Ingredients

• 1 lb Ground Turkey
• 1 pkg Taco Seasoning
• 1 pkg Mexican shredded cheese (or cheese of your choice)
• 2 – 8 ct Corn Tortillas (I used Mission Corn & Wheat Blend artisan)
• Sour Cream, Salsa, or Guacamole for dipping (I also diced tomato, onion, garlic, and bell pepper, sprinkled with salt and pepper, as a pico de gallo topping.)
• 1/2 -1 Cup of Canola Oil, for deep frying

Directions

1. Brown ground turkey on stovetop, drain. Mix seasoning according to package instructions and set aside.

2. Heat canola oil in pan on stovetop, enough to cover the top of taquitos, or use a deep fryer if you have one. (While oil is heating up, begin preparing taquitos.)

3. Heat tortillas in microwave for 10 -15 seconds to make them easier to work with and to avoid cracking. Fill tortillas with 1 Tbsp of ground turkey, sprinkle with cheese, and roll tightly, tucking in corners and then secure with a toothpick. (You don’t have to tuck in corners, I did to make easier for my toddler to eat and dip without the insides falling out.)

4. Make a few at a time and keep them under a damp paper towel to avoid cracking of tortillas shells. Once oil is hot and ready, drop them in a couple at a time, making sure oil covers the top of taquitos, browning all side. (Stoves temperatures vary, and my grease was super hot and only took around 45 seconds to get my taquitos crisp.)

5. Remove taquitos from oil and set on paper towels to drain off the grease and continue with the rest of the batch. Serve and Dip!

It was unanimous that they were served best with ketchup, despite all the other toppings I had available. It took me back to my childhood, growing up eating crisp beef burritos at a Mexican fast food restaurant. I would order the beef all through highschool and when I would come home to visit from college. Then one sad day while I was visiting, our state, and possibly beyond, had a Mad Cow disease scare, which halted my eating of beef, and I never returned to eating beef ever again. This was also before I  was introduced to ground turkey, so I switched to the restaurants crisp chicken burrito when I came home to visit. Of course they were not the same, yet still delicious  but the recipe above using ground turkey is dead on and the taste I’ve missed for almost 10 years. Hope you enjoy! Ciao!

Once you go scratch, you never go back! In this case I am referring to last week’s fresh squeezed lemonade lemon cups I served at my birthday bash. I don’t think I can ever return to frozen concentrate or powder mix after the deliciousness of homemade lemonade. My mouth craved for it all week, and I kept thinking how time consuming it was squeezing lemons and put the idea in the back of my mind. Then I remembered I was careful squeezing lemons last week, only because I had to reserve the lemons to use as cups, this time I could squeeze rapidly and toss.

Fast forward to Thursday night, my son asks can we have a Mother’s Day party on Sunday. Although last minute, the little one surprised me and even had ideas for the menu, the color scheme of the party, and of course his special request of strawberry lemonade. Where he got that idea, I don’t know?!?! So I said okay, we’ll go shopping for fresh produce and instead of taking advantage of my free Saturday, I will spend it in the kitchen whipping up the menu he planned for Mother’s Day. (More on that later!)

Here is my recipe for fresh squeezed strawberry lemonade.

Ingredients

• 2 cups fresh strawberries, pitted and sliced
• 6 lemons, juiced
• 1/4 C – 1/2 C ultra fine sugar (Bakers sugar)
• 5 C cold water

Directions

1. Juice your lemons and make sure to remove seeds, I like to leave in the pulp.
2. Wash your strawberries and then pit and slice them and add them to the blender to puree.
3. Strain you blended strawberries, using a mesh strainer or a cheese cloth. If you don’t mind the strawberry seeds, then just mix in with your juiced lemons, add sugar, and return to the blender.
4. Once blended, pour in pitcher or carafe and add 5 cups of cold water.
5. Stir and chill in the refrigerator for a couple hours before serving.

I like mine more on the sweet side and this reminded me of old fashion strawberry lemonade you might get from the county fair. Hope you enjoy this recipe, and all the mother please have blessed and beautiful Mother’s Day. I have a feast to finish preparing at the request of my tot. I promise to return with details from his planned menu. He lights up my life, and because of him I know I will have a Happy Mother’s Day! Ciao!

