Feed your better baby better foods for better prices: A beginners guide to homemade baby food

It’s Friday night, and I’m laying in bed next to the world’s sweetest 8 month old. Time flies. 

This is a post I’ve been writing in my head for weeks now. Homemade baby food is something I have grown to be passionate about and I am thrilled to share with you our journey thus far.

Please keep in mind that every mother makes her own decisions and is entitled to do what she thinks is best for the health and well-being of her baby. This is our experience, and I hope it inspires you or someone you know to cook for baby!

Oh, and this post is coming from my iPhone and I’m sure I won’t catch all the typos. Sorry!

Baby Food 101 : The Equipment 

We were gifted a Baby Brezza machine! This thing rocks and I would and have recommended it time and time again. The cool function about this machine is that it steams the uncooked food and then automatically begins blending. For me, the mom who turns on the Keurig without putting a mug underneath, this is super handy.

In addition, all you do is add the diced food and water to the reservoir. Set the timer, according to the manual, and go on with your bottle washing, playing, bathing, whatever.

The food is often puréed to a smooth consistency, but if I feel like I would like the texture to be more smooth I can just pulse the blend button a few times.

This machine runs $80-$100 and can be purchased at major retailers.

The parts are top-rack dishwasher safe.

Other equipment we use: knife, cutting board, ice cube tray, freezer bags. All things you already own!

Selecting the best foods for baby

So, this is where the “every mom makes her own decisions” thing comes to play. I’m going to talk about what we fed our son Samuel, at what age, and why. Please research food timelines for yourself and consider the benefits of using fresh organic produce as much as possible!

At 6 months old, the first food we introduced was organic sweet potato. We were able to purchase 4 medium sized potatoes for $3-4. Since we chose to skip out on feeding our guy rice cereal, this was his first taste of anything besides breastmilk. (That’s another post for another day!)

As you can tell, he didn’t love it. When introducing any new food, we give it to him exclusively for 3 days to make sure we can pinpoint the cause of any allergic reaction. By day 2, he was getting the hang out it and loving sweet potato! He was fed in the evenings most days, but we didn’t worry if we skipped a day if he wasn’t acting interested, was tired, we were eating out, etc.

This is the order in which we introduced foods:

• Organic sweet potato (loves it!)
• Organic mashed avocado (did not like)
• Organic butternut squash (really likes!)
• Organic green beans (yuck, mom!)
• Organic red beets (messy, but okay)
• Organic baby carrots (just okay)
• Frozen organic sweet peas (loves!)

We also blended foods! We did as best we could to give these to him exclusively for at least 3 feedings to be able to identify any allergies caused by the blend. Luckily, we have had no issues.

• Sweet potato & squash (yummy!)
• Sweet potato or squash & beets (likes it most of the time)
• Avocado & green beans (love/hate relationship)
• Carrots & beets (just okay)
• Peas & sweet potato (totally yummy!)
• Carrots + beets & sweet potato (yummy!)

For the first 3 weeks we stuck to 6-6:30 pm feedings, then added a lunch time feeding after his morning nap, typically 11:00 am. Up until 8 months old, we have only fed him 1 cube portions (plus breastmilk to thin the puree to the right consistency). We have now bumped up his portion size to 2 cubes and he is doing great and almost always finishes his meal.

Why haven’t we given him fruits?

In an attempt to teach him to like and eat veggies, we have fed him veggies only for 2 months. At 8-9 months we plan to start introducing fruits. I plan to use them to trick him into eating some of the veggies he doesn’t like as well as the others. Gotta love those blends!

I plan to introduce pears & apples first, then progress to bananas, plums and other non-acidic fruits.

Continuing to pump & nurse after introducing foods

I have been nervous about my milk supply decreasing once he started adding something besides breastmilk to his diet and I haven’t experienced any change in production or volume thus far. A breastfeeding update post is on the docket 🙂

What does effect my supply is when I don’t drink enough water or eat full meals on the regular. I’m always working on that! My husband does a very good job to “babysit” me and makes sure I’m eating/drinking.

How do you prep the food before serving?

