Heather Eats Almond Butter

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!

Word

HEAB — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 23:05:33 +0000

While filling out my Workbook and Planner,

I got stuck on the page regarding my word for the year. One word for the whole year?!? There are so many words that describe what I hope for in 2012.

I thought about Goddess Leonie’s You Have Permission Post. Have you read it yet? Such wise words and really made me think about taking care of myself more often.

I’m also reading through Proverbs this month, and the verses that really spoke to me more than anything were the ones about being quiet and listening, such as, The one who knows much says little; an understanding person remains calm (17:27) and Wise men and women are always learning, listening for fresh insights. (18:15).

I tend to talk a lot, but this year, I want to listen more. Therefore, I’ve decided that…

I want to experience and focus on being quiet…at least for the next 6 months as I have a feeling our house is going to get really loud come July.

So, this morning the whole family enjoyed a quiet walk together. It felt so good to get outside, soak up some fresh air, and just be. Love spending quiet time together as a family.

The girls post-walk.

Here is the fun post Goddess Leonie wrote about choosing her word for the year. What is yours?

Spice Up That Gift Wrap

HEAB — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 03:03:24 +0000

Thanks so much for all of your kind words, congrats, and excitement regarding the twins. We’re excited too and so very happy. Now onto today’s post…

I have always gravitated towards Kraft paper for wrapping gifts. I love its natural look, complete with nothing but a simple raffia ribbon, but sometimes it’s fun to add a more personal touch. When I have the time, I’ll paint or color on the wrapped gift, but ever since making this paint sample garland, I’ve been having fun decorating gifts with cut-outs from paint samples. By the way, I always ask the people working in the paint section if I can have some of the samples for crafts projects, and thus far, they’ve always said yes.

Do you do a lot of gift wrapping? It seems all my friends are having babies these days, and so weekends are filled with baby showers or first birthday parties…and I kind of love it.

A New Odyssey For The HEAB Family

HEAB — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:11:06 +0000

My Food Pyramid for the past few months…

Not pictured: Numerous jars of olives & pickles, and several bags of Kettle chips.

In other words, we’re expecting again!

Oh, and I’d really like one of these…

because we’re having twins.

P.S. When did McDonald’s stop serving 9-piece chicken McNuggets? Had to go for the 10, and those little nuggets never tasted so good!

The Secret To Banana Bread

HEAB — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 21:48:22 +0000

They say that the secret to a good banana bread is using really ripe bananas, but I must say the secret to a GREAT banana bread is the add-ins. Last night, I decided to try out XO Baking Co.’s Banana Bread Mix as I finally had three ripe bananas on hand. Bananas never last long in our house, but I managed to save these as I’ve been wanting to try this mix.

I followed the directions on the back of the bag this time (no more pumpkin mishaps), but I did sub whole milk yogurt for the oil. Last but not least, I stirred in toasted walnuts (you must toast), and a couple handfuls of Trader Joe’s mini milk chocolate PB cups. I’d like to thank my friend Jill for the toasted walnut tip and my friend Jessica for bringing me the mini PB cups. I will never bake another loaf of banana bread without these two ingredients. The bread turned out great! This morning’s breakfast…

A warm slice of banana bread x 2 and a mug of hot cocoa. The bites that contained both a crunchy walnut and a slightly melted PB cup? Delicious! The XO mix made this bread so easy to prepare, and I like it because it’s not super sweet. Good stuff, and if you don’t have a TJ’s near you, any PB cup will do, or simply stir in some chocolate chips and a few spoonfuls of peanut butter. Happy baking!

Easy Homemade Gift For A New Baby

HEAB — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 23:28:33 +0000

Supplies needed:

Wooden frame (got mine at Michael’s for $.99.)
Various colors of tissue paper cut into squares
Craft glue or any glue that will dry clear
Acrylic paint
Gloss. I used this one.
Water for thinning paint and glue
Paint brush
Wooden letters
Hot glue gun

Directions:

Dilute a little glue with the water, and using your paint brush + water/glue mixture, paint over a layer of tissue paper squares directly onto the frame. Allow to dry.

Next paint over your tissue paper with diluted acryllic paint. I really had to water down the pink because it was super dark, and I wanted the tissue paper to show through the paint layer. After it dries, add more tissue paper with with the glue mixture.

After completely dry, flip the frame over and paint the back and sides with the acrylic paint, and once that dries, hot glue some painted wooden letters to the front of the frame, and finish off with a coat of clear gloss.

