Heather Bakes

That’s What She Said…

Back in the Saddle January 19, 2010

Filed under: January 2010 — heatherwlu @ 2:17 am
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At the moment Brian is driving around with The Senator to try and get him to CALM DOWN. For some reason he’s been ridic fussy today. The only time he wasn’t crying was when someone was changing his diaper, when my parents and I took him for a walk, and during his few 10-minute disco naps. Did I mention that he slept for 7 straight hours Saturday night? Last night, not so much: 12-4:30, 5-6:30, 6:30-7… and then he was up for good. Sigh.

Breakfast this morning was a Brown Cow Greek Yogurt buried deep in the fridge (score!), topped with a chopped apple, a little granola and the dregs of a bottle of honey:

Lauren called to see if Jack and I wanted to meet up for lunch today. Both she and Allison were off for MLK Day, so we met them at a new restaurant off Knox: Farnatchi. The Dallas Morning News gave it a good review last week, and I’m all for busting out of my sad, sad restaurant rut (Tony’s, anyone?).

It’s not a very big restaurant, and not very busy either. BUT pretty much everything on the menu sounded great, and they had some good deals on lunch specials (pizza and drink; pasta, soup and drink; sandwich and drink- all for less than $8). All three of us ended up ordering pizza.

I had one with mozzarella, gorgonzola, pears, candied dates and arugula:

Lauren had the “3 Funghi” with mushrooms, goat cheese, mozzarella and spinach:

And Allison had the Grilled Veggie with Caramelized Onions:

We all shared slices. The pizzas are thin and crispy and would give Fireside Pies a run for its money (and so much less crowded!). The toppings all taste really fresh. I loved the dates and gorgonzola on mine, but Lauren’s was the best.  Ohhhh, goat cheese. Did I mention that the small pizzas- PLENTY for one person- are $7 or less? I even brought a slice home. I can’t wait to take Brian here soon. The couple at the next table were going nuts over the burger and the salmon sandwich, but I think they might have been affiliated with the restaurant somehow (they refilled their own drinks).

So guess what??? I took my first post-baby run today! My mom and dad hung out with Jack while I did my good ol’ neighborhood route- around 3 miles.  I definitely didn’t RUN The entire thing, but it went much better than I thought it would. A little more jiggling (lovely) and a few side stitches. I was just so excited to be getting some real exercise again. I never thought I’d be so happy to sweat. I have a feeling that the booty might be pretty sore tomorrow.

Post run snack:

Dinner was the Channa Palak Masala I made yesterday. We served it on top of brown basmati rice, along with a side of leftover baked tofu with Annie’s Woodstock for dipping.

I really liked it. Brian was not a huge fan- though that probably stemmed from the lack of meat.

Alright, off to shower and hopefully get some reading in before bed.

(PS- I just realized that this is my 500th post!!! Holy crap I’ve been writing this blog for a long time… almost 2 years!)

 

Happy Jack January 12, 2010

Filed under: January 2010 — heatherwlu @ 3:45 am
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Is it sad that I debated heading to bed at 7:45? And I probably would have had we not needed to give Jack a bath. I’m tired, folks.

So Jack turns 6 weeks tomorrow. I can’t believe it! And the coolest part is that he’s started smiling at us. It’s the sweetest smile you’ve ever seen (not that I’m at all biased)- this huge open mouth grin. He’s super happy in the mornings and during bathtime. I’ve been trying to snap a photo but he’s too quick for me… here’s a blurry one from tonight:

Mothers, lock up your daughters!

This morning he actually hung out in his swing long enough for me to eat breakfast. I had crunchy pb and sour cherry spoon fruit on double fiber bread, along with coffee.

Leftovers to the rescue for lunch.  Last night’s Southwestern Grilled Chicken Salad, topped with Annie’s Goddess Dressing.