Pop a cube into a teacup and microwave it for 20ish seconds until it is thawed and slightly warm. Stir in breastmilk to thin it. Done! We choose not to heat baby’s food in any kind of plastic container due to the chemicals in some plastics. If baby is not interested in eating at the time, we will sit the teacup on the counter but not for too long. We would rather toss out the food that cost us pennies to make per portion than for any germs to grow or to microwave any food containing breastmilk. Just our personal preference!

Storing homemade baby food

We use simple ice cube trays to freeze the puréed food into portions. We have the cheapest trays and the cubes don’t pop out on their own. I use a grapefruit spoon to pry out the frozen cubes. I pop them into a freezer Ziploc bag, label it, and put it right back into the freezer. One great thing about using the trays is that you probably already have them in your home! I measured and learned the volume of each cube in our trays was 1 oz. I don’t know if that is standard for ice cube trays.

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I hope this post about our experience with homemade baby food making over the past 2 months in helpful and inspiring. Would you do me a favor and share it with others?

Five on Friday – I Survived

It’s Friday morning. I’m at my desk. I was on time to work this morning. I didn’t spill hot coffee on my crotch while driving to work this morning (that was yesterday). It’s sunny. Today’s going to be a good day.

While I haven’t yet made it through the work day, I know I’ve survived my first week back to work after baby. In a perfect world, I wouldn’t have had to come back to work full time. In the real world, I had to. I’ve been out of college and working for 4 years. We have student loan debt and my husband has only been out of grad school for a year and a half… so financially I didn’t have a choice but to come back to work.

I feel blessed to have spent nine and half weeks at home with my boy. They have been the best weeks of my life. Somehow, it flew by and it feels like I blinked and I’m back at my desk that is covered in layers of bright colored post-its, stacks of binders and charts, and I’m staring at ‘coffee cup graveyard’ – the spot on my desk where I seem to accumulate coffee cups from the week.

The first 3 days were tough, and it’s still tough, but my tears have dried up (for now). I treat each morning like a mission: Go to work, do a good job, leave on time, drive safely above the speed limit on the way home, and attack my baby with kisses, snuggles, and funny faces.

Here’s a Five on Friday, with a little bit of everything…

1. easy, hearty, healthy

Image from Chelsea’s Messy Apron – read her original recipe here

A Crock Pot is God’s gift to working women, especially in the cooler months. We have made this recipe twice, and I was sure to put it on our menu for this week since I knew I didn’t want to have to mess with dinner when I got home from work.

I’ve linked to the original recipe above, but I will give you a quick run down of how I make it:

• 3-4 frozen chicken breasts
• 1 big can of diced tomatoes, with juice
• 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 can of black beans, rinsed
• 1 cup quinoa, rinsed
• 1 packet of McCormick chili seasoning
• 3-5 cups chicken broth (I make broth from Wyler’s cubes)

I put the chicken in the bottom of the Crock Pot and then put everything else in top and stir, making sure the chicken stays on the bottom. Because our Crock Pot isn’t huge, I add as much broth as I can until it is filled to the brim. If we feel like it should be more broth-y when we serve it, we ladle out a bowl and then add more broth to the pot.

This stuff is good. It may sound kind of weird, but it is seriously yummy and tastes even better as left overs. I know we will continue eating this throughout the cold months!

2. seriously good

I don’t think I need to say anything else here.

3. christmas is just around the corner

… and I am so excited! This will be the first Christmas in our house and Sammy’s first Christmas. Yay! I’m already mentally planning how my husband will be doing our Christmas lights on the house. I’ve already bought some presents for baby – I’m not an early shopper, this is early for me.

Of course, I’ve started thinking about what I might want for Christmas and one thing stands out. All this momma wants is a decent non-stick skillet. Seriously. I need one bad. I can’t make eggs, pancakes, or french toast without f-ing it up because my non-stick skillets suck so bad. (I cook everything else in stainless.)

Sure, I could just pick one up at Walmart when I’m there (which is all the time), but I’ve made it this long (2 years) or so cooking with this shit so I’ll just ride it out. If I don’t get a new skillet for Christmas, I’m going to the store and buying one the next day.

I know my husband is sick of my complaining about them and probably even more sick of eating badly cooked (aka burned) food so I’m sure he’ll pull through.

4. junk show!