Between making sure my guests RSVP’d so I would have an accurate head count, making sure I had all the food items needed for my ever-changing menu, and of course styling and designing the food and the party area in my home, you would think I was in over my head. Guess what, I was! I had also asked to be apart of a 2 day event, which at the last minute was cancelled, so I think it was God’s way of freeing up my schedule, knowing I had overbooked my time.

My birthday menu had been in the works for almost 2 months, when I came across a few bloggers, authors, and caterers that inspired me to take it up a notch. Peter Callahan, as I’ve bragged about in the past creates beautiful mini dishes, which has always been my preferred method of serving dishes at parties. It eliminates the hassle of big serving dishes and guests holding up the buffet line, and it can even eliminate a lot of dishes and sometimes eating utensils. Lastly, it’s a quicker clean up process in the end.

For my birthday, I was inspired by Peter’s lemon cups, which are heavily circulated on Pinterest, but due to incorrect pinning, I never knew he was the creator of the photo floating around until some heavy pinning and research one night and voila. I learned it was Peter Callahan that was behind MANY of the dishes I LOVED on the social site, but pins were never linked back to his own blog or website, which now I follow faithfully. His book “Bite by Bite” is in stores everywhere!

I also fell in love with Melissa, author of Chin Deep in Bubbles and her blog has the most beautiful dishes, perfect for high tea, picnics, spa retreats, or just breakfast outside on the terrace. You know, the food that is too pretty to eat, you just stare in take in all it’s beauty?!?! When I started following ChinDeep on Facebook just a few week ago, they were in the middle of a sandwich posting spree. She invites other foodies to share their recipes for various themes each week, which is great to check out other fine food and meet other foodies like yourself. Well I knew something was getting bumped off my menu when I spotted her grilled salmon BLT’s. OMG! Not only was this sandwich going to knock the socks off my guests, it was something different. My duty if nothing else when I host parties, is to introduce you to something new and give your taste buds a ride they’ve never experienced. This sandwich did that and more!

Other menu items included teriyaki chicken wings, yellow saffron rice, ceasar salad, chicken salad on brioche sliders, and I flipped my tilapia fish tacos and made them miniature, and I also flipped my “Sex in a Pan” dessert and served them parfait style, which I will share the recipe with your below. Wrapping sandwiches deli style, assembling spoons with bakers twine, and chopping candy sticks to sit properly inside lemon cups were easy tasks. It was the hollowing out the lemons to use as cups, lighting my first fire on the BBQ grill, and making the tortillas into small circles, which were the tedious tasks, but things that got done and gave me a sense of accomplishment. Yes I can light a grill without burning down the house! Ha Ha! Without further adieu, “Sex in a pan…er, I mean parfait cup!”

Ingredients

1 cup pecans, crushed
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 C butter, melted
1 C flour
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1 C powdered sugar
1 8 oz container of Cool Whip, set 1 C aside
1 pkg instant vanilla pudding, prepared according to package instructions
1 pkg instant chocolate pudding, prepared according to package instructions
Chocolate shavings or mini chocolate chips for garnish

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.

• Grease cupcake muffin tin with butter or canola oil
• Either in a food processor or by hand crush pecans. Then mix together with melted butter and flour. Form into miniature pie crust the size of your parfait cups, mine were similar to the circumference of cupcakes. Using my cupcake tin, I pressed the mixture into the bottom of each one, and around 1/4 t0 1/3 inches thick.
• Bake for about 20 minutes.
• While crust is baking, prepare vanilla and chocolate pudding per the instructions on the package, separately.
• In a mixer, cream together powdered sugar and cream cheese, and fold in only 1 cup of cool whip.
• Remove crust from oven and let cool before putting them in parfait cups. Once inside cups, spread or pipe the cream cheese/cool whip mixture on top of the crust evenly.
• Next spread or pipe chocolate pudding for the next layer and then vanilla pudding for the following layer.
• You will use the remaining cool whip as the top layer, spread evenly. Then top with chocolate shavings, using either your cheese grater or rotary cheese gadget. You can always use chocolate chips or sprinkles, and a few pecans.
• Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight!