And this for dessert… my last Baci chocolate :(

I don’t think there’s any cookbook I use more than Eat, Drink and Be Vegan. A lot of vegan/vegetarian cookbooks tend to have a lot of  hard to find, pricey ingredients (brewer’s yeast, seitan,  TVP, etc) and complicated instructions. Not so with this one- and every recipe I’ve tried has been good. Tonight I made one that we’d had once or twice before: Cocoa-Coconut Chili. It sounds weird; cocoa powder and dried coconut in a savory recipe??? But it’s actually really good. The cocoa isn’t overpowering and the coconut milk kind of mellows it out a bit.

I had it with lots of lime (per the recipe recommendations), along with a MSF Chick Pattie and a couple of pieces of gruyere. I forgot that we had a chunk of cheese in the fridge leftover from the Gruyere Walnut Crisps I made at Christmas.

Wow, this is the shortest post I’ve had in a while! I’m scrambling to finish a book before our book club meets on Wednesday- Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. This afternoon I had to resort to pacing through the house wearing Jack in the Baby Bjorn while trying to catch up on the reading.

It’s amazing how much this chills him out. He was asleep about 2 minutes later. Thank you, Mr. Bjorn… whoever you are.

(PS- I’ve never watched The Bachelor before, but I might just be sucked in now. Both Brian and I were glued to the TV tonight. Scandal!)

 

Getting Colder January 7, 2010

Filed under: January 2010 — heatherwlu @ 4:12 am
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Gahhhh dinner is taking forever to cook! And I’m hongry.

Anyway, today was fun. Actually, it was fine until about noon- after which Jack cried all. freaking. day. Aren’t newborns supposed to sleep a lot? I don’t think Jack is aware of this. Last night he was up at midnight, 3am, 6am and 8am, and then he never slept for more than a 10 minute stretch the rest of the day. I could tell he was exhausted (and crabby), but the little guy just wouldn’t give in and go to sleep. Usually if I stick him in the Baby Bjorn he passes out, but today it didn’t really work. Any time I stopped moving he woke up. I hear that things get easier after 6 weeks… soooo, six more days, six more days.

Thanks for all of the microwave oatmeal suggestions!! I took your tips and: 1. Used a bigger bowl, 2. Added salt, and 3. Stirred after 1 minute. I also used 1/2 milk and 1/2 water instead of milk only, and I reduced the amount of liquid just a little. It turned out MUCH better!

It still almost boiled over a few times, but I didn’t have to check it every 10 seconds like yesterday. I pulled out the cinnamon-raisin PB and then got really excited because the jar was almost empty… meaning that I can be like all the cool kids and make Oats in a Jar!

It’s worth the hype.

I was all pumped to watch tivo’d Teen Mom while I ate lunch. The plan was to make a faux chicken parm sandwich, but unfortunately someone ate the last chicken patty and didn’t tell me. So I shook my fist and cursed Brian (who was probably out eating a delicious lunch and conversing with actual adults), then settled on a MSF Garden Veggie Patty instead. Topped an Ezekiel bun with the patty, some baby spinach, pasta sauce and mozzarella then put it all under the broiler.

Along with baby carrots and cucumber-dill hummus.

Okay, so Brian and I are not responsible enough to own a home. Ever since it’s gotten cold (the past month or so), our heater hasn’t been able to keep up with the thermostat. We set it at 73, and in the mornings it’s registering in the mid-60’s. We’re supposed to have an “Arctic Blast” in the next couple of days, so today I called our Heat & AC guy to see if he could come check out the heater. After I explained the issue, he asks me, “Have you changed your filter lately?“

Um, noooo. I went to check it out and the thing is so black and dusty it’s disgusting.

So I pull out the filter. In less than an hour the temp in the house was back up to 73. And the heater stopped making a funny noise. Huh. GOOD TO KNOW. At least we didn’t have to pay anyone to fix it.

For dinner I tried the Brown Rice and Bean “Jumble-Aya” from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan.

Very yummy. And it’s pretty easy to make, minus a lot of measuring and chopping. I will tell you that the rice took much longer to cook than the recipe indicated (at least 10-15 minutes longer). I also had a baby spinach and grape tomato salad with Annie’s Woodstock Dressing.

Off to bathe Jack and hopefully get him to sleep. Stay warm!

