Veggie Burger #2...

I'm on the search for the perfect veg burger...hopefully I'll find one as good as P. Terry's! I made a Black Bean version a few weeks ago and it was fine, but I probably won't make it again after today's version! I was inspired by a pinterest recipe, but my recipe is below. Kids didn't complain and Tyler raved, so thumbs up! Should have snapped a pic. Oh well.

3 small sweet potatoes

2 cans cannellini beans, rinsed

2 T almond flour

1/4 cup quick oats

dashes of the following: sea salt, black pepper, garlic powder, minced dried onions

Panko crumbs

grapeseed oil

I cut the potatoes into halves and baked them in the oven at 350 for about 45 minutes - drizzled with oil and sprinkled with salt & pepper. Scrape out the insides into a bowl and mash together with the beans. Add seasoning and mix well. Form a patty and thinly coat in the panko. I then oiled a baking sheet and baked the patties on it at 375 for about 30 minutes, flipping once halfway thru baking...or until breadcrumbs start browning.

For the side dish, I sliced up yellow squash and tossed them in grapeseed oil, cornmeal, salt & pepper, then baked them along with the patties on another baking sheet. Almost as good as grandma used to fry up! Yum!

And for dessert yesterday, I made cookie dough dip out of chickpeas! Once you get over the fact that you are eating beans with chocolate chips in it, it really tastes like cookie dough - crazy!

Now back to eating something I didn't make, but am addicted to...HEB's dark chocolate covered almonds!

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

I'm bad about finding yummy sounding recipes, then totally changing them to make them my own. I found a semi-healthy recipe and adjusted it a bit to make it even more nutrient packed! And it is a hit. Here is the original recipe and below is mine. I subbed white flour with almond flour (1 cup regular flour = 1/4 cup almond flour) and used coconut oil and dark cocoa powder. YUM...

1 Cup All Wheat Flour
1/4 Cup Almond Flour
1/3 Cup Unsweetened Dark Cocoa Powder
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1 Tsp Aluminum Free Baking Powder
1/4 Tsp Sea Salt
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 Cup Coconut Oil
2 Eggs, whisked
1 Banana, mashed
1/2 Cup Honey
2 Cups Zucchini, grated

Bake at 350. Mine takes way longer than the original recipe time (probably because of less flour?). I set the timer for 55 minutes and kept checking at 5 minute intervals after that.

Black Bean Burgers

As I've mentioned, we got rid of our cable. This means we are now addicted to documentaries instead of HGTV and Food Network and reality TV. My two most recent favs are Forks over Knives (a must see!) and Dive (about Dumpster Diving/Food Waste and Tyler refused to watch this one, but I loved it!). Anyway, at the Forks over Knives website, I found a few yummy sounding vegetarian recipes. Last night I tried one and I was so skeptical in the process because it seemed like it wasn't going to turn out too well, but Tyler and I really liked them and the kids ate about half without too much complaining (but they really prefer beef!) So, I'll share the black bean burger recipe with a few little adjustments by me:

1 can black beans rinsed

2 Tbs ketchup

1 Tbs mustard

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1/3 cup quick oats

*I added mushrooms and a little extra oatmeal

I put everything in the food processor to mix it all up, then spooned it out into patties on an oiled cookie sheet. It's kind of mushy and you think it's not going to work, but trust me, it will. Cook at 400 for 7 minutes on each side. Some variations would be to add worcestershire instead of ketchup, and fresh onion and garlic instead of the powder. I'm trying that next time. We ate them on sprouted wheat buns with avocado, tomato, and spinach leaves. Yum! The kids had theirs with cheese and drowned in ketchup:) Oh well.

Juice?

