Firestone Walker | Brewery Tour

We are big beer people.

Not like Bud or Coors or even Corona... we are beer-tasting, can-tell-the-difference-between-an-IPA-and-a-brown-ale, appreciate-the-artistry-in-it... craft beer people.  Some people are like that with wine, we just happen to like beer better.

So, we decided to take a little field trip over the Christmas break to Paso Robles for the day and check out the Firestone Walker brewery.

There was a great little half-hour tour that taught a lot about the beer making process as well as what makes Firestone Walker a unique brewery.  We also had the opportunity to taste several of the draft brews that they don't bottle, so they were only available there.

Fun (kid free) times with some wonderful friends! 

Jam

Blueberry Picking

This year, I have been trying to turn our food focus away from processed foods and into the direction of whole and (if possible) sustainable and local.  This is a much harder task that you would think.  MOST foods found at the grocery store are highly processed and full of preservatives to keep them shelf-stable longer and thus more convenient. 

**that being said, we are NOT being militant about our food, just trying to be more aware**

I have had the opportunity to try a variety of locally grown or sourced produce options this year.  One of the places we have found is The Berry Lady (berryladyfarms.com), who grows and packs blueberries and boysenberries. I love that this particular farm welcomes visitors to come and learn about the process of berry picking and packing. 

Unfortunately, this was the last tour they did for the season, and I am not completely sure they will be doing tours next year, but they do offer a great place to buy fresh picked berries!

First, we sat down and listened to a short presentation on blueberries.



And then we were off to pick!  We were able to pick several different varieties of blueberries directly from the bush and learn a little about them in the process.
Hannah really enjoyed the taste-testing and had her favorite varieties all memorized!
Blueberries are not labeled into their different varieties when they are packed, but the different varieties are harvested at different times in the spring.  Some are truly much more tasty than others!

Finally, we went back to the packing house where we saw the buckets and buckets of freshly picked berries be seperated and run through a machine that kicks out the 'bad ones' and shoots the 'good ones' into their little containers. 
This particular packing house does not send their berries to cold storage, but once they are picked they should last about a month in your refrigerator.  They can also be frozen in large gallon sized bags, but don't wash them before freezing!
**So does that mean the berries at the grocery store were picked a month ago when they start to go bad the day after you take them home?**

While it was a very warm day, the kids truly had a fun time!  I am hoping that we are able to go back to the Berry Lady farm next spring and hopefully see her at the Kaiser Farmer's Market on Wednesday mornings!

**She also has some AMAZING dried blueberries that are made with NO SULFER, they are like eating pure candy!**

Regan's Bridal Shower

My Sister's bridal shower was absolutely beautiful, and I wish I had something to do with the decor.  She loves purple, and her wedding coordinator friend has an amazing vision when it comes to this kind of stuff. 

 A-MAZ-ing decor...

 Mimosa bar and brunch spread...

This was part of our gift, I found it on Pintrest (of course!) but it was six bottles of wine to commemorate all the important 'firsts' of a married couple's life... wedding night, first Christmas, first fight, etc.  Such a great idea for my wine-loving sister :-)... And, I happened to luck out on finding a wine-sized milk bottle crate at Home Goods.

 Another super personal gift from one of her sweet friends... their established sign.  I LOVE these. 

 Kristin made the ribbon bouquet.  Such a special friend to both my sister and me.

 And here are all the ladies from our little family.  Mom, Reg, Grandma, me, Claire and Hannah.

Happy Wedding Shower Sister!!  Can't wait to be a part of your BIG day!

Hannah's Birthday (part two)

Hannah chose The Old Spaghetti Factory for her family birthday dinner this year.  I think she loves to go there because she LOVES that you automatically get ice cream as part of your meal. 

Here is my girl acting silly...ready for her spaghetti!

 Han and her soon-to-be Uncle Brian

 and with Auntie

It is definitely a Lego Friends year... Hannah has collected nearly all of the sets and enjoys building them with the family.  This one was the most wanted... The Vet!

 And finally, with her sister and GG :-)

Locally Grown: The Farmer and the Dale

I mentioned a few posts back that I was going to start a little side project here and research some local food choices we have available to us in the central San Joaquin Valley.  Basically, I am becoming more and more aware of the foods we are eating and aiming to eat as much locally grown food as possible.  Through my research, I have found it to be harder to piece together information than you might think.  It is frustrating given that we live in an agricultural hot spot.  That being said, I am looking forward to what I might find in the weeks and months ahead, especially as summer approaches!

A few years ago, I was introduced to the term CSA...