 

Welcome Wagon July 7, 2009

Filed under: July 2009 — heatherwlu @ 4:06 am
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Thanks for all the well-wishes for my tooth! My awesome dentist called me back first thing this morning and managed to squeeze me in before 10. They examined the tooth, took some x-rays, and found…. NOTHING. Nada. No abscess, no cavity, no popcorn kernels. Apparently all of this badness is from sinuses. How lame is that? So back to the Zyrtec and Sinus Rinse I go. Hi ho.

I didn’t want to eat anything too hot (oatmeal) or too cold (Green Monster) for breakfast, so I toasted an Ezekiel english muffin and topped it with almond butter and a sliced banana.

ezekiel

After the dentist I headed downtown (er, uptown) to meet Brian for lunch. He suggested La Cubanita, and being a fan of Lombardi restaurants in general, I concurred.

Started with the Lentil Soup with Chorizo:

lentil

Delicious. Lentil soup has the potential to be painfully boring, but this one was smoky and well-spiced. The chorizo provided a nice chewy constrast to the lentils, too. Would have been great with a big hunk of bread.

For my entree I had the La Cubanita Chopped Salad:

cubansalad

Romaine, mango, tomato, bacon, hearts of palm and avocado. I’m not going to lie, the main reasons for ordering this were: 1. avocado, and 2. hearts of palm. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough of either. But I was happy with my order and really liked the passion fruit vinaigrette.

We just had new neighbors move in next door and Brian suggested that I stop spying on them and go say hi instead. He’s nice like that. So rather than head over empty-handed, I pulled out my trusty old Mrs. Field’s Cookie Book (I’ve had this since I was 10) and decided to make the Applesauce Oaties. Could they have come up with a more unfortunate name? I think not. This is basically a spiced oatmeal cookie with raisins, walnuts and chocolate chips. It does contain about 3/4 C of applesauce, which seems like a lot. I baked them for longer than the recipe indicated and they were still kind of falling-apart moist. Oh well.

mrsfields

(Oh, and the neighbors seem very nice.)

We had a couple of eggplants in the fridge, so for dinner I made the Tomato and Roasted Eggplant Stew with Chickpeas from Veganomicon. You roast the eggplant for a LONG time and it came out kind of charred, so I was dubious. The stew also features roasted red peppers, onions, chickpeas and a whole can of tomatoes. It looked thick so I added a little water. It came out wonderfully!

eggplant1

Even Brian liked it. I had mine with an East TX tomato with salt, and a toasted pita smeared with goat cheese. Mmmm.

eggplant3

Hope everyone had a productive Monday!

OH, look at these cute studded bracelets I found at Target today:

bracelet

They remind me of these CC Skye bracelets I was lusting after last year. Except $10. For FOUR.

What’s the best deal you’ve found lately?

 

No Bueno June 30, 2009

Filed under: June 2009 — heatherwlu @ 4:11 am
Tags: , , ,

It’s not Monday morning without a big ole smoothie:

smoothie

We were out of bananas, so this one was:

  • 1 C Vanilla Almond Breeze
  • 1 Scoop Vanilla Protein Powder
  • 1 Cup Frozen Berries
  • 2 Handfuls Baby Spinach
  • 1 Tbs Cashew Butter
  • Ice

Today I was scheduled to babysit and realized 5 minutes before leaving the house this morning that I had nothing to bring for lunch. Dug around in the freezer and unearthed this baby… I have no idea how long it’s been in there:

korma1

This is what it looks like straight out of the microwave:

korma2

And a little more presentable- mixed together in a bowl:

korma3

Verdict? It was okay. I don’t think I’d buy this again. It had kind of an overwhelming cumin flavor but desperately lacked salt. A little sriracha also helped matters quite a bit. If you’re interested in nutrition info, it was 300 cals and around 30% DV of sodium (that’s all I paid attention to). The rice part was surprisingly tasty, though.

