Adding to my happiness

On top of me getting a job the following thing are making me extremely happy lately:
1. Nora has outgrown her allergy to almonds and probably cashews - we're testing those next. This will enable several vegan dishes that I want to try.
2. And we can now drink Almond Breeze milk. My new addiction.
3. Which is especially good with TJ's new Maple Leaf Cookies
4. Oh, yeah, it's Maple Syrup season!
5. And the Sugar Shack is also serving breakfast
6. Speaking of local farms: I just signed up for my CSA - Red Fire Farms
7. It's March. And while, I don't really think this New England winter is over, I have hopes that the worst of it is.
8. I bought some plants, that I have so far, not managed to kill.
9. Chicopee Public Library continues to be a fabulous and helpful place.
10. We had a really terrific visit to NYC last week. Eventually I will get around to posting pictures.

Altogether I'm in a better place than I have been for the past several months. Now lets hope it holds.

Food Craft

One of the things I've been spending a lot of time doing while home is baking. I've been working a lot on yeast breads, something that I never felt like doing when I had many things to accomplish in a weekend. Unfortunately, my experiments with sourdough starter were just not that satisfying. I started the starter from a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook recipe, and while I did make about 4 loaves out of it, it just wasn't that sourdough-y tasting and then as it sat on my my counter longer, it sort of became a burden and then, eventually, a smelly mess. So I tossed it yesterday and plan to return to Sarah E-Y's wheat bread recipe and some of the white country bread loaves that I've been baking as well. I also bought some spelt flour, so I'll need to do something with that pronto.

I haven't been doing any sewing, which I thought I would be. Yesterday, I finally decided to make some french fries for Nora's play kitchen, so I did do some felt handsewing, and I've got a bunch of felted sweaters that need to be re-made, so perhaps I'll get something done with those. Anyone have any bread recipes they love and want to share? Send them too me! Especially those using wheat flour or spelt.

Here's the french fries complete with ketchup (I didn't make the ketchup bottle, it's from Melissa and Doug).

Today's Project

There's something about assembling furniture that makes my back hurt. I'm pretty happy with the outcome though. Tomorrow's project is filling these bad boys up with the contents of the 30 boxes on the sunporch. Do you think they will all fit?

Here's the final on that pear cake from earlier this week. I will be making this again, it just kept getting better as it aged. Very spicy. Not sure it was a Nora favorite, but I really liked it, I think it would make good muffins too.

Pears

I've had these pears sitting on my counter for a couple of days and while we've been enjoying them fresh, I thought I might do something else with them. I'm tempted to try a pear butter or pear honey, since Natascha made some last weekend with her mother-in-law, and having tried last years batch, I'd like to make an attempt. But, I'm not really up to the whole canning thing right now. So, I thought I'd make a pear cake, especially since today is Jason's first day of school and well, I'm all out of inspiration on tackling those boxes of stuff that I don't know where to put right now. I've adapted this fresh pear cake from allrecipes, with some Nora -friendly additions: ground flax seed and water for the eggs and omitting the pecans. I also added a tsp of vanilla and about a Tbs of peach brandy that we had around here. I thought it was pear, but then it wasn't but I still thought it would work. The pears are sitting in the sugar/brandy/vanilla mixture now, so I'll let you know how this goes. I left the skins on, I hope that isn't a mistake....

Tune in later to see how this goes!

Return to the Blog

Two months and one cross country move later, I return to my blog. If you are on facebook, you've probably already seen these, but I thought I'd share Pancake Day here, too, since it was such a wonderful morning. Nora had literally been dreaming of Jason making pancakes so she decided that he would become the pancake chef, and he did. His first batch was pretty great and I'm looking forward to future pancake days. Part of Nora's decree included wearing these Daughter and Daddy matching Steak and Shake hats. It's Nora's favorite restaurant, but really, there's not much for Jason there.




This is the pantry, or what Nora calls the Little Kitchen, and right now it' s my favorite part of the house. That could have something to do with there being no boxes there.

Jason's reptilian like pattern on his arm is from Nora playing tattoo parlor. We've tried to discourage this since it is difficult to wash off (Crayola lies about the washable nature of their washable crayons).



