Badly needed Energy Bars

I guess most of you, or at least anyone who follows me on Facebook and Twitter, know that I have taken up running.  It’s only been a couple of months but I am really loving it.  Now I am only running between 2-4 miles 3 or 4 days a week, but add that to the walking and weights I have been doing and I need some energy help during some workouts.  You also know that we eat very few processed foods with granola bars and energy bars being the exception.  At least now you can buy them with no artificial sugars or dyes…anyway, I need something that I can grab at 5:00AM when I head out the door for my run and these are just about perfect

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Sautéing 101: Chicken Sauté with Onions, Garlic & Basil

Class is back in session this week and before I do a recap, I'll be sharing the recipes I got to make in class. We're starting a new section in our books that's much more in depth and allows us to learn more techniques. To further our understanding, we're making three poultry dishes. The first dish we made is this one for Chicken Sauté with Onions, Garlic & Basil. This specific recipe introduces the technique of sautéing and preparing a sauce in the sauté pan... Here are some class notes on sautéing:Sautéed poultry should be tender and juicy, if it's flavor is developed by proper browning. Additional flavors come from a sauce made by deglazing the

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Ραγιάδες προσοχή οικογενειοκρατίες.

Τελικά τι πολίτευμα έχουμε;Για αυτούς που είναι πραγματικά καλοί στα μαθηματικά και τηνστατιστική. (ΜΟΝΟΝ)Επειδή δεν θυμάμαι και πολλά από την στατιστική στο πανεπιστήμιο. Και επειδήαυτό αποκλείεται να γίνει θέμα στις πανελλαδικές εξετάσεις.Άσκηση 1Να βρεθεί:Η πιθανότητα να συμβεί τρεις φορές σε 189 χρόνια ζωής του Ελληνικού κράτουςστην ίδια χώρα, με πληθυσμό 8,000,000 (έστω) να γίνουν πρωθυπουργοί... Παππούς,Γιος και Εγγονός της ίδιας οικογένειας.Ξαναλέω ΤΡΕΙΣ ΦΟΡΕΣ ΟΧΙ ΜΙΑ.Άσκηση 2Να βρεθεί:Η πιθανότητα να συμβεί επτά φορές σε 189 χρόνια ζωής του Ελληνικού κράτουςστην ίδια χώρα, με πληθυσμό 8,000,000 (κατοίκων έστω) να γίνουν πρωθυπουργοίΠατέρας και

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Spicy Beef Nachos

It's football season and a popular snack in our house is nachos. I'm not going to lie. We usually open up a bag of tortilla chips, pop open a can of nacho cheese that we warm up, have a bowl of jalapeno slices nearby and dig in. But I had enough. I wanted to serve up nachos just like they do at the restaurants - obnoxiously piled high on top of layer upon layer of southwestern goodness. Well, that's exactly how these Spicy Beef Nachos were served up and yes, it was obnoxious... obnoxiously good!...I don't know what I love most about nachos. It could be the hot, crispiness of the chips that have been lightly salted, seasoned ground beef with a slight k

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Korean Style Chicken Wings

Great Sea's Chicken Wings. If you're a Chicago foodie, you know what I'm talking about. There's this Chinese restaurant in the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago called Great Sea. They offer the standard Chinese American fare but the draw of this place is their Korean style chicken wings, interestingly enough. Their super crispy and crunchy chicken wings are perfectly glazed with this amazing sweet, garlicky, yet subtly spicy sauce. I've wanted to crack the secret to their wings for years, searching for a recipe that could even come close. Well, I'm done searching. I've found the recipe for Korean Style Chicken Wings I've been looking for and learned

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Oven Baked Fish Nuggets

I am always trying to feed my kids the healthiest things that I can.  Most week nights I have a ridiculously tigh schedule and sometimes we only have about 20 minutes for dinner.  On those nights they get leftover pizza or something but on the nights when I have a few more minutes I like to make these and they really love them.  Even if they do eat them with ranch dressing??? Oven Baked Fish Nuggets (inspired by Kalyn’s Kitchen) Preheat oven to 450F Ingredients: 1 lb of fish (cod, tilapia, halibut) filet, thawed if frozen 1 cup flour 1 Tbsp garlic powder 1 Tbsp kosher salt 1 tsp paprika 2 eggs, beaten with a sp

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Conor's Apple Picking Education

Conor receives instruction, including ABA based instruction, at Leo Hayes High School, a neighborhood school. He interacts with other students in the Resource Center and in common areas of the school. He also gets to go on school outings to places like the pool at his former middle school and recently went apple picking with other students and with a Teacher Assistant who was kind enough to take, and forward,  some excellent pictures. And, oh yeah, Conor loves apples. We go through a lot of them at home. 