I got home a little early and got the urge to bake. When I say “the urge to bake”, I actually mean that I wanted to eat a bunch of cookie dough. Apparently raw eggs are a no-go for us preggers (salmonella and foodborne illness and whatnot… blahblahblah), so that’s where vegan cookie recipes come in handy. I found this recipe for high-protein, high-fiber On The Glo Cookies on Oh She Glows. It packs in quite a few ingredients, but all are pretty healthy- and by some miracle we actually had all of them on hand. Hooray. I didn’t have any spelt so used whole wheat flour instead.

They’re yummy.

osg

A lot like the Eat, Drink and Be Vegan Super-Charge Me Cookies, actually, but with cocoa powder and bananas.

Tonight we went out to Allen to visit my friend Ashleigh’s new baby, Cayden. He was gorgeous! Afterwards we headed to Abuelo’s for dinner. I’d never actually eaten at an Abuelo’s but was always intrigued by their decor. I ordered one chicken enchilada with sour cream sauce and one avocado enchilada with ranchero sauce:

abuelo

I’m sad to say that, aside from the chips, it was not good. They sat us in the bar (weird- the restaurant was almost empty) and then the food took forever. I wish the meal had made up for all that… but not so much. Maybe we’re just spoiled- there are so many great tex-mex restaurants here that it’s sad when you eat at one that’s just so-so.

Trying to decide what to do tomorrow. As I said, I’m off for the rest of the week. Maybe I’ll find some good recipes to make for dinner- like ones that take longer than 15 minutes to prepare, for instance. Oooh, let’s not get too crazy.

-SURVEY-

Are there any chain restaurants that you really like? Or do you avoid them at all costs?

 

75% There April 16, 2009

Filed under: April 2009 — heatherwlu @ 3:09 am
Tags: , ,

Thanks for all of the get well wishes! I’m feeling a little better today. It seems like mornings are the worst for the sore throat, then I start to feel better as the day progresses. I’m still pretty congested, though, despite loads of vitamin C, Zyrtec and a sinus rinse. Blech.

I realized around 10 last night that I had 2 computer exercises due between today and tomorrow, meaning that I had to head to campus today. Lame. No worries, though, because I was awoken early anyway by some 1-800-Got-Junk guys (I spied on them through the blinds) that our next door neighbors hired to pick up some of their… um, junk. They were very loudly discussing Liam Neeson (??) in the driveway, which happens to be right next to our bedroom. Awesome.

Anyway, I made a fun bowl of oats this morning: blackberries, cashew butter, almonds and chocolate chips. And the rest of the Vitamin Water from yesterday.

vitoats

The computer exercises ended up being pretty painless and I stopped by Newflower for some dinner fixin’s afterwards. Then my mom called to see if I wanted to meet for lunch at Jason’s Deli. I had the salad bar and vegetable soup (no photos, sorry… my cameraphone is all janky).

Chloe had a playdate today! My mom brought Sophie over and let her hang out for a while.

chlosph

Chloe and Sophie love each other… sometimes a little too much, in Chloe’s case. But that’s another story. Look at her cute little backfat rolls! Aww, squishy pug.

For the past week I’ve been tempted to make cookies just so I could eat the dough. Today I settled on the Supercharge Me Cookies from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan.

cookies1

These are GOOD. They’re more dense than most cookies, but full of goodies: coconut, oats, chocolate chips, raisins, maple syrup. And I only ate a few bites of the dough.

For dinner I made another recipe from the same cookbook: Garlicky Broccoli, Corn and Bean Burritos. The recipe uses a lot of pots and pans. Food processor for the black beans, skillet for the veggies, baking dish for the burritos… BUT I’d say it was worth it. Particularly since Brian does the dishes.

burrito1

Served with limes and a side of orange slices.

burrito2

burrito3

And for dessert: cookies and milk, of course!

cookies2

-SURVEY-

What are you reading right now?

I’m rereading Garlic and Sapphires for book club, and I’m also getting into Devil in the White City just for fun. So many books, so little time.

 

Everybody’s Working For The…? November 17, 2008

Filed under: November 2008 — heatherwlu @ 3:54 am
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Haha- that song just makes me think of Zoolander.

