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Favorite fall recipe: my mom’s Cuban stew

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Do you have a favorite dish from your childhood? 

I do, Cuban stew. One of my favorite dishes my mom would make growing up was her Cuban stew. Now you may be wondering if my mom is Cuban and the answer is well no. She is actually of German descent. Of course I was curious after eating this countless times in my life and had to know the real story. Why did she call this Cuban stew?

So I have been told…my mom actually dated a boy who was Cuban and therefore his mom made this stew. This guy didn’t end up being my dad or anything like that and I don’t even think she dated him for very long, but she did learn how to make his mom’s special stew! My mom is a great storyteller and I love her silly story about this dish! 

There is something about a stew slow simmering on a fall day filling the air with a wonderful, savory aroma. Being a mom myself now I enjoy making this for my family and I would love to pass it on to you and your family. Let me know what you think in the comments below. Enjoy.

Recipe Card

mom's Cuban stew
Serves 8
My mom's Cuban stew is a simple, savory dish. Comfort food at it's finest!
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Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
2 hr
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
2 hr
Ingredients
  1. 1-11/2 lbs. cubed stew meat
  2. 1/2 cup diced white onion
  3. 2 cloves minced garlic
  4. 2 cans Hunts tomato sauce + 2 cans of water
  5. 2 tsp. paprika
  6. 1/2 tsp. cumin
  7. 1 tbsp. of sunflower seed oil or other cooking oil
  8. salt + pepper to taste
  9. 5 medium red potatoes, peeled + quartered
  10. 2 cups of rice
  11. 1-2 cups of frozen peas
Instructions
  1. lightly flour stew meat and set aside
  2. saute onion + garlic
  3. sear meat to brown on all sides
  4. add the rest of ingredients
  5. cover and simmer, stirring often for 2 hours
  6. cook rice
  7. add peas a few minutes before 2 hours of cooking (they cook quickly)
Notes
  1. I cook my rice in a rice cooker. You can just serve stew on a bed of rice or you can mix rice into dish and serve.
  2. Tip: you can add a tsp to full tbsp of sugar to cut the acidity.
lilflowermama http://lilflowermama.com/
moms-cuban-stew 

xo, Nicole

Homemade summer popsicles

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Summer time when it’s so hot it will melt your popsicle! I have been drinking a lot of smoothies lately and it is so easy to freeze these and turn them into a sweet summer time treat. When I make my smoothies I never really follow a recipe, I never have. I will measure out the right amounts for add-ins like chia seeds or ground flax seed because I don’t want to over do it on these, but when it comes to fruit, spinach, kale etc. I normally just eyeball these. Well sometimes when you are “eyeballing” you end up with a little too much right? Well I quickly remembered how much the girls loved making and enjoying homemade popsicles last summer and let me tell you I just found the perfect snack to offer them two hours before dinner.

I have several, simple popsicle recipes to share with you and I really love this set I picked up from TJMaxx last year. You can get this same set here. I have had other popsicle molds in the past that can be very difficult to use. I mean if you have to wrestle with the mold to get your sweet treat out only then to have totally disappointed your two little one’s because you didn’t win the wrestle match, in my opinion it’s not worth it and it goes right in the trash! So these are super simple to use no wrestling involved, but I would just say once your popsicle starts to melt it can be a little drippy so really great for backyard fun or like we do, by the pool!

This first recipe was inspired by half of a cut up watermelon sitting in our fridge totally abandoned. I am always trying to cut down on our waste and sometimes with all my best efforts, cut up ready to go fruit in the fridge still waiting to be eaten.. I may still add to the problem. So this is probably one of the easiest recipes to make especially if you already have half of a cut up watermelon in your fridge!

Tropic watermelon popsicles
Serves 6
Easy popsicle recipe using that half of watermelon still sitting in your fridge! I like to close my eyes and pretend I'm on a Hawaiian island snacking on these.
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Prep Time
15 min
Total Time
15 min
Prep Time
15 min
Total Time
15 min
Ingredients
  1. half of a seedless watermelon or 4-6 cups cubed seedless watermelon
  2. 1/2 C. coconut water
  3. couple of ice cubes
Instructions
  1. In a Nutribullet or blender add cubed watermelon, coconut water and ice and blend til smooth. Yields 6 4oz. popsicle molds
  2. Place into freezer for about 4 hours or until solid.
  3. Run water over mold before pulling your sweet treat out.
  4. Enjoy!
lilflowermama http://lilflowermama.com/
popsicles yum!

This next recipe was inspired by my little Luci who loves anything and everything purple! She also really loves blueberries too. I just love Clara’s expression here so priceless!