We are settling in okay. Nora is having the hardest time, since we just want to unpack boxes and run to Ikea and do other boring things. She's seen a lot of TV the past couple of weeks. We have tried to get across the street to the park everyday (we didn't make it today) or out someplace at least. Unfortunately, the Dinosaur Footprints park was not as exciting as we hyped it to be. Fossilized dino footprints aren't that obvious to the untrained eye and there was no dinosaur recreation which would have made her happy. I think we've got to spend a day this week, doing everything she wants to do to balance it out. I'll let you know how it goes.

Oh have I mentioned that it's been hot here this week? 90+ degrees. And we have no AC.

La Morena

I've been craving a lot of Mexican food lately. Probably the lack of heat & sun it being February and all. But I thought I share one of my favorite things to make lately. It involves this fabulous little can. Actually, I use La Morena's Chipotle Sauce, but I've used the peppers in adobe sauce too. In either case, to use the whole can, you've got to make a bunch, but I've found that if you only use 1/2 a can, the left overs freeze fairly well for your next batch.

I use a can of black beans, a can of white hominy (both regular 15 oz cans, rinsed), throw them both on top of some sauted onions and garlic, add some cumin, a 1/2 bottle of beer, 1/2 a can of the chipotle sauce (or if using the whole peppers, cut up 1/3 of them into smaller bite sized pieces - or you can puree the can & use 1/3 of it). Let is simmer along for awhile, or better yet, pop the whole thing in the over at around 350 degrees for an hour.

It's all gone or I would post some pictures.

what's been cooking

This weekend I got to try some long awaited recipes and returned to some old favorites. Friday night I made the incredibly addictive Hot Glazed Tempeh from Veginomicon. I can not tell you how much I love this recipe. I crave this stuff, but since really only Jason and I like it, I don't make it that often. Alongside the tempeh we had baked sweet potatoes, cornbread (I got to try out the little corn cob cast iron pan that I got for Christmas), and a black eyed pea/greens soup that I had frozen from New Years. It was super delish. Plus maybe those black eyed peas gave us extra luck for 2010.

Sunday, Todd and Natascha came to brunch, so I had an audience for my experiment, the Italian Feast "sausage" from Vegan Brunch. I also test kitchened the Chocolate Stout waffles and made a batch of the raised waffles (we had tried those Christmas Day), both of these are also in Vegan Brunch. I really love that book. Every recipe I've tried from it has been a keeper. I will definitely be making both of the waffles and the fauxage (as Todd calls it) again. Though next time I think I'll try the choritzo variation.

I wish I could say I got more done this weekend. I needed to change the sheets on the bed, do laundry, and about a gazillion other things, but it just didn't happen. Nora and I did make valentines for the grandparents though, so at least I'm ahead of schedule on that.

Osage

My co-worker coerced me into abandoning my packed lunch yesterday and going to Osage, a local restaurant that is in a nursery, Bowood Farms, in the CWE. I was really, really happy with my Mediterranean plate, but then she gave me a bite of her Brie BLT and he heavens opened up, angels sang and I was bathed in a soft blue light. Yes it was that good. While the bacon was awesome, what really made this sandwich was the tomato marmalade. Bacon aside, this place is great for vegetarians, with multiple veggie options. It is very small though, and I'd recommend getting there early or late - we got there at 11:30am and couldn't get a table, we ate at the bar. But I'm going back for that sandwich.

Recipe testings

I don't have any pictures, unfortunately, but this past weekend, Todd and Natascha served as willing guinea pigs for some more recipe tests from the Veginomican. Saturday I made the Green Pumpkin Seed Mole, Chili-Lime crusted tofu, and the corn pudding. This was one of Isa's suggested menus in the back of the book. We had tomatoes & avocados as a side (it is August!) and Isa's Coconut Lemon Bundt Cake for dessert. I like all of these recipes quite a bit, but was most impressed with the mole. Possibly because it came together in a snap despite having a ton of ingredients, and I can see it working with a variety of dishes. I liked the corn pudding, but it was a pain cutting the corn off the cob, I might make it again using frozen corn, but I'm not sure it would taste as good. The chili-lime tofu was yummy, but again, it's a lot of work and a lot of frying and really I think I like the hot glazed tempeh marinade on tofu better and it's much less time consuming. It would also have worked well in this menu. I've made the Coconut-Lemon bundt cake previously, and this time was no different - this is a keeper of a recipe. I love this cake. Interestingly, Dad also loves this cake, and he's not really a big coconut fan, so I think it might go into heavier rotation. Mom got leftovers of the corn pudding and has now decided that it needs to be made more often too, which is surprising because I didn't think she'd go for it (it has coconut milk in it). Nora loved the mole, but she ate it with pretzels. I don't think tofu is her thing, even when fried. I kept trying to convince her that it was a sort of french fry, but it was a no-go. Anyone have any requests about what to make next?