My little assistant elf has been working so hard on chalkboard art for the 2 Friends & Junk Show next weekend! (Read about last year’s show here.) Because I was super pregnant and have a babe, I haven’t been working on furniture pieces. I decided to make holiday-themed chalkboard art using old/cheap photo frames.

Sammy sits very still on my lap and watches. I have my fingers crossed that these sell so I can buy some surprise presents for hubby.

5. i’m mad for plaid

Who isn’t these days? I love plaid, but have a hard time wearing it. I feel like the perfectly horizontal and vertical lines make my broad shoulders even more wide. I’m a little bit large chested, which makes button up shirts difficult and since I’m a nursing momma — button up shirts are a joke.

When I saw this dress online, I loved it and thought I could make it work. It should be in my mailbox when I get home! Wouldn’t it be perfect for family photos for our Christmas card? Since we have a baby we are totally doing a photo card this year. I’m sure my husband will hate that idea.

That’s all I have for today! I’m hoping to get Sammy’s 2 month update posted this weekend so stay tuned for photos of one super cute boy.

Monday notes

 

Happy Monday to you! Today I’m kicking off my 36th work week of pregnancy. That sounds crazy. We’ve been staying super busy at home (unpacking, still, and preparing for Samuel’s arrival) and at work lately, which is making it seem like time is flying.

This weekend we:

• Enjoyed our new furniture! Photos soon… maybe after I hang some stuff on the walls.
• Attended an 8 hour childbirth class. No joke, 8 hours. However, Jeremy says he feels much more “in the know” and says he thinks it will help him “freak out less” when the time comes.
• Another baby-related note: We packed Sam’s diaper bag for the hospital! And, I ordered even more baby stuff off our Target registry. I was bummed that the bassinet was out of stock, but Target says they’ll email me when it comes available. I love their free shipping on orders over $25. How could you not spend $25 at Target? Even online it’s hard to do!
• Spent time with family. I have an aunt & uncle (and their 3 boys) who are in the process of moving here from Florida! 80% of them are here now so we spent time with them yesterday afternoon.
• Tried a new recipe! I actually followed a recipe to the T for once. I pinned this recipe a while back and remembered it when I saw avocados on sale for 50 cents each. It was spicy, creamy, and all kinds of delicious. If you’re a fan of sour cream-based enchilada sauces, give it a go.

  

Goals for this week:

• Hit up the pool at least once.
• Get a pedicure. My feet NEED it! I would be embarrassed to prop my feet up in those stirrups to push and have nurses seeing these paws…
• Gather items to pack for the hospital — basically I need to go to the store and buy travel sized shampoo, etc.
• Install the car seat. We watched YouTube videos last night on how to do that correctly. So much easier to watch a video than understand the diagrams in the manual.
• Finish unpacking boxes in our bedroom. I’m ashamed we haven’t completed that yet… but based on the first two bullet points in this list I’m not surprised! Priorities!!!

Have a great day and a great week! Look for a pregnancy journal post on Wednesday following my doctor appointment!

Andrea

Five on Friday

Wow, it’s been so long since I’ve blogged. My little hiatus wasn’t intentional. Truth is, we’ve just been plain busy!

The first week of February we traveled to Dayton, Ohio to visit my family, and Jeremy attended a large therapy conference in Indianapolis. We loved spending time with family, he enjoyed his conference, and I loved showing him around my “second home.”

Fast forward to this past week, more family time! My aunt, uncle, and cousins traveled from Florida to meet baby Archie and spend time with the family. We had a fun week, but goodness, I am ready to be back to our normal routine.

Speaking of normal routine, we are working on lots of “life changes” – sounds scary and daunting, but these are changes for the better. That’s another post for another day. I’ll get on with this Five on Friday…

No particular theme this week, just 5 things that are on my mind…

1. On our menu next week:

I love a Pinterest recipe just as much as any other 25-year-old gal. What I really love is when they are successful and something that we add to our rotation. These recipes have caught my eye lately and I plan on adding them to our menu next week.

P.S. — Does anyone else do meal/menu planning? I’m a huge fan. It’s such a great way to cut back on excessive grocery costs. I’m not big on setting a particular meal schedule, because hey sometimes I just don’t feel like eating what I planned for that evening. Instead, I like to make a list of our options for the week (or two). It’s easy to choose a meal from the list that fits our appetites and energy level for that day.

