Jaiva, Jon's Way

When we were on our California trip last week, my cousin Jon and his wife were so gracious to open their home to us for a couple nights. They live north of LA, and after we did our thing in Huntington beach last Saturday, we made the trek up to their house. A little while after we settled in, Jon brought out this amazing crab ceviche type dish...that was absolutely to.die.for.
I mean. I could not get this salad out of my head for days. On the way home...Mr Toddlerwhisperer is thinking about the beach, the kids are thinking about Disneyland, and I...well, I'm thinking of Jon's Jaiva.

What is jaiva you may ask? It's translation from Spanish is crab. So basically, this is a delicious, tart, salty, spicy, seafood salad. Are you ready for the recipe? (scroll down for picture free instructions. Click here for printable recipe)

You need 1/2 lb shrimp and 1/2 lb crab meat

You also need onion, chiles, tomatoes, cilantro, lime (or lemon) and avocados

chop cooked shrimp

chop and shred crabmeat

my kids would have been happy if this were the finished product...they love seafood

dice up your veggies really small

Oooooh so pretty

add your citrus juice

mix together and refrigerate

are you ready to eat?

instead of putting the hot sauce in the salad, we chose to place it on individually to our liking

Jon's Jaiva

Ingredients

1/2 lb    Jaiva (Crabmeat) **as a side note, Jon made it with imitation crab...not because he's a cheapskate, but because he and his wife like the way it tastes in this dish better...and we LOVED it**

1/2 lb    shrimp deveined (when we made it...we bought cooked shrimp)

Juice from 5-6 lemons (we used limes)

3-4   Roma tomatoes, cut into small cubes

1/2  onion finely chopped

1-2 serrano chile without seeds finely chopped (we used an anaheim chile)

1 T   Salt

1 bunch cilantro

Splash tapatio sauce  (we bought a different brand...pick your favorite from the Mexican food aisle)

corn tostadas

avocado

directions

parboil shrimp (or use the cooked shrimp like we did)

chop shrimp and jaiva and mix with juice from lemons

add tomatoes, onion, cilantro, chile salt and tapatio sauce

refrigerate before serving

serve on tostada shells and top with chopped avocado. (and like they do in Tijuana...smear a little mayo on the tostada first)

Oh I sure hope you try this. A tasty, inexpensive, cool summer treat!

My Favorite Monkey Bread

My mom never made this, and I've only had it a handful of times in my life, but when Mr Toddlerwhisperer came home with the recipe from a co-worker for this delightful treat, I thought I would give it a go.

Mine made a buttery/sugary crust, while I have seen some with an ooey gooey crust.

We all THOROUGHLY enjoyed it too! Much better than taking a trip across town for doughnuts this morning.

So, without further ado...I present:

Recipe (Printer Friendly)

Heat oven to 350F

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

2 cans of Large refrigerated biscuits or cinnamon roll dough (Like Grands! or TJ's like I used)

1/2-3/4 cups butter or margarine; melted (I think 3/4 c butter would make it gooeyer)

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

Directions

1. Grease bundt cake pan

2. Mix sugar and cinnamon in 1 gallon bag

3. Cut each biscuit into 8 pieces

4. Shake pieces in bag to coat and place in pan

5. Mix melted butter and brown sugar

6. Pour butter mix over pieces in pan

7. Bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown. (I started checking around 35 minutes)

8. Let cool 5-10 minutes. Turn upside down and serve warm.

I know you can add all kinds of goodies too, like nuts, choco chips, or raisins. Tell me what you do to make yours super yummy!!

No-Bake Breakfast Cookie Balls

Well, hello there friends. I have a pretty easy and yummy recipe that I've managed to take pics and take measurements of that I can share with you.

This is just one of those things that was born out of necessity and the desire to keep my kids from telling me "I'm hungry" 15 minutes after breakfast. It worked. They loved making them and eating them!

They are filling and fun to make.

Here's what you need:

2 cups Rolled Oats
1 cup Peanut Butter (I had smooth on hand but chunky would be fantastic) or the nut butter of your choice
1 small to medium ripe banana
1 T honey
sprinkle of cinnamon

Place oats and peanut butter in a large mixing bowl, break the banana into small chunks add the honey and cinnamon. Moosh together as best you can with a fork or spoon, then roll up your sleeves and get down and dirty. If it seems too mushy, add a little more oats.

Once thoroughly combined, begin rolling into ping pong sized balls. We made 14.

This is a nice base for any other add ins. Flax seeds would be great, raisins or cranberries, chocolate chips...

I am going to refrigerate these in sandwich bags for easy snacks for the kids.