Unproductive

I've been a very unproductive blogger in the last couple of weeks, which is sad since I was really on a roll in September. I'm still making Nora's lunch (although Jason did it last Friday) and I do usually photograph it, but of course I never have the camera when I feel like blogging, so there's not pictures for this post.

I've been cooking quite a bit lately. Last week I tested several of the Veganomican recipes, with success. The caramel apple cupcakes with penuche icing were a big hit at a potluck that I brought them to (and Nora and Jason liked them as well). I discovered penuche is indeed like fudge and it hardens up very quickly so I needed to re-melt it midway through icing the cakes. That same evening I made the Inside-out Samosas (samosa filled twice baked potatoes). I'll be making them again for Jason and I, but Nora opted out - she has a thing about potatoes. Ditto on the vegan "scalloped" potatoes. Jason and I liked them quite a bit, although I think I was too heavy handed with the nutritional yeast. Nora wouldn't touch them, but she did eat about a 1/2 a cup of sauerkraut. She is probably the only 2 year old in the world who won't touch mashed potatoes but will eat sauerkraut. She also like the roasted carrots and Polish sausage that rounded out that meal. All that was missing was a green salad, and we would have had a Sunday dinner, but I hate making salad. And I finally got around to trying Sarah E-Y's wheat bread recipe the week before last. I will definitely be making it again, it was terrific! I passed it on to Mom and she made it into some wonderful buns with raisins in them with Nora. So Sarah, if you are reading, thanks! and you might try adding raisins to a batch if you haven't already.

The weekend before last, we drove the Great River Road on the search for apples. It was a beautiful day, and we made a stop in Grafton at the Rotten Apple so that Jason could check out their fabled beer selection. The beer was good, the cider was good and the food was good. I'm sure we'll be back. Then we stopped at Pere Marquette and Nora played with the giant chess board while Jason attempted to coach her toward Chess Greatness. We should have hiked about some and looked for wildlife, but the heat and our heavy lunch kept us inside. Nora enjoyed the chainsaw sculpture of Illinois wildlife (eagles, raccoons, squirrel, and rabbits) and re-arranged the fuzzy rabbits in the deer diorama inside the lodge, so we sort of saw some animals. Then we headed up toward Hardin and I detoured off toward Jerseyville to stop at Ringhausen Orchards. Unfortunately Nora fell asleep, so there are no glorious pictures of her among pumpkins, atop hay bales, or holding shiny red apples, and actually the Ringhausen Orchard we went to (there are several) wasn't really that type of place. But the apples were great, I got Crispins, Jonathan's, and Honey Crisps. I ate the last one today for lunch, so I'm hoping Mom and Dad pick up some on their trip this weekend. On the way back to the main road, I saw a snake slither into the cornfield, so that sort of met our "see wildlife" goal of the trip.

This weekend we weren't much better about getting out into nature. Fortunately, the Grand Marshall takes Nora out to Powder Valley quite a bit, or else I'd worry that she is danger of developing a nature deficit disorder. Jason and I are lacking in our intake of fresh air, and I'm hoping we'll make it happen this weekend.

Final Days Of Summer

It's fall already, and it's felt like fall for awhile, given the lack of oppressive heat that summer usually brings us and all the back to school business. But these last few days of summer have brought out the inner squirrel in me. Last weekend, I decided I needed to do something to mark the end of the season so Mom and I put up a bunch of pints of Jason's mom's pepper sauce. This may or may not be the fabled sauce of Miss Dixie, Jason's childhood neighbor, I suspect it is, since it has more of her hallmarks than Kathy's, in any case, it is a delicious sauce. This isn't something I do every year, but I really love the taste of it on beans (black eyed peas, pintos, butter beans, and the like), and the recipe is easy (well, I have to use gloves for the hot peppers, but other than that it's easy) and putting up a dozen pints really doesn't take that much time, especially when Mom is is there to lead my through it.