We got rid of our cable. Since we've been married, we've always had cable. Was it a hard decision to make? Yes. Is it now very freeing? Yes, yes, yes. Are we saving $100/month? YES! We still get Hulu and Netflix thru a Roku box connected to our tv, so we can still watch TV, but it's more intentional and less mindless - usually. I think we're on our 10th documentary so far! One of the most recent was "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead". It's so interesting and inspiring. We are not looking to lose weight, but who doesn't need more fruits and veggies in their system? So, with all that money we're saving on cable, we bought a juicer. Ha. Tyler has gone a little nuts with it and juices crazy things together about twice a day. I think the one he made this morning with beets and radishes made him a little nauseous, so maybe he's learned his lesson. My fav so far is 2 apples, handful of baby carrots, bunch of kale, tad bit of lemon. YUM. The kids like plain apple or orange and if they're not looking, I can sneak in some carrots. Apples are super sweet and give off lots of juice, so you can mix lots of bland things like kale or spinach without it tasting nasty, but boosting up your daily green intake. One question has been "What about the fiber?". Well, I'm not saying drink freshly made juice forever and cut out your fiber completely. But, I think that the huge benefit you're getting from all the vitamins of raw fruits and vegetable outweighs the fiber you would get/need...say, for just one meal or an addition to a meal? I also found this answer online:

"Taking the fiber out makes sense because you are simply saving your digestive tract some work and you some energy. What our digestive tract does to whole foods is change them to a liquid; if we start with a liquid, we are helping it out."

Moreover, there are recipes that call for all that leftover pulp you collect, like THIS. Sounds good, huh??!!

No Bake Bites

If you're out there and you don't know about Pinterest, go now and figure it out! It's the latest, greatest, idea sharing shmorgishborg - kind of like tearing things out of a magazine and putting them on a bulletin board, but way better. I've actually succeeded in doing lots of the stuff I've found, be it recipes, decorations, sewing patterns, or organizational ideas. And I've passed the hard stuff on to my mom and she's done those and given them to me...a laundry basket, mini ironing board, refashioned t-shirt, and a pumpkin wreath! The one thing I've made several weeks in a row (because they are so easy!!!) that get eaten up for breakfast, snacks, and dessert are these yummy bites of goodness. I changed a few things around to better suit our tastes (like cutting some of the flax and adding oat bran - too much flax was kind of metallic-y) but really, the possibilities are endless. YUM...

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup natural peanut butter (I bet almond butter would be good, too!)

1/3 cup honey

1 cup shredded coconut

1/4 cup ground flax

1/4 cup oat bran

1 - 2 tsp vanilla

handful of dark chocolate chips or crushed dark chocolate ghirardelli squares

Mix everything together (mixing 1st 3 ingredients together first makes it easier). Then, refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Use a cookie scoop or spoon to dish out and roll into a balls with your hands. Store them in the refrigerator and keep covered.

*original recipe found here

Feeding Baby...

Payson is quite the eater now! And I think I'm more creative with him than with the twins in the concoctions I make! The best one lately - that I even steal a bite of - is a variation of apple sauce, but packed with lots of goodness!! I chop up equal parts zucchini, carrots, and granny smith apples, throw them all in an iron skillet and bake for about 20 minutes at 350. Then, transfer to the food processor with about 1/2 cup of water, dash of cinnamon, and a spoonful of coconut oil. And ta da - tasty stuff that tastes pretty much like applesauce, but lots richer and creamier. His favorite is still banana and now yobaby yogurt, so anything he doesn't just love, I can mix with either of those two things and it goes down easily:) Trickery. He's also getting a handle on his "pincer grasp", so we let him "feed" himself little bites of things and he gets about half in his mouth and half in his lap.

Big brother helping!

He's always funny...

I emailed my SIL about food for our upcoming lake/cabin trip over the 4th and said:

"I want to make this at some point..."

*Grilled peach and mozzarella salad

Tyler, who was included on the email, replied:

"I want to make this at some point..."

Baby Foodie

It may just be me, but I tend to add a y/ie to most words when talking to my baby. For example:

Do you have a poopy diapy?

Let's take a bathy.

I'm gonna tickle your feetsies.

Wanna eat some foodie?

I realize this could result in a speech impediment for him, but I'll take my chances.

