Prep

Lately I have been doing quite a bit of food prep on Sunday afternoons. This goes hand-in-hand with trying to eat more whole foods/less sugar. Having healthy food ready to go makes it much easier to avoid just grabbing a bowl of chocolate chips and calling it dinner. Not that I, umm, ever did that *wipes chocolate smudge from chin*.

Roasted tofu. I just toss it with 1 tsp. olive oil, salt and pepper. Easy to throw in anything for some extra protein.

Steel cut oats. Better for me than rolled oats, but take too long to prepare in the morning when I am trying to get everyone out the door. So I make a few days' worth in advance and divide into portions. In the mornings, I pour in some soymilk and a dollop of peanut butter, microwave for a minute, and dig in.

Blueberry waffles. Jackson eats these every morning. (From Isa Does It.)

Roasted chickpeas. Toss with 1 tsp. olive oil, and change up the seasonings. These were seasoned with adobo for a savory flavor.

I also make Tony some kind of grain salad to take for lunch a few days each week, saving us $$ since he doesn't have to go out to eat every day. This week I gave him quinoa and black beans with a cilantro lime dressing.

An oldie-but-goodie that Olivia devours as an after-school snack, Averie's peanut butter chocolate chip protein balls.

Oh She Glows' Glo bars, the only granola bar we make anymore! So easy and good.

Prepping gives me more time to sit down during the week and enjoy my kids in the moment. Like that moment when Olivia dumped out her piggy bank and rolled around in the loose change.

August Already

Summer has flown by! And that makes me happy. I always look forward to cooler weather and the holidays. Although I do enjoy spending this time with Jackson and Olivia while they are out of school. Here is what we've been up to since our New Orleans vacation. One evening I had a girls' night at Gourmands Pub. They are known for their sandwiches so I had the roasted tomato soup in a bread bowl, along with 1/2 Cleopatra sandwich with havarti, olives, poblano peppers, cucumber, sprouts, and avocado. It came with homemade pickled veggies and chips. I devoured it all!

I had to take a pic of this mural next to the parking lot. "I'm your huckleberry."

Too hot to play outside, ugh. I have been relaxed about screen time rules.

Monster loves Olivia so much, he tolerates playing dress up.

My weird shaped cucumbers seem like they are just about done for the season. 

Vegan on the Cheap Almost Instant Chickpea-Tomato Soup, I usually have pantry ingredients on hand to to make this.

Vegan Richa's Tempeh Tikka Masala, lots of fresh tomato taste! I just picked up her cookbook. What should I make first?

Oh She Glows 15-Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta, another fast favorite. Salad with Amy's Goddess dressing on the side.

Quick lunch -- horseradish hummus, Mary's flax crackers, carrots.

Roasted Brussels, a special treat for me and Olivia.

Random Eats

Just some meals that were too good not to record for posterity.

Taco Fiesta Potato Crisps from Oh She Glows. Tony and I both love these savory little bites of potato, walnut "taco meat," cashew sour cream, and salsa.

Lunch at Juiceland with Olivia. She had the Clementine smoothie with OJ, mango and peach. I had a Ninja Bachelor Party juice with pineapple, celery, kale, parsley, spinach...and jalapeno!  I prefer my green juices to have a strong green flavor rather than a sweet, fruity flavor, and this one definitely fit the bill! I loved it. We also shared some sour cream and onion kale chips.

Green Bean Casserole Pizza from Bake and Destroy blog. I made this once before using a store-bought crust and I wanted to try it again with a homemade crust. This pizza is completely ridiculous and totally awesome.

Tony brought me lunch one day, a quinoa, wheatberry and Brussels sprout salad from North. I've never eaten at the restaurant but the salad was fantastic.

Remind me to buy more coloring books! They tear through 'em.

Pink Eyes, Big Heart

Olivia came down with pinkeye recently. She had it once before and it cleared up on its own, but that was not the case this time. Just when I thought I had better take her in to see the pediatrician, she started running a fever and wheezing. Off we went!

When the doctor said she wanted to do a chest x-ray to check for pneumonia, I panicked internally. That's not a word any mama wants to hear. Thankfully, Olivia did not have pneumonia! She got some antibiotics and she was also given a breathing treatment to help her lungs.

She was so happy she didn't have to get a shot.