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. It allows people to skip the numerous middle men and buy directly from the famer. It’s like a farmers market that delivers.

I actually signed up to use this particular CSA (The Farmer and the Dale) for the convenience of having produce delivered to my door a few years ago, I honestly didn't think much about the fact that I was supporting a local farmer.  I only used it for a few months back then, but recently renewed my subscription. 

I did research several local CSAs. (There were actually more than you might think!)

• All had locally grown and organic produce. 
• Some allowed you to choose the produce you would be getting.
• Some allowed you to vary your delivery days and times or to only order on demand.
• Most delivered to one 'central' location on a given day and time.  (unfortunately this central location is about a half-hour away for me)
• Some delivered to several spots around town, making them more conveniant.
• One delivers to your door! And, allows you to choose your own produce!

This was last week's box. 

I do love the convenience of this CSA, however I find it a bit more expensive than some of the others available.  I am going to stick with these guys for awhile, and might check out another one in a few months. 

Note:  Traditionally, CSAs were/are a way of paying the farmer ahead of time.  The members of the CSA buy the produce (in some cases) months before the harvest and each week the delivery is more of a 'you-get-what-you-get' situation.  Essentially, it eliminates the need for the farmer to sell their food after harvesting it... and they might have the ability to only harvest what is needed for their CSA deliveries in that week leading to less food wasted. 



Getting Real: The Beginning of the Journey.

For the past month we in the Frank household have been on a little journey with our eating.  To summerize where we were and the steps we kind of took to get to today...

• In early January I realized that something needed to change and joined Weight Watchers.  I knew that I wanted to start making healthier choices and this was the place where I had landed so many other times when making that decision. 
• After a few weeks on the plan, I started really researching food.  What certain foods can do, and why certain parts of the 'Western' diet are really, really bad for us.
• Armed with my new knowledge, I started making better, and more quality food choices.  These choices didn't exactly align with the Weight Watcher's plan, so while I did continue to weigh in, I stopped counting the food POINTS values. 
• I went all-out purchasing foods that I knew were now better choices...and I spent a lot of money in the process.  Realizing this was a mistake, I tried to slow down a little and focus on one change at a time.
• I hit a sort of wall.  When I made drastic changes in my life it was inevitable that I would start to mourn the loss of the carefree eating style that once was...even if I knew that I no longer wanted it to be my life.  I got pretty depressed thinking about all of the foods I could no longer have.  Everything seemed to be a DON'T.  One of the newsletters I read regularly had me ultra sensative to EVERYTHING.  This is bad, that is bad...don't do this, and don't do that.  I didn't want to be discouraged and quit.
• I started looking and researching MORE.  This time with a renewed sense of what CAN we eat.  I realized that I wanted this to be a positive experience and I decided that I needed to determine exactly what we were trying to do.

Enter today.  Or, really the past week or so.  I feel like my short little journey over th past few months has led me to this point.

Getting REAL.  Real food... real life.  I can actually DO this. 

More later on the specifics, because truth be told, I am really excited about this!  I am excited to look back on this journey, from the begining, and see how far we have come. 

As a part of this little journey, I am going to be researching a variety of local food options and sharing (what I hope will be weekly) what I find.  I am really hoping this little project takes on its own little life and creates an awareness of some of the wonderful places we have available.   

tea

Limes that look like Lemons

Want to know one of my favorite things?

I LOVE being able to go out to a tree in my own backyard and pick fruit to eat right now. 

I LOVE that we have so random variety of limes that are actually yellow on the outside and look like lemons.

I LOVE having a cup of tea every night with some honey and lime.

OK- so that was three of my favorite things... but you get the idea.  I'm a big fan of growing my own food.  I am hoping that this is the year I finally convince John to help me start a garden.  I have visions of zucchini bread and berries...

Anyhow, here are our lovely limes... the lemons are just about ripe now too.  :-)

Confusion

Healthy Eating.

What does that mean? 

To some, it means fewer calories.  Others, it means whole, real foods.  I am sure to many, it is a combination of those and many other factors. 

I joined Weight Watchers again.  I am now a fourth-time offender.  (I do have a good excuse for stopping two of the three times I stopped... pregnancy kind of omits you from being allowed on the program.)

This time I am in a little bit of a different mental place. 

For starters, I am actually within the 'healthy' weight range for my height already.  That being said that 'healthy' range encompases 30 pounds.  So, I have a few pounds before I am at my personal goal... totally do-able.

Secondly, it seems like every other time I have been on the program I have basically tried to turn what I normally like to eat into lower calorie, weight-watcher's friendly meals.  Sometimes that includes useing a fat-free cheese or a sugar-free version of any given food.  After a little research, this is not the route I would like to go.

