Yummy Goodness: Sweet Potato & Black Bean Enchiladas

Just had to share this awesome recipe that is inspired off a recipe from my Whole Foods App.

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Enchiladas

Trust me this is in incredible. I thought that it might be spicy with the amount of green chiles but it wasn’t at all.  I topped it with avacado, sour cream & red salsa!  Perfection!

Ingredients:

Quickie Green Chile Sauce:

-1 Cup Vegetable Broth

-1 Tablespoon arrowroot starch dissolved in a little cold water/ or 1/2 Tablespoon Flour

-1 Cup chopped roasted mild green chiles (Canned)

-2 to 3 cloves of garlic, minced

-1 teaspoon cumin

Enchilada Filling

-1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed, drained

-3 or 4 cloves of garlic

-Fresh lime juice of 1 lime/ or canned lime juice (2 tablespoons)

-2 heaping cups cooked diced sweet potatoes (I peeled, diced & then boiled mine)

-1/2 cup chopped mild green chiles

-1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

-1/2 teaspoon chili powder

-salt & pepper to taste

-2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Assembly

6-8 corn or flour tortillas (I used 6 whole Wheat Flour Tortillas)

4 ounces or more of shredded monterey jack cheese

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Choose a baking dish large enough to hold your rolled tortillas side by side.

Make your Quickie Green Chile Sauce by combining the broth, arrowroot or flour, green chiles, garlic & spices in a sauce pan & heat over medium heat. Bring to a high simmer.  Simmer until thickened.  Taste test and set aside.

In the meantime, for the enchilada filling, using a mixing bowl, combine the drained black beans with minced garlic and lime juice.  Toss to coat the beans and set aside.  In a separate bowl combine the cooked sweet potatoes with the chopped green chiles, cilantro, spices.

Lightly spoon some of the quickie green chile sauce on the bottom of the baking dish.

To assemble the enchiladas, spoon the sweet potato mixture down the middle of the tortilla.  Top with some black beans.  Wrap and roll the tortilla and place at the end of the baking dish.  Repeat with remaining tortillas.  Top the rolled enchiladas with the shredded cheese.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the sauce is bubbling around the edges.  Then Savor!!!!

To All The Mamas…

2009

2010

Happy Mother’s Day!!!

To the world you may be just one person, but to one person (little persons) you are THEIR WORLD!!!

Non-Violent Communication

I’m reading the book Non-Violent Communication by Marshall B. Rosenberg and it is eye opening.  I have not had a strong background in communication, let alone positive communication.  Because of my family situation, I grew up keeping things to myself and never learned how to communicate with others.  As I became a teenager and young adult, this carried with me and I struggled in my relationships to be open and real, to truly share my thoughts and feelings and to hear and understand others.  I became aware of this before I got married and did all I knew to change this about myself.  I did become more open and sought to really try to understand those around me.  But since becoming a mom, my heart has been opened in ways I never could of imagined.  Not only do I want to be real, transparent, empathetic and compassionate with my son, but also to my husband, family, friends and even strangers.  Thus, my journey into non-violent communication is beginning.  And I emphasize beginning!

As I’m reading through this book I will be sharing excerpts from it but also my thoughts, discoveries and experiences.

Most of us have been educated from birth to compete, judge, demand, and diagnose – to think and communicate in terms of what is “right” and “wrong” with people.  At best, communicating and thinking this way can create misunderstanding and frustration.  And still worse, it can lead to anger, depression, and even emotional or physical violence.

So what exactly is non-violent communication (NVC)?

• Violence can be both physical, where force is used.  And passive, where the effects are more emotional.

Non-violence means allowing the positive within you to emerge.  Be dominated by love, respect, understanding, appreciation, compassion and concern for others rather than the self-centered and selfish, greedy, hateful, prejudiced, suspicious, and aggressive attitudes that dominate our thinking.

NVC guides us in reframing how we express ourselves and hear others.  Instead of habitual, automatic reactions, our words become conscious responses based on awareness of what we are perceiving, feeling and wanting.  When we focus on clarifying what is being observed, felt, and needed rather than on diagnosing and judging, we discover the depth of our own compassion.

