Cookbook Winner!

Laura!

Happy Herbivore Light and Lean Book Tour and Giveaway!

It is no secret that I am a huge Happy Herbivore fan.  I have all her cookbooks, am on her meal plan site as a testimonial, and did a giveaway last year!  She makes it super easy to eat well.  Being that I am a working mom and Trevor and I trade shifts taking care of Jack, I don't have a ton of time to cook at night when I am trying to wrangle Jack.  I also don't want to spend ungodly amounts of money on groceries.  But eating healthy (Whole Foods Plant Based No Oil) is really important to me and it is even more important that I make Jack a WFPBNO dinner every night (Trevor already has their breakfasts and lunches covered!).  Lindsay makes it so easy with her cookbooks.  And I have to say that this cookbook is by far her best.  The ingredients are straight forward, the recipes are quick and easy requiring little expertise, time or special equipment, and the meals are super satisfying and tasty.  I tend to like nearly anything healthy but Trevor is quite a bit more discerning.  He has loved everything I have made so far, even the tempeh bacon...and he doesn't like tempeh!  Yay!

Lindsay was kind enough to select me to participate in her blog tour again this year.  That means I get to tell you all how wonderful this cookbook is, share a recipe, and then give a copy away to a reader!  The recipe I chose to share with you all is the Meatloaf Bites.  This is such an easy, filling and versatile recipe.  I like to make it on the weekend with some sort of potato for a quick lunch.  It was actually the first recipe I made from the book.  The bites are the perfect size for Jack, too!  By the way, do you see that all of the nutrition info has Weight Watchers points added at the bottom?  I know a lot of people on Weight Watchers and I think they would love this new addition!

Meatloaf Bites

Makes 8

Gluten-free, Quick, Budget

One afternoon I grabbed what I thought was corn from the freezer but later realized it was mixed vegetables. Once they thawed on the counter I knew they weren’t going back in, so I looked for a new, inventive way to use them. A can of kidney beans started calling, and before I knew it I had a vegetable-filled meatloaf in the oven. Since this meatloaf is baked in a muffin tin (great for serving sizes and portion control), I call it meatloaf “bites” and, yes, leftovers are great as a burger!

1 15-oz can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 tbsp onion powder

1 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp Italian seasoning

1 tbsp chili powder (add another 1 tsp if you like it spicy)

3 tbsp ketchup

2 tbsp mustard

1 tbsp Vegan Worcestershire Sauce (recipe in full cookbook)

1 c frozen mixed vegetables, thawed

6 tbsp instant oats

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners or use nonstick. Mash beans in a bowl with fork or potato masher until well mashed. Add remaining ingredients, except oats, and stir to combine.

Stir in oats. Spoon into muffin tin and pack down. Bake for 20 minutes until crisp on the outside and fairly firm to the touch (firms a bit as it cools). Serve with ketchup, Quick Gravy (pg. 188), etc.

Per Bite Calories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Fat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.7g Carbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.9g Fiber. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6.5g Sugars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3g Protein. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5.8g WW Points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

 I have also made:  Chocolate Surprise Frosting, Sweet Pea Guacamole, "Cheese" Ball, Marinara Sauce, Tempeh Bacon, AJ's Vegan Parmesan, Everyday Mushroom Gravy, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Deviled "Eggs", Taco Burgers, Ruby Chocolate Muffins, Chocolate Cake, Classic Cornbread, Lentil Joes, Skinny Mac 'n Cheese, Thai Tacos, Parmesan Greens, Chickpea Tenders, Jerk Tofu, Spinach & Artichoke Dip, Eggplant Parm, Tofu Scramble, Pineapple Stir Fry, Soba Peanut Noodles, and Skinny Puttanesca.  I am not exaggerating when I say that these were all great.  My family all gobbled up the deviled "eggs" (even saying they were better than the real thing), spinach dip, sweet pea guacamole and "cheese" ball at my Christmas Eve get together.  Trevor was fighting me for kale when I made the Parmesan Greens (really?!).  Jack eats the Chickpea tenders like most kids do McNuggets.  Most of these meals I have shared with either Trevor, my friend Heather, Jack or other family and friends and no one has had a single complaint.  Healthy food done right!

In addition to all of these yummy recipes, there is a section with easy at home workouts to do.  I haven't had a chance to do any of them (to be honest, I loathe exercise that isn't dancing with my baby or yoga these days) but I am motivated by the fact that it looks like I could start doing any of them today and don't need a gym membership or special equipment.  She also discusses the 100 calorie factor with weight loss and The Utopia Paradox about what is really "good" and "bad".  They are really good short articles for perspective in being healthy. 

So, do you want your own copy of this awesome cookbook now?  Before 11:59 PM on Sunday 12/29/2013, leave me a comment here letting me know what you plan to do this new year to be a more healthier you.  I will choose a winner by random on Monday morning and you will have your own copy sent to you!  Good luck and if you don't win, I really hope you still consider purchasing this yummy cookbook! :)

Jack is 15 Months Old!

