Supper prep = family time

Kari and I are big believers in having our boys "own" as much as they can as early as they can in life. This includes the kitchen and meal/food prep. One of the reasons I started as a Tastefully Simple consultant over 6 years ago - when the boys were 5 and 2 - was to have multiple ways to model what a man/husband/father can do to contribute to the household, both as a business owner and contributing in the kitchen.

Food has long been a passion of mine, and the time spent in the kitchen to me is enjoyable. However, family is a bigger passion for me. So, we very intentionally encourage the boys to be involved in whatever areas of the kitchen they feel most comfortable.

I have said before Kayden is for sure a foodie, enjoy the art of coming up new flavors and always willing to try anything put in front of him. Jayce also enjoys helping but more from an angle of just that, helping. I honestly think I have a chef and sous chef on my hands some days.

We recently did taco salads for supper. And when we do taco salads, you can immediately wipe the taco shell bowl from your mind - as we sub in nacho flavored tortilla chips for ease and on some level, maybe not as deliciously greasy and guilty of a pleasure. Notice I did not necessarily say healthier, but it might be. :)

The boys each assisted with the prep of the ground beef - one putting in a healthy dose of Wahoo Chili Seasoning and the other helping getting it stirred in while the meat cooked. Once done, it was time to get the hands dirty as we each went about building our own salad.

Mine started with a bed of torn up lettuce, followed by crunching up some of the nacho flavored tortilla chips, as much meat as you desire, topped by shredded cheese, some garden fresh tomatoes and finally some salsa.

My finished product, ready to eat!

While Kari's resembled mine, the boys each have different ingredients they like to emphasize more than others - and it usually involves less if any tomatoes and sometimes a little more cheese than is needed. In the end though, they eat this meal really well because they had a hand in not only preparing their plate, but also the meal for the family. I have some video clips from this meal prep I hope to post soon as well. For your own taco salad night, the recipe is below.

Taco Salads at Home
2 lbs. ground beef
3 to 4 Tbsp. Wahoo Chili Seasoning Blend
Romaine Lettuce
Nacho flavored tortilla chips
Tomatoes, shredded cheese, salsa, etc. - personal preference for taco toppings

Brown ground beef with Wahoo Chili Seasoning, drain; layer plate with lettuce, chips, meat, the rest of your taco toppings. Enjoy! 

Getting saucy for sure

One thing we never get tired of is trying the different combinations of sauces and flavors, and how they work with different types of meat. Generally, what I will do is put a cut of meat in the crock pot or on the grill with some good seasoning. Then, pick out a few sauces to get some opinions and see what is generally enjoyed by most in our "test kitchen". I decided this morning that tonight was going to be one of those nights. After putting pork shoulder into the crock pot, the sauce selection for the night was as follows:

Would it be the new Plum Teriyaki Sauce or standard go-to's
Pomegranate Chipotle Sauce or Bayou Bourbon Glaze?

Once the pork was fully cooked, had sufficiently rested to ensure it was as juicy as possible, it was pulled apart for serving. My personal choice was to try the new for fall Plum Teriyaki Sauce first. The balance of subtle sweet and a little tang of teriyaki was a great addition to the meat. Since the meat was being paired with a rice/veggie combo anyway, it was perfect. And yes, some of the Plum Teriyaki did eventually make its way to impart further flavor with the rice and veggies for the last few bites.

 

I did have a few bites with the other sauces too because, well, I felt I owed it to both the meat and the sauces. All were good. As a general review, the Bayou Bourbon is usually tops in the house no matter what is being served. Tonight the Plum Teriyaki was number two and Pomegranate Chipotle a close third. The complete details on meal prep are below.

Saucy Pulled Pork
4 to 5 lb. pork shoulder
Seasoned Salt to taste (2 to 3 Tbsp.)
Onion Onion to taste (2 to 3 Tbsp.)
Tastefully Simple sauce of choice

Place pork shoulder in crock pot, season well with both seasonings on all sides. With fat cap on top, place lid on crock pot and turn on low for 8 hours. When done, place on cutting board and let rest for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove fat cap, pull apart and then, with Tastefully Sauce of choice, pour sauce over meat to serve.

Ballpark treat at home

"Take me out to the ballgame, take me out to the crowd..." - who knows where this song belongs? Who knows for which major league baseball team did a certain announcer make the song an event?

If you said the song belongs during the 7th inning stretch at a baseball game, followed by the Chicago Cubs then you are spot on.

