Healthy Vegetarian Dinner: Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Pasta Salad

      I have never done a food blog before but I am constantly cooking and sharing it on facebook(I know people hate that) so I thought I would document myself cooking dinner with my camera and share it with everyone!

      I am a vegetarian, a mother and a wife so I am always creating different things to keep my husband happy(he's not a vegetarian) and sometimes it takes a LOT of creativity! This meal I just kind of whipped together because I realized I bought a bunch of sweet potatoes last week and wanted to make something different.

 

I started out by stabbing the sweet potatoes with a fork, I used four potatoes, to release the steam as they cooked. I then placed them on a baking sheet, drizzled them with extra virgin olive oil then sprinkled rosemary and grinded cracked black peppercorn on top of them. I put them into the oven that I had preheated to 400 degrees, they take about an hour to fully cook.

 

 

Next, I started to work on the pasta salad while the sweet potatoes were baking(they smelt absolutely delicious too!) I used Garden Delight pasta but you could use any pasta you have on hand. I put about 3/4 the box in a saucepan with boiling water and cooked until tender.

 

Meanwhile, I washed and diced my veggies. I had salad cucumbers, radishes and carrots on hand so that's what I chose to use. You could use any vegetable you like in this pasta salad!

 

Once the pasta is fully cooked, rinse over with cold water to cool the noodles down.

 

Next, I added a couple tablespoon of minced garlic, some black olives, a tablespoon or two of Annie's Naturals Goddess dressing and a splash of Margetti Lemon Vinaigrette. I added all of that to the vegetables, stirred in the pasta then put a lid on the bowl and placed it in the fridge to chill before the potatoes were ready!

 

 

After putting the pasta salad in the fridge, I started on the filling for the sweet potatoes. In a small saucepan, over low heat, I added in a can of Hunts diced tomatoes(drained), basil, oregano, garlic(all to taste) and a can of organic black beans(drained).

 

 

I had a little down time to munch on some yummy blackberries...

 

 

And play with my daughter, who was making the kitchen floor her new resting spot and talking on her 'phone'.

 

And then the sweet potatoes were done!

 

 

Slice open the sweet potato.

 

Spoon in the heated tomato and black bean mixture.

 

Add a dollop of sour cream(or not if you would like to make your meal vegan).

 

Remove your pasta salad from the fridge and add a generous portion to your plate.

 

I also added some cottage cheese to my plate too.

 

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 



Feeling Under the Weather

      I haven't posted in awhile because I have had a lot going on lately. First off, on my birthday, February third, I bit into a chocolate bar with almonds and half of my back right tooth broke off! There is nothing like having your tooth break on your birthday to make you feel that much older. I cried and cried and made an appointment at the dentist for the following day. At my dentist appointment they tell me that I need a crown and a possible root canal that with my insurance was going to cost me $871.00! Which as a waitress who makes a whopping $2.65 an hour with a daughter to raise, $871.00 is a LOT of money.
      I had my dentist appointment three days ago, on Monday, and of course I would also happen to wake up with a dreadfully sore throat and cough to make matters even more uncomfortable. I ended up not needing the root canal so my bill was only $455.00 instead! That's still a lot of money but at least it's half of what it was originally supposed to be.
     After the appointment the right side of my face, lips, tongue gums everything was incredibly numb but my husband wanted to order a pizza so I tried it eat. It was a bit awkward and uncomfortable but I managed to eat two pieces and a couple breadsticks. I went into the bathroom afterwards and when I looked in the mirror I noticed the entire right side of my bottom lip was terribly swollen and bleeding! I looked closer at it and realized that I must have been unknowingly gnawing on my lip while I was eating. My lip really starting hurting once the numbing shots wore off at about 9:00pm and at this point I just wanted to curl up on the couch and watch movies.
      Tuesday I woke up and my voice was completely gone. I went to tell my daughter "good morning" but no sound was escaping my lips. After a few cough drops and some Tazo Zen tea I could finally talk somewhat so I called the doctors to set up an appointment. They couldn't get me in until the next day at 4:00pm. I was a little upset but I stuck it out.
      Wednesday I woke up feeling worse than the two previous days! It was finally time for my doctors appointment and I couldn't wait for them to prescribe me some antibiotics to get rid of this awful sickness. But of course with my awful luck, she only tested for strep and it came back negative so she sent me on my way...!
      Now to today, I am laying down, watching cartoons with my daughter, drinking some hot coffee and sucking on cough drops trying to feel a little better before work tonight. I'm thankful I asked for Monday-Wednesday off to recover from my root canal, although I didn't get the root canal I did get this awful cold/flu/crud Monday so it all worked out perfectly...I mean, as perfect as it can be considering how miserable I have felt.
      I really haven't been in the crafty mood throughout all of this but I did get a few things made yesterday!

 

     
      I put a few of those items in my shop but sadly when I tried on the beautiful nautical sundial necklace it broke! Hopefully I can get some good glue to fix it, the sundial is suppose to stay put but became loose and keeps falling instead. It's a little disappointing but I'm sure I can get it fixed somehow! Speaking of which, does anyone know of any good jewelry glue? I was using E-6000 but I heard it can cause cancer so I was hesitant on ordering it again.

      OH, I almost forgot, I'm doing a giveaway for a pair of crocheted plum fingerless mittens! Just go to my Facebook page and you'll find the link posted on my wall! The giveaway ends on Sunday so hurry and enter.

 

www.facebook.com/a2themoonandback

Silk City Saloon.

Today my husband and I decided to try a new restaurant that just opened up in the area, the Silk City Saloon. I honestly didn't have high expectations going in there but I was delightfully surprised when I saw a "build-you-own-burger" selection on the menu. See, I am vegetarian and it's really hard in this area to find vegetarian items on a menu besides a salad...so building my own burger sounded fantastic!

First off these burgers came on a pretzel roll which I have never tried but sounded amazing then next I chose my toppings: American cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, green olives, sautéed mushrooms and mayonnaise. I also ordered a "veggie flatizza" appetizer that was a flatbread with artichoke sauce, bruschetta, mozzarella cheese and sautéed mushrooms! I love mushrooms, if you can't tell. Haha.

 

 

 

The food took a little longer that it should have, I work in a restaurant so I know when there's only one table ordering food that it should come out really fast...especially with what we ordered BUT the food was worth the wait and of course, I didn't complain to the waitress...being a waitress myself I know it's not her fault and how annoying it is when people bitch about stuff like that.

 

The veggie flatizza was really wet...like soaked in grease maybe but it was still tasted good and the veggie burger I built was AMAZING! The pretzel bun was delicious and I really enjoyed my meal.

 

 

 



I had a yummy sex on the beach and my husband had a founders all day IPA, I hate beer but according to him that stuff is amazing.

 

<3

Crocheted Coffee Cup Sleeve

 
 

So, I've been completely addicted to searching google images and pinterest for new ideas for items I can crochet. Since I can't read patterns I just try and eyeball something and make it my own and see if I can actually make it!

I decided out of all my ideas I have that I would start out trying to make a crocheted coffee cup sleeve, I think they're completely adorable, they make drinking coffee stylish and it eliminates the need to use paper coffee sleeves.

After making just the sleeve I wanted to try and see if I could make a flower. I tried a few years back, I even watched an "easy" tutorial on youtube but I just couldn't figure it out! So. naturally, I gave up. But alas, I thought I would try something out and amazingly it worked! It looks pretty close to a rose, it's not perfect but for my first try I think it turned out pretty damn good.



 

 

I will be posting this adorable glittery princess rose crocheted coffee cup sleeve on my Etsy within a few days. And I will be making new designs as well!

 

 

 

Stay lovely, friends.
<3

 

 

 

Band Practice.

I recently brought my daughter over to a friends house who has two sons whom are musicians so we decided to let my daughter try them out!

She didn't know what was going on but it was really cute!

 

<3

Giveaway Time!

My facebook page is only 26 likes away from 200.
If you would like to win a pair of handmade fingerless
mittens, please follow the link below to my page
and like it. There will be a post with this same picture
and like that as well to be entered!

Thank you and good luck.
<3

www.facebook.com/a2themoonandback 

I'm baaack!

Hi, everyone!
I'm finally back after months and months...and months of NOT having a laptop.

It's been a little miserable but I got myself a nice laptop so hopefully I won't be disconnected from social media anytime soon.

 

I did also reopen my Etsy shop. Here's a few pictures of my new items:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 



If you would like to look at everything you can visit my shop at www.a2themoonandback.etsy.com!

Also, I'm having a giveaway! If you would like to win a free pair of fingerless mittens please like my facebook page, www.facebook.com/a2themoonandback and share my page for all your friends to like as well! I will be picking a winner once I hit 200 likes on my page.

Have a wonderful day everyone, it's good to be back!