Tamale Pie

I apologize for no pictures, for some reason blogger isn't uploading my pictures. :(

We are at the end of week two on my new budget rules, and things are going swimmingly.  The first weeks food total was $73.49, this week was $74.99.  I know its going to get a little tougher in a month from now, when a lot more of my staples start to need replacing, but I'm happy with my progress so far.

This week I purchased some meat.  Pork Carnitas to be exact.  Trader Joe's sells a nice little package of carnitas for $3.99 (I forgot to check the package, but guessing its a pound of meat).   This package of meat is great and simple.  Open it up, heat in the microwave a few minutes, then use two forks to shred the meat.  I turned this into 3 different meals this week.  All of these meals could have been completely vegetarian though, simply substitute the meat or just leave it out.

Monday: Breakfast Burritos.  A pack of flour tortillas, a couple scrambled eggs, some sauteed veggies and maybe a little soy cheese.  We add a little amount of carnitas with it to make it feel more like a dinner meal.

Tuesday: Taco Salad.  Some organic lettuce, 1/2 a can of organic black beans, carnitas, some more sauteed veggies, and a bag of unsalted tortilla chips for a base.

And Wednesday was our Tamale Pie.  This meal is $6.08 for 6 servings.  Pair it with some spanish rice, or a nice salad for a complete meal.

Tamale Pie
2 cups Masa flour
2 cups chicken broth
2 oz carnitas
1 cup black beans (rest of the beans from Tuesday's dinner!)
1/2 a 15oz can enchilada sauce
1/2 a 15oz can spinach

Heat the chicken broth to boiling, then remove from heat and add the masa flour, forming a dough.  In a casserole dish, lay half of the masa dough into the bottom.  Spread half the enchilada sauce on top of the masa, then layer your spinach, beans and carnitas.  Using your hands, make "masa patties" with the rest of the dough and arrange them as your top.  Spread the rest of your enchilada sauce as your topper.

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Bake the tamale pie for 25 minutes.  Serve hot and enjoy.

Crispy Brown Rice with Mixed Berries

At the beginning of the month, I blogged about a giveaway happening at One Frugal Foodie.  Well, I ended up winning the 8 boxes of cereal.  Can you believe that?!  So I thought I would post some reviews for the cereals I got.  All of the cereals are dairy free, and a lot of them are free of other allergens too.

Today I tried Crispy Brown Rice with Mixed Berries (my daughters first choice).  As I poured it into the bowl, I could tell that the crispy rice would be on the sweet side, as they had the look of a sugary type glaze to them.  However, the berry pieces was real freeze dried berries, not just some colorful fruit flavored blobs.  As I poured coconut milk on top, I was reminded of childhood: the sound of crispy rice talking.  I told my daughter to listen carefully, her cereal was talking to her.  She thought that was pretty cool.

I can say that my daughter categorically loved this cereal.  It was a little sweeter than I normally like for breakfast, but it was tasty.  I definitely give this a positive review, but will I buy it again?  Probably not. We don't generally buy a lot of cereal in this house.  Breakfast normally consists of eggs and veggies for the adults and an egg and a quesadilla for the girl.  Cereal is more of a snack food here when we have it.  If, however, cereal is actually requested by my daughter this is one I will definitely consider over the many others.

Crispy Brown Rice with Mixed Berries is dairy, wheat, gluten, fish, shellfish, tree nut, peanut, and soy free.  This particular cereal contains honey, so not vegan.

Quinoa with Broccoli and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Have I mentioned I love quinoa?  Because I do.  There is something about that little grain that I can't get enough of.  It doesn't even have to have any fancy sauce, just some plain quinoa with a bit of soy sauce will satisfy me.  The same can not be said for my family though, so in an effort to "spice" it up, I'm always looking for new ideas.

