Vegetarian Taco Pie

Thanks to Meredith for this delicious recipe (I think I liked it even more than Jonathan did!). It was very easy to make, inexpensive, and customizable to what your family may prefer most. Jonathan just mentioned not loving the corn in there (though corn is his favorite veggie) because the consistency of the corn was not complementary to the other mix-ins...whatever...he's weird. I thought the corn was excellent in this.
I hope you like it!

Taco Pie

1 box Jiffy
Ingredients for Jiffy corn bread
Taco Seasoning
1 package Morningstar Veggie Ground Beef (I forgot to buy this, but thankfully I had a package of SmartFood Ground Beef and it worked fine)
Mix-ins, drained (I used corn, black beans, white kidney beans on Meredith's recommendation and also added diced tomatoes)
shredded cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Prepare Jiffy mix in bowl as directed and set aside
3. Brown veggie meat in skillet and mix taco seasoning and 2/3 c water until all water is fully mixed in
4. Spray 13 x 9 baking dish with PAM and pour in drained mix-ins (I liked the layering idea, so I went with that and put meat, tomatoes, white beans, corn and then black beans)
5. Cover with cheese
6. Drop spoonfulls of cornbread mix on top and then spread with rubber spatula until fully covered (this WAS tough! I wonder if a wet spatula would have worked better).

7. Bake 15-20 minutes or until cornbread is just golden.

8. Cool 10 minutes and serve. We added a Southwestern Salad as a side and it was awesome!

Penny had fun making it with me :)

The best a (wo)man could get!

Time to pay homage to the best guy a girl could ever have! Here's a recent pic of my sweet hubby with his new favorite gal after feeding her the evening bottle. He's a wonderful partner who always wants to make sure our relationship feels equal in all parts. On top of that, he's a loving and generous daddy to our little Miss Bridget, who just adores him (he gets all those smiles for the pictures!). I'm so lucky!!!

Our little helper!

Bridget is just growing up so stinkin' fast! We had her 4 month well baby visit this week (3 weeks overdue, thank you RSV...but who's counting) and she's ready to start eating cereal (also overdue) and in a few weeks we can start veggies if we deem her ready! Agh! Our awesome pediatrician also mentioned that we need to start thinking about baby proofing...yikes...I think I'm going to start that slow and steady so I'll be ready in a month or so when she may be getting mobile. Again...yikes!
Here she is at the office on Friday...she looks thrilled to be there :)




At least we know she's going to be a great helper around the house. She loves being in the kitchen while mommy cooks and as you can see, she even wants to help open things!




Here's Miss B standing on the ladder in her room helping to hang some cute decorations in her room that mommy never got around to doing. Thanks for "giving her a hand", daddy!

Meatball subs and new babies :)

I'm sad that I don't get to post any pics for this entry, so it will be short and sweet. Last night, I was running low on pre-planned dinner ideas (and I was being lazy...shocker) and didn't feel like going to the store to re-stock. I'm getting really good and cooking with the things we have instead of thinking of what I want and going and getting it. But I digress...

I remembered some sub sandwich bread that was in the freezer as well as 1/2 a bag of italian flavored meatballs. I thought..why have we never made meatball subs?? A new favorite dinner was born! I baked the meatballs, heated the 1/2 jar of mushroom Prego from the fridge and toasted the bread. A little parmesan, Cavendar's, and french fries (yes, clearing things out) later...our mouths were watering! It was just right.

I'm pretty picky about veggie meats that are impersonating my favorite real meats. Meatballs are a long-time fav, but the Nate's (don't have the link) brand was a real winner! Usually we get VeggiePatch, but these new ones were yummier.

Bridget and I also got to see our new friend, Tenley, yesterday! She's the beautiful new daughter of two sweet friends of mine from UNT and I can't wait to see her again. Playdates begin!

