Ciao, Chao

Started out the day making some blueberry waffles. Thanks to the Sinfully Wholesome Waffles from Isa Does It, I'll never need another waffle recipe.

Olivia and I swung by Whole Foods to feed our new Bubbies pickle addiction. I was also pleased to see that our WF has started carrying the new vegan cheese from Field Roast, which they call Chao. I picked up the Creamy Original flavor.

Jackson's school held a farmer's market at pickup time. Yes, from their very own school garden, maintained by the kids themselves. I'm so amazed with this school and the good fortune we had of finding a house in the district. We brought home some arugula and turnip greens.

Putting it all together, I made a panini on ciabatta bread with Chao, tomatoes, basil, and arugula. I have to say I'm not the world's greatest fan of vegan cheeses, but this is the best vegan sliced cheese I've had to date, in terms of texture and flavor. It also melts very nicely! Blended with the other flavors of the sandwich, I really enjoyed it. Olivia loved the Chao! She ate a couple of slices on their own, for a snack.

We also shared some pomegranate seeds.

Now that she has discovered them, Queen Olivia wishes pomegranate seeds were a year-round option. But I think having them in the fall will make them more special and we will eat our fill while they're available.

A Day's Eats and GIVEAWAY WINNER!

Smashing rocks together is all in a day's work for my little sculptor. He uses big rocks to bash away at smaller rocks until pieces chip off. 

He tells me they are different things. Alien spaceships, zombie weapons, or sometimes just art, as in, "Mommy, look, I am making my art."

Breakfast was blueberry Greek yogurt with banana, pecans, chia, and bee pollen.

Lunch was a Field Roast frankfurter with whole-grain mustard, plus some homemade sauerkraut courtesy of a German coworker of Tony's.

Dinner was a veggie burger crumbled up over mixed greens, with shredded carrot and kimchi stirred in.

And the winner of Fillet of Soul: AfroVegan is...Jacqui! Jacqui, please send me your mailing address and we'll get that sent out to you!

Have a great day everyone!

Faerie Homes

On a sunny afternoon last week, I took Jackson and Olivia to Zilker park to look at some faerie homes. First, they talked me into a ride on the Zilker Zephyr, the little train that meanders through the park. 

It was our first time riding, so I guess now we can say we are true Austinites.

Train ride accomplished, we started off down the faerie path.

The homes were small, of course, since they were built and inhabited by faeries. Jackson and Olivia had to bend down to get a good view.

Faeries use a variety of of objects found in nature to assemble their homes. I admired the ingenuity of using shells as a roof.

One of the homes was up in a tree. I guess faeries have wings, so getting up there would not be a problem.

Some faeries prefer to live alone, perched on a tree stump.

Others are more community-minded, as we learned when we came across an entire little faerie village.

For dinner I made the Irish Stew from Appetite for Reduction. Hearty and filling. Rather than make my own seitan, I used Field Roast apple sage smoked sausages, our favorite faux meat. You know how a lot of soup/stew recipes say, like,"Serve with a hunk of crusty bread"? I usually don't do that, because I am partial to crackers in my soup. But this stew seemed to cry out for some nice chewy bread, so that is what I served with it. 

Jackson and Olivia said they would like some faerie friends to visit our yard and build a home. We will have to work on that.

Bangers and Mash and Wigs

Today while Jackson was at school, Olivia and I entertained ourselves in the Halloween section at Target.

Space age Olivia.

Mad Men Olivia.

Punk rock gladiator Olivia?

Jackson may only be in pre-K, but he occasionally has homework. Today's assignment was to design a family shield.

While he worked on that, I made dinner: Bangers and Mash, from 30-Minute Vegan's Taste of Europe. I used Field Roast smoked apple sage sausages, sauteed with onions, served over mashed potatoes with an onion gravy. If that sounds like a lot of onions, it was. I realized this toward the end of my cooking and decided to strain the onions out of my gravy. Had I left them in, I think it would've been onion overload! But it turned out very nicely. I'm not into many faux meats but I love those Field Roast sausages.

