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This is one of our favourite vegetarian (and easily vegan) dinners based on this recipe - and one Gwen gobbles up faster than I can! I love that these burritos (or nachos) are filled with vegetables and legumes … often the one meal out of many offers in which Gwen will consume the veggies. This recipe is a little on the spicy side, so you may want to take out some filling for burritos for the little kids before adding all the spices - the last time I made these, they were too hot for Gwen, but I don’t generally measure the spices …

Sweet Potato and Bean Burritos

Ingredients:

• 6 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• one can (or one cup) of any beans, drained and pureed - we use pinto beans most often
• 3 tbsp milk
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp each cumin, turmeric, and chili powder
• 1 package tortillas
• salsa
• grated cheddar cheese
• sour cream or unsweetened yogurt

Directions:

1. Boil sweet potatoes until fork tender, drain
2. Add milk, garlic to sweet potatoes and mash
3. Combine pureed beans, spices, and sweet potatoes, stirring well
4. Add big globs of filling to wraps and place seam down on a cookie sheet
5. Smother burritos with salsa and grated cheese
6. Broil burritos until cheese is melted

Serve with big dollops of sour cream or yogurt. Can also be made as nachos - just place the filling, salsa, and cheese on tortilla chips and broil until melted.

Today is one of those days!

Brad worked from home today and it was wonderful to not rush about in the morning in preparation for him to go to work and it was awesome to enjoy his company in short spurts throughout the day.

I needed to just write down how well my day went!

I got up early - about 5:45AM thanks to the smiley-est alarm clock EVER. I showered, headed downstairs for a couple of pieces of toast and to prep for morning smoothies, going off to morning prayer @ 7AM.

Back at 7:40AM, I made smoothies, and Gwen’s currently preferred breakfast: a big bowl of yogurt with berries in it and a thick slice of carrot-raisin-nut loaf smeared with butter. Brad decided to work from home and we enjoyed leisurely smoothie drinking

I had a fabulous visit with my friend Jen and her sons Anderson & Taiten in the morning, after which a botched attempt at ordering pizza ($34 for two medium pizzas? No thanks, Pizza Pizza!) led us to enjoy eggs and toast for lunch.

Gwen went down for her nap - for the second day in a row without me sitting beside her! What a big girl she’s becoming! After her nap, Gil was asleep, so I laid him down and went with Gwen to the library - just the two of us! It was a blast!

When we came home I began dinner prep and we had delicious quesadillas. Then, Gwen and I and Gil headed to the park.

Just to re-cap:

• two loads of laundry washed, dried, & folded
• 2L of yogurt made
• 3 large loads of dishes done
• three family meals (plus toddler snacks!)
• one mommy-daughter outing
• one after-dinner trip to the park

All-in-all, I’m declaring today a complete success!

I’ve been experimenting to make a friend’s curry recipe in the crockpot - here’s what I’ve come up with!

Crockpot Green Thai Curry

Ingredients:

• 1 can coconut milk
• choice of veggies (I’ve used kale, mushrooms & asparagus, cherry tomatoes, etc.)
• 2 tbsp + green curry paste
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 onion, chopped
• chicken/turkey pieces - I don’t use too much … more like as a flavouring

Instructions:

1. Add coconut milk, veggies, and meat to crockpot.
2. In pan, stir-fry onion, garlic, and curry paste for 2 minutes. Add to crockpot and stir well.
3. Let simmer on low for 6 hours or until veggies are tender.
4. Serve over brown rice.

This recipe is very simple to double - just twice as much veggies and meat and pop the leftovers in the freezer for a ready-made meal!

You can also make this the conventional way by stir-frying the garlic, onion, and veggies in a large pan, putting them to the side, then stir-frying the curry paste separately. Then, add the veggies back to the pan with the coconut milk and meat, simmering for 5-10 minutes. It’s really a quick dinner to make regardless (as long as the meat is already cooked), but I love the convenience of not having to make it *at* dinnertime. Also, the original called for 1 tbsp fish sauce, but I’ve found you don’t really need it.

If you’re like me and love risotto but think that cooking it is ridiculous, I’ve solved your problem.

Crockpot.

Check out the crockpot risotto recipe HERE. It was ridiculously yummy and I added a bunch of chopped swiss chard to add a veggie. My goodness. I’ll definitely be making it again.

… from my sister Jenny’s blog. Wuhoo for stolen blog fodder!

