Creation and Destruction

Painting, creating.

Disassembling an old alarm clock, to see how it works.

Creation and destruction, all part of the childhood learning process.

Hat Creek grain burger with sauerkraut, and sweet potato fries. They have a whole line of housemade fermented foods now, also available at Whole Foods, that you can add to your burger.

Winter essentials: zinc lozenges, fire cider.

Tried a seasonal Temple Turmeric drink, Holiday Spiced Lassi. Didn't care for the strong yogurt flavor.

I am always on the lookout for never-before-seen kombucha flavors. Clearly Kombucha's black currant flavor was tasty. 

So addicted to Guayaki yerba mate mint terere. It gives me lots of energy without the spacy, shaky feeling that coffee gives me. I also treated myself to a seasonal Hot Chocolate Clif Bar, and some cinnamon stevia for my morning oats!

Product Placement

I thought I'd share some goodies I've picked up at the store recently. I wasn't asked to review them or provided any compensation -- they just looked interesting! Some are new; some are just new to me.

Clif Bar has put out their seasonal bars in Gingerbread, Pumpkin Pie, and Pecan Pie flavors. I tried Gingerbread and Pumpkin Pie last year, but Pecan Pie was new to me, so I had to grab a couple. The secret to making Clif Bars delicious is to microwave them for about 15 seconds. Then you have warm, melt-in-your-mouth pecan goodness, my friends.

Alexia onion rings. I've made no secret of my love of Alexia sweet potato fries, so I thought I would branch out. These bake up just right, not too greasy and not too stringy.

Rejuvenative Foods Spicy Kim-Chi. I had never tried the fermented Korean condiment known as kim-chi. It was time!

I was inspired by the Korean BBQ Portabello Burgers from Isa Does It., yet I forgot to buy portabellos. So I settled for frozen veggie burgers. The kim chi made them into something special. I'm all about fermented foods these days, it seems. Fortunately I don't really suffer from digestive problems, but I still believe that when I drink kombucha or eat this kim-chi, something good is going on in my guts, and I feel a bit more energized.

Speaking of kombucha, I spotted GT's lavender-flavored raw kombucha and had to try it. As I discovered at the Steeping Room, lavender in foods and drinks is amazing! I'm partial to ginger kombucha, but this is definitely my second favorite flavor now.

Yogi Tea's Soothing Caramel Bedtime Tea. The caramel flavor isn't that strong, but I don't want anything super sweet at night, anyway. And for relaxation purposes, I prefer this to chamomile tea, whose earthy flavor I just can't bring myself to love.

Kettle Maple Bacon potato chips. That's right, vegan bacon-flavored chips. I couldn't handle the greasy coating these left in my mouth. I fanatically love their Spicy Thai chips, so I don't know...maybe this flavor is made extra-greasy so you get a more realistic bacon-consuming experience.

Chocolove's Cherries & Almonds in Dark Chocolate bar. Dark chocolate is good for you...cherries are good for you...almonds are good for you. So I'm doing my body a huge favor by always having one of these bars on hand, right? 

Coconut Bliss bars. Jackson and Olivia picked these out, but they didn't know what to make of the straight-up coconut flavor. As with the bacon chips, I'm not a fan of the fatty mouthfeel of these bars. Want something lighter.

Still getting through my holiday pics...My sweet friend Sonja hosted a gingerbread house decorating party before Christmas. She had all the fixins set out in little bowls, and Jackson and Olivia went to town, adorning their graham cracker constructions with red licorice, gumdrops, and M&Ms. 

The next morning, Olivia woke up asking if she could eat her gingerbread house for breakfast. I think she was dreaming about it!

Up Goes the Tree

Since we did our Thanksgiving traveling last week, visiting family in Oklahoma, we are looking forward to a long, relaxing weekend at home. To make things feel a little more festive, we decided to go ahead and put up our Christmas decorations.

This is Olivia's second Christmas and, for the first time, she's big enough to help put up the tree.

However, she was a little more interested in the decorations. Like her mama, she is all about the sparkly.

Jackson has learned to wink, it cracks me up. He is such a cheese ball.

Somehow, all the trimmings eventually ended up on the tree.

I still haven't decided which is my favorite soup recipe from Appetite for Reduction -- the Arabian Lentil & Rice, or the Smoky Split Pea.  Rather than force myself to choose between them, I'm making both soups this week. Here is the Arabian Lentil & Rice. I love the strong lemon and cumin flavors.  Sorry for the shadowy pic -- it gets dark early now.

 I've started keeping bars in my diaper bag at all times, for when the kids get snacky in the car. I picked up these seasonal Clif Bars -- Peppermint Stick, Iced Gingerbread, and Spiced Pumpkin Pie. I don't really want to share the Peppermint Stick with them, but I do.

I also picked up some time-saving frozen falafel balls and Cedar's stuffed grape leaves. The only thing I made for this meal was the hummus.  The grape leaves are awesome! They're filled with rice that has been seasoned with dill and lemon juice.  I've also had the kind that are flavored with tomato sauce and cinnamon, and I'm not a fan. Lemon and dill is where it's at!  Have you ever made your own stuffed grape leaves? I am thinking about giving it a try.

Next day for lunch, we had a few more falafels and stuffed grape leaves to finish off, so I made a couple more finger foods to go along with them. I put my oven on double duty, baking a tray of Alexia sweet potato puffs and roasting a head of broccoli.  The sweet potato puffs are amazing! They're basically tater tots made from yams -- is that the best idea or what? The only thing is, what do you dip them in? I don't really like the combination of sweet potato and ketchup, so I was just eating them plain. Maybe some kind of Veganise-based dip? I am open to suggestions. :)

Today, while out with the kids, I picked up a popcorn tofu po'boy from Wheatsville. This sandwich is so huge, it provided lunch for all three of us, along with some ginger tempeh pasta salad on the side.

And now, I'm off to make a vegan cheesecake! Since it's just our little family at Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, we can make whatever we want. Tony doesn't do pumpkin pie, so cheesecake it is.

I know I have so much to be thankful for, tomorrow and every day. Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!