Hope your enjoy it as much as I do! Summer is near, and that makes me sing a happy song, so that is a great gift as any in my book! Ciao!

Birthday Fun Packs are cute little paper crafts I came up with to hold multiple gift cards to present to a child for an entire day of fun. I made a few for some kids who have birthdays coming up and another is expecting a new sibling, and could enjoy a day of fun just because of all the fuss sure to come with a new baby. It’s especially convenient in the case where your child missed her good friends birthday party because she was sick or was away at grandmas, but can present a birthday fun pack to her, which they can now do together at their convenience.

I created a few different ones, which include gift cards to the local cupcake shop, ice cream parlor, Mrs. Fields cookies, and for some I included gift cards for small amounts to Toy’s R Us and Barnes & Noble to buy a toy or book. I also plan to buy some for the movie theatre and the bowling alley to close out the day with a fun activity. It’s very inexpensive, with cupcakes costing $3 – $4, cookies $2, and a scoop of ice cream no more than $3. Kids books at Barnes & Noble are no more than $6 and same with a small toy from Toy R Us. You’re at $15 and the child has been to 4 different places to indulge in fun treats and gifts. Plus kids love paying for stuff, so being in control of their gift cards gives them satisfaction.

Here’s how to make your own Fun pack!

Start off with an 8 x 8 piece of patterned scrapbook cardstock paper (double sided preferred), and score down the middle at the 4 inch mark.

Optional: If you want to make them into a card as well, you can take another 8 x 8 piece of scrapbook paper, also scored at the 4 inch mark. Fold in half and use craft paper glue or a tape gun, and stick the half page inside your patterned page, which will make it look like a book with one page. The other half will remain unglued and you could use it to write birthday wishes or your child may want to draw a picture.

Using the scraps, cut 3 pieces of patterned paper 4 inches x 1 inch, which will be used as little pockets to insert the gift cards. Only tape or glue the bottom and side edges and place on the inside of your patterned page at least 1.5 inches apart.

You can write anything you wish on the opposite page, or if you are a whiz on your word document program, create a birthday poem and graphics to print and tape inside. Or you can use the one I created below.

Now decorate the outside of the fun pack with other embellishments or ribbon of your choice. Then all you have to do is buy your gift cards! Tomorrow I am going on another gift card haul to make a couple for some adults, which will surely include Starbucks gift cards.

These can also be done for bridesmaids, gifting them to gift cards to the spa, Starbucks, and a cupcake shop as a way to thank them for being part of your bridal party. The possibilities are endless! Hope you enjoy this craft. Ciao!

I am not fan of Twinkies, now called Cloud Cakes by Little Debbie, nor do I like Peeps, I just knew the kiddos would LOVE these special treats. Though I admit, I thought for weeks what I could do to substitute the sugary marshmallows and even wanted to bake my own yellow cake, but couldn’t find a similar pan for the shape. Oh well, it’s just one treat that will come around once like Halloween, so it won’t kill me to give the kids sugar, not baked by me, where I normally have all the control. Yes CONTROL! LOL

Ingredients

• Little Debbie Cloud Cakes
• Bunny Peeps
• Marshmallows
• Pretzels
• Necco Wafers
• Melted chocolate (I used milk chocolate, but next time will use white)

Directions

1. Cut marshmallows in half with kitchen shears or a knife, and using the melted chocolate, adhere them to the cloud cake, in the front and back on each side.
2. Next take a Necco wafer and apply melted chocolate on one side and adhere to the marshmallow, which will be the “rim” of the wheels.
3. Towards the front of the car (but behind the front wheels), use a knife and cut a horizontal slit and insert the pretzel to serve as the steering wheel. Do the same towards the middle of the car, big enough to fit your bunny peep in order to drive.

You’re all done! See how easy that was and when your kiddos wake up on Easter morning they will be super excited to see these Mobile Bunny Peeps sitting on the dessert table or maybe at the end of their Easter egg hunt. Have a blessed Easter Sunday and of course look out for more Springy treats coming your way from yours truly! Ciao!

