Vegan Spaghetti and Mushrooms

2015 was all about changing up my diet. After doing a bit of research and listening to my body I decided to cut back on the amount of meat that I was consuming. I even went so far as to cut back dramatically on the amount of any animal products that I was using or consuming in my home. Now there's never been a bigger meat eater than me. I adore cheese burgers pork chops chicken fried steak you name it I would eat a pound of bacon in one sitting if I could. But after discovering how harmful it was for the earth and how harmful it was for my body, I decided to make some big changes. in August of 2014, shortly after my son was born, I decided to go meat free for 3 days out of the week. Initially it was difficult. I kept craving cheese burgers and all of the things that I was used to eating. But slowly but surely, after making some healthy swaps my body acclimated and I actually prefer meat free meals.

 One of my favorite meals is spaghetti and meatballs. I've tried soy meatballs, but they didn't have the depth of flavor that I'm used to. Plus, we don't really eat a lot of spy in this house. So one day I decided to try mushrooms. Mushrooms are often used to replace meat in burgers and sauces, so why not meatballs? They are the perfect shape, size, and they take on flavors very well. It's the perfect swap. Delicious, filling and vegan.

Look, I know what it's like to have those cherished, familiar recipes that all center on meat proteins. I know how hard it can be to wrap your head around going meatfree, but if you start small...swapping out veggies in your breakfast burrito instead of bacon, or using soy chorizo instead of beef in your favorite chili recipe
 It's not as difficult as you'd think. I have found that commiting to just 3 meals a week meatfree was easiest. There are countless benefits to reducing your consumption of animal products, but my favorite benefit has been WEIGHT LOSS! You heard me right, limiting beef, butter, eggs etc, has had an incredible effect on my overall health. And it can do the same for you. Don't know where to start? Try this easy recipe of spaghetti and mushrooms. Easy and damn tasty!

Vegan Spaghetti and Mushrooms

2 8 oz cans organic tomatoes sauce
1/2 vegan vegetable broth
1 tbsp organic maple syrup
1 tbsp dried Italian spices
2 tsp garlic or 1 small clove diced
salt and pepper to taste
8 oz mushrooms whole
1 package whole wheat spaghetti cooked according to instructions

Combine all ingredients except for pasta and stew for 2-3 hours over low heat. Top cooked pasta and serve with green salad. Enjoy!

Roasted Veggie Soup aka Refrigerator Soup

So...Refrigerator Soup may not be the most mouthwatering description of this recipe, but it's certainly the most accurate. Every few weeks, you probably end up throwing out a bunch of produce from the bottom of your fridge because the lettuce is wilted or your tomatoes got so bruised that the idea of eating them fresh makes you gag. Fine. I get that. But, I promise that with a little tender love and care, those neglected bits of leftover veggies can become something incredibly tasty!

With this recipe, high heat is your friend Roasting vegetables (or anything for that matter) really concentrates flavor. All the browned bits taste carmelized and even more savory at the same time. It's one of the rules drilled into us at culinary school. "Browning equals flavour!" I can hear Mr. RICCOMINI saying it now!
The higher and more direct heat the better. I don't have a broiler, but if I did, I'd use that.  Your oven will work just fine though so don't fret.
I learned this method fro working in restaurant after restaurant. You think your favorite five star eatery throws out hundreds of dollars in quality produce every week just because It's a little past It's prime? Nope. You're eating that produce in the soup of the day!
And be honest, it's your favorite soup, isn't it?

It's also worth mentioning that, in addition to being very very delicious and easy, my Roasted Veggie Soup is also completely vegan! How fun.


Roasted Veggie Soup aka Refrigerator Soup

Approx. 3 cups of chopped assorted veggies
(I used 5 medium brown mushrooms, half a small potato, 1 tomato, 2 romaine lettuce cores, a nub of carrot,  onion and celery)
4 cups water or organic vegetable broth


Coat your veggies with good olive oil and place in a cast iron pot. Roast veggies in a 450 degree oven until the veggies are a deep golden brown. Do not burn. This took me about 20 minutes. Remove and immediately add water or broth, scraping the bottom of the pan, releasing delicious browned bits. At this point you can either cool and blend in your blender, or simply use an immersion blender and puree right in the pot**. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Serve with chopped fresh herbs and garlic croutons.

** I don't strain my vegetable soup, personally I like the texture and all the added fiber. However if you decide to strain it, do so using a china cap or cheese cloth for a silkier soup.

This N That Salad

One of the best ways I've found to use up leftovers is to throw em in a delicious salad. Forgotten about veggies and other small portions of nummys from earlier in the week. Generally speaking an easy dressing of lemons juice, olive oil, salt and pepper seems to go well with almost ANYTHING.  You need a good base of hearty greens, I used a spring mix and some extra kale I had in the fridge. Another bonus about This N That Salads that they come together in minutes! I had this beautiful lunch on the table in about 30 seconds, actually. And it was crazy crazy good! Use this "recipe" as a guideline/inspiration and then go raid that fridge and see what you can come up with. 

This N That Salad

2 packed cups of hearty greens like kale or spinach

2 tbsp beet root hummus

1/2 small avocado sliced

1/2 cup brown rice and veggie casserole

3 precooked falafel

Lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste

Layer your ingredients over the greens and garnish with LOTS of lemon! 

