Blogging Break

Hello friends. I realized that I have taken an extended blogging break without letting you know. Things have just been a bit crazy here lately. I have lots of fun posts that I'm tossing around in my head and can't wait to share them with you. I'll be back at the beginning of 2013. Things will be mixing up a bit in that I'm going to be posting about other things than just food - I'm going to be discussing adventures in motherhood and fun tidbits that I find that I think you'll enjoy.

Oh and I'm also glad that the end of the world didn't happen today... not that I was really worried ;).

Whole Grain Peanut Butter Pancakes

Occasionally I deviate from my planned menus to make a craving or satisfy my 3 year old's desire for food he will eat. It seems he eats most of the same foods every day! I always make sure we're stocked on bread, crackers, cheese, eggs, peanut butter, yogurt, apples and bananas. He seriously doesn't touch his veggies. At his 3 year check up I mentioned this concern and I was told to keep offering them but not push them on him and eventually he may just eat them. (Oh and to give him a multivitamin every day.)

One night I asked him what he wanted to eat and the answer was, "Pancakes". I can do that, and since I do not like being a short order cook, I decided to just make them for all of us. He typically does not eat whatever I make for dinner (unless it's a boiled egg, pancakes, waffles, boxed mac & cheese, you get the idea...) I wanted to make sure we were getting some protein as we hadn't had much that day, so I decided to make peanut butter pancakes... I think these turned out pretty well ;).

Whole Grain Peanut Butter Pancakes

Postpartum Depression

I previously mentioned that I had postpartum depression. However for some reason I felt the need to write a bit more about what it is like to have postpartum depression. It is different for every person who gets it, so this is only what it is like for me... 

Black Bean Tortilla Casserole - Freezer Meal Style

This is part of my freezer meals series... or how we survive the first few weeks after we have a baby!

I know I've shared this recipe before, but I made a couple of minor changes for the freezer version... The linked recipe on the bottom however is not updated.

When I made this to freeze, I actually did 2.5 times the recipe and made 2 to freeze and 1 to eat the night I made it (after all I was pregnant and didn't want to cook anything else that day!) The only thing different would be that the corn tortillas were a little bit soggier in the freezer meal (but I would prefer soggier tortillas in this casserole to most frozen dinners you can buy in the store! Well there are more expensive frozen meals I actually enjoy, but they're more expensive...)

Black Bean Tortilla Casserole

Gluten Free Black Bean Brownies

I found this recipe on Eat Good 4 Life and had to try it. However I don't know where their nutrition information came from as I could not get the same numbers in any recipe calculator I used (however if I used Raw Sugar instead of normal sugar it did not calculate ANY additional sugar so something was a little off and maybe that's what happened to that nutritional information). 

The other thing I loved about these brownies is that they use black beans - which help regulate blood sugar because of their high protein and fiber content. So these shouldn't cause as much of a spike in blood sugar! Something we all can live with ;). Black beans have more benefits you can read about here.

I have made a few changes and included some ingredients you can add in as well... and thanks to my son who saw me writing this post, I now have a batch of brownies in the oven that I can smell and they are almost done baking... I hope you enjoy these as much as we do!

 Black Bean Brownies

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole - Freezer Meal Style

This is part of my freezer meals series... or how we survive the first few weeks after we have a baby!

I know I've shared this recipe before, but I made a couple of minor changes for the freezer version... The linked recipe on the bottom however is not updated.

When I made this to freeze, I actually did 3 times the recipe and made 3 to freeze and 1 to eat the night I made it - after all who wants to make 4 dinners and then make another one ;). This pretty much turns out exactly the same whether it is fresh or frozen - gotta love that! As far as veggies served with this - I stocked up on frozen veggies when they were on sale and used them, or I bought a packaged salad to eat with it. It is really nice to not have to really prepare dinner when you're exhausted from taking care of a newborn ;).

Cordon Bleu Casserole 

Teriyaki Bowl - Freezer Meal Style

This is part of my freezer meals series... or how we survive the first few weeks after we have a baby!

This is one of those recipes that was adapted in the process... I made two of these freezer bags to start and after the first it was clear that it needed to be changed! So you'll see some pictures that illustrate what not to do! ;) Also I have to admit I did not take a finished product photo (that whole survival for the first few weeks after a baby comes - I forgot to take the pictures...) So this photo comes from the original Teriyaki Bowl post that I made. But it looks similar ;).

 

Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken