Taco Night. It's a magical night!

Taco night!

Probably one of my favorite meals, but I don't make it a lot because I can't stop myself from eating 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 tacos! They're too good to stop at one, and my diet definitely can't handle that ;-)

I know what you're thinking..Jess, what the heck do you put in a taco? Fake meat? No! Just veggies? Kinda! But are they flavorful? Heck yes!
Instead of meat, or any fake meat products, I use lentils! Trust me on this, you don't miss the meat when you eat these tacos.

Michael doesn't mind eating lentils in his tacos, but he prefers ground turkey, so we make two different fillings!

In order to make your lentils taste awesome and get that "taco meat" flavor, you must prepare them with delicious taco seasoning. I'm lazy, so I buy the pre-measured baggies. I also up the lazy factor by buying ready to eat lentils from Trader Joe's.

Basically what I do is pour my ready-to-eat lentils in the pan, toss in 1/4 water, and taco seasoning. In this case, I had 1 lb of lentils, so I used the whole packet. After the water and seasoning coated the lentils, I heated them in the pan until a "gravy" started to form and thicken.

My Lentils

While I'm doing that, I also cook Michael's turkey. Just saute it with taco seasoning and water (follow the directions on the taco seasoning packet). Ooh yeah, the house is smelling good!

Michael's Turkey

 Now heat up some beans, chop your veggies of choice (we do avocado, tomatoes, onions, and lettuce), and additional toppings (shredded cheese, sour cream, hot sauce, salsa).

I know you don't need a pic of this, but come on, look at those colors! 

 And assemble! I always put beans, lentils, tomatoes, avocado, and lettuce on mine :) Michael likes his piled high with everything- cheese, onions, avocado, tomato, lettuce, and more. I don't like cheese on my tacos. C'est la vie.

Now whose taco is whose?

Turkey!

Lentils!

And what does Michelle eat when we have tacos? Our feisty toddler eats a deconstructed taco with both sets of fillings, and a little cottage cheese on the side.

Viva el taco!

Breakfast Hash Egg Scramble

This morning was hectic. We had to hurry up and get breakfast started so we could watch the Niners defeat the Panthers!! However, we were short some of our favorite breakfast staples. No bread products, and no hashbrowns. Sure, we had eggs, but how much fun is it eating a plain old egg? Boo.

So, I improvised.

I knew I had veggies, cheese, sausage (turkey breakfast sausage), but I wanted some starch! I checked the freezer, and voila: frozen crinkle cut french fries! I know, this sounds crazy, but I wouldn't be writing a blog about this meal if it wasn't a hit in my house.

So I did what any sane person would do; I made a big old skillet of breakfast hash/egg scramble!

May not look the prettiest, but it was tasty!

I'm not going to get too into specific measurements in this post because I truly believe this is one that should be tweaked according to your preference and how many people are eating it. I'll just let you know what I used in parenthesis, but be aware this fed my family of 3.

Also, I made two versions of this today because I wanted to make a meat-filled one for Michael and Michelle. So I'll just list all of the ingredients, and you decide what you want to add or omit. Here we go! 

Ingredients:

• Eggs (I used 5), whisked and seasoned with salt and pepper
• Bell Pepper (1 large), chopped
• Onion (1 medium), chopped
• Mushrooms (about 5 or 6), sliced
• Turkey breakfast sausage (not in links, just the kind in a big tube)
• Shredded cheese (we used about 1/4 cup total)
• Crinkle cut fries (thawed or nuked, and chopped into chunks. We used two servings)
• Salt and Pepper - don't leave it out!
• Butter and Oil

Instructions:

• Defrost, or nuke crinkle fries. 
• chop into chunks, set aside.

• Chop your veggies

• saute in order of cook time. I started with bell peppers. 

• Add in any veggies that will be in every egg scramble served. We both like onions, so I threw them in the skillet. 

• Whisk your eggs and season them
• set aside until end.

•  Saute other veggies. In this case, saute the mushrooms.
•  I like to do it in butter and oil - tastes better.
• notice I'm doing them seperate? I love the taste of mushrooms in things, but I don't like eating them whole. I know, I know.

