Water Baby

This morning I took Olivia to play at the creek. We haven't had enough rain lately, so there's only a few inches of water.  But she was perfectly content to splash around and shovel some sand into a bucket.

For dinner I made Thai quinoa salad. The recipe called for red quinoa, which I had not used before. I think it's slightly chewier and more substantial than regular quinoa. I loved this salad. The coconut, cashews and kale gave it a great variety of textures and the gingery dressing was to die for. Jackson the kale lover was also a big fan of this salad.   

Along with the salad, I made spicy tamarind potatoes. So awesome. We all loved these potatoes, and they were so easy to prepare on the stovetop. The recipe calls for some rather exotic ingredients, but I subbed regular soy sauce for the Indonesian soy sauce, and brown sugar for the palm sugar, and it was still absolutely wonderful.

Breakfasts of Champions

Here are a few breakfasts we've been enjoying.

One morning I made banana pecan pancakes for a special treat. So good. I always use the pancake recipe in The Urban Vegan and add stuff to it.

I love Kashi's Island Vanilla shredded wheat with vanilla almond milk. Double vanilla!  I've been buying almond milk lately and I think I like the flavor better than soy milk. I just wish it had as much protein.

Finally, I made these adorable granola cups and filled them with Greek yogurt and sliced strawberries. They are so easy, and what a fun way to serve breakfast -- in cute little edible bowls!

Today was a nice, sunny day and I wanted some new shots of me and my babes. I think we got a pretty good mix of serious...

...and silly!

Tino's and Bouldin Creek Cafe

Had a couple of yummy restaurant meals recently.

Tino's is a chain of casual Greek restaurants all over Austin. You order cafeteria style. The veggie lunch plate lets you choose soup or salad and four sides. I had lentil soup, spanakopita, falafel, baba ganoush, and hummus.

On this visit to Tino's, I noticed that they have posted a list of which menu items are vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free. It's right there in front of you when you are placing your order, which is really helpful.  I wasn't sure about the lentil soup because I know restaurants occasionally use chicken stock to prepare soups that would otherwise be vegetarian.  But it is in fact vegetarian. Jackson loves the lentil soup; he ate most of mine. Next time he gets his own bowl.

Last weekend we had brunch at Bouldin Creek Cafe.  It was my first time sampling their breakfast items. The menu description for the Renedict said that it is served until 1:00 or until they run out. I thought, if they have to worry about running out of it, it's probably really good. And it was.

The Renedict is Bouldin Creek's version of eggs Benedict, and it can be made vegan by substituting tofu for the eggs, which is what I ordered. The pieces of tofu were completely coated in nutritional yeast so they have a really strong cheezy, savory flavor that you may or may not enjoy depending on your feelings about nooch. I like it, so there you go. There were also some little pieces of either tofu or portabella mushroom, I couldn't tell, that were super smoky as though they had been marinated in liquid smoke for a long time. These added a bacon-y flavor to the dish. But the real highlight was the vegan Hollandaise sauce. So amazing.

Have a great weekend!

Title, Who Needs A Title

After a nice morning at the park...

...I made Tofu Dill Salad Sandwiches from Vegan with a Vengeance for our lunch. They were really good. Bonus points for not having to use the oven or stove. I served them on rye bread cause it's my favorite.

Also, these Dr. Praeger's pancakes were on sale so I picked up a couple of different kinds. They are basically potato pancakes with broccoli or spinach added in. I thought it would be a good way to get some extra veggies in my kids.

You cook them by sticking them under the broiler for several minutes. This made me nervous because our broiler is wonky, but I watched them closely and they turned out fine. They have a nice, light texture and they are good with ketchup.

Finally, while the kids napped, I made Spicy Peanut Kale Chips from Sketch-free Vegan Eating. I used fancy dinosaur kale from Whole Foods instead of the typical curly kale that they sell at HEB. Dinosaur kale is a darker green than regular kale, almost black. However, I don't know if it is any more nutritious, and I couldn't really tell a difference in flavor. I just felt like trying something different.

Jackson and Olivia loved this flavor. For me it was a little salty. Next time I will use low-sodium soy sauce. I doubled the recipe since I had two bunches of kale, and it was a good thing I did. The chips are almost all gone. Success!

Easter 2012

Happy Easter! We're having a lazy Easter, just hanging around the house. We don't go to church, so Easter for us is a day to relax and spend together as a family.

This morning, Jackson and Olivia received their baskets from the Easter bunny.

