Category Archives: Food & Drink

Product Review: Purely Elizabeth Probiotic Granola

Good morning! Up and at em’ let’s kick it off with a product review of Purely Elizabeth’s Maple Walnut Probiotic Granola.

The flavor was great! The texture was great! Ohhh and the crunch was great too! Sweet but not too sweet, salty but not too salty, oaty… well you get the point. Everything I look for in granola I found! It was tasty just munching straight out of the bag, or getting a bit crazy like I did and throwing a serving on top with my Rice Krispy cereal, banana and Silk coconut milk this morning. MmmmmMmmm!

So why did I order THIS specific granola? I’m always on the hunt for healthy choices and this little granola claimed to foot the bill. It’s incredibly hard to find products that truly are healthier choices and not just claiming to be. You can pronounce and recognize basically all of the ingredients, again how rare is that?

For instance, instead of typical organic cane sugar, Purely Elizabeth contains organic coconut palm sugar, a considerably healthier sugar, as well as coconut oil too. I felt like the ingredients spoke volumes….take a look for yourself!

“Organic Gluten Free Oats, Organic Coconut Palm Sugar, Organic Virgin Coconut Oil, Walnuts, Organic Maple Syrup, Sunflower Seeds, Organic Puffed Amaranth, Organic Chia Seeds, Organic Quinoa Flakes, Organic Millet Flakes, Natural Flavor, Cinnamon, Sea Salt, Probiotic Cultures (Organic Inulin, Palm Oil, Bacillus ans GBI-30 6086).”

Since becoming pregnant I’m really mindful of what I’m putting into my body because I know what I’m ingesting essentially our bumblebee is too. Also, before moving to Korea, I had some serious stomach issues. All sorts of foods irritated my stomach to include some forms of dairy. I was pretty much plagued with an ongoing nightly upset stomach, sometimes even getting physically ill. Most of my issues have since gone, occasionally I do have an issue, however I really feel it was a change in my food and lifestyle. Korean food culture staples are fermented foods. Kimchi and other fermented foods have probiotic lactic acid bacteria (LAB), the good little gut fighters! So it wasn’t even a question adding a little extra help to my daily routine with my morning granola. Bring on those healthy probiotics!!

Oh…wait…did you catch that last statement? Probiotics! YES! This granola made with GanedenBC30. The site says, “It’s a Non-GMO, vegan strain of probiotics.” Why all the fuss? Well, “GanedenBC30 a strain of probiotic that survives the baking process, due to its protective spore. Once the probiotics hit your gut, where the moisture level and temperature are just right, the probiotics work their magic!” How awesome is that?!

Not keen on maple? Don’t worry! Other flavor options with probiotics are CHOCOLATE SEA SALT. I’m not really a chocolate person, (GASP), so I didn’t order. However, If you are not looking for probiotics, but just a great granola, they also have the following options available:

::GRAIN-FREE::
BANANA NUT BUTTER
ORIGINAL

::ANCIENT GRAIN GRANOLA::
ORIGINAL ANCIENT GRAIN
BLUEBERRY HEMP
PUMPKIN FIG
CRANBERRY PECAN

There were two downsides to the granola and Purely Elizabeth. One is the serving size. The bag list 1/3 cup at 130 calories as the recommended serving size. After topping off my breakfast bowl and realizing just how delicious the granola was, I wanted moreeeee! Hahaha! What can I say? Mommas gotta eat!!

The other downside was dealing direct with the company Purely Elizabeth. Typically we’re big fans of Amazon Prime because of our location, however the specific probiotic granola I was after wasn’t being sold via Amazon, just other Purely Elizabeth varieties. So I had to place an order from the company direct. I ended up having a hard time ordering because it listed my shipping state as an option initially, only to reject the order at the end. I had to send an email, as well as three follow-up emails to rectify and place the order. I’ll be fair and will mention that once I did finally get a response back and assistance to place the order, it was easy. However…I almost gave up. (Better step up your game Purely Elizabeth!)

Would I order the granola again? While I’m not sure if go directly to the company website and deal with that again…. I’d absolutely go the Amazon route! I’m thinking blueberry hemp and possibly the banana one are calling my name next.