Brian Harrison

I'd like to introduce you to the most incredible little person I've ever met.

This is Brian Harrison.

1 week over due and 26 hour labor...he did NOT wanna leave the comforts of my womb.
I won't hold it against him though. Because he's honestly the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

Mama is exhausted, daddy is exhausted. Baby has an insatiable feeding schedule, abbreviated by the shortest cat naps ever. Ain't that something?

Fully Cooked

Well, the new house is coming along quite nicely. We finished painting and putting the babys room together. I love to sit in there rocking and patting my fat tummy, wondering how our lives will look with him here.
I am 40 weeks and there is zero sign of a baby. No braxton hicks, nothin. So I am continuing to walk and walk and walk. If it doesn't work, at least it keeps me active.

Surprisingly, I am not very uncomfortable. A few weeks ago I swelled up pretty badly and my hands got super itchy. It was horrible, we figured it was the August heat? Either way, it passed after a nice cold shower and elevated feet.

Now I am on my way out to a car show with the hubbster. Could be our last outting without our baby boy!

We're HOME!!

Finally! We got the call that escrow was going to close, I almost cried (I did cry). Better yet, the company that fubarred the paperwork causing this whole situation is paying for the movers to bring our things from storage. So we don't have to do anything but point to where we want the furniture! God, I am so excited.

Look at these VIEWS!!

From the front porch...

Sitting on the couch looking out from the living room!

I am just in heaven. I cannot wait to start unpacking, decorating and of course, getting the baby's room ready! Thank you God for getting us into our house. Our dream house....

Reasons Not To Move With A Pregnant Wife

She will want to kill you.

That's why. Especially if, by some terrible twist of fate, your old house closes escrow on schedule but the new house DOESNT. And then you have to pack a husband, fat wife, dogs and a smelly cat into a hotel room for a week.

Moving day, the 'Mater truck is all loaded up.
With no where to go. 

I spend lots of time taking bubble baths at the hotel.
 Trying not to think about the new house.

This is our life right now. Not fun. In all fairness, I don't JUST want to kill Mike. I want to kill everyone. Except for the people at the hotel restaurant, they are amazing and I will love them forever. They give me bacon.










The really fun part? We have no idea when the new house will be ready. So we may be here another week or...? Breathe Eva, breathe... You will have someplace before the baby get's here. I mean, I have to have someplace before the baby gets here, right? They allow dogs, but do they allow newborns?

The dogs just think we are on vacation....

It's A.....

22 weeks pregnant and I finally get to announce to the world that we are having A.....

We are SO excited. I have always wanted a little boy. And I think, even though he was open to either a boy or a girl, Mike is happy he will have another man around the house! Major thanks go out to Jessica Silvius, for the most adorable gender reveal ever! I'd considered being in the shots, but I am feeling far too enormous to try something like that. I love how they came out, even if we are not in them! I promise I will be in all the ones the baby is in. Now that we know the gender, we know his name, too. It's neat to be able to call him by it now. And, no, I cannot share it yet. We promised not to until the baby shower.

So, until then!

20 Week Update- What's New?

Hello out there!

As much as I want to sit down and savor our time together, this is going to be a very quick update because there are 25 different things going on in our lives right now that are almost literally demanding my immediate attention. (Insert head spinning emoticon here). Let's do some bullet points, shall we?

SO, WHATS NEW?

• I am officially 20 weeks pregnant today and loving every second of it. 
• Morning sickness has all but vanished and my appetite is back with the vengeance
• Prenatal migraines suck,  but I am finding that a small cup of half caff coffee helps tremendously
• I feel enormous and honestly eat from the moment I wake up until bed time, somehow I've managed to only put on 3 pounds in 5 months. OB warns this will catch up with me in the next 4 months!
• My best friends are planning an absolutely adorable co-ed baby shower for me in June, I am excited to share the photos and the menus with you soon!
• Last Sunday I was taken into the ER with horrible abdominal pain- the ovulation induction meds I was on to get pregnant have caused a large cyst to form on my right ovary. We found it a few months ago. OB said not to worry, but then the sucker started bleeding into my abdomen. Sounds scarier than it actually us and it appears the cyst has resolved itself. 
• We got a sneak peak as to what the baby might be from the ER ultrasound tech. Still waiting for our anatomy scan on the 15th to confirm so we will share that as soon as we are certain!
• Baby D is a very active baby. I started feeling small flutters around 17 weeks, now there are obvious thumps a few times a day. I am so in love with our little bean, and feeling him/her move around in there makes me a whole new kind of happy I've never felt before. 

  

  17 Weeks.

  
  

• Work is absolutely nuts at the moment, both in my teaching job and the catering company, trying to balance the demands of my career and being 5 months pregnant has been...challenging. 
• DH has been incredible these last 20 weeks. I am experiencing some gnarly hormonal mood swings (crying and nostalgia mostly) and he has taken on so much extra work around the house to help me "take it easy." I feel so lucky to have a husband who's as intuitive and accommodating as he's been. I wasn't an easy wife to deal with before, I have no clue how he's handling me now! 
• We have officially settled on names for a BOY or a GIRL. (No, I'm not telling!)
• Last, but not least, we are MOVING! Our home was listed for about a week before we got our first offer, it was a few days later that we found our new dream home! I know, I know...who in the world get's pregnant, starts a new job, sells their home and moves to a new city all in 5 months? Apparently, I do.  Our new home is 8 miles into the country, not too far from the city, but far enough that the dogs will have plenty of room to play and be puppies and our baby will need a tiny cowboy/cowgirl boots! 