I had plenty of tomatoes left over (since I lost my battle with the evil squirrels, I had to buy a peck at the farmer's market and we only used half for the pepper sauce). And I was desperately in need of another can of olive oil, so the logical thing was to pick some at Viviano's along with some buffalo mozzarella and make a big sloppy caprice salad. I love so many things about Viviano's. The price of olive oil is astronomical (I can remember when it was about $12-$15 for a 3L can not that long ago), I was
dithering between a new can that they had predominately displayed for about 5$ less than my normal Celio brand. In the checkout I point to the new brand and ask "Am I going to be happy with this?" The two people behind the counter (one has been working there for more years than I've been coming to the store) say without hesitation, in unison and with a tone that is definitive: "no", I scoot out and exchange it for the Celio and the long standing employee looks at me with approval and tells me that's what she always uses. I exit Viviano's looking forward to my salad and the hunk of Marconi's bakery bread. We are not a white bread family. I mean that literally. We don't eat white bread usually - lots of rye and whole wheat and I'm constantly guilt tripping myself over the fact that we eat too much of the processed sandwich bread that has all that corn syrup in it. But, occasionally, I like a crusty Italian style loaf and Marconi's is always perfect. We scarfed it down with the salad and then the next morning I ate it with the last of the gooseberry preserves from Sunflower Savannah a vendor at the Tower Grove Farmer's Market. I had bought this earlier this summer and I'm completely enthralled with it. We had gooseberry bushes when I was a kid and while I remember there being lots of gooseberry pie (I wasn't fond of it, but my grandparent's generation was), I have no memories of jam that tasted like this! And the color is really pretty too. Here's a picture:
I'm sorry I haven't done as much canning as I would have liked this year. It's hard to do with Nora in the house, unless there's a team looking after her, and really I always think it's going to be more labor intensive than it is.

This weekend I also got around to testing the alternative to rice crispy treats in Vegan Lunchbox. While Nora has no problems eating marshmallows and I can make them with Earth Balance instead of butter, there are a couple of people in our orbit who don't eat them due to the gelatin in marshmallows, including Jason. So I thought I'd give these a try since they use corn syrup & peanut butter (I subbed soynut butter) instead. I make the jumped up version with chocolate chips. Once I got over that these were not rice crispy treats, I actually liked them and Jason and Nora gave them two thumbs up too. Nora has taken to calling these "Snack". They are way sweet (they are after all listed in the dessert section) and they tasted quite a bit like store bought quaker granola bars as well as a treat Mom made for us when we were kids - Special K bars. The soynut butter/chocolate combo is a real winner and I like the crispiness of the rice crispies. I think I will make them again and add oats as well and try to find the brown puffed rice that the recipe originally suggested.

Finally here are the lunchboxes from this week so far:This is my lunch from Monday, Jason had a similar one, but I didn't get a photo: blackeyed peas with tomatoes and spinach (Sunday's leftovers), turkey sausage (Jason had the last of the cornbread muffins instead), a pluot, and we both had a side of Snack. I also sampled one of Nora's Vanilla Silk pouches and it was actually good (I'm not a huge fan of the regular Silk, but I find the Chocolate quite tolerable as well). Here's Nora's lunch from today:
Macaroni and meat sauce, carrot sticks and zuchini stars and hearts with hummus dip, a pack of raisins, and Vanilla Silk pouch. I'm suffering from some guilt because I forgot to include my usually notes in her lunch.

That's all for today, but I did want to remind folks about the Strange Folk Festival this weekend. Go check it out!

Friday Lunch Roundup

I actually made most of our lunches the night before for the first time. This enabled us to get out the door on time! I love going to Nora's pre-school. Today I met one of her classmates, Luke. Nora wasn't thrilled about him, but he seemed like a nice boy. They are doing cooking experiments today, so I wonder if she'll be willing to do some at home this weekend. I've been meaning to test-drive Vegan Lunch Box's recipe for vegan rice crispy treats. Since this will make a very small dent in the 3 bottles of Karo syrup I've somehow amassed, it's high on the priority list. Let's hope its a favorite.

Here's the lunches for today:


Nora has leftovers from dinner the other night - 1/2 a bean and chicken burrito cut into pinwheels (this alligns with the other kids lunch menu - bean and cheese burritos), a pear cup, carrot sticks and a dip made from soy sour cream and salsa. I froze some o.j. in a reusable juice box to keep it all cold.