Did you hear that noise in your kitchen? That’s the sound of your breakfast spoon clinking against your soon to be tasty breakfast bowl after you place your order on Amazon Purely Elizabeth Ancient Grain Granola Variety 3 Pack Original + Cranberry Pecan + Blueberry Hemp
, or take a gamble and deal with the site directly here. Stateside folks also can pop into a local Whole Foods store, or select Target and grab some up too (lucky ducks).

What are your favorite granola brands? Do you have any crazy concoctions you’d like to share with us?

Backpackbees

Yammy & BarbeCooks

We’ve lived and traveled all over the US and have tasted many platters of BBQ. Pulled pork, beef brisket, chicken, homemade smoked sausage, southern style, northern style, mid-western style, heck even Korean style, we’ve sought after and love them all for different delicious reasons.

When I sit and think about the BBQ culture in America the thoughts that come to my mind immediately are that American-style BBQ isn’t just about chucking a hunk of meat on a grill, only then to remove a few moments later. No, American-style BBQ is a prideful, timely, and passionate involved cuisine. We will take the time to smoke our cuts of meats over heat from hand selected seasoned woods and special charcoals to creating a perfect fire for that perfect amount of time, all just to get that perfect end result of BBQ. And when all of these factors are done just so, oh how incredible that end result is.

The owners of a new American style BBQ joint were just getting the restaurant ready, days before their grand opening, when they approached us while we were on an evening walk. They wanted to say hello and invite us to try out their BBQ on opening night. We were surprised and pleased by their openness to approach foreigners like that. (Thank you!) However after tasting many disappointing “Americanized” dish attempts served in Korean restaurants, we initially wondered just how “Americanized” the BBQ would really be? Perhaps it was our curiosity, or wanting to support a local friendly family business owner, whatever the case, when Yammy BarbeCooks officially opened their doors only a few steps away from our own, we thought why not? Let’s give it a go!

Have a hankering for BBQ chicken, or pork ribs? Maybe you are craving the sides like macaroni salad, potato salad, baked beans, or even the little buttery buns you get when you pop your bum down at a BBQ joint. Yammy & BarbeCooks has all of that and then some, to include off the wall additions like, chicken fried rice, shrimp fried rice, combination fried rice, oh and a fresh fruit salad too.

We’ve ordered the BBQ chicken platter and went back and ordered the Yammy platter. We were blown away! The portions were plentiful, you could see and taste the high quality ingredients used, and overall the meal was very decently priced.

The Yammy platter meats includes BBQ chicken, ribs, hot dogs, kielbasa, and little flank steaks.

The sauce that smothers the moist BBQ meat is perfect and packs a bit of heat in each bite (but not too hot). You pick up on a bit of bay leaf flavoring throughout too. Pure perfection!

Both platters also came served with side dishes that are not to be missed. From the perfectly crisp french fries, to the mashed potato salad, the macaroni salad, sweet little pickles, buttery little toasted buns, and perfectly grilled hot dogs.. Mmmhmmmmm. Try them all! Seriously!

The staff is super friendly and incredibly helpful! They are all family and make you feel welcomed and part of their family immediately upon entering. The restaurant is very clean and has an awesome at home in your dining room atmosphere vibe going on from inside, to the large outside wooden deck, where the vibe is like being at your neighbors grilling out on their deck.

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Homemade Foie Gras Burgers

Enough of the Bebe post… although incredibly adorable… Lets talk burgers folks!

Sometimes a burger is MORE than just a burger. Let’s chat specifically about the foie gras burgers you’ve seen featured various times on our Instagram. To us, topping a homemade beef patty with a delicious hunk of perfectly seared foie gras is just sooooo comforting. The two belong together like peanut butter and jelly. Trust us on this one!

Look at that perfect rich buttery perfection. Mmmm!

We had the opportunity to share our homemade burgers with the Mr’s mom while she visited and helped us the first week after the birth of our bumblebee. Unfortunately, she wasn’t as excited to jump on the bee burger creation train (I know she’s laughing if she’s reading this).

