Friday, July 28, 2017

How to Put Sriracha on EVERYTHING

Moms, if you have a preteen boy, you know that they love to defy everything and beat their own path.  Liam has been pretty good, but recently he has been in a sriracha kick.  Anything and everything I make for breakfast, lunch or dinner he has to load it up with sriracha.  I think his obsession stemmed from one day when Liam dared Hannah to have a spoon full of it and couldn’t handle it.  That sibling rivalry has made quite the “macho man” Liam is acting like now.



Instead of letting him ruin all of our delicious meals, I came up with a few recipes with sriracha hidden in them that Hannah can eat too.  I have made a few meals and surprised Liam when I tell him that it is already in it and Hannah love it and rubs it in his face a little.  I have to laugh because they love to make everything a competition and I am kindly incising them a bit.

Here are some delicious ways I have come up with to add sriracha on everything!

For breakfast I came up with a wonderful:

Sweet Potato and Endive Hash with Sriracha Buttermilk

Sauce

Ingredients for the sauce-

•    1/3 cup low-fat buttermilk
•    1 tbsp. low-fat mayonnaise
•    ¼ tsp. sriracha sauce
•    1/8 tsp. salt

Ingredients for the potatoes-

•    1 ¼ lbs. sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
•    ¾ lb. russet potatoes, peeled and diced
•    1 tbsp. olive oil
•    2 garlic cloves, minced
•    ½ tsp. salt
•    4 heads endive, thinly sliced
•    1 green onion, thinly sliced
•    ¼ cup minced cilantro

Instructions for the sauce-
•    In a bowl mix all the ingredients together until well combined
Instructions for the potatoes-
•    Bring lightly salted water to a boil in a large saucepan on high heat.  Add the sweet and russet potatoes, cook until tender and drain.
•    In a large skillet heat the olive oil and add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute.  Add the sweet and russet potatoes and salt, cook and stir for about 5-7 minutes.  Add the endive and green onions and cook until the potatoes begin to brown.
•    Remove from heat and stir in the cilantro, drizzle the sriracha sauce and stir to coat.  Enjoy!

For an easy and delicious snack:

Sriracha Chex Mix

Ingredients-
•    6 cups mixed Chex cereal, I like using half wheat Chex and half corn Chex
•    1 ½ cup cheez-its
•    1 ½ cup pretzels
•    1 cup peanuts
•    4 tbsp. unsalted butter
•    ¼ cup sriracha, more or less depending on your desired spicy level
•    2 tbsp. soy sauce
•    1 tsp. grated ginger
•    1 tsp. grated garlic


Instructions-
•    Preheat the oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit
•    In a large bowl mix the Chex, cheez-its, pretzels, and peanuts and lay out on a large line baking sheet.
•    In another bowl combine the butter, sriracha, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic and microwave for about 15 second intervals until the butter is melted.  Stir each time to combine.
•    Pour the butter mixture evenly over Chex mixture and combine with your hands to evenly coat.  Bake for 1 hour, stirring and moving the mixture every 15 minutes.  Cool and Enjoy!

Another easy side dish is:

Sriracha Garlic Bread

Easy Instructions- quantity of ingredients can be based on the level of spicy and servings.
•    In a small bowl mix sriracha, minced garlic, and butter and microwave to melt the butter.  Brush mixture on slices of bread and sprinkle with parmesan cheese and broil until toasted.  Enjoy!

With Liam’s new obsession, I am constantly trying to come up with recipes that incorporate sriracha.  I am hoping this phase passes fairly soon, the lady at the grocery store is going to think I have a sriracha problem.

Go Green and Stay Keen,

Julie

Monday, July 10, 2017

Water Park Fun

Yesterday was such a beautiful day and what a better way to spend it then at a water park!  To cross an activity off of Liam and Hannah’s “summer to do list” we decide to go to a water park about 45 minutes away.  One of my friends has two kids that are Liam and Hannah’s age and get along really well so they came as well.

The sun was shining and the water felt great in the summer’s heat.  I am so happy we decided to go to the water park, not just for the kids to have fun but to keep cool too.  I was constantly chasing after Liam and Hannah to reapply sun screen.  It is so hard to get them to sit down for two seconds to lather them up again.  I made sure to get them good, so there would be no sun burn crabbiness.

Liam and my friend’s son were running around crazy going on all the water slides, the speedy mat slides, and playing in the water cannon area.  They gave us a work out trying to keep up with them.  Hannah and her friend were much better behaved and didn’t give us a run for our money.  I was so proud of Hannah, she had a great time and was so cooperative. 

We spent a lot of time in the adventure pool, which was great for my friend and me, it connected to a shallow weighting pool where we would sit in the water, catch up, and watch the kids. 

We also convinced all our kids to go on the lazy river after lunch to let their stomachs settle instead of immediately going on the swirling slides... good judgment on our part.  It was relaxing and the kids still had fun.  There were little water falls and shooting water to keep them on their toes. 

By 3:30 they were wiped.  We loaded back up into the car after a fun day in the sun and water.  The kids had a little snack and within 15 minutes were sound asleep.  When we got home they ate dinner and fell asleep right away.  They must have really had a good time using all their energy. 


Yummy Banana Split for the Kids!
It was a wonderful day at the waterpark!  The kids can’t wait to keep crossing activities off their “summer to do list.”

Go Green and Stay Keen,

Julie

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