The things I eat

I love to write so I never thought of it as much of a chore, however now that I actually have to do it I find myself running out of time in the day! The baby's laundry is piling up and Dylan came home yesterday after getting his man parts removed so the house is a little crazy (and full of muddy paw prints). But at the risk of sounding cheesy, I am going to say it anyway, I wouldn't have it any other way.

So what is a busy girl to do when she is playing with a baby, chasing around a giant puppy and trying to write things that fit into the little category she is suppose to be writing in, and then she suddenly realizes she has to eat?! And did I mention this girl also has to fit into a wedding dress that will be delivered here in a month? Well I will tell you what this girl eats. My favorite thing as of late, scrambled eggs and chorizo on a corn tortilla. You might think this doesn't sound much like diet food and that is because it isn't. I don't believe in dieting but I do believe in good food in small portions. This is sooo simple to make and even though you may think of eggs as a breakfast thing, I actually like this for lunch. It is easy to hold Ally while browning up some chorizo in a pan (less than $2 for a thing of chorizo at Wal Mart!), then adding in some beaten eggs and you can easily with one hand just give it a little scramble. Throw some shredded jack cheese on top, pile on top of a warm corn tortilla and you are full and good to go for hours! If you want to make your own tortillas (which I highly recommend) follow this link to my other article where I have a recipe.

Good food for all those busy ladies out there! Plus it is so full of flavor you will feel like you are getting a special treat for being such a good little mommy! ;)

Down Home Mondays

Every so often I sit down cuddled up next to Beau and I think, "I will write a little something on my blog." But nothing will come to me. I just sit here staring at the screen, thinking of all of the recipes I have and the dinners I have made and I just sort of wonder if anyone really cares to read about my day to day. Does it matter or make any difference to anyone that Beau and I spent the day ripping out ugly dead bushes from our front yard and hacking down the cactus of ugliness from our driveway? And will anyone gasp with pleasure and surprise when I say that Ally is sitting up by herself now? You might be happy to know I have adopted the "meatless Monday" practice in an attempt to create a happier, healthier planet.

The truth is, I think my life is fantastic and I absolutely love my simple routine of cleaning, making baby food, and doing yard work on long weekends. I take great pleasure in walking the dog around the block. I love playing peek-a-boo with my little Boo and when Beau gets home it is like the sun has just risen for the first time all day. I enjoy making dinner and I don't even really care that I don't have a dishwasher (even if I complain about doing dishes all the time).

As exciting as it all is for me, sometimes I am reminded of a friend who I had in school. She had a baby and I was far from the time in my life where I would ever consider such a thing as a possibility. She looked at me and said, "Sometimes I have to remind myself that not everyone thinks my baby is as adorable as I think he is." Could it be, that when I sit down to recount the events of my day or week, that nobody thinks it is as cute as I think it is? It is definitely a possibility...

But regardless, it does help me to unwind and I enjoy looking back at recipes or times in my life. So like it or not, here are a couple more recipes. What I made for dinner tonight: macaroni and cheese, peppered buttermilk biscuits and pan fried potatoes. Perfect for a meatless monday, or in smaller quantities, a lunch for a group! So enjoy! Or don't... but here it is regardless!

Macaroni and Cheese
adopted from The African American Heritage Cookbook (and my memory)

1 1/2 cups dried macaroni noodles
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
1/4 cup milk
1 cup light cream
2 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 tsp paprika

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cook the noodles until al dente.
While the noodles are cooking, in a pan melt the butter. Add the flour and whisk constantly for 2 minutes. While whisking, slowly add the cream and milk. Continue to whisk over a low heat until the sauce is thickened. Add the cheese and stir until the cheese is melted. Stir in the paprika and salt and pepper. Stir in the noodles. Place in a 1 qt. buttered baking dish. Top with the rest of the cheese and a couple dots of butter. Bake for 30 minutes.

Peppered Buttermilk Biscuits
These biscuits are a basic biscuit recipe that I made a little healthier by replacing shortening with coconut oil and adding whole wheat flour. They are hearty and go well with soups or as a filler for smaller meals. Even with the black pepper, they are delicious smeared with jam!

2 cups flour (1 cup whole wheat, 1 cup all purpose)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/4 cup coconut oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
black pepper

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. In a bowl, combine the first 5 ingredients. Cut in the oil with a fork or your fingers until it looks crumbly. Stir in the buttermilk and knead until it forms a dough. Roll it out to 1/2 inch thick, cut it with a glass cup, and place on an un-greased cookie sheet. Brush with buttermilk and sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Pan-Fried Potatoes

2 potatoes per person, diced
1/2 onion, diced
2 Tbsp oil
salt and pepper to taste
mesquite seasoning to taste
chopped fresh oregano

In a large saute pan, heat the oil. Saute the onions until soft and toss in the taters. Toss them with the salt, pepper, and seasoning. Continue to saute them at a medium to medium low heat for about 30 minutes, or until cooked through and crispy on some edges. Sprinkle with oregano before serving.

