Give me chocolate or give me death

I'm no choco-holic, nor am I a baker, so when I get a fixin' for something sweet I'm definitely not looking to buy a million ingredients and do a million dishes.  Aint nobody got time for that. 

So I cheat  

I went to my very favorite store, Trader Joes, and bought their "guilt free" box of brownies. All you do is add a few simple ingredients, pop them in the oven, and enjoy! I also suggest a proper line chef, one who is able to adaquetly lick a spoon. Sharing is caring my little baker friends. 

Don't worry, these are dairy free

Now that is my kind of dessert option (( the line chef is easy on the eyes, too ))

Instead of adding non fat yogurt I added the same 2/3 cup applesauce and 1 tbsp vanilla extract. Also, I used a muffin tin and they came out just fine. Sweet, savory, quick and simple.  I can get behind that 

Ingredients 

Box of Trader Joe's guilt free, fat free brownies

2/3 cup applesauce 

1 tsp vanilla extract 

Muffin tin or baking pan

Directions 

Preheat oven to 350 and grease muffin tin 

In a medium bowl combine dry ingredients with applesauce and vanilla 

Stir, mix will be thick 

Pour onto baking sheet or into muffin tins 

Bake for 20-22 minutes but check at the 20 min mark , I like them gooey 

Enjoy! Happy Friday! 

Remember hot pockets?? Click here.

Remember hot pockets? 

That delicious folded over piece of dough filled with gooey, cheesy trans fat and sad animals?? I do. I used to pop those bad boys into the microwave, press the timer and like Pavlov's dog, drool until they were removed, burning the inside of my mouth like an explosion of hot lava goodness. 

I don't eat hot pockets anymore but obviously look back fondly upon those happy memories, silently mourning the loss of incredibly speedy metabolism.

Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

I'm sure at some point in my son's life he will enjoy his fair share of Cool Ranch Doritos binges, will empty liters of Mountain Dew and finish endless amounts nerd ropes, but while I still have the ability to pick and choose what he eats, I'm going to fill him up with the most nutritious food I can. 

He has middle school to ruin all that I have created, where I am certain he will swap his roasted veggie wrap for a bologna sandwich (( tears )).

But I digress

Here is the recipe I threw together for some good old fashioned, healthy hot pockets. His were vegan, mine were filled with cheese. I did some research on the crescent rolls I used and there are mixed opinions on whether or not they are vegan. I concluded that they are but investigate for yourself, you are an adult after all. 

Is your mouth watering yet????

 Recipe

Ingredients

Crescent rolls

 Pizza sauce

2 tbsp olive oil

2 minced cloves of garlic 

Chopped zucchini and red pepper

Kale - leaves torn off center

Mozzarella cheese, cubed

Cheddar or Colby jack, cut in strips 

Directions 

Preheat oven as listed on directions ((350???))

Chop veggies, cheese and set aside 

Add olive oil to a nonstick pan and sauté onions with garlic for a few minutes

Next add kale, then zucchini & red bell pepper. Cover and sauté until kale wilts and softens

Open crescent rolls, fold out, separate 

Add pizza sauce, then veggies and desired amount of cheese (or leave it out!!!)

Roll up like you would a crescent roll and arrange on baking tray ... Get as crazy or creative as you want! You could even add fruit :) 

Cook for 11-13 minutes

Enjoy!!!! 

With cheese

Without cheese 

My steamy love affair with coconut oil

As you are slowly finding out, I err on the side of crunchy parenting. I didn't necessarily plan it that way, I didn't have much of a plan at all, but I've always considered myself an eco-conscious lady and found it easy to live beside nature instead of treading against it. 

C'est la vie. 

When Nolan was born I immediately noticed that he had inherited my fair, sensitive skin among the mountain of other traits he inherited from me:

button nose, blue eyes, attached ear lobes, pure awesome-ness....

After the painful first weeks of breastfeeding passed (( that will be an interesting post )) I was walking the isles of Whole Foods with my Starbucks treat, giving other new mothers the silent nod of compassion, "this is our only chance at getting out of the house today, I feel you lady" when I met the most amazing woman. 

This amazing woman, whose name I have forgotten, mentioned her new love affair with coconut oil. 

This was the beginning of a beautiful new romance.

This stuff has cured Nolan's eczema, tamed wild diaper rash, smoothed rough skin, eliminated toublesome cradle cap, provided a safe alternative to nipple cream for sad boobies and even can be used in the kitchen for healthy cooking. 

There are SO many more uses for this stuff and while I'd love to sit and list all that I can, I don't get enough sleep and my son is getting bored and screaming at me because he wants to beat the laptop keyboard like the small neanderthal that he is. 

Here is an AWESOME extensive list from Wellness Mama: 101 uses for coconut oil . I hope you find it as informative as I have. 

Happy moisturizing peeps

The fruits of my labor

Don't worry, this isn't a post about my L&D with my son. 

