Holla Pain Yo

Today Olivia and I were out running errands as usual and we stopped in at Juiceland for some liquid refreshments. The mural out front reminds me of Tony and his love of hot peppers!

Olivia loves to play with the family of vegetable animals while we wait for our order to be made.

Olivia had her usual watermelon-peach combo. I got the daily special, the Wundershowzen, which is surely Elvis' favorite smoothie, with almond milk, banana, spinach, hemp, and peanut butter.

While we were out we picked up some locally made kimchi.

I put it to use at dinnertime. We had the Kimchi Black Rice with Asian Pear Salad from Salad Samurai. It was great, so many complex flavors and very hearty thanks to the edamame and baked tofu.

I See's You

San Francisco-based See's Candies has come to Austin, and we were there for the grand opening.

Lollipops and chocolates were being handed out freely. It was pretty great. We came home with a box of Little Pops, which I won, and Dark California Brittle, which I purchased.

To balance out the morning sugar rush, the day's eats were green and lean. For lunch I made Down Home Curry from Isa Does It, served over rice. The curry sauce was much more soupy than I'm used to. Not complaining; it was just different.

For dinner I drained off some of the curry broth and just had the veggies, topped with homemade kim chi, with a side of roasted asparagus (umm, about 4x what you see on the plate...I love asparagus!)

Blues and Greens

It's spring in Texas, so the bluebonnets are in bloom! 

I made Jackson and Olivia pose for an impromptu photo session after school one day. The field next to Jackson's pre-k is full of these beautiful blooms!

It was windy, can you tell?

This week I gave homemade kimchi a whirl, using this recipe. It was super easy and the result was delicious. I used a lot of ginger because that's how I like it, and a medium heat level. Next time I'll go hotter, haha. Kimchi is full of healthful probiotics that are great for digestion! I throw it on top of salads, in a wrap, or on a veggie burger.

I also dehydrated some spicy chipotle kale chips from Ani's Raw Food Essentials. These were a little too hot for Jackson and Olivia, but Tony said they make a good, healthy substitute when he is craving chips and salsa. The recipe called for 2 Tbsp. oil and I would cut that way down. The kale chips still stuck to the dehydrator trays! Next time I will use cooking spray on my trays and a lot less oil on the chips themselves.

Finally, dinner was minty pea soup from Great Gluten-Free Vegan Eats. We are by no means gluten-free, but I'm interested in maybe eating less of it, and this cookbook looked to have some tasty recipes in it. This soup is the only one I've tried so far. I enjoyed the refreshing addition of mint.

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!

Climb So High

Jackson recently had the chance to do a little rock climbing at the Chinese New Year festival. (I didn't get any good pics of the dragons this year, but you can check out a past year's celebration.)

We had to wait in line "forever and ever" (about 20 minutes), so he was dying to get his gear on and get going.

When he realized he was much higher than my head, he decided to come on back down.

Olivia did some magnetic wall climbing. I do not see the appeal of this activity, since it's clangy and awkward and 9 times out of 10 the kids will get stuck, unable to move, in need of an adult's assistance. But that's the one she chose.

With mucho help from Daddy, she had fun as well.

Some recent items that have made their way into my grocery cart...

Gelatin-free jello. My kids are fascinated by the rainbow-hued, jiggly cups of jello they see at the store, and I was happy to find this brand that's not made from horses' hooves.

Toasted coconut cashews from Costco...where have you been all my life? I have to ration these.

Daily Greens cold-pressed veggie juice. Daily Greens is a local company and their claim is that one bottle of juice contains nine servings of vegetables. I liked the refreshing taste...like celery lemonade.

Another local brand, Oh-Kimchi vegan daikon kimchi. We sampled this spicy condiment at the farmer's market and had to bring a jar home.

It's great on a veggie burger...I'm trying to think of other uses for it.

Have a great weekend!

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!