Author: Silvia Andrito

Mixed Berries Balsamic Low Sugar Preserves

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You will find that this recipe is very similar to my Strawberry-Rosé Low Sugar Preserves. Once you master the basics of making a low sugar preserve and how to can it, you can use different ingredients to come up with different flavors. As long as you adjust a few key items, such as the acidity level, then it can be a breeze to make these. Mixed Berries Balsamic Low Sugar Preserves Ingredients: 1 lb strawberries (I used frozen) 1 lb mixed berries (I used frozen blueberries and blackberries) 2-3 Tbsps. balsamic vinegar 1/2 cup sugar 1 cup honey 1/2 tsp salt 5 Tbsps. Low or No-Sugar Needed Pectin (I used the Ball brand one). Directions: If you are canning your preserves you need to sterilize your jars and get your water boiling for water-bath canning. In a saucepan add your frozen strawberries and mixed berries (for this recipe I used a mixture of frozen blueberries and blackberries, but you can use raspberries, or any other berry you want) and cook over medium heat until they …

Welcome Spring with a Strawberry Pie

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To me, nothing screams spring more than strawberries. Their beautiful vibrant color lends itself perfectly to this flowering season. This is why whenever Easter rolls around, or if I am throwing a garden party, or dinner party during Spring, my dessert of choice is always strawberry pie. This is a great recipe to put together when you don’t have a lot of prep-time or when you just want to display some beautiful homegrown strawberries, since you will not be cooking the fruit. For this recipe I used some of my Strawberry-Rosé low sugar preserves. If you make some, I highly recommend you use it for this pie, if not you can either skip this step or use any low-sugar strawberry jam or preserves. I find that it adds an extra punch of strawberry flavor and counteracts a bit of that “fake” strawberry flavoring that the gelatin has. Strawberry Pie Ingredients: 1 sheet of store-bought pie crust 1 Tbsp butter 2 lbs of strawberries (or two 16 oz. containers) 1 3 oz strawberry jello package 3/4 …

Under The Sea Bento

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I put this one together last night, I made dinner and her bento at the same time. Nothing too crazy here, sautéed shrimp, boiled mini sausages, corn, rice, and fruits. I added organic, no chemicals (or anything weird) added food dye to the rice to make it blue. I found that all the stirring required to spread out evenly the blue made the rice extra sticky (even though I took care not to smash the rice). I don’t know how I feel about that, I might try just adding it to the water when cooking the rice next time. No real recipe this time. Just sharing the cute little fishies and showing off baby A.’s new bento box (a yumbox).

Our First Disney Vacation — Day Three

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Day three was once again a park day. We decided to visit Magic Kingdom again in the morning, just to hit any of the attractions we missed the day before (not to mention that with a three year old princess we felt that Magic Kingdom would be her favorite park). Then in the afternoon and night we hit Epcot to see the new Frozen ride and  IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth which is a family favorite (lots of good memories of watching this show when we were kids). We had a good time at Magic Kingdom. We started with an early breakfast at Crystal Palace. As many Disney savvy moms know if you want any of those “alone in the park” pictures with the beautiful castle in the background and no crowds then the answer used to be to make an early morning reservation at one of the restaurants in the park. Restaurants open at 8 AM, while the park used to open at 9 AM. So if you had a reservation for 8 AM you …

Friday Easy Bento

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After yesterday’s very labor intensive bento, I just wanted a very easy lunch that I could throw together in the morning with minimal fuss. Therefore today baby A. got an easy sandwich bento. The sandwich is made of brioche bread, home made hummus, ham and lettuce. I used a cutter to turn into a cute little piggie. As a side I made mini sausage “octopi” and just threw some berries in the container and called it a day. The hummus is what took the longest out of everything, and I threw that together fairly quickly the night before. I found these cute little cans of chickpeas that are perfect for making a smaller portion of hummus. I also made a very simple recipe since it was for a five year old, here it is: – 1 8oz can of garbanzo beans – 2 Tbsp of tahini – 2 garlic cloves – The juice of half a lemon – 1 green onion – salt and pepper Blend all of the above in a food processor, add …

Sunflower Bento

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The things we do for our children!! So yesterday, after a full day of work and a workout I headed to the kitchen to cook dinner. I knew today baby A. was heading back to class and I had sort of planned a bento in my head. After cooking the components, which were fairly easy, all I had to do was assemble it. I debated whether or not to wait until very early this morning to put it all together like I did last time, but decided I would just go ahead and leave it ready. After we finished dinner I went back into the kitchen and what proceeded was a two hour bento assembly. I had to cut each little petal by hand, then set it all so it would look like a sunflower. Then I had the great idea of making a cherry tomato stuffed with a creamy cheese filling which I had dyed blue, just to have baby A. try it and say she didn’t like it -_- so that got scrapped …

Vegan Oatmeal

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We actually like oatmeal in my house. We find it to be the perfect base for so many toppings, it is extremely versatile, and can be made to anyone’s taste. This one is a very simple vegan recipe. I like to boil my oats in milk, I find it makes them creamy and gives them more flavor. Ingredients: 1/2 cup oats 1-2 cups almond milk (depends how thick you want the consistency to be) 1 tsp sugar 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp vanilla Pinch of salt Mix all of these in a pot and bring to a boil. Simmer until oats are the texture and consistency you prefer. Toppings: The list of toppings is endless, so many possibilities, in the above picture I used: Sliced strawberries Walnuts Agave syrup Other options that would make a great vegan oatmeal are: Mango Coconut flakes Almonds Agave syrup Add 1 tsp of cocoa when cooking oats Toasted hazelnuts Chopped dates Brown sugar Add 2 Tbsp pumpkin purée and 1/2 tsp nutmeg when cooking oats Pumpkin seeds (pepitas) Pecans …

First Day of School Character Bento

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Today our eldest goes to school for the first time ever. We are excited but also a little  nervous, since a whole new stage of our life just started today. To commemorate such an occasion I decided to get back to writing in this blog, even more since I made this cute little character bento (kyaraben) for her first lunch at school. While it required a little assembly, it was a very easy lunch to put together and can be prepared the night before, so the next day is just the assembly. Components: Hard-boiled egg turned into a hatching chick (I followed this tutorial from HGTV). Sliced strawberries. Cherry tomato. Ham flower (bend ham slice in half, make several cuts around folded edge, and roll until it looks like a flower. I thought this was a great explanation on how to do it, but my husband says that after reading it he still does not know how to make it -_-, so here is a great tutorial from Just One Cook Book). Soy sauce noodles: …

Our First Disney Vacation — Day Two

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Day Two of our vacation was a park day. The golden rules for park days is WAKE UP EARLY. Like 6 AM early and also to take breaks in between all the excitement. This is how our second day went down. Day 2 We woke up at 7 AM (see statement above) and got ready really quick. My little one got all dressed up in her Elsa dress and accessories. We all put on our Mickey Ears and headed down to grab a quick breakfast. We just used one of our snack credits to grab a muffin and the coffee was free (you get the refillable tumbler with the dining plan). Then we did something wonderful, and one of the reasons we stayed at the Contemporary… We WALKED to the park. It is a 10 minute walk from the lobby to the gate. After going through security you are in the park. Things have changed a little bit now with the new opening show. A burning question I had before our trip was how the opening …