the fun news of the day is that i wore a pair of pants today that, in december, i had put up high on a shelf in the closet because they felt too uncomfortable to wear. today, they felt fine. that’s worth something!
i went grocery shopping again this afternoon during a break at work and found the elusive chickpea miso, some “cashew cacao raw hempbutter” which i actually think will be more appealing than its name might imply, and some “clean” chicken sausages that i’m very excited to try.
we started the day off with “peach apple cobbler” (smoothie) and… i have to say that i was actually a little overwhelmed by the vanilla and cinnamon in this one. if i try something similar again, i’ll dial back on both of those. moderation, people! but maybe i shouldn’t have had two such similar smoothies on consecutive days. the recipe also didn’t make a whole lot of smoothie. these recipes would reallllly benefit from a note at the top, indicating the number of servings they make.
(sorry about the iphone photo…didn’t have my fancy camera at work.)
lunch was a re-vamping of a family favorite we like to call, “yummy bean and chicken burritos.” i’ll add the original recipe at the bottom of this post, with notes for how to eat it “clean.” we also tried eating the filling with lettuce wraps, but they weren’t very satisfying as wraps and it tasted better just mixing it up on the plate. especially with the addition of the avocado (on my plate. poor mr. h-s doesn’t care for avocados. lucky me!). i can’t remember where i originally got this recipe (and i’m fairly certain it had a different name), but it’s really served us well over the years. the rice was still crunchy (rice cooker fail. gonna try the baking method again, with a few modifications next time.), but other than that, this was quite delicious and one i’m sure we’ll eat again.
since i’d finally found the chickpea miso, i had to try the “soup-n-go” recipe from the book. i’ve never had miso soup, so i wasn’t sure what i was getting myself into, but i was just so excited to find it for sale locally instead of having to mail order it that i had to buy it. (although it might take me a looooong time to finish up this jar. anyone else want to share it?) the recipe called for mushrooms and sunflower sprouts, neither of which i had, so i just used the other ingredients and got this bright green soup as a result. sadly, the ginger root and sesame oil pretty much overpowered the miso, so i’m still not certain what it tastes like. good thing i have more! i gave mr. happy stuff a sip and he immediately detected the miso without me even saying anything (how does he do that??) and he decided he’d rather have a fruity smoothie. tonight’s was pineapple, blueberries (frozen), coconut water and spinach (yeah, that last one’s not really a fruit, but mr. happy stuff said he didn’t mind).
happy toddler was not so happy tonight and has been on a bit of a food strike (he hasn’t even touched his milk bottle the last two nights as we’ve put him to bed–those of you who know him will realize how bizarre that is) and i don’t know if it’s illness, pain, or just being weirded out by mama and daddy’s new eating patterns.
here’s the recipe i mentioned above:
Yummy Bean and Chicken Burritos
1 can black beans, rinsed        1 lb. chicken
2 chopped green onions         ¼ t. chili powder
1 T. lemon or lime juice         ¼ t. pepper
¼ t. cumin
½ t. salt (divided)                   2 c. cooked rice
4-6 large flour tortillas           ½ lb. pepper jack cheese, grated
Cook the rice. Combine beans, green onions, lemon juice cumin and ¼ t. salt in a small bowl. Set aside. Rub the chicken with chili powder, pepper and remaining salt. Cook the chicken, let cool and slice. Wrap beans, chicken, cheese and rice in tortillas. Wrap tortillas in foil. Bake at 350º until the cheese melts – about 15 minutes. Can also be assembled ahead of time and cooked when needed.
to make this recipe “clean” just eliminate the tortillas and cheese and make brown rice instead of white.