Luci loves purple and blueberries

Blueberries + cream popsicles
Serves 6
A creamy, healthy and delicious treat for your littles.
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Prep Time
8 min
Total Time
8 min
Prep Time
8 min
Total Time
8 min
Ingredients
  1. 1 C. nonfat organic vanilla yogurt like Stonyfield
  2. 1 C. blueberries
  3. a splash of applejuice
Instructions
  1. Add all ingredients into Nutribullet or blender and blend until smooth.
  2. Yields 6 4 oz. popsicles
  3. Place into freezer for about 4 hours or until solid.
  4. Run water over mold before pulling your sweet treat out.
  5. Enjoy!
Notes
  1. You can always add a little less blueberries if you like too.
lilflowermama http://lilflowermama.com/
making lemonade

This last recipe was inspired by a bag of lemons my mother gave me from her sweet neighbor. I was planning on just making lemonade as usual and then I realized ooh frozen lemonade would be so refreshing too! I have been using the same recipe to make lemonade for awhile now and I found it on myfrugaladventures blog. So I can’t take credit for the lemonade recipe, but this popsicle combo is all my own!

making lemonade

Frozen lemonade popsicles
Making lemonade why not make a few popsicles too!
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Ingredients
  1. 5-6 lemons juiced
  2. 11/2 C. sugar
  3. 9 C. water
  4. optional sliced purple grapes
To make lemonade
  1. Juice lemons
  2. Add 1 C. of water to a small sauce pan with the 11/2 C. of sugar cook on stove on medium heat stirring until sugar has dissolved completely turning into a simple syrup.
  3. In a tall pitcher add lemon juice, simple syrup and 8 C. of water and stir.
To make popsicles
  1. Add a few sliced grapes to 6 popsicle molds then add lemonade to each.
  2. Yields 6 4 oz. popsicles
  3. Place into freezer for about 4 hours or until solid.
  4. Run water over mold before pulling your sweet treat out.
  5. Enjoy!
Notes
  1. You will have lemonade to spare to drink too.
lilflowermama http://lilflowermama.com/

How do you stay cool in the summer time? What are some of your favorite snacks? Try making some of these simple, homemade summer popsicles to cool off and enjoy at the beach, by the pool or just hanging out in the backyard!

xo, Nicole

 

Homemade Shamrock Shake

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homemade

My girls love this yummy treat, homemade Shamrock shakes you can make right at home and don’t worry if you don’t happen to have an ice cream maker just substitute with your favorite brand. I promise it will still be delicious! We scored this Kitchen aid maker years ago at a family Christmas party and honestly I didn’t think we were going to use and boy was I wrong. We have a lot of fun making fro yo and ice cream at home!

Ok so this Momma always has good intentions and just as I am pulling out the ice cream maker I realize I forgot to put the base back in the freezer! Yep that is an important part if you plan on making your own ice cream. So to improvise I asked my sweet husband to bring home some on his way home from work. He is such a sweet heart always there to turn my Mom fails around. Also I made three times more whipped cream because we later played the game “pie face”. Yep if you haven’t heard of this craze going viral on face book than you must check it out! We totally had a fun family night with this sweet, St. Patty’s dessert and lots of whip cream and I think this is quickly becoming a family tradition in the Flower casa. I think Grandma and Clara had the most fun, Luci wanted nothing to do with it!

Homemade Shamrock shake
Serves 4
Homemade sweet + creamy Shamrock shake
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Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
25 min
Total Time
40 min
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
25 min
Total Time
40 min
Ingredients
  1. Homemade vanilla ice cream (via Kitchen aid Ice cream maker recipe book)
  2. 1/4 cup of half n' half or milk
  3. 1/4 teaspoon of mint extract
  4. 6 to 8 drops of green food coloring
  5. 1/2 cup heaving whipping cream
  6. 1 tablespoon of sugar
  7. sprinkles optional
Instructions
  1. Make vanilla ice cream according to your maker's instructions (makes 10 1/2 cup servings and you can make ahead of time)
  2. whip heavy cream + sugar until it forms nice peaks or looks like whip cream! (yields 1 cup)
  3. Add 2 cups of ice cream, half n' half, mint extract + food coloring in blender or nutri-bullet
  4. Top with homemade whip cream + sprinkles
  5. Enjoy!
Notes
  1. I used our Nutri bullet to blend up the shakes and I made a serving at a time or you can use a larger blender to serve 4.
lilflowermama http://lilflowermama.com/
 xo, Nicole

Mexi Bowls

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Flower family favorite right here..Mexi bowls! If you have picky kids and you are tired like me this is the meal for you. Quinoa is so good for you and it’s packed with good protein and a nice alternative to rice. I always like making extra for leftovers or even to have as a breakfast cereal in the morning. Now I don’t think my girls would be down for that, but I sure think it is delicious! I like to add berries or whatever fruit I have on hand and a little dollop of Justin’s chocolate spread + a splash of cream..yum! Do you have picky eaters? What are some of your favorite easy go to meals? Check out my easy Mexi bowls, recipe is down below.

SARA (2)To make:

Cook Quinoa according to package directions and I usually make extra to make breakfast cereal!

1 can of black beans cooked or uncooked (mine uncooked)

romaine lettuce or your preference

Mexican white shredded cheese (we like queso by Maria Valladolid)

grape tomatoes +  sliced avocado

sour cream or we like to use plain Fage yogurt as an alternative!

crushed tortilla chips (my girls favorite part!)

Tapatilo or any kind of salsa

*I have also added shredded chicken and corn, really whatever toppings will go great with this easy, healthy dinner. Enjoy!