meatless monday: karina's sweet potato black bean enchiladas

Life was really tricky when Henry was allergic to both wheat and dairy. I realized how often I threw cheese into things to make them taste delicious and often struggled with the "what's for dinner" dilemma. I really didn't like the idea of a "mom and dad dinner" and  "Henry dinner". Early on in my search for tasty gluten-free recipes, I came across the Gluten Free Goddess blog. I would say that I used her recipes for about 90% of my cooking for a good year until Henry became tolerant of wheat. I recall a few times when Eric and I would be chopping vegetables together, commenting on the food and ingredients, to which we'd then typically say, "Oh Karina...." and then we'd smile and take a sip of our wine.

One of our family favorites of hers are the sweet potato black bean enchiladas. The first time I made these, I remember thinking that they were going to be horrible. Enchiladas without cheese? Not possible. Trust me though. The vegan version of these is delicious. De. Lish. Us.

meatless monday: rotini and black bean salad

Yesterday was the 2nd Annual Love Fest/Potluck with the Northfield mommas. It turned out to be a beautiful afternoon with the greenest body of water I've ever seen, Lake Byllesby, as the background. Anyway, it was great to get all of the families together once again. I will no doubt remember this potluck as the one where Thisbe ran away. And away. And away. :)

In any event, today's recipe is the pasta salad (yes, another pasta recipe) I made for the potluck. Of course, all credit goes to Epicurious/Self Magazine.

Rotini and Black Bean Salad

8 oz whole-wheat rotini (or any pasta)
6 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp minced garlic
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil (or grapeseed oil)
1 can (19 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup fresh corn kernels, blanched (or frozen corn, thawed)
1/4 cup chopped green onions, white parts only
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1 ripe avocado
Juice of 1/2 lemon

Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente. While pasta cooks, whisk together vinegar and garlic in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Slowly whisk in oil until dressing thickens. Set aside. Drain pasta and rinse briefly under cold water. Drain completely. Place pasta in a large bowl; add beans, tomatoes, corn, green onions, chives, and cilantro. Toss gently. Pour dressing over pasta mixture and toss again, gently but thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 24 hours. Peel and slice avocado and toss with lemon juice; use as garnish. Serve immediately.

Meatless Monday

Whenever I hear "Monday" I think of 6th grade choir when we sang The Mamas and The Papas' "Monday, Monday". I was stuck singing nothing but, "Ba-da ba-da-da-da." This comes as no surprise from any of those who have heard me sing. I made choir solely by the fact that our school was so small they couldn't turn anyone away. Of course, I was a bitter 12 year old because I truly believed I should have had a solo singing Monday's praises.

In any event, my blog has been a bit dry lately. It's true. It has. It won't hurt my feelings if you agree. I've been trying to think of something that I could undoubtedly post once a week to keep things going. The solution? Meatless Monday.

The Thorkelson household has significantly cut down our meat intake over the past year. This has been for many reasons. Primarily, it's because we want to live a long, healthy life. I won't get on my soap box, because I firmly believe "to each their own"and a lot of people prefer to get their protein from animal sources. However, we've been pretty inspired by reading books like The China Study and following blogs of those like Kris Carr. All of this information has had me seriously consider the transition to a plant-based diet. I'm not there yet. But I think it's safe to say I'm *almost* there. Eric is even considering it, which surprises me the most. When we first started dating, he said it'd be a deal breaker if I were a vegetarian. I then ordered a double bacon cheeseburger to make sure I would seal the deal. Kidding. Kind of.

Anyway, I thought I would start posting a weekly meatless recipe to join in on the "Meatless Monday" movement. Of course, these said recipes will be posted on Monday.

Now for the first recipe....

Roasted Eggplant and Tomatoes with Pasta
This one is super easy and perfect for these summer days....

Ingredients
Penne pasta
1 Eggplant, diced into 1/2 inch cubes
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Ricotta cheese (about a dollop per serving)
Fresh basil, chopped (as much or as little as you like)

Directions
Toss eggplant and tomatoes in olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast your eggplant and tomatoes in oven until tender (about 45 minutes). Meanwhile, cook pasta. Toss eggplant, tomatoes and fresh basil with pasta. Drizzle with olive oil and top with ricotta cheese. Voila! So easy.

Octopus? Dolphin?