Well, he was 15 months on the 11th.  But life has been busy so 6 days late (when I haven't blogged in 3 months!) is to be expected.  I really though once he hit the year mark things would start slowing down.  But I have so much to say, actually!

Stats:

Jack is 20lb 8 oz. and 31 1/2" long.  He has finally broke the 20 pound barrier, if you can believe it.  He is still in 12 month clothes and on the smallest rise of his BumGenius.  My big baby is still a peanut.  

Sleep and Eating:

At the end of October or beginning of November my sleep deprivation was really, really getting to me.  We noticed that he would be fine sleeping until we came in the room and then once he could see us from his crib, he would cry until we pulled him into bed.  Then, he would proceed to nurse all.night.long.  I was touched out.  So we put his crib upstairs and he has been sleeping through the night ever since.  Occasionally he needs a bottle, diaper change or cuddles once a night, but not every night.  It has been AMAZING having some time at night to myself or to spend with Trevor.  It is even better to wake up in the morning and not feel like a zombie.

We are still nursing.  He really has zero desire to stop.  I tell him "all done" when he seems to be nursing infinitely but he freaks out.  At this point I feel as though it is more comfort than anything else so I am not fighting it.  He also, knock on wood, has yet to get sick and stayed healthy through my flu bout, so we will keep with it.  The sleeping through the night cut back nursing a ton, though, and brought with it my first postpartum period.  Disastrous is all I have to say about that.  He has vanilla sweetened non dairy milks (he likes almond and coconut so far the best) and really will only drink from straw or his bottle.  He is still having a hard time tipping up a sippy.  He eats three meals a day and a couple snacks.  He really enjoys freeze dried mango, cheerios, raisins, peas, fruit, tomatoes and casseroles.  Silverware is really fun for him and he is getting so good at it!  I love that Trevor cooks a vegan meal every day for the two of them and he makes him vegan breakfasts as well.  I'm pretty lucky to have such an awesome husband!

Development:

So much has happened that this is about to be a really random paragraph.  He has 10 teeth (4 top and 4 bottom center and left top and bottom one year molars).  These molars are hell.  The third is coming in now and they really screw with his happy disposition and sleeping.  Communication is really increasing!  He understands us more and more often and he is saying more.  He can meow, woof, make an elephant noise, "uh oh", "what's that?", "yeah", "mamama", "dadada" and the cutest "hai" for hi.  We picked that last one up from looking at food in the oven with the light on and saying hi.  (Which, he LOVES to cook alongside me at night.  It is adorable.)  Besides cooking with me, Jack loves dancing.  If you put on music or if some is playing randomly and he starts busting a move.  The music on Disney Channel, specifically with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, is the best.  There really isn't anything cuter.  Baths, diaper changes, cleaning his nose or wiping him down after meals is akin to being skinned alive...or you would think that with the way he screams.  He is such a busy body that detaining him for a few seconds or minutes to do these tasks is just unreasonable, in his opinion.  We finally cut his hair into a big boy haircut before Thanksgiving and he looks like a toddler now.  It is hard to believe that his baby-ness is slipping by so quickly.  We've played in the snow, leaves and with his basketball hoop a lot this fall.  He is loving undecorating the Christmas tree right now.  Little bits of my personality are coming out.  He enjoys putting things in groups and in lines in perfect order.  A little OCD like his mama.  He's also a people pleaser; always happy to do anything where you say "please" or "thank you" to him.  He's also a clean freak like his mom and dad.  Pushing the buttons on the washing machine and dryer and holding the cord while dad vacuums is pretty exciting for Jack.  We have a hard time keeping him out of the dog dish and the toilet.  Poor Sof's dish is always on the counter and the bathroom doors are always shut.  He can get off furniture now and is skilled at by passing the babyproofed cabinets.  Luckily we have some pretty high and sturdy baby gates.  Jack is such a happy and social (and cute!) little boy.  We are so, so, so lucky to be his parents.      

Other randomness:

We finally finished getting our floors done and have plans to get blinds this month (since I was an idiot and cut our strings to keep them out of Jack's reach and now we can't close them).  We will get a few dead trees chopped this spring and then I want a break from house updates.  While the end product is great, I can not stand it being done and the mess it creates.  I was eating a little dairy and vegan junk food recently (as was Trev) and I got the flu for the first time in forever.  I am 100% back into a whole foods plant based vegan diet and am not looking back.  I forgot how easily I get sick when I eat like that.  It isn't worth it to me.  I am LOVING the new Happy Herbivore cookbook, Light and Lean, and will be doing a review and giveaway on 12/29.  I'm pretty excited because I am hosting my family on Christmas Eve for WFPB appetizers.  I am really hoping to knock their socks off!  Work is going well and I have been changing a lot of what I have been doing but the kids are doing such amazing work.  It is infinitely more time consuming and intense for me but I think it pays in the long run.  We got family pictures done mid-October but they aren't on this laptop and I am too tired to upload them, so you will have to just check them out on my Facebook page.  Well that is it for now!  I will at the very least be back at the end of the month for the Happy Herbivore post.  :)