I basically need a whole revamp of the way I think about food and nutrition.  Some foods are bad, and I just shouldn't eat them.  I shouldn't find something else that tastes like them, I should just accept that they aren't a part of a healthful diet and look for other foods that fit the bill.

You know how sometimes you KNOW things, but you choose not to accept them or put them into practice?  I think that has been me for a very long time.  My best example of this is high frutose corn syrup, and for that matter... all sugars and artificial sweeteners.  (Mercola, 2011)  The evidence supporting the link between sugar and so many deadly diseases and the rise in obesity is, to say the very least, terrifying. 

The point is that I am making an effort to eat real, whole foods at home.  I am taking steps to limit the sugar I consume, and I am slowly changing out the foods in our house for the good of the whole family.  But, in the midst of all of this I am realizing that there is so much conflicting information.  Is wheat good or bad?  What is the difference between 'natural' and 'organic'?  Why is vegetable oil so much worse for you than the highly saturated coconut oil?  It is quite obvious that I have a lot more research to do to sort out the confusion.

In the meantime, I am looking forward to doing the best I can, a healthier me, and a healthier family in 2012! 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Photo found on Food.com, recipe #3564

It's getting to be that time of year!! (Don't let the 90 degree weather fool you!)

Time for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins :-)

Recipe can be found here... and they are pretty darn fabulous! (Also, check out the 'Lite' version found on the same site)

Motivation

What gets you off track? 

Sometimes for me it is getting out of routine... you know going on a vacation or having a crazy week.  Whatever I felt was finally manageable, gets out of control. 

For the purpose of this post I am talking about eating right and keeping my weight manageable.  But I could be giving myself the same pep talk about keeping up with the laundry or eating out too much and it would be virtually the same.

I think I got to a point where everyday was a "I'll start over again tomorrow" type day.  After a year of keeping my eating and weight under control I started to let my eating habits go to the dark side and my weight started creeping up.  My pants were getting tight and I was feeling pretty terrible. I finally tracked my calories the other day and I was at twice what I should have had for the day... TWICE!  How in the world did I get to that point? 

Needless to say I have a renewed motivation.  I am on day three and I am feeling confident.  I am making workouts a priority and planning my meals throughout the day.  I don't mean for this to become a workout diary or anything, but there is something about posting something for the world to see that creates accountability. 

So there it is.  Day three.  Let's do this!

Baked French Toast

I had a request the other day to post a recipe I mentioned.  (Ann-Marie, you NEED to try this!) I generally have a rule that I have had to try a recipe twice and gotten good results both times in order to recommend it to anyone else, let alone post it on my fan-tab-ulous blog here.  I am happy to say this is now a Postable recipe!  The prep time is faster than making regular french toast, in my opinion, but the baking does take awhile.

I believe this was originally a Pampered Chef Recipe, and then given to me by my friend Brooke. (always credit where credit is due.)  I am slightly modifing the directions based on what I have done and has worked for me.

Baked (Apple) French Toast

• 1 Loaf sliced Texas Toast (Maple flavor was good, if you can find it)
• 8 eggs
• 3 cups milk
• 3/4 cup sugar, divided
• 1 splash (Tbsp. but I used more) Vanilla
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 5 Granny Smith apples OR another fruit. 
• I used apples, then blueberries on the second batch... both were DELICIOUS!
• I am sure strawberries,peaches, or raspberries would be great too.

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees, spray or butter a 9x13 baking dish
2. Layer the Texas Toast in the bottom of the pan, two pieces high.  Fold or cut the bread so it covers all the way to the edges and corners.  You should use almost the whole loaf.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs lightly with a whisk. Add milk, 1/4 c. sugar and vanilla then whisk to combine.
4. Pour Half the liquid mixture over the bread.
5. Peel, core, and slice the apples and cut into rings or pieces and layer on top of the bread.  (Or layer your alternate fruit on top.)
6. Pour the remaining half of the egg mixure over the fruit.
7. Mix the remaining 1/2 c. sugar with the cinnamon and sprinkle over the top.
8. Dot with pieces of butter.
9. Bake for 35 minutes, might take slightly longer.  It should only be a little wiggly in the middle.  Let it set to cool at least 10 minutes.
10. Serve plain or with butter and syrup.

**Original recipe says this can be made ahead of time, covered, and refrigerated.  Baking time will increase to about an hour.  Check after 45 minutes.

Coffee Drinkers

It's official.