In the short time that I have been reading this book, I have become so aware of how I do not know how to express my feelings, needs or wants to others, like my hubby and even more so, how often I judge, generalize and do not fully know what the other person is feeling, needing or wanting.  The encouraging thing is that in the short time I’ve been reading this book and starting to practice NVC, I have seen the benefits of it in my closest relationships. I’m pretty excited to keep reading, learning and practicing.

Next up I’ll be sharing the components of NVC.

Changing to Learn – Learning to Change

A  great video about the future of education vs. learning.  I love the line: “The death of education and the dawn of learning.”

Hit the Ground Running

Another blog I write, feel free to check it out and get inspired. Here

I Am Mom to A Boy

He loves dirt.  The edible kind too.

He gets boo boos from being daring. 😦

He likes to kiss wild things.

He makes this sound, “brrrrmmmmm” every time he sees or hears anything motorized.

And loves getting to ride anything that goes “brrrrmmmmm”

But this little boy is a sweet one.  He’ll hug just about anything that will let him.  Especially Me!!!

Skip Skip Skip to my lou

When was the last time you skipped?

Last week Judah & I took a very special little girl out for her 6th birthday.  We had lunch, went to the park and then cooled off with ice cream, the makings of a great day.  While we were at the park this lovely girl couldn’t stop skipping. Judah wanted to be just like her so I tried to show him how to skip and I felt so out of my body.  When had I last skipped? Why don’t I skip anymore?  So as I made my body move as it hasn’t in a looong time, skipping came back to me and I remembered how fun it was.  Skipping is full of energy, excitement, and wonder.  I want to skip a little bit everyday.

What about you?  Skip Skip Skip to my lou…

Unschooling…

I am no where near “school age” with Judah but I have already begun to think about the topic.  Something about public education doesn’t sit right with me for many reasons and I was never fond of public school myself, so I have already been pondering the alternatives.  Private Schools.  Charter Schools.  Homeschooling.  Unschooling???

Unschooling is a relatively new term to me and I am in no way an expert nor do I have much experience with it. But as I have been researching the concept, it is has peaked quite an interest in me.  Unschooling, also known as natural learning or life learning, is a concept of learning that nurtures a child’s innate curiosity and drive to discover.  Parent’s guide their children and help to facilitate further discovery of the interests of their children. There is no set way to unschool.

In essence, I am already unschooling Judah.  Everyday he is naturally learning and I am coming along side and helping to nurture what interest him.  Babies and children are natural learners and when learning is approached as something natural and freely occurring, the love of discovery will never end.  Kids just grow into adults who never stop learning.

Recently, Good Morning America did a segment on unschooling, which I was not crazy about, but caused quite a stir.  The link is here.  And the follow up interview is here.

Also, here are some great posts and articles concerning unschooling.

Walk Slowly Live Wildly:  Unschooling: A Life of Freedom

The Organic Sister:  The Uproar Over Unschooling

Child’s Play:  Unschooling

Swiss Army Wife:  Parent’s Role in Unschooling

Huffington Post:  Unschooling: How GMA Got It All Wrong

What are your thoughts?  Have you ever heard of unschooling?

Present?!?!?!?

Why is it so hard to be present?  I struggle to be fully present when playing with Judah boy.  Fully present when talking with the hubs.  Fully present when reading a book.  Fully present when taking time to think.  I find my mind wandering.  My heart wandering.  Yet longing to get back to the moment at hand.  I need to train my mind

Photo Credit

to focus on what’s happening right now.  I need to intentionally prevent myself from getting distracted…like leaving the iphone or computer out of reach.  I want to embrace the moment.  I want to be playful.  I want to get caught up in the interaction between me and my loves.  I want to smile when I think back on the day because it’s happening are so vivid to me because I was immersed in them.  On the surface of me there are so many things that call for my attention yet deep down I want to run from all the noise and find simplicity.  This will not be easy but I want to do it.

An interesting Spin on the CIO Method

I found this terrific blog article on allowing your babies to Cry it Out (CIO).  It is written from the perspective of a woman who could have been left on her own at night when she was very very ill.  She relates this to how babies could feel – something many don’t consider when they do allow their babies to cry alone in order to get them to sleep.

Woman Uncensored