Black Bean Burgers

We are not vegan or vegetarian or paleo or any of those other things. We don't tend to eat much meat. I really, really don't like raw meat. It ruins the whole dining experience for me. I do best when I can put it in the crockpot and ignore it for the day.

These black bean burgers were delicious, and at least for me, they were the perfect solution to rectify a hamburger desire and keep it meat free. There is just something way less gross about mashed black beans and veggies than ground meat. Yuck.

On that note, this recipe came from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom. She has great recipes. I've been searching around on her site and have come up with a few more to try.

I made a few adaptations to this recipe to make it MSPI safe. Double check your ketchup, bread crumbs, and substitute Worcestershire Sauce for soy sauce  or use homemade "soy sauce". The boys ate theirs on sandwich flats and I ate mine without a bun but topped with lots of fresh veggies. I used spinach greens, a few red onion slices, tomatoes from our garden (yay!), and my mom's canned bread and butter pickles along with ketchup and mustard. One can never have too much ketchup, just so you know.

Oh and I was exhausted and having contractions every 7-8 minutes so photos were not on the do to list but ours ended up looking very much like Scattered Mom's so click on the link below to see photos of her results.

MSPI Black Bean Burgers adapted from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom
(Makes around 15 sliders)

Ingredients

• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup white onion, diced
• 2 15.5oz cans black beans, rinsed and drained (I realized after I got started that I only had one can of black beans so I substituted the other can for kidney beans. Turned out to be a great decision!)
• 1/2 cup sweet corn (I used frozen as I try to avoid canned)
• 3 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce (I used HyVee brand Worcestershire Sauce as it is MSPI free and I was out of homemade "soy sauce".)
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped (or cilantro paste)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2/3 cup bread crumbs (I used organic bread crumbs from Trader Joes as they were MSPI safe. It required over 3/4 cup to get to the stick-together point.)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

1. Heat olive oil in skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and onion and saute until onions are tender. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. In a large bowl mash black beans using a potato masher until desired consistency. Add in corn, ketchup, soy sauce, cumin, cilantro, salt and pepper, onion and garlic and until well combined. Fold in bread crumbs until mixture holds together. Form into patties and chill for 10-15 minutes. 
3. Heat olive oil in skillet over medium heat. Cook burgers until crispy, about 5-8 minutes per side depending on your stove top heat.

 

Not so bad after all... and Guacamole

So the "peanut brittle" I made the other night that I thought was a disaster? Perfectly fine on day two. Don't ask, I have no idea. Go check out Averie Cook's for the recipe! Easy, microwavable, fast, and yummy. Even if you do accidentally use cashews instead of peanuts. Ha!

As for the guacamole, delicious. I don't really love guacamole but my husband does so in the name of love... find this recipe on Picture Perfect Meals. I left out the jalapenos because I didn't have any. No harm done there.

Big huge-mongous flop

E has been talking about the huge-mongous church that we walk by when he and I walk the dog. It cracks me up every time. :)

Anywho, speaking of huge-mongous... I had a flop of that magnitude for dinner tonight. I made banana oatmeal pancakes and I am not even going to post the recipe or the link because I am fairly sure they should never be made again.

I ended up eating egg whites on sprouted wheat toast and the boys suffered through a couple of pancakes doused in syrup and then had snacks.

Then I made chocolate microwave peanut brittle. Also not so good. Nuts. 0 for 2 on the MSPI recipes.

Off to make a menu for next week and try again tomorrow. Black bean tacos and homemade guacamole. Much more likely to taste delicious.

Breastfeeding Class

Saturday I attended breastfeeding class through a local community breastfeeding center called MilkWorks.

In a nutshell, I really wanted to BF my first little one. My husband and I went to the class offered by the hospital. It wasn't helpful or maybe I just didn't know what to listen for.  Regardless, the little person in there didn't take notes and it went in one ear and out the other. He and I just couldn't get it together to make it work and after months of pain, tears, frustration, and more pain my husband gave him a bottle of formula and saved everyone's sanity. Thank God. Patrick did things with that babe that I was just not able to do. He gave him his first bottle, he gave him his first formula, he increased his feedings to proportions that I would have thought would have made a baby explode but every time they worked. Smart man.

I remember trying to nurse E and sobbing because I was bleeding and raw and tender and rock hard. I could hardly stand to have the water hit me in the shower, to wear a bra, to not wear a bra, to feed him, to not feed him, to pump, to not pump. I would sit there and feed him and cry because I knew I would have to do it again in just a few hours. Eventually, months in, we started E on a reflux med and switched to expensive fancy formula. I began to heal and eventually didn't have to pump anymore. It was so frustrating, I could have fed the whole block but my babe couldn't tolerate it. The freezer was full to capacity, we bought another small freezer and I still had milk to spare. I couldn't donate it because I was on a medication. In the end, Patrick had to perform yet another act of kindness and throw out the milk. I couldn't bring myself to put liquid gold in the trash.

