Waffle Sundae

1 quart. Strawberries, fresh or frozen, thawed
3/4 cup Sugar
Oatmeal Waffles:
     3/4 cup Flour
     3/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour
     1 cup Oats
     1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
     1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
     1/4 teaspoon Salt
     2 Eggs, lightly beaten
     1 1/2 cups Milk
     6 Tablespoons Butter, melted
     2-4 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
Vanilla Ice Cream
Chocolate Sauce
Caramel Sauce
Whipped Cream
Sprinkles
     (any toppings you like!)

Quarter strawberries and put them in a large bowl. Add sugar and mix well. Let set for about hour.

To make Waffles:
In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, baking powder, cinnamon and salt; set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, butter and brown sugar.

Add to flour mixture; stir until blended.

Pour batter into a lightly greased waffle iron. (I have big double sided waffle iron and use a 1 cup measurer) Close lid quickly; do not open during baking. Use fork to remove baked waffle.

(One batch makes about 4 belgian waffles.)

To make Sundae's:
Place a waffle on your plate. Put a big scoop of ice cream in the middle of the waffle. Top with strawberries, chocolate, and caramel sauce, or anything you want!

Tamales

1/2 bag Corn Husks
MASA: (enough for about 30 tamales)
     1 cup shortening
     3 cups masa harina
     1 tsp cumin
     1 tsp Chile powder
     1 tsp salt
     2 tsp baking powder
     1 14.5 oz can beef broth
1/2 recipe Mexican Meat Mixture
1 can Rotel
1 (16 oz) Velveta

In a large bowl add very hot water to about half the depth.  Place corn husks in a large bowl making sure to separate husks so water can soak throughout the pile.

With a second slightly smaller bowl fill it to about half way with water.  Place on top of the corn husks in the water to weigh them down and let soak for 30 minutes.  Drain husks.

Fill spaghetti pot with about 2 inches of water.  Place strainer pot into spaghetti pot to make sure that the water level is not touching the strainer pot.

Line the inside of the strainer pot with foil.  It just needs to cover the bottom and up the sides a little bit.  

Meanwhile, beat the shortening for 5 minutes in a stand mixer.

Combine the masa harina with cumin, chile powder, salt, and baking powder.

Add in masa mixture to the shortening. Mix well.

Slowly add the beef broth till mixture sticks together.  You don't want it to be crumbly.

Tamales
If you have a tortilla press cut a sandwich size zip lock down the sides and open it up.  Lay it on the opened tortilla press.  For every tamale use this so that it is easy to transfer to corn husks and easy clean up!

Working with one husk at a time, place about 35-40grams of Masa Dough in the center of tortilla press.  Press the dough, you want it to be about a 6 inch circle.  Place disk about 1 inch from bottom of husk.  You definitely want the whole circle to be inside the corn husk.  Sometimes I have to use two or three corn husks staggered on each other to make it wide enough to roll.  

Spoon about 2 tablespoons Mexican meat mixture down middle of dough.

Using the corn husk as your guide, fold husk over tamale, being sure to cover filling with dough. Fold bottom end of husk under. Place upright in the steamer.

STEAM
This recipe should make about 30 tamales. You can cram them in.  But if you are making a bigger batch having them not so crammed is good.  You can steam the next day if gets too late in the day.  Just put in fridge till tomorrow.

Bring the 2 inches of water in a large spaghetti pot to a boil.  Put strainer basket with tamales in the pot.  Cover with lid.

Steam on the stove for 2 hours.  (I steam mine on  level 6).  About 30 minutes till end of cooking time check water level.  I typically need to add a cup of water.

At the 2 hour mark take one tamale out and see if it is cooked.  If you think it needs 30 more minutes just make sure that there is enough water in pan.  

If there are left overs you can wrap them in the aluminum foil used to cook them and freeze.  Thaw and microwave to reheat.  But reheat without sauce. The sauce will melt from the heat of the tamale or you can heat the sauce separately. 

Cheese Sauce
In a blender combine rotel and velveta.

When serving, unwrap tamales onto individual plates.  Cover with cheese sauce.

Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark Brownies

1 bag (16 oz) Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips 
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter 
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark SQUARES™ chopped into large chunks (for the brownies)
18 Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark SQUARES™ broken in to large chunks (for the finishing)

Preheat oven to 350.

In a medium saucepan, bring 2 inches of water to a gentle simmer.

Put the chocolate chips and butter in a heatproof bowl and set it over (but not touching) the simmering water. Stir the mixture with a rubber spatula until the better is melted and both ingredients are completely combined. 

Turn off the heat and leave the bowl over the warm water. 

Sift together the flour and baking powder and set aside. 

In a large bowl whisk together eggs, salt, sugar and vanilla. 

Add the egg mixture to the chocolate mixture and whisk together gently. 

With a spatula, fold in the flour. 

Immediately pour ½ the mixture into 9x13 pan and spread it evenly. 

Next, sprinkle the chopped peppermint bark over the batter and then pour the remaining batter over this. Spread evenly. 

Bake for 20 minutes. The center should be fudgy but not dry. 

Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes.

Place Peppermint Bark chunks on top of warm brownies and allow them to soften for 1 minute. 

Using a spatula, gently swirl the melting Peppermint Bark to create swirls of melted chocolate. 

Refrigerate for 1 hour. 

Tomatillos Sauce

3-4 fresh Tomatillos
     small and dark green best
1/2 cup Mayo
1 cup fresh Cilantro
1/2 teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper
3 Tablespoons Buttermilk Ranch Mix
1/2 cup Buttermilk
3 cloves of Garlic minced
1 Lime Juice

Food process everything together.

Refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.

Guacamole

3 Avocados
2 TBS minced red onion
1/4 cup fresh cilantro diced
2 fresh lime, juiced
1 jalapeno, half seeds removed, minced
3 medium garlic cloves, minced 
salt to taste, starting with 1/4 teaspoon

Cut avocados in half and remove seed.  Scoop out insides close to skin into a bowl.  Mash avocados.

Mix in rest of the ingredients.  I like to stir and mash with the masher.  Keep adding salt by the 1/8th of a teaspoon while testing with a chip to see if needs more salt.

Note: You can substitute Adobo Seasoning with salt and garlic.  Just sprinkle generously to taste! 

Taco Salad - Mexican Mess

1 (15 oz) can refried beans
1/2 recipe of Mexican Meat Mixture
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 (16 oz) bottle Medium Pace Salsa
Assembly Ingredients:
Tortilla Chips
lettuce
Shredded cheese
guacamole
Tomatillos sauce

In a 13x9 pan layer the refried beans, shredded beef, cheese and salsa.

Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Serve as meat for taco salad.

Assembly:
Crush Tortilla Chips in bottom of individual bows.

Put shredded lettuce on top of crushed chips.

Sprinkle cheese on top of lettuce.

Add meat mixture on top of cheese.

Add guacamole and then finally Tomatillos sauce.

Note: I priced this on DaleLiciousFood with the guacamole and Tomatillos sauce. With everything it is $32.26 or $2.69/serving. With only the casserole it is $23.27 or $1.94/serving.

Mexican Shredded Meat Mixture

5 lbs Bottom Round Roast
1 cup Water
1 cup Dehydrated Onion
1 (4 oz.) can diced Green Chilies
16 oz. jar Medium Salsa
1/4 teaspoon Granulated Garlic
4 teaspoons Salt
1 teaspoon Ground Cumin

Preheat oven to 275.

Cut the roast into 1 1/2 to 2 inch steaks.

Place steaks in large roasting pan or dutch oven. Add water. Cover with a tight fitting lid and roast for 7 hours.

Cool meat. Shred; discarding fat and connective tissue.

In a medium bowl combine onion, green chilies, salsa, garlic, salt, and cumin.

Stir salsa mixture into the shredded meat.

Freeze in 2-3 cup portions.

Use to make burritos, taco salad, quesadillas, nachos, or tamales.

