Sadly, my father suffered from lung cancer most of 2010 and passed away at the end of the year.  2011 has been about adjusting to this new reality, rethinking, and prioritizing.  I don’t claim to have life figured out – but I do know that my beloved blog Striving Bean has to be set  aside as I readjust to life as it is now.  Hopefully you understand – I think you probably do.

With my Pa and My Brothers a Long Long Time Ago

My Pa had Quite the Sense of Humor!

Despite this new reality, my life lately hasn’t been solely about difficulty.  One bright spot is I’ve been fortunate enough to travel in 2011. Travel is a great love of mine that went by the wayside after our kids were born (see old French vacation photos here)!  So far this year we’ve been to Disney World, I went to Maui with my mother-in-law, and my husband and I plan on going to Chicago for a weekend getaway.  I’ve always loved to travel and have really savored my recent adventures!

Disney World was a Blast!

Walking by Myself one Morning on a Maui Beach

I’ll be adjusting Striving Bean to make it a permanent web resource. And someday I’ll return to blogging – I like it too darn much.  Who knows what the new subject could be? When I return I’ll be sure to keep it interesting (hopefully!) and I’ll be sure to let you know when I’m back.

In the mean time, you can find me tweeting at @micaelavega on Twitter.  And thank you for reading – your support has meant so much to me.  Let’s keep in touch!

– Micaela –

Tortilla Española

Eggs are a great way to get dinner on the table quickly. They’re fast to cook, inexpensive, and a great way to feed a hungry bunch.

Tortilla Española is the Spanish version of an egg and potato omelette. The Spaniards took this simple recipe to Mexico where it was named “tortilla española” since it was round like the Mexican tortilla. Then the name stuck in Spain. This tortilla can be eaten as a dinner, or smaller pieces can be served as “tapas” (snacks).

My grandmother Francisca from Spain cooked this dish often. My mother remembers:

My mom used a chunk of ‘unto’ with a fork stuck in to grease the pan . There were 7  to feed and not mucho dinero, but we always ate till we were full–no one ever went hungry. My mother must have been a good money manager.  I remember grandpa making $25 a week forever!

My mom, one of the hungry 7, learned how to cook this and passed down the recipe down to me.  This recipe is relatively fast, but you’ll need some cooking time for the potatoes.  Some modern tips to speed things up – chop the onions and potatoes the night before – keep the potatoes submerged in cold water in the fridge, then drain before cooking.  You can also cook the entire tortilla ahead of time and it will heat up nicely in the microwave.

Francisca’s Tortilla Española

Ingredients

• 4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, thinly chopped
• 3 potatoes, peeled, thinly sliced, and halved
• 4 to 6 eggs

Directions

• Use a good pan that won’t stick
• Heat  olive oil
• Add 1 large onion chopped. Cook on medium/high until translucent.
• Add sliced/halved potatoes
• Cook potatoes until tender but not falling apart
• Beat 4-6 eggs and pour over cooked potatoes
• Cover and cook slowly for 5-10 minutes until set
• Flip over with spatula or….flip by covering pan with a large dish. Turn pan over so eggs are on plate.  Slide eggs back into pan. Try to not break the omelette
• Brown other side

This Tortilla Española recipe was originally posted on ModernMami.com

Pony Cake Wreck

Have you ever had a Cake Wreck? A cake wreck is when a cake you make (or buy) looks a lot less beautiful than you had originally planned. My daughter’s birthday inspired me to make my first “cut-out” cake. It was supposed to be a pony. I’m not sure how I made it this long before I attempted one of these cakes, but let me assure you: This Pink Pony Cake from Family Fun is not as easy as it looks.

Here is a summary of the comments I received:

• “That’s not a pony.”
• “That’s not purple.” (True…It looked more gray in person)
• “It’s a turkey” (2 votes)
• “It’s a pigeon” (1 vote)
• “It’s a pig” (2 votes)
• “It’s a wolf” (2 votes)
• “What angle are you supposed to look at it from?”

I may submit it to Cakewrecks.  Pour yourself a cup of coffee and check out the horrendous cakes!

