Lately

My sister Kimberly posted on her blog a bit ago a picture Asher drew and I loved it! Next time Asher got out his markers Kimber told him I liked his last drawing. He then proceeded to draw me a bunch of pictures and sent them to me in the mail!

It reads "Dear Aunt Heather, I drew you a snake, and a duck, and two snakes. No, not two snakes,
a Rainbow! Its gonna have lots of clouds. Will you please put these on your fridge? And I want
you to come to my house. I drew these pictures for you because I love you.  Love, Asher

His drawings. Top Left: Rainbow. Bottom Left: "Hotsy Potsy Caterpillar"
Top Right: Snake and a duck. Bottom Right: A silly caterpillar

Stella came over later that day and drew me a picture too!
This is her when she was a pig and had black hair
[her words not mine!]

Dylan and I have been working on changing out diet to
eat healthier. Dylan is showing signs of dairy allergies
like his Mom and sister so we've been eating careful for a while.
I've also replaced our white rice and pasta for brown rice
and whole wheat noodles!

Quinoa replaced our macaroni noodles in my "frequently used foods jar"
and boy do we love it! 

Quinoa and Beans

1 tsp vegetable oil                                          

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 onion, chopped                                           

salt and pepper to taste

 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped              

1 can corn

3/4 cup uncooked quinoa                               

1 can black beans, rinsed

1 1/2 cups vegetable broth                            

 1 can kidney beans, rinsed

1 teaspoon cumin                                          

 1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Heat oil in medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in onion and garlic and saute until lightly browned. Rinse quinoa and mix into saucepan and cover with vegetable broth. Season with cumin, cayenne, salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes. Stir in corn, beans, and cilantro. [I used dry cilantro bc that is what I had on hand]

Quinoa [keen-wah] is a whole protein by itself and cooks almost just like rice. It is extremely versatile and so yummy!

I made a strawberry sorbet and topped it with avocado pudding!
yes, delicious chocolate pudding made from avocados.

I tried to make it pretty and stuff.

Avocado Pudding

2 avocados

2/3 cup agave or honey

1/2 cup cocoa powder

Mix! I mixed mine in my Vitamix and had to add quite a bit of water/milk to move it around. I also used raw honey and it was a bit sweet for me so I added more cocoa powder [next time I will just use less honey]. For the STRAWBERRY SORBET I just threw a bunch of frozen strawberries in my Vitamix and added a tiiiny bit of water.

With school getting so busy I decided to start relying more on my crockpot!
It's so nice to come home from school and not have to worry about one more
thing. I made Santa Fe Chicken tonight

Served with rice [in my peacock bowl I painted at color me mine]

Sante Fe Chicken

2 chicken breasts                                         

1 can kidney beans

1 teaspoon garlic powder                            

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper      

1 small onion, chopped                               

1 teaspoon cumin

1 can diced tomatos with green chilies  [or add 1 small can green chilies]        

1 teaspoon garlic powder         

1/4 cup chopped cilantro   

1 can corn                                                    

salt and pepper to taste

1 can black beans                                         

Combine chicken broth, onion, tomatoes, chilies, corn, beans, cumin, cayenne, garlic, and salt and pepper in crockpot. Lay chicken on top. Cook on Low for 10 hours or High for 6 hours. [I did Low with frozen chicken and it was done when I got home from school 7 hours later] 1/2 hour before serving remove from crockpot and shred. Return to crockpot and stir. Serve over rice or quinoa.