“I just thank the lord that she didn’t live to see her son as a mermaid.”

“Mer-man.” *cough* “MER-MAN!”

Gosh, this was such a relaxing weekend. I’m ready to get up early tomorrow morning and start the week running…

Hahaha, that was funny! This weekend was, as Brian says, “bat-nuts crazy.” I don’t know where he gets that potty mouth. I didn’t really take any photos until today, so let’s start with tonight’s dinner and work backwards. I cracked open the old Eat, Drink and Be Vegan cookbook and settled on the Pureed Spicy Sweet Potato and Peanut Stew with Chickpeas alond with Coconut Lime Basmati Rice.

soup

I know a lot of people are turned off by the whole vegan thing, but if you’re looking to eat CHEAP, this is the way to go. The soup probably cost about $1/serving and consisted of pureed onions, garlic, celery, sweet potato, chicken broth, peanut butter, and lots of spices. You stir in a can of chickpeas at the very end and garnish with lime juice and cilantro. I also added some sriracha, fish sauce and extra PB. For the rice we used plain brown rice instead of basmati, but that turned out great too- I kept dipping my spoon into the rice and then the soup and it actually worked really well together. The coconut milk and lime provide a good balance of tart and creamy.

Even Brian loved the meal and commented on how filling it was… plus we have LOTS of leftover soup.

Want to see something crazy? We found the largest sweet potato in the history of mankind. Seriously, this one yielded 6 CUPS of peeled, diced potato- enough for the entire pot of soup. Here’s a frame of reference for you:

sweetpotato1

The thing is as tall as the pug. Clearly Chloe was not impressed.

Here’s the weekend rundown:

*FRIDAY*

Class: The class as a whole made about 8 different salads and sandwiches- panzanella, Waldorf salad, turkey-bacon wrap, chicken avocado sandwich, french potato salad, homemade chips, Pacific Rim salad and probably others that I can’t recall. Our group was assigned the Pacific Rim salad and panzanella (I mainly worked on the panzanella). The salad was topped with steak, which I DID try and WAS yummy… but even after a decade without beef, I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything.

Friday night Brian and I tried a Mexican restaurant that my brother’s always raving about, Avila’s. Can’t find a website, but you can read the Guidelive review here. It’s kind of a little hole-in-the-wall place in a rough area, but the food was great and it’s deceptively cozy inside. Given my love of mole sauce, I had to order the pollo con mole- very good, although the best mole award still goes to Cafe San Miguel. Yum.

*SATURDAY*

I was up at 5 to be at work by 6. It was COLD and I had a very warm and snuggly pug to leave. Work was fine, nothing terribly exciting. My schedule this week has me starting no later than 7am, but I usually get out just after lunchtime- so that’s kind of nice. Anyway, after work I headed home, ate a quick lunch, showered, dressed and headed out to Keller with Brian to have to dinner with his family and hold babies. Well, just one baby. Samantha’s already grown so much and seems really alert. I wish I’d gotten pictures- she’s a blond haired, blue eyed cutie.

After that we headed home. I was in bed by 9:30, asleep by 10. How lame is that? This schedule is kind of kicking my ass right now.

*SUNDAY*

Back up at 5 to be at work by 6. Meh. Got home from work at 12:30 and made a quick lunch of roasted red peppers, goat cheese, spinach, capers and balsamic vinegar on an Ezekiel hamburger bun:

sandwich

And then I napped on the couch with the pug for like 3 hours while Brian watched football. All of a sudden I opened my eyes and it was 5 o’clock. You know what our big, exciting event of the day was? Visiting the brand, spanking new Wal-Mart that just opened near our house. That place was INSANE. There was actually a line to get into the parking lot. Anyway, it was nothing special and I’m afraid that it’s going to get trashed out like most of the other Wal-Marts around here. We grabbed our dinner supplies and booked it out of there ASAP.

(I love you Target. I’ll never cheat on you again.)

SURVEY TIME!

What’s the best dish you’re making for Thanksgiving? Or if you’re just mooching off of someone else’s cooking (thanks, mom!), what are you most looking forward to?

