Eclectic Lotus

My son is currently in the fussy feeding toddler stage. He eats green stuff once in a while so I have to be quite clever on him eating. He loves tortillas and bread is becoming his new fave food. I visited my suegra last week and she was in the middle of eating. She offered up her taco filled with fresh avocado. One bite and I had to offer it to my son. He didn't take it so I began thinking if I could duplicate it. I would have asked her but I felt bad interrupting her meal time with an energetic toddler. I duplicated it for the most part. He liked it! I added a little something something which didn't disappoint. -One large avocado, ripe -One half large sweet onion, chopped -Corn tortillas- I used a local distributor but milagro tortillas are good as well. -two dashes of paprika powder -one dash of garlic powder -a dollop of Greek yogurt Mash up ingredients except tortillas. Warm up tortillas. Add mash up mix to tortillas and fold tortillas. Enjoy! I know we did! :-) ...

When I mention Juneteenth, people tend to look at me like I have gone completely mad! This is declared a major holiday in Texas but I am not sure that it is major anywhere else other than Texas. It is and was a hit where I am originally from. Juneteenth is actually on June 19th. On that date in 1865, the slaves in Galveston, TX were declared free. It marked the last of the slaves that knew they had been freed. It used to be a celebration every year after that with dancing and celebration but as you know the slaves that were freed died off and the holiday was forgotten. It was revised back in 1968 after a March in Washington D.C. It became an official state holiday in Texas on January 1,1980. Now, why and when my small city of Milwaukee, WI celebrate is a mystery. Well, it is a mystery because I haven't looked into the date. I can remember festivals, parades, vendors, gospel choirs and music. There was a miss Juneteenth pageant and I wanted to be one as a child. As I got older, i...

Husband brought home a ciabatta loaf that needed a little bit of oven love for his ham sandwich. He didn't like his lunch. I didn't want to throw out the rest of the bread. 1/2 banana Organic all natural peanut butter Ciabatta bread Cut the middle of the bread and spread peanut butter on both sides. Cut banana horizontal to make wheels and place on one side of bread. It actually hit the spot and my very fickle eater had three mouthfuls before he dissected it and spread peanut butter on his toys. Toddlers. They can get distracted. Here is a picture of mine. I served it with carrots for some veggies. Hope your kids eat more than my little string bean. Enjoy!

Last week after the trip to Native Foods, I thought it would be great to make myself some macaroni and cheese. I bought Colby jack cheese and forgot about the pasta. Once home I noticed that I had only a small amount of rigatoni and another pasta that wasn't macaroni. "I can fix this!" Billing the pasta to al dente in with the cheese it went but I felt guilty about only cheese and pasta so I remembered some veggie stir fry and added it to the dish before it went bad. I then noticed some red cabbage that looked wilted in a bowl in the back. It got added to the dish. Then I remembered some broccoli that wad in the back of the freezer getting ready to freezer burn. It goes in too! I set the stove for 375° for 20 minutes. It was good! Cheesy and not to my son's liking. Every day I ate it while he slept. Memorial day can and went and half of the mess I created wad still there. "Hmmmmm, I did grill some veggies. Let's put that in!" Grabbed some to place in the...

After a glorious experience of eating meat and all things bad I have decided to take my freedom back and go back to being a vegetarian. It has been quite difficult with living with a meat eating hubby and a son who is not much different from dad. So right now I am at one of my favorite spots when I was veggie only.    Native Foods is based in California but has restaurants here on Chicago. Talk about great vegetarian food! Their fries are amazing but probably great only in moderation. So, my transition to vegetarian is happening. Wish me luck! Here is a recipe from the restaurant itself.

In my introduction, I write about how I am shocked about how I have a lot of energy. Here is my secret- chia seeds and veggies. If I stay off the white stuff meaning sugar and hit the fruits, veggies and chia seeds I am okay. I made an attempt at chia protein balls but I used tahini instead of sesame paste. Smh not good. Waste of product. Below is my smoothie treat-  1/2 cup of orange juice 1 ripe banana Plain Greek yogurt-1 cup Two stalks of kale 1 tablespoon chia seeds

How did I ever become that? Just today I was at our local library and there was a nice older lady who told me to carry my son because it was windy out. I did get slightly offended but caught myself. Mind you, it was windy and instead of wearing my son or carrying him he walked alongside me holding my hand. Nothing bad, just a mommy and her little man. Two weeks before that I saw a mother give her son her phone with a mind numbing abc song so he would be occupied. I shook my head and then caught myself. I love to tell myself, "We are as different as our fingerprints." This judgement coming from a mother who breastfeeds her 18 month old. This is judgement coming from a mother who cloth diapers her baby. So, daily I have to give myself a small mantra on being open minded in the mommy sisterhood. "We are all different in how we raise our children. Embrace in it and support others." Enjoy being a parent!