Presley's Pantry

Milk and dairy products help make up a healthy balanced diet filled with calcium.  I supply my fridge with all things dairy from Milk to Cheese to BUTTER to Yogurt, just to ensure there are yummy alternatives for my family to choose from.  Being the number ONE dairy state in the nation… it is never hard for me to find the “Real California Milk/Cheese” seal at the market.  By buying this seal I know I’m supporting 1,620 dairy families and NOW California schools too!  You ask how are we supporting California schools?

Let me tell you how!  From Oct. 1st, 2011 to Dec. 31st, 20011 there is a new program EVERYONE should know about.  Especially if you have young school aged children who live in California.  The wonderful California Dairy Families have put together this exciting program for Southern California* elementary classrooms.  They are awarding Southern California elementary classrooms, schools, and students with up to $2 million in cash, books, and other prizes!  There are thousands of chances to win, just for collecting Real California Milk seals from the milk and dairy products you buy.  So get “moo-ving” and get your children’s teachers involved, neighbors, friends, and family to start collecting Real California Milk seals today.  Good luck!

HERE’S HOW IT WORKS: PRIZES INCLUDE:

1. COLLECT:  Collect Real California Milk seals.  Look for this seal on milk and other dairy products.

2. ENTER:  Give the Real California Milk seals you’ve collected to your child’s teacher. Each seal counts as an entry.

3. WIN!  Teacher sends seals in to win.  Up to $2 million in cash and prizes will be awarded!

Up to $20,000 in cash prizes for schools.  Scholastic books for nearly every class that enters.  Interactive fitness games for students in winning classrooms!

To find out more about how you can join the “Real Seal Appeal” and help our teachers help our kids, visit scholastic.com/sealappeal

*Participating elementary schools in Imperial, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            I participated in this campaign as a member of One2One Network and am eligible for a prize drawing.  All opinions stated in the post are my own.

Guess what friends? I just spoke to the Master of the Glass Half-Full and he told me all about this photo contest he’s holding on Facebook. Starting this very second he is asking fans to upload a picture of their child/children holding a glass of milk in the same fashion as he does. Photo submissions will gladly be accepted from NOW through October 21^st, 2011 followed by on-line voting from October 24-28^th . Winners will be announced on Monday November 7th , 2011.  Click HERE to submit!  What a great time! I can’t wait to see all the photos! Here’s the best part….. The PRIZES!!!!!! Yippppeeeee!

Grand Prize/1^st Place:  French door stainless steel refrigerator with a year’s supply of milk

2^nd Place: Bicycle with a front child seat and a year’s supply of milk

3^rd Place: Professional blender with a year’s supply of milk

Can you imagine that fridge?  Or a year supply of MILK?  Eeeeek!  Get your cameras out and act like a shutterbug.  Post away!  You better bet your bottom dollar I’m going to submit a photo of my little guy…. TODAY!!!! Here’s a sneak peak of Maxie LOVING his milk.

Oh and before I forget to tell you….. As soon as I hung up the phone, the doorbell rang, it was the mailman delivering a letter from the Master himself.  I ripped open the envelope and realized it wasn’t a letter for me, it was for my readers. That was sweet of him. Right? Read what he has to say below.

Find Simon Felix on Facebook here!

Follow all his positivity on Twitter here!

Disclosure: This is part of a sponsored campaign with the California Milk Processor’s Board and Latina Mom Bloggers.

All photos taken by: Mando Lopez

I’m so excited about this photo contest…. I need a glass of MILK to celebrate!