What happens at Scottsdale Shea Labor and Delivery, stays at Scottsdale Shea Labor and Delivery, you feel me?

This is a post about food and family. I can get behind that...

One of the many cool things about being a new parent is being able to create traditions for your family, big, small, it's all up to you. Hopefully those traditions carry on through their childhood and into their adult years, which in turn are passed down to their kids and so on and so forth. Feel the pressure yet???

I have a few traditions I have created, one of them is spaghetti Sunday. Who doesn't love a good hearty bowl of pasta on the last day of weekend freedom? I certainly do, and even more so love seeing it smeared all over the face of my toddler who has taken a great liking to this tradition. I can't blame him, I make a mean bowl of noodles.

 I put the garnish on this purely for aesthetic purposes

I don't eat parsley on my noodles

Tonight I jazzed it up a little and added dessert to the menu. This is very hard to do when you have a child who breaks out in angry hives every time he comes into contact with dairy products. Milk has a way of sneaking itself into EVERYTHING and if you don't read the label carefully enough can really, and have a kid who is allergic to it, can end up with a few icky scenarios I'd rather not get into. Bottom line is dessert is hard when you're lactose intolerant. 

I found this recipe for coconut milk yogurt melts and immediately thought, ding ding ding, this is perfect! And it was. I'll share with you now then I have to get going. I have a glass of red wine calling my name and some Downton Abby to watch. Don't judge me....

 **DISCLAIMER : I used strawberries too but they turned out to be somewhat tasteless after I froze them. Stick with blueberries.

Coconut Yogurt Dipped Blueberries

Ingredients 
Blueberries
Coconut milk yogurt (preferably the Greek kind, I used regular and it was a bit thin) 
Baking tray

Directions: 

1. Put tray in the freezer for 20 minutes prior to making
2. Spear blueberries with toothpick or anything somewhat sharp and thin
3. Dip in yogurt
4. Place on tray and repeat until you have as many as your little heart desires
5. Freeze for an hour or more. After you take them off the tray transfer into a freezer safe container and let them go at it for a while longer. 

Enjoy and happy Sunday!

 

Beans, beans, the magical fruit

Big Saturday night here in our house. With the lack of sleep I wanted to do something easy but still homemade for dinner. So, I made these bad boys...

Sauteed vegetable, quinoa and black bean tacos

I was surprised at how delicious they turned out, really I was. Even more surprising was that my little monster LOVED it too. Couldn't shovel it into his face fast enough. 

Here is the recipe. 

Ingredients

Secret ingredient: Nana's Uncooked Tortillas
1 cup quinoa
2 tbsp olive oil
1 bell pepper chopped
1 zucchini chopped
2 carrots chopped
1/2 cup mild picante salsa
1/3 cup finely chopped parsley
1/2 yellow onion chopped
1 can black beans rinsed and drained

Directions

 *Cook desired number of tortillas according to instructions first and set aside
1. Cook quinoa according to instructions, remove from heat
2. Saute yellow onion in olive oil for 5 minutes
3. Next add carrots, pepper, zucchini, stir
4. Add parsley, black beans and quinoa, stir and cover for 6-8 minutes
5. Remove from heat and add picante salsa, stir well

What have I gotten myself into?

Last night was rough. 

I have a major baby hangover. It's so bad I couldn't even finish my lunch.

I don't always eat gourmet, but when I do I choose PB&J

 It all started at midnight with wild shreiks bellowing from the monitor. My first reaction was of course instant panick 

He fell out of his crib. Someone is trying to snatch him. The boogy man is real and has emerged from the closet.

This is literally what goes through my mind. 

By 6am we (baby and I) had been up five times. I always revert back to "it must be his teeth" ... he only has four at almost fifteen months and his gums have been permanently bumpy since his first one forced itself through. That coupled with his bull dog drool and constant insistence on carrying his toothbrush to gnaw on like an angry beaver is the reason I have six layers of bags under my eyes today. 

I'm so tired.

And days today I ask myself, what have I gotten myself into?? Was I ready for this??

Nolan wasn't planned ((sorry bud, it's true)). His dad and I aren't married and weren't even together when I had him. We had been dating for 2 years but had a rough falling out. I had planned on being a single, working mom alone with my newborn. I asked myself all the time when I was pregnant if it was fair to bring a child into the world knowing his dad wouldn't be around to see him grow up. I asked myself if not having a college degree would hinder his chances of becoming a successful graduate in the future. I asked myself, can I even do this on my own?

I'm not ashamed for questioning my choices, not then, not now.

The fact of the matter is, I didn't know what I was getting myself into. No one does when kids are involved. Maybe the "holier than thou" parents say do but they're lying. No one does.  

