Maoz and Bowling

We ate out a lot this month. As it gets hotter outside, I feel less and less like turning on the stove. One day I had a craving for Maoz. Especially their fried broccoli. I can never get enough of that green goodness. 

Olivia and her chipmunk cheeks full of broccoli agree with me.

After lunch we walked over to the nearby playground, but after ten minutes we were all sweaty and miserable. August is definitely time for indoor activities. So we went bowling.

Jackson and Olivia are very competitive with their bowling. They are pretty evenly matched, so there is usually no clear winner until the last frame. That doesn't stop them from asking who is in the lead after every single frame.

But, their enthusiasm is nice. Whether he knocks down one pin or ten, this is Jackson's reaction.

Maoz Again

It feels like I was just talking about Maoz. I returned today with Olivia, as we met my friend Tara and her son for lunch at the Triangle playground. This time I went for the falafel salad, since the Red Hot Vegans made it sound so awesome. And it was! You can barely see the greens in this giant bowl because A. okay, there really weren't many greens and B. they're totally covered in goodness from the fixins bar.  Pickles, green olives, chimichurri sauce, tahini sauce, and that amazing fried broccoli. I was nervous when placing my order...they'd just opened and there was no broccoli to be seen. Fortunately, by the time my order was ready, a fresh basket of broccoli was waiting for me on the fixins bar.

Afterwards, we stopped by HEB. I noticed some new soups, on sale for $.99 each. They're served cold, so you can drink them out of these little cans on the go, if you so desire. I had the cucumber mint one for an afternoon snack, and it was light and refreshing and had something like 12 calories, insanely low. I don't think I would pay more than $.99 for them, though, since they are teeny tiny!

I accompanied the soup with more liquids, in the form of this Turmeric Elixir of Life matcha tea drink. I love matcha, and the turmeric and cardamom flavors made me feel so chill, like I had just finished a super relaxing yoga class.

Jackson learned about the five senses at school. We are big on taste around here, but they're all pretty important.

Vegan MoFo Day 15: The Triangle

This past weekend, we popped in for lunch at Maoz, a vegetarian falafel chain. Their falafel is on point and I love their huge fixins bar. You can customize your sandwich however you like. I went with tahini sauce, chimichurri sauce, and green olives.

Tony felt adventurous and tried their new vegan shawarma. We guessed it's made from seitan but we did not ask, so we could be wrong. It was tough and chewy, and from me that is a compliment because that is exactly how I like my seitan! He also grabbed some amazing sauteed broccoli from the fixins bar. I don't know how they make it taste so good but I could eat a whole plate of it.

Afterwards, we walked over to the playground and talked for awhile while the kids frolicked.

The weather was nice and cool and I felt like singing with joy because I am so ready for fall! We'll get there eventually.

Swim Lessons

Summer is officially here! And we are even busier than usual these days. Jackson has started taking swim lessons.

He is always so excited to go to the pool. He loves the water.

His classes are in the evening. It's hard to cook dinner and get him to class on time, so we have been eating more prepared foods and restaurant meals than usual.

One evening we tried Maoz, a vegetarian falafel place. The concept is that you order a basic falafel/pita bread sandwich and a side of fries, then you head over to the impressive salad/condiment bar and load up on fixins and sauces. I doused my falafel in garlic sauce. I also sampled the mint tabouli, chickpea salad, pickles, cilantro sauce, and hot pepper sauce. Other condiment options included beet salad, cole slaw, sriracha, yogurt sauce, tahini sauce...pretty much anything you could imagine putting on a falafel sandwich!

I loved it. Everything tasted fresh and healthy.

Hope your summer is off to a great start!