I’m trying to figure out what to make. My mom hates anything ORANGE (where the hell did I come from?) so that rules out pumpkin, sweet potato and butternut squash. Hrmm. The Rachael Ray holiday issue does have an intriguing recipe for an apple pie with bacon and cheddar, so I may give that a shot.

PS- THANK YOU SUSAN for the donation to Scottish Rite Hospital!!! You rock! For the rest of you, don’t forget to check out my donation page before the marathon- it’s up through December 14th:

http://www.active.com/donate/tsrh08/heatherbakes

 

Going Green August 12, 2008

Filed under: August 2008 — heatherwlu @ 3:29 am
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And by “going green“, I mean our dinner…

I hadn’t cracked open Veganomicon in a while, so tonight I decided to try a recipe that I’d been curious about: Pasta Della California. It’s whole wheat linguine topped with broccoli, arugula, LOTS of garlic, and a light citrusy-wine sauce. The best part? AVOCADO! The whole warm pasta/avocado combo sounds weird, but it was really good. It gives the dish kind of a creamy texture. If you’re interested, the recipe is online here. It’s a great summer pasta dish.

The cookbook recommends serving this pasta alongside their Smoky Tempeh dish. That’s just tempeh marinated in a mix of olive oil, liquid smoke, cider vinegar, maple syrup, garlic and soy sauce. It’s probably best grilled, but I just ended up sticking it under the broiler for a few minutes. It’s really tasty and FILLING. One triangle (1/4 of the package) was more than enough.

Today was kind of uneventful. I met Brian for lunch (Sushi Zushi) and then started cleaning my closet. I probably could have finished, too- except that I stopped every 5 minutes to check my email, watch Jon & Kate Plus Eight, check weather.com… I’ve been putting off this closet business for weeks. Meh. Piper and Chloe had a boring day, too:

Off to bed. I took today off from running, but I have to get up early for Tuesday sprint work. OHHHH, I almost forgot: guess what this week is???? RESTAURANT WEEK! And tomorrow night is Craft! Wheeeeee.

 

Thai One On July 21, 2008

Filed under: July 2008 — heatherwlu @ 3:38 am
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Well, we’re home! Finally. The AC people came Saturday morning and worked for 6 HOURS (it was supposed to take three) and the house is now livable again. Hooray!

Tonight I decided to put that bottle of peanut sauce I bought at Whole Foods to good use with a Thai Chicken Pizza. Oh my gosh- it was so good!! I found a new whole wheat pizza crust recipe on the Eating Well site (here). This recipe is super simple and is definitely going to be my new go-to. The last time I made pizza crust I had to let the dough proof for at least an hour before baking. With this one, you make the entire thing in a food processor and it only has to sit for about 20 minutes before rolling out. I used the 12-oz yield recipe and it made one 13 inch thin crust (very crispy).

I topped it with:

  • Peanut Sauce (a thick coat)
  • Green Onions, Sliced
  • Carrots, Slivered
  • Cilantro (LOTS, Chopped)
  • Chicken Breast- we just cut up the breast of a rotisserie chicken to save time
  • Mozzarella Cheese- about half a bag of the Kraft 2% kind

Pre-cheese and pre-baked:

Baked on the bottom rack for about 14 minutes at 450 degrees:

And on my plate with a side of this edamame/Asian veggie blend we found at Sprouts. I heated it in a skillet with a little soy sauce and Newman’s Own Sesame Ginger salad dressing. It went really well with the pizza (and my Honey Moon Beer!). Confession: I actually had three slices, not two.

We threw out a lot of produce since we’d been out of the house for over a week, but I wanted to figure out something to do with a couple of overripe bananas. There was a recipe in Dreena Burton’sVive le Vegan for “Banana Oat Bundles” that called for pureed bananas, quick oats, ground quick oats and a couple of other ingredients. I threw in about 1/4 cup of chocolate chips- because you can’t beat chocolate and banana, right?? They’re kind of a cross between a cookie and a scone.

