Thursday, September 27, 2012

Roasted Veggie Burritos

Hey Peeps!!

Well Happy Thursday to you and I tell ya it's a good thing that I had a few posts saved up because dinner has not be blog worthy this week.  Don't get me wrong, I've cooked and we've eaten but nothing to write home about for sure.   Especially last night, the Mere was with us and we had the usual colorless dinner she requests.  Dino Chicken nuggets, corn, mashed potatoes and mac & cheese.  We always laugh about how everything is the same color and yes, DINO chicken nuggets are mandatory even though she's 17.

Now it's not too often that I make fully vegetarian meals but this was one of them.  These were super yummy and very easy to make.  If you can con bride someone into chopping everything for you it is even faster!!  Here's the printable and let's get cooking!!




2 whole sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed small
(yes these are yams and yes they taste the same)



2 jalapeƱos, diced small
You can deseed if your family likes things mild.
We just happen to be growing incredibly hot jalapeƱos in our garden so getting the seeds out is mandatory.  Normally I would take the seed out of one but not both.




1 Red Pepper, diced small



1 Red Onion, diced small.
I actually only used half the onion. Adjust accordingly.

p.s.  Are you guys seriously sick of this pink cutting board yet?
I know I am!!!  Throws the color of the food way off!


Grab about 2 teaspoons of this stuff and pour over all those mixed veggies.


Add 1 tsp. cumin, 1 tsp. chili powder and a pinch of salt & pepper.
Mix that up real good and put on a baking sheet.





Pop that in a 425 degree oven for about 20 minutes.
You should probably whoosh them around about 1/2 way through the cooking time.
You know in case you decide to wander off outside or go start doing something else.
Like that's EVER happened to me!!! 


When those come out just put them in a bowl and let them cool a bit.



Grab the black beans and give them a good drain and rinse then add them to the veggies.
Squirt in a couple of teaspoons of fresh lime juice and about 1/4 cup chopped cilantro.


Now gently mix those together.
Don't go plowing in like a bull in a china store those veggies never did nothing to hurt you!




Grab the burrito size whole wheat tortillas and some shredded cheese 
if you please.  If you no please you can leave the cheese out.
However I beg to ask....if I get no meat is it fair if you leave my cheese out too?
I think not!



Put a couple of heaping tablespoons of veggies and some shredded cheese in the center of the tortilla and just roll them up.
Hopefully you do a much better job than I.



Place those in a SPRAYED baking dish seam side down.

If you want the burritos kinda crispy just put them in the oven like this.
If you want them soft, spray with cooking spray and cover with foil and bake.
We did them the crispy way but next time it'll be soft for sure!!

Just bake those in a 375 degree oven for 15 minutes.
Presto chango dinner is done!!


We had some leftover queso in the refrigerator so we used some of that and also some salsa with these.
They were actually very yummy and very filling.  Although I did find myself hungry a couple hours after dinner or maybe I was just jonesing for some ice cream. 



If you want to wrap a few up in foil and save for another time you can do that, just don't do the last baking step.  They'll keep in the refrigerator for a few days.  In case you want a quick dinner or lunch later in the week.  

So does your family try to go meatless once a week?  We try and usually do but you know sometimes that happens when we decide to have popcorn for dinner!!!   Speaking of popcorn we haven't had that for dinner this week just yet.  Of course tomorrow is Friday Night Football and Saturday the Abogg has a double header to play so junk food with be endless.  I'm also pretty sure we will end up taking the Abogg out for dinner in Waco after his games are over.  

NEWS FLASH------ Did you hear about the possible scarcity of bacon??
Lawdy child I'll have to actually get a real job to pay for bacon because you know this girl ain't doin' without bacon.  I'll be like that man on tv last night.  He said it may go up to 5.99 a lb. but I'll still be eating it...just not as often.   There ya go!!  


Peace, Love & meatless Yummies!!


Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Chocolate? Avocado? Both??

Hi dee ho peeps!!!

It's Wednesday and I'm supposed to craft with LauraLoo on Wednesday but she has left me alone today with a glue gun and a bazillion book page cut outs.  I'm afraid I may never heal from the glue gun burns!!   Apparently my inner craftiness needs her for moral support. So if there are weird words in this post just know that it's because I can't feel the keys on my fingertips!!

Ok....so yesterday I was in some kind of baking mood. I made muffins (this weeks Pinteresting Post) and I roasted chickpeas (I have a slight obsession with them right now) and this Pudding!!  Can you actually call it pudding? I'm not sure but you be the judge!!




For this you'll need:
1 ripe avocado
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Just peel and pit that avocado and give it a quick run in the blender/food processor.
Add the rest of the ingredients and whir until smooth.
Make sure it's good and smooth too.  I accidentally bit into a larger chunk of avocado once and while the taste was fine it kinda creeped me out a bit.



