 350 degree oven for roughly 30 minutes, flipping halfway to cook bacon evenly on both sides. When bacon is fully cooked on both sides, remove from oven and place on a plate covered with a napkin  to catch all those fat drippings and cover top of bacon with an additional napkin After bacon has cooled, spread peanut butter on both sides, add sl...

I was debating on what to cook for dinner tonight. Chicken, Steak, Fish. There are so many different things you can do with these ingredients. I decided to go with chicken. We just happened to have some chicken thighs in the fridge and Jack and I love how tender chicken thighs are compared to breasts. I don't want to knock eating chicken breast though. We typically eat chicken breasts, but it's nice to change things up every once in awhile with a different cut of meat. Well, thanks to my cousin Tabitha, chicken won! She wanted a healthy chicken recipe and I just happened to have this one up my sleeve. I usually marinate the chicken and cook on the BBQ, however we ran out of propane! DANG IT! Its too hard for me to run to the store with Nicholas and Brooklyn to pickup more propane, or I would've done it, but I was trying to figure it out and I hold each kid on each hip.... Where would the propane go? And those tanks aren't exactly light. So, next best thing, I deci...

Some mornings are easier than others when you have a 2 and 1 year old. I'm always on the go from about 5:30am until I go to bed at 10pm. I have a system down in the mornings so I can feed them and make myself a healthy breakfast as well. Since I try to stay healthy with what I eat, I make myself Egg White Omelets and I change it up a bit with what I put in the omelets, depending on what I have on hand. My son, Nicholas (2), has decided he wants to be my little helper in the kitchen ever since my TV debut on Good Morning Sacramento. Every morning when I'm cooking, he wants to assist me. I sit both Nicholas and Brooklyn (1) down at the breakfast table and begin to prepare my breakfast as they're eating theirs. Of course once Nicholas sees me cooking, he quickly gets down from his seat and pushes one of the table chairs to wear I am cooking so that he can help. This morning he was excited about getting to throw my omelet filling into the pan. Prep can ...

Ever since I can remember, linguine and Clams was one of those staples my mom use to make on a pretty regular basis.   It was my favorite meal as a child and one of my favorite meals as an adult. When I first moved out from living with my parents, I use to make this meal for my roommates on a regular basis. I’m talking like a once a week kind of meal. My roommates loved it. Every time I cooked it however it would taste different. I would experiment with different things with this meal always trying to make it better. Recently I prepared this meal for my parents and my mom actually liked it better than hers! I couldn’t believe my ears, something that was my favorite meal as a child; I actually improved it to taste better than my mom’s Linguine! I was shocked and pleased at the same time.   I have now mastered the cooking of my mom’s linguine and made it better! Every once in a while I will throw peppers in it to give it a different kind of a taste, but this recipe is fo...

After years of cooking and sharing recipes, I have finally put together my blog site. Its been a long journey in cooking for friends and family. It wasn't until recently that I was given the confidence to actually create a blog and share everything I have learned and am still learning in the kitchen. I recently was given the opportunity to air on live tv with Good Day Sacramento.  It was quite the experience. Friends and family told me I was a natural on tv, but what they didn't see on tv was how extremely nervous me. My mom and my husband were there calming me down.  After each take, I would let out a big "Whew" and ask how I did.  Apparently my nervousness did not show when the camera was rolling. Thank Goodness! I would like to share the recipe of my dish on Good Day Sacramento with all of you. Spaghetti Squash is that ingredient that we all seem to forget about. It's amazing and very good for you to eat. I think when people look at a spaghetti squash, ...