You Dirty Dirty Rice! ;)

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." so said the famous Mr. Charles D as we all may remember from High School. It is probably a very over-used quote, but I found it to be relevant to this week. It really is the best of times; Ally is getting cuter every day and continues to entertain me with huge smiles and sweet baby giggles. Beau and I are contentedly building our lives together and the dog has settled into his routine here. But it is also hard times... money, screaming babies, sleepless nights in the anticipation of some very mean teeth... So indeed, I am among some of the best times of my life, and some of the hardest. I suppose that is what happens when you have a baby young, but at the risk of sounding cliche, I wouldn't have it any other way.

This week has been particularly hard on the wallet and I am waiting for the next pay check before I go grocery shopping. So dinners have consisted of leftovers in the fridge thrown together into something hopefully edible. Last night we had bean chili with leftover taco steak thrown in, along with wild rice, spanish rice, and some salsa. Throw a little cheese on top and it wasn't half bad, plus I cleaned out my fridge with this one. But the real unexpected treasure was tonight's dinner. I had some ground beef in the freezer which I thawed, and a little bit of basmati rice in a bag stuffed into the back of the pantry. Out of this I made something quite delicious! I believe that part of what made this so very yummy was my chicken broth that I cooked the rice in. The recipe can be found in one of my past blogs. Basically just chicken, chicken bones, onion, celery, carrot, etc. I reccommend always making broth with all of your bones and keeping some in the fridge and some on the freezer. It will save a meal when you have limited ingredients.

Jasmine's Version of Dirty Rice

1 cup basmati rice
2 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper

1 pound ground beef
2 cloves garlic
a pinch of cayenne
a pinch of paprika
a pinch of whole cumin seeds
a pinch of mesquite seasoning
about 1/2 cup leftover spaghetti sauce
about 1/4 cup canned tomatoes

a little grated jack cheese on top

In a pot with a lid, boil the chicken broth, salt and pepper. Add the rice, turn down to a low simmer, cover and simmer the rice for 20 minutes. Turn it off and let it steam for a few minutes.

In a large saute pan, saute the garlic until golden. Add the ground beef and spices brown. Once the beef is cooked, add the spaghetti sauce and tomatoes to warm them. Let it all simmer together to create a little saucy meat mixture. To serve, put the rice down in a bowl, top with the meat and sprinkle with some cheese.

This really was very very tasty! And so stinken easy I can't stand it. :) I was also able to create a bunch of new baby food recipes while this was cooking that worked fantastic! Using the same basic, steam then blend method I cooked some apples, sweet potato, rice and carrots. All organic for my baby! Then I put some sweet potato in the food processor, a little but of rice and some apple puree. Blend it all up into a smooth puree and watch your baby love it! I would say the ratio was about 1/2 sweet potato, a little over 1/4 apples and the rest rice. (not the best ratio I have ever come up with, but hey, you get the idea right?) Also in my fridge is sweet potato rice, carrot apple, and apple. I am getting very good at this baby food making thing and I just love it! I wish it was as easy to feed grown ups...

My picky piggy

The dog is giving me his sad eyes. I know he wants to go for a walk terribly and he will continue to steal the baby's binky, eat my bras and cause chaos until I take him on one. But all day I have been cleaning and rearranging furniture and basically doing everything but being a good doggy mom. Don't even get me started on how bad this makes me feel. But sometimes it is just so damn windy! I really do hate the wind...

Ally is content to play with the buttons on the Xbox remote; thank goodness she is at a pretty easy age right now. So I have taken a little break to continue to not take the dog on a walk and to just chill.

Ahhh... that's better.

In about an hour I plan to pack up the baby and go on a little family outing to the gym. Some people say not to go to the gym with your man, but I wonder who came up with the rule? I love going to the gym with Beau! We motivate each other. We get a little bonding time while we warm up and then it is off to our own areas of the gym where I am usually working out the butt area and he is off doing whatever men work out at the gym. Then back together for some cardio and a little sauna time. Plus it is kind of fun to pretend he is a stranger and to watch him from across the room... but anyway I won't get into that. I believe my grandmother reads these. ;)

This will be the very first time I have ever taken Ally anywhere where she will be watched by a stranger. (I usually leave her with my mom or Aunty Bean) She is a sturdy 6 months old now and I should be fine with the idea, but it has me strangely anxious. Not really for her safety or anything (although I am sure that is part of it) but more for the person who will be watching her! Is she going to scream and cry at them? Will they know what to do when she cries? Will they hold her like she likes to be held? What if they have terrible breath and breathe in her face the whole hour she is in there?! Ugh...

I am sure she will be fine. I guess I am just one of those silly worry wort types. And once she is back safely in my arms at home, I will continue on my mission to try ways to get her to eat carrots since I have already bought so many! So carrots and rice will be on the menu and hopefully all goes well.

Ally's Carrots and Rice

1/4 cup pureed carrots from the previous recipe
1/4 cup brown rice
2 cups water (aprox.)

boil the water and then add in the brown rice. Boil for about 30 minutes, until the rice is tender. In your baby food maker or a food processor, blend the rice with some of the liquid. Continue to add liquid until the rice is the right consistency. Once smooth and baby food looking, stir in a bit of the pureed rice with the pureed carrots. Bam! Isn't making baby food fun? If only everything in life were as easy...