I found these cute masks in the dollar bins at Target. I mean, the Easter bunny found them.

For lunch, Tony made ham, baked beans and potato salad for himself and the kids. He makes a really good potato salad with Veganaise, onion, Creole mustard, and lots of chopped up pickles. Since I don't eat ham or baked beans, I made some cilantro hummus to go with my potato salad.

So my Easter lunch wasn't much to look at. I needed to save room for dessert.  I made a German chocolate cake using my mother-in-law's recipe. She makes it so good. Mine didn't turn out quite as good as hers, but it was not bad for a first attempt. The frosting is made from scratch and it is a cooked frosting, which I had never made before. It's so much better than the Betty Crocker stuff in a can!

Now that I've made it the traditional way, I'm going to try to come up with a healthier version that still tastes as delicious as the original. If I do, I will post the recipe here.

Later we went for a little walk and I had to take a picture of these white blossoms because they smelled so amazing. I'd be grateful if anyone can identify them for me. I'd love to grow some in my backyard and breathe in the scent while I'm sitting on my deck.

How are you spending your Easter, if you celebrate it?

Grandparents' Visit

All this week, my parents have been in town. Jackson and Olivia are getting super spoiled by all this grandparent attention lately.

One day my mom and dad brought some crafts over to do with the kids.

The finished product is now on our dining area wall. I think they did a great job.

My mom also brought over a bubble wand, which provided a lot of entertainment.

Since my parents aren't vegetarian, and pretty set in their ways when it comes to food, the easiest thing is to eat out or get takeout during their visits. Then everyone is happy.

My parents usually request to eat at Chuy's their first night in town. Look at this crazy fish sculpture in front of the restaurant. Jackson says it is "super silly!"

I ordered the salad and enchilada combo. One veggie enchilada and a house salad with creamy jalapeno dressing. The creamy jalapeno has a great flavor, but it's very rich. I would like to create a vegan version to use at home.

The next night, Tony had to work late, so the kids and I joined my parents at Kerbey Lane. I had the Allie's Vegan Wich sandwich off their seasonal menu. Avocado, tomato, spinach, cucumber, and sprouts on wheat bread. Yum. I always substitute the sweet potato fries for regular fries.

The next night, Tony and my parents ate barbecue. I heated up an Amy's Roasted Vegetable Lasagna.

As far as frozen foods go, can't beat Amy's.

Their last night in town, my parents wanted something light, so I picked up some subs from Thundercloud. I had the Veggie Delite with hummus, avocado, sprouts, mushrooms, olives, tomato and cucumber on whole wheat bread.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Texas VegFest

On Saturday I took Jackson and Olivia to Texas VegFest.

It was held at one of my favorite parks in Austin that offers beautiful views of the water.

There were tons of vendors! This was just one row.

There was also a kids' area with a bouncy house.

Most importantly, there was so much amazing vegan food to sample! We started with salted caramel soft serve cones from Sweet Ritual.  Oh my goodness, was this good.  It was a hot, sunny day and this ice cream was just what we needed to cool off.

Pure happiness, right here.

For lunch, we sat in the shade and listened to a band play while we shared a combo plate of Ethiopian food from Aster's. I love their lentils. Their greens are perfect, too...and the cabbage...you know what, it's all awesome! We also got a couple of potato samosas from Bombay Express that were spicy and perfectly cooked. Olivia kind of squished them, so I didn't get a pic. Still totally edible, though!

Venturing back out into the sun, we needed to cool off again, so we bought a frozen chocolate-covered banana from Bananarchy. I long for them to some day open a trailer in my area of Austin because I would chomp on these all summer if I didn't have to drive across town to get one.  Reminds me of childhood trips to the amusement park.

I wish we could have stayed longer, but the sun was turning Olivia's cheeks pink in spite of her sunscreen. She has her daddy's easily-burned skin so we have to be careful with her. Plus it was close to naptime, so we headed out.  I thought I might be able to catch the cooking demo from Isa Moskowitz, but when my kids are ready to catch some z's, I can't argue with them!

Here are just a few goodies we came home with. I believe we also had pretzel sticks from Mary's Gone Crackers and some Beanitos chips, but my kids ate them in the car. I guess they were good!  I like chocolate-flavored Zico coconut water, but the kids said this mango flavor was too sour. We all loved Lucy's cookies. They are gluten-free as well as vegan. We tried the gingersnap and oatmeal flavors. Light, crispy, and so tasty.

So glad Austin hosted this cool festival. Might have to travel for it next year, but I think it will be worth it!