There’s An 80 Year Old Lady Trapped Inside My Body

I’m quite certain there is an 80 year old woman trapped inside my body. I’ve known this since an early age when my love of butter pecan ice cream, dates and prunes were not a popular favorite amongst other 9 year olds.

I’ve never considered myself “hip” or “cool” and have never gone out of my way to achieve this status.

I have never bought into the newest fads, trends or technology. I wait years to make sure all the glitches are worked out or that the “newest thing” stands the test of time.

I would probably still be using a 35 mm camera had my husband not insisted 5 years ago that I would save a lot of money using a digital camera due to my habit of taking 1000 pictures a month and the amount of money I was spending on developing costs.

I have no fancy gadgets in my kitchen. I still grate everything by hand and if I need chopped nuts …out comes a hammer.

I did a blog post one day for a recipe for carrot cake. My father was flabbergasted that I made mention in my story that I still grate carrots by hand. He insisted my mother buy me a food processor for my next birthday.

I few weeks ago I celebrated my birthday and my mom came with a wrapped present containing my first ever modern gadget….the food processor.

My mind instantly went to a recipe I had seen on 100 Days of Real Food that I thought looked really good, easy, contained dates but…..required a food processor. I had dismissed the recipe because it required a date paste and there was no way I could make this without this modern gadget!

The recipe was for Larabars.

Now if you’ve ever heard of a Larabar I think it means you’re “hip” and “cool.” I think you can only buy these at “cool” places that I never go to. They are wholesome snacks that generate a lot of buzz amongst the healthy crowd. They are expensive. I would NEVER buy these.

Equipped with my new food processor and a recipe containing my beloved dates I could make these and possibly even call myself a little “cool.”

I had the kids help me execute this recipe last weekend. The kids and I were excited to press the buttons and watch our ingredients twirl around in our new toy. It was magical watching it all spin into the gooey paste.

The outcome was a big disappointment to me though. They tasted nothing like dates. The peanut butter in the recipe took charge. My two older children will not eat them because they don’t like the consistency. My youngest son likes them so he has been the receptacle for all of them. He is “cool.”

Here is the recipe I used and more can be found on 100 Days of Real Food’s website:

Ingredients for our Larabars and my new food processor

Date/Peanut Butter Larabar

1 C. dates

½ C. peanut butter

½ C. peanuts (optional: I threw these in to really see what my new food processor could do!)

2 Tbsp. of flax seed (optional)

2 Tbsp. water or more if necessary

Directions:

• Put ingredients in food processor and combine until mixture is of paste quality and no longer crumbly
• Scoop out mixture onto cutting board and work it with hands to get it all formed into one clump
• Grab small handful and pat into a square in your palms
• Wrap each square into plastic wrap
• Can be left at room temperature or stored in refrigerator

Our Larabars

I personally will be using the remainder of my dates to go make a date pie to satisfy the 80 year old woman trapped inside my body!

Tomato Popsicles

This year we were lucky to have an abundance of tomatoes thanks to my parents and neighbors. The past couple of weeks our meals have included chili, stews, homemade spaghetti sauce and sides of just plain sliced tomatoes and cherry tomatoes.

Yesterday I was juicing the rest of our tomatoes to freeze because even though my husband and daughter eat them like candy there was even too many for them to go through before they went bad. I will use the juice for future stews, soups and chili.

While I was juicing an idea popped into my head!

Tomato Popsicles!!

One of my first blog posts was Rhubarb Popsicles so I am not a stranger to obscure popsicle flavors.

So into my popsicle mold went some of my freshly juiced tomatoes.

When the kids got home from school I presented them with this new and amazing snack. I told them it was a surprise flavor and they had to figure it out on their own.

Bency, my five year old thought it was watermelon and thought it was REALLY good (he hates fresh tomatoes).

Iris thought it tasted like a vegetable and really healthy and thought it was pretty good.

When I finally told them what it was Bency wouldn’t eat anymore while Iris started devouring it even faster saying it was the best popsicle ever!

Kids are weird. If you find yourself with an abundance of tomatoes try Tomato Popsicles!!

Bency eating a tomato popsicle

Tortilla Touchdown

Yesterday we were invited to our friends’ house for a cookout. More than likely I would have brought tuna pasta salad to pass but “fortunately” I was out of mayonnaise, peas, cheese, and onions! Our cupboards were more than little on the “unsatisfactorily” stocked side.

I’ve been on a huge kick of making homemade tortillas ever since I found out how easy they were to make and completely worthwhile! Plus, as an added bonus, my husband is Hispanic, originally from Albuquerque New Mexico, so I think I have endeared myself to him just a tad bit more. He did say I couldn’t roll my tortillas as round as his Mom’s but thanks to my brother’s recent gift of a tortilla press I can get mine round now too!

Unfortunately, tortillas don’t go with a Wisconsin brat fry so I needed to figure out a way to use these new loves of my life that would be conducive for a cookout.

I think I have come up with an original idea! I’ve never heard of them! If you have, go ahead and burst my bubble and tell me what they’re called!!! I’ve called mine…….

Cream Cheese Tortilla Roll-Ups

First you need to make your homemade tortillas (I’m sure store bought would be fine too, but trust me the homemade are SO good). I used this site to learn how to make tortillas: http://tastykitchen.com/blog/2012/03/homemade-tortillas/

Next, while the tortillas are cooling, make a filling to spread on the tortilla

Filling:

1 (8 oz) pkg. of cream cheese

1/4 C. brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

Directions

Mix this together and spread on tortillas

Next, roll the tortillas up and secure with a toothpick.

Mix up a small bowl of sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle this on the rolled up tortillas after you use a basting brush to wipe a little water on the tortillas to help adhere the sugar mixture.

Finally, stick in a 350 degree oven for 12 minutes

Once they come out of the oven you can remove toothpick and serve this way or cut up into snack size bites like I did! They appeared to be a big hit at the cookout with both the adults and kids! Next time I need to double the batch!

Bite Sized Cream Cheese Tortilla Roll-Ups