• Cook your meat of choice, here we cooked the sausage.

•  Now, throw everything you want in each scramble into the pan (except the eggs).
• this is your chance to cook the potatoes and get them nice and crispy.
• Make sure to season everything with salt, pepper, and even a little garlic powder.
• I had two skillets at this point, one for the meat-eaters, one for the vegetarian mama.

MINE.

THEIRS

•  Once everything is cooked to perfection, toss in your whisked eggs and the cheese. Cook until done!

 

And that's it!

meat-lovers on the left, veggies to the right!

Serve it up with your favorite sides, toast (wish we had some), and some delicious toppings (chives, avocado, salsa, hot sauce, or my favorite... ketchup!

No matter what you put on it, it's good! It's one of those one-pot-meals that a mama loves to make, and Michelle likes to eat! Michael eats anything I make, bless his heart.

 

Vegetarian Chili

Chili, need I say more? I made this pot of chili for my family while we watched the San Francisco 49ers defeat Green Bay last weekend. We had it with hot dogs (veggie for me!) and baked potatoes. Mmm, I still have a cup in the fridge for lunch tomorrow. 

One of the reasons I love this meal is because it's so easy, and it's so delicious! Being a vegetarian can be hard if you don't have good versions of mainstream meals. I usually come across chili with corn in it, and I despise corn in chili, so I'm glad this pot is so easy to throw together.

Oh so good!

Ingredients

• 1 15 oz can pinto beans, drained
• 1 15 oz can black beans, drained
• 1 15 oz can kidney beans, drained
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 medium bell pepper, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 small can (4 oz) tomato paste
• 1 8 oz can tomato sauce (fire roasted if available)
• 1 jumbo can (26 oz?)  crushed tomatoes, fire roasted
• 1 packet chili seasoning
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1 pepper (diced) from a small can (8 oz) of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
• Either one pepper diced, or 1/3 of the adobo sauce in the can

Instructions

• saute bell pepper, onion, and garlic
• add of of the ingredients and cook on medium high until everything starts to bubble. Lower heat to low/medium-low.
• simmer in pot (at least 20 minutes works best for us, but it can stay on the stove for a while if cooked on low) 

Serve with cheese, sour cream, raw chopped onions, chips, hot dogs, baked potatoes, or any other dish that's screaming for some delicious chili. Mmm, chili.

Chili dog with mustard!

Peaceful and Loving Afternoon Photoshoot

Today Michelle decided she wanted to be a model and let me take a bunch of pictures of her. I can't believe she let me keep taking shot after shot while she just smiled and looked on thoughtfully.

I don't know if these pictures even convey her beauty. Sometimes I sit there in awe of how beautiful, intelligent, and curious she is. How could we make something so perfect?
Even with messy hair and a runny nose, this child is just pure wonder.

 Charlie got a little jealous of the attention and jumped in some of the pictures. The lighting in the living room at that moment was just perfect and the two of them were so agreeable!

Such a nice, peaceful afternoon. I love how these pictures aren't forced or posed; they're natural, pure, and show how much we love each other. Look at those beautiful eyes in the nursing picture! Her whole face just says love.
 

Vegetarian Pot Pie

This pot pie is one of those meals that my whole family loves, and we're wrestling over the leftovers the next day. It's so easy to whip up, and cooks very quickly. It tastes like something that's been cooking all day, and is so savory and thick for a vegetarian meal. 

This meal is also one that Michael will eat vegetarian, but prefers to have with chicken in it. I'll explain how we do that below.

Yum!

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 3 large carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 cup celery, diced
• 1 medium onion (or 1/2 large onion) chopped
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 cup frozen peas (or 1 cup canned, drained and rinsed)
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth (of chicken if you want the meat! Lol)
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 packed of Lipton's Mushroom Soup
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 sheet frozen puff pastry, cut to 8x8 (I use pepperidge farm)
• 1 egg (optional: for egg wash)

Supplies

• 8x8 casserole dish

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Make sure puff pastry is defrosted (according to box instructions)
• Chop all of your veggies, keep potatoes to the side.