Well crap, I just realized that I forgot to take a picture of them and I’m not at home right now.  Click here to see what the final product looked like, but visualize some chocolate chips in there, too. OOOH! Dreena even posted the recipe! Oh happy day. 

They’re kind of small… but tasty :)

Oh, and despite my whining and skepticism, Dark Knight was actually really good- although 2 1/2 hours in theater seats is a looooong time. I needed a stretch break!

 

Baking is Fun June 17, 2008

Filed under: June 2008 — heatherwlu @ 12:05 pm
Tags: , , , , ,

This week the kids I’m babysitting for are in camps from 9-1, so I actually get some time at home during the day! It’s weird. I ate lunch at home yesterday and realized that I’d probably only done this (during the week) a couple of times. I thought Chloe would be excited to see me, but she just kept sleeping… next to her blanket, of course. Grrr.

I took advantage of the time at home to get some cooking done. For lunch, I made a modified version of the Spanish Omelette from Nigella Express. She uses real eggs, cheese and roasted red peppers. Mine is a lightened-up Mexican version using nopales, which are actually strips of cactus! I bought it jarred- SUPER cheap- at Target; it’s a little slimy (kind of like okra, you have to rinse it) but really rich in vitamins A, C, K and even iron and fiber. I suck at flipping omelettes, so this is a great way to avoid it altogether.

“Mexican” Spanish Omelette

  • 2 tsp Butter or Butter Substitute
  • Tiny drop of Olive Oil (to keep butter from burning)
  • 1 C Egg Beaters
  • 1/2 C Reduced Fat Cheddar
  • 1/3 C Nopales, rinsed
  • 2/3 C diced new potatoes (I use canned)
  • 2 Scallions, chopped
  • Salt & Pepper

Preheat broiler. Mix eggs and rest of ingredients in bowl. Heat butter and olive oil in ovenproof skillet. Once butter has melted, pour egg mixture into pan. Cook until bottom has set (4-5 min). Place entire skillet under broiler to set the top. Broil about 3-4 minutes. Remove from oven and turn omelette over onto plate. Let cool.

Here’s what it looks like on the stove:

Aaaand on my plate, with veggies and hummus on the side:

You could easily make a Greek version of this with sun dried tomatoes, spinach and feta, an Italian version with mozzarella, etc…

Since I had class from 5:30-10, I knew I wouldn’t have time to make dinner, so I threw together a recipe from Vive Le Vegan before I had to pick the kids up: Chickpea Ratatouille. Really easy- just chickpeas, canned tomatoes, onion, peppers, agave nectar and TONS of spices (I don’t remember ever using mustard seeds before!). Brian baked it while I was in class and it is delicious. Kind of like a chunky, uber-filling pasta sauce. This would be really good with couscous or quinoa, which is what I’m planning on having it with for lunch!

This pan is going to be fun to clean… yuck. Should have remembered the Pam :(

I wasn’t starving after class, so I just had a small bowl. Okay, okay- a small bowl with a BIG glass of wine:

*The wine is not shown, as that would have involved me having to actually put the glass down- and that wasn’t happening.*

Anyway, this is definitely my favorite recipe so far from either of my Dreena Burton cookbooks (Vive Le Vegan and Eat, Drink and Be Vegan). Delicious!

And finally, we started baking in class yesterday! I was nervous about baking in an industrial kitchen, but so far it’s great. Just bigger equipment and larger portions. We made chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies and brownies. Our group divided up the recipes and I chose brownies. That was a bad choice. I was excited to use a double boiler, but the brownies were by far the messiest and most time consuming of the three. I wish you could see my jacket and apron… and actually my hat too, for that matter. COVERED in chocolate. I’m like the Pigpen of the class. The cookies turned out beautifully! Here’s a shot of some of the ones I brought home:

Pretty, huh? My group did a great job. You’ll have to wait on the brownies- we made ganache and are icing them tonight. Oh, and I think we’re making biscotti, nut cookies and (maybe?) pinwheel cookies too. Hello again, Freshman 15. I’ve missed you…