20 Weeks.

So, that's what's new! Whoa...right? Escrow closes on both homes on the SAME DAY and I've got about 12 days left to pack up what I can before the big day. Being pregnant certainly makes it difficult for me to help out with the move as much as I'd like to. Luckily we have some amazing friends who've offered to help us! I'll have to think of something wonderful and naughty to bake up and reward them for their hard work. Like these carmelitas from LuLu The Baker. I've found a few variations for caramel chocolate chip cookie bars, but these are the hands down winner. They are dangerously easy to throw together and they are even more addicting. Perfect to bribe your friends with and perfect for satisfying those stubborn pregnancy cravings!

12 wk Update and a look back down our long road to getting pregnant.

12 weeks!! We made it (I'm actually 12 wks and a 5 days today to be exact!).

I know nothing is promised to us, but I do feel so much better to be saying goodbye to the first trimester. I do feel a deal of relief, like we made it through the scarier times. I am very much looking forward to having more energy and slowly but surely getting my appetite back. Morning sickness has returned with the vengeance this week, leading to my doctor putting me on anti-nausea medication.

My tummy looks and feels gigantic to me, but I am certain it's all bloat as I have yet to gain even an ounce since becoming pregnant. Some symptoms that have gotten stronger and stronger each day are the most crazy/bizarre vivid dreams and terrible back aches. My body feels tense and tight all the time. I am taking lukewarm baths to help but I am in pain again as soon as I leave the tub. It's been awful. Having the morning sickness return after a nice 2 week break was totally unexpected and equally unwelcomed. I suffered through a very serious bought of dehydration that nearly landed me in the hospital because I couldn't keep anything down.

For someone who leaves and breathes to cook and eat this has been the worst pregnancy symptom, hands down. People are joking, due to the size of my bump and the resurgence of morning sickness, that there might be two babies in there. We have had 2 chances to see the baby and there was only one adorable child in there. Although I have heard stories about people discovering multiples after they'd already had an ultrasound, I rest assured that our baby is in there alone! Not that I would mind having twins (they run in my family) I just think being a new mom to one is going to be tough enough!

Before I logged on today I started thinking about what we were up to this time last year (I've done this a lot since becoming pregnant) and then a pain in my stomach reminded me...I was sitting right here, writing to all of you. Pouring my heart out 2 months after the most devastating doctors appointment of my life. I'd visited my OBGYN to get some test results read. I had been off BC and trying for a baby since August 2011 and we'd become concerned because I was not longer getting monthly periods. In short, my doctor informed me that I had a medical condition called Anovulation and while a healthy, typical woman would ovulate every month and have an opportunity every month to become pregnant, I did not. She gave me a lot of information and some options. I left her office and was immediately thrown into this new reality where I was most definitely going to need medical intervention to become pregnant.

I never thought, in that moment sitting on an exam table, that we would be rejoicing like this a  year later. Then, it felt like she was telling me I would never be a mother. That might sound dramatic, but when you live your entire adult life believing you will always have a chance and then that chance get's knocked down to 50% it is a huge adjustment.

I thank God everyday that we didn't give up. I thank God every day for the friends and family who knew and who stuck by us, encouraging us. The girls who came over and drank way too much wine with me. Who took me out and showed me how much fun there was to be had until our baby came to us. We have been so very blessed to have, what could have ruined us, ruined our marriage and destroyed our faith, actually bring us closer to each other and to the people around us. This wasn't a challenge I was looking for. This wasn't a trial I felt I needed to go through, but I cannot sit here and say that it hasn't taught me so much about love, patience and about our Lord. His ability to lift you up when you feel like you could never go on.

My child wasn't promised to me. No one ever told me there was a chance that this wouldn't happen for us. And no matter what the outcome is of this pregnancy, I have felt the miracle of life begin within me and it has increased my capacity for love. Our child has a heartbeat. Our child has a name and a room in our home. He or She is already a member of our family and we are already in love with Baby D. I hardly waited until the little blue line on my pregnancy tests were set before I told everyone. I know that makes a lot of people uncomfortable, but when this miracle has taken almost 2 years to get here I just couldn't wait!

In the end, I know that this is something my body CAN do. And that is a huge victory for us, because for a long time we really didn't know if that was possible. After all the tests, the poking and prodding, I am pregnant!

Thank you so very much for hanging in there with me. To all of you who have messaged me and cheered for me, I love you all. I couldn't have made it through all of this without you, THANK YOU! 

11 Week Update

Well! Am I happy to be nearing the end of the first trimester.

Every day I am feeling less queasy and have more and more energy. I actually feel really bad because I know I have spent the last 3 1/2 weeks complaining about the morning sickness and exhaustion. My poor husband has come home to a whining pile of wife on the couch each night! My friends have been all but abandoned because I cannot seem to stay up passed 7:30/8:00 pm. I have, basically, been completely worthless for a month.

The turning point came last week when I got an absolutely awful cold from my kids at school (yeah, I just went back to teaching full time right when we found out about baby D). While I was sick, I found that my appetite had returned somewhat. I still couldn't stomach much meat or cook anything in oil, but I was actually hungry for the first time in a while. After the cold went away I had morning sickness again for about a day, since then I've been on the mend! When all was said and done I lost 3 pounds in the month of January.

