Last Soccer Game

It was a stormy night and, in the morning, we were sure Jackson's last soccer game of the season would be cancelled, but the coaches felt it would be too difficult to try to reschedule, so the game was on. The field was basically one giant, muddy puddle. Of course the boys had fun slipping and sliding around!

Afterwards we walked over to the playground for a little end-of-season celebration. Their wonderful, encouraging coach said a few words about each boy and gave them a trophy.

Go Dragons!

I made chocolate mini-cupcakes with raspberry buttercream (recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.) They went quickly!

We snacked the rest of the day on olives, fruit, and Spinach Artichoke Dip from Dreena Burton's latest, Plant-Powered Families. I love that it's made from cashews rather than a ton of faux cheese and mayo. Dreena feeds her kids the way I like to feed my family.

We scooped the dip onto torn-off chunks of fresh baguette. The bread recipe is from The Garden of Vegan, it's an old favorite that produces a great baguette.

Vegan MoFo Day 1

If you've come across my page via the Vegan MoFo blogroll, welcome! I'm Sara, stay-at-home mama of Jackson (6) and Olivia (4), wife of Tony, and human companion of Monster.

I cook vegan food at home, but I will eat vegetarian items at restaurants or if we're dining at someone else's house, so that is why I don't classify myself as vegan. Tony and the kids are omnivores, so I make eggs and grilled sandwiches for them from time to time. But I don't cook meat for them, because I don't know how, and I think it's gross. Anyway, this month everything I post will be totes vegan.

I typically write about our daily activities as a busy, adventure-loving family, as well as the food we make. I noticed that a lot of bloggers adopt a theme for MoFo, so this month I've decided I will try to make as many recipes as possible from my Pinterest boards. I have a habit of pinning stuff and never getting around to actually making it, so this will give me a little push, and hopefully be somewhat interesting for you as well.

But there will also be randomness. I have the attention span of a goldfish and can't stick to a theme for thirty days. I have tried before. So before I get to my Pinterest recipe of the day, allow me to share my first-ever attempt at steaming an artichoke.

I saw beautiful whole artichokes at Trader Joe's and decided to bring one home. The anatomy of the artichoke had always been intimidating to me. There's something called a "choke?" And it's sharp and spiky?

Artichokes are actually super simple. I followed this recipe. I didn't injure myself on the spiky choke. Victory! Olivia and I first tried dipping the leaves in melted Earth Balance with black pepper. We didn't like it, so we ended up making a dipping sauce of Veganaise and a little sriracha. I can report it was delicious, and Olivia approved of the new vegetable thanks to its tactile, finger-food aspect.

And here is the Pinterest find for today. Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread. I veganized it no problem by using Earth Balance and subbing flax eggs (1 Tbsp. ground flax + 3 Tbsp. water = 1 egg). If you are new to using flax eggs, be sure to mix the ground flax and water in a small bowl before you do anything else. Then they will have achieved a suitably goopy and "eggy" consistency when it's time to add them to your batter.

A moist, uber-chocolatey bread, a great way to use summer zucchini.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope to see you again this month and to check out your blog as well, if I'm not already following it.

Airfest

We recently headed up to Georgetown, where my parents live, to attend Airfest with them. We walked around the airport grounds, checking out all the planes and helicopters on display.

The kids were allowed to test-pilot a few of them.

We saw a flyover.

The flyover inspired Jackson to do a little flying of his own.

All that zooming around (and standing around eating kettle corn, for the rest of us) really works up an appetite. For dinner, we had rotini with basil pesto, cherry tomatoes, kalamata olives, and some mushrooms Tony marinated in red wine.

We also snacked on the Cranberry Almond Loaf, from Ripe from Around Here. I've had this cookbook for awhile and I'm just now coming to love it. This loaf turned out wonderfully moist and cakelike, with just a slight sweetness to offset the tartness of the cranberries. I'll definitely be trying out more of Jae Steele's recipes in the near future.

Sweet Berry Farm Fall Festival

This past weekend we drove out to Sweet Berry Farm in Marble Falls to spend the afternoon at the pumpkin patch.

We had to walk under several arbors to get from the parking lot to the farm. Looking up, I noticed huge gourds hanging above my head. I didn't know they grew that way! Pretty cool.

It was a warm day and there was little shade, so I immediately sought out some relief from the heat in the form of pumpkin ice cream.

Jackson and Olivia first wanted to climb on the firetruck that was on site for just that reason. Kids were clambering all over it.

Next up, the jumping pillow. Olivia couldn't quite find her legs.

Obligatory pumpkin pics.

We bought some small pumpkins for the kids to paint.

The funny thing is, we set the pumpkins outside when we got home, and that evening it rained, and washed all the paint off. So they got to be pumpkin artists all over again. Double the painting fun!

A small petting zoo (as in, goats only) occupied the lone shady spot. Jackson and Olivia offered goat feed, but I think these goats were already satiated. They kind of turned up their noses.

Goat bridge! Watch out for trolls...

Finally, we took a hayride. Jackson kept exclaiming, "We're really having fun now!" so I think he enjoyed this part most of all.

When we got home, I baked a vegan lasagna I had prepared that morning. I used cashew ricotta (Veganomicon recipe) and spinach for the filling, with Costco marinara. I love their marinara! On top I sprinkled a mixture of ground almonds and nutritional yeast.

For dessert, we nibbled on some quick breads that I made. Pumpkin-cranberry and apple-walnut-raisin (both from 1000 Vegan Recipes).  The apple bread is my favorite and tastes so good with a smear of apple butter.

Are there any fall festivals in your area that you attend?

Baking Blitz

I've been doing a fair amount of baking lately. The Apple "Waldorf" Bread from 1000 Vegan Recipes is studded with walnuts, raisins, and apple slices, and goes perfectly with pumpkin butter.

 

Another way to use up extra apples would be these Apple Crisp Muffins from the Happy Herbivore cookbook. I slather a couple of warmed muffins with melted butter for a breakfast that makes waking up a little easier. 

Here are two recipes I made from Let Them Eat Vegan!  I've become a big fan of Dreena Burton's cookbooks because she uses wholesome ingredients, rarely using white flour or sugar. These Krispie Chip Cookies were a little dry, but my measurements may have been off or something.

Tony requested that I make him some breakfast bars to grab on the way to work, so I turned to Dreena's Proper Healthy Granola Bars recipe. I have made it three times now and I love how versatile it is. She calls for sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, raisins and chocolate chips, but I've found you can sub in pretty much anything. Tony really liked a version I made with peanuts, almonds, cashews, coconut and raisins.

My mom and dad sent the kids some dot markers, tons of fun for little budding artists!

The Evolution of the BLT

I decided to class up my beloved BLT sandwich with this fancy bread that caught my eye at the supermarket. It's organic sprouted rye bread from Alvarado St. Bakery.  It's got such a great texture -- soft but dense, with little crunchy bits of caraway seeds and stuff.  

Then I added some Smart Bacon, yum.  Tempeh bacon is good, but I'm not always in the mood for tempeh. Sometimes I just want my fake processed bacon that looks like dog treats.

Behold. I guess it's technically more of a BST, since that's spinach in there. Awesome, none the less.