Heather Eats Almond Butter

Our New Favorite Dinner

HEAB — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:27:38 +0000

CD and I have eaten enchiladas three times over the past couple of weeks…and he doesn’t even really like Mexican food. So, that’s saying a lot about this meal. It all started when I tried Jenna’s Chicken enchiladas, and then I tried Kristin’s idea of using Trader Joe’s boxed Organic Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper Soup instead of enchilada sauce. Good call Kristin! We loved the enchiladas with the soup, and the soup ingredients are better than any canned enchilada sauce I’ve seen. So, thanks to Jenna and Kristen for inspiring the follow quick, easy, and delicious recipe!

HEAB’s Beef Enchiladas

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup favorite salsa
8 ounces shredded cheese (a Mexican blend works great, but any cheese will do)
2 cups Trader Joe’s Organic Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper Soup
corn tortillas

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350℉.
Brown beef on the stove-top over medium high heat and drain.
Mix together sour cream and salsa and add to beef.
Grease a 9×13 baking dish.
Pour one cup of the soup in the bottom of the dish.
Fill each tortilla with a 2 to 3 spoonfuls of the beef mixture and a sprinkle of cheese. Wrap tightly and place seam side down in baking dish. Continue to fill the dish with wrapped tortillas. I can usually squeeze in 9.
Pour the rest of your soup on top of the enchiladas and cover with cheese.
Bake covered with foil for 2o minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes. Let rest 5 minutes before serving.

Beef enchiladas make for a very happy belly.

Eric Carle Inspired Valentines

HEAB — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:57:19 +0000

Valentine’s Day was always so fun back in elementary school. Did anyone else make Valentine’s mailboxes out of old shoeboxes? We made them every year, and each student brought in a card for every classmate. We’d have a class party involving candy and cupcakes – always cupcakes, and then mail our cards to each other. To those of you with young children, does this still happen? I sure hope so, as it was always one of my favorite days at school.

This year, I decided to make cards for Summer to send out to her buddies. Since we love Eric Carle, I wanted to try his tissue paper painting method and somehow incorporate it into our cards.

So, following his method, we painted several layers of paint onto tissue paper.

A few tips:

I found it worked better if I used two pieces of tissue paper at a time. With only one sheet, it kept ripping whenever I applied paint.
We used acrylic paints diluted with water. Make sure to use quick light brushstrokes and apply the paint in thin layers. Every once in a while pick up your tissue paper to make sure it’s not sticking to your painting surface.
At first I laid my tissue paper onto some newspaper, but the paint went through and caused the tissue paper to tear and stick to the newspaper. I then switched to a piece of foam board, and it worked great. I’m sure poster board or any solid surface would work as well. Between coats, I laid the tissue paper on newspaper to dry.

After two or three coats of paint, I carved a heart into a potato and stamped away. Thanks for the idea Marty – Potato worked great!

After the tissue paper completely dried, we cut out heart shapes (and by we, I mean I. Summer isn’t so into art projects quite yet) and glued them onto solid colored stationary with Elmer’s glue.

It’s like a Hungry Caterpillar love fest.

I Cannot Stop Eating…

HEAB — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:33:00 +0000

Macaroni & cheese. I present to you my breakfast this morning…

Leftover rice pasta macaroni and cheese with a chicken apple sausage (another favorite these days) and topped with lots of pepper. One of my favorite dinners growing up was Kraft shells and cheese + a hot dog, and the above meal brings back so many memories. Why I don’t eat mac & cheese more often, I have no idea. Isn’t it the best? Oh, and when cooking any boxed mac & cheese with powdered cheese, skip the milk and add 1/2 cup whole milk yogurt + 2 TBSP butter instead. It’s much better that way. So creamy!

Another winner this week?

Christin’s Peanut Butter Explosion Chickpea Cookies. In fact, I just finished off the batch today, and I’m quite sad about it. I had no peanut flour and subbed coconut flour. It worked great – just had to add a little more almond milk, and instead of peanuts, I added toasted walnuts. Oh, and I skipped the honey too as the batter tasted sweet enough with just the stevia, and trust me, I did lots of batter sampling.

I Ate A Vegetable

HEAB — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 02:53:12 +0000

I have not eaten anything green in months. Just like during my first pregnancy, I’ve craved chicken and cheese, and when my sweet tooth pays a visit, I want chocolate and peanut butter. My usual dinner of stir-fried veggies? Ugh, can’t think about it without gagging. Honestly, the only vegetable I’ve eaten is a potato, usually fried and salted. However, I seemed to have turned a corner this week and managed to get in some greens. In fact, I cannot stop eating the above bowl.

My new favorite lunch contains 1/2 cup quinoa cooked in the rice cooker with 1 cup chicken broth and 1 cup water. As soon as it’s done cooking, I stir in 1 TBSP Kerrygold butter and a handful of spinach. While the butter melts, I chop leftover grilled chicken or a cooked turkey burger and add that to my bowl along with a spoonful of Brewer’s yeast. The salty broth flavored quinoa coated with melted butter is so good, and the Brewer’s yeast adds such a nice flavor.

Several of you have asked about Brewer’s yeast. I started eating it back when I was breastfeeding as it’s thought to increase milk supply in nursing moms. It’s an inactive yeast leftover from the beer brewing process and has a slightly bitter nutty taste. I love it and sprinkle it on everything from oats (sweet or savory) to eggs to veggies…when I’m eating them anyway. It’s also great in Oaties! Brewer’s yeast is a good source of B-complex vitamins, chromium, selenium, and protein, and this is my favorite brand. It’s similar to nutritional yeast, but I actually prefer the taste of the Brewer’s. Plus it’s not as messy – not a fan of those dusty nooch flakes.