Then you get this to enjoy. 
Make it when your home alone...no sharing.
I will NEVER throw out a slightly over ripe avocado again!!!

Great googly mc woogly this was awesomely insanely delicious.
Just what my cramping self needed. 
Sorry for the TMI but it's been bad peeps....real bad!!




What will I do different next time: 
Maybe a smidge less cocoa powder.
The chocolate was a bit bitter for my liking.  I'd say adjust this according to your taste.
It would probably be "Barefoot Contessa" ish of me to say but I'm thinking this is one of those times where if you have the really really nice expensive cocoa that you bring it out for this special treat.

Maybe a splash more of vanilla too but then again in my world that's never a bad thing!

Depending on the type of milk you use this could be gluten free and vegan.
Bless their souls I will NEVER understand the choice of being vegan.  I'm from Kentucky & live in Texas so slap the steak on the fire and grill it up and while your at it make me something with cheese and bacon too!!  YeeHaw and God Bless the USA!!

seriously...try this, I promise you won't be sorry!!
Should we call this Chovocado Pudding??



Peace, Love & odd Yummies!!!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Tousled Tuesdays- Sept. 25

Hey Peeps!!!

I had a little bloggy update this morning about our "special family" staying in our condo but I didn't want to forget to show you the weekly Tousled Tuesday offering.  Yeah try to control the excitement!!!
haha


Without further ado let's get to it!



We had Black Bean Burgers, Loaded Twice Baked Potatoes (from the freezer) and salad for dinner one night.    These potatoes were really good and I had some more potatoes to take care of so I made more!


3 packs for the freezer and a few for dinner on Sunday.
I'll show you these sometime soon, they are super easy to make.


oh and just for the record, I cooked several times this week. 
One time we had the Chicken & Chickpea Chopped Salad and
I've yet to give you the lowdown on the other new recipe. It's coming...I promise.
And, wait for it......It's vegetarian!!!  Say it ain't so!!!



I took a picture of the flowers in the front flower bed.
You know so next year I know that these worked really well
and I can show the nice folks at the Depot which ones I need.



Because the Texas heat and drought is a little rough on the flowers and
when you find some that can tough it out, you gotta remember them!




A new obsession of mine is "Spa" water.
This one is Blackberry Sage.   It is yuuuuummooo.

I also had apple cinnamon but I forgot to take a picture of that one.
Oddly enough it was way better than it sounds.


I had a complete and utter Pinterest Fail.
Read about it over here.



We went to a festival on Saturday.
The Hubster and I shared this Buffalo Burger with curly fries.

It was delish!!!

This was a fried cherry pie and quite frankly WAS THE BEST PART of THE FESTIVAL!!
oh lawdy this pie was good!!!
I mean slap yo' mama good!!!  Best fried pie of my life....EVER!

Good thing too because the festival was crapola spinola. bummer


New "spa water" this week will be lime mint.
Very refreshing because you know it's still 90+ flipping degrees here!



Friday night was Homecoming for our Mere bear.
Doesn't she look just gorgeous?!!!
Her escort was quite a fun guy!!


And a very thoughtful fellow...He got her flowers!!
His mama should be proud, she's raising him right.  


All the senior girls ready for homecoming festivities.
They were a very sparkly bunch of girls!!!  Lovely dresses!!



And this my friends is the most amazing wow crazy good chocolate pudding. 
It's made with a freakin' avocado!!!  No kidding!!!  
I'm sharing that revelation on the blog tomorrow.

So what's up with you guys? Do anything fun lately?
If not you should!


Peace, Love & Yummies!

Update on Reminders from God

I just wanted to share with you guys the email I received this morning from our 'special family" staying in our condo.  I could not be more sure that this entire encounter was all GOD's work. Nothing short of divine planning orchestrated this whole scenario.
They also asked if they could go ahead and stay until Thursday as they were enjoying themselves so much and I'm oh so happy that no one is set to arrive at the condo until Saturday so a few extra days is just what they are getting!!


We are here enjoying your wonderful condo and the boys are having a fantastic time.  What an amazing gift you and your family have given us.  We can not even begin to thank you.  Our cancer retreat went fast and furious.  So much so that we barely got to spend any time together, they had us scheduled and we were in separate activities.  We are grateful for this time at waterscape where we are spending time and enjoying each other as a family.  We are spending our days on the beautiful beach, playing frisbee and bocce ball.  Yesterday I woke up my older son very early and just he and I walked on the beach together, it was a precious moment.
We have told many people about the generous gift your family has given to complete strangers and so many have said it has restored their faith in the kindness of others.  Gods hand at work.
We hope to meet you all someday and to be able to thank you in person.
Our very best,


I wanted to give you guys the update because so many of you have asked about this family and I just wanted to remind myself and everyone that when we put others first it is often we that get the biggest  blessing!


