The Big Game, Big Island Style: 5 Recipes to Try

The Big Game is always in the dead of winter, so celebrating Big Island style can help ease those mid-winter blues. Plus a tropical theme makes the menu itself something to celebrate, regardless of which team wins – or if you are just watching the commercials.

Use your new air fryer: Huli Huli chicken wings

If an air fryer is among your new gadgets, then you really should put it to use. For best results, try using it for foods that already have some fat in them – like bacon, sausage, or chicken wings. After air frying, toss in this simple Huli Huli sauce before returning to the air fryer to turn the sauce into a finger-licking glaze.

Print Recipe

Huli Huli Chicken Wings

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time20 mins

Total Time30 mins

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: American

Keyword: celebrations, quick and easy

Equipment

Air Fryer

Ingredients

2 lbs party wings
1-2 T Omnivore Salt

Sauce

1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup packed brown sugar or 6 T sugar and 2 T molasses
¼ cup rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
1 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
2 to 3 garlic cloves peeled and finely grated

Instructions

Layer frozen chicken wings in the tray and sprinkle with (your new favorite) Omnivore Salt. Then air fry according to package instructions.
Meanwhile, simmer all ingredients together until they begin to thicken into a sauce.
Remove wings from sauce with tongs and return to air fryer for a few minutes until glazed and slightly charred. Coat in remaining sauce before serving.

Notes

Wings may also be grilled.

Showcase a New Bowl: Roasted Onion Dip

The Big Game without a dip of some sort is nearly impossible to imagine. You may not be able to get your hands on Maui or other Hawaiian onions where you live, but you can definitely use a local onion of your choice. No sweet onions in season? No worries- because the onions are roasted, I’ve found that it doesn’t matter whether or not you start with sweet onions.

Rethink your Nachos: Kalua Pork Nachos

Go island style with your nachos. Layer tortilla chips with some Kalua-style pork made simple (skip the cabbage portion for this recipe), and some lomi lomi tomatoes (not unlike Hawaiian pico de gallo). Combine some sriracha and mayonnaise to taste and drizzle over the nachos. Finish with sliced green onions and/or cilantro.

Bring on the Chocolate

A chocolate lava cake is a great choice (or the individual ones you can sometimes find at Trader Joe’s – or, for something a little different, the chocolate lava gnocchi!). But for a big game-friendly lava dessert, consider chocolate lava brownies. After making a few batches of rather disappointing, not-so-molten chocolate cookies, these brownies from Blue Spoon Bakery were an even more welcome find.

A recipe I will make again and again – regardless of whether or not lava is part of the theme. Pantry ingredients mixed in a single bowl with delicious results. My family doesn’t really do nuts, so I left them out, and I halved the recipe in a 9-inch glass baking dish (these puppies are rich!). Right out of the oven, these were “fork brownies” – which would be sublime with ice cream or whipped cream. Hours later, they set up a bit, and maintained a soft, chewy center with a thin crisp shell. If you like chewy brownies, then I imagine these will be a new go-to in your house, just like they will be in my mine.

Dazzle them with Drinks

The Mai Tai was born on the Big Island of Hawaii, but if you want to stay upright through the 4th quarter, consider something with a little less punch. My version of a Blue Hawaii includes a little (homemade) sweet and sour mix, as well as coconut rum, pineapple juice, and, of course, blue curaçao. Inspired by this recipe from liquor.com, make my Blue Hawaii by combining in a cocktail shaker, 1 ounce of each of the following:

dark rum (like Bacardi),
coconut rum (like Malibu),
blue curaçao,
sweet and sour mix (ideally homemade).
Add 4 ounces pineapple juice and shake vigorously with ice before straining into a chilled glass.

Bonus: Wear your True Colors (or not)

If you have a team you are supporting, consider showing your support with your Color Street manicure. If you’re just watching for the commercials – and the food – then any set of Color Street will do.

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9 Big Island Favorites, via The Piece of Mind Retreat

Rethinking New Years: 5 Ideas

Are you rethinking New Years?

In the United States, the anticipation surrounding New Year’s Eve more often than not outstrips the experience of the celebration itself. Never mind that celebrating it a traditional sense involves a serious breaking of routines, possible sensory overload, and a search for an elusive child care provider – on the most expensive evening of the year.

So like most holidays in our family, we have been rethinking this one – for years. New Year’s can be exhausting, dysregulating, and over-hyped. Here’s how rethinking New Years will help you to have a New Year’s celebration that neither you nor your family will regret.

What Day:

We celebrate New Year’s Day not New Year’s Eve. We skip the evening hubbub – and the attempt to keep people awake until even the 9 pm Pacific television viewing of the ball drop in Times Square. We have simply shifted our celebration to New Year’s Day. Everyone has rested. Everyone is more regulated. It’s just a more enjoyable experience. Plus, your friends are less booked on New Year’s Day, and more free to join you.