I can’t get to sleep without:
Brushing my teeth!! But seriously, at this stage in my life (with a 3-month-old and all), I can fall asleep every night just fine, thank you!

If I were a doll, the accessories packaged with me would be:
Gwen, ring sling (or babywearing accessory of some sort), laptop

I have an irrational fear of:
Being attacked by a man while I’m walking somewhere (maybe that’s not irrational?)

At my grandparents house I usually eat:
Ummm … I remember once eating really nasty soup, does that count?

When I was born I weighed:
7 lbs something (Jenny, you were in the 7’s, too!)

I am most opposed to:
Commercialism, war, abortion, the “cry-it-out” method

On myspace I like to stalk:
Me no have no myspace. On Facebook, I often stalk my sisters =)

I am too old to be:
In grade school - or even high school, for that matter!

I find the thought of childbirth:
Exciting and empowering!

Next door to my house is:
Railroad tracks. Like RIGHT next door.

My feet are:
Flat. I need orthopedic shoes =(

My preferred style of jeans are:
Blue ones that have a bit of flare

I know how to cook:
Quite a bit of stuff!! That doesn’t mean I’ve been doing it lately, though …

I am annoyed at:
The fact that I can’t get anything done during the day anymore. I’ve realized I’m a ‘doing’ person and that not be able to ‘do’ drives me bonkers! I’m also annoyed that our house isn’t completely unpacked/set-up, even after being here for months and months …

Men should always:
Hold the door for women =)

Women should never:
Talk about others behind their backs (please remind me of this)

The scariest sea creature is:
Sharks

The world is over populated with:
Cell phones

I recently broke:
Hmm … I can’t remember!

I last cried because:
A girl I love very much is in a very difficult situation

My favorite shoes are:
My birkenstocks (that’s right. I wear birkenstocks)

As a parent my greatest fear is:
Being too selfish and my kids knowing it

When I think of Full House:
I think of the time I tried to start a club like the one in the book Phone Call from a Flamingo - did you even know there was a Full House Stephanie book series??

Well. After a decent amount of housework (3 loads of laundry, 2 loads of dishes, and a cleaned-out-of-all-non-edible-leftovers fridge) and a glass of chocolate milk (I know. How much chocolate milk does this girl actually drink??), I am here to blog. And, seeing as it’s only 3:07, I’ve got enough time post-blogging to watch a movie and knit. This isn’t turning out to be a half-bad day at all!

So, Brad and I went to a Table Charm demonstration last night for a free 2-night hotel stay in “one of blah many cities in Canada.” Apparently our name was pulled in a draw at the wedding show (which was last January … hmmm). So anyways, we went. All we had to do for our free “vacation” was listen/watch a cookware demonstration. It was quite entertaining if nothing else.

I gotta say, not having had tv or commercials for the past 8 months has really opened my eyes to the ridiculousness of advertising. After “ooh-ing” and “ah-ing” us all (6 or 7 couples) with his live cooking demonstration (sprinkled with “Really, I’m not a chef!”s), we were required to watch a taped promotional video.

Give me a break - “Your food is cooking in a semi-vacuum” “The cookware has eight inner layers of special alloys to distribute the heat evenly.”

Semi-vacuum?

Special alloys?

Since when are *those* terms technical? I kid you not, DH and I giggled through the whole 5 minute video. The whole thing was a huge joke - except, of course, when the guy was discussing the harms in non-stick cookware.

WARNING: Do not read the next paragraph if you don’t like hearing about carcinogens!
***ASIDE: Did you know that the US is banning all non-stick everything in February 2007? Usually the US is the LAST to jump on the “ban something for your health” bandwagon, but right now, Canada’s digging in it’s heels and deciding that we’re a-okay with PFAO-induced cancers. Apparently, there’s warnings on all T-Fal cookware that leaving it on a warm burner will cause (WILL not MIGHT) toxic vapours that kill pet birds and cause flu-like symptoms in humans. Mmm-mm! Serve me up some of that T-Fal goodness!***

So, all fancy terms aside, we won’t be buying the $7000 10-peice set of cookware (yep, that’s it’s retail price, but we could get it for $3999!!!), but I must say that I’ll be trying some of their fancy techniques with our stuff and seeing if the special alloys and semi-vacuum of the ‘house down-payment expensive’ Table Charm stuff can be re-created with our ‘half a rent-cheque expensive’ Cuisinart brand. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Oh, and the special alloys? According to their product book, they’re all Aluminum =)