Here’s somebody else’s cake wreck, just in time for Christmas.  What’s up with the crazy Santa eyes? Thanks sarah_pants for the laugh!

Santa Cake Wreck: Photo by sarah_pants on Flickr

This was updated from the original 2008 post. My pony cake was such a disaster I had to post it again for a laugh!

Little Hand Reaching for Aebleskiver

Aebleskiver (pronounced EB-el-sku-wyr) is best likened to a spherical pancake with a  little delight inside – apple slice, jam, Nutella…let your foodie imagination run.

This morning I pulled out my Aunt Else’s Aebleskiver cast-iron pan and made us a breakfast treat.  Learning how to make aebleskiver takes a little patience.  My first attempt wasn’t too slick – there’s a certain technique using a skewer (you can also use a knitting needle) to turn the batter so it cooks on all sides.  Watch this great video to learn how hone your aeble – skills!

Aebleskiver Batter in the pan

Aebleskiver cooking

Close Up Aebleskiver

I like making aebleskiver at home because you can control the quality of the ingredients and the amount of fat (oil) in the pan. Such a fun breakfast or brunch treat!  Take a look at this homemade recipe for Aebleskiver batter: Danish Pancake Balls (Aebleskiver) from MyRecipes.com My kids prefer aebleskiver without the apple inside -  just plain with powdered sugar or with maple syrup.

Several months ago, I won this unique pan by participating in a fun and informative phone conference by Kitchen Wizard Mari on how to cook this Danish treat.   Aunt Else’s Aebleskiver didn’t ask me to write this post.  It’s purely my opinion and I really like their product.

Would you like to make Aeblskiver?  What would you put inside?

Want to Strive Bean too? Subscribe to Striving Bean in a reader or via email.

Since we’re in the thick of the holiday season, I’ve been thinking about how to “green” our holiday shopping. Many love to shop during this time – I get it. I’ve done it too and got some great bargains. Here are my suggestions as you venture out:

1. Buying Food as Gifts
   How about a bottle of fancy olive oil or vinegar for the foodie in your life? Check out farmer’s markets for small batch specialty foods. For Twin Cities residents, take a trip to Midtown Global Market and the Local D’lish happenings at Mill City Farmer’s Market.
2. Making Food as Gifts
   Try your hand at homemade chocolate truffles and chocolate dipped pretzel rods.  A lot of holiday treats freeze well so you can make them ahead of time. Buy some little boxes and bags at a craft store for fancy packaging.
3. Remember reusable bags
   Check out the huge and convenient IKEA shopping bags for 59 cents and use them during your shopping spree. I’ve got 3 of these and use them all the time for shopping and for makeshift laundry baskets!
4. Shop locally
   If you usually shop at big box stores, try at least one stop at a locally owned store. You will likely be amazed at the selection that you can’t get in any big box location.Some of my Twin Cities local favorites are: Patina, Nokomis Shoes, Bibelot, Electric Fetus, Cooks of Crocus Hill and Creative Kids Stuff. Be sure to check their sites – some have online deals if you can’t shop in person.
5. Buy consignment & reused
   Turn Style and Half Price Books are great places to browse and pick up something for yourself too.
6. Skip the drive-through
   Eat at at a locally owned restaurant after you’ve shopped. Buy some gift certificates for your friends and family if you like the place.
7. Buy original art as gifts
   Artists will appreciate your business and you’ll give something unique to the person who has everything.
8. Give the gift of a cultural experience
   A gift certificate to a world cuisine restaurant or tickets to a cultural event that heightens your interest. If you don’t know where to start, check out event schedules from local colleges and universities.
9. Invest in rechargable batteries
   We haven’t done this yet. This might be the year!
10. Order online
    My favorite way to shop – it saves gas and time. The Post Office, FedEx, and UPS know the most fuel efficient routes,  much better than we do.
11. Think about last year
    How did you handle holiday shopping last year? Did you like your choices? Did it make you cringe? Remember what you liked and didn’t like and set some green improvement goals.
12. Last and most importantly – if you’re heading out holiday shopping
    • Be kind to others
    • Be polite to the store staff, and
    • Give a smile to those around you.