I'm finally up and running again at HOPE Center. With vacation, Eric's schedule and life just happening, I've been away for a couple of months. Usually I'm the lone ranger at the front desk, but yesterday I had a partner: the new intern. And she's deaf. I was told this and I instantly searched my brain of all of the sign language I know...and then I realized how impractical my limited sign language skills actually are. Do you think she wants a glass of "milk"? "More" paper clips? "All done" with the stapler? I've never felt so paralyzed in my life. I wanted to talk to her...tell her I liked her tattoo. Loved her dreads. And just make small talk. Small talk gives me comfort. But I couldn't. HOPE Center, of course, is on top of their communication efforts though. They have a very cool instant messaging type system for people like me who don't know sign language. So we did have our formalities and introductions via that system. But I needed more. I found myself catching her attention and showing her that I know how to sign "octopus" and "dolphin"...as she kinda giggled at me, the director explained that I have a toddler at home (hence the kooky signs). *sigh*

However, I was most amazed yesterday that I was the minority at the office -- most everyone knew sign language. Just another reason for me to admire those ladies at HOPE Center. I go back in a couple of weeks and am determined to learn by then how to tell her that I like her dreads and tattoo. :)

Henry the Magician

Like all aspiring magicians, Henry has been working on his "disappearing object" trick for months. Months. And he finally has it down. He can close a book and say, "Jack go?" and then frantically search the pages and find Jack jumping over the candle stick on page 26 of Mother Goose's nursery rhymes, to which he says "Dare e sss (there he is)!" This is usually partnered with a high-pitched squeal and giggle as he realizes how surprised we are. Now as I said above, this trick did not get perfected over night. Henry has really spent some quality time on this one.... We've been diligently practicing by putting animal crackers down our shirts, trucks in our pj's, and sippy cups in mom's sock drawer.

[Note to reader: I actually do see him put any of the said objects in their respective hiding places. However, I have missed a few of the "Where go?" questions of Henry. This morning there was a ball at the feet of his pj's. And a few days ago I pulled him out of his high chair only to find no less than 10 raisins fall to the floor.]

I think I'll try to get Henry to perform a magic show soon. Tickets will be $1 and all proceeds will go toward a rabbit (so that he can pull him out of a hat one day).

Well, off to pack. I'm headed to GF to visit my BF (yes, I thought that was clever) this weekend.

What's your bright side?

I tackled yet another thing on my "Thirty by 30" list -- making my own place mats and napkins. Place mats are done. Napkins are next Friday's project. Of course, this feat was not tackled alone. My mom set me up with her sewing machine and gave me a thorough step-by-step tutorial. Most important take away: starch is your friend. Check.

On the way to my folks' house to re-enter the world of sewing, Henry and I listened to his Music Together CD [again]. Now, I do enjoy this music. I really do. And I enjoy it even more when I can hear Hen sing along in what *almost* sounds like the lyrics. Despite all this, I wasn't really up for nursery rhymes for the ride home. WCCO trumped "Jumpin' Josie". I tuned in just in time to hear Esme Murphy take calls from listeners about their "bright side" of the day. The first few I heard were, um, well..."eh"...not to judge or anything, but I was like, "Really? That's your bright side?" But then almost as if Pollyanna Eric were in the car with me, I was reminded that the small joys and triumphs are really what do get us through our days...or our lives for that matter. Yes, it's cliche. But it's cliche because it's true.

This has me thinking about how I've been seeing the glass half empty lately. I have never considered myself a pessimist. I actually always thought that I was dangerously optimistic ("You want that quarterly report done in a half hour? With added supplements? And 1,000 bound copies? Sure! No problem! I should even have time for a cup of coffee too!"). But my mindset has shifted to the dark side lately. And I think it's high time for it to shift back to where it belongs and is most comfortable. So here it goes....

My bright side is that Eric and I have a date tonight:  a one act play at the Northfield Arts Guild Theater (free!) followed by filthy dirty martinis on the rocks.

Take that Mr. Negative Nelly.

The Netherlands

We arrived home about a week ago from our vacation in The Netherlands. I came back completely rested from my 12 hours of sleep each night in addition to my obligatory naps on the beach. And now I type this blog entry while I consume liquid sleep (coffee) mid-afternoon. It's amazing how quickly that rested feeling goes away... *sigh*

Anyway, we spent eight days with my former roommate and friend, Mirjam (MJ), who lives in The Hague. There really wasn't much planning involved. The whole trip came down to three e-mail conversations:

Ally to MJ: I need a change of scenery. When can I come visit?
MJ to Ally: End of April work?
Ally to MJ: Perfect. See you then.