Anyway...we started introducing solid foods to Payson last weekend (6 months old!). The first two days were great, then he kind of lost interest. This was never the case with Porter and Piper. They never slowed down once they started, so I wasn't sure what to do! I make my own baby food, so I had to experiment with flavors and textures, but I think we've made some progress in the last two days. It's really not a big deal to make the food, it's WAY cheaper and to me (I'm not judging people who buy jarred baby food, I swear!!), I feel better about knowing where his food is coming from. It's a weird deal to go from 6 months of strictly breast milk to putting something different in his system, so I have more peace about it all if I make it. And by "make" I really just mean "mash". I'm even too lazy to put it in a food processor after the first few times.

These are what we've tried in order:

avocado

sweet potatoes

rice cereal (yes, I made homemade rice cereal and he hated it)

banana

*coconut oil

Most people start with rice cereal and that's what my pediatrician told me to start with too, but my mommy (and nutritionist) intuition told me differently. Avocado is kind of the perfect food and rice really isn't. But, I tried it midway thru anyway and he didn't even like it. I think he's like his mama - sensitive to food texture. I also discovered the goodness of coconut oil and have been mixing that into his food. It adds good fats and a yummy flavor. So, his favorite concoction thus far is a mix of banana, sweet potato, and coconut oil. Today we will try sweet peas and keep our fingers crossed!

Resources:

Wholesome Baby Food

Williams Sonoma "Cooking for Baby"

Hoping our Garden Grows

In Kansas, we had our first backyard garden and it was AMAZING. We were shocked since we really didn't know what we were doing, but it thrived and each week we were giving or throwing away the veggies because we couldn't even eat it all. I was making loaf after loaf of zucchini bread and batch after batch of fresh salsa. So, of course we thought our Austin garden would thrive even more with the Texas soil and warm temps. We were wrong. Our garden last year was total crap. We reaped nothing, but grub worms for fishing. But, we are not giving up. We've already planted ours this year and after 2 weeks, it's still hanging on. We still need to add spinach and cucumbers to the back, but it was too early for them when we planted, so we need to go back and get some now. We have basil, cilantro, jalapenos, tomatoes, eggplant, and zucchini so far. Here's hoping!

Uno Mas

So, I did go ahead and make a clean dinner last night and I have to admit, we went out with a bang. It was one of the best. Who knew you could make a yummy cream sauce from cashews?! My favorite vegetarian restaurant in Austin, Mother's, uses a chipotle cashew cream sauce on their enchiladas that is SO good, but I thought it would be super difficult to make. It's not (although theirs is better than mine!). I put mine on chicken and spinach and baked it in the oven and served it all on top of brown rice. Yum! Next time I think I will add chipotle to it, but it may be too spicy for the kids that way? Porter ate a ton of it last night!

Cashew Cream Sauce:

1 cup raw cashews

1 tsp sea salt

2 tsp onion powder

2 Tbls corn starch

1 Tbls nutritional yeast flakes

1 1/2 cups broth of your choice

mix everything but the broth in a food processor or blender until it is all finely blended with no big chunks. add it together with the broth in a saucepan and stir constantly over heat until thick. add water if you want to thin it.

Ready to Eat Dirty

Day 10 and I'm done. Tyler wants to continue till Sunday, but I'm thinking I'm only going to make it to Friday. I'm not very motivated this time and I'm being pretty lazy - eating this way takes lots of effort! I like discovering new foods and recipes, but with 3 kids and a life, I feel like I don't always have time. Sometimes running thru Chick fil a's drive thru just makes more sense to me. So, these two weeks have been a good discipline and a good rest for my gut, but I think in moving forward, a nice balance is best...quinoa, smoothies, kale on some days and sandwiches and pizza on others. Regardless, I've been very proud of the kids thru all of this. They've eaten so well and never complained. Today I made kale chips and they loved them! It's really easy to make and they really did turn out better than I thought they would. If you're up for it...