Back to Saturday's class...
The first half of the class was really frustrating to me. I spent a good portion of time keeping my mouth shut. I was the only not-first-time-mom there. It was just a different perspective, a more cynical one unfortunately. The video that the RN teaching the class showed was of all of these new moms wearing white with happy babes in white disposable diapers BF'ing with no problem. There was no pain, no crying, no difficulty, no projectile vomit, no exhausted looking parents with disheveled hair in the middle of the night. The RN/lactation consultant was really good but she kept talking about how this was such a natural thing for babies to know how to do. I disagree, I think that it takes practice and that some babies and moms are better about it than others. I didn't want to scare anyone but...

I stuck it out and you know, I came away with lots of great tips and suggestions that I am hoping I remember to try. These are some of the things that the lactation consultant talked about that hit home with me.

1. Positioning is huge. For me, one of the big problems last time was the Cesarean incision and pain. Really the only hold I could comfortable do was the football carry. One of the more natural positions if possible is to lay reclined and let the baby lay stomach to stomach more upright on your chest. I never even thought, or was told, to try this.

2. Position the baby so that the chin comes in first and you bring the baby to the breast, not the other way around. The baby's chin (bottom jaw) should be moving on breast tissue, not nipple in order to prevent soreness.
3. Hold the baby's shoulders and neck but try to keep hand off the back of the head. This will allow baby to throw their head back and create a vacuum seal with tongue.
4. Feed both sides initially. If you have lots of milk and production is not an issue then it is ok to only feed one side. The beginning of the feed is for hydration (think skim milk) and the end is the milk that is full of fat. If you have more milk than the baby will take in one feeding and you nurse both sides half way, they never get to the good, creamy, filling milk. (This occurred to me last time but I had no idea who to even ask.)
5. If you produce a lot of "extra" it is ok to pump just a tiny bit off the top to relieve the pressure but just like any other supply and demand, if you pump to empty you will make more to accommodate. Sometimes it is best just to let that leak.
6. I need to do a bit more research on this but she said that babies who are born by C-Section often have more gut  irritability. This is due to not having their gut colonized as they go through the birth canal. She recommended a probiotic in order to try and get some of the healthy flora and bacteria into the babies gut. I plan on looking into this a bit more. This has nothing to do with whether or not they have a dairy/soy protein sensitivity. It just helps to create a more healthy environment in there. Shoot, it might be good for mom too. :)
7. The biggest thing that I took from this was "if it hurts, get help". If it hurts, unlatch baby carefully and finger feed or syringe feed so that you can heal. When I lived in Omaha, I felt like there was no body that I could call for help. I talked to two lactation consultants who told me to "stick it out, it will get better". Well, it didn't. This time I have a plan of who to talk to. That in itself is a relief.
8. Another thing that she said was that breastfeeding releases oxytocin in the mother and helps to relax. Mother's who breastfeed have a lower rate of postpartum depression... UNLESS BF'ing doesn't go well. Then it can make things exponentially worse. Yes. I whole-heartedly back this statement.

I have to say, I really want this to go well. I really, really, really do. And to the woman in the video who was teary when talking about how her husband who hated bananas would get up early to make her a peanut butter and banana sandwich; girl, I totally get it, sometimes it's those little sacrifices that mean the world.

Tomato Basil "Cream" Pasta

This recipe comes from the Oh She Glows website. (Check out all her other stuff while you are there!)
So, yum!! It's actually a vegan recipe but lucky for me this also makes it MSPI friendly. Click here for the original recipe. I have also copied it here for convenience along with her original link.

Easy Tomato Basil Cream Pasta

Lightly adapted from Vegan Yum Yum.
Yield: 2-3 servings
Ingredients:

• 2 servings uncooked spaghetti (I used the leftover angel hair from Trader Joe's that I used in Mexican Noodle Soup from a couple of posts ago.)
• 1 large ripe tomato or two smaller tomatoes
• 1/2 cup raw cashews
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tbsp tomato paste (Trader Joe's brand for me)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2-4 garlic cloves, minced (I used 3)
• 1 tsp salt, or to taste
• 3-4 tbsp water or wine, (optional but I did use water to thin it out a bit)
• 1-2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup packed fresh basil, finely chopped

Directions:
1. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Chop tomato and add it to the blender/food processor (including skin and seeds). Now add the cashews, water, and tomato paste. Blend until smooth.
2. Add your pasta to boiling water and cook pasta according to package directions.
3. Meanwhile, add olive oil to a large skillet and heat to low. Add the minced garlic and sauté for a few minutes being careful not to burn it.
4. Pour the sauce from the blender into the skillet, stir, and bring to a simmer. Add the salt and let it cook for 4-5 minutes, watching closely. You may add water or wine to thin out the sauce to you desired consistency, but this is not necessary.
5. Remove sauce from heat and stir in the chopped basil and pepper. Once the pasta is done cooking, rinse and drain it. Add the drained pasta back in the pot and now gradually add pasta sauce until your desired amount is achieved. Stir and serve immediately. Makes 2 servings, likely with sauce leftover.