I don't know how we avoided it for the first 29 years, but we are now a full-fledged coffee-drinking household. 

Don't get me wrong, I drank coffee every now and then.  Notice the Keurig machine on the right?  Until recently, it was used every now and then.  Slowly but surely we started burning through the K-cups we had on hand, and replacing them seemed expensive.

So, we moved to the coffee pot.  John actually SETS it the night before because we both drink a cup in the morning. We almost put away the Keurig machine.  To most this might not seem like a big deal, but for us it is a major change. 

So, what's your favorite brand of coffe-pot brewed coffee?

Once a Month Cooking {part two} Prep Day

[Find Part One here]

Preparation
As with any large-scale cooking project, preparation is a must!  After we have done our shopping for our OAMC day, we usually like to take a few hours to prepare as much as possible before we do the main cooking. 

We take a look at our recipes and note any major needs... grating cheese, chopping onion or other vegetables, portioning out meat, precooking, and chopping meat to use the next day are just a few things we like to try to do ahead of time if possible.  The more we do ahead of time, the faster the cooking gets done. 

Sometimes we add in some of the meat preparation to our prep day.  Since we have a variety of recipes to prepare, we like to do some of the marinate only recipes ahead of time.  They are the easiest to prepare: just portion out the meat into quart-sized Ziploc bags and pour the marinade in on top.  While these meals aren't technically 'cooked' yet, they are still some of our favorites.  How many times have you gotten stuck at dinner time trying to figure out what to do with the chicken in your fridge?   

Here are a few of my favorite marinate-only recipes...

Marinated Steak

• Any type of steak you would BBQ (enough for four, about 1-1/2lbs)
• 1/2 c. Vegetable oil
• 1/4c. Soy sauce
• 1/4c. Red wine vinegar
• 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp. Minced garlic (1 clove)
• add meat to a Ziploc bag
• mix marinade in a bowl and pour in bag over meat
• seal bag and freeze
• defrost overnight and BBQ!

Grilled Apple Chicken

• 4-6 4oz. chicken breasts
• 3/4c. Unsweetened apple juice or apple cider
• 1/3c. Lemon juice
• 3Tbsp. Soy sauce (reduced sodium)
• 3Tbsp. Honey
• 1/4tsp. Garlic power
• 1/4tsp. Ground ginger
• Add meat to a ziploc bag
• mix marinade in a bowl and pour over bagged chicken
• seal and freeze
• defrost overnight and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes
• I like to add some apple butter on the top for added flavor and sweetness!

Bunny Cupcakes

I have been having so much fun with cupcakes lately! 

I got the idea for these, or a similar version of these, in All You magazine.  I modified half of them, opting to pipe on the frosting instead of using coconut.  I thought they were very festive and cute :-)

with coconut...courtesy of my sister!  She also did the bunny ears.

 no coconut on these...



Have you noticed?

The strawberry stands are starting to open up again! 

This year I am thinking of trying jam, homemade strawberry shortcake, strawberry pizzas, and freezing as many as we can to save for the rest of the year. 

So excited!!

Once a Month Cooking {part one} Planning

Cooking and Freezing meals, then enjoying them later.  In a nutshell, I have foud that OAMC saves time, money, and my sanity during the week when I really don't want to think about planning or cooking meals.  Take a meal out of the freezer the night before to thaw and heat it up at dinner time. 

There are a variety of different ways of doing OAMC.  My friend Brooke and I have developed a system that works for us.  This is not a one size fits all kind of thing though, so if it sounds like something won't work for you... don't be discouraged!!  Everything can be adapted and changed.  It is also a trial and error process... some meals are great for freezing, and others aren't.  If you try OAMC more than once, you will find some recipes that you love and will continue to use each and every month.

{part one} Planning

By far, the most important thing in doing OAMC is planning.  In fact, we usually do a preliminary meeting before a cook day to plan out which meals we will be making, make a shopping list, and divide up the responsibilities. 

*Note* OAMC does not have to be done with a friend, however it makes the workload lighter and a lot more fun!