1 bunch kale

olive oil (a tablespoon or 2?)

nutritional yeast (2 tablespoons)

sea salt (sprinkle to taste)

seasoning (I used chili powder - a sprinkle)

cut stems off kale and chop into smaller pieces, wash and dry

toss everything together in a bowl with your hands getting all kale covered

lay in one layer on baking sheet(s)

bake at 300 for 20 minutes

Clean Living Day 5

Well, it hasn't been as bad of a start as the first time when we ate Clean. We knew what to do, what we liked/didn't like, etc. One change I've made is for dinner, our kids eat whatever we eat (last time, I'm pretty sure I made them different things). Shockingly, they've yet to complain and have cleaned their plates all week! On the menu has been...kale, quinoa, salmon, chicken, beans and brown rice, and herb stuffed mushrooms (Piper wasn't too fond of that one, but Porter asked for more!). My mom came over for dinner one night and wouldn't eat the kale - said she felt like a rabbit. They said on a tv show we watch that "kale is the new spinach" - I agree:) I'm still perfecting the cooking of it, but it's definitely edible and knowing it's really good for you helps get it down. I'm a little concerned about the weekend because we have some company coming in and are also meeting Tyler's parents for dinner Saturday night. Admittedly, it's hard to stay clean eating out. We'll do our best. I found some great recipes to try here...in case you are up for the challenge:)!

In other news, can I brag on my angel baby a little more? He gave us his first belly laugh a few nights ago - the cutest thing! And this morning when on his changing table (his favorite place to be - no lie), he copied me when I "razzed" (you know...when you blow air thru your lips?). Anyway, I'm pretty sure he's not supposed to understand how to do that for a while, but then again - he's always been ahead of the game. Still waiting on him to roll over, though. Maybe his heaviness is preventing that:)

Just living the Clean, Man...Living the Clean.

Tyler and I decided we hate this new slogan people say when you ask them how they are..."Just livin' the dream, Man, livin' the dream". Sorry if you say this or if you ever have, but seriously...what is this ONE dream - THE dream you are ALL livin'? Maybe if I know, I'll be less critical of the phrase being used. Maybe I'm just jealous that I'm not in on that "dream". Either way, recently, we've started livin' the clean - again.

Same time last year, we did a detox/clean diet, so we thought it would be good to do again this year. Two reasons: to give our bodies a sort of Spring cleaning, and as a discipline practice (I don't want to have food comforting me when the Lord is enough!). I swear to you, it's not about weight and/or losing any. I'm perfectly happy holding on to my last 10 pounds of baby weight and have little motivation to get rid of it. I'm really just enjoying snuggling this cute baby all the time and taking it easy and falling asleep on the couch at 8:30pm. However, this time last year is the time I found out I was mysteriously pregnant, so I kind of associate this clean diet with being dizzy, sick, and shockingly pg! Let's hope that won't happen again. It would TRULY be a miracle this time! Anywho...

So, again, we are cutting out processed foods, soy, gluten, dairy, peanuts, eggs, beef, pork, and sugar. Day 1 - not so bad. I still make my yummy oatmeal for breakfast (1 cup almond milk, 1/2 cup oats, scoop of ground flax, drizzle of agave); lunch was a salad with chicken, almonds, veggies, and oil, vinegar and lemon juice (this meal kind of made me gaggy for some reason - maybe I was having sandwich withdrawal); snacks were fruit and nuts and whole juices; dinner was a yummy soup I made with black beans, chicken, fresh veggies, tomatoes, avocados, etc. (kind of like tortilla soup with no tortillas or cheese and with spinach instead) - the kids even liked it! As last time, I'm mainly missing a sugary snack at night when I watch The Bachelor and a mid day latte:) I am, however keeping my morning coffee this time around - out of necessity since I'm up at least twice a night to feed a sweet baby. But, I'm using coconut milk creamer - not too shabby.

We are hoping we can keep it going until we go to Dallas on Spring Break. We shall see...

Tricky Cookies on a "Snow Day"...

We woke up to snow covering Austin! And by covering, I mean a light dusting that is very pretty, but not a big deal to us who lived 2 hard winters in the mid west. Oh well - the kids got out of school and Tyler, who was supposed to fly out to FLORIDA mid morning, got a little delayed to spend more time with us. So, after some play in the snow before it melted, we luckily had all the ingredients for cookies - we love to bake together. And we even had Payson in the mix sitting in the sling on me. Little did the kids know that we baked "Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Lactation Cookies":) I found the recipe when I was preggo and have been saving it. Not sure what in them causes the extra lactating, but there is 2 cups of whole wheat flour, 3 cups of oatmeal, Brewer's yeast, and flaxmeal...all not your traditional chocolate chip cookie ingredients, but they turned out super delicious!