Tamales:
3 ducks worth of drumsticks and thighs and 1 breast
1 package Lipton Onion Soup Mix
~2 cups Beef Broth
1/2 cup Dehydrated Onion
1 (4 oz.) can diced Green Chilies
8 oz. jar Medium Salsa
1/4 teaspoon Granulated Garlic
2 teaspoons Salt
1/2 teaspoon Ground Cumin

Place duck in a slow cooker.  Sprinkle Onion Soup Mix over duck.  Cover duck with beef broth till fully submerged, may not use all or may use more depending on size of slow cooker.

Cook on high for 1 hour and on low for 3 hours.  

In a medium bowl combine dehydrated onion, diced green chilies, salsa, garlic, salt, and cumin.  

Remove Duck meat from slow cooker and shred with a fork.  

Mix meat in salsa mixture.  

Enough to make 30 tamales.

Taco Salad - Mex Mes:
1 duck
1 package Lipton Onion Soup Mix
~2 cups Beef Broth
1/4 cup Dehydrated Onion
1 (4 oz.) can diced Green Chilies
4 oz. jar Medium Salsa
1/2 teaspoon Granulated Garlic
1 teaspoons Salt
1/4 teaspoon Ground Cumin

Place duck in a slow cooker.  Sprinkle Onion Soup Mix over duck.  Cover duck with beef broth till fully submerged, may not use all or may use more depending on size of slow cooker.

Cook on high for 1 hour and on low for 3 hours.  

In a medium bowl combine dehydrated onion, diced green chilies, salsa, garlic, salt, and cumin.  

Remove Duck meat from slow cooker and shred with a fork.  

Mix meat in salsa mixture.  

Week 8

THIS week                                Week 1
Weight: 148.2 lbs                      150.4 lbs
bust: 38 in                                    39.5 in
waist: 33 in                                  33.5 in
tummy: 36 in                                 40 in
hips: 41.5 in                                      43 in

Goals:
3x TKD
3x Hapkido
3x run 5 min
3x 25 sit ups
2x 25 push ups

eat breakfast lunch and dinner
no snacking unless fruits or veggies raw
only water to drink
drink water 8x8 rule (8 oz 8x a day)
    every 2 hours starting at 6 am

Kids goals:
brush teeth 2x a day
flush!
make their bed

Habits are starting to get harder to form with adding so many.  I can tell you right now that the kids, even just being gone for 4 days are totally out of their habits.  I am not going to start from scratch with them but try to really promote them!

Overview week 7

This week was not to the goals only because we went to Indianapolis, IN to watch our daughter perform in the Grand National Championships for Bands of America!  It was awesome!  We got to stay with my sister Jill and see both sets of grandparents from Texas and Michigan.  I am so thankful that we have family that comes and supports us when we are doing something that we think is a big deal!  Laura's band made it to Semi Finals which is a HUGE deal!  Never before has our band made it into the Semi Finals.  There were 94 bands that performed and only 35 went on to Semi Finals.  It was a nail bitter because they didn't call our band until number 34 and then the 35th band they called was the other high school that went from Cary, NC!  How exciting that both bands made it into the Semi Finals!  This is what they got to take home for being a Semi Finalist!

So with that said, we were traveling for most of the week so it was eating out mostly.  I did get 2 days of Taekwondo and Hapkido and 2 days of running, 25 situps, and 25 pushups.  Yeah me!  Here are more pics of BOA and their Semi Final performance!

Laura is in the hot pink shirt with grey sweats. Last rehearsal before BOA

Getting ready for BOA!  Laura is the girl with her back to you holding her clarinet case by the blond near the unfiorm rack.

Laur is the very last one on the very last arch on the right towards the back of the field.

Laura is the one standing right next to the bari sax, the saxaphone that is almost has big as the boy carrying it!

Laura is right in the middle with her head REALLY tilted.

Laura is right off the 35 yard line on the inside arch that connects to the cauldron.  she is right before the straight line that goes back to the cauldron from their arch.

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Laura is the really skinny one with her arms really exagerated on the 45 yard line.

Laura is in there somewhere!  Around the 45 on the right side of the field towards the front.