I have my theory about salsa.  I don’t know how closely you follow my blog but a couple months back I posted a salsa recipe and talked about the crazy stinginess that surrounds salsa recipes.  I’m the polar opposite, if I come up with a salsa I’m proud of I want to scream it into the blog-o-sphere with a post/share.  I’ll start by telling you…. This yummy Green salsa is nothing like my Salsa for the ages, it’s just as good and it is worthy of five SCREAMS.  Try it out on your friends or family and you’ll quickly have a house full of noise. 🙂

Photos taken by: Nicole Presley and Mando Lopez

Ingredients for green salsa:

1 – tablespoon vegetable oil

1 – onion (remove outer peeling)

4 – garlic cloves (remove outer peeling)

1 – cup water

5 – tomatillos

1 – serrano chile

1 – jalapeno chile

1 – guero chile

1/3 – cup cilantro leaves

1 – large half of avocado (remove pit)

1 – teaspoon of white vinegar

1 – tablespoon Kikkoman Ponzu Citrus Seasoned Dressing & Sauce Lime

1 – tablespoon Kikkoman Soy Sauce

Place vegetable oil in a small frying pan over a medium high flame and allow to get hot. Then add peeled onion and peeled garlic cloves.  Fry till brown.  Set in the blender along with the rest of the ingredients and pulse till smooth.

Pour salsa out of blender into a bowl or pour into jars and refrigerate.  Serve with your favorite dish or simply place a bowl of tortilla chips by it’s side and watch them disappear.  Enjoy!

No compensation was received for this post. I was provided with a sample of  Kikkoman’s Ponzu and Soy Sauce to aid this recipe. The recipe and opinions are my own.

I am honored to announce Spanglish Baby featured my lasagna cups recipe on their blog today!  The easy instruction is made super simple with the aid of PAM!  Click HERE to read the recipe!  ENJOY!

Makes 12 cups!

I woke up today and realized the month of September was coming to an end….  I smiled at the thought of fall and all my jacket wearing days that lay ahead.  Then for a brief moment I started to panick thinking with the warm weather sneaking out the back door my beloved strawberries would be taking a leave of absence as well.  Oh the horror!  As soon as the thought entered my mind it was rescued with the realization that California strawberries are grown all year long , and could be picked up fresh or frozen.  Either way I’m going to celebrate my california strawberries this fall/winter wearing a jacket!

All photos taken by: Nicole Presley 

Ingredients for strawberry cream hand pies:

2 1/4 – cups flour

1/2 – teaspoon baking powder

2/3 – cup sugar

6 – tablespoons cream cheese (room temperature)

1 – stick butter (room temperature)

1 – teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 – large egg

Mix flour, baking powder and sugar in a bowl and set to the side.  Then put cream cheese and butter in an electric mixer and mix for 3 minutes or until fluffy.  Add vanilla and egg in and mix well.  Then slowly add in flour mixture until combined.  Divide dough in half and pat into two disks.  Wrap with plastic wrap and place in fridge for an hour or over night.

Preheat oven 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line cookie sheets with wax paper or a non – stick baking mat.

Take one disk of dough of of the fridge.  On a lightly floured surface roll dough about 1/4 inch thick.  With a round 2 1/2- inch circle cookie cutter cut as many circles as possible. With the scraps re-roll and continue cutting until you’ve cut all the dough.  Then place your circles on prepared cookie sheets and place back in the fridge for 15 minutes.  Grab your second disk and repeat process.

While you are waiting for your dough to chill, let’s make the filling.

Ingredients for the filling:

6 – tablespoons cream cheese (room temperature)

3 – tablespoons confectioners sugar

1/3 – cup strawberry preserves

3 – strawberries chopped

Mix cream cheese and confectioners sugar with an electric mixer till combined, then set to the side in a small bowl.  Chop strawberries into tiny pieces and mix into perserves in another bowl.

On half of the pie circles place 1/2 teaspoon of cream cheese mixture in center of circle, then place 1/2 teaspoon of strawberry mixture on top.

Now on the other half circles take a small cookie cutter and barely imprint the center with the cutter (I used a strawberry cutter, this step is optional) make sure not to push all the way down.  This is purely for decoration.  Then place pie circle on top of circle with cream cheese and strawberry mixture to make your pie.  Press around the edges with your finger to seal, then take a fork and indent all around.

