White Grape Seed Flour Mini Donuts to Celebrate the 2016 Olympics!

In my August DegustaBox, I once again found a series of goodies that made me get excited!
Particularly, the White Grape Seed Wheat Flour from White Lily seemed interesting because I never knew there was such a thing as Chardonnay Grape Seed Flour.

If you're not familiar with the monthly DegustaBox food subcription service, you can read all about it here.
In August, the box arrived with one of my favorite Honey Bunches of Oats cereal varieties (the one with dried strawberries). There were also Loacker Italian chocolates,  Oregon Chai Tea and a yummy Chipotle flavored Sir Kensignton's Mayonnaise, among other stuff.

But given my intrigue for the White Grape Seed flour and taking into consideration that it's the 2016 Olympics' closing weekend, I decided to make some mini sour cream donuts using the White Lily flour. 
They turned out delicious! And I was able to get Benny's attention as I explained what each Olympic Ring represented.
Again, we probably wouldn't have had these post-dinner donut treats had it not been for my DegustaBox.

To make similar mini donuts you'll need:

• 1⅓ cups White Lily White Grape Seed All Purpose Flour

• ⅓ cup sugar

• 1 tablespoon baking powder

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ½ cup milk

• ¼ cup vegetable oil

• ¼ cup sour cream

• 1 egg

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions:

1. Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.

1. In separate bowl whisk together remaining ingredients.  Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients. Use a fork blend until smooth.

1. Use a mini donut maker and fill each cavity with 1 TBSP batter.

1. Bake about 4 to 5 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

1. Glaze or coat with colored frosting and sprinkles

And remember, the Degustabox subscription averages $20/month! More details here.

 

Mexican Torta Burger -- A New Summer Favorite, Full of Latin Flavor!

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and Kroger. All opinions are mine alone. #RecetasParaMomentos

These long, hot days of summer constantly have me thinking about delicious BBQ meals!

Even on weeknights when I’m driving home from my office in Downtown LA, I start thinking about what to make for dinner, on the grill, and in our backyard as soon as I get home.

During my drive, I start imagining a grilled chicken breast, with grilled corn and asparagus…Mmm

Other days I just want a juicy steak with guacamole.

But last week, I thought of making a Mexican burger on a torta roll with a side of street style corn on the cob.

So what’s a Mexican burger?

It’s my own version of a delicious mix of premium beef from Ralphs, fresh jalapeno peppers, cilantro and Mexican cheese, grilled to perfection on a Mexican bread roll.

I purchased all ingredients at Ralphs a few days prior. There’s a great selection of meat and locally-sourced produce at great prices there (especially if you have a Ralph’s Card).

 

When you join the Ralphs Fuel Program, you get one fuel point for every dollar you spend on groceries, which works perfectly for me since I drive about 20 miles to work every day.

And speaking of my drive, on the day I thought about making my Mexican Torta Burger, I was stuck in traffic on my way home.

I’d had a pretty busy day at work that day and didn’t get a chance to have lunch so I was pretty darn hungry at five in the afternoon!

Once I got home, I quickly got my ingredients ready, boiled a pot of corn, prepared the burgers and had my loving dad put them on the grill for me.

Here’s how I made the burgers:

Ingredients:

*1 lb. ground beef

*3 jalapeno peppers, cubed

*2 slices of Mexican cheese, crumbled

*Cilantro (I used a small bunch)

*1 egg

*Garlic Salt and pepper, to taste

*2 TBSP oil

Instructions:

I mixed all the ingredients thoroughly and made five meat balls out of the mix.

I used a Mexican tortilla maker to pat down the burgers and worked the meat to shape each meatball lengthwise (the shape of the Mexican bread roll).

Place on the grill and voila!

I sliced a torta roll and added mayo, lettuce, tomato and onion to create my torta burger… It was sooooooo good. It was a bit spicy for the boys but perfect for mommy!

As far as my street style corn on the cob—just add mayo, parmesan cheese and hot sauce and you’ve got yourself a perfect side for your Summer Torta Burger!

I’d encourage you to try this, don’t let summer end without a Mexican Torta Burger…and make sure you shop at Ralph’s for fresh ingredients!

A Tea Party for Boys with Otis Spunkmeyer Treats

Tea parties are so much fun!
The mini sandwiches, the sweets, the tea cups, the doilies... I could go on and on!

I had a tea party baby shower when I was expecting Benny and I've been wanting to throw one for quite some time now but I just hadn't come around to it.... until this past weekend.

I received a shipment of Otis Spunkmeyer goodies for a review on this blog. They included chocolate chunk cookies, blueberry muffins, golden creme cakes, chocolate frosted creme cakes and lemon loaf cakes and I nearly jumped with joy!

I'm not supposed to be too excited about cookies and cakes, especially as I continue on my pre-pregnancy weight loss journey but these goodies were just awesome.

It turns out the California-based cookie company just launched a new line of sweet treats. The new Otis Spunkmeyer retail line promises “No Funky Stuff,” meaning all foods are made without artificial flavors or colors, high fructose corn syrup, or partially hydrogenated oils. Additionally, all snacks are individually wrapped. Yay!

So with all these sweet treats at home, one thing was very clear: I had the perfect excuse to finally throw a tea party for my boys, in our backyard! 

I tried sticking to a black and white theme to make it neutral and/or a little more masculine. I also made sure there was plenty of fruit and tea sandwiches to balance out the Spunkmeyer Sweetness. Somehow though, Benny couldn't get enough of his lemon loaf cake!

Not pictured: my husband Paul devouring plenty of chocolate chip cookies and golden creme cakes!!

Paul and I had a cup of tea but I filled a small tea pot for Benny with warm apple cider and let him pour and drink as he pleased.

(Toby got to practice the art of savoring a cup of tea, without the tea!)

Overall, my tea party for the boys was a total success and it honestly couldn't have been so perfect without the sweet treats from Otis Spunkmeyer. 

I'm almost positive that if you try them, they'll be your cup of tea!

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Summer Party!

When I was on maternity leave, I would look at my baby Toby and remember when his older brother Benny was just as tiny.
I  would get feelings of nostalgia thinking about how fast kids grow.
But there's no stopping the clock and my babies will be teens before I know it.
That's why I started thinking of ways to make their childhood even more memorable.
One idea that came to mind was throwing an annual kids play date/summer BBQ where I would invite all their cousins and little friends to enjoy an evening of games, activities, food and goodies, at our house.
Well, Benny & Toby's 1st Annual Summer Play Date was held a few weekends ago and it was quite an experience...

The day was super hot and we don't have a pool so I hired a Bubblist and had a few activities to help kids stay cool like splash ping pong, fishing for guppies, a lemonade stand and my brother-in-law, who was the afternoon's grill master, also installed a cooling mist system in the kids area.
The weather was ridiculously hot but the kids seemed to have a blast running around and finding activities to keep busy. Did I mention it was Mickey-themed?

I learned a few lessons on things I will do differently next year as far as time of day to host the party and the amount of time I need to make it all come together (I waited till the last minute for a lot of details and a few things I envisioned never got done), but overall, we had a great crowd and Benny still talks about his friends and cousins who came to the summer party...yay!