Read more: http://ohsheglows.com/2011/05/10/easy-tomato-basil-cream-pasta/#ixzz2aUH7vXCj

This was so good. Sadly, my husband was at baseball out of town and the toddler doesn't necessarily appreciate a good sauce and asks for plain noodles with Parmesan cheese. I'm going to go with more for me? Ha. Most of it is squirreled away in the freezer for more tired days ahead and easy thaw and prep. Yay for garden tomatoes and basil in the winter time.

BLTs MSPI Style

So this may sound like an easy one but I remember very clearly after my first little one that I couldn't get it together enough to even figure things like this out. I am sure the rest of you aren't quite this paralyzed by sorting the MSPI diet restrictions out. Maybe it was the sleep deprivation, maybe it was the denial, maybe it was the screaming baby or maybe it's just me but the combination froze my brain cells and I couldn't even get something like this made. Therefore, I decided that no recipe is too basic. If nothing else, I will come back to the myself in the next few months. Wink.

So, yesterday with my husband out coaching baseball (again) I made BLTs for E and I. Well, he eats, bread, bacon, lettuce, and fruit separate and I eat a sandwich. :)

MSPI BLT
* Four slices toasted bread
      - I used Rudi's 100% whole wheat sandwich flats that I bought at Natural Grocer's. Their products are all allergen free. I also keep Trader Joe's Sprouted Wheat Bread in my fridge, also MSPI safe.
* 1 tomato sliced
* 4 strips of Trader Joe's peppered turkey bacon or Peddler's bacon cooked.
     - Double check labels on bacon as it may contain cassein, neither of these brands do. We so rarely buy bacon that I really had to double check this.
* Lettuce or spinach of any variety
* Soy Free Vegenaise
     - This is a mayo type replacement. It's actually pretty darn good. It ingredients include: (vegan, gluten free, dairy free) Expeller-Pressed Hi-Oleic Safflower Oil, Filtered Water, Brown Rice Syrup, Apple Cider Vinegar, Pea Protein, Sea Salt, Mustard Flour, Lemon Juice Concentrate. Really, nothing crazy! I buy this at Natural Grocer here in town. I am sure that it is sold at Whole Foods as well, we just don't have one yet. I have also seen the original version at our local grocery store in the Health Food section but they don't care the Soy Free.

See easy! This would make two sandwiches. Served with fruit, raw veggies, or Stacey's multigrain Pita chips, it is a great quick lunch or dinner. Enjoy!

Mexican Noodle Soup

Yes, it is summer. Yes, we usually save the soups for winter but this just sounded too good.

Mexican Noodle Soup from PETA's website. Yeah, PETA has recipes. I stumbled across this one on Pinterest. A little strange but delicious.

I used my new Ninja for this. I absolutely love that thing! A smidge pricy but so very worth it. It took about 6 seconds to puree the top four ingredients perfectly. Happy sigh. It is the little things. Gonna be good for baby food. And it can go in the dishwasher. Yes!

Mexican Noodle Soup
4–6 large tomatoes, cut into large cubes
1 medium white onion, cut into large cubes
1 clove garlic
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil (I used Olive Oil)
1 16 oz.-pkg. cut fideo or 1 16 oz.-pkg. angel hair pasta, broken into 1-inch pieces (I acutally ended up only using half of a package and that seemed to be more than enough. If one used more I think more broth would have to be added.)
32 oz. vegetable broth (Trader Joe's brand is MSPI safe)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 Tbsp. pepper
2 Tbsp. oregano
2 Tbsp. cumin
Chili flakes, chopped serrano chilies, or diced jalapeños, to taste (optional)
Cilantro, and sliced avocado, for garnish (optional)

• In a blender, purée the tomatoes, onions, garlic, and oil. Transfer to a large pot and cook over medium heat.
• Add the noodles, broth, salt, pepper, oregano, and cumin. For a spicier soup, add the chili flakes, serrano chilies, or jalapeños. Cook for approximately 12 to 15 minutes, then simmer until the noodles are tender.
• Garnish with optional toppings, as desired.

Makes 10 to 12 servings