Sometimes he naps...

I swear I have the most alert and awake newborn ever created. He naps like a toddler and that's on good days. He's happy when he's awake for the most part, so that's nice, BUT...he's still awake and just 2 months old, so it's not like I feel ok just leaving him for long anywhere to go clean the house or shower. But, today he's taking a SOLID nap and he did the same one day last week. So, I thought I should take advantage of the time in a creative way that feels more productive than dusting:)

I've had these large canvases for a long time and have envisioned painting a masterpiece on them to hang on our too tall walls in the living room. Well, it's not much of a masterpiece and I only painted one, but it is now hanging. I used wall paint we had left over from painting walls in our house and random brushes I found around the garage and drawers. And, ta-da...

Today...not so much of a masterpiece, but pretty good for the tummy. I adpated a Giada De Laurentiis recipe I've been wanting to try. Not too shabby! Marscapone Chocolate Toffee Bars. And if you've never had marscapone cheese...it tastes like the perfect cross between whipped cream and cream cheese and you could eat it with a spoon - YUM.

Detox...Tolerable.

So, we're ending Day 4 and hoping to make it to 14. It's not too bad now. My cold didn't seem to last too long or get too bad after that first day. I've had some headaches, but am sure that is from coffee withdrawal. Herbal tea doesn't quite do the trick. It is a discipline for sure, but the fun thing is making and trying lots of new things and knowing my body is getting good stuff in it and can be satisfied without that much junk. Hoping I will transition into "normal" eating after this is all over with more awareness of what goes into my "temple". I made some killer salmon that the kids even ate up, discovered we love quinoa, and made a huge pot of fresh veggie soup that was just as good without cheese and bread to sop it up:) I confess the thing I miss most is my coffee and after dinner sugary snack. The coffee will surely be the first thing to return, but I'm hoping I can forgo the nightly sugar for good. We will see. This weekend we are going to try a few of Austin's vegan/vegetarian restaurants (not too hard to come by here as you can imagine!).

Side Note...as I was leaving the gym this morning, I found myself staring at a girl who was staring at me and then we recognized each other. We were junior high besties when I lived in Austin before and kept in touch for a while until I got married. So, I haven't talked to her in 11 years! She lives minutes from me now and just moved back to the area herself. We were both so excited to reunite. Love when God throws me a little surprise that brightens the day! Yay!

And just because I like this recent picture and like to post pics with blog entries...here is my silly girl playing with a rolly poly.

Detox. Boo.

I was so excited to do this detox/clean eating thing. Felt it would do our bodies good and give them a break. Not for weight loss necessarily, but just a fresh start for the Spring. It's basically just no sugar, processed foods, meat, dairy, wheat, etc. and eating fresh veggies, fruit, fish, nuts/seeds. Day 1...breakfast smoothies with fruit, almond milk and whey protein - yum!; lunch was salads from whole foods with just veggies, nuts, oil and vinegar, a little chicken. But as I went to HEB yesterday afternoon to finish off the grocery list, sickness hit me like a fist in the face. I got a huge headache, stuffy nose, and zapped energy. But, I'm a determined person. So, I made dinner - avocado and cucumber soup. Looks pretty and tastes delicious IF YOU HAVE TORTILLA CHIPS TO DIP INTO IT! But on it's own, I could not eat that soup. I have texture issues and it was about the texture of pudding or yogurt and that just doesn't fly in my mouth. So, that mixed with just not feeling well...I went without dinner save for some almonds and herbal tea and was in bed by 9:45pm and I honestly do not remember the last I've been in bed before midnight! Nice. Tyler, however, cleaned off the soup and has been a trooper. Today so far is ok and I just made some salmon for dinner that will totally be palatable. I'm also going to try my hand at some quinoa - we'll see. However, I am making strawberry cake for our small group tonight and not eating it is going to be a challenge. Maybe I'll just lick the beaters and spoons:) That doesn't count, right?

