Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Whole Foods Market. The recipe and opinions are 100% my own. 

There is no other way to describe this drink other than “Mmmmm, that’s good.” Those were the first words out of my fiances mouth as I poured him a tall sip. Let me rewind a little and tell you the back story. It starts with Muscat grapes. Have you ever tried a Muscat grape? The Muscat Grape is a pink seedless grape, with a very sweet and rich flavor. These grapes come all the way from Chile and range in color from light green to deeply blushed with pink (the ripest and best), with a softer succulent texture. Basically they are a dreamy grape that need to be adored. The tricky part is they are only available for a short time at Whole Foods Market in my lovely California, from now thru late mid-April. Okay, with those facts in mind I know that I am only able to appreciate their beautiful-ness for a short period of time. SO, the other day I was at Whole Foods Market buying some mangos and a pile of cheese when I spotted the muscat grapes. I made a serious bee-line for them and started to stock up. My fiance says “What? Why are you buying so many grapes?” I come back at him with “Well my Tia Brilla is in town and what if she wants grapes, and maybe we can freeze some and have as a healthy late night snack, and they taste great in salads, and I’ve been wanting to make agua de uvas.” He shook his head, and gave me a look like I was CRAZY! Until he tried them himself of course. Isn’t it always like that? I definitely threw some in the freezer, add a few to a salad I made over the weekend, served my Tia Brilla some during her visit, and made a big jug of agua de uvas y sandía. YUM! I highly suggest you stock up now, before it’s way too late.

Ingredients for grape and watermelon water:

• 2 – pounds muscat grapes (seedless) (stem removed)
• 8 – cups of chopped up watermelon (peeling removed)
• 6 – cups water
• 1/2 – cup sugar
• 2 – limes (juiced)

Directions:

1. Place grapes in blender with 1 cup water. You may have to do this step several times depending on the size of your blender.
2. Blend until smooth.
3. Pour grape blend through sieve and allow all liquid to pass through and fall into a pitcher. This step will collect all the skin from the grapes. You may have to scrape the inside of the sieve with a spoon to allow any remaining liquid to pass through. 
4. Next blend all the watermelon. Again add a cup of water to the blender and this time add in the sugar. Blend till smooth.
5. Pour watermelon blend through the sieve and allow it to fall into the same pitcher as the grape blend.
6. Add in remaining water and lime juice. Mix to combine.
7. Chill in fridge until super cold.
8. Serve and enjoy!

That’s pretty. I always have a desire to make or eat a trifle, but until recently I did not own a trifle bowl. I needed to correct that fast……

My fiance took it upon himself to start looking up places for me to buy a trifle bowl.  Every place was either online with shipping or out of the way, then he checked Walmart, not only is it close by but it was priced so nicely ($6. 97) I went out and bought it straight away.

As my grubby hands placed my new trifle bowl in the cart, I said to my son “We can’t leave here with out buying ingredients to fill this beautiful vessel to the rim.” I then asked “Do you want to make an Easter Trifle? We can decorate it with the new blue raspberry peeps, and a chocolate bunny.” My son looked at me and said excitedly “Can we get jellybeans too?” Me, being a pleased new owner of a trifle bowl, I said “Of course we can!” Then we ran like little kids do across Walmart to the Easter candy section and picked out our prized treats. The blue raspberry peeps didn’t make it all the way home, my son had to have them in the car, luckily I bought an extra pack of regular blue peeps.

Ingredients for Easter lemon cake trifle:

• 1 – 6 ounce box of strawberry jello mix
• 1 1/2 – cups boiling hot water
• 1 – 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 – box Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme Cake mix (bake according to box instructions. Use egg, water, and vegetable oil)
• 1 – box pink bunny peeps
• 1 – large container cool whip
• 1 – box of blue raspberry peeps / or blue peeps
• 1 – bag Starburst jellybeans
• 1 – Lindt chocolate bunny

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl add in jello mix and hot boiling water. Mix with a fork or whisk until all jello is dissolved.
2. Pour sweetened condensed milk into jello mixture. Mix to combine.
3. Pour creamy jello mixture into the bottom on the trifle bowl. 
4. Place in fridge.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
6. Mix cake batter according to box (add in egg, water and oil) and bake. 
7. Allow cake to cool. Remove from pan and cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes. 
8. Remove trifle bowl from fridge and start building your trifle. By alternating between the cubed cake and a bunny peep. 
9. Then fill the entire center with cake cubes. 
10. Spread a nice thick layer of cool whip on top of cake.
11. Then place another layer of cake on top of the cool whip. 
12. Top with another layer of cool whip filling the trifle to the rim.
13. Then decorate the top with blue raspberry peeps, jellybeans, and a chocolate bunny.
14. Place back in the fridge till ready to eat.
15. Enjoy!

