Dental Helpers

Today the kids had their dental cleanings. I love our dentist and her team, so much. The hygienist is fantastic with my kids. She let them be her assistants, which they loved. 

Olivia, having a power trip moment as she wields the water pik.

No cavities! I am proud of the way they care for their teeth. I had a mouthful of fillings by their age.

For dinner I found an Isa Does It recipe I had not yet tried, the Tempeh Meatballs. I also made the accompanying sauce recipe. The sauce is wonderful, as for meatballs I think I prefer Dreena's, made from walnuts and pecans.

Learning a little coding before bed.

A sweet bedtime moment joking around with Daddy.

Sushi and Spring Rolls

Recently, Jackson and Olivia's school hosted their first annual Move-a-Thon. This fundraiser was done as an alternative to selling gift wrap, magazine subscriptions, and other ecologically-unfriendly items. Instead, the kids spent the afternoon getting some fresh air and exercise while raising pledges. Have I mentioned I love my kids' school? We are so lucky to be among like-minded families who are interested in promoting fitness, outdoor play, and being green.

I love this pic. Jackson looks like a freaking gazelle or something.

I made a healthy dinner to refuel. From the Veganomicon, Butternut Squash Spring Rolls.

Also from V'con, Spicy Tempeh Rolls. Jackson and Olivia were sooooo excited to have sushi at home! I must make this more often.

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.

Bluebonnets and Kids' Meals

Thought I would share our annual bluebonnet pics, a Texas springtime tradition, along with some recent meals that Jackson and Olivia enjoyed. To my readers with kids, I am curious, how often do your kids eat the same meal as you do? Or do you serve it to them in a different way or fix them their own separate thing?

Jackson and Olivia both prefer to get their fruits and veggies in raw, bite-sized form. Olivia will eat half a cantaloupe for breakfast if I slice it up for her.

I can't put onion in any dish, or Jackson refuses it. So I have started omitting onions from recipes and using onion powder instead, for flavor. It worked fine in this French Lentil Soup with Tarragon and Thyme, from the Veganomicon.

One reason we eat a ton of Tex-Mex is that my kids love it. They will usually have a cheese enchilada with rice and beans, while I will go with spinach mushroom enchiladas, like these from El Mercado.

Same dish, at Maudie's. I like the grilled zucchini on the side, but I will give most of it to Olivia because she loves it.

Tex-Mex (or just Mex, maybe) at home. Baja-Style Tempeh Grilled Tacos from Veganomicon. Now, there is no way my kids are eating something like this. Too much going on. Too many foods combined.

So I serve it to them deconstructed. A little seasoned tempeh, a little slaw, a tortilla with Earth Balance. And, for extra veggie-tude, a bowl of cherry tomatoes to share.

There are some meals Tony and I enjoy, that they just will not have any part of. For example this Pan-Seared Tofu with Basil Balsamic Glaze (from Celebrate Vegan), served over rosemary mashed potatoes, with leftover focaccia.

So I give them their own separate meal, consisting of odds and ends that I find in the refrigerator. Kale chips, cherry tomatos, 1/2 Amy's bean burrito, and tortilla with Earth Balance.

Whatever works! I think they eat pretty healthy, and their pediatrician checkups and infrequent illnesses reflect that.

Love.

Vegan Round 2 (Long Post)

I talked recently about how exercising and doing yoga every day was helping me make slightly healthier, more conscious food choices. Now, I'm taking it a step further. I've decided to try being vegan again.

Those of you who've followed my blog since the beginning (thank you!!) know I was vegan for about a year when I lived in New York. But when we moved back to Texas, the lure of chips and queso proved too much and I returned to my vegetarian ways. Well, it's been almost four years and I guess I've eaten my fill of queso. I've also learned to make a damn good vegan version.

Actually, my dorky Game of Thrones obsession is also to blame for this decision! While I was trying to find info on the new season, I came across this PETA video made by actor Peter Dinklage (Tyrion).  I have seen these types of sad images before; we all have. But this is how our brains work: one day, re-exposure to images or words you've seen countless times strikes you in a new light, depending on your mood that day. It seems I just needed a timely reminder of my lifelong love of animals. 

My biggest grapple with eating vegan in Austin is that my omnivore husband and parents all love to eat at Tex-Mex restaurants. That's an easy fix for most vegans...order the bean burrito, right? But I'm allergic to pinto and black beans, so I have to work around that as well.  But, if I'm not being lazy, I should be able to figure something out. Polvos has a wonderful Michoacan salad that's loaded with huge chunks of fresh avocado. Chuy's has blue corn veggie enchiladas, just order with no cheese.  Lazy Smurf has an extensive, helpful list of "safe" taco places. And when I look at the big picture, I realize taking a moment to request "no cheese, no sour cream" is worth the reassurance that I am not tacitly participating in cruel farming practices.