Bar Nuts and Aprons

OK, maybe I'll become a food blogger after all:) We've just been discovering some awesome recipes and they're turning out to be so yummy! With Superbowl in mind, we found a great trick for THE BEST bar nuts! I'm serious...you're going to want to eat them all at once on your own.

2 1/4 c mixed nuts

2 T chopped fresh rosemary (please don't use dried)

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp brown sugar

2 tsp sea salt (unless the nuts are already sea salted, then omit)

1 T butter

Just roast the nuts at 350 for 10 minutes on a baking sheet. Meanwhile, mix up the other ingredients in a bowl. When the nuts come out, dump them in the bowl and stir/toss it all up until the butter melts and all the ingredients coat the nuts. Then, eat them warm - until you're sick:)!!!

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I've been "taught" to sew several times in my life. However, it never "sticks" in my brain so that I can do it again on my own without an aid. This time, my project (with my mama's help) is an apron. I think if I keep it up this time, I'll be able to remember next time. The question is will I keep it up?

Granola!

Why has this become my obsession? Who knows. But, it's harder than it sounds. First batch - way overcooked. Second batch - edible, but not delicious. Third time's a charm!

combine these dry ingredients:

2 1/2 cups rolled oats

1 tsp cinnamon (but i used a bit more)

1 tsp salt

combine and whisk these in separate bowl:

3 1/2 T oil

1/4 c honey

1/4 c brown sugar

1 t vanilla

Mix the wet and dry together with your hands, until all combined and clumpy. Spread out on cookie sheet and bake for 10 min. at 325. Remove from oven and add nuts of your choice:) I used chopped walnuts. Bake for 5 more minutes. Remove and add dry fruit of your choice (I used chopped apricots). Toss together and store in airtight container.

Yum!

I'm not an expert baker...but sometimes I get lucky.

The food blog world is enormous and I would never attempt to join. However, when we (and I mean me and my children) are bored or having a rainy day, we bake. Lately, we've hit the jackpot! So, I'll share.

Not So Red Velvet Cake

Cake:

2 cups sugar

2 sticks of butter (and I always use Land O Lakes LIGHT)

2 eggs

2 T cocoa powder

2 oz. water

2 1/2 cups cake flour

1 t salt

1 c buttermilk

1 t vanilla

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 T vinegar

preheat oven to 350. cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy (i use a kitchen aid mixer for it all). add eggs one at a time, mixing after each. in small bowl, mix cocoa and water together, then add to mixture. in separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients and add in batches to wet ingredients, alternating with buttermilk, mixing in between. blend in vanilla. in separate small bowl (yes, lots of bowls but worth it!), combine baking soda and vinegar and then add to batter and mix. pour into 9x13 pan and bake for exactly 30 minutes!!!! let cool completely before frosting...

Frosting:

3 c powdered sugar

1 c butter (i use the same light butter as above)

1 t vanilla

1 - 2 t whipping cream

again, a kitchen aid is what i use, but you can use a hand mixer...beat sugar and butter for several minutes until light and fluffy (start out slow and increase speed to incorporate all sugar - may want to beat butter first and add sugar in batches so you don't end up white). add vanilla and cream to desired consistency (will be a little thin). i refrigerate the frosting while the cake is baking and cooling. ***it also works if you half the recipe of the frosting so you just have a thin layer on top of the cake.

Devils Food Peanut Butter Cookies

2 eggs

1 t vanilla

2/3 c butter (same as above)

1 package devil's food cake mix (they make a low sugar one, so that's what i use)

2 c pb chips

beat eggs, vanilla, and butter. add 1/2 cake mix until light and fluffy. mix in remaining cake mix. stir in pb chips. drop onto cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 8 or 9 minutes. they will not look done, but they ARE. yum.

Now, if anyone has a good granola recipe, feel free to share because I've tried that twice and it's a flop each time. Seems like that would be easy, huh?