Oh yeah,  It’s time for corned beef and cabbage.  Let me just set the record straight.  When I was a little girl the only way I had ever eaten corned beef was in a hash out of a can and in a hard taco because that was the way my grandfather prepared it.  It wasn’t till I was a teenager that I ate a proper corned beef  and cabbage that my Auntie Rosie had made for St. Patrick’s Day and I was so excited, I didn’t bother to ask her how she made it.  Over the years I have had many corned beef variations, everything from sandwiches to taquitos to hash with a poached egg on top and every once in a while I’m reminded of that first time I had the real thing with cabbage.

This year I decided to not let another St. Patrick’s Day go by without making my own corned beef and cabbage.  I looked up a few recipes on the internet and didn’t really like what I saw.  Then I thought, why not call my most reliable source in the world, my awesome Auntie Rosie!  She gets on the phone and I run a few ideas by her on how I want to prepare mine and she tells me all the methods I have suggested will work fine.  She’s a little “iffy” about my ground mustard rub idea but in the end tells me to go for it. Before we hang up, I ask her “Auntie Rosie, where can I buy corned beef?”  She said, “I buy mine at Walmart.”  That’s all I needed to hear.

Ingredients needed for corned beef and cabbage:

• 1 1/2 – cups water
• 4 – lbs corned beef
• 1 – onion
• spice packet: come included with the corned beef ( mustard seeds, coriander, black peppercorns, and bay leaf)
• 2 – sprigs of thyme
• 1 – teaspoon ground mustard
• 1 – head of cabbage
• 10 – baby carrots (optional)
• 1 – teaspoon olive oil
• 10 – yellow potatoes
• 1 – teaspoon sea salt

Directions:

1. Pour water into a slow cooker, then place corned beef, and onion inside slow cooker.
2. Sprinkle the spice packet over the corned beef. Then sprinkle the ground mustard over the top, and add the thyme to the top. 
3. Cover and cook for about 6 hours on high or 8 hours on low.
4. While the corned beef is cooking steam the cabbage and roast the potatoes an hour before dinner time.
5. Cut the cabbage in 4 equal pieces, then place them in a steamer basket inside a dutch oven with about an inch of water at the bottom of the pot. Place a lid over the dutch oven and place over a medium high flame and steam for 40 minutes. You can add carrots to the cabbage if you would like. 
6. To cook the potatoes: place them on a baking tray and drizzle olive oil over the top and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake at 400 degrees fahrenheit for 45 minutes. 
7. When corned beef is ready. Remove from the slower cooker and place under the broiler for 3 to 5 minutes or until slightly browned on top.
8. Let the corned beef rest for 15 minutes before slicing it. 
9. Serve with cabbage, and potatoes.
10. Enjoy! 

Good ol’ Mardi Gras is around the corner. I know this because my Aunt is having her annual Mardi Gras party as a segue into lent. She usually does it on Fat Tuesday, but this year will hold it the Saturday night before hand instead… so we can really celebrate NOLA style. I don’t know if I have the word “PARTY” embroidered across my forehead or something, because it seems whenever a celebration is in my family forecast I get elected to help with the menu and decorations. First rule of order: Head to Walmart to pick up supplies. We know we can get pretty much everything we need there…. food, decorations, spirited beverages, festive apparel, and colorful necklace beads.

Today my Aunt and I went over how we would decorate the party, while we were going over the details of the festivities we somehow got on the topic of the cronut.  I told her I had had a delicious one in SOHO the last time I was in NYC, and was craving one right now. She immediately asked if I would make some for the Mardi Gras party. I looked at her like she had nearly lost her mind… I told her “Tia that is not in theme of the party, but beignets are.” Then she said “Beignets take too long to make, since we gotta let the dough set overnight.” I told her “Well, we could make a NOLA inspired croissant-beignets, and it will be reminiscent of a cronut. We could save time and use packaged croissant dough and fry them up right before the party starts.” She loved that idea…. and so it is…. Croissant-Beignets will be served at our Mardi Gras party this year. With only a few more days of planning we gave these croissant-beignets a test run and were in carnival season heaven.

