Chicago

Grilled Fruits and Vegetables and an Easy Marinade Recipe

March 21, 2020 by Sandra 9 Comments

It’s springtime, and summer will be here before you know it. That can only mean one thing.

It’s time to fire up the grill!

We recently fired up our grill and had a full, delicious, healthy, satisfying meal with ONLY grilled fruits and vegetables. Is that really possible? Yes, it is possible when you can get a variety of fresh, quality, produce from a store like Mariano’s. Not only does Mariano’s have a huge variety of organic fruits and vegetables, but they also carry locally grown produce. I love that they support local farmers.

Mariano’s made it easy to create a nutritious meal of grilled fruits and veggies.

I simply…

Decided on a menu of foods to grill
Wrote out a grocery list
Headed to Mariano’s to pick up the fruits and vegetables on my list
Used my Mariano’s rewards card at checkout
Then came home and created a meal my doctor would be proud of 🙂

I thought that instead of explaining the dishes we made, I’d show you in pictures. This way, you can get ideas for yourself and see just how easy it is to create a full fruits and veggies meal.

Here’s the first drool-worthy dish.

You can put a variety a vegetables separately on skewers and grill that way. (Be sure to soak your skewers for 30 minutes before putting them on the grill.)

Then toss them together in a bowl to bring the veggies together. Grilling your vegetables separately is a good idea if you’re grilling tomatoes, because they cook so quickly.

You can grill your veggies huddled together on a skewer, sans tomatoes.

Grilled asparagus is so good on the grill. (It’s great in the oven, too.)

Portabella mushrooms are juicy and delicious. Wow!
We will definitely be grilling these again.

And finally, grilled mango makes a healthy dessert. Yum! (We also grilled watermelon with honey drizzled on top, but it was not a family favorite.)

We used an easy marinade recipe that was perfect for our grilled vegetables. Feel free to double or triple the recipe depending upon the amount of veggies you’re grilling. (A big thanks to my hubby for coming up with this recipe! He’s pretty great in the kitchen. :))

Here’s the recipe:

Vegetable Marinade

Ingredients

1/2 cup extra-virgen olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Instructions

Add all of the ingredients to a blender and blend for approximately 1 minute.

https://thesensiblemom.com/2020/03/grilled-fruits-and-vegetables-and-an-easy-marinade-recipe/

I’m looking forward to our next fruits and veggies cookout. I’m sure we’ll be enjoying a lot more of these cookouts for months to come!

Have you ever created an entire fruits and veggies meal on the grill? What’s your favorite veggie to grill?

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and Mariano’s. #MyMarianos #cbias #SocialFabric

This blog post was originally published in April 2013.

Latin Food Recipe: Delicious Mexican Albondigas (Meatball) Soup

November 14, 2019 by Sandra 38 Comments

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.
#VivaLaMorena #CollectiveBias

Food and family go together.

As they should, right?

For me, growing up with what could be considered a crazy-large extended Mexican family meant two wonderful things: I attended lots of parties and ate lots of authentic latin food throughout my childhood. Both good things, right? 🙂

Albondigas Soup Recipe

One particularly memorable dish that I enjoyed as a kid was albondigas soup. Albondigas are meatballs that are infused with flavor, and albondigas soup is a savory dish that I love cooking for my own family.

And today, I’m going to share a step-by-step tutorial of just how I do it.

Let’s get started!

To begin, I went to the grocery store to pick up the items I needed for the soup. I wanted a very authentic mexican flavor in my soup, so I went to Cermak Fresh Market and purchased a few La Morena products to give the albondigas soup a wallop of flavor.

I use the La Morena brand jalapeño peppers, serrano peppers, and chipotle sauce to give the soup a delicious taste and aroma. And trust me, using a touch of heat in the soup gives it flavor. It doesn’t burn your face off. 🙂

After you have everything you need from the grocery store, it’s time to gather the ingredients and start making albondigas soup!

Here’s what goes into this recipe:

For the Meatballs:

1.5 lbs. ground beef
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped finely
1/4 cup long grain rice
1 teaspoon ground cumin (or chili powder – either spice is great)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

For the Soup:

2 (32 ounce) containers of vegetable broth
4 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 medium-sized onion, chopped
2 tablespoons chipotle Sauce
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon pickled jalapeño peppers, seeds removed and finely diced
1 pickled serrano pepper, seeds removed and finely diced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
3 large potatoes, cut into large chunks
fresh lime juice
cilantro for garnish (optional)

Once you have the ingredients gathered and prepped, it’s time to make the meatballs that’ll go into the soup. In a large bowl, mix together the ground beef, cilantro, rice, cumin, oregano, egg, salt, and pepper.

Next, shape the meat mixture into individual meatballs. Go ahead and set the meatballs aside after you’ve finished rolling them. The meat mixture should yield approximately 20 meatballs about 2 tablespoons each in size.

Now, it’s time to start cooking!

In a large pot, add 1/4 cup of the vegetable broth, the sliced carrots, and onions. You may notice that my onions are left on the larger side. Feel free to chop your onions smaller. I cut the onion for our soup into large chunks, because there are some people in our family who don’t love onions. This makes it easier to avoid adding it to their bowl.