Scratch Banana Pudding

Last night I was really craving bananas, and I know my hubby had been too, so for after dinner I found this recipe that was missing some instructions and added some ingredients, and came up with something totally awesome. Never have I ever tasted banana pudding this good  in. my. whole. life.


Scratch Banana Pudding (printer friendly)
Ingredients:
3/4 c sugar (I thought it was a little sweet, so I might actually cut it to 1/2 cup next time)
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
2 medium bananas or 1 large chopped (I might smoosh next time, not sure I absolutely adored the texture)
1 egg beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon


Directions:
In a cold saucepan, blend sugar, cornstarch and salt. Add cold milk, and whisk together until smooth. Turn on heat to medium/medium high stirring constantly.
It will begin to make thick bubbles, turn heat down, and add bananas until well combined.
Add a little of the pudding mixture to your beaten egg, then return the mixture to  your saucepan,  I turned the heat up a little and brought it to a bubble again.
Once it bubbles, turn off heat, then add butter, vanilla, and spices and stir until combined.
Place in custard cups or serving bowl (be sure it is tempered) and cool in the refrigerator.

I then crumbled some Trader Joe's cinnamon school house cookies on top, but vanilla wafers and a dollop of whipped cream would be divine!
This takes about 10 minutes to prepare, and serves 8.

I'm Not Just A Pinner Pinterest Challenge #1

Today I am linking up to "I'm On My Way's" Pinterest Challenge.

The project I chose were these cookie bars:

Source: everythingtoentertain.com via Brie on Pinterest

But I had to put my own twist on them.
My adaptation:
I used 2 cups almond meal and 3 cups flour
I used 1 cup of stevia in the raw and 1 cup sugar
I used 1 tsp of baking soda
I used 1/2 tsp salt
I added about 1/4 cup applesauce to the butter/sugar/stevia/egg mixture because I was afraid the stevia would dry it out.


I also have no cream cheese, so I had to go with a basic butter cream icing recipe.

The finished product was more crumbly than a typical sugar cookie, and I think the stevia should have been cut to just 1/2 cup. Otherwise, not a bad pinterest do it yourself project. :)

Foodie Friday-Mudslide Fudge Cookies Pinterest Recipe Review

Source: foodrenegade.com via toastycrow on Pinterest

Looks nommy? Well, I made them today, and they are quite tasty!  Mine however, weren't as flat, (perhaps too much cocoa powder to egg white ratio? I measured, but did use two different brands for measuring cups.

The flavor really is dependent upon the quality of the items you use. I used TJ's cocoa powder, and for the chocolate chips, I used mini nestle chips because that's what I had on hand.

Extremely rich, not bitter, not overly sweet either. These will be a good go to when I am having a horrid craving for something carbarific, but don't want to walk that road.

Here's a pic of mine:

Beer Can Chicken (have you tried it?)

This post is dedicated to Mr Toddlerwhisperer...who really is our Grill King. :)

To start, he uses his well-loved, well-used charcoal grill. He uses hard wood lump coal...which makes a huge difference in taste. Notice, all the coal is piled on just one side of the grill? That's important.

Next comes the part every man loves...the lighting of the coal. Lighter fluid required. Notice how the flames on the left look like a cat trying to make it's deathly escape...Grill Master likes that part too. Now we wait. Wait until those flames burn every bit of lighter fluid off the grill...and the coals begin to glow white hot.

While we wait, we prepare our birds. 

Preparation is actually quite simple. You need a small beer can...like the 12 oz variety...we found Buds in this form, and this time we are using a local brewer's beer.  Salt, pepper garlic and oregano..

dressed

perched

telling ghost stories by the fire...actually, this part is important. you set the chickens on the side of the grill with no coal...you are indirectly cooking them. Cover, and leave alone for 1 1/2-2 hours.

This is the end result. Delish, perfectly roasted, juicy, falling off the bone chicken. Your life will never be the same. I promise!!

Piece of Cake Cake Mix Cookies

I bought a box of cakemix on clearance the other day.  It was the "good kind" made with whole wheat and cane sugar...so buying it on clearance was a score on my part. They didn't have their boxed icing mix this time...which was no biggie, so it has just sat in my cupboard for about a week.

I decided (while boiling macaroni for lunch today) that we needed cookies after lunch.  So I browsed for cake mix cookies, and this is what I came up with.

1 box cake mix
2 eggs
1 stick butter

Heat oven to 350

melt butter

combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl until blended.  Drop by teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet. Place in oven for 7-10 minutes and remove. Allow to cool slightly before removing from pan.

You can add all kinds of goodies to them, and even frost them, but we liked ours just like this! :)