Things I Have Eaten

One week last month, Tony worked long days downtown at the convention center, usually getting home after 9 pm. Since he wasn't joining us for dinner, the kids and I ate out often. 

Big-ass house salad with cashew tamari dressing from Mothers. I was craving greens and this salad was bigger than my head!

Red-Hot BLT's from Isa Does It. Hot sauce-marinated tempeh makes these sandwiches super good.

Staring contest over cereal, super intense.

Frozen matcha latte, a summer necessity.

Rebbl maca mocha. Chocolaty herbal goodness, worth the $3.99.

Wheatsville tofu poboy with cashew tamari dressing, and a sparkling grapefruit yerba mate.

Also from Wheatsville, a Red Rabbit Co-op pink lemonade donut!

New England Glam Chowder from Isa Does It. I shut the blinds and pretend it's a rainy, cold autumn day when I eat this hearty stew.

Garden fairy Olivia.

Turmeric tonic, made by heating soymilk and then blending it up with turmeric, vanilla, and stevia.

A tiny friend on the patio. I thought it was a leaf until it hopped.

Sunday Morning Pancakes from Let Them Eat Vegan. I like the slight crunch that chia seeds add.

Looking at the world from a different perspective.

Tofu Mushroom Stroganoff from Isa Does It. The best.

Tony relaxing with Jackson after a long week. 

Tony had been eating out all week too, so I offered to cook for him, but he was craving a bowl from Bouldin Creek so off we went. He had the Buddha Bowl topped with sauteed cubed tofu.

I had the Aztec Bowl with rice, broccoli, sprouts, zucchini, and chipotle pesto.

This month, fewer restaurants, more home cookin'!

Alien Pumpkins

Last night's dinner was Tofu Mushroom Stroganoff from Isa Does It. I love this creamy pasta. Total comfort food. I had some scallions to use up, so they went on top.

After dinner, it was straight into pumpkin carving!

Jackson and Olivia both went for an alien theme. This was the first year we let Jackson wield the carving tools himself.

Tony helped Olivia with her carving.

Many-fanged, many-eyed, many-horned jack-o-lantern aliens!

Weird confession: I absolutely love the smell of pumpkin guts.

I picked out the seeds, tossed with a little olive oil and sea salt, and roasted them slow and low, at 250 degrees for an hour. 

Looking spooky!

Let the Splashing Commence

Breakfast was oats with cherries, almond butter and cinnamon. A good combination.

The Austin splash pads are open! We love this time of year when we can splash and swim every day, before it gets too unbearably hot.

Strawberry snacktime.

For dinner I made the Tofu Mushroom Stroganoff from Isa Does It. Delicious pasta dish, terrible pic. Much better one here. Sometimes hunger outweighs food staging.

Olivia is 4!

Olivia is four! 

In lieu of a big party this year, there were big gifts. Roller skates, for my sk8er girl who loves to go fast. In the picture below, she is wearing the baby skates I initially bought for her, the locking kind that strap on over shoes. But after a few laps around the house, she informed me that they were too slow. So we ended up exchanging them for big kid skates like Jackson's.

Also, bikes! Their first bikes. In a matter of days, they have gone from hesitantly peddling down to the mailbox, to tearing it up at the park. I have a feeling the training wheels won't be needed for long.

Olivia's birthday dinner was something new I came up with -- savory cinnamon rolls. I made pizza dough and layered on spinach, mushrooms, and mozzarella cheese. Then I rolled it up, sliced it, and arranged it in a baking dish. We pulled off individual rolls and dipped them in marinara. I guess I need to come up with a better name, though, since there's no cinnamon in these!

Homemade cakes have become our birthday tradition, and this year my girl requested a Princess Elsa cake because she lives and breathes Frozen. ("Mommy, the cold doesn't bother me anyway!" she informs me whenever I remind her to wear a hoodie outdoors.)

Happy fourth to my shopping buddy, cuddle monkey, sweet girl, tiny tornado, princess, Olivia Avery.

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.

11 Years

Tony and I celebrated our 11th anniversary with dinner for two at Corazon. Our actual anniversary occurred during Tony's trip to Japan. When he returned, I was more than ready for a child-free night out. I love the kiddos but two weeks of solo parenting duty was a lot to handle. I have nothing but the utmost respect for the parents who do it every day!

We started off with chips and dark, roasted salsa.

Fancy guacamole sprinkled with cotija cheese.

I'm loving sangria swirls this summer. This one was super strong!

Potato-corn sope with wild mushrooms. A sope is a savory cake, in this case made from cornmeal and potato. It was topped with a light, spongy goat cheese custard and sauteed mushrooms, and dressed with tamarind sauce, crema, and tomatillo salsa. I loved this mix of textures and flavors, especially the sweet and sour tamarind sauce. Not your typical Tex-Mex ingredient.

Basking in the glow of our love and 105 degree heat!