If I remember correctly, last time around my love of veggies returned towards the end of my 2nd trimester. We shall see…

The Birthday Party

HEAB — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:49:22 +0000

Our favorite photographer just posted the photos from Summer’s first birthday party on her blog. I’m so grateful that Emily and her husband were with us the entire day as they captured so many amazing memories.

Summer was quite excited to finish off her first cupcake.

We had an Eric Carle themed party. Love Eric Carle, and I already posted pictures of the decorations here. Emily got some great shots of the food. So please check out her post for some party food inspiration. The menu included:

Hummus & salmon & goat cheese dip with tortilla chips
Fresh fruit
Sunflower seed butter and jelly sandwich bites
Trader Joe’s mini pizzas
Autumn salad with apples, goat cheese, and candied walnuts
Tropical Baked Sweet Potatoes
Oaties baked with candy corns…more popular than the cupcakes!
Lemon pound cake cupcakes (gluten free) with vanilla bean cream cheese frosting
For drinks we filled our cooler with mini bottles of water and cans of orange and lemon San Pellegrino sparkling beverage

To go along with our Eric Carle theme, I attempted to make a caterpillar cake using these all natural vegetable food dyes I found at Whole Foods. Well, instead of green and red cupcakes, the best I could do was a sort of mint green and pink…

Haha, so not the look I was going for, but I tried!

Emily and her husband, Chris, also set up a photo booth and took pictures of all the guests during the party. Each guest was instructed to write down a message especially for Summer. Some of my favorites…

It was a perfect day, and we’re so grateful that Emily was here to capture every second. Thanks again Emily. We love you!

The Evolution of PB Cup Oats

HEAB — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:23:16 +0000

Bear with me. Lots of peanut butter and chocolate cravings happening around here…

Happiness:

A pre-dawn bowl of oat bran with 1 TBSP Brewer’s yeast stirred in after cooking & topped with Trader Joe’s milk chocolate mini PB cups.

Sadness: Running out of Trader Joe’s mini PB cups.

Happiness: Attending a baby shower where the party favor is a box of milk chocolate covered peanuts…

Oat bran with vanilla protein powder stirred in after cooking & topped with some darn good chocolate covered peanuts.

Sadness: Finishing off the chocolate covered peanuts and wishing I had grabbed two boxes on my way out the door.

Happiness: Finding leftover Christmas candy in the freezer…

Oat bran + Brewer’s yeast + Reese’s Christmas Tree = Bliss In A Bowl

Back In The Kitchen

HEAB — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:19:51 +0000

My first trimester was no fun, but I’m starting to feel better and have been spending more time in the kitchen. In fact, I have actually prepared dinner for the whole family twice this past week – a huge step for me. For the past few months, CD has been fending for himself every night, and Summer has been eating a lot of baked sweet potatoes and other easy to prepare meals. However, this week, I made my favorite lasagna, and after seeing Sarena, Kristin, and Rachel all loving on some enchiladas, I started craving Mexican. So, since I’ve had Jenna’s chicken enchilada recipe bookmarked for over three years now, I decided it was time.

I stuck to Jenna’s recipe but used sprouted corn tortillas and regular sour cream and cheese. For dinner, I slopped two of the enchiladas onto my plate and thoroughly enjoyed every ooey gooey bite. Then CD and I both went back for seconds.

I also managed to keep my mom’s bread starter alive and made my first batch of homemade sourdough. For the recipe, please click here. It makes three loaves, and the plan was to keep one loaf and give the other two away. Well, CD arrived home from work just as I was pulling the bread from the oven. He started eating our loaf before I could snap a photo, and this is what he left me…

So, I guess we can consider my first solo attempt at homemade sourdough a success!

Leftover Bits

HEAB — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:45:13 +0000

What do you do with leftovers caramel bits from baking your new favorite cookie?

You make salted caramel apple oat bran…

For this bowl, I cooked 1/2 cup oat bran in one cup water with a pinch of salt until nice and thick. I then stirred in a TBSP of brewer’s yeast – I’m still obsessed with brewer’s yeast and always add it to my oats. I love the taste, but it also ups the nutritional profile. After my oat bran was done cooking, I stirred in a chopped Granny Smith apple and topped my bowl off with a spoonful of caramel bits. After a minute or two, the little bits got all melty. Loved the sweet warm caramel paired with the crisp sour apple.

She Said, He Said

HEAB — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:07:43 +0000

Overhead at our dinner table…

While thoroughly enjoying my turkey wrap with a side of salt & vinegar Kettle chips, one chip in particular caught my eye…

To which CD replied…

And we will soon be parents to three impressionable young children. Kind of scary, no?

My New Favorite Cookie

HEAB — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:45:41 +0000

Today, we baked cookies with a new ingredient.

Caramel Bits.

We made Christin’s Cocoa Caramel Chickpea Cookies, and although Oaties will always hold a special place in my heart, Christin’s cookies are my favorite for the time being. I followed her recipe, but subbed coconut milk for the almond milk, walnuts for the pecans, and used Hershey’s Dark Cocoa Powder. Christin, I made sure to toast the walnuts.

The melted caramel center is what makes this cookie. They remind me of the turtle brownies my mom used to make, which I always enjoyed warm with vanilla ice-cream…

Yep, just as good as I remembered.

I know a lot of my posts are sugar heavy lately, but I’m just going with my cravings these days. You could always leave the caramel bits out…but you really shouldn’t.

Christin, thanks again for such a delicious recipe!