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New Alward Carr Government Will Roll Back Autism Progress in New Brunswick

Congratulations to New Brunswick's new Premier David Alward and all members of his team who were elected.  Congratulations also to those Liberals who were elected despite the obvious backlash against the Liberal government of Shawn Graham. I offer all these congratulations sincerely even though I know that the election of this government and the likely cabinet role to be played by Jody Carr and possibly his brother Jack Carr will spell the end of the progress that has been made in helping autistic preschoolers and students in New Brunswick over the past 4 years.  We live in a democracy and the people have spoken. Those elected, including the

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Shrimp Jambalaya

We are most definitely a rice loving family so any dish made with rice is always welcomed to the table. When my husband suggested a dish using shrimp for dinner, I happily decided to make this Shrimp Jambalaya. It's chock full of sausage, shrimp and vegetables and it's a wonderful one pot meal, especially for the fall. The trick to this dish is the rice though. It has to be cooked just right otherwise you'll end up with a gummy mess...What I like about this recipe is that everything is cooked in one pot, making clean up a breeze. However, when rice is involved, it could get a little tricky. There are some rice dishes have a tendency to get gummy when

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Νίψον ανομήματα μη μοναν όψιν

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Crunchy Potato Wedges

What's a burger dinner without french fries?! I'm always in search of french fry recipes and there are so many ways to prepare them. This time around, I made these Crunchy Potato Wedges to serve alongside the All in One Burgers I made. I enjoyed this dish even though I prefer thin, skinny fries instead. I will say that these are hearty fries so a few is more than enough for a serving. What piqued my interest about this recipe is the use of a simple batter and spice blend to season the fries...French fries typically require cooking twice. The first time is to cook the potato and soften it up a bit and the second time is to get a nice crisp texture and

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All in One Burgers

There's nothing like a great burger. In fact, all throughout my pregnancy, burgers were what I craved, at all hours of the day and night. For me, I like my burgers simply made with simple seasonings and topped with fresh lettuce, tomato and slices of sweet onion. I could do without the condiments since the main draw is the patty itself. When I came across this recipe for 'All in One Burgers' I knew I had to give it a try. With these burgers, flavor is busting out the seams since the patty is packed with all sorts of goodness. It was a nice change of pace from my usual burger recipe and definitely worth a try...The key players in this burger recipe inc

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FROSTED SUGAR COOKIES

BLACK & WHITESo many see the world in black and white, true and false, right and wrong. Maybe it is time to start thinking in shades of gray.A very long time ago, out of college and working an utterly lousy job in New York City, I decided that it was time to pack my bags and head out. Tired of working for barely enough wages to pay a New York rent and the bills with nothing at all left over with which to enjoy the city, frustrated by the Reagan “Me Years” and the constant talk of money, money, money swirling around me, fed up by all of my wealthy classmates who could afford the interesting jobs that paid exactly zero dollars for the privilege of w

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The Future of NBers with Autism Will Be Decided Here; Please Vote FOR Autism

Today New Brunswickers will vote.  We will come together and decide who will represent us in the  legislature.  This is the most important decision we, citizens in this province, will make for the next 4 years.  If news reports are true many will vote in anger or cynicism or out of a desire to punish the governing party. That is their democratic right. That is your democratic right. I ask you though, as the father of an autistic son, to not let anger determine the future of your family member with autism. Please vote FOR our autistic loved ones, family members and family friends with autism.  Please do not vote in an

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Pumpkin Praline Dessert Tamales

Who says tamales have to be savory all the time? When I hosted a culinary tour of the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago a while back, I had the opportunity to try a sweet dessert tamale made with pineapple and pecans. Much to my surprise it was really good and worked so well with the masa. I started thinking that masa is really a great neutral base to build flavors upon so it made sense that sweet tamales work just as well as savory ones. Although we made quite a few tamales at our tamale party, I didn't have a chance to share a sweet recipe. So when I got home, I made these Pumpkin Praline Dessert Tamales to highlight some flavors of fall...Pump

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Tamale Party

Is there a food that your family treats as a big ordeal that generally takes a day to make? In my family, one food would be lumpia, or Filipino eggrolls. It takes some time to make the filling and allowing it to cool, prepping the wrappers, rolling each by hand, carefully packing them for the freezer and of course, frying some up to enjoy. Despite being an all day affair, it's worth all the time and effort to make lumpia, even if it's just an excuse to get together with family. Well Latin Americans can certainly relate to how my family makes lumpia. They go through a similar lengthy process when making tamales. Since I love hanging out in the kitchen

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Autism Promise 2006: Liberals Kept Their Word and New Brunswick Became a Leader in Educating Children with Autism

If you are the parent, family member, or family friend of a child with autism who is being educated  or assisted at a neighborhood school by an autism trained Teacher Assistant and autism trained Resource Teacher, as I am, please remember that these services resulted from an extraordinary promise made ... and kept .... by  Liberal leader Shawn Graham who kept that commitment as Premier once his Liberal party formed the government. My son Conor, and many other autistic school children in New Brunswick,  received the benefits of that promise and the UNB-CEL autism trained Teacher Assistant instruction and individual instruction program pu

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Red Velvet Cupcakes

After hosting a Cupcake Bootcamp, I came home with cupcakes on the brain (naturally). Even after being surrounded by cupcakes all day, I figured I could play in the kitchen for a little while and make a nice batch with my nephew. He and I had fun making these Red Velvet Cupcakes from scratch... and I got a kick making him be Mr. Popular for a day...Even though making cupcakes from a box mix is easy and convenient, I definitely like making them from scratch too. One of my favorite cupcake flavors is red velvet. It's essentially a chocolate cake that tastes like chocolate and vanilla and has red food coloring added for it's unmistakable color. The recip

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Cupcake Bootcamp!

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I don't get the fascination about cupcakes. Here in Chicago, there are several cupcake bakeries, all with their special niche. It's also interesting to know that most gastro-trucks (food trucks) in Chicago are cupcake based. What is it about these things?! Is this food fad here to stay or will it eventually die down? Regardless, even I can't resist a cupcake. I may not understand why they're so popular but they certainly hit the spot. Since cupcakes are increasingly popular, it struck me to host a Cupcake Bootcamp to share a few tips and tricks, as well as indulge in this perfect, portable treat...For the Cupcake Bootcam

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