It was a Meatless Monday

 Quick and easy was the key to this lunch.
I warmed up 2 Spicy Black Bean Burgers to create a simple healthy lunch wrap.

A layer of loosely chopped lettuce, a couple grape tomatoes, 2 Spicy Black Bean Burgers , a bit of crumbled feta cheese , and a squeeze of fresh lime.

A quick and easy lunch wrap. Next time I think I will chop up the burgers a bit before I add them to the wrap.

It was really that easy.



 I'm a BzzAgent and that I received a product sample, coupon, collateral or other special premium from BzzAgent.

Family Favorites: Enchiladas made simple

A couple of years ago I came across a recipe in a Sunday Coupon slick using Campbell's Cream of mushroom soup to make enchiladas, my family loved it. Since then I have modified the recipe and it has become a family favorite.

6 large tortillas
2 cups shredded chicken (I used frozen chicken I had packaged earlier this month from a rotisiery chicken I bought)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 cups grated  cheddar cheese  divided
1 small can green chilies (mild for family)
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup salsa (I used homemade but you can use your favorite)
1 1/2 cups salsa or enchilada sauce

Nathan helped me make dinner tonight to show of the recipe

I love my old school grater especially for cheese. This bowl is the other half of the cheese from the recipe , it will be used for topping.

Combine everything except half the cheese and the salsa or enchilada sauce

Fill each tortilla with about 2/3 cup of filling, roll each into a long casserole pan (I think this is a 9 x 13)

I usually end up with 6 enchiladas, I will often double the batch and freeze one tray for later.

Top with salsa or enchilada sauce

Cover enchiladas with the other half shredded cheese.

Place in a 350' oven and bake for 20 minutes (mostly just to heat everything up and melt the cheese)

Each of the boys will eat 1 , Mike will eat 2 1/2 and I will eat 1 1/2. When the boys get older I'm sure it will be a double batch when I make them.

Serve with salad for a complete meal!

Enjoy!

Kitchen Science with Salts of the World part 1

A couple of weeks ago I won a collection of Salts of the World during a twitter party. I was pretty excited as I don't win during twitter parties usually.
The package arrived last Friday and has been patiently waiting for us to start using it.
My husband tells me that when I start playing in the kitchen I am like a scientist at work perfecting my next experiment, especially after this summer and all my fermentation fun. When the salts arrived in test tubes we had a good laugh over the forth coming experimenting.

Today I had Pot Roast on the Menu so I took a roast out of the freezer and thawed it for a few hours on the counter and then into the crock pot it went. I seasoned it with The Hawaiian Red , Italian seasoning without salt (good for when you want to play with salt flavors)2 small yellow onions , a a toe of Elephant garlic adding about 2 cups of water and covering it.
As I continued to work on my blogging and social media work for the day, I was continually distracted by this amazing smell coming from the kitchen.

I decided to continue the same salt flavor through the rest of the meal using some to season the potatoes for mashed potatoes and a touch to seasoning the gravy, I will also add a pinch to our veggies.

the orange specs on the potatoes is the salt

There are 6 different salts in the rack, so I figure I will share a different recipe for each one.

While I was given the salt rack as a prize during twitter party, this post and the forth coming posts are in no way sponsored and are something I decided to share with Mom Spot readers.

Healthy cookies, tis the season #CHLight

Tis the season for holiday baking, we all know that, but did you know holiday baking can be healthy and still taste good.

After trying a variety of reworked cookie recipes and failing several times I found one everyone in my house enjoyed!
This is nearly Paleo and it crazy healthy.

Almond Sandies
2 cups Almond Flour
1/4 cup wild grain flour (my blend is kamut berries, quinoa, and wild rice that I milled in my blender)
1 cup butter
1/4 cup C&H Light Blend
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

blend butter and sugar together on high for 30 seconds, add vanilla and mix on medium slowly adding flour until all incorporated. Let stand for 10 minutes to allow flour to soak up the butter.
spoon 1 inch balls onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake in 325' oven for approx 20 minutes until bottom of cookies is golden brown.

I picked up Almond flour at our local health food store to try out. I'm use to working with whole grain flour but this was a first for me. I will definitely be looking for more ways to work Almond flour into my baking , it has a wonderful flavor and a unique hardy texture.

the C& H Light Blend is a good blend of sugar and stevia, not too sweet and bakes up well. I found it at my local Safeway store for around $6.00 for 2 pounds. 

Love making cookies in my Kitchen Aid mixer , though this recipe was pretty small for the bowl the butter and light sugar blend creamed pretty well together.

My old air bake pan fit 9-12 cookies so I ended up making 2 sheets at 20 minutes each sheet it worked out pretty good.

I did find they are fragile cookies but they taste really good

I also topped the cookies with a little "powdered" C &H Blend to powder the sugar I put a 1/4 cup in a small blended jar and blend on high until powdered.

C&H has a $1.00 off coupon available currently on their Facebook page you also don't want to miss following them on twitter or pinterest for more wonderful recipe ideas this holiday and the whole year. 

