Homemade Popsicles

Today will be my last post for awhile. Our little guy will be here any day and that is going to be my primary focus. I am sure you all will understand. I will pop in here and there and of course on the facebook page, but not every Friday as I have been religiously doing since the birth of this blog. We are very excited for this next stage of life and I am sure the blog will fit in again shortly, but not right away and not consistently probably for a while.

Before I take my little leave of absence, I wanted to share one last quick easy ‘make - it - yourself’ snack. I mentioned awhile back, that I recently purchased some popsicle molds and have been experimenting with those. I don’t want to give up sweets, so as often as I can, I make my own. It allows me to control the ingredients and still enjoy a sweet treat. When I was deciding what popsicle molds to buy, my main goal was to avoid plastic. There are a lot of silicone ones out there and I am okay with silicone, but if I have the option, I will always prefer something different. I ended up with these stainless steel popsicle molds. I have played around with a couple recipes and today I am sharing two of my own - a fruity and chocolate version.  

Strawberry Orange Yogurt Pops

Makes 6

Ingredients

Fresh strawberries, 1 ¼ c

Orange juice, ½ c

Plain whole milk yogurt, ¾ c

Honey, optional

Mix all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Taste and add honey if you feel the mixture is not sweet enough. The fruit and orange juice should be enough, but add a bit of honey if you would like.

Better Bonus Tip: If you are using fresh oranges, add some of the zest as well for added flavor.

Pour into popsicle molds, leaving an inch or so at the top.

Stick in the freezer and let firm up for about 20 minutes.

Remove and add popsicle sticks. Place back in freezer and leave alone for a minimum of three hours. I actually recommend longer, but sometimes I don’t want to wait!

When ready to eat, remove the popsicle from the mold by running under warm water for a second or two.

Now onto the chocolate version….

Fudgesicles

Makes 6

Ingredients

Milk, 1 cup

Plain whole milk yogurt, ½ c

Cacao powder (or your favorite chocolate powder), 4 T

Honey, 2-4 T (depending on how sweet your chocolate powder is)

To make, repeat exact same instructions as above.

Easy as that! Do you really see yourself continuing to buy store bought popsicles now?!

Better Bonus Tip: For some other homemade frozen treat ideas, check out here.

I'll be anxious to see which one you all like better. I personally like the chocolate ones better, which surprises me a bit because I normally like fruity desserts over chocolate. Anyway, hope you enjoy and I'll be in touch again soon!

~Ashley

Steak Fajita Lettuce Wraps with Cilantro Lime Cream Sauce

Not too much new on the baby front. I have two weeks left until my due date, but of course he could come early or late. Last weekend, I was able to spend a lot of time stocking my freezer, so we can continue to try to eat healthy when I just don’t feel like cooking. I was worried I wouldn’t feel up to it, but got a lot done and feel really good about it!  Make sure you are following the Cooking For A Better Tomorrow Facebook Page. I pop in more often during the week over there and share what I am cooking. Last weekend, I shared what all I made for my freezer and how I store everything, so check it out for details.

Speaking of not feeling like cooking...I am purposely planning easier meals for us at home these days. Since I really don’t know how I will feel in the evening when I get home, I want to make dinner as easy as possible. I grew up eating fajitas quite a bit and that was always a quick easy meal for my mom. For some reason, I forget about them now that I am the cook of the house. My husband and I were actually just talking the other night about how we rarely eat the same thing multiple times because it is fun for us to experiment and we really aren’t picky. We do however, have a few staples and mexican is one of them. I absolutely consider fajitas a mexican dish and since we really do enjoy them, I need to get back in the habit of including them on my rotation.

Today, I am kicking up traditional fajitas and making them into lettuce wraps, which I love to do! Hope you enjoy!

Steak Fajita Lettuce Wraps with Cilantro Lime Cream Sauce

Makes 7-8 lettuce wraps

Ingredients

Steak, 1 lb

Fajita seasoning (if you use mine, you need 3 T)

Bell pepper, 1

Red onion, ½ large

Lettuce leaves, 7-8

Sour cream, ¼ c

Cilantro, 2 T

Lime, 1

Slice steak, against the grain, into thin small strips. Mix fajita seasoning with steak and let marinate for a minimum of 30 minutes. If you are using my seasoning, you will mix with ¼ c water, otherwise follow package instructions.