What Time:

As with many of our celebrations, we have lunch or brunch, not dinner. It’s often food that it’s easier to cook for a crowd, and you avoid the “witching hours” that often run into the dinner hour. Lunch or brunch can be almost any time between 10 and 2 or 3, and it doesn’t have to be a formal, sit-down affair. Kids – or football-loving adults – can get a little distracted, and it will be just fine. (Bonus: no driving at night, on a notoriously unsafe night in most communities).

What to Eat:

A daytime event can make it even easier to make refreshing not regrettable food choices. You can’t go wrong with a taco bar, or salad bar, or easy brunch favorites. You can also go with traditionally “lucky” foods like black-eyed peas, greens and cornbread from the American south, or extra-long noodles or rice, with either pork or fish, for a more Asian spin. Several food traditions embrace a ring as a simple of continuity and full-circle luck, so choose a dessert in a Bundt pan and you’ll be set. This dairy- and egg-free chocolate cake from Crunchy Creamy Sweet always gets rave reviews. And you deserve a little chocolate. It is, after all, a celebration.

What to Drink:

Definitely serve bubbles. But you don’t have to stick with sparkling wine. Brunch festivities lend themselves to mimosas or bellinis (or any other number of variations of fruity wine cocktails). And the non-drinkers no longer are relegated to boring sparkling apple cider. In addition to organic ciders, and those spiked with cranberry, you can also find sparkling lemon, lime, grape and other varieties.

What to Do:

If you live where the weather is dicey, then choose indoor activities. And for kids who enjoy bubbles not bubbly, then try this easy “recipe” for bubble solution.

Bubble Solution “Recipe”

In a quart mason jar, combine 3 cups water with ¼ cup liquid dish soap, ¼ cup cornstarch and ½ tablespoon baking powder. Stir gently and allow to rest before using.

No bubble wand handy? Snip the bottoms of a few empty plastic water bottles and slide a sock over the end (the sock is not harmed in this process and is reusable!). Dip the “toe” end of the bottle into the solution and blow through the top of the bottle to get a trail of bubble “snakes.”

Rethinking New Year’s: What a Celebration:

With these ideas, your celebration becomes energizing, not exhausting. You kick off the new year – and the new decade – with a refreshed, revitalized outlook, rather than hanging onto the outgoing year until the wee hours.

How are you rethinking New Years this year? Share your ideas in the comments.

20 Top Trader Joe’s Picks

What are your top Trader Joe’s picks?

If you live near Trader Joe’s, you probably live at Trader’s Joe’s. For me, it is one of the only places where grocery shopping is invariably interesting and enjoyable. And, with the notable exception of Sunday evenings when the lines tend to be interminable, it is my go-to stop for sips, snacks and sweets – as well as for the building blocks of great, easy meals.

If you are a fellow Trader Joe’s fan, you know that the stores are smaller than typical grocery stores, and that they often carry seasonal items. When those are gone for the year, they are gone – and you have to sit on pins and needles, hoping they’ll be back next year. I have indicated below if an item is typically seasonal, but all products are subject to availability.

Favorite Trader Joe’s Beverages

Here are my current top Trader Joe’s picks for drinks – for adults and kids.

Sparkling berry lemonade: B’s favorite variety of this shelf-stable, bottled offering

White grape juice: Mr. Diggy’s favorite – I stock up when it’s available. (pro tip- the light-colored juices like this and the apple are MUCH easier to clean up when they are flung all over the house – just saying.)

Spiced coconut latte cold brew: Perfect for fall – when you still want a chilled beverage but welcome the warm spices.

Spiced cider: I buy several gallons as soon as this fall favorite is released, and we drink it on chilly fall and winter afternoons. Perfect for a family-friendly hot drink without caffeine.

Peach sparkling wine cans: A (wine) cocktail in a can. Light, refreshing and slightly sweet – it’s a single-serve celebratory drink for your next brunch, or mom’s night, or Tuesday evening.

Favorite Trader Joe’s Snacks

Here are my current top Trader Joe’s picks for snacks – which is a semi-professional sport in our house.

Corn chips: These are so popular in our house that we have named them after Mr. Diggy. Like “are you going to Trader Joe’s? We need Mr. Diggy Chips” They are crunchy, corny and perfectly salty.

Pub cheese: B loves the sharp cheddar variety (the jalapeno version is great for adults). He probably eats a couple of tubs a week – which is a filling source of calcium – and some protein – especially when you eat more than the serving size, like B always does.

Social snackers: A crispy, buttery-tasting club cracker that is B’s go-to for dipping in the above-mentioned pub cheese. Basically a MUCH tastier version of those little plastic boxes with the red spreader sticks that you vied for in you elementary school lunch box.

Creamy hummus: Possibly our favorite grown-up snack from Trader Joe’s – I have spent hours honing my own hummus-making skills, but the creamy mediterranean hummus from Trader Joe’s is hard to beat.

Pita crackers: These round, crispy crackers are great with the hummus (and the pub cheese) and crunchy enough for Mr. Diggy to polish off if we run out of chips.