I've got a turkey and cheese sandwich, grapes, and a salad made from edaname, corn, & dried cranberries with a walnut oil/basalmic vinegar/apple cidar dressing.
Jason has cheese and rye crackers, tomato soup, grapes and some of the edaname salad. Here is his all tied up. I didn't get an elastic strap for his bento (it's on the way, along with a neutral looking lunch bag) so I tie his up using a rather girly napkin a'la the japanese furoshiki. The government of Japan has put out a handy guide on how to tie these wraps, but I haven't studied it in detail, so mine are a bit more free form:
I am quite happy on how I managed to get that spoon tied in there too.

Bento Box

I got a bento box! So now you get to see one of my lunches. Jason got one too, but his is plain green (he didn't get a matching bag and chopsticks - poor Jason).

I didn't have time to take pictures of his, but what we're having for lunch is: veggie sushi leftovers (these are spinach, carrot and avocado), a rice ball molded into a shape (mine is a star, Jason got a mouse shape) with additional avocado pieces, some pickled ginger and wasabi, and I got grapes and Jason got a fruit bar.

Jason also got a little sauce container of soy sauce, but I had some at work so I didn't bother with mine. If I had been more together on this, I would have molded the avocado into the rice so that it wouldn't brown so much. I love my new bento set! Unfortunately, I can't get a good shot of the top, but on the top of the container and on the chop stick container is the following saying - "Happy fruits is very delicious. I will eat this and will become fortunate all together!" This is the "putifresh" line and the manufacturer is "Lube Sheep" which Jason thinks is hysterical. Okay, I do too. Anyway, they come in cherries, pears and oranges and I got them here. The cupcake cups are from Target's dollar spot this week - they have sets of 10 silicone cupcake liners for $1 - I got one in each color - red, blue and yellow. They are great for lunchboxes. And thanks to Suzy-Q who wrote me to let me know that juice boxes are freezable and that she likes my lunches.

Nora is eating at my parents today, but yesterday's lunch was leftover veggie dumplings, a rice mold (she got a heart) with avocado, some fruit gellies and some bunny grahms. I've got a picture somewhere of hers that I'll try to add later.

****UPDATE***

Here's Nora's lunch:

Weekend Update

This past weekend, Matt came to visit. He and Nora hit it off. And Karl picked up his Matt-worship right where he left off when Matt moved back to DC several years ago. This caused some jealousy on Nora AND Karl's part when Matt gave some attention to the other (as far as I can tell, Matt was not jealous of Nora's adoration of Karl, but maybe I was wrong). You can see, sitting next to Matt is a much valued position.
Often Nora would attempt to get up between Karl and Matt, but climbing on top of Matt was even better:

Matt's visit got us out of the house, much to Nora's delight. We went to the Farmers Market where I bought a cute purse from the St. Louis Craft Mafia booth.
I admit that I initially thought Nora needed this purse, but then I decided to appropriate it. It's a little too big for her, but just right for my wallet, keys, and sunglasses. I wish it had a little pocket inside though. There's an apple on the back as well. I feel very "first day of school" when carrying it. We also picked up one of Companion Bread's Mystery Boxes. These are a big box of pastry goods for $15. It was delicious, but really we needed more people than the three of us to get it eaten. Inside we had a chocolate croissant, several plain croissants, several danishes, muffins and scones. About 8-10 items all together. Very, very yummy.

After the Farmers Market we headed to O'Connell's, a favorite haunt of Matt's (and ours). We feasted on roast beef, burgers and fried yummy things and a pitcher of beer - O'Fallon Weach (possibly one of the best deals at O'Connell's).
Nora was very good throughout the long wait, and we kept the tiger nearby to remind her that next we were going to the ZOO!!!!!

Unbelievably, Matt never visited the zoo throughout his time here and as everyone knows it's one of our favorite places to go. It was a really hot day, which should not have been surprising for August, but we had been really spoiled with mild weather all month long. After hitting the the Rivers Edge (sorry we forgot photos) and seeing the Rhino and the Cheetas up close (all four of them where right up front) and glimpses of the Jade the baby elephant, we headed off to see if our luck would hold and if the baby tigers were out. Disappointingly, they were not, although Jason and Nora and I had gotten a great view of them on our earlier visit. We did check out sea lions, the bird house, the big cat country and then meandered back through the snake house, which I haven't seen in a while. The American alligator was giving us a wicked grin when we decided we really had had enough of the heat and that we needed to head home.