If you’ve never had foie gras, we understand that you might hesitate to try, let’s be honest.. it’s intimidating. We also understand that if you do try, its one of those foods that are an acquired taste, you might love or loath. As a workaround we suggest throwing the foie gras on a burger like we do and you might find it less intimidating to try out. Give it a shot!

Have you ever tried foie gras? What did you think if so? We’d love to hear from you!

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What’s cooking?

Continuing on with our new year quest for meal prepping and planning, consuming better foods and striving for less food waste, we’re glad you found your way back into our kitchen and home again for our food recap.

There’s just something very meditative about weekly food preparation, perhaps it’s my OCD coming out? Seriously…coming home after a long week of work and preparing/ menu planning for next weeks round of breakfast, lunches and dinners has a calming and relaxing end result when you really let yourself enjoy it. It also helps that the Mr. supports and recognizes the importance of it too. (I have express and give my pure gratitude to this man too! Feeling under the weather this week, he cooked almost all of the deliciousness for us shown below).

^Homemade buttermilk scones served with a nice cuppa vanilla honey rooibos tea.

^ Homemade oven baked chicken kiev, with a side of crispy curried carrots and sun-dried tomato and feta spread served on top of homemade rye bread.

^ No bake 5 minute brownie from Minimalist baker. Slowly trying to curb my crazy sweet tooth, plus I’ve been itching to use up my cacao powder Healthworks Raw Certified Organic Cacao Powder, 1 lb This was very different texture wise, not terrible, but filled the temporary void, left out the espresso the recipe called for.

^ Spicy Japchae, jabchae, chapchae, chop chae, or chap chae (Korean: 잡채) (glass noodles, peppers, sesame seeds, onions and veggie-meat) and Maneul Jangajji (chili paste and pickled garlic scapes). Served with a side of korean purple rice.

Lots of pickling, preserving and burning our mouths this past week! Mr. B Made some garlic scapes Korean style. If you don’t know, garlic scapes are the green parts of the garlic, do NOT throw these away, instead make Maneul Jangajji!

Maneul Jangajji

12 hrs total (11.5 soaking)

Directions:
Pepper mixture:
1 cup dried pepper flakes (ideally Korean peppers)
1 cup Gochujang (Korean red pepper paste)
3 Tbs white vinegar
2 Tbs fish sauce (or to taste)
6 garlic cloves minced
3 Tbs brown sugar
1/2 cup hot water (may have to add slightly more if scapes are very well-drained)

The intent is to have a thick paste with a consistency of cream spreadable peanut butter or very slightly watered down.

Scapes:
cut off whiter tougher parts of scapes and trim to 3″. Boiled salted water. Pour over scapes in an insulated bowl (glass/ceramic etc) and leave sit (make sure to cover with a plate) for 11-12 hours or longer until they start to yellow. Drain and cover with pepper mixture (easiest to do with gloved hands).

These can be eaten immediately or saved if packed in the mixture for several months in fridge.

(Best compliment ever was when Our Korean foodie friend was over eating dinner with us and said that this was better than her moms! Mr. B’s Korea cook level awesomeness was achieved!)

^ Spaghetti and our homemade meatballs! You know.. Plenty of garlic and basil, you know, a nice dose of nerve-steadying herbs.

^ Shared a meal with our dear friend over our ground beef patties seasoned with our own special blend of spices. The burgers had oyster mushrooms, red onions with torched sharp cheddar cheese, fried egg and foie gras flavored with homemade BBQ sauce and horseradish mayo. The buns were coated with foie gras oil and toasted in the pan for finishing. Annie’s White cheddar Mac and cheese and salads on the side (you know, keeping it classy).

^ Homemade almond biscotti from America’s Test Kitchen (Household favorite!)

^ A delicious mediterranean steak salad!

And last but not least…. freezer meal prep for the unknown weeks that are to come. Chuck steaks ground, seasoned and formed into 1/2 lb burgers. Not pictured, because someone fell asleep on the job, vegetable beef stew and slow cooker pork BBQ with homemade BBQ sauce.