All photos will link to original recipes.

 

Chicken Fajita Stuffed Peppers? Yes, please. We love stuffed peppers, and we also love this fiesta quinoa enchilada bake. I think this recipe is a marriage between the two. I’m a brown rice and chicken fan and there’s cheese on top, so there’s no way this can be bad.

This recipe for broccoli cheese bites looks ridiculously easy and I always have the ingredients on hand.

Speaking of broccoli, I tried oven roasted broccoli for the first time last night. Here’s how I made it:

1. Mix frozen broccoli florets, a little olive oil, garlic powder, red pepper flake, salt, and vegetable seasoning together in a bowl.
2. Spread onto a foil-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle tops with panko bread crumbs.
3. Bake at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Easy & yummy! And, kind of healthy, right?

2. A new, cheap conditioner

I wouldn’t call myself a hair product snob, but I definitely have my favorites and those faves tend to not be from the bargain bin. My all-time favorite shampoo & conditioner duo is made by Joico, it is their moisture recovery line. I buy their liter size bottles from my hair lady and they last forever. The products do a great job on my fine, long hair. Let me tell you, when my hair is super long and I have highlights, it can be a pain in the rear to get a brush through.

The Suave professional invigorating clean rosemary + mint conditioner is a great cheap alternative. First of all, the smell is fresh and clean. Love! I don’t have to use a ton of conditioner to leave my hair feeling well moisturized and silky.

I do like the shampoo, but for now I’m still using the Joico. If you’re curious, you can read product reviews for this product here.

3. The Bachelor

I have a soft spot for trashy, dramatic TV. Turns out, my husband does too. We’re completely obsessed with this season of The Bachelor. It’s not too late to catch up on the online episodes. On Monday, we’re looking forward to a catfight at the Women Tell All and then the finale will air in two weeks. I’m going on the record to say that I am Team Whitney, and have been since she wore those yellow shoes on night one.

4. Ready for spring

I need spring. And, I need new clothes. Loving skinny jeans/pants, basic tees, and a pop of floral in a scarf or lightweight kimono.

It’s currently 16 degrees at lunch time, which I think it contributing to my spring fever.

5. It’s never to old to begin the anti-aging process, right?

A couple months back I attended an open house at plastic surgeon’s office here in Springfield. No I’m not in the market for any nips and tucks at this point in life (never say never), but I work with this particular office as part of my job and truly like the doctor, his wife, and staff. They’re just good people.

Anyway, a week or so after the event I got a phone call saying I had won a drawing! My prize was Venin Royale, an age-defying serium made from peptides and neuropeptides from King Cobra Venom.

Wowzers! So, I’ve been using this product consistently for a few weeks and I really like it. I wear it under my foundation primer in the morning and put it on after cleansing, right before bed. I do notice a firming feeling when this is applied, but it’s nothing uncomfortable. I feel like I am still getting moisture from the product.

I’ll keep you updated on any big time changes with my skin, but I don’t expect there to be a whole lot to report on — I’m 25 and don’t have many wrinkles. I do have some bumpy textures and discolorations in places.

If you’re interested in learning more, here’s the link to the product on Amazon. At $150 I probably won’t be repurchasing this now, but maybe if I become more concerned about wrinkles in the future.

 

That’s all I’ve got for this week’s five. Enjoy your weekend!

Recent Pinterest Recipes – a winner and a loser

Like any other married gal in her mid-20’s, I love browsing Pinterest. I’m all about those DIY home decor hacks, gorgeous area rugs, and… the recipes. Oh Lord, the recipes.

I try to practice self-control and only pin recipes that I truly think I will make at some point. Recently, I pinned a crock-pot recipe that was sure to please the hubby.

Pesto Ranch Crock Pot Chicken Thighs

I grabbed those photos from the original site. I linked each photo back to the recipe, too… for those of you not on Pinterest.

This recipe is as easy as it comes. Take all the ingredients you see in the first photo, and put them in a crock pot – with chicken broth – and boom, prep work done! Cook on high for 3-4 hours for low for 6-8 hours.