Me? I love onions.

Cook for about 7 minutes over medium-high heat.

Then add the remaining vegetable broth, chipotle sauce, bay leaf, jalapeño peppers, serrano pepper, salt, pepper, and potatoes to the pot. Bring these ingredients to a boil over high heat.

While the soup is working on coming to a boil, lightly brown the meatballs for about 10 minutes.

You’ll want to be near the stove pretty much the whole time for this step, so that you don’t accidentally overcook the meatballs.

The idea is to brown the outside a bit, but definitely do NOT cook the meatballs all the way through. They’ll cook the rest of the way in the boiling pot of soup.

Once the soup is boiling, carefully add in the meatballs.

Then reduce the heat on the stove to medium, cover the pot, and cook the albondigas soup until the potatoes are tender.

The soup should be ready in about 20 minutes.

Once the albondigas soup is finished cooking, remove the bay leaf, and serve in bowls with a splash of lime (or lemon) juice.

Cilantro is the perfect garnish for this dish. Hot corn tortillas and rice are great accompaniments. The rice would be for spooning right into your bowl of soup and the tortillas for dipping.

Enjoy! 🙂

Here’s the printable recipe:

Mexican Albondigas Soup

Ingredients

For the Meatballs

1.5 lbs. ground beef
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped finely
1/4 cup long grain rice
1 teaspoon ground cumin (or chili powder - either spice is great)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

For the Soup

2 (32 ounce) containers of vegetable broth
4 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 medium-sized onion, chopped
2 tablespoons chipotle Sauce
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon pickled jalapeño peppers, seeds removed and finely diced
1 pickled serrano pepper, seeds removed and finely diced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
3 large potatoes, cut into large chunks
fresh lime juice
cilantro for garnish (optional)

Instructions

In a large bowl, mix together the ground beef, cilantro, rice, cumin, oregano, egg, salt, and pepper. Shape the meat mixture into individual meatballs and set aside. The meat mixture should yield approximately 20 meatballs about 2 tablespoons each in size.
In a large pot, add 1/4 cup of the vegetable broth, carrots, and onions. Cook for about 7 minutes over medium-high heat. Then add remaining vegetable broth, chipotle sauce, bay leaf, jalapeño peppers, serrano pepper, salt, pepper, and potatoes to the pot. Bring to a boil over high heat.
While the soup is working on coming to a boil, lightly brown the meatballs (about 10 minutes).
Once the soup is boiling, carefully add in the meatballs. Then reduce the heat to medium, cover, and cook until potatoes are tender. This should take about 20 minutes.
Once the albondigas soup is finished cooking, remove the bay leaf, and serve with a splash of lime juice. Garnish with cilantro.

https://thesensiblemom.com/2019/11/latin-food-delicious-mexican-albondigas-soup-recipe/

Delicious Mexican Albondigas (meatball) Soup! #albondigas #meatballsouprecipe #latinfood #shop #VivaLaMorena #tutorial

I hope your family enjoys this soup as much as mine. 🙂

What’s your family’s favorite Mexican dish?

UPDATE: I created a YouTube video that features this recipe with a few variations that you can see here:

Tortilla Soup Recipe along with a Chocolate Cake Recipe from Scratch

November 12, 2019 by Sandra 9 Comments

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for Collective Bias and its advertiser. #MyMarianos #CollectiveBias

I invited someone special over for a meal last week.

My dad.

I haven’t been able to spend much time with my dad ever since David was diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia, and my world was turned upside down. But now that David’s had a successful bone marrow transplant and is doing well, I can start to focus on relationships that I wasn’t able to pay much attention to for quite some time.

How Mariano’s ( a grocery store in Chicago) is the Right Place for Diabetic-Friendly Ingredients

My dad is a lover of food. Who isn’t, right? But, oh, let me tell you! This man truly takes his passion for food to another level. Just ask any of his six kids.

We have stories. 😉

The only problem when it comes to my dad’s love for food is that he has diabetes. He was diagnosed with this disease around the age of 30 and has been living with it for 25 years. For a long time, he managed his blood sugar levels with diet and medication. But then after he nearly lost his life in a collision coming home from work one night, he basically moved from taking a pill a day to being dependent on insulin shots.

And trust me — it’s no fun injecting insulin into your dad’s arm or seeing him have to constantly prick his finger to monitor his blood sugar.

Having My Dad Over for Dinner

I knew that having my dad over for a meal meant that I needed to be wise about what I chose to make. I finally decided on tortilla soup and a healthier-for-you chocolate cake for dessert.

I went to my favorite grocery store, Mariano’s, to pick up the necessary ingredients, and in the end, my dad loved both recipes!

Besides that, we spent a wonderful time together in my home. We talked and laughed and chatted about the many changes going on in our lives since David’s transplant.

I also spent time showing my dad the different places on the Mariano’s website where he can find nutritious recipes to make on his own.

Because in addition to eating, my dad also enjoys cooking.