I haven't been able to lose 3 pounds in 3 months while TRYING, really really hard. I was a little worried, but my friends and my doctor assure me this is completely normal in the first trimester, especially when you've been battling morning sickness.

11 wks, a bit bloated, but no bump yet! 

So this week we got to see Baby D again at our check up and he/she was moving all around, it was such a sight to see. I could clearly make out the little arms, which were draped above the babies head like a little gorilla. It's back was to us so we couldn't see much else, but just seeing him/her move around like that reminded me of how fast this pregnancy could go. I mean, it was only a few short weeks ago that all we could see was a little mass of cells on the screen. Now our baby has limbs and knows how to move them! That's insane to me, when did that happen?

Every single step we take on this journey has taken my breath away. I feel so many things at any given moment (did I mention that we saw some of our first pregnancy mood swings this week?) but lately all I feel is humbled. I am providing/growing/supporting life for this new human being. I am responsible for taking care of myself and nurturing this pregnancy until our baby is developed enough to meet us. This is such an incredible honor and I don't take it lightly. I am in love with that little gorilla, formerly our gummy bear, formerly our poppy seed and soon to be our first born child.

Ultrasound @ 10wks. Not much to make out but I thought I'd share it anyway!

We've elected to have some genetic testing done and I will return for an update once they are complete (in another 2 weeks or so). We MIGHT also find out the babies gender during that time so stay tuned and keep on sending me those baby girl names- so far we have NONE!

Have a great Sunday- enjoy the game and GO BRONCOS!!!

Happy Birthday to me! Frustrations of a former food lover.

Well this was a VERY special week, not just because it was my birthday week, but because I got to see Baby D for the first time day before yesterday! I was SO nervous and kept telling myself not to get my hopes up of being able to see anything yet. But there he/she was. Just relaxing. We got to see the heart beat too, which made my skip a little. It was a wonderful day! 

We are now 8 weeks in and this tiny little baby (he/she is the size of a raspberry this week!) apparently hates food! Baby D hates the smell of food, the look of food, all parts of the kitchen that house food (like the fridge and pantry!). 

Ok, I understand the science behind morning sickness and I totally "get" that what is happening isn't Baby D's fault...but I need someone to blame this on. I mean...I am a FOODIE. Surely it's not MY body that's doing this. It's the babies. My body just does what the little womb invader tells it to.  Currently no one is allowed to cook in my home. Ever. I can smell it when I come home from work. Our friend is staying with us temporarily and he tried cooking while I was asleep and I woke up crying. Bawling that the house stunk! 

I tried browning some taco meat for Dh the other night and was ill 2 minutes into cooking and had to abandon the meal completely. My poor husband. We've been living off of frozen chicken fingers we bought from Trader Joes. Trail mix and a banana is also a safe little meal. Plain white rice, steamed potatoes and lots of water with lemon. I absolutely loathe the stench scent of coffee, cooking meat, bacon, beer, and oil/fat of any kind. This is coming from the same women who will stab someone over perfectly rendered chicken skin. 

Essentially, if I used to love it before, I hate it now. 

I am comforted by the number of people who assure me that this much morning sickness is a good sign because it could mean a strong pregnancy. I hope they are right. I know I won't always feel this miserable and I know that this is all part of what I signed up for...I've just never experienced nausea for this long in my entire life. And I am frustrated because I do feel hungry, it's just that everything sounds disgusting! 

Ah, the joys of pregnancy. Okay, I can't leave you with all this complaining...let's see... Oh! Dh bought me a belly band this week, which was way sweet of him. He'd heard me huffing and puffing trying to get my pants on all week and took it upon himself to help me out. Although I am not showing yet, the bloat of early pregnancy is no joke and regular jeans are so uncomfortable. We have settled on a name if Baby D is a boy (not sharing it just yet, sorry) but we're still working on one for a girl. Yes, that is totally an invitation to give us some suggestions. 

There are so many exciting things about early pregnancy. Learning that our baby has little joints in his/her arms and legs, and little eyelids...these things take our breath away. It's such a short amount of time and yet, it's a baby. With limbs, and a heartbeat of 144bpm! I feel much more than just morning sickness and fatigue. I feel excited, hopeful and anxious. I feel a little more complete than I did 8 weeks ago. I already feel so much love for this little thing that's still rapidly growing every week. 

I prayed and prayed for this. I dreamt about this. And this is definitely a journey I want to cherish every second of, even the unpleasant ones. 

Happy New Year & A Quick pregnancy update

Well as I am running around, still very much in shock that this is really happening, I realized I should pop in real quick and let you all know how things are going.

I have my first prenatal check up scheduled for Monday the 6th. I would love all the well wishes and good vibes you could send our way. I spoke to my nurse practitioner on the phone this week and based off my LMP she estimated I could be about 5-6 weeks along. I'd say that's about right, I've been charting, obviously, due to the Clomid and I will let the OB know exactly when I ovulated and that should get us a much more accurate idea of how far along I am.

Christmas was amazing and all Dh's family knows now. They were thrilled and showered us with so much love, I was overwhelmed. I feel so incredibly blessed to have the kind of in-laws I have. My SIL was bawling and hugged me so hard I thought I'd pop. I've never been close to my sister and to feel that kind of love and support from someone who I am not biologically related to is indescribable.