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Click, Ship & treat yourself

What’s cooking?

Welcome back to our kitchen! Pull up a chair at our kitchen island and get comfy. Outside of our mini Mardi Gras feast and unbeetable Valentine cake, we’re sharing the recap of what we whipped up in our kitchen over the past week. We’ve got some exciting nostalgic dishes we’ve made a bit more modern to share with you!

Drumroll please..we tested out four more family recipes from Mr. B’s grandparents handwritten cookbook that dates back to 1949! It’s so special thinking about and picturing Howard and Rose cooking these very recipes together back then in their kitchen, perhaps doing the same exact things were doing in the present day.

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This super crunchy coconut granola! It’s been perking up our morning Greek yogurt and fruit routine. Try it! Next time I’m thinking I’ll use coconut extract instead of vanilla.

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Chicken Marsala with homemade garlic bread and garden salads.

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Seared tuna, a fairly regular staple at our table, was served as the main dish alongside of diced oven roasted rutabaga.

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The first family recipe tested was parsley curried corn. Originally we prepared as directed straight from the recipe, but in the end slightly altered it to more of our taste. SPICE! Yeah, we had to kick it up a notch and make it a bit more modern with the addition of hot madras curry powder. This dish was absolutely delicious and is a new favorite for sure.

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The second B family recipe tested was, pork tenderloin in cream sauce. Again, after preparing as originally directed, we modernized and altered by seasoning to our taste, it just didn’t have the pizazz we were after. We ended up adding green peppercorns and chopped onions.

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We paired the pork tenderloin with garden sweet peas, sautéed mushrooms in a pepper sauce and puréed sweet potatoes seasoned with maple, butter, pepper. D-licious!

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Oven roasted eggplant halves stuffed with zucchini, yellow squash, spicy Italian sausage, onion, and gorgonzola cheese. Like spaghetti, these were even better served as leftover for lunch, the flavors just popped even more!

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The stuffed eggplants were served with a side of roasted garlic butter mushrooms sprinkled liberally with salt and cracked black pepper. These little guys were like a vegetarian alternative to Escargot! The mushrooms gave the texture and the butter, garlic, salt and cracked black pepper brought the taste. Plus who doesn’t like the fact that the caps hold in all that buttery goodness? It’s all about those vehicles for butter 😉

The third family recipe tested was “Boston Baked Beans” and “BBQed Chicken”.

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The Boston baked beans used dried beans and minimal ingredients which consisted of molasses, sugar, salt and a bit of pepper and home cured bacon. The Flavor was fantastic!

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The BBQed chicken was a chicken quartered and the sauce was from scratch. The sauce simmered away for quite a bit of time on the stove, then it covered the chicken and was baked. This recipe was delicious with a delightful blend we were not accustomed to. Oh! the chicken came out super moist too!

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Then there was a quick last-minute dessert created. Inspired by our recent trip to Manimal in Itaewon, Mr. B halved bananas and drizzled them with homemade caramel and then topped it all off with fresh vanilla whipped cream. Boom! Front runner to the Bananimal!

Alright folks, we will meet you back in our kitchen again soon!

Backpackbees

Unbeetable Valentine Cake

Any guesses what we’re hiding in our chocolate cake??

….No, it’s not arsenic. Ha-Ha! Geesh….

This chocolate cake features one-off the wall ingredient that makes it extremely moist. Yes, it literally melts in your mouth on contact.

So what is it?

Beets!

Yes, as in red beets

The chocolate in the cake hides the beet flavor amazingly well, you absolutely cannot taste even a faint flavor of a beet. Plus, we’ve got beets hiding out in our frosting too! O.M.G! Now that’s unbeetable, or unbeetlivable. Ha-Ha! I’ll stop while I’m ahead.

Beets are naturally a fall root veggie and were a staple at my grandparents dinner table quite frequently. Growing up in central Pennsylvania you could always count on someone bringing along pickled eggs and red beets. I feel like people either love or hate them, and unfortunately they often get labeled as tasting like dirt. I for one always enjoyed red beets, but never had the TRUE appreciation that I have for them now. Who would have guessed how versatile beets really are?!

Chocolate Beet Cake with Beet Cream Cheese Frosting
Makes one 8 or 9-inch layer cake
Originally adapted from Fine Cooking November 2001
I only slightly modified the recipe from Joy The Baker

For the Cake:
3 small-ish sized beets, unpeeled but trimmed of their greens
1 teaspoon safflower oil
6 ounces (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups buttermilk

For the Frosting:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
8 ounces (1 brick) cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons finely grated beets
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons milk, depending on desired consistency
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
A pinch of salt

We really hope you give beets a chance and bake this little festive guy over the weekend! For the full baking directions pop on over to Joy The Baker’s Blog and show her a little love on Valentine’s Day too. Xoxo!

Backpackbees

Mardi Gras!

Wow! Did you guys realize that February 9th was Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras), Pancake day, chocolate day, pizza pie day and national bagel day?! How does a girl decide what event to observe?!

How about you? Did you do anything special on the 9th? Oh, wait… and we cannot forget sweet Cupid knocking on the door to this weekend too, huh? Whew!

While I’ve never officially experienced Mardi Gras in New Orleans, I like to think of myself as slightly indoctrinated into the festival and of course the feast! Yes, my dear friend Mary, born and raised in New Orleans, and her family would celebrate and make a big shebang and invite us on over to partake. When I say shebang…. I’m talking full-scale! The glitz, glitter, beads, masks, Mardi Gras decor, and of course good ol’ N’awlins food!

AH! Each year I looked forward to it! I could practically taste the King cake as the month of February approached each year. You know, looking back and reminiscing, I’m pretty sure she always made sure that I got the baby in my piece of cake too. Mmmmm such sweet memories to savor for a lifetime.

Unfortunately my friend Mary and her family moved onto another country and I feel like it’s my duty to uphold the our little tradition, even if we cannot enjoy it together. Sooooo… deciding what we’d celebrate on February 9th wasn’t a big deal after all. Bring on that good ol’ N’awlins colorful feast!

All of the recipes I used were passed onto me by Mary herself.

^Creamy Cajun Deviled Eggs

^Black-Eyed Peas Salsa served with multi-grain tortilla chips

^Shrimp Creole served with steamed rice

You could practically hear the New Orleans jazz and brass bands in the background couldn’t you? Haha! I feel like we represented well and made her proud this year flying solo? Perhaps next year I’ll snag her King Cake recipe and give it a go and snag some beads for an even more festive feel.

Here are some inspirational Mardi Gras recipes to tickle your fancy. Enjoy!

Backpackbees

Charlie’s Wok

Typically I brown bag it everyday at work, however a building mate asked me if I’d like to join him for lunch nearby at a friends restaurant. Although my peanut-butter, banana, topped off with local honey on whole wheat sounded very satisfying, lol, I said sure!

So we went to Charlie’s Wok, an American Chinese restaurant, where I was introduced the main man himself, Charlie.

The restaurant is located off the Main Street and tucked away in an alley near the Bosan subway station and US Army installation Camp Casey. When we pulled up to park, I quickly realized why I had never seen the restaurant before, it was because of the discreet location.

Don’t let the unassuming exterior and location fool you, once we stepped inside my nose immediately told my belly that I was in for a treat. I learned that the food is always freshly made after you order, so be prepared for a bit of wait. You do have the option to place a take out order, as well as call ahead to place your order to eat dine in. If Charlie isn’t available, the restaurant does not open, it is a one man wok show. You see the pride Charlie takes in his food quality, the prices are very reasonable and you are served generous portions.

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I ordered a 2 entrée combo meal because I couldn’t decide between the beef with broccoli, and General Tso’s chicken. With the combo you also decide if you’d like fried rice, or chow mien. I ordered chow mien based off of recommendation. The recommendation was spot on!

^Building mate’s garlic chicken and General Tso’s chicken

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Overall, I was pleasantly pleased with my order. The menu offers a small variety of standard Chinese American staple choices and price points. Sure, this isn’t a gourmet 5 star restaurant, but it definitely is a great little neighborhood find!

