Sweet T and a Honey B
Food, Fitness, and the Adventures That Make Life Sweet

Nacho Bar with Siete Cashew Queso

When it comes to ‘at home (insert your favorite food here) bar’ night – we tend to go all out at the Bolton house. I’m of the belief that calling it a ‘make your own’ or ‘ Do it yourself’ meal makes food 10X more fun to eat. Whether it’s paninis or grilled cheese, baked potatoes, parfaits, tacos, or most recently – nachos, I love serving up a dozen toppings and watching what everyone (okay, usually it’s just Bryan) adds to their plate. Our most recent nacho night included a complete game-changer when it comes to nacho toppings. I waited a long time for our local Whole Foods Market to carry Siete Food’s newest product-Cashew Queso. Siete Foods is easily one of my very favorite brands when it comes to authentic, but healthy, Latino food. We always have a package or two of my favorite almond flour tortillas and grain-free lime tortilla chips on hand (caution: it’s super easy to eat half the bag by yourself!). Growing up in a Mexican household myself, I ate (and still eat) a lot of corn based chips, tortillas, dishes, etc. While I personally don’t have a dietary need to eliminate grains or dairy, and often times still enjoy a good taco with corn tortillas, Siete products make it easy to enjoy my favorite dishes while eating real, good food that doesn’t leave me bloated after a meal. The queso  comes in two mouthwatering flavors, queso blanco and mild nacho, and you better believe I topped my nachos with a little of each 😉 

Nacho bar is best paired with a Friday night, a good movie, and a group of friends and/or family. Cook up a little chicken in some fajita sauce/marinade, and serve with black or pinto beans, green chiles, avocado slices, roasted peppers, and a little of your favorite Siete queso.

 

(We actually used normal tortilla chips during our recent nacho night. Our Whole Foods was completely out of Siete chips!). 

What are you favorite ‘DIY’ meals at home? Football season is coming and I think these will be on the Sunday menu A LOT. Am I missing any crucial nacho toppings? 

 

Mango Peach Protein Smoothie

It’s been really hot in Chicago these last few weeks and if you’re like me, the last thing you want on a humid morning after a good workout or while running around getting ready for work is a heavy breakfast. In addition to this heat wave we have been experiencing, my commute to work has drastically changed as my company just recently moved their headquarters to the city. I have joined the thousands of people that commute to downtown Chicago from the suburbs every day and as a result, I need something that’s quick to make because in true Teresa fashion – I’m usually running to make my train. I use Orgain Protein Powder and it’s been a staple in my smoothies for a while now because it’s plant based, has a great flavor, and doesn’t leave you with a chalky feeling in your mouth. I’m a fan of the vanilla because you can add it to anything. 

Tip: Freeze extra fruits and steamed veggies. This can help a lot with eliminating the need to throw out extras at the end of the week. I usually keep halved bananas, peaches, steamed cauliflower, and some berries on hand to add to smoothies throughout the week. In this case, I had some frozen peaches and packaged mango (Mango is expensive and I have a hard time getting all the meat off of one so I buy already frozen organic cubed mango) this past weekend and thought it might be a good combo with the vanilla protein powder and some honey! 

I also always add plain greek yogurt to my smoothies in addition to the protein powder and almond milk. When I first started making smoothies for breakfast I found it hard to stay full without the little extra added protein, especially after a workout. It also makes it super thick and creamy. Siggis Yogurt is literally the only kind of yogurt we buy anymore because there’s very little sugar, no preservatives, no artificial coloring, and comes in a million delicious flavors. 

This was a super refreshing treat after a long walk with the pup last weekend. What are your go-to smoothie add ins? Any recommendations? 

Have a great week!

Fun straws optional – but totally makes it more fun 🙂 I buy all of mine here

 

Mango Peach Protein Smoothie

  • 1/2 cup Siggis Plain Greek Yogurt
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk (or any milk of your choosing. Coconut milk would add some creaminess to this too!)
  • 3/4 cup frozen mango
  • 1/2 frozen peach
  • 1 or 2 scoops of vanilla protein powder (if using after a workout I add 2. If just for breakfast I add 1)
  • 2 tsp of honey
  • 1 tbs of chia seeds (new found favorite in my smoothies. I LOVE the texture of the little seeds and they provide a little extra fiber, calcium, and iron. They also give a little boost of HDL- the good cholesterol that can help prevent heart disease or strokes!)

 

Add all ingredients besides the chia seeds to your blender. Top with the seeds and enjoy! 