You can leave off the letters if you like, or another fun idea for a baby shower gift (especially if you don’t know the gender of the baby) is to use primary colored tissue paper and glue animal crackers around the edge. You’ll need to shellac the frame after adding the cookies, but the extra step is well worth it. Such a cute finished product.

Giving Myself Permission

HEAB — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:12:19 +0000

The other day, I was thinking about my plans and goals for 2012 as everyone does come January. I was looking at the beautiful pages of Goddess Leonie’s Guidebook and Planner, and then I decided to check my Google Reader and low behold, I stumbled across this blog post. You see, not only does Leonie create beautiful art, but she also writes a pretty amazing blog. This post spoke to me so much. I’m such a people pleaser. I never want to upset anyone, and in trying to keep everyone happy, guess who often ends up unhappy? Me! So, instead of creating goals and resolutions, etc., what I really hope to work on this year is taking better care of myself, and below are some of my favorite reminder’s from Leonie’s post:

You have permission to say no to demands on your time that don’t light you up, and don’t give energy back to you.

You have permission to say no whenever you like, however you like, in whatever kind of voice you like, without feeling like only Mean Girls Say No and Nice Girls Say Yes. That’s bull. Yes and No have equal weighting – what’s important is if you use them when they are the best thing for you, not out of fear, obligation or guilt. Such a struggle for me as I’m a huge over-committer!

You have permission to know that Yes is powerful, and so is No. The power comes from you using either from your highest spirit and truest integrity.

You have permission to change. You have permission to not be the person you once were.

You have permission to be exactly how you are.

You have permission to not be more like anyone else in the world, even if you think they are better, wiser or more popular. You have permission to be more like yourself, your gifts and your wisdom.

You have permission to not care what other people think of you.

You have permission to not try to change what other people think of you. You can’t ever argue that you are a good person. They will either know you are, or not. You don’t need to spend time with people who don’t believe in you.

You have permission to do things that your friends and family do not.

You have permission to be wild, expressive, truthful, exciting and outspoken.

You have permission to not accept friendship requests on Facebook, or anywhere else in your life. You have permission to block people whenever you like.

You have permission to share as much or as little as you like. You have permission to blog, or not blog. You have permission to Twitter, or not to Twitter. It doesn’t really matter. As long as it’s making you happy, that’s the best thing.

You have permission to suck at a wide variety of activities. It’s okay. You make up for it with your million other brilliance particles.

You have permission to be whatever body shape you like.

You have permission to be a contradiction.

You have permission to not be interested in the newest fad: harem pants, geek glasses, Polaroid cameras, scrapbooking, macrame. You also have permission to be totally obsessed with them, if it makes your heart light up. Haha, loved this one! I totally do not get the geek glasses thing.

You have permission to cut people from your life. You have permission to surround yourself with people who are good and loving and nurturing to you. Another good one.

You have permission to be a disappointment to some people, as long as you’re not a disappointment to yourself.

You have permission to do nothing whenever you like.

You have permission to think some people are crazy. You have permission to think some people are smigging ice-cream with chocolate and wafers and sprinkles and cherries on top.

You have permission to not have the perfect relationship.

You have permission to take whatever time you need for you.

You have permission to make ridiculous choices for yourself.

You have permission to use and listen to your intuition. To feel when things are off, and to remove yourself from them, even when you don’t quite know why. You will always find out why. Our intuition is here to serve us.

You have permission to be down. You have permission to be up.

You have permission to believe in things that other people think are very very odd and strange. You have permission to not care.

You have permission to believe in things that make your life wholer, richer and deeper. You have permission to make your own world that is the truest painting of you.

You have permission to not be the best of anything – just the best of yourself. And some days, just the best you can do that day.

You have permission to not always give. You have permission to fill your own cup up first.

You have permission to have things around you that delight you.

You have permission to live in a tipi if you want to, or a mansion. Whatever makes your spirit shine is the right thing for you.

You have permission to say no to demands on your time that don’t light you up, and don’t give energy back to you.

So, giving myself permission is going to be my theme for 2012. I give myself permission to say no more often, without always having to back it up with an apology and an excuse. I give myself permission to spend as much time as possible with my husband and daughter completely focused on them and not worry about my many to-do lists. I give myself permission to read the Bible more often. I give myself permission to love my house and be content with what I already have (I spend way too much time coveting things I don’t need on Pinterest!) I give myself permission to do more artsy and creative things because they make me happy.

Started the above frame project yesterday, and even if I only get to work on it ten minutes a day, that’s still ten minutes of doing something I love.

OK, I could go on and on, but I want to do a little painting before nap time ends. What are you writing in your Planner, and what are you giving yourself permission to do today/this year?