I made some of her favorite foods to help her get better, including whole wheat toast with jam.

Our favorite hummus, Horseradish Dill Hummus from Appetite for Reduction.

Perfect Kale Chips from Oh She Glows. They really do turn out perfect every time and Olivia will eat a whole tray.

15-Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta from Oh She Glows. If this was the only pasta I made for Jackson and Olivia, they would be fine with that.

What are your favorite foods when you are sick?

Snow Day

Spring seems to be taking its sweet time arriving in Austin this year. Hopefully that means summer won't be hot as blazes. Sunny days have arrived for now, but just a couple of weeks ago Jackson had a snow day. Actually it was an ice day, or more precisely, a "fear of possible ice" day. We'll take it.

Popcorn, pillows, and Big Hero 6.

Soup for dinner - the best thing to warm you up. Spiced Red Lentil, Tomato and Kale Soup from Oh She Glows. Oh, this was good!

I also tried my hand at baking some pretzel rolls. I am not very good at baking yeast breads. These came out less roll-shaped than I would've liked. I am not sure how to keep them from spreading. I will try again though.

A Day with My Girl

A typical day for Olivia and me while Jackson is at school. First she helps me in the kitchen. We made granola bars and blueberry waffles. I always have to have these two options in the fridge for quick breakfasts during the week. For the bars, I use the recipe in the Oh She Glows cookbook. For the waffles, I use the one in Isa Does It.

Next, a couple of errands with my shopping buddy.

A stop at the park.

After we pick up Jackson and do some homework, I make dinner. Tonight I made three recipes from The 30-Minute Vegan's Taste of the East. I made the red lentil dal, the rice pilau, and cilantro chutney. The dal was delicious. The rice was a little bland on its own, but I stirred it into the dal and it made it more substantial. The chutney is flavorful and it also makes a nice salsa for dipping tortilla chips!

Toy Trains and Stuff

It was cold today, but I had to run a few errands, so we bundled up and headed out.

We picked up some snacks along the way, mostly because we had never seen them before and wanted to give them a try. Alive & Radiant Kandy Kale, salted caramel flavor. These are really low in sugar, but taste super sweet like candy! Also Ayala's Herbal Water, which had a spicy, chai tea aftertaste.

We also stopped by the bookstore and spent some time at the train table.

For dinner I made 15-Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta from Oh She Glows. This is the kids' favorite and Tony and I love it too!

Changing Seasons

Happy Winter Solstice! Sorry for the absence. Tony has been traveling a lot for work, and blogging does not fit into the schedule when I'm on single-parent duty. But he is home now, so I will try to get caught up.

We have had a mild fall, and the leaves did not change colors until early December.

The trees in our backyard looked so pretty for a few days. A nice visual diversion while I have Monster out there to do his business, haha.

Then, one day, all the leaves were on the ground. At pickup time, Jackson and his friends were so excited when they came outside and saw piles of leaves just waiting to be thrown.

Nothing like a good leaf fight to end the school year.

Jackson is on winter break now, and it's going to be wonderful to have both of my kiddos at home with me for a couple of weeks. Tony has to work a couple more days and then he gets a vacation as well. This is my favorite part of the holidays, spending lots of family time together. Preferably in front of a fire.

Today's lunch, Cream of Tomato Soup from Oh She Glows. The Italian-seasoned chickpeas are all stirred in, but rest assured they are there and they are delicious.

Hope you have all been well, now time to go warm up my toes in front of the fire again.

Recent Eats

Happy November! Here are some meals that didn't make it into my October posts.

PPK Breakfast Nachos! With roasted potatoes, tofu scramble, and cashew cheezy sauce, these are hearty and awesome. I substituted lentils for the black beans. We had them for dinner, shh, don't tell anyone.

Veggie hot dogs topped with red onion, pickles, and mustard. Baked potato on the side. I didn't have any sour cream for the potato, but I made do with Earth Balance, salt, and lots of black pepper.

Oh She Glows' 15 Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta. Jackson and Olivia love this one.

Sushi bowl from More Quick-Fix Vegan. This is so delicious and easy, I may never roll sushi again! All the flavors of sushi -- rice, tofu, red peppers, avocado, bits of nori -- tossed into a bowl and topped with soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger. I also sprinkled it with wasabi sesame seeds. 

Pajama storytime. I love watching Tony be a daddy.