I had to get through the last week of school (finals) while completely distracted with the knowledge that there was a tiny bundle of nerves in my body developing into our baby. I don't know how I did on finals and I don't care. LOL!

I am not feeling much yet besides total exhaustion and a little heartburn. I was able to eat everything I would normally eat for Christmas (yum!). Today I've felt a little bit more nausea type symptoms (indigestion and wooziness) and that worries me because we are hosting a big dinner party tonight. I am still holding out hope that I will be one of the luck ones who doesn't get plagued with morning sickness! Cross your fingers that's the case! (UPDATE--- That was totally NOT the case. Way to jinx myself!!)

I sleep as much as possible because I am exhausted all the time, and I am feeling really worried about how things are going to go once I am back at work full time. Actually, I am worried about pretty much everything. I worry more than pretty much anything else these days. Did I cough too hard? Am I allowed to eat this? Was that cramp normal? I feel so fragile. Like everything I do will jeopardize my pregnancy. Dh is trying to keep me calm and is doing a great job at reassuring me. The best thing I've heard so far was that if pregnancy was really all that fragile, our planet wouldn't be so overpopulated! That helped put things in perspective!

Early pregnancy is a scary time. But it's also a magical time, and I need to keep reminding myself that. Right now our baby might be the size of a poppy seed (that's it's nickname at the moment) but it's doubling and even tripling in size every week! This baby has defeated all the odds and is HERE. No matter what happens, I got pregnant and life is beginning inside of me right now. That is a beautiful thing, much much more beautiful than it is terrifying. I just need to keep repeating that to myself!

Thank you all for your support over the last year and a half. There were days I never thought we'd get here and if it hadn't been for all your love and prayers, I might have given up. We love you! Thank you so much!

Merry Christmas to Us!!

So....

I got a cake today.

A cake to tell Dh that we're finally pregnant.
After all the praying, the poking and prodding, the tests and the meds...we're actually pregnant.

I am over the moon.
I am terrified.
Oh, my god...I am pregnant!! 

Week of Leftovers Day One: Turkey Pozole

Today is Friday- the day after you filled your tummies with everything from game day chips and dips to turkey, gravy and of course PIE! You're full, you're bloated, you're (quite possibly, especially if you had dinner at our place) hungover and you want something easy and relatively light to help you recuperate.

I grew up in a large Mexican family and my all time, go-to, comfort food meal is Pozole. I remember being not even tall enough to reach the stove, pulling up a chair to steal giant spoonfuls of my Grandmothers pozole. I was obsessed with those plump white kernels of hominy, tender pieces of pork and the rich, spicy red broth.

If you've never had pozole, it is a hominy stew which can be made with a  variety of different meats, sauce bases and stewed meat. In our house we always enjoyed the Pozole Roja variety with either pork or chicken and tons of garnishes like onions, cabbage, radishes, cilantro, chile flakes and Mexican oregano. I serve it along side some warm corn tortillas or a crispy tostada (fried corn tortilla) with refried beans and cheese. My Grandmother made everything from scratch, including her red sauce for this stew, and I pray one day she might even share her recipe with me! Until then I use a can of my favorite enchilada sauce and it tastes close enough and saves a ton of time as homemade red sauce can be very labor intensive. This is a post Thanksgiving meal you will want to make while family is still in town because it makes plenty- enough to serve about 6-8! Although rich and hearty, this stew is actually pretty low calorie (a cup of hominy weighs in at under 100 calories!) Using the white meat turkey, and low sodium chicken broth

Turkey Pozole Ingredients:

2 heaping cups of shredded turkey
1 28oz can red enchilada sauce
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic chopped
1 29oz can of white hominy**
2 cups chicken broth
2 bay leaves
1 tsp of Mexican oregano
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Optional Garnish:

Shredded cabbage
Chopped onion
Cilantro
Sliced radish
Chile flake
Mexican oregano
Limes

In a large pot saute the onion and until translucent, add the garlic and cook until fragrant- do not brown. Add the remaining ingredients, except the turkey meat. Simmer on low heat for 20 minutes, stir in the turkey and simmer for about 5 minutes longer. Serve with warm corn tortillas, chips or tostada and refried beans.

**I've met them, but I will never understand them: People who hate hominy! If you are one of the misunderstood, feel free to replace the hominy with regular white corn, black beans or chickpeas!

Week Of Leftovers Day Two: Thai Turkey Lettuce Wraps with Peanut Dipping Sauce

Today is day 2 of our Week of Leftovers and we are swooning over these Thai Turkey Lettuce Wraps. They are the exact thing we are craving after a weekend of rich foods. Here's the recipe:


1 head of butter lettuce
1 cup shredded white meat turkey
1/2 cup shredded cabbage
12 cup shredded carrots
1/4 cup each, chopped cilantro & mint

Place 2 lettuce leaves overlapping on your plate, fill with slaw, cilantro and mint. Garnish with lime wedges and serve with peanut dipping sauce.

Peanut Dipping Sauce

3 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
3 tbsp agave nectar
2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
4 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/2 inch of fresh ginger (or 1 tsp powdered)
a splash or two of sesame oil

Mix all in a food processor until smooth.