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Enjoy!

Give Charlie a call! 031-866-8656

Backpackbees

Gather. Eat. Drink. Repeat

Friends, we certainly missed you at our table over the weekend!

We gathered, ate, drank and repeated all evening. Nothing better in our book!

These friends are friends that have cooked a special birthday meal for us and have given us such wonderful gifts, we’re very blessed to have met them all, so we certainly wanted to return the favor with a special treat for them!

The menu was French themed and featured the following:

^L’Apéritif (Drinks): Assorted beer, cocktails, homemade mulled wine

^L’Entrée (Appetizer): Pan seared foie gras served on homemade whole-wheat toast

^Le Plat Principal (The Main Dish):
Sous vide duck breast, served with fresh steamed broccoli, and pommes frites (french-fries)

^La Salade et le Fromage (Salad and Cheese):
Seasonal dinner salad and assorted cheese plate (served on my favorite Pennsylvania board)

^Le Dessert (Dessert): Vanilla-bean crème brûlée with local strawberries

Le Café (Coffee) : Coffee & tea

Bon weekending!

Backpackbees

Spiciness with age

I wasn’t raised on very spicy foods…actually, I’d really label my childhood as pretty “vanilla” when it came to any sort of spiciness. But hey! That’s okay, because my very favorite ice-cream flavor just so happens to be vanilla! Ha-ha! I’m wild, I know!

Most know this little factoid, however some readers do not, my husband and I were both born and raised right in the same area of Central Pennsylvania. So a lot of our childhood experiences with, places, family traditions, and local foods, are very similar and easy to reminisce about together. (The Sub Shop, Knoebels Grove, ham loaves, growing up with grandparents that we’re practically parents, experiencing 4 seasons!)

So that brings me back to us chatting about if he too experienced a similar spice-less existence? Outside of childhood candy like warheads and cinnamon balls, he too was rather “vanilla”. Ha-ha! Womp-womp.

Fast forward to our adventures in Korea and you’d think we were two totally different people! Our taste have done some sort of crazy flip-flop and we crave and cannot get enough spice! We’re always testing our limits ordering more spice, telling the Korean restaurants, “The spicier the better”. Yes, quite the duo we are, what a spectacle when we’re eating spicy squid together.

The spicy thing is just one thing that’s boggling my mind lately when I really sit back and think about it. It sounds so elementary and simple, like, ohhh wow! You are adults your taste have changed.. WOW…

No! They really, really have! Our tastebuds have aged, as we have.

Here’s another fun giggle for you.. We thought we were really “cooking” when we first got married and purchased our first home. We’d take a weekend trip North to SAMs Club and pick up frozen individual breaded eggplants. We’d bake them in the oven and top them off with spaghetti sauce and shredded mozzarella. Boom! We were so proud! (In our defense, they were/are pretty tasty.)

Again, fast-forward and change countries, now we frequent our local vegetable stand weekly, try to stay away from most processed foods, and haven’t purchased an actual loaf of bread in 6 months? We bake our own loaf about bi-weekly. Pantry staples are now giant jars of jalapeños, Coleman’s English mustard, and a plethora of spices to take our foods up another heat notch and flavor (outside of being the chronic black-pepper food coater that I am.)

Perhaps all of the reasons and then some are why we make such a big deal about being together in our kitchen cooking and creating? Whatever the reasons, we’re certainly blessed with this time, the resources, and really hope to continue to encourage our friends, family and readers to get into their kitchen and menu plan, create some foodie-magic too!

I now present to you, a little hodgepodge of our past week spicy meals. Enjoy!

^Homemade spicy chorizo sausage soup with kale pesto and homemade whole-wheat bread.

^Homemade spicy salsa Mexican rice, homemade guacamole and chicken fajitas.

^From scratch gyro meat (ground beef and lamb spiced accordingly), grilled asparagus with an oyster sauce glaze, tomato basil salad and homemade pitas.

^Homemade whole wheat banana muffins from my gal-pal Jenny’s blog. VISIT HER NOW! You will fall head over heels with her style and bluntness!

Backpackbees