A Taste of Home

When I moved here 3 and a half years ago I was so excited to see and try everything that I didn’t miss much from back home.  Except the food.  I could dream about a #2 animal style with animal style fries from In N Out for a few good hours or even how many things I could finish from Taco Bell in one sitting.  That being said there is one thing that I miss that can only be found in one spot of my home town. Orange Sauce.

Pizza, hamburgers, quesadillas, burritos, pretty much anything could be made infinitely better by adding this spicy sauce to it.  I’ve only been back to California once since moving here and wasn’t able to fit the beloved sauce into my trip *gasp*. Then my brother sent me a copy cat recipe a few months ago and I’ve been dying to make it since I got it.

Once I got all the ingredients it was time to put on some good music, dance to keep Chamaca entertained, and start cooking!

I began by browning/charring the tomatoes and onion in one pan until they looked like this.

And then slowly browning chiles and garlic over hot oil in another pan.

Then I added water and apple cider vinegar to a blender along with the chiles and garlic and let it sit.  Then blend away!

Finally I added the tomato, onion, salt, and the rest of the oil required and blended until smooth.

I won’t lie, I was so excited to eat this sauce that I made something special for dinner just so I could put the sauce all over it.  (Photo not shown because I was so excited to eat my creation!)

While it’s not exactly the same, it’s really close and I’ve pretty much eaten it everyday since making it. You can find the link to the recipe here.

Do you have any foods that you can’t live without? Share them with us in the comments.

My Healthy Marinara

Getting our kids to eat more veggies isn’t always the easiest task. I love to cook and spend time in the kitchen so I decided to take my culinary skills to a new level; cooking unique meals for my daughter.  Chamaca is a pretty good eater but she gets bored easily if given the same thing everyday.  I decided to try out a healthy marinara in the hopes she would like it and I ended up eating more of it than she did!

Ok, full disclosure the colour is only slightly reminiscent of marinara but luckily toddlers don’t seem to mind.

As evidenced by the Chamaco!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This recipe is packed with veggies, fairly quick and easy to make, and can be frozen in batches to be used later!

Photo: yourveganmom.com

• One head of celery chopped
• One large onion chopped
• 4 carrots chopped
• 3 zucchini chopped
• 1-2 cups of frozen spinach
• 1/2 cup your choice of Marinara
• Water add as needed

  In a large skillet I combined all of the vegetables and cooked them until they were soft. Then I added them to a blender with the marinara and water.  I prefer a thicker sauce so I used around 1/3 cup of water.  Once the sauce is all blended smoothly together you can serve immediately or store in the fridge or freezer until you are ready to use it.

  Feel free to add some protein by browning some ground beef or turkey and adding it to the sauce for a full and hearty meal. My daughter loves spaghetti and I hate cutting it so we substitute vermicelli and it works great. ¡Buen provecho!