Monday, April 11, 2016

What do WE eat- a sequel

I had so much fun putting together this blog post last year that I knew I had to do it again!  I'm a total weirdo and really enjoy looking back on these food pictures.  I can't believe that I made all this yummy and (mostly) healthy food in just this last year!  Wow! And I'm sharing it with all of you in hopes of inspiring you.  Together we can feed our family real, healthy and delicious food.

Real food.

Simple food.

Food for families.

Let's start with breakfast y'all!
Strawberry & Banana Muffins





Carrot & Apple Breakfast Cookies



Apple Donuts!
Yogurt & Berries- on the go!





Blueberry Oatmeal Scones



Churro Donuts- part breakfast, part dessert.
Pumpkin Bread & Apple Fritter Bread









Lunchtime!!!

Chickpea Fritters



Black Bean Wrap & Cabbage Salad


Packed Lunch & Snacks for the Airport



BLTs!


Lentil & Cauliflower Burritos
Calzones, Cucumber Hummus, Chips & Fruit
Tuna Salad & Grapes

Vegetarian Chili & Fruit to go!

Falafal
Leftover Lentil Cornbread Casserole, Fruit & Blueberry Smoothie- to go!








All things Dinner!
Sweet Potato & Black Bean Enchiladas

Lasagna Soup!

Cauliflower Fried Rice

Homemade Veggie Pizza


Fettuccine Alfredo

Spinach & Tortellini Crockpot Soup

Garlic Parmesan Orzo w/Broccoli

Lentil Pot Pie!

Lentil Loaf, Garlic Green Beans & Boiled Red Potatoes

Quinoa & Black Bean Tacos

Garlic Penne & Steamed Artichokes

Lentil & Cauliflower Tacos

Potato Stuffing Casserole & Roasted Garlic Asparagus

Vegetarian Mexican "Pizza"

Chickpea Cakes, Roasted Potatoes & Roasted Cauliflower w/Parsley & Garlic


Kale Pesto Pasta


Beef Stir Fry




Vegetarian Mexican Roll Ups

Black Bean & Corn Enchiladas

Lentil & Rice Fajita Casserole

Lentil Shepard's Pie!

Vegetarian Smothered Burritos & Spanish Rice

Savory Creamy Noodles & Veggies

BBQ Lentils, Sweet Potato Mash & Salad
Veggie & Dumpling Soup


Marinara w/Meatballs



Spaghetti Carbonara

Black Bean Burgers (minus the bun) & Roasted Red Potato Wedges


Lentil Chili


Red Beans & Rice!

Veggie Soba Noodle Soup & Vegetarian Egg Rolls


Smothered Burritos

Black Bean Fritters, Root Veggie Tamales & Homemade Guacamole
Creamy Garlic & Broccoli Penne

Pinto Bean Nachos!
Cabbage Soup w/Homemade Biscuits

Cheeseburger, Fries & Green Beans
Lentil Stew


Black Bean Burgers (minus the bun) & Sweet Potato Fries

Veggie Chow Mein & Fried Rice



Baked Potato & Garlic Green Beans

Beef & Broccoli Rice Bowls

Spinach & Veggie Lasagna

Pinto Bean Taco Bowls & Spanish Rice
Cheese Enchiladas & Homemade Refried Beans

Pasta Bolognese & Raw Veggies

Creamy Tomato & Spinach Pasta




What's a life without snacks and yummy side dishes?


Blueberry Smoothie





Apple & Carrot Smoothie


Amish Cinnamon Bread





Eggnog!









Black Bean Hummus








Soccer Snacks!

Homemade Bread






Strawberry & Pineapple Smoothie

Garlic French Bread


Holiday Appetizers- Meat & Cheese Platter, Black Bean Hummus & Guacamole

Green Smoothie!

Chili Cornbread

Guacamole!


Honey Lemon & Ginger Tea

LEFSE!



Apple Pie Martini- Yes Please!


Let's end with everyone's favorite- Dessert!


Pie Palooza 2015

Chocolate Banana Bread w/Ganache




Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Krumkake!


Blueberry Peach Cobbler


Carrot Cake
Apple Strudel!


Shamrock Shakes!

Brownies w/Ganache & Mint Cookie Crumble

Lemon Meringue Pie


Apple Pie!


Holy Buckets!  My family eats amazingly well- like, NO JOKE.  We eat all the good things.  And you know what, your family can too.  Because PUH-LEEZE, doesn't this food look so good!?!?  Here's the link to my Master Recipe page where so many of these yummy dishes are posted.  Today's the day to change the way you eat and what you feed your family.  TODAY.

Enjoy!





Saturday, April 9, 2016

When Your Kid Says NO To Social Media

We parents LOVE sharing the funny, adorable and irritating stuff our kids do, right?  And now we can blast their sweet little faces ALL over the Internet for the world to see.  While I have always been pretty careful of what I choose to share about my family and my child on my personal pages, I didn't hold the reigns quite so tightly on my other ones.  Meaning- I shared pretty much everything with the fans, within reason...

Recently the kiddo has asked me not to take his photo and not to post it on social media.  He's at that age where he's embarrassed or perhaps self conscious so he's been quite vocal about NOT sharing.  Which makes total sense when you really think about it....no way would I have wanted my "awkward" years to be blasted all over for the world to witness.  So I very much get it.  I do.

With that being said, this has been hard for me.  No joke, hard...because I think he's funny and adorable and that there's real value in sharing our story and our journey.  But here's the thing- I signed up for this.  He didn't.  So it's been a real eye opener for me and I'm doing my very best to respect his wishes.  If you're a fan over on the Facebook page, you might have even noticed that there's been less "kiddo" around.  Less stories about him, less pictures, less "convos in the car"- just less.