• Saute celery, onion, carrots, and garlic for 2 minutes.
• Toss in potatoes, saute for 3 minutes.
• Coat veggies with flour, stir in, cook for 1 minute

• Salt and Pepper
• Add milk, broth, and soup mix. Stir together.
• looks good at this point, huh? So creamy!
• Add peas and cook for 5 minutes. 
• If adding chicken to whole pie, put cooked chicken in at this step.

• Place pot pie filling in an 8x8 baking dish (mine is Pyrex), and cover with puff pastry sheet.
• mix egg with TBSP of water and brush on top of pastry sheet.
• Pierce top of pie to vent.

• Bake for 25-30 minutes. 
• If you're adding chicken into just one serving, it still tastes good! Just bake or pan fry up some chicken (white or dark meat - your choice) and toss it into the bowl before your scoop in a serving of the pot pie. 

Now, if you're like me, you are are dying to sneak a taste. Careful! It's very hot (duh).  

It's so pretty!

So creamy and savory!

Hopefully you enjoy this dinner as much as we do!

Best Baked Potato

Why have an entry for something as easy and simple to make as a baked potato? Because up until a month ago, I didn't know how to make a great baked potato! I had so many questions, but felt stupid asking. Do I wrap it in foil? Do I have to poke it? What temp do I cook it at, and for how long?!

So many questions, but here are the answers!

Do I wrap it in foil? No, unless you want a softer skin, then sure! But let's be real, soft skin? No way. It's all about the crispy skin!
 Is it necessary to poke it with a fork before baking? Yes! They'll explode if you don't. I guess you could risk it, but why? 
How long do I cook it? What temp? Read below! 

Ingredients:

• Russet Potatoes (they are the best for baking. Skin gets crispy, insides get fluffy, I get happy)
• Olive Oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic Powder
• Your favorite toppings (see mine below!)

Supplies

• Baking sheet lined with foil
• A skewer or fork to pierce the potato

Instructions

• Pre-heat the oven to 425°F. 
• Rub the potatoes with olive oil, sprinkle them with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
• Pierce the potatoes a few times with a fork or skewer. 
• Cook the potatoes for 45 to 60 minutes, until their skin is crispy and they are easily pieced with a fork.

Look at that crispy flavorful skin!

After letting my potato cool a bit, I like to slice it open, sprinkle the inside with more salt and pepper, then plop on a large dollop of cottage cheese. Yes, cottage cheese! Sounds weird, right? But it's so good. Trust me. If you like butter, sour cream, and/or cheese on your potato, you'd probably like cottage cheese on it. It makes it creamy, cheesy, and fluffy. Mmm mmm goooood.

Sometimes I'll add bacon bits (the soy kind for me), chives or green onions, and maybe a scoop of my delicious vegetarian bean chili.

This makes a great side dish, or even the main event! Enjoy!

Look at this delicious thing. You know you want to eat it. Go ahead, treat yourself.

Bergman Family Eats

I'm a weirdo and I created a blog just for the sole purpose of keeping track of the things we like to eat, and the ways we make them. We tend to rotate out dinner meals, but then I forget what we used to enjoy/how I made it/ or key ingredients. So, this is a way for me to archive meals for the future. Hopefully it keeps us from getting stuck in dinner ruts and allows me to cycle meals in and out more efficiently.

It's probably not something anyone would want to follow, but at the same time, it'd be nice to get some ideas from other people on good meals, based on what I've posted. See something you like or ways I could improve a meal? Let me know! I have a lot to learn in the kitchen, and I love trying new recipes. 

Warning: most of what I make will be vegetarian. I'll discuss how I add meat to some of the one-pot-meals I make (for Michael - sometimes he likes to have meat with dinner, even though he never minds having vegetarian meals), and sometimes I'll post about the meat-centered meals I make for my family, but since I'm vegetarian, there will be a lot of those meals. 

Feel free to follow along, or just pop over and see what I've made at Bergman Family Eats. 

Let's Go Niners!

