Whole Foods Haul

First off today, a big thank you to Kristy for having the OATrageous Oatmeals giveaway, which I won! I eat oats nearly every morning, so I can't wait to delve into this cookbook. The savory oatmeals intrigue me.

This morning, Olivia and I attended storytime at Whole Foods. Afterwards we joined some friends on the patio, where we read the paper and let the kids run off some steam. I picked up a Suja Elements holiday flavor, Wassail To You. Oh my God, I want a whole case of this stuff! Cinnamon and vanilla...it's like drinking a cinnamon roll, you guys.

We also grabbed a Red Rabbit Cooperative Bakery vegan maple donut to share later.

Wearing Halloween tops after Halloween? That's how she rolls. There is no such thing as a fashion faux pas if you own it.

And we'll keep right on eating pumpkin spice everything, long into winter I'm sure. We brought home some So Delicious pumpkin pops. They have a strong coconut milk flavor that didn't really do it for me. Now they will probably linger in the freezer until after the Halloween candy is all gone.

I also searched for the new Field Roast sliced cheese, but my Whole Foods hasn't got it in stock yet. So I tried this Treeline creamy scallion cheese that always catches my eye, but I usually pass it up due to the price. It's really nice, great on flatbread or crackers. However, having just made a batch of Veganomicon cashew ricotta, I find the textures very similar and the homemade stuff quite a bit cheaper, so this may be a one-time purchase. Now, I need to track down that Field Roast! 

I also picked up a couple of The Bu kombuchas. Tropical flavor, with mango, passionfruit, and hibiscus, and also lavender flavor. $2 each, couldn't pass that up. I wonder why some brands of kombucha are $2 and some are like $4? #kombuchamysteries

A post-bath game of Memory...

She always wins.

Zoo Friends

I'm constantly finding discounted ticket deals for the Austin Zoo, so we go there often. Although it is a small zoo (actually an animal sanctuary), the kids never seem to tire of it. Today Olivia and I made a quick visit while Jackson was at school.

Olivia especially loves feeding the goats in the petting zoo area.

We noticed the black goat on the left has an underbite. I'm not sure if it affects his eating, but he was not interested in our food. He grinned at us while his friend munched on food pellets.

Olivia got to make a terrarium and bring it home.

Before we left, we visited her favorite animal, the fox.

Dinner was Ziti with Creamy Radicchio Sauce from More Quick-Fix Vegan. This book is in heavy rotation lately. So, my sauce turned out like more of a glaze, than a cream sauce. But I enjoy radicchio, so I did not mind.

Hope you have a great day!

Perfect Attendance

This morning Olivia and I attended an awards assembly at Jackson's school, so we could see him be recognized for perfect attendance. He was very excited. He happily clapped for all his friends who received various awards, then leaped up when his own name was called.

The principal shook his hand and gave him his certificate.

Honestly, achieving perfect attendance is not that important to me personally. If one of my kids is ill, I will keep them home. I have too many memories of my parents sending me off to school when I had a cold, sitting there at my desk sniffling into a Kleenex, feeling completely miserable! However, by pure luck and a good immune system, Jackson made it through the first quarter with no sicknesses, and I know it gave him a proud feeling to stand up and be honored with his classmates. 

For dinner I made the Blackened Tofu from Appetite for Reduction, along with some brown rice. I also took leftover mashed sweet potatoes and added a little coconut milk and lime juice, to change up the flavor a bit. A good use of leftovers. I'd make the blackened tofu again but it needs some kind of sauce or gravy.

After School

Jackson has a snack at school right before dismissal, so he is usually not too hungry when he gets home. We tend to dive right into homework to get it over with, followed by some reading, playtime, or TV. Although TV is not my own personal favorite pastime, we believe in moderation, so if he has had a good behavior day at school then he can watch his Spongebob.

Some days he does get a little snacky before dinner is ready. Luckily Jackson is perfectly happy to snack on an apple, so that's easy to keep on hand. And some days Olivia and I will make treats and he can be tempted by those as well. Today we made Kathy Hester's Whole Wheat Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. I like that the recipe calls for an entire can of pumpkin. No leftover pumpkin to find a use for; all those lovely antioxidants and vitamins A and C go straight into the cookies.

Dinner was a couple of recipes from Appetite for Reduction. 40-Clove Chickpeas and Broccoli, a recipe I should definitely make more often. Also, the Ginger Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Apples sounded nice and autumn-y.

Catjackson

Since I purchased a pair of bar stools for our kitchen island, it's where Jackson and Olivia spend a lot of their time. Often, while I am cooking or cleaning up, they will draw.

"This is me if I was a catfish," Jackson explains.

Today was a day of simple but good eats. I made some banana pecan waffles for breakfast, freezing the leftovers to pop in the toaster later in the week. I like how the pieces of banana get caramelized in the waffle maker.

For lunch I had a BLT with Lightlife bacon, romaine, tomato, and Veganaise, on rye-pumpernickel swirl bread. And then I had another one for dinner.

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.

Halloween 2014

For us, Friday was a day of major anticipation. Olivia put on her princess costume immediately upon waking, and proceeded to ask me all day long, "How many more hours until trick-or-treat?" Jackson's school does not allow costumes, so he was ready to transform into the Incredible Hulk the moment the final bell rang. But before they could head out to collect candy, we had a quick, two-ingredient dinner.

Harvest-shaped pasta with pumpkin tomato sauce. You can't get much more Halloween than that.

Our first stop was our neighborhood trunk-or-treat. Cars lined the rec center parking lot, some of them decked out with suitably spooky decorations.

Or spooky people, in some cases.

At one car we met Arden, who is apparently something of a local celebrity.

Arden gives high-fives. Also the kids were able to take turns feeding her some sort of dog lollipop.

Other cars had games set up. Knock down pins (or not), and receive candy.

Ring toss, no problem for a Hulk.

Jackson ran into his friend from soccer and they compared their candy hoards.

I tried to corral the kids for a picture, but they were all hopped up on hot apple cider.

After making our rounds at trunk-or-treat, Jackson and Olivia were turned loose on the neighborhood.

Score!

Surveying the final haul.

Hope you all had a fun and scary Halloween!