We are big fans of baseball at our house. The boys both play it, I have been a fan - probably my favorite sport growing up, and continues to this day as one of my top sports to follow - and Kari enjoys watching the boys play it, although she might not watch as much of the pro game as the boys and I do.

Today, Kayden (my 11 year old and resident 5th grade foodie) wanted to jazz up some popcorn for his afternoon snack. His idea - flavor up the popcorn with Creamy Caramel Sauce. As I watched him put together this delicious treat, my thought was immediately to the line in the song above "...peanuts and Cracker Jack...". And then what happened, well, here we go:

Take regularly popped popcorn in a bowl, heat up the jar of Creamy Caramel Sauce for 15 to 20 seconds, pour over the popcorn and gently stir to coat. You have created caramel corn in a couple of very easy steps. To ramp it up to Cracker Jack level, toss in some peanuts and mix well.

 

As you can see above, this delicious bite has peanuts and caramel corn - taking one back to a complete ballpark experience. Enjoy this while you sit down to the next family movie night, sporting event or head to your next get-together. 

More than just garlic bread

Putting a personal spin on food is what I love to do in the kitchen and Tastefully Simple makes it so easy to do. Take the Italian Garlic Bread Seasoning as an example. While it makes fantastic garlic bread (it better, since that is the name of the product), it also livens up a tomato sauce, turns shredded mozzarella cheese into an Italian delight and I have a good friend who even puts it on her popcorn.

I enjoy using it to season meat. It can be mixed in with ground beef for burgers, meat loaf or meatballs; on chicken in the oven or on the grill; and last night, it was time to try it on pork chops.

I started the grill (remember, I am a charcoal guy, so this allows a little more time than those using the gas method), liberally seasoned the bone-in pork chops with the Italian Garlic Bread Seasoning and let the magic happen while the grill readied itself.

From there, pretty simple - just don't overcook the meat. :) I am glad to say I did not. And when it was done, I sliced it up, put it over some romaine lettuce with fresh tomatoes and dinner was served.

A few simple ingredients - a meal worth serving again.

Garden fresh on the grill

While we do not have a garden - the lack of direct sunlight ANYWHERE in our green space is not real conducive - we do have neighbors on both sides of us who do have gardens. And we are fortunate enough they are productive gardens and our neighbors are generous people, therefore we do end up with our fair share of fresh garden goodness this time of year.

There has been an assortment of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce and fruit to make its way to our kitchen - with the two most prevalent being tomatoes and cucumbers. Recently, while the grill was rolling getting ready to cook some pork chops I decided to treat the cucumbers to a little taste of the open flame.

I sliced 2 cucumbers in half length-wise, sprinkled Italian Garlic Bread Seasoning on the inside portion and then let sit for about 10 minutes. When the seasoning was starting to set into the veggie, I placed them seasoned side down on the grill, over indirect heat for about 15 minutes. I wanted the seasoning to cook through and the veggie to absorb the smokiness of the grill while still maintaining the crunch when biting into it.

The outcome? Take a look for yourself.

 

These turned out pretty much how I was hoping. There was satisfying Italian flair to the grilled cucumber experience and paired wonderfully with the rest of the meal. An easy side dish making use of the available opportunities before me - fresh veggies, a rocking grill and Tastefully Simple seasoning.

Falling back in with pizza

While the summer vacation from here was not on purpose, it happened. Welcome back after a few months and it is going to be an exciting fall. Tastefully Simple's new fall/winter catalog debuted last week and has some products and entertaining ideas sure to be a hit leading into the holidays.

One product that has already been requested and delivered multiple times at my house is Warm Pizza Dip.

This is, as always, easy to prepare as directed - simply the dip mix, 8 oz. softened cream cheese and 1 cup shredded Colby-jack cheese. You can either bake the dip in the oven or warm it through in the microwave, serve with pita chips, veggies, beer bread, etc.

We turned the dip into dinner in a few quick additional steps. First, spread the prepared dip on a tortilla or pita bread, layer with topping of choice (we used pulled pork), add shredded cheese and warm through on the grill, griddle, in the oven or even in the microwave.

The outcome is pictured below, along with my youngest - 8 year old Jayce - giving the taste test and approval.



One of many reasons I love Tastefully Simple is the products truly are for every day use. We have moved through many of the new products already and I look forward to sharing more of the quick, easy and family friendly meal solutions soon.