Ingredients for croissant beignets:

• vegetable oil
• packaged croissant dough ( I used tubed pillsbury )
• powdered sugar

Directions:

1. In a small pot filled halfway with vegetable oil, over a medium flame allow the oil to get hot.
2. Pop open croissant dough and unroll it to make a flat sheet. Then cut it into small triangles. 
3. Fry the triangles on each side for about 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown. Spoon hot oil onto the triangle as it cooks.   
4. With a slotted spoon remove each triangle and place on a paper towel lined plate to drain.
5. Pour powdered sugar through a sieve and shake over beignets. 
6. Serve and enjoy!

 My fiancé is very vocal about his likes and dislikes with everything, in this case, candy.  He is always disappointed with the boxes of chocolates that are store bought.  I can tell you exactly what candy he’ll eat and which he will complain about.  He looks inside the box takes a nibble out of a few pieces then puts them back.  Yeah, he’s that guy.  I guess I’ve gotten use to it, or I just throw them out or eat around the half eaten pieces.

As Valentine’s day approaches I’ve been thinking about chocolates and all the things my fiancé really does love….then I thought that I should just chocolate dip all his favorite treats. I’ll include savory, tart and sweet and create my own assortment of chocolate bites. I could recycle Valentine heart boxes from years past and spruce them up with a new lining. He’ll be so surprised and pleased.  That’s exactly what I did.

I started the project by heading to Walmart to pick up Valentine tissue paper (for the inside of my recycled boxes), stick glue, chocolate chips, marshmallows, and BACON!  If I was going to make my own box of chocolates it would have to have heart shaped bacon in it.  He lives to eat bacon so why not cover it in chocolate?

It was a real easy process.  I just shaped a few slices of bacon into hearts on a cookie sheet and baked them for 15 minutes at 400 degrees.  The rest was super easy and I believe he is going to be thrilled.  You can always custom make your own DIY box of chocolates with the treats your sweetheart loves most.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Things needed for DIY box of chocolates:

• A heart shaped box ( I used a few I had from years past)
• Valentine tissue paper
• pencil and scissors
• 2 – cookie sheets
• wax paper
• 1 – package bacon (shape each slice into a heart on a cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees fahrenheit for 15 to 20 minutes)
• 1 – paper towel
• 1 – paper plate
• 1 – bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 – tablespoon coconut oil
• mini pretzels
• strawberry marshmallows ( I used Kraft)
• kumquats (I used Melissa’s Produce)

Directions: 

1. Place a piece of tissue paper into the inside of a heart shaped box.  Then with a pencil lightly trace the outline of the inside of the heart.  Next remove the paper and cut it out with the scissors.  Place the heart on the bottom layer of the box. 
2. Line a cookie sheet with a piece of wax paper and set to the side.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.
4. One the other cookie sheet shape each slice of bacon into a heart, and bake for 15 to 20 minutes (as pictured above).
5. Remove bacon from oven and place on a paper towel lined paper plate to cool completely.
6. In a double boiler add in chocolate chips and coconut oil, mix until completely melted.  Pour melted chocolate into a bowl.
7. Dip in pretzels, marshmallows, kumquats, and bacon.  Place dipped pieces on wax paper lined cookie sheet to firm up completely.  I let them set over night.         
8. Once all pieces are firm, place chocolates into boxes, and give it to your sweetheart.  
9. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Recently I was out having a Chinese dinner with my family and at the end of the meal the waiter brought us a plate full of orange slices and fortune cookies.  I quickly grabbed the cookie closest to me and busted it open to get my fortune. I could see the little piece of paper on the inside of the cookie sparked the interest of my four year old son who is obsessed with reading. I turn my attention to him and started explaining to him what a fortune cookie was. Then he asks me “Can we make some at home?” Before I could answer, my fiance says “No, you can’t make those kind of cookies at home, they only make them in a factory.” Then my son says “Why not? Do you have to cut them out with scissors?” I thought about it for a second trying to figure out what he meant by the scissors question , did he mean the shape? Then I realized what he meant and answered him “Yes, you have to cut the paper to go inside the cookie with the scissors, it’s a craft.”

A few days later I was at Walmart looking around in the craft section and came across the scissors. I thought I should buy my son some kid scissors so he could practice cutting paper (like he’s learning in school) at home. I ask him “Do you want some little scissors to cut paper?” Then his eyes lit up, and he says “To make fortune cookies?” I thought to my self this is going to be one crazy project / food craft, but why not? I looked into his eyes and said “Yes, let’s get all our supplies right now, and we will make them as soon as we get home!” That’s exactly what we did. Who needs a factory? Do It Yourself!