We gobbled up three of these for dinner! They were so addicting and SO light. Our favorite Thai place makes wraps like these with ground turkey and tons of fresh herbs. That's where the inspiration for these came from. You could certainly use other types of large leafed lettuce, but I've found butter lettuce works best and it's so tender! Alternative you chop a ton of lettuce and layer everything salad style, which is what I did for with the leftovers (packed them in the DH's lunch box for the next day!).

They are also phenomenal as a meat free option, you could replace the meat with saute'd tofu or hearty mushrooms.

A Week Of Thanksgiving Leftovers

Whew! Guys...We made it!

Congratulations, you all lived through all the traffic, the food, the football, the...family.
You stuffed yourself until you had to be rolled out to the car. You drank and swapped family stories over gigantic moats of turkey gravy and you traversed a dessert table toppling over with delicious, sugar filled, whip cream dolloped treats.

I am so proud of you. In the days after Thanksgiving you are probably in one of two boats, you were either sent home with pounds upon pounds of turkey or you hosted and were left with pounds upon pounds of turkey (and all the sides, desserts!)

So what we are going to do this week is find a way to help you re-use those leftovers in ways that are a little unexpected and even a few that are a little on the healthful side.

First, here's a list of this weeks meals:

Friday: Turkey Pozole  and Chocolate Dipped Dessert Bites
Saturday: Thai Turkey Lettuce Wraps
Sunday: Curried Turkey Hand Pies with Winter Vegetable Salad and Cranberry Sauce Dressing
Monday: Loaded Turkey Taquitos & Green Chile Potato Soup
Tuesday: Pesto Turkey Salad on Croissant
Wednesday: Leftover Stuffing Breakfast Bake
Thursday: Potato Pancakes, Ham Studded Wilted Greens and Poached Eggs

Next, here is a list of little "cheats" in helping you deal with the overwhelming amount of leftovers:

1. What to toss. I am a huge proponent of using up as much leftovers as possible. I hate waste. However, if you really know that no one in your family is going to touch day old gravy- toss it. Recognize what leftover ingredients are usable (leftover meats and cheeses from the snack table, turkey bones for stock) and which are not (wilted garnishes from the turkey plate, mayo based dips or sauces that have been sitting out for hours). I keep all unused bread, crackers, chips and pretzels and pulverize them in my food processor. I use these deliciously flavorful breadcrumbs year round!

2. Think long term. Much of what is leftover can actually be frozen (if you can make room) and kept for weeks or even months. My father in law brought an extra green bean casserole to dinner, so I am freezing the one I made so we can thaw and bake it for Christmas dinner. Leftover desserts freeze well, and I always take about half of the leftover turkey meat I am left with and freeze it for later. The turkey taquitos we'll be making on Monday freeze perfectly! Just pop them out of the freezer right into the oven and bake until golden brown!

3. Bring in the freshness. Leftover have the tendency to feel very one note in terms of flavor, bringing in fresh citrus, chiles, herbs and spices is a great way to breathe new life into your meals.

4. Cook small. The last thing you want to do is end up with a bunch of leftover leftovers! I have to be careful when making things like soups and turkey salad, because it's just the two of us here. So don't cook like me, and make sure you're only preparing what you will reasonably consume in the days following TG.

5. M.Y.O take out. My Thai Turkey Lettuce Wraps were inspired by my favorite Thai place in town. They stuff this tender little lettuce cups with ground turkey, fresh mint and green onion with a creamy, sweet peanut dipping sauce. Yum! So think about throwing some of that turkey onto a white sauce pizza, or into pineapple fried rice, and stuffed into gooey quesadillas. Throwing ethnic flavors at turkey meat works because turkey doesn't have a strong taste at all, it's the perfect canvas for all of your favorite take-out preferences.

As much as I love Thanksgiving I love love love playing with the leftovers. Every year I like to challenge myself to try new things with every part of the leftover Thanksgiving meal, not just the turkey. Is there something that your family loves to do with all of your leftovers? Comment below, I would love to hear from you!

I truly hope you all have had a wonderful Thanksgiving, surrounded by friends and family and I hope you're all as stuffed and happy as I am.

Happy Holidays Ya'll!!

Goat Cheese and Leek Ravioli With Basil Cream Sauce

Oh, Summer! WHY are you so darn hot? I mean I know this is Paso Robles and all but my goodness. We're broaching 115 around here and I am just not built for this.Do you know how much cooking I want to do right about now? None. None cooking. I want to sit with the freezer open and gobble up all the ice cream before it thaws. Nothing can be done in this heat. Nothing!

So instead of describing to you how delicious all the take out pizza and Chinese food has been, how about I share a recipe from a few months ago with you? Deal?

You might of read that we have a new photographer here at HNE who is incredibly talented (all of these gorgeous shots are thanks to her!). Well, Jessica came over a few months ago for our first photo shoot and I made her a new ravioli recipe I was working on. I have a fancy catering gig at the end of the month and this will be the first course for that event. Since it was only my first try I was really stoked with how it came out. So was my taste tester!