]]> http://partycraftnmommy.com/?feed=rss2&p=757 0 http://partycraftnmommy.com/?p=731 http://partycraftnmommy.com/?p=731#comments Sat, 23 Mar 2013 22:04:01 +0000 Party Craft'n Mommy http://partycraftnmommy.com/?p=731 Continue reading →]]> It’s been an experimental week in the kitchen as I plan menu ideas for a few upcoming events. If you are looking to give your taste buds a ride and try flavors that may not often frequent your palette, then these recipes are the ones to try. Not only are dips convenient for party guests, they can also be served individually to avoid double dippers.

When fish taco’s first surfaced years ago, I was not a fan! I could not think of combining the taste of fish into my favorite meal of taco’s. As of last week, I have changed my tune! A few warm corn whole wheat tortillas, fried breaded Tilapia, topped with cumin lime coleslaw and the best sauce EVER had me asking where have you been all my life?

Zesty Cumin Tarter Sauce

• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup mayo
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/8 cup onion, minced
• 1/4 tsp fresh cracked pepper
• 1/8 tsp kosher salt
• 2 Tbsp canola oil
• 2 Tbsp lime juice
• 1 jalapeno, finely chopped and seeded

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate for at least an hour. It was even more delicious the following day, giving the flavors time to set and intertwine with one another.

My recent craving for onion rings would not let up, so I decided to make some and came across a recipe for Garlic Dill Dip. Not only is this dip good with a batch of Italian breaded Mayan sweet onions, but also french fries and other homemade fast food fried goodies!

Garlic Dill Dip

• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh baby dill
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 Tbsp buttermilk
• 1 tsp dried basil
• pinch of cracked pepper
• pinch of salt

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate for an hour. You should prepare this dip before you make your onion rings, so it’s ready before the rings come out the grease.

This last recipe is for a cheese dip to be served with warm tortilla chips. It’s all about the variety of cheeses used, including a good parmigiano which takes this dip to another level. Only thing missing is a good wine pairing, but that is not my area of expertise.

Jalapeno Cheese Dip

• 1 (4 oz) package cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/4 cup mayo
• 1/4 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1/4 cup hot pepper blend cheese, shredded
• 1/2 cup parmigiano reggiano, grated (reserve 1/4 cup for topping)
• 1/2 can (4 ounce) diced jalapeno
• 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs

Mix together cream cheese, mayo, jalapenos, and cheeses in a bowl and transfer to baking dish or miniature ramekins for individual servings. In a separate dish mix together panko bread crumbs and the reserved amount of parmigiano reggiano and sprinkle over the top dip. Bake in preheated 350 degrees oven for 20 minutes, until the sides are bubbling and cheese has melted. During the last minute or 2, I switch the oven to broil to brown and melt the top of the cheese dip. Don’t forget your warm tortilla chips!

So there you have it! Three wonderful dips for your fish, onion rings, and tortilla chips! Your guests will not know what hit their taste buds with the array of flavors. When I go outside the box and seek something different for our dinner menu or an event menu, I will taste you where your palette has never been before, or at least mine hasn’t! Ciao!

Over the past few weeks, I’ve created meals for a variety of occasions and people. As I browse Food Gawker and Pinterest, which lead me to a wide array of blogs, I bookmarked various recipes to try. Early on, I’ve learned to read comments and reviews of recipes, just to see how well it was received, or not. For the most part people respond with how great the food looks, but it’s not very often someone will return to the blog to post their results after making the recipe. I’d like to know the proper etiquette on doing so?

I’ve shared some of my personal recipes, and if it didn’t work out for someone, then I think I’d want to know. Yes I know our oven temperatures may vary. I know there is a difference in ingredients based on brand. I know other kitchen mishaps can occur, but for instance, when someone is boasting that their cupcake recipe is very moist or their fried chicken is the crispiest, and one follows the recipe down to the exact science and do not obtain those results, we want to know what went wrong. So without criticizing the blog owner, would you say it’s wrong to post comments on their blog of results that weren’t so good? We see the beautiful photo of the food, we see the raving comments of people who haven’t made the recipe, so how do we alert this blogger who boast her food is winning county fairs, that it didn’t work for you?