Ingredients for fortune cookies:

• 2 – egg whites
• 1/8 – teaspoon almond extract
• 1/8 – teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 – teaspoon salt
• 1/2 – cup flour
• 1/2 – cup sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.
2. Place a baking mat on a cookie sheet and lightly spray with a non stick baking spray. Set to the side.
3. Write or print a few fortunes or messages on a piece of paper. Then cut them out and place them in a dish. Set to the side. 
4. In a mixer add in egg whites and almond and vanilla extract. Mix on high until egg whites are stiff. 
5. In a separate bowl sift the salt, flour, and sugar together. Mix well to combine.
6. Add the flour/sugar mixture to the egg whites. Mix well to combine.
7. Use a teaspoon, and pour it onto the baking sheet. 
8. With the back of a spoon make it into a 3 to 4 inch circle. Make one cookie at a time to begin with because it is hard to get the timing right with more then two. You need to fold the cookies fast or they will break and not work. Start with one and see how many you can make.    
9. Bake cookie for 5 minutes. The edge should be golden and the inside pale.
10. Take it out and quickly remove the cookie from the mat with a spatula. 
11. Then place a fortune in the middle. 
12. Next fold the cookie over so both ends meet. 
13. Last fold the cookie over the rim of a mug.
14. Place the cookie down to cool completely.  
15. Make the next one. This recipe made almost 2 dozens.
16. Eat This Now! 

 Disclosure: This is part of a sponsored campaign with the California Milk Processor Board and Latina Mom Bloggers. However, all opinions expressed and recipe is are 100% my own.

In my travels, I remember when I had panna cotta for the first time, in Italy.  It was a day off from touring with my band and I was wandering around the city of Milan.  I was purposely trying to get lost in order to “accidentally” find a treasure of a restaurant to blow me away.  After walking for about an hour or so, I happened to wander into this beautifully colored tiled bakery (Panetteria).  The people that worked in there were loud, happy and celebratory.  Celebrating life I suppose.  I asked them what they recommended to a slightly hungry girl from the United States that wanted to experience a bit of the essence of their culture.  They all immediately argued as to what I should eat.  Back and forth they playfully screamed at each other but in the end, the lady that seemed to be the matriarch of the bunch said I should give the panna cotta a try.  It’s a custard and is very common at most Italian restaurants.

Since that visit, I’ve made panna cotta for my family quite often.  There never has to be an occasion for it.  I don’t necessarily have to make an Italian meal in order to have it for dessert and it doesn’t always have to be a dessert.  I like to make it on a whim and whenever I’m invited to a pot luck.  At these pot lucks, it always seems to be the hit of the party and I’m asked by many for the recipe.

Here is my simple recipe for Panna Cotta….. I will also be making it for Three Kings Day since I have a few Italian friends visiting, and they won’t be around to make us dinner on Feb. 2nd if they get the toy baby. Rosca and panna cotta sound like a lovely combo anyway!  Like I said, it works for almost any occasion and people will love you for making such a yummy decadent treat.  Let me know how it goes! Click here to save some dough and get a great coupon. Or if you are in search of more milk recipes….click here!

Oh yeah, and how was the Panna Cotta in Italy you ask?

Delizioso!!!!!

Ingredients for panna cotta:

• 5 – tablespoons hot boiling water
• 2 – packets knox gelatin
• 1 – cup milk
• 3/4 – cup sugar
• 2 – vanilla beans (cut length wise)
• 1 -pint whipping cream
• 1 – cup 1/2 and 1/2

Directions:

1. Pour boiling hot water in a bowl, and sprinkle with knox gelatin. Mix to dissolve gelatin. Set to the side. 
2. In a small sauce pan over a medium flame add milk, sugar, and seeds from inside vanilla beans. Stir until sugar is dissolved. 
3. Add in whipping cream and 1/2 and 1/2 to sugar/milk mixture.
4. Let it combine for about 3 minutes, then remove from flame.
5. Pour the knox water mixture into milk mixture. Mix it to combine. 
6. Then pour the mixture through a sieve  to collect any bits of knox or pieces of vanilla bark. 
7. Pour the liquid into cups and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours. 
8. Top with fresh berries and cookies of your choice. I used strawberries and brownie cookies.
9. Enjoy!