I worked at a French restaurant for some time and the chef taught me how to make THE most deliciously rich reduced cream sauces. The technique basically always the same but the possibilities are endless once you've nail it. This incredibly versatile sauce is what the ravioli will be swimming in. The ravioli itself was inspired by my recent trip to France with Mikey. On my birthday he took me to a really nice restaurant near our apartment. We got a full course dinner and our first course was this tiny, yet mind blowing deep dish "lasagna" made with layers of goat cheese, leeks and a creamy lemon sauce. We dunked giant chunks of crusty herbed bread into the terra cotta dish after we scarfed down all the pasta. It was pouring rain outside and this warm, cheesy dish totally hit the mark, especially paired with a glass of strong orange fortified wine. It was a  magnificent meal. I am bringing you a taste of France here, people! Do you get this? Are you feeling the refinement?

So, let's talk about the pasta. If you've never fresh pasta before, fret not. Not only is this recipe stupid easy, but you probably have all the ingredients (eggs & flour) already in your kitchen. If you have a food processor you're really ahead of the game. You can make the filling ahead of time and it keeps in the fridge for about 3 days. A note about the goat cheese: I know some people just do NOT do goat cheese, you can substitute cream cheese if you want to. For the rest of you, don't feel like you need to go out and spend a ton on this cheese, whatever's in your local grocery stores cheese counter will do. I used a small tube of chevre
from Tj's (please tell me you know what Trader Joe's is) and it worked perfectly.

Let's get to it!

Ingredients:

For the pasta:
2 Eggs
2 Cups All Purpose Flour
Salt

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.
Combine the eggs and flour in your food processor until roughly combined. When it looks "sandy" turn out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and fully incorporated. Don't fuss with it too much, or it'll be tough. Let the dough rest for a while. I don't know how long I let it rest for today, but I would say roughly 10-15 minutes wrapped up on the counter or until everything else is ready.


For the filling:
1 Egg, room temp
1 4oz Tube of Goat Cheese, room temp
4 oz Cream Cheese, room temp
2 Leeks, Sliced thinly and sauteed (with so much butter...)
1 Lemon, Zested
Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix ingredients in a large bowl and transfer to a large plastic ziploc bag.

For the sauce:
2  Lemons, Juiced
1/4 Cup Dry White Wine
1 Cup Heavy Cream
2 Tbsp Cold Unslated Butter
2-3 Basil Leaves, Chopped Fine
Salt and Pepper to taste

In a small sauce pan reduce wine and lemon juice by half, over medium heat, this should only take a few minutes. If you've never cooked with wine before just be careful of flare ups. No need to "flambe" the wine,  by the time we're done most of it will cook out. Add the heavy cream and continue to reduce, stirring occasionally to prevent scalding, when your cream lightly coats the back of a spoon and the sauce loses that astringent boozy taste, you're ready for the next step. Take the sauce off of the heat, this is very important! Then add one tbsp of the butter and quickly stir with a spoon or whisk until it is fully melted into the sauce, then you can add the rest of it. Stir in the chopped basil and season with salt and pepper. Once you've mixed everything together you cannot reheat this sauce. It will break and separate, which looks very unappealing!

To Finish the pasta:

Unwrap and divide your dough into 4 balls. Roll out dough, one ball at a time. Think length! You're rolling each ball out into long, wide strips. I could give you measurements, but...who would actually use them?
Keep some damp paper towels nearby, place them over your strips of pasta to keep them from drying out while you work on the others. Once all four are rolled out, grab a little cup of cool water, your filling and either a pasta cutter or a dry drinking glass to help press out the ravioli (a 2-3 inch circle would work well for this, I use a knife or pizza cutter to make imperfect squares).

On one strip of pasta squeeze out a nice sized dollop (about 1 1/2 tbsp) of filling every 2 inches or so. I think I made 4-6 ravioli for one strip of pasta. Yes, they will be large ravioli! Once your filling is piped out, dip your fingers (or a pastry brush) into the cup of water and "paint" water all over the pasta sheet around your filling. Quickly take a second strip of pasta and place it over starting at one end, taking great care to gently push down all around your filling and moving on to the right. You really want to make sure there are no air pockets around the filling and that those two sheets of pasta are nice and fused together now as one. You may now cut out the pasta. I use a pizza cutter and just make a bunch of imperfect squares, feel free to use an actual ravioli cutter. Drop the ravioli a few at a time into your gently boiling water. A rolling boil will destroy them. Once they float up to the top, wait one minute and yank 'em out.

If you start to notice your filling coming out or the dough isn't holding up, stop and make sure your dough is really pressed together. If it is, try refrigerating your ravioli for an hour and trying again.

Now you can place the cooked ravioli into that wonderful delicious sauce we've been working on and very very gently warm it. But you have to be SO careful. I always make the sauce last and spoon it over the ravioli. I serve these as appetizers for the catering company, and we serve one per person then. Just between you and me, I can polish off 3 or 4 of these babies in one sitting. They are a lot of work but my goodness is it worth it! That wonderful tang of goats milk cheese, with the luscious creaminess of the reduction. Did I say 3 or 4? I meant 6-12. At least...

Oh, Goodness

I know it's been a month few weeks and I am being so very naughty by not updating.

On the foodie front I can tell you that Jessica and I have some amazing recipes/photos coming your way, so try and be patient. It'll be worth it, I promise.

On the TTC front I am afraid there is no change. We were checking for ovulation every month but took last month off thinking that if there were less pressure it might yield the desired outcome, but it did not.

It is August- Making that a year since we started this long voyage into trying to become parents. This also marks the point where supposedly we are considered "infertile".