I'm not a Paleo die hard, but am starting to try more recipes paleo style and was happy to add C&H blend as a transition for my family. 

While I was compensated for this post, the recipe although inspired by a cookbook recipe is my own and my opinions and thoughts are my own. Thank you to DEI worldwide for the opportunity to share this recipe and my thoughts on C & H blend.

Farm to Fork is so amazing

Another reason I love living in a rural farm community.

I dried 6 trays of sweet local corn

Ground it in the blender (I don't have a grain mill, someday Lord willing)

Homemade polenta

Polenta Caprease with fresh garden tomatoes and fresh garden basil

Strawberries , Sun, and Salad with a Mission for Organic

June and July in Oregon means one thing, Strawberry season. OK maybe a few other things, but the strawberry season in Oregon is a welcome event. Local strawberries are super sweet and hit the spot.  When we were asked to try out the new Mission brand Organic tortilla chips I knew I was going to have to use Strawberries in there somewhere.  The other thing that goes perfectly with summer in Oregon is local produce and grilling. With that in mind I created a grilled vegetable salad and a strawberry chips sundae for dinner one evening when we actually had a break of nice weather.

I started the evening with grilled peppers, onions, asparagus, and sausage on a bed of salad topped with cheese, salsa , and yellow peppers and trimmed with Mission Organic Blue Corn chips. The perfect combination of warm, cool, soft, and crunchy.

We followed that with 2 choices for dessert.... Strawberry / rasberry sundaes with blue corn chip trimming or

Coffee ice cream with cinnamon sugar and corn chips .

This was the perfect combination of crunchy and healthy along with a not so healthy moderate ice cream treat. The sweet flavor of the blue corn added to the mix in a perfect blend. Even the boys who weren't sure about chips and ice cream loved it.  I love the Organics side of the mix as I was able to get most of the salad and veggies from local markets or the organic section of our local Safeway store.  As the summer rolls on we will be able to enjoy garden fresh veggies and more fruits and will be watching for more of the Mission Organics to go along with our salads and treats.
For more great recipe ideas check out Mission on Facebook

Thank you to Mission for sending us the bags of chips to create these treats in exchange for our recipes and opinion. No monetary compensation was received.

Garden of blessings

Thursday afternoon my youngest came to the kitchen door holding a bundle of radishes. I asked him where they came from and he plainly said, the garden... They were volunteers from our compost pile last year...
Those radishes got me to thinking about the other greens in the garden.  So Friday afternoon I picked more greens from the garden (again, mostly volunteers) including several more radishes for the greens, red root, spinach (planted this year), basil (planted this year and hoping it does well), and mint from the pot on the patio. I added to that some Kale I picked up at the local Farmer's Market and made a light lunch of sauteed greens and quinoa in coconut milk. Was a nice light lunch, we even added some Peach/ Pineapple Salsa for a little added flavor.  

Such a simple dish but a huge blessing from the garden. 

Summer Smoothie Season helped by Awesome Deals at Safeway #JuneDairyMovies

Summer time means fresh fruit and vegetables, but it also means busy days that need fast breakfasts that are filling. How about some smoothies.

My family loves smoothies and I loving be able to make a variety of smoothies that help each person. I am also excited to be using the Safeway just for u personalized savings program to do my shopping. If you haven't signed up for personalized savings yet it is really easy, you can do it online or at your local Safeway or Safeway affiliate store and immediately start saving 10-20 % on average and more.

So with all those savings I love being able to pick up fun things to make smoothies with including Silk Coconut Milk, Silk Almond Milk, regular Milk, Fage Greek Yogurt,  Simply Orange juice, and sometimes even a not so healthy treat like Drumstick ice cream treats. I am still on the edge about making smoothies with greens but as the summer continues I may try it. 


So each morning when the boys want a smoothie I have options.  I love combining the Greek Yogurt , milk alternatives, and  fruit with a splash of orange juice to create a protein filled, low fat smoothie.


I love  creating a variety.
 How about Chocolate Almond milk,yogurt, and Chocolate Peanut Butter. This combination works best to make ahead and freeze or add ice, it is like a peanut butter cup ice cream shake.
My new favorite: Orange and Mango juice, Coconut Milk,Greek Yogurt, and homemade pineapple (it is actually zucchini canned in pineapple juice). Again ice helps but with this variety it is pretty thick.


Cameron enjoyed the "Pineapple smoothie as a morning breakfast during PBS morning shows. 
The next idea was to use the blender drink bottle and take it on the road. Worked out great. I can take my smoothie with me to run errands, head to the park, etc... I even put it in the freezer while we did some stuff around the house and then took it out as we left the house.


And the best part of this smoothie adventure, we scored a voucher for free movie tickets to see Ice Age Continental Drift when it hits theaters and the boys are crazy excited.  Here's the deal, purchase $40 in select Dairy products at Safeway or an affiliate store and received a Catalina voucher with a code to get your tickets during #JuneDairyMovies Month.