On the side, mushy peas (from the same cookbook). Not much to look at, but quite tasty with a fresh, minty flavor.

I feel like I need to put an English flag here or something.

It Really Ties the Room Together

Hi guys, how was your weekend? Ours was productive. On Saturday we went to IKEA and picked up a few things for the house. We really needed a new rug for the living room. Monster had clawed up our old rug, so we didn't bring it with us when we moved. Olivia thinks we chose well.

After exhausting ourselves in a store the size of several football fields, we ate at an Indian buffet. I won't name the restaurant because it has gone downhill since we last lived here. The food was OK, but not great.

On Sunday, we took Monster to the dog park in the morning. Then I dropped off some sweets at the Vegan Bake Sale. I made chocolate peanut butter bars.

Later I went back to the bake sale with Jackson and let him pick out some goodies. He was a big fan of the strawberry mini-cupcakes that somebody brought. He ate them up before I could take a picture. Here are some pics from the bake sale. I heard that they made over $1000 - wow!

This morning I was cleaning up my folder of pics from April, and realized I had a bunch of food pics I hadn't posted yet. Here are a few recent creations.

Ziti with mushroom marinara and Field Roast Apple Sage sausage. Man, that sausage is good. Tony thinks it's one of the best faux meats he's tasted. I'll have to try making my own at home.

The marinara was a little spicy for Olivia's taste, so I made her a separate meal. You can't beat the versatile Cheezee Sauce recipe from Vegan on the Cheap for a quick bowl of mac n' cheese.

I guess we've been in the mood for pasta. Here is the Garden Rotini, also from Vegan on the Cheap. Chock full of cherry tomatoes, peas, radishes, chickpeas -- the perfect spring salad. The goddess dressing is so good. I ate this for lunch all week. Olivia loves pasta salad, too.

Did I mention I bought a griddle/grill pan? I wanted one for awhile, but our old stove was not compatible. I haven't tried out the grill side yet, but I love the griddle. Now I can make pancakes in half the time. I made some chocolate chip pancakes to feed the kids for breakfast all week. So tasty with fresh strawberries.

The other day, the kids and I made a quick stop at the Asian supermarket by our house. I stocked up on hot sauces and rice noodles. I see pad thai, pho, and spring rolls in our future! I'll go back soon and take some pictures of their unbelievable produce department. I've never seen so many different kinds of greens! I can't wait to bring some home and figure out how to cook them.

Next...you guessed it...more pasta. Here's the Pasta con Broccoli from Appetite for Reduction.  This one has a verrrry strong garlic flavor. That's not a bad thing as far as I'm concerned.  

I wasn't loving the wine sauce, but I think the problem was the wine I used. It was a cheap wine that was on sale at the H-E-B. We are not big wine drinkers, so I didn't feel like buying something pricy. There is actually only one kind of wine I like. It's called 3 Blind Moose and you can buy it at Target. Such sophisticated tastes I have, haha! Do you like wine? What's you favorite kind? I've always been a beer or mixed drink girl, myself.

Continuing our Italian theme, one night I made a pizza with artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes, kalamata olives, and roasted garlic. This is my favorite "gourmet" pizza combination of all time. Who needs cheese?

 

For dessert, I made the kids some "ice cream" by blending up some frozen bananas, soymilk, and a big spoonful of peanut butter.

Last night I made a huge salad with some of my pizza leftovers. The salad had artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, radishes, and grated carrot.

This is the dressing I make whenever I don't feel like looking up a recipe for dressing. It's good on whatever veggies you happen to have lying around.

Sara's Sort-of-Greek Dressing

1/4 cup olive oil

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. oregano

1/4 tsp. black pepper

Whisk everything together in a small bowl. Makes enough to dress a large, family-size bowl of salad.

Hope you have a great week!