Guilt-Free Cornbread

My husband and I are currently trying to reduce (not completely obliterate) our white foods intake. White foods meaning white flour, white rice and white sugars. So in order to still be able to enjoy our favorite side dish with chili, soups and stews, I modified Quaker's Easy Corn Bread recipe to fit our dietary desires.

This recipe calls for vegetable oil and to replace the oil I used Veganaise and unsweetened applesauce. At first I thought Veganaise was a bizarre mayo substitute that would taste horrible, but to our surprise it was still bizarre yet it tasted pretty good. So try this recipe for yourself and see what you think. I know it was definitely a hit with my husband and my family when they came for a visit!

How guilt can be extracted from cornbread:
Basic instructions modified from Quaker's Easy Corn Bread recipe

1 cup of Oat Flour
1 cup of Corn Flour
1/4 cup of Splenda Granulated Sugar
2 teaspoons of Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of Skim Milk
1/4 cup of Veganaise
1/4 cup of Unsweetened Applesauce
1 egg beaten

• Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 8 or 9-inch pan with Spam baking spray.

• Combine Oat flour, Corn flour, Splenda, baking powder and salt. Mix well.

• Stir in milk, Veganaise, applesauce and egg. Mix just until dry ingredients are moistened.

• Pour batter into pan and bake for 15-20 minutes. Remember to check the cornbread at around 15 minutes due to the modified ingredients that could speed up cooking time. 

Have a great Thursday and get ready to cry for the last installment of Harry Potter! I'm already missing everything Potter and Hogwarts.

Pa Ord Noodles

If you ever visit Los Angeles and appreciate Thai food, I highly recommend making a trip to Pa Ord Noodles off of Sunset Boulevard.

I'm always in search of the next best Boat Noodle Soup (one of my favorite Thai foods) and after much research and recommendations through friends, I discovered this treasure of a place.

When ordering Boat Noodle Soup I usually ask for small noodles, all beef meatballs and no "waterfall" or basically asking for no blood in the soup. I do like the creaminess of some blood but for the most part it's just fine without it. But this is the best place to get this soup and you won't regret it!

Oh and if noodles are not your thing, try their fried rice. Every time I bring my Thai family or friends to this restaurant, they say it's the closest to authentic Thai food they've had this side of the Pacific. I still don't know what they do to make it taste so good. So I guess I'll just have to give credit to the woks they use. It's all in the wok, that magical wok.

Shrimp Fried Rice

For more information check out their menu here. Oh and just a reminder, they take Cash Only. If you forget cash, there is an ATM in the restaurant. Happy Hump Day!

Family Recipe: Fruit Salad with Pudding

This recipe is passed down from my husband's side. It started with my mother-in-law Kathy and this weekend my brother-in-law Chris made some for the family. Of course, just to clarify for him, this is his take on the the family recipe and by golly me, it was delicious!

Our fruit salad calls for pudding and since we will be using cans of pineapple and mandarin, we also reduced the amount of sugar by using a sugar-free and fat-free vanilla pudding mix. This dish is a great addition to any summer barbeque spread as a refreshing dessert. Plus, you can sneak in that recommended fruit intake with the little ones. Trust me on this...I just witnessed a three year old eat a bowl of fruit salad like it was ice cream sprinkled with jelly beans and garnished with an enormous jaw breaker.

How fruit ecstasy is made:

1 can of Pineapple chunks
1 can of Mandarin Oranges
2 Green Apples, bite size
2 cups of sliced Strawberries
4 Kiwis, skin removed and sliced
1 1/2 cups of seedless Grapes, purple for color
2 sliced Bananas
2 Pears, bite size
2 packs of the large Jell-O Instant Vanilla Pudding, fat-free/sugar-free
1 Strainer
1 large bowl

• Strain Pineapple and Mandarin Orange cans into large bowl. Keep juice in bowl and set fruit aside.

• Prep the rest of the fruits into bite-sized chunks or slices.

• Empty both packs of pudding into the large bowl with pineapple and mandarin fruit juice. Whisk pudding until blended well.

• Add strained pineapples, mandarins and all the prepped fruit into the bowl. Mix well and chill in refrigerator until pudding thickens. Decorate the top if you prefer. *If you make this overnight, omit bananas until it's time to serve...no one really appreciates brown bananas unless they're hankering to make banana bread.*

Enjoy and relish the long days of summer. Happy Tuesday!

Braised Beef and Carrots

Hello good people of Monday. Hope your weekend and last holiday weekend was a great time with friends and family. I've had a great busy month of June with guests both family and dear friends visiting for a day or a week from all over the world. 

During that time I've learned to come out of my shell with guests and start cooking for a larger audience. Believe it or not, I'm quite shy about actually cooking food that I blog. Most of the time it's only me and my husband eating the food that I concoct. And I don't know if this happens to you or not but whenever I attempt to whip up something for my guests I always get distracted and either burn the dish or completely mess up my recipe. Luckily, I'm slowly overcoming this boo boo with each guest we host. 