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• “I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Safeway #CBias #SocialFabric”

Cheese Please, who knew there was so much to learn

I was invited to learn about cheese and experience the new Murray's Cheese Shop  at the Burlingame Fred Meyer in Portland recently.
I've had a variety of cheeses in my life, but never really understood cheese. I along with other local area bloggers got a lesson in cheese, cheese and whine pairings, all while enjoying the newly renovated Fred Meyer location at Burlingame. The Burlingame Fred Meyer on Barbur Blvd is the oldest standing Fred Meyer location. It was opened in 1950, and today still have the vintage sign out front welcoming customers along Barbur Blvd in Portland, Oregon.

On a Lovely end of May Spring day these flowers added such a nice touch to the tables. Reminds me that I really need to work on my flower garden so I can have fresh arrangements on the table more often.

We had a plate with 5 cheeses , a spot of Hood River Honey Comb, and Quince Paste. Each cheese offered a different flavor, texture, and feel. We started at 12 o'clock on the plate with the La Tur a pasteurized Cow, sheep and goat milk cheese from Piedmont, Italy. Honestly, it felt like cheese cake without the sweetness.  Next at 2 o'clock on the plate was a Sartori Pepper Bellaavitano pasteurized Cow  cheese from Plymouth Wisconsin. This is a grate and crumble cheese meaning it can be grated or crumbled and is an interesting replacement for a basic Parmigiana cheese.  Our third cheese, Tumalo Farms Pondhopper a pasteurized Goat cheese from Bend, Oregon; this cheese was also in the bag of goodies we were sent home with so I enjoyed this semi-hard cheese with a tangy flavor for a few weeks after. Moving around the plate to 8 o'clock is an Aged Manchego, a pasteurized sheep cheese from Castilla-La Mancha, Spain.  This is a "Cheese 101" staple according the experts. I have to agree with the description as a nutty, caramel flavor.  Finally another Oregon cheese, the Rogue Creamery Caveman Blue from Central Point.  I will be totally honest with you, until this tasting I was NOT a fan of blue cheese. We tasted it along and it was very salty but not too funky. Next we added the Honeycomb to a bit of the blue cheese and surprisingly it totally changed the texture and flavor of the cheese..

After the cheese tasting we mingled and talked with several of the employees including Amy Pitzer the Cheese Master. She has an amazing ability to figure out what cheese someone is describing and also gave up some great ideas for sandwiches with some of the cheeses we sampled. She also pointed out the amazing deals during  the Burlingame Grand Opening on what else, cheese. These prices are good through June 16, 2012 and include a Parmigianon Reggiano for $6 off per pound, Buy 1 Get 1 free on Crave Brothers 8 oz. Fresh Mozzarella, BOGO Margaux Mini Brie, save $7 per pound on Cave Aged Gruyere and several others.

We received a wonderful bag of goodies to take home and create with including a cheese cutter, a slate stone with slate chalk to sample cheese and label it, crackers, 2 cheeses, and a salami.  I got home earlier enough that evening to have the boys sample the cheese with some crackers (I'm saving the crackers from the bag for another day). I was surprised that Cameron my picky eater actually enjoyed both of the cheeses.

 The next day I created a simple sandwich for a late breakfast. I used a Whole Wheat Sourdough from Great Harvest Bread, thin slices on the Tumalo Farms,  Pondhopper , baby spinach , grape tomatoes halfed, and a drizzle of Balsamic Vinegar.  I love simple sandwiches with lots of flavor.

We also tried adding the Aged Manchego to grilled cheese sandwiches and found the flavor it added to really make a basic grilled cheese a whole lot better.


Thank you to Fred Meyer and the Murray's Cheese Shop for hosting this amazing event and for the gift bag full of cheese, goodies, and a bottle of wine.

Being Well means.... #cbias #FloridaOJ

Being Well means happy boys helping and thriving. 

At least that is what this mom thinks about being well.

Part of Being Well is eating nutritious foods even snacks. 

My boys loves smoothies, well so does Mommy. I love that I can make a smoothie depending on how we are feeling and if we happen to be under the weather I can modify our smoothies to help. 

During the winter months I don't always have fresh fruit on hand to make smoothies. We ventured to Safeway to pick up groceries and added some extra fresh fruit and Orange Juice so we could enjoy smoothies during the week.   We also took a look at the Be Well Save Well pamphlet for some fun ideas to help us "Be Well" 

After our shopping trip, I knew the boys were going to want smoothies for breakfast the next morning. 

We enjoyed Strawberry Orange Banana Smoothies the first day followed by Strawberries on Chocolate Cheesecake for Valentines Day.  I'll share the healthy recipe with you.

Strawberry Orange Banana Smoothies

2 cups 100% pure Orange Juice

2 medium bananas

6-8 medium to large strawberries

1 cup of ice

1 Tbsp Agave nectar for sweetening

1 cup of plain yogurt (optional)

Put all ingredients in a blender, blend on a medium speed until smooth. 

 pour into glasses and share with your family

If you would like to see the whole experience check out our Google+ Story.

Also be sure to check in with 100% Pure Florida Orange Juice on Facebook.  for more great ideas with Orange Juice.

• This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias, recipes and opinions are that of the author.