When we do the best that we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another. - Helen Keller


Monday, September 24, 2012

Chicken & Chickpea Chopped Salad

Happy Monday Peepers!!!

I'm waiting on the Verizon man to come do a little switching out on our DVR's and I figured I better get started on this post before you know Monday's over and I never go around to it.

I made this little yummy salad last week for dinner.   It was a change from our normal Big Salads Samma night.

Let's have us a little salad.  Here is the printable if you want to follow along.

                        

In a big bowl toss in your choice of salad greens.
We had a mixture of romaine and some shredded iceberg leftover from taco's.
Just whatever you have or whatever you like.
We're not picky here.


LUCY..... I think I need a bigger bowl!!!

Add in the chicken and chickpeas.
I use the big cans of chicken from Costco/Sam's Club.
If you use the chicken make sure you drain and rinse the chicken.
Also drain and rinse those chickpeas please.


Now add the grape tomatoes.
Just give them a nice lop in half.




You can add in a little cilantro too.
Unless your hubby is like mine and doesn't really care for cilantro.
Then you can leave it out for now and add it to your bowl in a bit.



I wasn't sure how much onion I wanted but it was definitely more than this.
I did grill it because I'm not super crazy about raw onions.




Chop up the onion and add it to the bowl.




Take that gorgeous corn and plop it in a bowl and shave off those kernels.
Seriously....roasting that corn makes a huge difference.  But you know if it's wintertime and you can't get your hands on fresh corn then the canned or frozen will do.



Add that to the bowl.
LUCY...the salad is getting big!!!!



Take just a bit of the Smoked Tomato Dressing and toss the salad.
Just until it's lightly coated not drowning in dressing.




Now move that to your bowls.

See the salad is swimming in the dressing!!




Add the feta cheese and avocado slices to the top.
Oh and the cilantro if you wish.

You can also drizzle on a little more of the same salad dressing or if you want be like the Hubster and toss some ranch dressing on there.  Heck you can even be like the Mere and just pour the whole bowl full of dressing now!!!  It's your salad after all.


Here's the printable!

I think it's definitely a keeper and since we are still hanging out in the mid 90's around here the summer food is still on our menu.   You guys and your cool weather and your pumpkin temptations....sheesh!!!

Is is warm or finally feeling like fall where you are?   Are you glad you don't live with us and be forced to consume salads several times a week??  Are you happy I always put a little meat on the salad?
Yeah....me too!!!!     However the next dish I bring you will be vegetarian.  Shock and dismay I know!!!  Don't forget to come back tomorrow, it's Tuesday Tumblings!!!

Peace, Love & still summer Yummies!!!

Friday, September 21, 2012

Pinteresting Projects


Happy Friday Peeps!!!
I actually have two yes say it with me TWO food posts to do for you but since it's Friday and I'm lazy and I have about a dozen potatoes waiting on me to prep for the freezer I'm just going to go with something quick and easy.  (whew what a long run on sentence that was!)

I also think it's time I started do some sort of regular Pinteresting Project Posts. You know so I can weed out some of the stuff I've pinned and actually give you more stuff to pin or not on your boards.

Today's project was my breakfast.
Let's just start this one out with....I'm still hungry.  :0(

Lately this has been a popular pin



You know 1 banana and 2 eggs make an OMG Amazing pancake.
Yes my friends I too was very excited.  I have a small window of eating opportunity on bananas.
It's like about 8 hours after they come home from the store green.
Can't stand soft mushy ripe bananas.  So I'm thinking aha!!! This recipe could be a saving grace to me.
Good for me, easy and 2 ingredients AND another option besides banana bread.

Well this is how the morning started.

Take a banana



Two eggs



Mash the banana up, mix it with the two eggs and in my case hit it with a little cinnamon.



I just grabbed a small skillet and started making my banana pancake.
And singing Jack Johnson very loudly.
Yeah, good thing I'm home alone!!



It made two pancakes, perfect for my morning breakfast.
I take a bite and spit it in the sink!
Ugggh, it tasted like scrambled eggs with a banana.



Thinking I might can salvage this perfectly healthy breakfast after all,
I smear butter over the pancake and add some pancake syrup.
yeah...there goes the health factor



I ate this then I had another bite just to make sure and sure enough....it was pee yew yucky!

Pinterest fail and I'm removing it from my board you know, in case I get amnesia or something and look at my boards and decide to make it again.   Gotta plan ahead you know!!

So much for my lovely breakfast out on the back porch enjoying the slightly cooler temps.
Oh well at least my chocolate milk was good!!

Do you have an Pinteresting fails or celebrations?
What are they? Anything I should search my boards and immediately remove?
Tell me tell me please, I trust you guys so much more than the average stranger.

As for me and my bananas, I guess it's back to banana bread!

Peace, Love & sometimes not so Yummies!