Place in the oven and bake for 7 minutes then rotate cookie sheet and bake for another 7 to 8 minutes or until edges are golden.  Remove from oven.

Ingredients for topping: 

1/2 – cup sugar

1 – teaspoon cinnamon

Mix sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.  Then dip each hand pie in sugar mixture while still warm set on wire rack to cool completely!  Enjoy.  Should make 15 pies total.

Strawberries wrapped in warmth!  

Mole.  What a delectable dish.  Certainly not the easiest thing to make.  One of the many gifts of living in Los Angeles is all the different styles and tastes of prepared mole that one can buy.  Whether it be from a vendor or restaurant.  Recently I was invited to a private mole tasting at Dona Socorro’s (founding member of ‘La Feria de los Moles’) home.  It was the perfect demonstration of two of the most traditional mole styles, Puebla and Oaxaca.  I had both.  I can’t say there was a winner amongst the two moles…. the lucky winner was me the taster who got to enjoy two plates of sublime mole.  I was shocked to discover how many laborious hours go into making mole.  Making mole for a small amount of people will easily run you 5 hours.  Try a crowd of 25…. your looking at 10 hours.  Want enough mole to feed a big party…. it’ll take about 3 days! DAYS!  Wow, no wonder I’ve never made homemade mole.  I’m positive it’s something I’ll try doing in the near future since Dona Socorro inspired me.  In the meantime if you would like to get your hands on some delicious mole…. Then make it your business to attend the            “4th Annual La Feria de los Moles: Puebla vs. Oaxaca!”  Yes, Dona Socorro will be at the event making her famous mole! Enjoy! 

Date: October 9th, 2011

Time: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Place: Olvera Street

This family friendly event will have FREE admittance and food will be available for purchase.

Here’s a few pictures from the pre-tasting: 

All photos taken by: Mando Lopez

Don’t miss out on the fun!

What an exciting time!  The “Master of the Glass Half Full” (pictured above dressed in white) has befriended me and I am thrilled  to help him circulate his message as a “positivity ambassador.”  The Master of the Glass Half Full is a positivity guru on a mission to spread the philosophy of positivity across California.  I don’t know how he found me.  I think  a friend of a friend told him all about me and how much I love drinking milk.  He mentioned a gal told him how I was a firm believer in drinking  a warm glass of milk before I go to bed every night for a sound sleeping experience.  I guess she knew I need my 8 hours of sleep  in order to keep up with my emphatic  joie de vivre.  He then told me to start drinking 3 glasses a day, it makes for a pretty smile. All that calcium builds strong teeth and prevents cavities.  Now I could continue smiling all day long… a form of positivity.

Do you know the story of the Master of the Glass Half Full?  Let me give it to you in a nutshell.  Basically this guy, his real name is Simon Felix, was madly in love and the relationship went south.  His poor heart was shattered into smithereens.  Needless to say he had a hard time seeing life through rose colored lenses after that.  Best said he was now a pessimist.  One day he set out to leave his home town of San Mateo, California in search of self discovery.  During these travels he met an old wise sage.  The sage noticed his negative outlook on life, and decided he needed an uplifting change. The wise sage gave Simon Felix an old box, when he looked inside there was a crystal glass and a note that read “fill this glass with milk.” He followed the instructions and no matter how much milk he poured the glass never filled to the top, and once he started drinking out of the glass it never emptied pass the half way mark. It was permanently half full. The message became clear he would never see the world as half empty again because his glass was always Half Full!  The rest is history in the making. Simon Felix became the MASTER OF THE GLASS HALF-FULL, and is here in California to sprinkle his positivity all over the land.  Follow him on twitter here. Like him on Facebook here.

Let me show you my new friend.

Disclosure: This is part of a sponsored campaign with the California Milk Processor’s Board and Latina Mom Bloggers.