I put together a survey on the dishes I had prepared for people, and had them rate each dish on a scale from 1 to 5, and to leave comments or suggestions if needed. They did not know which dishes were personally mine, and which recipes I found online. I received the results back yesterday and tallied them up today. It was unanimous that the recipes that I personally created received high marks on the scale, my cupcakes were moist, my cookies were soft and chewy, but those are recipes I’ve been making for years and have perfected.

Then there were the recipes I obtained online via Pinterest and other cooking blogs. Some recipes I make substitutions to fit my family eating style, such as the Gourmet Chili Dogs, substituting turkey for beef, and scored in the middle of the scale. The vegetable taquitos, I made the error of substituting refried beans, but either way I knew these would be on the high end of the scale.

I do add my personal touch to a lot of recipes, unless I am trying something new and I don’t want to change an ingredient(s), for fear of ruining the entire recipe. For instance when I made bocconcini balls, I know next time that I will use the smaller ciliegine mozzarella cheese, since it was voted all around that they were too big. As someone who was not familiar with mozzarella balls and their sizes and following a recipe online, I sought out and bought what the instructions listed. I also tried two new cupcake recipes, the chocolate chip cookie cupcake, and I agree with my testers they were a little dry and received a 3, but I believe they would have been lower on the scale, if I didn’t save the frosting by adding in cream cheese. I also made a pineapple cupcake, that I just made up the recipe as I went along, and those cupcakes were very moist and soft on day 1, but by day 3 they were very “cakey”. So some food is meant to be eaten immediately!

In the end, I have shared tons of photos of recipes I have created, and for me the bottom line is the taste test. I don’t care how good everything looked, I want to know how good everything taste. I will continue using testers, and I hope those who use my personal recipes will let me know if something didn’t work out right, outside the normal kitchen mishaps that we have no control over. That is another reason why I list the exact ingredients I use, such as Madagascar vanilla, or the exact alcohol and liqueurs I use, because different brands will yield different results. Now I can continue penning my thoughts for a few books with ease, which is the ultimate bottom line and goal! Ciao!

Recently I’ve been craving veggies, which some of you may recall after I moved to New York City is when I became a vegetarian. Of course pregnancy hormones and cravings changed that lifestyle, and although now I cook chicken wings and turkey burgers here and there, we don’t eat a tremendous amount of meat. I am always looking for new recipes to cook and new ingredients to experiment with, which is what some of my nights consist of after everyone is asleep, along with menu planning. Last week I came across FreshmadeNYC.com and their recipe for Quinoa-veggie taquitos and I knew I had to make them. Normally I frown at ingredients such as quinoa and kale, but I said let’s try something new.

This past weekend I made a shopping trip to gather all the ingredients. My mistake was grabbing a can of refried black beans, which I didn’t notice until I opened the can and was attempting to pour them into the pan. But I did what any good cook would do, continued cooking and finished the recipe. The test would be once they came out the oven! Not only did everybody love them, but they were calling for seconds before they finished chewing their 1st bite. Yes, that good! Even my son enjoyed them and did well eating them, without the mixture falling out the tortilla, which could be the thicker texture of the refried beans holding everything together.

After that meal I began social stalking FreshmadeNYC from Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and all over social media. Not only are they a catering and event planning company for kids, but they also conduct cooking class for kids featuring an all around healthy menu. They definitely have my vote, when it comes to attending a party held at their facility. As my son gets older and ventures into areas where I don’t have control over his snacks, which isn’t too often, but he is easily impressed by the cookies, chips, and candy offerings at birthday parties or functions we attend. I do pretty good by always carrying backup snacks in my purse, and have always introduced Barbara’s or Pirate Booty chips over Cheetos, or baking my own cookies instead of Oreo’s or Chips Ahoy, and the few times we indulge in candy, normally gummi, since I prefer to make my own treats.

I hope you check out Freshmade NYC and try out some of their recipes. Trust me, I will never turn my nose up at quinoa or kale again, and in fact I have came across more recipes that include the two when it comes to making burgers, meatballs, and salad, so although we are not a vegetarian family, we are slowly heading that direction. I can’t protest a healthy eating style when the food taste this good!