Honey B

 

It’s no secret that Bryan and I both share a love of country music and a good glass of whiskey. In fact, our wedding was centered around both. Our guests sat around centerpieces that included empty bottles of Jack Daniel’s filled with wildflowers (Yeah-Bryan and I, as well as our friends, drank quite a bit of whiskey in the year leading up to the big day) and the over arching theme was built around Blake Shelton’s sweet song, Honey Bee’. In addition to the various rustic touches, our signature drink also echoed our belief that both of us should have been born south of the Mason Dixon line. It was the dead of summer so there was no question that our drink should be refreshing, yet include a little of our beloved JD. Bonus – my new name was about to become Bolton. B for Bolton.. Honey B..Sweet T(eresa) and a Honey B(olton)…now you’re catching on.

It’s been nearly three years (holy cow!) since our wedding and I am just now sharing the beverage that partially inspired the name for my blog. And the beverage that we still make regularly.  I think it’s because we spent our entire weekend in the sunshine by our bonfire/grill with a lot of country music and these drinks on re-fill. There’s something about the promise of nice weather and a good fire that makes for the best of weekends. 

If you’re in doubt, I will say that the crew at the country club where we held our reception tell us they had never gone through so much whiskey in one night. We also had friends and family tell us they weren’t previously ‘whiskey people’ before that night – but now they are 😉 I promise that even if you aren’t one of those ‘whiskey people’, this one is worth giving a try.

Ingredients:

  • 2 parts whiskey
  • 1 part triple sec
  • yellow lemonade
  • handful of blueberries

Muddle a few blueberries at the bottom of a drinking glass (I think they taste best out of a mason jar, what else?), add in whiskey, triple sec, and lemonade. Garnish with a few extra bluebs & you’re good to go! 

Below is the sign (made from a tree slab sold at Hobby Lobby, a little chalkboard paint & a chalk marker) that we placed at the bar during the reception.

Aaaand now for a few photos of details from our perfect day.. photography by Gina and Tony of Gina + Tony Photographers If you are looking for wedding or portrait photography, I HIGHLY recommend Gina and Tony. We had decided we would ask them to photograph our wedding about two years before we even got engaged when we met them while they were photographing my cousin’s gorgeous wedding.  Their work is simply stunning and they pretty much kept us laughing the entire day. 🙂 

 

Cheesy Cauliflower Bake

I’m going to start by saying that this is not a pretty recipe. In fact, I even hesitated posting a picture of the final result because it could actually resemble one of those side-by-side photos of Pinterest fails. This is anything but a fail – this is the real deal comfort dish y’all. All I was doing was simply trying to use up some groceries we had in the house towards the end of last week and the outcome was something I will be making again very soon. We’ve been trying to find creative ways to incorporate more veggies in to dishes besides your run of the mill ‘side of’ broccoli or corn. Cauliflower seems to have been all the craze lately because there’s a lot you can do with it – pizza crust, riced with various spices, frozen with smoothies, and the list goes on. It’s pretty filling too. So, I bought a bag, threw it in the freezer, and figured I would just figure out what to do with it. I didn’t figure it out until we were at the end of our grocery haul and I didn’t want another Panera sandwich. 

The only ingredient I didn’t have on hand was shredded cheese, so I ran out to make a stop for some. I had the intention of picking up a bag of store brand Mozarella until I saw one of my recent favorite brands carrying their own shreds. I’ve been using Daiya products as much as I can because Bryan and I both don’t do well with a ton of dairy. It’s okay on occasion, like a couple slices of Friday night pizza or a small container of Greek Yogurt (ALWAYS Siggis), but our tummies obviously feel it the next day when we consume a lot of that pizza or Mac and Cheese (shoutout to our recent trip to Nashville). I discovered Daiya when looking for a better alternative to that Mac and Cheese we love so much and their packaged Mac and Cheese is a GAME CHANGER. Their products are dairy free, soy free, gluten free, and really, really, REALLY creamy. Bryan and I add a little chicken sausage and spinach to their Mac & Cheese almost on a weekly basis and we find ourselves fighting over the last portion. It never leaves us with that overly full or gross feeling. Long story short, when I found their Mozzarella and Cheddar style shreds it was a no-brainer to pick some up. 

For this bake, I threw in some peas and ground beef to bulk it up but you could easily use this ‘cheese’ sauce recipe over just the cauliflower, bake it with a few bread crumbs on top, and call it Cauliflower Mac and Cheese. I also plan to make some dairy free nachos with this too! I’m excited to swap out some normal recipes for more of Daiya’s products. I might try our favorite Cheeseburger Wraps with this ‘cheesy sauce’ as well. 