A little kindness goes a long way.

What are your suggestion for “greening” the holidays?

Want to Strive Bean too? Subscribe to Striving Bean in a reader or via email.

This was originally posted in 2009 and updated.  Lovely snowy river photo by rkramer62

Thanksgiving Sesame Green Beans

You have the turkey, the stuffing, the cranberries, the potatoes, and the pumpkin pie all planned out.  But what about the green beans?

Do you love green bean casserole like I do, but don’t like the calories in that innocent looking dish?  Give this lighter and simpler recipe a try:  Thanksgiving Sesame Green Beans. And don’t save it for just Thanksgiving – this side dish is easy enough for any day.

You can sometimes find bags of fresh (not frozen) green beans in the produce section that say “steam in bag”.  I bought a bag and used it for this dish.

Thanksgiving Sesame Green Beans

Recipe by Striving Bean

Ingredients

• Fresh green beans (not frozen). As many as you think you’ll need for your guests.
  Snap off ends of green beans.
• 2 Tablespoons toasted sesame seeds (or toast your own from these instructions).
  Can add more if desired.
• 2 Tablespoons sesame seed oil
• Sea salt to taste

Directions

1. Boil a pot of water, large enough for the green beans
2. When water is boiling, carefully place green beans in pot
3. Blanche (boil) green beans for 2 minutes.  This is to quickly soften the texture of green beans. Don’t skip this step.
4. Drain green beans.
5. Heat sesame oil in a pan, medium high heat.
6. Place well-drained green beans in pan.
7. Add sesame seeds and sea salt.
8. Sautée for a few minutes.
9. Serve warm.

Our family weighs in:

• Everybody like this easy side dish, my husband especially.

Will you be making green beans for Thanksgiving?

Want to Strive Bean too? Subscribe to Striving Bean in a reader or via email.

Baked Donuts - Plain, Honey Glaze, Sliced Almonds, Coconut, Sprinkles, and Powdered Sugar

How do you make donuts healthier?  You bake them instead of deep frying!  Honey Pumpkin Baked Donuts are an experiment born from a snow day at home.  Mid-November brought us snow in Minnesota.  Lots of snow – so no driving, no errands.  Baking, playing in the yard, and hot chocolate.

These Honey Pumpkin Baked Donuts are a cinch to make.  I used a Norpro 6-Count Nonstick Donut Pan, which forms nicely shaped donuts.

If you don’t have a donut pan, you can easily make a donut by squeezing out the dough from a pastry bag, or a Ziploc bag with the end cut off. Form the best circles you can on a baking stone or cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Donut Dough in a Ziploc bag with the end cut off. Like a pastry bag.

When you squeeze out the dough on a baking sheet, try to form better circles than I did!

Donut Dough on a Baking Stone. Not the best circles, but it will do.

Donuts on a Cookie Sheet with Parchment Paper. Again - try to make better circles than me.

Dough in the Donut Pan

Donuts Cooling on a Rack

Baked Donut Variety

"Frosting" - Light Cream Cheese, honey, and pecans

Honey Pumpkin Baked Donuts

Makes about 16 donuts

Recipe by Striving Bean

Dry Ingredients

• 2 Cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup (0.25 cup) ground flax seeds
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon (0.50 teaspoon) baking soda
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon sea salt

Wet Ingredients

• 1 cup pureed pumpkin
• 3/4 cup (0.75 cup) honey
• 1/4 cup (0.25 cup) milk
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 Tablespoon butter, melted