It had been six years since we last saw each other and only had sporadic e-mails with quick "catch ups" throughout this time. But we picked up right where we left off...as if we didn't miss a step.... A good friend like that is truly a blessing that I often take for granted and hope not to moving forward.

The days often started off slowly:  coffee, smoothies, light breakfast, soaking up the sun on her porch as we planned our day. At that point we would hop on our bikes and be out into the night. We did some sightseeing, but mainly ate, drank, played games, and soaked up life and all its goodness. The amazing weather we had while there helped with the latter. More specifically though: we skipped through tulips, drank white beer, became solemn in the Anne Frank house, ate our weight in cheese, wore orange on Queen's Day, and cycled the city like native Dutchies.


Some of our favorite times were just sitting at Bagels and Beans (they had the best ice coffee) talking about life. Mirjam did an awesome job answering all of our [probably silly] questions: What's it like to have a royal family? Why do we call The Netherlands "Holland"? So what exactly is going on with your so-called sinking country? The favorite question I got from her was, "Do you have a cleaning lady?" To which I responded, "Yes, I'm her." Her friends were often asking about our vacation and trying to grasp what life would be like in America with your average of two weeks' vacation.


My favorite day was our last day:  we cycled through the sand dunes on the coast (from what I understand, these are the reason why The NL is still around....) and made our way to a secluded old farm that was converted to a pancake house. The pancakes were about 12 inches in diameter and you could get them in as many combinations as you could think of. I went with cheese and apple. Eric had bacon and cheese. Mirjam and her friend, Nicole, shared an apple one. Nicole's boyfriend Get saved his appetite for apple pie. We all took a fresh mint tea afterward to help digest the loads of panakoeken that lingered in our tummies and then made our way to the beach for a nap. Pure bliss.


And now we're back at home. Mirjam said it well when we were leaving: "Holiday is great. But it's even better when you have a home that you are excited to go back to." Couldn't have said it better myself.

Doggie See, Doggie Do

Henry had a wet mouth, chin and t-shirt. Could have been anything. Drool. Leaky sippy cup. I moved on with the day. I was prepping dinner and requested that Henry "organize my Tupperware" but Henry had his own idea and suggested wawa (water). Sure. As I went to grab some water for him I noticed his position changed from grasping at the refrigerator handles to hands and knees on floor and face in the dog bowl. Walter was directly to his right drinking at the same time. That explains the wetness from earlier in the day.

Then there was this morning. Eric researched Kelty kid carrier packs. I sipped coffee and looked out at the sun and mumbled to myself how sun should equal warmth. The dogs slept on the rug. And Henry requested mElmo be played on the computer. But then it happened again. Henry took the same form as the previous day: knees and hands on floor. As he approached Walter's face, he stuck his tongue out. Walter and he began to, shall we say, French kiss. I didn't dare stop the love fest because I wanted to make sure Eric had enough time to catch the action. We both watched the two of them while simultaneously playing a game of "dare" to see who would say "icky" first. Henry giggled. Walter had love in his eyes.

Henry has officially joined the Thorkelson pack.

Morning Shenanigans

While I slept off my Benadryl (that stuff seriously knocks me out for a good 12 hours), Eric took Henry across the street to burn energy and to toss the ball around. I think we've developed a new Thorkelson household ritual: playing outside in our PJs.

Wheaties are in our future

About a week ago we decided it was time to undergo an experiment: Wheat meet Henry. Henry meet wheat. The experiment started with some cornmeal/wheat toast ladened with blueberry jam. At first, he just licked the jam off of the bread. This is typical Henry style. Ketchup first. Chicken nuggets last. Anyway, he eventually got the toast down. And we waited. We waited the four days and had absolutely no eczema flare ups. Yay! Of course, the skeptic in me was like, "It wasn't straight up wheat toast. We need to run the trial again." So we had spaghetti with your average white pasta. Not brown rice pasta. Not spelt pasta. Not quinoa pasta. But just good ol' Creamette. He ate three bowls. Still no reaction... It's so hard to explain how excited we are. A part of me believed he would overcome this allergy. However, I was trying to be realistic and know that there was a possibility a wheat allergy would just be a fact of life. Well, I hope I don't jinx it, but I think we're in the clear. I already have the bread baking.