That night, Jason and Matt brought us carryout from Cherrokee Street, and it too was terriffic. Nora and I went to bed and the boys stayed up to late talking, which no doubt they regretted when they got up at the crack of dawn and took Nora to see Tottenham vs Chelsea at the Tigin. I stayed at home and read a book.

Before Matt took off back home we tried to visit some of his old haunts, but it's hard to find things open in STL on a Sunday morning. We had lunch at the Schafly Brewhouse and then took Matt to the airport. Since he left, Nora's been asking about him everyday, so we'd better not wait so long to see him again - it's hard to believe it's been nearly 6 years!

On Monday we hit the Japanese Festival and ate noodles. It was wonderful, but I'm really happy we went early, since by noon it was sweltering and very, very crowded. We forgot the camera, so no pictures of the festival but here's Nora's lunch from Tuesday: Mac and Peas, oranges, cookies and juice.


Unfortunately, Nora is reaching the stage where mixed up things are no longer acceptable. While she loves Mac and soy cheese and loves peas, they now need to be in separate dishes. I'm sad, they looked so nice together.

Lunchboxes and Tomatoes

Here's Tuesday's lunchbox. I had made something I've been wanting to try for awhile - a sort of Nora safe corn dog. They are actually mini corn bread muffins from Isa's cornbread recipe, with a hot dog slice in the middle. I have no idea if Nora actually likes these are not, since they don't send home the uneaten lunch. But given she likes corn bread a lot and hot dogs a lot, this is probably a safe bet. Also in the lunch are a broccoli and carrot melody, a 1/2 of a plum cut into pieces and two number cookies (2 & 5). Here it is packed with the ice pack, juice box and notes.
On another front, the tomatoes are coming along finally. They are suffering from some sort of leaf wilt which makes the plants look awful, but there are plenty of fruit on the branches, despite a theft last week of a clump of them. Psycho Squirrel is the prime suspect - we believe he knew that Karl was off premises. Here's Nora dutifully watering:

Today's Lunchbox

Nora's lunch today was broccoli/avocado/soy cheese wrap-ups, banana wheat germ mini muffins, carrots (check out my pin wheels), mango soy milk (frozen to act like an ice pack) and mandarin oranges.


Here it is packed:

When we got home today there was a package from the UPS man, and my bento bonanza has come in. I had ordered a bunch of smiley-happy-lunch goodness that is cuter than cute for Nora's lunches (and the little girl in me). I'm looking forward to using all this stuff in upcoming months. Here's a pic of my haul:

Some of the things pictured include rice molds, food cutters, paper cups, food separators, sauce cups and little food picks. Here's a close up of some of my favorites.
Since I'm promoting this whole lunch box thing for all of us this fall, I also got some food jars (otherwise known as short, squat thermoses) for Jason and Nora. Guess who gets which:

I am all ready for packing lunch, now I'd just better do it!

First Day

Nora's first day of preschool was yesterday. Here are the obligatory first day photos. Notice Nora's lack of smile. In fact she seems almost put out. Actually she seemed to enjoy preschool, even if she wasn't intially enthusiastic. Jason went with her for this first day and stayed for a while with her. Then he left. Then he came back, then he left, and then he came back and then he left, and then he came back again when it was time for her to go home. Jason has gotten to know the staff at WCCC very well. I get to go with her on Friday. I'm sure the staff will come to believe we are the most clingy parents ever. Jason and I think they are amazing because they actually got Nora to nap on her first day.

In her backpack is her lunch box, a change of clothes, and Meowy Boom-D-aye who got to go to preschool too.
Here's photo's of Nora's lunch. I made salami and soy cream cheese roll ups, peas, and added some fruit gummies and alphabet cookies (they spelled NORA)
Here it's packed with her juice box, ice pack and a small snack box of raisins. And I added a note to her on top from me (I was inspired by Bob and Sarah's wall of notes that have been included in Zelda's lunch forever).

While I'm sure I'll never inspire the artistic and creative bento box creations of Japanese moms, I am inspired by them and I hope that I can keep up the pace of packing lunches for Nora, me and also Jason this fall. Here's Nora's lunch box (which she informed me was "kinda too heavy"). It's actually smaller than a typical school lunch bag and it unzips into a place mat. And it's a dog, so Nora can ask her new favorite question: "Where's the Woof?"