A veggie blog is born

Though I love blogging about my sweet Miss B, I feel like adding a little more depth to the blog will help me be more loyal to posting. That being said, I've decided to document my veggie cooking experiments and blog about my life as a meat-eater who is married to (and cooks for) a full-on vegetarian (no pesca cheating!). As I whip up some of my favorite veggie recipes (mexican tortilla bake, veggie "chik"en pot pie, etc., I will put up some pics as well as recipes for your enjoyment. I'm also always looking for interesting vegetarian cooking blogs. Here is a great husband-pleasing treat that I found on Sara's blog. It's perfect for football game days!



(I couldn't get the pic to load correctly, so sorry about it being turned)

Veggie Corn Dogs (no deep-frying!)

1 pkg corn bread mix fully prepared as directed
3-4 veggie hot dogs (I used Smart Food brand)

I used the mini-muffin tray and really liked it. I think I'd prefer these as minis than as full-sized muffins.

Mix batter as directed. Cut dogs in about 3/4 inch bites so each one can stand up in the muffin cup and be about even with rim. Fill cups 1/2 way with batter. Stand one dog bite in middle of cup. Cover dog bites with any remaining batter. Bake at packaged temperature for 1/2 time requested. Enjoy!

We found that dipping in a little ketchup and mustard makes these AWESOME! Also, as you see in this pic, some dogs are fully covered and some not. I prefer the covered ones much more.

My Left Foot

Oh, how I love my feet! Just when I fully mastered every inch of my hands, I discovered this perfectly paired set of toys attached to my lower half. Amazing!!! My mom gets annoyed when she tries to dress me and/or change my diaper because I'm always putting these siren-like steppers up to my face and she can't get anything done, but who cares...this is freakin' sweet!

RSV is everywhere!

Poor Julie and Abby...the little one has RSV, too! I swear, she couldn't have gotten it from Bridget. At least I know its going around in a serious way so I don't feel too bad about it. Hopefully, Abby will have only a mild case and will be back to her old self in no time. Such a cutie patootie!


The two little ones hanging out a few months ago


So tiny! B and Abby were only a few weeks old when they met for the first time :)


Julie and Abby on New Year's Eve


B and Abs checking out their first Baby Einstein together

All better!

HAPPY!

Helping Mommy cook breakfast over the long weekend

Can anyone say "Gerber baby"???


Thank goodness our happy baby is back! Her congestion is mostly gone (why didn't we know about Aldex-D sooner? That stuff is magical) as is her cough and her cheery demeanor is back in full swing. She's also talking SO MUCH now. Her sitter even comments on her chattiness pretty much daily. Man, are we going to have to limit her phone time when she's older :). We're just glad to see that she's happy again. It's so sad to have a sick little one who doesn't have the capability to help herself...til next time, sickness!

Baby nebulizer....what a little trooper!

Here's a few pics of little Miss B getting her first breathing treatment via nebulizer yesterday. She did great! I actually think she likes getting it done, despite all the horror stories we heard from the doctor. More evidence of her being the greatest baby in the world, of course!




At least she can still be her happy baby self despite her sickness. She loves daddy more than anyone and she's really starting to enjoy her nighttime books!

RSV.....not for me!

Well, the little goober finally has her first icky sicky. Yes, RSV has found its way to my daughter and she (and mommy and daddy!) is not happy about it. At least she is still finding ways to sleep okay...'cause its her favorite thing to do!...and she's still eating. Hopefully her Friday follow-up appointment will have good news. I'm realizing that few things are harder than having to get up and go to work knowing my little baby is not feeling her best. It's so sad! Thank God for my wonderful Mom (Grammy...man, do we love Grammy), who has been able to relieve us while Jonathan and I find a way to stay with her and juggle work since she can't go to the sitter. What would we all do without our loving families, right???

Enjoy the picture of happier moments before the ickiness took over. We're loving our exersaucer! Both the hand-me-down I got from a sweet parent at school (pictured), and the high-tech, new one we got from Grammy and Pop for Christmas! Getting so big :)