Vegan MoFo Day 6: Just Food

A simple dinner and dessert bring my first week of Vegan MoFo posts to a close.

Dinner: Vanessa's Lentil-Quinoa Stew from La Dolce Vegan. A favorite of Tony's. I use lemon juice instead of apple cider vinegar, and omit the cilantro.

Dessert: Raspberry Apple Crisp, also from LDV. Tart raspberries are an excellent late-summer addition to the traditionally autumnal apple crisp.

See you next week!

Vegan MoFo Day 5: Quiet Day

It was a quiet day for Olivia and me while Jackson was at school. We took a walk, did some laundry, swept the floors, watched her favorite Bubble Guppies, and colored.

For lunch, we made a pot of Simply Lovely Carrot Soup from How It All Vegan, a warming, golden soup flecked with dill and black pepper. Olivia is getting good with the carrot peeler. 

For dinner I tossed rotini pasta with roasted broccoli, kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, fresh basil, olive oil and lemon juice. For the kids, I served all the components separately and let them pick what they wanted on their pasta. They love broccoli and olives, but can do without artichoke hearts and basil.

Vegan MoFo Day 4: Back to School

Jackson started back to school this week. The house feels oddly quiet when he's there, after having my energetic little man home all summer. But he is only going two days a week, so we still have plenty of time together.

And while he is learning and playing with his friends, I get some one-on-one time with Olivia. After we drop Jackson off, we take Monster for a walk around the block and talk about whatever is on her mind.

Our back-to-school dinner was the Veggie Pot Pie from La Dolce Vegan. I have been making this pot pie for years; it's a comfort food favorite and the buttery, flaky crust can't be beat.

I also made a spinach salad with Maple Dijon Flax Oil Dressing from The Garden of Vegan. I will occasionally impulse-buy flax oil and then forget to use it. I think it's because it needs to be refrigerated, and I am so used to just reaching in the pantry and grabbing the olive oil. This dressing was a good reason to get my bottle out of the fridge, as well as being light and tasty.

Vegan MoFo Day 3: Identity

Olivia usually takes her bath first, followed by Jackson. While he splashes in the tub, she likes to make faces in the mirror. Often, there is dancing and singing involved.

And sometimes she will simply stare intently at her reflection, inspecting the details of this face looking back at her, this little person who is Olivia. It's clear she is pleased with what she sees. Why shouldn't she be? I hope she always feels that way whenever she looks in a mirror.

Lunch was Humble and Hearty Vegetable Soup from Celebrate Vegan. My favorite recipe from that cookbook. The barley truly does make it hearty.

For dinner I made Rooted Vegan's Mango Chutney Tofu Salad. We enjoyed the combination of sweet mango, crunchy celery, and smoky toasted cashews.

I also made the Creamy Squash Casserole from Cookin' Crunk, made with summer squash which is abundant right now. It was a tad on the bland side -- you wouldn't want to eat it as a meal on its own, but it's fine as a side dish.

Vegan MoFo Day 2: Jackson's 5th Birthday!

Jackson celebrated his fifth birthday recently with friends and family. We had his party at a bounce house place.

My parents were in attendance. Note the entire Voltron head on the birthday boy's plate. He couldn't finish it, but he tried.

Olivia went down the slide about twenty times in a row. Sugar power!

The next day, we made a day trip to San Antonio to see some dinosaurs. First we stopped for lunch. I wanted to try Vegeria, but they're closed Sundays, so I searched online and found Green. What a great discovery! We loved this cute all-vegetarian (anything can be made vegan) cafe.

We started with chips and salsa.

We also shared a plate of buffalo tofu fingers. Spicy, chewy, amazing. 

Jackson and Olivia had spaghetti, with fruit.

Tony had the falafel bowl with vegan tzatziki. He raved about the kale.

I had the breakfast tacos, made with scrambled tofu. These tacos were huge! I took one home with me.

After eating our fill we headed to the Witte Museum. We were greeted by a rather arrogant-looking pair.

This little elephant was much more approachable.

The Dinosaurs Unearthed exhibit was the main attraction. Giant, animatronic dinosaurs -- the perfect birthday activity for Jackson (and his equally dino-loving little sis.)

I didn't realize some dinosaurs had fur. Thank you, Dinosaurs Unearthed, for teaching me something new.

Feeding baby dinosaurs, Olivia's favorite of the many games included in the exhibit.

My ancestor?

Not scared of T. Rex!

Digging for dino bones in the sand pit.

Next we headed to the Science Treehouse, which is basically a children's museum on the Witte Museum grounds.

Part of it really is a treehouse.

There are lovely views of the San Antonio River.

On the roof, a sound board to bang away on. Olivia wasn't a fan.

The little greenhouse smelled wonderful.

Inside, the kids experimented with physics.

All in all, a fantastic birthday weekend for my little dude, and the rest of us too.

Vegan MoFo 2013, Day 1

Happy Vegan MoFo 2013! And if you are a new visitor to my blog, welcome!

If you're a regular reader, you know that I am vegetarian, not vegan, and my husband and kids are omnivores. However, most of the food I make at home is vegan. This month, everything I post will be vegan! 

My original plan for MoFo was to cook only from Sarah Kramer's cookbooks for the month of September. 

I started out on track. Last night's dinner was Wolffie's Pasta Salad from La Dolce Vegan. I made the faux pepperoni myself, using the recipe from Vegan on the Cheap (not a Sarah Kramer book...can you see I'm already slippin'?) This recipe was a hit for the whole family. The salty, spicy pepperoni takes regular pasta salad to the next level.

So it's only day one, and I have to be honest with myself, and with y'all...I'm not sticking with three cookbooks for the whole month. So I have no theme. Except for my usual theme, which is to show you the meals I cook every day for my family -- inspired by various cookbooks, fellow bloggers, restaurant meals, a recent trip to New Mexico, and hopefully the occasional original recipe thrown in. There will also be pictures of these two.

I hope you'll return to see what I come up with for the next 29 days. See you tomorrow!