Better Bonus Tip: Our steak meat supply from our cow purchase is gone, so we just got some steak from the grocery store. He recommended sirloin flap meat. Feel free to use whatever you would like. Also, consider half chicken / half steak, shrimp or all veggie with some sweet potato mixed with the pepper and onion.

While meat is marinating, slice pepper and onion and set aside.

To make cilantro cream sauce, mix sour cream, chopped cilantro and lime juice. The juice helps make it a more liquidy pourable dressing for your wraps.

Add oil to a pan over medium heat and once hot, add pepper and onion and cook for 4 minutes.

Make a well in the center and add steak and marinate, cooking until desired level of doneness. I cooked mine another 3 minutes.

Once meat and veggies are done cooking, assemble wraps. Simply add the meat and veggies to a lettuce leaf and drizzle with cilantro lime sauce.

Better Bonus Tip: Other suggested toppings include guacamole, cotija or feta cheese or your favorite sauce / salsa.

That’s it! A simply grain free take on fajitas. Check out some of my other favorite lettuce wraps here.

~Ashley

Citrus Herb Crock Pot Chicken

Last week I took a day off work so I could spend some time getting ready for the baby. We are trying to finalize some house stuff - deck staining, warranty work (because its already been a year!), and a few other things before our little boy makes his debut.  Also, I spent some time trying to wrap up some baby stuff. We are doing cloth diapers and that requires pre-washing to increase absorbency and to prevent color bleeding. I did that laundry, in addition to washing baby clothes, towels, blankets, etc. I made his homemade soap/shampoo and got some stuff purchased off Amazon to finish making his lotion and diaper cream. I also spent some time trying to think of some things I could make to stock pile in the freezer so we can continue to eat well, even when we are so tired and don’t feel like cooking. I hope to get some of that cooking done this coming weekend.

My typical Fridays off work are now spent doing OB and chiropractor appointments each week, in addition to posting the blog and attempting to keep the house cleaned up, so that day was gone before I could blink. By Saturday, I was still feeling pretty good and my husband didn’t work which he usually does. We finished putting a couple baby things together, got stuff put into my car (car seat base, mirror, window shade, etc) for little man and then did our hospital tour. I feel really good about where we are and if he came tomorrow, we would be prepared. Needless to say, this mama was tired by the end of the weekend! Thankfully, whole chickens were on sale at the grocery store, so I bought three.  I stuck two in the freezer for post baby and one I made on Monday so I didn’t have to cook anything but a side. Whole chickens are so versatile and a great money saver. While you have to ‘work’ for the meat a bit more than if you were just cooking a boneless breast, you get a ton of meat and can repurpose it throughout the week. My favorite way to make whole chickens is in the crockpot! Check out my recipe below for a Citrus Herb Crockpot Chicken.  

Citrus Herb Crock Pot Chicken 

Ingredients

Whole frying chicken

Lemon, 1

Orange, ½

Garlic cloves, 6

Dried basil, 1 tsp

Dried parsley, 1 tsp

Dried thyme, ¾ tsp

Paprika, 1 tsp

Salt, ¾ tsp

Pepper, ½ tsp

Add chicken to crock pot.

Mix seasonings / herbs together and rub all over chicken.

Slice lemon and orange, remove seeds and add to top of chicken. Smash garlic cloves and also add to top of chicken. Feel free to add these things to the chicken cavity if you would like to infuse even more flavor.

Turn the crock pot on low and cook for 6-7 hours. Mine only took 6 hours, but the goal is to get to 180 degrees. You don’t need to add any liquid, as the chicken will produce its own.

Once done cooking, remove fruit and garlic and shred the meat.

Serve with the broth that is produced in the crock pot. Assuming you won’t eat it all in one sitting, also add some broth to the container you are storing the extra chicken in. This will prevent it from drying out.

Better Bonus Tip: We ate some later in the week in pasta, but other ideas include a mayo / yogurt based cold chicken salad, on a lettuce based salad, in mexican (I love shredded chicken in enchiladas), with rice and veggies (as an easy fried rice with soy sauce) or add to some of your favorite BBQ sauce for a yummy sandwich.

Easy as that!

~Ashley