What this basically means is...more tests. I will be calling the lab on the first day of my cycle and they will schedule an appointment for me to come in so they can take a blood sample. They will be testing my progesterone levels, FSH, testosterone and all sorts of other fun acronyms. My Dh's tests all came back normal, which was a relief, but also pretty much made me feel like sh*t.

I hate that it sounds that way...but...Yeah.

If it's not HIM..then it's definitely ME. I know that's a totally unhealthy way to think of it and "shame on me" for not being happy for "us" and all that, but there was a part of me (a small small part) that kind of, sort of, "hoped" it would be him.

Oh, goodness that is awful. And I am so glad you're not a judgy group, because I know how awful that is. But, it's how I feel. There are just so many feelings involved in all of this. Some are easy to make out and some are more complex. I am happy the Dh is a healthy, typical, normal man. With healthy, typical, normal sperm.

I am just bummed that this means more poking and prodding for me. I fucking hate doctors. And I hate needles. So I am NOT thrilled about having to do all this.

OH! Oh! Then, there is the ink test. Have you heard about this? The ink test the Obgyn uses to tell if you have a blockage of the Fallopian tubes? I would rather rip my eye lids off than take this test.

But if the blood work comes back normal that will be the next step. Not looking forward to that at all.

Anyway, yeah....

Let's move on...

I have to tell you guys that I am still looking forward to mailing out some delicious Brown Butter Cookie Company cookies to the 7 most recent "followers" of the blog who post a comment on their favorite Her Name is Ed post.

So please, remember the contest rules. Not only do you need to ADD us and FOLLOW us, you MUST comment on your favorite post to receive your prize!

So GO! Or I will eat all yo cookies!!

Talk soon guys,

as always, thanks for all your support!

~Ed

Giant Cheat Day Cookie: Double Peanut Butter Chip Cookie (And Then Some!)

You may not know this yet, but my husband Mike is a big fan of peanut butter. He eat's it right out of the container, in his lunches with celery sticks, on top of puddings and yogurt and of course in peanut butter cup form, he is a fiend! So when I was experimenting with Giant Cheat Day Cookie flavors it seemed obvious that I would make this Double Peanut Butter Chip Cookie just for him.

I like to share recipes with you that are versatile and easy to play with. This is certainly one of them, you can change it up as much as you like. For this particular cookie, you can throw in dark chocolate chips or chopped candies, I love to dip my peanut butter cookies in chocolate and let the choclate harden. Oh. My.  Adapted from this post at Sally's Baking Addiction, Jessica and I came up with a few different flavors and dubbed them the ultimate Giant Cheat Day Cookie. The Double Peanut Butter Chip Cookie get's a double dose of peanut buttery goodness in the form of two heaping tbsp's of crunchy peanut butter and a generous 1/4 cup of peanut butter morsels. 

This is the recipe you reach for (after your yoga pants) when you come home at the end of a long work week and want a break from all the low-fat, sugar free desserts you've been sticking to. If you're like me and currently trying to shed some pounds, you're not going to be making these every day. It's a treat, cuddle up with one of these huge sweet, salty cookies with a hot cup of coffee or an equally giant glass of milk, because...seriously, how are you gonna dunk it? It's as big as a plate! 

We played with different flavors from classic chocolate chip, to cinnamon chip oatmeal raisin, but the peanut butter cookie was my favorite. That is saying a lot because typically I don't even recognize a cookie as a cookie unless it has chocolate in it! Do you blame me? I encourage you to try some of the other flavors as well, and also to try your own variations- limit your mix in's to about a 1/4 cup. I added a little too much to my cinnamon chip oatmeal cookies and they turned into an expansive gooey mess. Delicious...but a mess.
For a softer cookie take a minute or so off of the baking time and let the cookie cool a little before
attempting to move. Enjoy!

Giant Cheat Day Cookie: Double Peanut Butter Chip


2 tbsp crunchy all natural, salt free peanut butter
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp egg  (scramble an egg in a cup really well take your 2tbsp of egg from here, reserve the remainder for another cookie or for egg wash on another baking project)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup peanut butter morsels
A pinch of salt

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl or a mug mix the sugar, peanut butter and egg until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and scoop onto an ungreased cookie sheet or silicone baking mat. I flattened out the dough, just a little was all it needed. I also dotted the top of the dough before baking so there was a morsel in every bite. In my oven it took about 10-12 minutes. Bake a little longer for a crisp cookie (what I prefer) and around 10 mins for a softer cookie (what basically the rest of the world perfers)

All the makings for one giant double chocolate chip cookie! 

Variations:

Giant Cheat Day Chocolate Chip Cookie

Replace the peanut butter with 2 tbsp room temp butter and the 1/4 cup peanut butter morsels with semi sweet morsels. Mix ingredients and bake the same way.

Giant Cheat Day Cinnamon Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Replace the peanut butter with 2 tbsp room temp butter and the 1/4 cup peanut butter morsels with equal parts cinnamon chips and raisins and add 2 tbsp uncooked oats. Mix and bake for 12-14 minutes. This cookie spreads out a bit more, and is SUPER soft!

Giant Cheat Day Double Chocolate Chip Cookie

Replace peanut butter with tbsp room temp butter and the 1/4 cup morsels with semi sweet chocolate chips, add 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder. Mix and bake for 12-14 minutes.

Got Milk?