My husband and I really enjoyed this chicken! It was super flavorful from cooking in the pesto-ranch liquid and mighty tender.

I used Classico brand pesto, because it was the only pesto jar I could find at the grocery. Also, I bought a 6-pack of boneless skinless chicken thighs because there are only 2 of us. I did feel like the flavors were strong and maybe if I used more chicken thighs the flavors would be more balanced. That’s not really a complaint, just a side note 🙂

Another thing I value is easy cleanup. This couldn’t have been more simple. Pour out the liquid and wash the crock. Not a big deal. No stuck-on crusty messes or anything like that.

If you like Italian flavors, and are a fan of dark meat, give this a try!

Dixie Stampede Creamy Vegetable Soup

When I came across this on Pinterest, I may have become a little too excited. I love the Dixie Stampede and their food is top notch. I saw the show several times as a kid and always loved it. Now that I’m an adult, I don’t remember much about the show, but I do remember the food. Chicken, potato, corn, and the soup!! 

If you’re a super smart reader you read the title of this post and are now realizing that this recipe has to be the loser. You’re right. And, I’m still bummed about it.

I followed the recipe to a T. Sure, it was creamy. But, bland. Maybe my expectations were too high? Jeremy and I both seasoned our bowls with plenty of salt, but we agreed it wasn’t something we want to try again.

You can’t win ’em all, right?

 

Italian Stuffed French Toast

Jeremy and I woke up this morning, snuggled in bed for a while, then turned on the TV. Last night we had watched the marathon of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives so the TV was still on the Food Network. We tuned in just in time to see the beginning of Giada’s Family Christmas. She made a delicious-looking french toast using Panattone.

It made us both hungry for french toast – but  Jeremy wanted THAT french toast.  He took a solo trip to the grocery and came back with the ingredients to make our own version of her recipe. We are calling it Italian Stuffed French Toast.

If you are interested in reading Giada’s recipe, click here.

Syrup Ingredients:

• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 t ground cinnamon
• 2 T heavy cream

Syrup How-To:

1. Whisk the water and brown sugar together. Gradually bring it to a boil.
2. Once the syrup reaches a boil, turn the burner to low and slowly let it cool.
3. Just before serving, add cinnamon and heavy cream to flavor and thicken the syrup even more.
4. We poured this into a mason jar and took it to the table!

Now onto the star of the show, the TOAST!

French Toast Ingredients:

• 1 loaf of cinnamon-raisin bread from your grocery’s bakery. Ours was pre-sliced.
• 1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, room temp if possible
• 6 eggs
• 1/2 c skim milk
• 1 c heavy cream
• 1/4 c sugar
• Bananas & powdered sugar for garnish

French Toast How-To:

1. Create the custard. Whisk together the eggs, sugar, milk, and cream. (Note: Giadi used whole milk and heavy cream. We drink skim milk so we added more heavy cream because our milk didn’t carry the same fat that whole milk would. Your choice on milk/cream ratio!)
2. Assemble bread and cheese sandwiches. Spread cream cheese between slices of raisin bread. Put as much or as little cheese as you like. I will admit, the best bites are the bites with quite a bit of cheese!

   
   

3. Dunk the sandwiches into the custard mixture.

   
   

4. Place a few sandwiches on a lightly buttered griddle or non-stick pan.

   
   

5. When they become browned on one side, flip them!
   
6. Once both sides are browned, get these on a plate! While we love the idea of garnishing with berries, like Giadi did, we didn’t have any in our fridge and they can be pricey this time of year. We went with sliced bananas, because we already had them. The bananas paired nicely with the raisins and the cinnamon flavor of the syrup!

   

Looks yummy, right? We both loved this dessert breakfast. The bread was firm, yet soaked with custard. The cheese was gooey and was a perfect complement to the ultra-sweet syrup and the bananas added a freshness to the dish. Jeremy said he was surprised that it didn’t take long at all to put this together.

We are more than excited about the leftovers in the fridge. Breakfast for dinner, anyone?

Five on Friday

Happy Friday to you! This week’s post is a random hodge-podge of things I’ve been loving lately. No rhyme, reason or theme to this list. Enjoy!

