chipotle yam fries

sweet potato/yam fries are so yummy when i go out to a restaurant but whenever i try to make them at home, i never know what seasoning to put on them. this weekend, i attempted yet again to make my yam fries and i had the bright idea to try my Tupperware Southwest Chipotle Seasoning on them. they were SO good - just the right blend of spicy and sweet. so good in fact, i'm making myself a little batch right now for lunch. now i know how to season them...how the heck to i make them easier to cut up?

salad dressing in my Quick Shake

the other night for dinner, i made poppyseed salad dressing for my strawberry, toasted almond and spinach salad. so much better than Kraft...

throw all these ingredients into your Quick Shake:

2 Tbsp sesame seeds

1 Tbsp poppy seeds

1/2 cup white sugar

2 tsp. minced onion (or dried onion)

1/4 tsp. paprika

1/4 cup white wine vinegar (but i used red and it still tasted good)

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

shake. now you have a ton of dressing. spinach and strawberry salads for a week! (or half all the ingredients to make less)

making dinners in 25 minutes

tupperware's stack cooker is quite the tool for making quick and easy full course dinners. it has three layers and can cook your rice, veggies, and meat all at once. one friend of mine with two little kids uses it at least 3 times a week for her family's meals! another friend bought hers with some of her hostess credits from hosting her own party and she blogged about it here.

starting in the mid-april flyer, it's on SALE! 20% off the complete set (all those 4 pieces including the colander) plus you'll also get the 1 L casserole dish for free! $149.50! that's all the pots and pans and serving dishes all in one! depending on how tall your microwave is, you can just keep stacking those dishes and make a dessert in there too! stay tuned to the blog this week as i write about more specials in the upcoming flyer.

a tupperware brunch party?

here's a great idea - have friends over for pancakes and tupperware some morning. i'll bring my stuff and make the pancakes for you. :)

chef stuart's oatmeal almond blueberry pancakes

1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

pinch of salt

1/2 cup quick cooking oats

2 eggs

1 3/4 cups lowfat buttermilk

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

3/4 cup blueberries

2/3 cup sliced almonds

mix dry ingredients. mix wet ingredients. combine in your mix-n-stor container. pour batter into pan. sprinkle blueberries and almonds. flip. eat. yum!

quick chef demonstration video

my assistant demonstrates how to use the quick chef.

here's a recipe for your quick chef:

fruit salsa

1 granny smith apple

7 strawberries

2 kiwis

2 tbsp. apple jelly

core and quarter the apple. put in the chef and chop. add hulled strawberries and peeled kiwis. chop again. add apple jelly. serve with cinnamon chips.

cinnamon chips

1 - 10" tortilla cut into strips

1 tbsp sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon vanilla spice (by tupperware)

cooking spray (but i think i would use butter...)

mix sugar and spice in a bowl (with a lid). spray tortilla on both sides and put in bowl. shake to coat tortilla. lay on baking sheet and bake at 300 degrees for 6 minutes or until golden brown.

new years resolution: get organized

some friends of mine live in a little apartment in vancouver. little apartments come with little fridges. theirs is no exception. it makes for extra grocery shopping and the legitimate excuse to get take-out: "there's nothing to eat in here".

when jimmy decided to start eating healthier and drinking green smoothies, he and his wife began buying more veggies. alyssa, at my first tupperware party, bought a large fridgesmart for these veggies. when her husband discovered how well it worked, he thought they should have another one. alyssa showed him the "forget me not" set in the catalogue. jimmy exclaimed, "why don't we already have these?" (store your half onion or tomato in a container that hangs from the rack in your fridge so it doesn't get pushed to the back of the fridge and forgotten) you see, jimmy, being a man of reason, could see the value of the product. prolonging the life of his vegetables meant saved money...but sometimes even better - tastier, crunchier vegetables. and that lifetime guarantee - how can you go wrong?

with small refrigerators come small freezers so alyssa has also bought a set of freezer mates - modular mates for the freezer essentially. another great purchase for an organized fridge/freezer.

if you want to try out a green smoothie, here's jimmy's recipe:

The green smoothie is basically the same every time I make it, but it could be made from whatever is around. The important part is the green. Kale is the best, but you could use spinach or even green lettuce if the flavour is too much. The latter ones also make for a more liquid smoothy. My basic recipe is:

1-2 leaves kale (cut out the stem)
2 tbsp flax seed
2 tbsp wheat germ
1 chunk of ginger (about the size of the tip of your thumb)