In a happy coincidence, there's a new all-vegan grocery store in town, called Rabbit Food Grocery. I was excited to check it out after reading Lazy Smurf's review. Olivia and I popped in the other day and left with a few little treats. She immediately went for the all-natural Tree Hugger bubblegum, while I picked out some Beanfield's Nacho chips. Now, here's how observant I am...I didn't realize they were made from beans, in spite of being called "BEANfield's" and stating "BEAN & Rice Chips" in large letters on the packaging. Derp! I wasn't able to eat more than a couple of chips, but I passed them on to some grateful kiddos. Tony and I enjoyed the Pacific Northwest pepperoni pizza kale chips; they are very spicy!

Other random eats..."dessert for breakfast" shake with banana, chocolate raw protein powder, cashew milk, vanilla, and dates.

Banana Pancakes from The 30-Minute Vegan's Taste of the East. Jackson ate four in one sitting! Well, they are small.  I've learned that banana pancakes are the most difficult pancakes to cook without tearing when you flip them, since the bananas caramelize and stick to the griddle. Just cook 'em slow and low, and they will tell you when they're ready to be flipped. (Not literally, pancakes do not speak! Or else they wouldn't be vegan!)

Have you heard of Fire Cider? It's supposed to be good for colds/allergies. I'm brewing my first batch in the fridge this month. I consulted a few recipes and ended up tossing onion, jalapeno, garlic, ginger, and horseradish into a small jar of apple cider vinegar. It will either be useful, or disgusting. Or both, possibly.

Tempeh-Pimiento Cheeze Ball from 1000 Vegan Recipes. I'd wanted to try this recipe forever, since I'd never heard of using tempeh as a cheese substitute. Mine was a bit too moist to form into a proper ball, even after chilling in the fridge. So it ended up being more of a pate, sprinkled with chopped pecans. Nice for dipping pita chips and carrots.

BBQ Tempeh 'n' Dilly Salad Bowl from Salad Samurai. Another winner from this amazing book. The spicy-sweet barbecue sauce-coated tempeh is the perfect match for the creamy, dill-accented coleslaw.

Jackson celebrated his 100th day of kindergarten today by wearing a shirt decorated with 100 stickers.

Nutcracker 2014

This Christmas I decided to start a new tradition of taking Olivia to see the Nutcracker ballet.

She loves to dance and we have watched Nutcracker clips on Youtube many times, so she was excited to see it in person. 

When we walked up to the Long Center, she had to pose on the red carpet.

She loved the life-sized Nutcracker in the hall.

It was a huge theater!

This was our view. Yes, we were up high! But we had a perfect, unobstructed view of the stage. I took this picture before the show started. They showed commercials on a huge screen. At showtime, the screen went away and the dancers took over the stage. I didn't take any pictures then, because I was paranoid about my flash accidentally going off!

It was a beautiful production. Olivia enjoyed the first two acts, but after the intermission, her 4-year-old attention span was being tested. We ended up leaving about ten minutes early. I just found out that there is a more kid-friendly version put on by a different ballet company, so we may try that next year.

For dinner I made the Buffalo Tempeh from Appetite for Reduction, and served it on ciabatta rolls with the Cole Slaw from American Vegan Kitchen. What a combination! I love the lime tartness of that coleslaw, and it provided just the right amount of coolness with the spicy tempeh.

Tonight we will do our usual Christmas Eve traditions of reading Twas the Night Before Christmas and watching Love Actually. 8 is a lot of legs, David! Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

Last Soccer Game

Jackson's soccer season came to an end with a victory, and he scored two goals in a row. Go Pirates!

Afterwards, awards were presented. 

We came home to find our neighbor's cat chillin in the driveway.

We can't have a cat of our own because Tony is highly allergic, so Olivia took the opportunity to love on this one.

For brunch, I made a recipe from a cookbook I won called OATrageous Oatmeals. We had the Tempeh Oat Brussels Sprout Scramble. Not so pretty to look at, but tasty and filling! The oats added body to the scramble, in place of tofu, but there was so much other veggie goodness going on, it definitely didn't feel like we were simply eating oatmeal.

Vegan MoFo Day 10: McKenna Museum

To celebrate Jackson's successful first week of kindergarten, Tony and I took the kids to the children's museum down in New Braunfels. It was Tony's first visit and the kids were thrilled to show him around. First they did a little construction.

Olivia took a break to exercise her muscles.

Tony kept going with the construction.

I can't even describe the dream lab without using the word "trippy." You put together these little plastic puzzles and it somehow makes a story on the screen. Jackson and Olivia could have stayed here all day.

But there were pizzas to be made.

"Thank you, Chef," said Olivia.

While the kids noshed on plastic food (and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches), Tony and I had Vegan Richa's Tempeh-Broccoli-Jalapeno Popper Wraps, which I made that morning and packed in a cooler. I loaded them with extra pickled jalapenos, yum!

After lunch, the fairy bandit was spotted.

Her mild-mannered alter ego, Dr. Olivia.

Always a fun day at the museum. Blast off!