1. e.l.f. warm eyeshadows palette

Photo courtesy of Google Images

If you’re in the market for a super affordable eyeshadow palette with options to create several looks, look  no further than this product from e.l.f. I picked this up from Target a year or two ago and have forgotten about it. I “found” it in our move and have been reaching for it more lately. The palette offers a wide range of shades and finishes. To be honest, some shadows in this palette flat out stink and some are stunning. But for $6 – I’ll take it. A few of my faves are the darker metallics and the mid-tone neutrals. It’s a winner!

2. a seriously good cookie

I’m typically not an impulse buyer at the grocery store, however… I had a frustrating day at work on Wednesday and had a raging tension headache when I exited off the interstate on my way home. I knew our pantry was bare – so bare that we had cinnamon pancakes for dinner the night before – and I had no other option than to go grocery shopping. What makes it even better? I am sure that I chose the store’s worst shopping cart too. Bad wheels and all. I think I got a serious upper body workout keeping that baby on course.

I bought a lot – 9 dinner meals worth! When I was almost finished, I talked myself into a treat for battling with the cart… and the headache.

I’ve never had Coconut Dreams, but these spoke to me! Holy cow, they’re good. Chewy, not overly coconutty, caramely, with a crunch in the middle. So good. So good, in fact, they’re gone. Oops.

3. Christmas!!!

Christmas has arrived at the Graddy house! Jeremy and I decorated our tree on Monday and I just love it!

I also took time this week to decorate our tree at work! Can you tell that I have a thing for red and white candy cane stripes?

 

 

4. Zulily

It’s the bomb. Join the site here: http://www.zulily.com/invite/agraddy121

A couple weeks ago I scored 2 super cute Jessica Simpson brand purses for $25 each – and they’re leopard print! Perfect for Christmas gifts. Then, I bought a couple pairs of booties this week for $14.99. Seriously! One pair for myself, and the other pair will be a gift.

Also, as you browse Zulily, look for their “Ship by Christmas” icon next to items if you plan on purchasing a Christmas gift.

5. 25 before 25

Remember that long list I made about 11 months ago? I’ve been thinking about it lately. After all, I have a little over a month left to complete it! Things on my radar: make chimichurri, homemade pasta, and smoothies. While it isn’t necessarily smoothie-weather (isn’t spring and summer prime smoothie time?), I need to get crackin’. If you have a favorite recipe, please let me know!

That’s it for today’s post. I need to leave my office and pick up a few things for our work Christmas party this afternoon. I just love the holidays 🙂 Have a great weekend!

Make this – Quinoa Fiesta Enchilada Bake

Oh, how I love thee Skinnytaste.com for leading me to this killer recipe! If you’re looking for a dish to revamp your weeknight menu with a twist on healthy Mexican, this recipe is for you. Don’t let the weird looking word quinoa scare you away if you’ve never seen/tasted it before.

 

Click the photo to be linked to the original post and recipe on Skinnytaste.com. If you’ve read this blog for any length of time you will know that I just can’t stick to a recipe. My main beef with this recipe was the mention of Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. I despise them. I also dislike any kind of red enchilada sauce. I made a few changes to the recipe to keep the savory flavors, but add pepper flavor in a different way. My edits to the original are in red.

Quinoa Fiesta Enchilada Bake

Skinnytaste.com
Servings: 6 • Size: 1/6th • Old Points: 7 pts • Points+: 9 pts
Calories: 331 • Fat: 12 g • Carb: 44 g • Fiber: 7 g • Protein: 17.5 g • Sugar: 6 g
Sodium: 735 mg (without salt) • Cholesterol: 15 mg
Oven temp: 400

Ingredients:

• 1/2 tsp olive oil
• 1  3 cloves crushed minced garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• cooking spray
• 1 1/4 cups quinoa, rinsed and drained
• 1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce  crushed tomatoes
• 2 cups reduced-sodium chicken or vegetable broth*
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 tbsp chipotle en adobo sauce (or more if you want it spicy)  1 roasted poblano pepper
• kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 (4 oz) can hot diced green chiles
• 3/4 cup canned 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 3/4 cup 1 small can fresh or frozen thawed corn
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus 2 tbsp for garnish
• 1 1/2 2 cups part-skim shredded Mexican cheese blend, divided*
• 1 medium (4 oz) haas avocado, diced
• 2 tbsp chopped scallions 1 medium yellow onion, diced