Optional Ingredients

• For optional honey glaze, you’ll need: Honey, butter, brown sugar, vanilla extract.  See Martha Stewart’s Honey Glaze
• If using honey glaze, you can sprinkle on toppings:  sliced almonds, flaked coconut, sprinkles, etc.
• You can roll donuts in powdered sugar too.
• Cream Cheese “Frosting” – mix together cream cheese, finely chopped walnuts (or pecans) and honey.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F
2. Lightly grease donut pan.  If using cookie sheet, use parchment paper.  If using baking stone, no greasing necessary
3. Mix together dry ingredients.
4. In a separate bowl, mix together wet ingredients
5. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix
6. Carefully scoop dough into pastry bag
7. Squeeze out dough into circle shapes
8. Bake 12- 16 minutes until donuts spring back when touched
9. Cool slightly before removing from pan/cookie sheet
10. Optional – Top with Martha Stewart’s Honey Glaze and other toppings or cream cheese “frosting”
11. Optional – dip/roll in powdered sugar (no honey glaze needed)

Our family weighs in:

• The kids loved the plain donuts best.
• Husband loved the honey glaze.
• My fave was the cream cheese “frosting”

So what do you think of baked donuts?

Want to Strive Bean too? Subscribe to Striving Bean in a reader or via email.

Fresh Cut Pineapple

Our family absolutely LOVES fresh fruit – the kids can’t get enough of it. We have a fruit bowl on the kitchen counter (bananas, pears, cantaloupe) and usually have a pineapple ripening.

One day my mom came over for a visit, and as we were chatting I grabbed a pineapple to start cutting it. My mom looked wistfully at me and remarked, “I wish I knew how to cut a pineapple.” All these years…and I didn’t realize she didn’t know how to cut a pineapple.

This “How to Cut a Pineapple” video is inspired by my mother. Mom, if you’re reading – go to the library (or better yet, come over) so you can watch the video on a high-speed connection.

This is also for everyone who’s looked longingly at pineapples in a grocery store – and passed them by. Don’t let the pineapple intimidate you!

Have you ever cut a pineapple?

Want to Strive Bean too? Subscribe to Striving Bean in a reader or via email.

Cheese And Chicken Kabobs

Are you in a dinner rut? Do you find yourself making the same few dishes over and over? It’s OK – it happens to the best of us.

Shake things up with this Cheese and Chicken Kabob recipe: Murg Malai Kabab.  I’m here to encourage you – I’ve made it myself, it’s easy, and yes – YOU CAN DO IT!

This meal is WAY out of my kids’ comfort zone – Indian seasonings with spiciness on a bed of raw spinach and cucumbers. But our 5 and 7 year old kids liked it.  How on earth did I fool them? I feel like I got away with something.

Maybe they liked it because we watched Vahchef Sanjay Thumma‘s cooking video together and they thought his dance at 08:00 was hysterical.  And I reminded them that the Vahchef said “Kids go crazy over this chicken!”  A little bit of prep work went a long way.

Here’s the ingredient list for Cheese and Chicken Kabob [Murg Malai Kabab], be sure to scroll down.

Some of my tweaks:

• I turned up the oven to 500 F – super hot.
• I didn’t use meat tenderizer, it was fine without it.
• I used chopped parsley instead of coriander leaves.
• I didn’t make a paste with the chilies and parsley.  Instead I chopped up the chilies large enough so I could pick them out for the kids.
• We made a quick ginger garlic paste by mashing together peeled/cut up ginger with peeled garlic.   My 5 year-old loved using the mortar and pestle.  See VahRehVah – Ginger Garlic Paste. Don’t blink, you might miss it!
• I forgot the corn flour – no biggie, it was fine without it.

Ginger Garlic Paste

Our family weighs in:

• The kids did “go crazy” and loved it!
• My husband gave it a double thumbs up.
• I loved it and am bringing it for lunch tomorrow – a good sign.

Is it time for you and your family to get out of your “dinner comfort zone”?  What do you want to try?

Want to Strive Bean too? Subscribe to Striving Bean in a reader or via email.

Kettle Corn

The kids and I made Kettle Corn and a video tonight!  Check out this super easy recipe for Rachel Ray’s Sweet and Salty Kettle Corn. Only 4 ingredients:  Popcorn, vegetable oil, sugar and sea salt.

It’s nice to know what kinds of ingredients are going in your snacks plus I like the simplicity.  Don’t mind my realistic kitchen – dishes in the sink and all!