Today Michael is happily watching the 49ers playoff game with Michelle. They are in heaven when a football game is on - it's their special time. The cheering, excited atmosphere, and jumping keeps Michelle especially entertained, and Michael loves having a buddy with him while watching his favorite team.

Watching them together makes me smile, and I'm so grateful to have a husband like Michael, and more importantly, I'm happy my daughter has a father like Michael. Mish even has a little touchdown stance she likes to do. I hope she continues to like football, and they'll have a fun way to bond as she gets older.

Right now I have a pot of homemade vegetarian chili bubbling away on the stove, baked potatoes crisping up in the oven, and hot dogs (veggie for me) steaming up. I also made some iced tea, and Michael has some craft beers from Oregon cooling in the fridge.
The only thing that's missing is the loud craziness of Michael's family - he loves watching games with them because his family is a group of loud and proud 49er supporters! His mom and brother are especially fun to watch a football game with. I can only imagine how loud and crazy their house is right now (and how good it smells because my mother in-law is the best cook and always has something delicious cooking). Hopefully my small (but great smelling) spread will make up for it :)

Let's Go Niners!!!

TRX

In sticking with my resolution to better myself and have more adventures, I joined my sister for my second Saturday TRX training class. Oh man, these classes are hard, but so much fun. I really like how it is all based on your abilities and using gravity and your body weight as resistance.

The only thing I hate is that afterwards I feel really sick, like my muscles are releasing toxins into my blood. I feel weak and ill. Maybe it's just because I'm super out of shape. Just because I'm smaller than I used to be, doesn't mean I'm fit! And it's definitely evident in my performance in class! Haha. I am so happy I went, and I am so happy my sister Nikki invited me. I can't wait to move home and workout more at gyms. Yreka doesn't really have a set up I can use because I have Mish and we are away from anyone that I would trust to watch her. Michael could, but he works full time and I don't want to head to the gym late at night. So, I will stick to at-home workouts and jogging.

Today we head back up to Y and it's very bittersweet. We are excited to see the cats and get back to our normal routine, but we are going to miss everyone and being in the home we own. We love our house! It's so hard to drive away from its warmth and beauty, to a small rental house that is freezing and just isn't ours. 7 1/2 more months and our lives will involve a lot less travel and a little more home renovations.

A New Year

2013 was such a great year! There were some big ups and downs, but if life has taught me anything, it’s to focus on the positive, and work out the not so great things as best you can. And especially, don’t let others' negativity steal your happiness. Life is too short to spend even ten minutes of your day focusing on any crap you can’t control or change (of course, this is easier said than done, and I'm still working on doing this all the time).

There are many things I want to work on in 2014, but the biggest is to better myself on the inside. Last year Michael and I worked on our bodies, but this year, in addition to continuing that, I want to better my mental space. I want to work on being more patient, mellow, and understanding. I want to be stronger mentally, and less focused on negativity. 

In addition to being a happier, better me, I want our family to do more things together - have fun adventures, go on family outings, spend time together unplugged. I want to spend more time with my husband, do more fun and educational activities with Michelle, and give myself a break when I'm not feeling like the perfect wife, mother, daughter, friend, or person. 

2013 included watching Michelle morph from a sweet chubby little infant, into a crawling, then walking, then running little girl, with big personality and an amazing sense of adventure. We took Michelle on her first plane ride (to Southern California for a fun vacation), then out of the country to Mexico on a family vacation. We celebrated our second wedding anniversary, made-over our backyard into a gorgeous oasis, lost a combined 100 lbs (and counting) and bought a new car! Yes, we were forced to move to Yreka for a year in August, but it made it possible for us to play in the snow with Mish (her first time seeing it), go into beautiful Oregon and explore new places, and be greeted by deer every day. Don't get me wrong, I really can't wait to be done with this whole Bay to Yreka thing and get my life back together (and to makeover the inside of our home when we are back full-time), but I'm not going to dwell on it or waste an opportunity to make it a great year! 

These are just a few things I've been thinking about for a few days, and wanted to share. I really hope 2014 brings a happier, healthier, cleaner, and more organized Jessica. 2013 was wonderful, but I'm ready to make 2014 even better!