The following is my how-to:

1. Begin by roasting the poblano in the oven. It will take 10ish minutes.
2. Prepare the quinoa according to package directions. For mine, I boiled 2 cups of broth, added 1 1/4 cups quinoa, returned it to a boil, reduced it to a simmer, covered, and let simmer for 12 minutes. Then, let it sit so that any remaining broth can absorb.
3. Sautee the garlic in the olive oil. I burned mine. Oops! Add in tomatoes, half of the diced onion, cumin, garlic powder, about 1/2 teaspoon salt, and the can of chiles. Let this cook for 10-15 minutes.
4. Remove seeds from the roasted poblano, chop it, and pulse it with a Ninja chopper or similar food processor. Add in a couple tablespoons of the tomato mixture so that the poblano is full incorporated, then spoon in back into the simmering tomato mixture. This is your enchilada sauce.
5. Prepare to assemble!!! Add the quinoa into a 9×13 baking dish. I used one with a coating so I didn’t need cooking spray. Add the beans, corn, and 1/4 cup (or more if you’d like) cilantro. I added a little salt as I stirred this together. Evenly press it into the dish.
6. Top with a layer of the homemade enchilada sauce. There should be enough to cover the entire dish, but there shouldn’t be an excessive amount of sauce.
7. Sprinkle shredded cheese evenly across the top. Add half of the remaining onion.
8. Loosely cover with aluminum foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 3 minutes.
9. Top with the remaining onion, cilantro, and avocado. Serve warm!

I think you will find this dish to be flavorful, filling, and festive. What more you could want?!

 

 

Five on Friday

Happy Friday! Typically I reserve Fridays for my Weight Watchers update posts. I’m not proud to say that I fell off the wagon. I’m still making healthy decisions as far as portions go, but my sweet tooth is back with a vengeance! (You’ll see when you read what’s on my mind this morning.)

I plan to take a break from posting about Weight Watchers – unless a big loss happens – and focus on living a normal life while maintaining my weight.

Here’s what headlining my thoughts on this chilly fall morning in the midwest…

1. It’s time to decorate for Halloween

I saw this cute painted sign online and had to replicate it for myself!

Isn’t it so cute?

Here’s my version! Sorry for the bad lighting, as I took this photo in the dark on the back deck. I purchased a 1x12x8 at Lowe’s and had it cut into 4 22″ long boards. I painted the orange background, traced my design, and carefully painted the details. I put these two in my flea market booth for $20 each. That was over a week ago and neither has sold. It may be time for a mark down! These cost me less than $5 each to make so there is plenty of room for profit. I have one in-progress that Jeremy says we’ll be keeping for ourselves 🙂

 

I also made this quick little door swag for our front door. It’s not totally beautiful, but I’m okay with that!

Ugh, I hate that ugly gold detailed glass window in our door.

2. Oatmeal Scotchies… Where have you been all my life?

I bought this Nestle Toll House Cookie Dough on a whim… remember that sweet tooth I mentioned… and had no clue how delicious they would be or I would have snapped a pic! These cookies are so good. Buttery, oatmeal flavored without a ton of oatmeal texture, and the butterscotch chips take it to the next level. It will be tough to steer clear of the pre-made cookie dough section next time I’m at the grocery. They are THAT good.

3. Nuts about nuts!

Part of job my as a marketing coordinator is to keep people happy. I work at a privately-owned physical therapy clinic. There are three main groups of people that I do everything I can to keep people happy: #1 patients, #2 doctors (who refer us patients), and #3 employers/insurance adjusters (who refer us injured workers). I make holiday baskets and deliver them to doctor’s offices around Valentine’s Day, sometimes St. Patrick’s Day, National Ice Cream Day, beginning of Fall, and Christmas. This week I have been perfecting the fall baskets.

These will go into the baskets along with apple cider mix and a variety of Starbucks hot chocolate flavored packets.