What I do know is that after a night of no sleep, a day of head butting, throwing himself on the ground crying and hair pulling, when I put that little boy to bed EVERY night I miss him. I look through pictures on my phone, listen to videos to hear his sweet little voice. I love that kid more than I love myself and I always will.

Some parents lose their children, some people aren't able to have one at all. I consider myself and Nolan two of the luckiest people on the planet to have met, known and loved one another and I will stick by that kid through thick and thin. 

I'll love him when he goes to his first day of school (( and cry )), I'll love him when he slams his bedroom door in my face, I'll love him when he waves good bye through the car window with his prom date (( and furiously Google who his date is and what her intentions are with my angel of a son)), I'll love him with every breath of my being until I take my last, and even then, if there is an afterlife, I'll love him even more wherever that might be.

I didn't know what I was getting myself into, I still don't. But I'm trying to figure that part out while trying to be the best mother, teacher, partner, friend, companion, daughter, student and toddler punching bag that I can be. That is a choice I can happily live with.

Go Cardinals! He seemed to say.

 



 

Vegans eat pretty

I had mentioned earlier that I am a vegetarian (( and proud )) but my little squirt is lactose intolerant and has been since birth. Oddly, and happily, my dairy consumption hasn't effected him through my breast milk ((pass me the cheese stick please)). So when I cook for him I almost always cook vegan. 

It's CHALLENGING

It's FUN 

And it's DELICIOUS 

This week I made us some tofu veggie patties. I originally found the recipe on Pinterest but tweaked it and made it my own. What came out of the oven was a heavenly, very southwest savory dish with a healthy dose of vegetable and soy protein. I loved it, and more importantly, his portion didn't end up on the floor. 

Well, almost all of it made it.

We can't always win when negotiating with toddler terrorists.... 

Tofu + veggie patties

Ingredients 

2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup oats
1 cup boiling water
1/2 yellow onion chopped
2 carrots grated 
1 zucchini grated 
1 red bell pepper chopped
1/2 cup parsley finely chopped 
1/4 tsp pepper
Package silken tofu (( I only used half)) 
1 cup mild picante salsa 
Black beans (optional)
Salt to taste
Parchment paper

Directions 

* preheat oven to 350

1) Pour boiling water in a small bowl, add oats and mix

2) In a large saucepan on medium-low (( you know your stove better than I do )) heat olive oil, add onion and sauté for a few minutes 

3) Place grated carrots, zucchini and red pepper in the saucepan. Stir and cook for 10 minutes

((don't forget to taste and add what YOU think the recipe needs, I'm no Giada))

4) Add 1/2 of the salsa and stir for a few minutes. 

5) Add parsley, salt, pepper stirring occasionally --> now add oats and tofu. Mix and stir well
      --remove from heat and add the remaining salsa

6) Place baking paper on pan and mold into patties, flatten on top. Brush olive oil on top and bake for 30-40 mins. I baked them for 35

Enjoy with black beans, kidney beans or some good ol fashioned Spanish rice!  This could be delicious with sweet corn too, which you could add at step 3. 

Stalker much???

I have a life you know....

But seriously, if you want to stalk me you can. Here of course, not in real life.


Pinterest

I'll be sharing my very own creations here. So far the only pin I have uploaded myself has been my awesome spaghetti squash recipe. My style is easy (( pun not intended )) since having a toddler doesn't allow for a lot of down time...

My mom readers are thinking, "tell me something I don't know."

At any rate, Pinterest is awesome and I love it. It gives me a false sense of time, capabilities and kitchen confidence, but I love it.

"Hand rolled vegetable tempura sushi? No problem, I got this"

If I'm not careful I'll end up on the Pinterest fails  website. And for the record I am still laughing my ass off at 19 Hair Flip.

But in all seriousness I am a good cook and an excellent gardener. Now all I need is a shopping spree at Whole Foods and a sprawling backyard to prove it (( you can find those dreams in my "Things I want to make" and "Interior" boards )) . 

Happy pinning 

Hey, I'm the new kid. Can I sit with you at lunch?

Hi! I'd like to welcome you to my little blog. I'm Shelley and this is my life.

Mommy blogs seem super popular these days and I know a thing or two about child rearing. I have one and together we have successfully made it to toddler-hood. 

(( TAKES A BOW )) 

Thank you, thank you, you're far too kind.

My son became the spark in my life, giving me purpose. Everything I do, I do for him. Except drink wine, that I do for myself.

I like to cook and when I do it is always vegetarian. I'll share some of my favorite recipes with you and keep my PETA rants to a minimum. I'm not trying to scare you off, we just met.

I'm also an advocate of breastfeeding and am pursuing my IBCLC in the near future. 

Aside from these enthralling topics I'll be sharing my daily struggles, triumphs and laughs with you so tune in, you never know what you're in for (( I don't either most days ))

Anywho, welcome. I hope you like the things I do. Life is pretty fun, let's share in it together. 

This is us. Aren't we cute?