Freezer Meals: Spinach Feta Wrap (similar to the Starbucks version)

Oh, how I love the starbucks spinach feta wraps. I usually can't resist them if I haven't had breakfast and am in line for coffee! Plus they are *sort of* healthy, right?

Anyway, I've been prepping for the arrival of our Little Lady and making freezer meals, including breakfast. I find I function much better with a hot breakfast that is higher in protein and have had a hankering to try and replicate these at home. They are not exact, but close and I like them so I suppose that's what really matters! They can be made lower carb too if you use the right wraps!

Spinach Feta Wraps

makes 8 wraps

8 large tortillas ( I used low carb)

3 cups egg whites, salted to taste

2 jars tomato pesto

4oz feta cheese

2 cups fresh spinach (more if you like spinach!)

*also aluminum foil

1. Gather ingredients. Pull off 8 pieces of aluminum foil, larger than your tortillas and stack them. Place your first tortilla on top. 

2. Heat a small frying pan on low. Chop the spinach into strips (I did not do this in the photos, and should have, easier to eat!). Add the fresh spinach and 2 tablespoons of the tomato pesto. Heat until SLIGHTLY WILTED-- it should not be dark green in color, only wilted.

3. Find a microwave save bowl and add about 1/3 cup of the egg whites, microwave until cooked. You can fry them instead but I think the texture is better from the microwave believe it or not, similar to poached eggs.

 4. Layer from the bottom to top: 1-2 tablespoons tomato pesto, 1/2 oz feta cheese, wilted spinach, egg.  Roll the wrap, bottom side down, then roll up in the foil. Don't forget to label them with dates too!

5. Repeat 7 more times! It helps to set up a "workstation" since you have to make these individually. I don't have a lot of counter space but if you do, spread it all out to make it go faster!

The bowl of cheerios on the right is optional for parents of toddlers!

 When you are ready to eat them, remove the foil, wrap in a paper towel and heat in the microwave for 1.5-2 minutes.

Enjoy!

Garden Update 2013: Week 1

My how the garden has grown :)

Not only are my cute little plants growing but we have added some MAJOR additions to the homestead garden! We've only been in our home for four months and I can't believe what we have accomplished!! Husband fenced in a 50x60 foot area and started building my raised bed garden boxes. Last week, he trenched from the house (probably 100 feet away) and put plumbing and electric in various places! I now have 2 running hoses, a timed watering system (with separate valves from the hoses) and a plumbed earthbox garden! We are still awaiting the finishing touches on the earthbox plumbing so I will share that later :) 

Two days ago we picked up a 50 foot soaker hose from Lowes and did our best not to ruin the grid system I stapled in place.. not sure we succeded but who cares! Now I don't have to spend a half hour a day standing in the hot sun/rain/cold :) My number one rule about this garden is that it would be as LOW MAINTENANCE as possible! So far looking good :)

One of many future raised beds :)

 Eventually, we will have 17 more that look just like this :)

Far Left: acorn squash climbing the trellis.
Left to Right- Back row: left 6 are caulflower, right 6 are broccoli. Middle Row: spinach, lettuce, carrots x 2 then onion. Bottom row: lettuce, newly planted garlic, onion x 2.

The other changes to the garden was that I added a trellis for the Spaghetti Squash plants. They were growing way too fast! I also planted 2 of the 4 acorn squash plants my good friend gave me, right next to the trellis, so assuming the weather holds out- we should have plenty of squash this spring!

The first female flower! I hope it's warm enough for it to mature :)

 The carrots seem to be happy in the raised beds as well. They were a little tricky since there are 16 plants in one square foot. I think we covered pretty good with the soaker hoses though. 

Happy Little Carrots

The broccoli and Cabbage plants also seem to be quite happy in the raised beds. Again, I am WAY past season with planting these since they started indoor from seed, but if they make it past the last frost, we'll be having broccoli and cauliflower early this season!