Recipe Roundup

I've been cooking quite a bit lately, and thought I'd share what recipes I've been testing:

From Vegan With A Vengeance, I made the Coconut Heaven Cupcakes which were amazingly terrific. My only complaint is that the cupcakes and the frosting left me with a 1/4 a cup of coconut milk in the can. I hate it when things don't come out even. But they were so good, I plan to make them again, soon.

From Veginomican, I made the much more healthy Banana Wheat Germ muffins. These were also delish and much more healthy with very little sugar, lots of wheat germ and of course, no eggs or milk, so pretty low fat too. They also dealt with a problem we often have in our house: over-ripe bananas. Jason and Nora are pretty good about eating them up, but I won't touch them once the peels have any brown spots so we usually have 2-3 that I either end up freezing for smoothies or now I will use in these muffins. The muffins also freeze well.

Also in Veginomican, was the jicama/avocado/watercress salad. I always buy a jicama with great intentions and then I remember that I really don't want to eat more than a little of it. Or maybe the jicamas I buy are just too big and I should look for smaller ones which are reputedly milder and sweeter. I didn't have any watercress, so I didn't make this exactly as written, but did follow the directions on the dressing. Next time I will use less dressing and probably add the avocado when plating this since it got a little mushy in the fridge. Overall, you have to love jicama to like this salad, and while I don't dislike it, I don't really want to eat this for days, so make it if you've got a group coming for dinner and you need a side dish. I also added two shredded carrots which was a plus for me since I find jicama sometimes overwhelming. The dressing is pretty tasty, so you may want it for other salads.

This weekend I finally did something I've been meaning to test for a while - Veganizing the Krauskopf zucchini bread recipe for Nora. Honestly, I didn't think this was going to work, the recipe calls for 3 eggs, which is more than I've ever tried to substitute before. Most of the on-line vegan zucchini bread recipes call for using Energy Egg Replacer, something I've never bought because Isa's list of egg replacements in VwV usually calls for something I already have on hand (soygurt, bananas). This time I used one of her suggestions that I've been wanting to try for a while - 2 T ground flax meal + 3 T water whipped until that egg-like consistency. I really thought this would be too dense, especially tripling the amount to replace all three eggs. But zucchini was overrunning the crisper so I thought I'd give it a try. It was super good. The texture was perfect and while I can't claim this is the healthiest of recipes (there is a lot more sugar and oil than those banana muffins), I think the flax seed and unbleached flour help the recipe some and I might try cutting back on the sugar, because it's a great way to get Nora to eat zucchini. Nora, Jason and I ran though one mini-loaf in record time and I had to hide the other three in the freezer or else nothing else would have been eaten that day.

This week I also got the Vegan Lunch Box by Jennifer McCann. Since Nora will be going to pre-school two days a week, starting Tuesday, I've been trying to think about how I will pack lunches for her. This is also feeding my new bento obsession, that I really hope doesn't get out of hand, since I don't really have room in my kitchen for more things. VLB is very kid oriented and while it uses more processed vegan food than I would like, I totally see its place for helping vegan kids (and kids with food allergies) fit in in the lunch room. I also appreciate the suggestions for kid friendly menus at home. I bought this cookbook for two main reasons: vegan cheeze fondue and veggie corn dog recipes. However, just leafing through I'm finding some amazing new ones I want to try: apple tofu spring rolls and savory autumn leaf pies among others. So hopefully this along with this blog will help me make fabulous lunches that Nora will actually eat, which has been a challenge lately since she's stopped eating most of the things she used to love (Someone tell me just what is so offensive about peaches? I've even peeled them for her!).

Pick Up Sticks

We were eating sushi and dumplings the other night when Nora informed me that she would like to use the chopsticks. Actually, she calls them sticks, and she wanted me to put them down so she could pick them up. Here's some pics:


No food ever made it to her mouth while she was using them, but I'm sure all she needs is a little practice and some work on those fine motor skills.

Summer Menus

I've been cooking a lot this summer, partially to keep us from eating out so much and also because summer produce has been great and mostly because I tend to stockpile food, and I really need to turn over inventory. Last week I made sushi which I hadn't made in forever, but I don't know why because it's really easy and so delicious! Even Nora ate some. These were mostly carrot and avocado with soy cream cheese in a few.




Here's that lemon cake I made for Mom's church picnic:


And my favorite menu of the summer, sounds so perfectly summery, but actually was made entirely from inventory (it would have been great if I had gotten it all at the farmers market): tomatoes and okra, three bean salad, and fried potatoes -Nora and I had sausage too.