Today's recipe was derived from a Whole Foods Market recipe.  I didn't have all the ingredients required for the original, so mixed it up a bit.  I am sad to say, that while I thought it was tasty, it was not a hit with the family.  My husband hates sun-dried tomatoes, and my daughter... well I'm still trying to convince her that quinoa is good.  I will say playing with this recipe has given me ideas, so watch for more to come!

Quinoa with Broccoli and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
1 cup uncooked quinoa
1 Tbsp virgin olive oil
1/2 cup red onions, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1 1/2 cup broth (I use chicken, but vegetable would work too)
1/2 cup dry white wine
juice from half a lemon
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup small broccoli florets

Heat oil over medium heat in a pot.  Add onions and garlic and cook until soft / translucent.  Add tomatoes, broth, wine and lemon juice and bring to a boil.  Stir in quinoa and salt and pepper.  Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.

Add broccoli to top of quinoa, cover and simmer another 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and gently toss to combine.  Serve and enjoy.

Jen's Super Cookies

I like love to bake.  I always have.  However, I don't generally like to eat what I bake.  I'm not a huge sweets person; savory for me please.  Luckily, I have a wonderful husband that is more than willing to take my baked goods to his workplace and "force" them on his co-workers.

Now that I have a 3 year old though, I find she not only wants to help with the baking, she wants to actually eat what we bake.  With her allergy, letting her eat my baked goods meant coming up with new recipes and/or adapting those that I already used.  I've found this endlessly fun, to be honest, and my husbands co-workers don't notice the difference.  Win - win I say.

That said written, I also find myself not wanting my children to consume mass quantities of sweets.  So healthy alternatives are my goal, and my daughter certainly eats her fair share of fruit and vegetables.  But... kids like cookies.  So here is a relative healthy cookie option for your kids.  I've added notes where things can be adapted for different allergy needs (at least when avoiding the top 8 allergies).

Jen's Super Cookies
2 cups oats (You can find certified gluten free ones)
1/2 cup ground nuts or nut butter (I used the leftover ground almond from my fresh almond milk.  Got a nut allergy? try sunflower seed butter)
3 Tbsp ground flax seed
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3 Tbsp raw Cacao (or if you don't have that 1/4 cup chocolate chips is nice)
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup apples sauce
1/3 cup honey (or maple syrup if your vegan and don't eat honey)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl, mix the wet ingredients in another bowl.  Pour wet into dry bowl and mix together.  Place about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet and bake for about 20 minutes.  Cookies will look dark and dry, but they are actually very chewy and quite delicious!

Sneaky Mommy

I love being able to sneak veggies that my daughter would not normally eat into her food.  This morning, said daughter woke with a cold.  I am hopeful it isn't the flu, she only seems to have the sniffles.  Regardless, I knew meals PACKED with healthy fruit and veggies were the best thing I could do for her today.

This morning, instead of just a fruit smoothie, I whipped up a green smoothie.  Good tasting fruit with some healthy greens in it.  It consisted of mango, raspberries, kale and zucchini (with some coconut milk as my liquid).  Pretty tasty.

But that isn't what I am featuring in this post, my spur of the moment veggie - noodle soup that I made for my daughters lunch.  Not only did she proclaim it was tasty, but she did indeed eat the whole thing!  The inspiration came from my new blender.  I had a pretty poor blender that died on me last week, and purchased a new one that I am extremely happy with.  I purchased this Oster blender.  It can blend anything compared to my old one, haha.

Quick Veggie-Noodle Soup

3 cups stock (I did use chicken, but I think vegetable would be great too)
5 baby carrots or one regular carrot roughly chopped (I only had baby)
1 large kale leaf
1/4 of small onion, roughly chopped
1/2 a small zucchini
1 oz rice noodles
And a good blender!

In a pot, bring stock and veggies to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for about 10 minutes.  Remove soup from oven and pour into blender jar (I'd only do this if you have a glass one, if its plastic let the soup cool).  Puree the soup until its all liquid again.  Put soup back into pot and bring to a boil again.  Once soup is boiling, add the noodles and cook until they are done to your preferences.  Enjoy.