Favorite Trader Joe’s Meals

Here are my current top Trader Joe’s picks for quick and easy meals.

Hawaiian rolls: Make mini-sliders, pulled chicken or pork sandwiches, or just eat them on their own. They also make quick work of leftover holiday roasts – like ham or roast beef – by turning them into a self-serve sandwich bar.

Gyros and Tzatziki: Dinner that cooks in literally 20 seconds? Yes, please. Now I often will take the time to make some homemade pita bread (I use a recipe that is close to this one), but you can just as easily serve this with store-bought pita bread, or over rice, as a salad, or with pita crackers (see above) as a sort of Greek nachos.

Diced pancetta: A great building block – crisp up these little cubes and add them to just about anything – pasta, of course, like I did here, but also eggs, salads, or pizzas.

Cuban wrap sandwich: Trader Joe’s offers dozens of packaged sandwiches and wraps, but the Cuban wrap sandwich is the most popular in our house.

Cilantro chicken wontons: Bite sized frozen snacks that cook up in a few minutes. Serve with rice for a quick, kid-friendly meal, or pop in chicken broth for an easy soup.

Favorite Trader Joe’s Sweets

And last, but not least, my top Trader Joe’s picks for sweet treats.

Mint Chip ice cream: All of their ice cream is good, but this is the go-to choice in our family. A refreshing mint flavor with shards of dark chocolate.

Honey mints: Did I mention we like mint chocolate in our house? These three-ingredient treats make me feel (slightly) less guilty about popping a couple in my mouth. They contain only chocolate, honey and mint – but taste surprisingly rich and complex (and not altogether unlike another foil-wrapped mint treat that contains significantly more ingredients.

Butter toffee pretzels: Exactly how they sound- a buttery, toffee coating on salty pretzels – a match made in heaven.

Dark chocolate peanut butter cups: There are dozens of tubs of chocolate options in the candy aisle at Trader Joe’s. It’s hard to choose just one, but the dark chocolate peanut butter cups are a great option for mid-afternoon pick-me-up.

Dark chocolate raspberry sticks: Located just next to the checkout area, these are an easy – and slightly dangerous – option to pop into your cart at the last minute. There are three options, but the bright pink one with the dried raspberries is the one to try first.

What are your top Trader Joe’s picks? Comment below with yours.

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5 Holiday Food Traditions: Simple and Special

What are your holiday food traditions?

Are warm baking spices a prerequisite to the season? Or do you need a standing rib roast to make it official? Here are five holiday food traditions that you may want to include in your home this season.

Decorate a gingerbread house:

Decorating for the holidays in our house can be challenging, so an edible decoration is a great fit. We have made our own from scratch (if you do, I recommend this recipe from Confetti Cakes.) But more recently, we have chosen a kit. Our Costco often sells a pre-assembled gingerbread house, allowing you to do the fun part of decorating. Sometimes Trader Joe’s also offers a kit around the holidays as well.

Sugar cookies:

As far as holiday food traditions go, sugar cookies are a definite crowd-pleaser. If you’ve read this article, you understand how strongly I feel about this sugar cookie recipe- and how easily it can be the perfect addition to just about every celebration. Nothing like a few trees, bells and stars with colored sugar to dress up your holiday table.

Crab:

Christmas Eve in California usually falls in the middle of Dungeness crab season. So even though my husband grew up eating Swedish meatballs, he has come around to crab. We often celebrate with a light meal of crab, salad, and sourdough bread. If we want a bit more, then we add some clam chowder that we grab from the fish counter when we pick up the crab.

Cinnamon Rolls:

When my husband was growing up, Christmas morning always meant a pan of cinnamon rolls – the neat spirals plucked out of a tube that you had to whack on the kitchen counter to open. In our house, we always had brunch – no must-have menu, but definitely brunch-y food. So now I typically bake a batch of Molly Wizenberg’s cinnamon rolls, and pop a package of bacon in the air fryer. Add a mimosa (or the sparkling peach wine from Trader Joe’s) and you’re good to go.

Potato (and corn) soup:

As a kid, my grandmother and mother would make a pureed potato soup for a light supper on Christmas night. As an adult, I have struggled to make such a soup without it turning out gummy. I am also trying to stay away from as much dairy as is required to make the recipe as they originally prepared it.

Instead, I lean toward a modified version of a corn and potato chowder. If you have more summer corn than you can handle, you can shave it off the cob and freeze the raw kernels in 2-cup portions for later. If not, a bag of frozen corn kernels works just fine (try to find white corn- it doesn’t tend to get as mushy).

Print Recipe

Corn and Potato Chowder

This recipe has evolved over time – if you don't need to stay away from dairy, feel free to add a splash of cream and/or some shreds of white cheddar cheese.

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time15 mins

Total Time30 mins

Course: Soup

Cuisine: American

Keyword: dairy free, quick and easy dinner recipe

Servings: 4