Tortilla Soup Recipe

Below is the tortilla soup recipe that I made for dinner. I love that you can really play with the extra add-ins to the soup after it’s finished. We topped our soup with avocado, diced tomatoes, rice, and a splash of lemon juice. You can simply place the extra add-ins in bowls, so that each person can create the type of soup that delights their tastebuds.

Tortilla Soup

Ingredients

1 32-ounce container unsalted vegetable broth
1 medium onion, quartered (you can dice it if everyone in your family likes onion)
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno chile, seeds removed and finely diced
1 14.5-ounce can fire roasted crushed tomatoes
1 14.5-ounce can fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 ½ cups frozen corn kernels
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 ½ cups black beans (or 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed)
2 teaspoons chili powder
tortilla strips chips
1 to 2 avocados, chopped
fresh lemon juice
freshly diced tomatoes (optional)
precooked rice (optional)

Instructions

Pour 3/4 cup of the vegetable broth into a large pot and cook over medium-high heat. Add onion, green pepper and garlic. Stir ingredients together and continue to cook for 5 minutes.
Add the rest of the vegetable broth, jalapeno chile, crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, corn, and sea salt to the pan. Stir ingredients and bring pan to a boil.
Once soup is boiling, stir in black beans and chili powder. Then cook soup on low heat for about 15 minutes.
To serve, put a handful of tortilla strips in the bottom of a bowl. Ladle the soup over the tortilla strips, squeeze a bit of lemon juice over the soup, then top with fresh avocado, diced tomatoes (optional), and rice (optional).

https://thesensiblemom.com/2019/11/tortilla-soup-recipe-chocolate-cake-recipe-grocery-store-in-chicago/

Easy Chocolate Cake Recipe

Alright, this cake was a big hit with my dad, husband, and kids! 🙂

In addition to being diabetic-friendly, this chocolate cake recipe is also dairy-free, egg-free, and vegan-friendly. If you feel like you need to add a little more sweetness to the cake, frost it with your favorite chocolate frosting.

Easy Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
¾ cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 ¼ cups dark chocolate almond milk
1 6-ounce container soy vanilla yogurt
1 tablespoon applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Lightly grease an 8-inch square baking pan or 9-inch round cake pan and set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and baking soda.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the dark chocolate almond milk, yogurt, applesauce, and vanilla extract.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well.
Scrape the batter into the prepared 8-inch square baking pan or 9-inch round cake pan and bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick or long wooden skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out with only a few crumbs on it.
Allow the cake to cool for at least one hour. Then sprinkle with powdered sugar or frost with your favorite chocolate frosting and enjoy!

https://thesensiblemom.com/2019/11/tortilla-soup-recipe-chocolate-cake-recipe-grocery-store-in-chicago/

Life Can Still Taste Great Even When You Have Diabetes

For my dad, living with diabetes isn’t easy. But with a little extra effort, he still gets to enjoy terrific tasting food, especially when he comes to my house. 😉

What’s your favorite soup recipe? Have your tried making chocolate cake from scratch?

This blog post was originally published in 2014.

Fun at the Great Wolf Lodge Indoor Waterpark for Families

August 7, 2019 by Sandra Leave a Comment

Thanks to Great Wolf Lodge and MomSelect for collaborating with me and providing day passes for my family. I didn’t have to film this video, but I wanted to for memories. 🙂

Today, I’m sharing a video all about our fun at the Great Wolf Lodge indoor waterpark for families! Great Wolf Lodge has a fantastic indoor waterpark playground, lots of fabulous slides, a wave pool, a kiddie area, a lazy river, and so much more! We also had lunch at Great Wolf Lodge and we had more than enough food with 3 very large pizzas and pop!

Overall, it was a great day, and we can’t wait to go back someday! I hope you enjoy the video, and, as always, thanks for watching!

P.S. You can check this super quick video where I surprised Elisabeth, my 7-year-old daughter, and told her we were going to Great Wolf Lodge. My kids had no idea that we were going to be headed to Great Wolf Lodge in the near future. The last time we visited was in 2013 for my oldest son’s birthday, and we had a blast! We went to the location in Wisconsin at that time because they didn’t have the location in Gurnee, Illinois just yet.

This time around, we visited the location in Gurnee, Illinois, which is closer to us and we made some fantastic family memories. We arrived early in the day at Great Wolf Lodge and grabbed our day passes. We then had lunch at Hungry as a Wolf and afterward headed to the indoor waterpark area. What fun!! 🙂

Finally, please feel free to subscribe to my YouTube channel as I publish videos there before they make it on the blog. Oh, and I share a lot about food, family, and more in my Instagram Stories, so you may want to follow me there as well.

Have you been to Great Wolf Lodge?

Chicago

Albondigas Soup Recipe

Let’s get started!

Here’s what goes into this recipe:

For the Meatballs:

For the Soup:

Here’s the printable recipe:

UPDATE: I created a YouTube video that features this recipe with a few variations that you can see here:

How Mariano’s ( a grocery store in Chicago) is the Right Place for Diabetic-Friendly Ingredients

Having My Dad Over for Dinner

Tortilla Soup Recipe

Easy Chocolate Cake Recipe

Life Can Still Taste Great Even When You Have Diabetes

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