While it is my complete intention to share an HONEST and REAL glimpse of this homeschooling life- it has never been my goal to disrespect my family.  Kiddo included.  So for now, there's less.  I'm restructuring a bit what I share with you all and asking his permission a lot more before posting and sharing.  And y'all- most times he says NO.  So I just keep those adorable little kiddo moments to myself and hope that someday again he'll allow me to share and brag and get my MOMMY on.

For all of you wondering how to navigate this, here's some basic questions to ask yourself before posting anything about your children.

  • Would my child be embarrassed or upset by what I'm sharing?
  • Am I sharing something that would jeopardize their safety?
  • Is this appropriate?
  • What is my motive behind sharing this?
  • Am I sharing something too private or sacred?
  • Did I ask permission?

Moving forward I will do my best to remember these questions.  While I am convinced their is SO MUCH GOOD STUFF about the kiddo that is worth sharing, I am not willing to compromise my relationship and trust with him over something so trivial as social media.  It's simply not worth it.

Good luck to you as you navigate this path and please remember, listen to your children and respect their wishes.  They may be kids, but they are people too.

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Vegan Sweet Potato & Black Bean Enchiladas

And other good stuff.  BWHAHAHA but there's SO much yummy goodness going on in this recipe that I promise you that your family will never even realize they are vegan.  Because as the husband has told me over and over again, VEGAN FOOD IS GROSS.

My mission as we transition to more vegan food is to turn his opinion around.  And that means I DON'T TELL HIM WHATS IN THE FOOD HE'S EATING, otherwise he would probably never eat it.  Although to be fair, he always tells me that he doesn't want to know because then he wouldn't eat it.  It's a fun little game we like to play.

In addition to learning to make delicious vegan food, I also want to make it EASY and ACCESSIBLE.  I don't know about you but years ago, way before I even thought about eating a vegan diet, I always thought vegan food was crazy weird.  I mean seriously- WHAT IS THIS STUFF?!?  But have no fear, I'm going to change all that for you mmkay!

Vegan Sweet Potato & Black Bean Enchiladas
*this is a double recipe & will make two 9 X 13 pans

2 medium sized sweet potatoes
1 can black beans
1 cup corn
1/2 red onion diced
6 cloves garlic diced
1 sweet bell pepper diced
1/2 to 1 jalapeno diced
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
salt & pepper to taste
1 28 oz can red enchilada sauce
corn tortillas

Toppings:
red cabbage
lettuce/spinach
cilantro
red onion
avocado
hot sauce
vegan sour cream
vegan cheese


Step 1:  Prep and cook your sweet potatoes.  I use the orange fleshy ones which are actually considered yams but if you know your sweet potatoes, you know there's lots of different varieties.

Peel the sweet potatoes, chop them up into nice small bite sized cubes.  Put them in boiling water with a little sea salt for approximately 10 minutes or until cooked.  Then drain out the water & set them aside to add to your filling when needed.

Step 2:  While your sweet potatoes are cooking away, saute your peppers, jalapeno, onions and garlic.  For this recipe, I prefer a sweet pepper rather than a green pepper.  I typically use a combination of red, yellow and orange because that's what I have in my fridge.  Use any color you like!  I also like to use a avocado oil or coconut oil when sauteing veggies but really, it doesn't matter too much here.

Step 3:  Add in your drained black beans, corn and cooked sweet potatoes to the pepper and onion mixture.  Add in spices, salt and pepper and adjust if needed.
The filling.

Step 4:  Time to roll up your enchiladas!  Start by putting a little of the enchilada sauce in the bottom of 2, glass 9 X 13 pans.

To warm your corn tortillas, simply put a small pan on your stove top burner and warm it up.  Then put your corn tortilla in the pan for just a few seconds until it is soft and steamy.  You could also microwave them in a wet paper towel but I prefer this method.

Now fill with as much filling as you can possibly manage in your corn tortilla.  Seriously, shove all the good stuff in there and roll it up!  Place "seam" side down in your pan.

Step 5:  Cover with remaining enchilada sauce then put some foil over the top and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.  All your filling is already cooked so you're just warming it all and combining the flavors here, so don't overdo it in the oven.  Trust me on this one, no one wants a crunchy enchilada!

At this point, if you are NOT cooking your second pan and are instead freezing it, just label the dish right on the foil using a Sharpie and then pop it right in the freezer.  Don't forget to date it too!

*Psst....don't want to be a vegan?  Feel free to cover with some shredded cheese once it comes out of the oven.  It's good this way too!  And of course you can also TOTALLY use vegan cheese, this is actually a really great dish to try vegan cheese out on mmkay.

Now, depending on how skilled you are at shoving all the the filling inside your tortillas, this will make approximately 8-10 enchiladas per pan.  Since I'm a BIG fan of cooking once and eating twice, there is literally NO REASON why you shouldn't just make this double batch recipe and put the other pan in the freezer.  Because really, it takes hardly any time at all and it's totally worth it!

Now....here's the truly FABULOUS part.

When serving, top your enchiladas with anything your heart desires (raw cabbage, lettuce, avocados, cilantro, onion, etc) some vegan sour cream and spicy hot sauce.  Because hot sauce is THE BUSINESS- we like Cholula!

Dude.

This recipe is seriously so good.  The husband ate three of these babies just the other night and refused to believe me when I told him the ingredients.  But then again...it's not like he really wanted to know anyway....