"Cheesy" Cauliflower Bake
Serves 4
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Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
15 min
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
15 min
Ingredients
  1. -1 lb ground beef
  2. - 2 cups cauliflower
  3. - 1 and 1/2 cups almond milk
  4. - 2 tbs flour
  5. - 1 cup peas
  6. - 1/2 tsp turmeric
  7. - 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  8. - 1/2 tsp sea salt
  9. - 2 tbs sour cream (You can purchase dairy free if you need to. The portion is small enough that I just used the normal low-fat sour cream I had in my fridge)
  10. - 1 1/2 cups Daiya shreds (I used 1/2 cup of Mozarella and 1 cup of Cheddar but you can mix it up. They also have Pepper Jack style!) + a little extra for sprinkling
Instructions
  1. - Preheat oven to 375 degrees
  2. - Fully cook ground beef over stove top, breaking up as it cooks.
  3. -Whisk 1/2 cup of the cold almond milk with the flour until fully combined
  4. - Heat 1 cup of almond milk over medium heat until you start to see steam and add the milk/flour mixture. Whisk again to fully incorporate.
  5. - Turn down heat to low-medium and add sour cream, cheese shreds, turmeric, garlic, and sea salt to the milk and keep stirring until you get a creamy, cheesy, consistency. Try not to eat this with a spoon at this point.
  6. - Cook cauliflower and peas (Personally, I just use microwave steamer bags because it's super quick for recipes during the week. You can steam fresh veggies yourself but ain't nobody got time for that over here).
  7. - Spray a 9X13 baking dish with cooking spray and add cauliflower, peas, and ground beef to the pan. Pour 'cheese sauce' over the veggie/beef mixture and add a few Daiya shreds to the top. I also added a little extra pinch of sea salt here.
  8. -Bake for 15 minutes and serve with your favorite warm biscuits or croissants!
Sweet T and a Honey B https://www.sweettandahoneyb.com/

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Protein Bowl

Hey, remember me? It’s unbelievable how fast time can slip away from you and before you know it, the holidays you thought were ‘not for a couple of months’ are fast approaching. If that wasn’t evident by my Christmas tree standing tall in my living room, it’s certainly evident by the amount of 30/40/50% off, Free Shipping, and holiday shopping reminder e-mail subjects I have clogging my inbox. Just a constant reminder that no matter how far ahead I think I am in my shopping, I’m not. 

So, long story short, it’s been a crazy couple of months. Let’s get back to some healthy foods, shall we? 

This one is goooood. I mean, really gooood. It was one of those ‘I have XYZ ingredients in the house so let’s do something with them’ meals. Once it dropped even a hair below 50 degrees last month, I was ready to cook up some of those feel-good meals and hibernate under a blanket. See ya in March. 

This sweet potato bowl is really filling and easy to customize based on various proteins and vegetables you like. What makes it extra yummy is the avocado cream I drizzled on top. This cooks in very little time and like all of my other recipes, it’s easy to make a bunch and keep for the week. You can even add the sweet potatoes, beans, and ground beef on top of a bed of lettuce and pack it for lunch using the avo-cream as a dressing. 

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Protein Bowl

Serves 4

Ingredients:

  • 2 medium-sized sweet potatoes
  • 1 lb grass-fed ground beef
  • 1 16 oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 2 tbs EVOO or avocado oil
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 medium-sized avocado
  • 1/2 cup light sour cream
  • fresh lime juice
  • cooking spray
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Rinse and dice sweet potatoes into approx 1-inch cubes. In a large bowl, mix oil, sea salt, garlic powder, and paprika, with the sweet potato cubes until fully coated. 
  2. Lightly spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and lay sweet potatoes in a single layer on the sheet. Set timer for 20 minutes. Turn potatoes over halfway through.  
  3. While sweet potatoes are cooking, fully cook ground beef over medium-high heat, breaking up as it browns.
  4. Using a blender or food processor, blend avocado, sour cream, and lime juice. Add the lime juice gradually until you get desired consistency/taste. Note, if you are using on a salad, you may need a little more lime juice to make a dressing-like consistency. 
  5. Add 1/4 of the ground beef, 1/4 of the sweet potatoes, and 1/4 of the black beans to a bowl and top with 2 tbs of the avocado cream. Sprinkle with a little sea salt and pepper. 

 

Have a Happy Hump Day!