Cauliflower

 I spent some time today planting some garlic bulbs (cloves actually- which by the way, look exactly like those you buy in a grocery store!). From what I read, it's important to peel them back to remove the basal plate, but be sure not to damage the little root growth spots at the bottom. Supposedly this is the time of year to plant them, so we'll see. Since I live in Florida  none of the "suggested" times are ever correct!

That's all for now! On to raised bed #2, which is currently half full of soil. The plan will be to top it off with quality soil, add soaker hose and grid off for planting. I'm thinking tomatoes for sure.. maybe beets, cucumbers and squash as well. Will keep you guys posted :) 

I love the feeling that I am able to grow what we eat, it's healthier and more sustainable, and tastes SO MUCH better grown fresh!

Happy homesteading :)

Garden update: Week 49

Just an update, stay tuned for a "how I built my square foot garden" post :)

Early December has been quite warm so far with an average temp in the mid 70's. We've had some rain (thank goodness!), which the plants LOVE. I had always read about how great rainwater is for a garden (referred to as liquid gold even!) because of the nitrogen content and that it is not chemically treated. I never really saw the effect because I always used Earthboxes, but now that I have things in the ground, it's so much more obvious! It's literally like they grew overnight!

My super awesome neighbor had leftover onion transplants, so those were added at the beginning of the week (sorry for the poor photo quality- iphone photos are what I have right now!):

New happy onion transplants in bottom left corner :)

Iphone panorama of the garden, note the BROWN unhappy,crunchy grass around the raised beds!

After the rain came, they seemed MUCH happier. You can see the brassica family growing on the right (broccoli and cauliflower). The two winter squash plants are doing very well in the back too! 

Growing right along

I have been working 12 hour night shifts so I hadn't the time for close ups of the plants.. but they are all doing well! Even the carrots (left, bottom 2 squares in and 2 squares up) have started to peek through the soil! We also had a cold snap come through with night temps in the low 50's, so we will see if that stunts growth or not!

That's all for now, I will keep you all posted as the zone 9 winter begins.

Happy gardening :)

A Brand New Blog

Ah, fresh starts. Don't you love them? This blog has been long overdue and I hope to really get to show off some of my favorite bits of randomness to anyone who is willing to listen!

Let me introduce myself :)

I am a 30 something wife to an amazing husband. We recently moved to a small bit of land down south (zone 9b for you gardeners) and are loving the homesteading life.. even if we just started. We don't have kids at the moment, so most of our time is spent working or at home on the "ranch". 

Our sunset view off the front porch, still can't believe it's ours!

Back when we lived "in town" I had a youtube page which I started because I love to scrapbook and found myself wanting to share it with the internet. I found Becky Higgins Project Life scrapbook products to be Uh-Mazing and I felt  like the whole world should know! I made a ton of videos and realized there were other passions I wanted to share with people- gardening, cooking and photography were just the beginning!

One of my favorite products of all time! This changed the way I scrapbook forever!

Then we moved "out here" and low and behold, the internet is... well.. sub-par to say the least. It takes 4 hours to upload one video. Ugh. Anywhoo.. I was thinking a blog may be the next best thing, so here we go! Wish me luck!

First up on the blog? A recipe.. sort of!

Let me start by saying, I love food. Who doesn't? And I do TRY to eat healthy. I don't always meet those goals, but this little dish (if you can call it that) does help satisfy a craving.

Warmed Cinnamon Apples:

Okay, so it doesn't LOOK amazing, but it tastes pretty darn good!

Ingredients:
1 apple (I prefer red because they are sweeter, but green will do in a pinch)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2  tbsp butter (or spray butter)
Optional Toppings: 
         caramel sauce (store bought or homemade)
         vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt
         graham crackers or leftover crescent rolls, biscuits, etc.
         whipped cream

Directions:
1. Slice or cube apple
2. sprinkle cinnamon
3. add small pats of butter
4. place in a bowl in microwave for 45 seconds-1minute
5. top with anything you want!

I keep apples around the house JUST for this recipe. It's similar to apple pie, but healthier :) You're welcome.

That's it for this post. Enjoy your dessert :)