One of the hits from last year was homemade candied pecans. This year I chose a recipe that just didn’t turn out great and yielded burnt tasting nuts. Not good! For my second batch I tweaked a couple things and created this recipe. I could not be happier of how tasty and chewy these pecans are. The only change I made is that I cooked them for only 50 minutes to preserve a little chewiness to the pecans, while maintaining a crunchy sugary coating.

Easy Candied Pecans

• 1 pound pecan halves
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• dash of salt
• 1 egg while (I always buy jumbo eggs)
• 1 tablespoon water

1. Preheat your oven to 250 degrees. Line a rimmed cookie sheet with foil. I recommend two layers of foil.
2. Whisk together the egg white and water until it becomes frothy. In a separate bowl, combine cinnamon and sugar.
3. Stir the pecans into the egg white mixture until all are wet & coated.
4. Pour the cinnamon sugar mix over the wet pecans. Stir until all are covered with sugar.
5. Spread these out on the baking sheet. I find that it does not need to be sprayed with cooking spray.
6. Bake in 15 minute increments, stirring the nuts in between. I baked these for a total of 45 minutes, stirred, then put them back in the oven for an extra 5 minutes. Serve warm!

(Note: I recommend two layers of foil because your stirring can rip the foil, depending on how heavy duty your foil is.)

 4. Comfort foods in the Crock Pot

This is quickly turning into a blog post all about food. Oh well! This morning I woke up early to prepare dinner. What – who am I… that’s what I was thinking as I rolled out of our warm bed 15 minutes earlier than usual.

Okay, I’m a chicken lover. I could eat chicken dishes all the time and be totally content. This week when I made our grocery list I had the bright idea to make a whole chicken in the crock pot. My mom did it from time to time when I was a kid and I have always thought that it yields some seriously juicy chicken. When we lived in apartment 136 I made a whole chicken on one occasion. It was pretty good, but bland. Before trying to make it again, I turned to Google for some inspiration.

This is the recipe I settled on. It seems like it will produce bold flavors and that’s what I’m all about. I turned the switch to Low at 6:45am. I should be home around 5pm if not before so it will get several hours to slowly cook. I plan to make mashed potatoes and green beans as side dishes.

I’ll report back.

5. Settling In

Last weekend while I was in Florida, Jeremy did a great job with unpacking and organizing the non-essentials. We have so much stuff – I didn’t even know where to begin with unpacking and finding a place for everything. I was so glad to walk in on Sunday evening and see how much he had accomplished!

We now have living room curtains, an area rug, and I am itching to get started repurposing a dresser I bought months ago. It will be our new entertainment center.

We are truly loving our new house and feel very much at home.

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Healthy-ish Greek Pasta

Who are my pasta lovers out there?

I’m always down for a pasta dish. I love them all… lasagna, alfredo, baked ziti, scampi, carbonara, the list goes on and on… But if you’re watching your waistline you know that pasta is not your best friend. I have found that eating whole wheat pasta in proper portions won’t kill you.

I found a recipe in a Weight Watchers Simply Solo book I have, but I can’t seem to find it online to link it here. I used that as inspiration for this recipe for Greek Pasta.

Ingredients:

• 1 box of whole wheat penne pasta (Don’t like penne? Pick another shape that floats your boat.)
• 1-2 T olive oil
• 2 medium sized boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced
• 1 T minced
• 1 package cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 medium zucchini, slicked thin
• 3 cups packed arugala/spinach blend
• 1/4 c chopped Kalamata olives
• Reduced-fat crumbled feta to top your portion

Directions:

• Boil the pasta according to the directions on the box. Salt the water if you’d like. Cook the pasta al dente. Add zucchini to the pasta water 2 minutes before your timer goes off.
• Prepare the chicken breasts by trimming away fat. I used a pair of kitchen shears to slice these into thin strips.
• Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add chicken. Cook for approximately 4-5 minutes until chicken is white and begins to turn golden.
• Add garlic. Cook for 2 minutes, then add tomatoes.
• Drain pasta and zucchini and add it to the skillet. Toss together.
• Add olives and greens. When the greens become wilted, the dish is ready!

I would suggest a 2 cup serving. Based on the recipe in the book, this dish is 11 points plus. It is filling, fresh, and flavorful. I think you’ll love it!