Blend this stuff first with 2 cups of water to thoroughly break down the kale and flax seed. Then chop up and add,

1 apple
1 orange
1 banana
1 kiwi or pear (the kiwi's are weird in the winter, so I use pears now)

Blend it all together and you're done. That makes about 1.5 litres of green smoothie. The flavour comes from the fruit and ginger. I've found that the above is a combination. If we have strawberries that are about the go bad I add those, and blueberries are great too. I try to keep the cost down per smoothie so I only use berries when they're in season.

jimmy and alyssa already have two large fridgesmarts and have plans to buy a third - they are that worth it. if you want to keep your veggies fresher for longer, try the fridgesmarts.

new years resolution: eat healthier

we had 3 couples over for a new years brunch yesterday. and despite all the food that we were going to have, at the last second i decided to "whip up" some muffins as well. why is "whip up" in quotations you ask? read my profile over there to the right.

however...all ingredients were in my pantry (in their mod. mates) including the wheat bran and the ground flax seed. and what makes this recipe time consuming is the grating of the carrots and apples. but this time, i pulled out my quick chef, threw in my carrots, spun, and measured into the bowl. then the apples, spun, and measured. and it was done. in maybe a quarter of the time. woah. maybe i'll make muffins more than once this year...

i got this recipe from my mom - the carrot and apple keep them moist only needing TWO tbsp of oil! the wheat bran and flax make them higher in fibre. they're my favourites and until my quick chef, i only got them when my mom made them. not anymore...

1 1/2cup flour

3/4 cup ground flax seed

3/4 cup wheat bran

1 cup brown sugar

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt (but i never put this in)

2 tsp. cinnamon

3/4 cup milk

2 eggs

2 Tbsp. oil

2 cups shredded carrot

2 cups shredded apple

1/2 cup dried cranberries or raisins (i didn't use either)

1 cup shredded coconut or walnuts (i used coconut)

mix it all up. put batter into muffin papers (b/c they can be a little sticky straight into a muffin pan and i don't want to have to wash it of course). they don't rise too too much so fill the cups about 3/4 of the way full. bake at 350F for about 15 minutes. it makes 18 - 20 decent sized muffins. yum.

they went over well at our brunch and this morning here's one with my coffee.

apple cider vinegarette

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3 Tbsp minced red onion
2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp maple syrup
1/2 cup extra virgin oliveoil

Place all ingredients except the oil in a Quick Shake container and shake. Add oil through pouring spout and shake again. Toss salad with just enough dressing to coat lightly.

Enjoy!

(i borrowed this recipe from tupperware talk - another tuplog you might want to check out)

frozen spaghetti?

last night i whipped up a fast recipe for dinner: chickpeas and pasta. it's an easy one to have the ingredients on hand and it only took me about 15 - 20min.

4 teaspoons olive oil

1 red bell pepper

5 - 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 tbsp. finely chopped rosemary

2 tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley

Pinch crushed red pepper flakes

1 14oz. can diced tomatoes

1 16oz. can chickpeas, rinsed and drained (aka. garbanzo beans)

Freshly ground pepper, to taste

2 cups cooked ditalini or macaroni

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

heat oil. saute bell pepper and all spices for 5 minutes. add tomatoes and bring to boil. reduce heat and simmer for 10 min. add chickpease and pepper. cook stirring ocasionally until heated through. stir in cooked pasta and cheese.

if you read my last post, you know i rarely follow the recipe properly. this works better with

dinner dishes than baking and for this recipe, i changed it a lot:

no garlic (it stays with me way too long)

dried herbs instead of fresh

no red pepper flakes on hand

can of stewed tomatoes instead of diced

a 19oz can of chickpeas

no pepper

spaghetti noodles

it still tasted great. it's a nice no-meat option that's still high in protein. serves 4.

when a meal serves more than 2, i often put it in a couple tupperwares for lunches the next day however, tonight i put the leftovers in my smallest heat and serve and stuck it in my freezer.

yes, spaghetti freezes and reheats great. the heat and serve containers are perfect for freezing and reheating food because they have a raised bump in the center of the base. this keeps your casserole or ground beef from getting that hard, frozen center when you're thawing it in the microwave. and that little pink circle on top vents the steam so that you don't have to take the lid off and get tomato spatter all over the inside of your microwave. nice.

on hand for another night.