This past Christmas I shared my upcycled 2 liter soda bottles that I packed gifts inside, and that’s exactly what I have in mind for the hospital kit. New mothers spend anywhere between 2 to 5 days in the hospital after they deliver their baby, unless your me and your water breaks at 5 months, and you move into the hospital for an unforeseeable amount of time, until your baby decides he is ready to make a grand entrance. LOL!

Hoping and praying my situation is not yours, the survival kit is equipped with travel size products such as lotion, hand sanitizer, and facial towelettes. I purchased the cooling cucumber facial towelettes by YES. Never know when an unexpected visitor may pop up to visit you and the new baby, and mommy can quickly grab a towelette for her face. I also included a few snacks, such as the Belly Bar Boost for moms in their new S’mores flavor, Sobe’s hydration coconut water, a variety of Yogi teas, and candy to snack on for that sweet tooth craving, including my yummy Bourbon Pecan Truffles for the daddy, because he too deserves some yummy treats right? LOL!

The list can go on forever on what to include in the kit, such as a roll of quarters for those endless trips to the vending machine, a pair of footsie socks to walk around the hospital room, hair ties to pull your hair back, and don’t forget the mini Vaseline or chapstick to keep those lips moist. The mom-to-be may of had a baby shower, so baby may have everything, but you can always throw a few small items in for the baby, such as a pacifier, bib, or a little hat.

Now for the Bourbon Pecan Truffles

Ingredients

• 2 cups pecans, toasted and finely chopped
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup (I used light amber from Whole Foods)
• 1/4 cup Maker’s Mark bourbon
• 1 teaspoon Madagascar vanilla
• 2 – 3 oz Scharffen Berger milk chocolate candy bars

Directions

1. If you have a food processor, GREAT! Use it to separately chop your pecans and crush your graham crackers into crumbs. But if you’re like me, your toddler will love crushing graham crackers in a large zip lock bag until they become crumbs and I used a hammer and banged the pecans inside the bag they came in, Voila! Same outcome!

2. In a mixing bowl or the same large zip lock bag the graham cracker crumbs were in, mix together the pecans, graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, and salt. Next add in the maple syrup, bourbon, and vanilla, making sure all the ingredients are fully incorporated and well coated. Yes it can get a little messy! Freeze the mixture in the bowl or bag for 20 minutes, which will make the next step of forming the bourbon pecan truffles into balls much easier to work with.

3. Once you remove the mixture from the freezer, use your hands to form 1 inch size balls , about the same size as cake pops. Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and place back in the freezer for 2 hours.

4. Before you remove the bourbon pecan truffles from the freezer, you can begin melting your chocolate rather in the microwave or using a double broiler. I add a little Canola oil little by little to get the chocolate to the right consistency. Line another cookie sheet with parchment paper, remove truffles from freezer and dip in the melted chocolate and place on the lined cookie sheet. Once all the truffles have been dipped, move to the refrigerator for 10 minutes to chill the chocolate. They can be stored in a tupperware container and left out at room temperature.

This recipe made about 18 truffles for me, and you can use whatever ingredients you have on hand. The ones listed above are my personal preference. The fragrance of the Maker’s Mark bourbon, pure maple syrup, and Madagascar vanilla is so delicious and does take tons of hand washing to remove the scent from your hands. Next time I think I will add See’s Candies butterscotch caramels into the batch, and see how well that ingredient will incorporate with the rest. Also if mommy is planning to breastfeed, these are a No-No, the alcohol does not bake out, since there is no cooking or baking involved! So that’s why this batch is for her hubby! Ciao!

But for the kiddos, it’s simple:

• 1 part Cran-Lemonade
• 1 part Pineapple Juice
• 1 part Cherry 7-Up (antioxidant)
• Splash of Grenadine

Don’t forget your skewer of gummi bears to hang across the glass. When I tell you my son and I have been making a batch of these daily, we are not kidding! They are super delicious and got my brain working even more, so look out for a new kiddie cocktail I plan to introduce next week. Cheers!