List making works for us.  We usually make three different lists:

• Meal List
• What meals will you make? 
• Look for recipes in magazines, cookbooks, and online. 
• Think about a meal you already know your family likes, if it can't be frozen, can a portion of it be made ahead and frozen? (Like chicken for a salad)
• Variety is the spice of life!  Casseroles are NOT the only meals that can be frozen.  We have adapted many healthful recipes to be freezer friendly.
• Will you make main dishes for dinners only?  Something to use for breakfast or lunch?  How about side items?  I will say that we really do main dishes only.  We might throw in a few side dishes here and there, but we have found that the major time and money saver has been planning out our main dishes and keeping sides like rice, potatoes, and veggies on hand.
• How many meals will you be making?
• Our last OAMC meal list consisted of 21 recipes, but we doubled many of them and ended up with 33 meals for each family!  Start small (like with 10 meals) and add to your meal list as you become more familiar with the process.
• Think about the level of difficulty for each meal and the method of preparation.  It is best to have a variety of different types of meals. We have a few different categories, some being easy and some more difficult:
• Marinate-Only recipes - meat in a bag with marinade, then freeze.  One of the easiest.
• Crockpot - Cook all or a portion of the meal in the crockpot, wait for it to cool, then freeze.
• BBQ
• Skillet
• Oven
• Microwave
• Raw Prep - preparing the recipe, but not cooking it (like meatloaf)
• What types of meat will you be using?  Our basic categories are:
• Steak
• Chicken
• Ground beef
• Ground Turkey
• Pork
• Seasonal (turkey in November, soup in the winter, etc.)
• Make notes on your Meal List of any additional information that will be helpful on cook day.
• Will this recipe require marinating ahead of time?
• Will you be doubling the recipe? 
• How much meat are you planning on using for that recipe?
• Shopping List
• Once you have a list of meals, gather your recipes.  Go through the ingredients of each recipe and make your shopping list.
• Seperate your list into sections of the grocery store... meat, cheese, produce, dry/pantry goods...
• Don't forget to check your pantry for items you might already have on hand!
• Also, list items you will need to store the finished meals in the freezer.  We use these items regularly:
• Ziploc Gallon, Quart, Sandwich, and Snack sized bags
• Aluminum casserole dishes (approx 9x13 size)
• Foil
• Personal List
• When working with a friend especially, it is a good idea to divide the responsibility. 
• If you are cooking at one person's house the other might be able to contribute cooking tools, crockpots, food processors, extra cutting boards, etc. 
• Check each person's pantry for items you might have on hand and can contribute to keep the shopping cost down.
• If there are better prices at different stores, you might divide up the shopping responsibility.  Keep all your receipts!

Once your lists are made and you have a day in mind to cook, head out and do your shopping!  Plan to shop a day or two before you plan on cooking.  Try to clear enough room in both your fridge (for ingredients) and freezer (for completed meals). 

...to be continued...

Achieving Cupcake Perfection

I am not, nor do I think I will EVER be a 'great' cook or baker.  It is just something I don't have that perfectionist, slow-and-steady mindset for...however...

If every batch of cupcakes could look like this one, I would be a happy lady!

Not only do the look pretty (and uniform!) they taste IN-credible (in my humble opinion). 
They also don't melt or wilt (although it hasn't reached 100 degrees here yet so that could be a misnomer). 

Cupcakes

with

Marshmallow Frosting: enough for about 15(+/-) cupcakes as I frosted above

• 1 8oz. jar marshmallow fluff
• 1 1/2 sticks butter at room temp
• 3/4 c. powdered sugar
• splash (1 tsp or so) vanilla

Mix with electric mixer for 2+ minutes until frosting is all the same consistancy
Transfer to a piping bag or ziploc with a hole cut out and dollop! 

As always, credit where credit is due, recipe found here

OAMC {Once a Month Cooking}

aka: Once A Month Cooking, or Freezer cooking, or Make Ahead meals

No matter what you call it, you do a big day of cooking and freezing a bunch of meals, then you eat them over the course of the next month or three (depending on how often you eat at home).

A friend of mine and I have been doing this, or let me rephrase that to attempting to do this for about three years now.  We have a system that works very well, but we average about 3-5 times per year instead of once a month.  Really, who's counting though?  We try.

This past year was a bit lot lacking in this department on my end, so I am so happy to say that we are back on track and in the middle of a HUGE cook day (which usually lasts half of two days)!!  17 meals down, 15+ more to go and I am pumped to have dinner in my freezer that will last my family at least 6 weeks, but most likely longer!!

I don't know if anyone is interested in hearing how we do our OAMC, but I am always interested to hear how others do theirs so I will share a little of our process in a series of posts in the next few days/ weeks.

All I can say is that we had 21 three-pound packages of chicken (roughly 105 breasts), 12 + pounds of ground turkey, 5 pounds of ground beef, enough steaks for 6 meals, 2 tri-tip roasts, and a massive beef brisket roast that filled two large crockpots!  Add the partridge in a pear tree and we could have a full on Christmas carol!  Looking at all of that in the fridge is a bit daunting, but when all is said and done, so very worth it!