This past week I had the privilege of cooking for my sister and her man. I had to come up with something easy to make that's meaty and filling and best of all it gives me time to relax as a hostess. So I made an adaptation of my mother's recipe for braised beef. She would never use red wine but I did and it's a work in perfection. One of these days I'll this recipe down just right! So thanks for reading my post today and I hope your take on this dish is a hit with you and your guests.

Let's braise this baby:

1 1/2 pound Beef Rump Roast, salt and peppered
2 medium size Yellow Onions, quartered
6-7 medium Carrots, peeled and cut 2 inch length
1/2 teaspoon of Thyme
1/2 teaspoon of Marjoram
1/2 teaspoon of Sage
1 teaspoon of Rosemary
2 teaspoons of Garlic Powder
2 teaspoons of Kosher Salt
2 teaspoons of Black Pepper
2 Bay Leaves
1 tablespoon of Beef Seasoning (no MSG)
1 cup of Red Wine (I used my unfinished Barefoot Merlot...libations never gone to waste)
2 cups of Water
3 tablespoons of Olive Oil
Dutch Oven Cooking Pot

• Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat. 

• Sear the beef on all sides until you get a golden brown color. Remove the beef and set aside.

• Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan. Heat onions, all spices (except bay leaves) and seasonings. Cook onions until tender. 

• Create an even surface of onions, then place seared beef on top of onions. Add carrots around the meat. 

• Pour in red wine and water and bay leaves. Cover pot and cook on medium high for about 15-20 minutes. Then reduce heat to low simmer and cook for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. 

• As always, you know your stove best so keep an eye and nose alert for any burning of food. Adjust cook time accordingly. 

A Summer Treat: Pineapple Coconut Cupcake

Pineapple Coconut cupcake, say that with me...Pineapple Coconut cupcake! What a great dessert to feature at your next bbq or luau. I didn't make this one but I certainly will be attempting my take on the ingredients.

The white cake was moist and the frosting was definitely fruity and creamy with a balanced hint of pineapple and coconut. Plus, the shavings on top just made it that extra special.

What's your favorite summer cupcake flavor?

Happy Hump Day.

I Lost My Food Truck Virginity

Hola mi amigos! I've been transported to so many places this month that I have yet again been behind on my posts. But now that I have a new camera and a fast working iPhone, there is no excuse to not share what's been going on with The Full Time Wife. Speaking of no excuse, I've claimed my website address now...thefulltimewife.com! Sweet huh?!

Anyway, I just wanted to share some pics of my first experience with the food truck craze. My dear friend Emily came for a visit all the way from the UK. She said she wanted to try food from a Korean fusion food truck. So this weekend we made it a goal to set out and find one nearby...and find one we did.

Here are some pics from the experience:

1. Find a food truck...we chose Kogi BBQ taco truck which I found the exact location on Twitter @KOGIBBQ. Location was set for The Brig in Venice!

2. Observe menu....

3. Order foods of choice...

The Kogi Short Rib Taco $2.10

The Kogi Kimchi Quesadilla $5...surprisingly delicious!

The #2 Combo: Any $5 item (Kogi Dog) + 1 taco + 1 drink= $8 of Happiness on the side of the street.

Thank you Kogi BBQ! For more information visit Kogibbq.com

I Heart E3 2011

Hey what's up everyone! I've been passing the time waiting in long lines, walking through mazes of incredible video game booths and experiencing new games, game demos and consoles first hand at the Electronic Entertainment Expo or more popularly known as E3.

My husband and I had such a great three days just being filled to the brim with every video game. Today we spent the last day of E3 at Nintendo's section waiting in line to play the new Wii U. My favorite game demos on this new console would have to be Wii U's Battle Mii and Shield Pose. At first I wasn't quite fond of the idea of an iPad-like controller but once I had the chance to try it out, it wasn't as uncomfortable as I thought. Check out more features of what this new console can do:



One of the most favorite times I had at E3 will have to be when I got the chance to play Luigi's Mansion 2 on the Nintendo 3DS!  Trust me on this, it's fun, full of things to discover, the visuals look great and you're never too old to enjoy this game. I could have played longer but there were swarms of people wanting to get their time collecting money, vacuuming spider webs and hunting ghosts that lurk in dark corners. See what I'm talking about here:



Here are some more pics of what and where we ventured:

Of course, didja think they'd pass this up?!

Coming to theaters July 22, 2011

It was cool to see X-Play do their thing! Take cam 1...

Gotta love Cooking Mama. There should be a show for her on Food Network. Hehe.

Briana drawing our requested character at the Disney Booth. Humble artist. Wonderful artwork!

No words to describe how excited I am...