quick!

Before the tomatoes ripen! (Please please PLEASE let the tomato crop do well this year!) It's farm pickup this afternoon, and I'm anticipating the first significant tomatoes. I had a salad for breakfast using an entire store-bought tomato in order to clean the counters, fruit bowl, fridge for whatever we might be bringing home. (Yes, I do refrigerate tomatoes only if they're very ripe...don't want to feed the fruit fly population any more than necessary.)

So back to the end of the school year...






















AJ created scrapbook pages for his kindergarten teacher, and really wanted to give her a hand-decorated mug (as cliche as it sounds, but he did a really wonderful job and I know it's something I would have loved back when I was a teacher). We filled it with zucchini brownies with a copy of the recipe.
Maia joined Nate for his end of preschool ice cream party (we brought our own vegan equivalents of course), and Nate made cards to attach to the banana-apple-strawberry muffins he helped make with strawberries from the farm.

Nate was excited to
use his bubble blower
from his teacher, and
he spent weeks looking
at his big portfolio of
artwork and photos
from his second year
at preschool.

Then a couple of days
later was a final family
picnic where the kids
got their faces painted (except for AJ, he was at a birthday party where he got a cool hat). Nate had a dragon on his cheek, but wouldn't cooperate for a picture...typical 3 year old.

























AJ's
teacher
gift:




















Ryan had three
teachers to make
gifts for, so he
just made cards
with recipes to go
with baggies of
brownies.





Ryan's last lunch of the school year included some of his most favourite items: farm strawberries; leftover Gianni's spinach, mushroom & black olive pizza; zucchini brownie.

countdown to Halloween

Fall weekends full of playdates and leaf raking necessitate some cool Halloween munchies...

Jack O' Lantern carrot platter with black olives & celery stem.

Pumpkin Curry Hummus

2 cans (15.5 oz.) chick peas, rinsed & drained
1 T. tahini
2/3 cup pumpkin (or other orange/red winter squash)
1 tsp. garlic powder, or ~1 T. chopped garlic
1/4 cup or 1 small onion, roughly chopped
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. grated ginger
1 T. lemon juice
2 T. olive oil
1/3 cup water
paprika for garnish

Steam cubed pumpkin, or thaw and drain frozen pumpkin. I love using red kuri squash for its colour, but butternut squash is also a good choice.
Put everything in a food processor, adding water slowly as hummus mixes. Garnish with paprika.

I'm gonna call these muffins because I started baking them at 6:45am and served them with breakfast. And they are thicker and less sweet than cupcakes, so I'm just gonna keep on pretending, haha...

Chocolate Chili Mini Muffins

2 cups flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup vegan sugar
3 tsp. Ener-G Egg Replacer Powder + 3 T. water, beaten
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup soymilk
1/2 cup dried cherries, roughly chopped (optional)

Mix all ingredients together. Scoop into non-stick mini muffin tin. Bake at 350F degrees 18-20 minutes.

We gave Fashion Peace's Absolutely Fabulous Vegetable Pasta with Marinara Sauce a try. Super yummy! I lightly steamed the zucchini ribbons though, and left out the agave nectar simply because I was out of it--we served it alongside a baked potato. My husband really enjoyed this combo and we have enough sauce leftover for another use soon!

And finally, when you have lots of beans in the pantry, fall is perfect weather for chili. We usually eat a fresh bowl piping hot, then serve leftovers with bread, a baked potato, cous cous or other similar small grain.

3 Bean Chili

2 T. olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
3-4 large garlic cloves, finely diced
1/2-1 tsp. hot pepper sauce (I use homemade but store bought is fine too)
1/4-1/2 tsp. ground cayenne pepper
1 T. dried oregano
1 chile in adobo sauce, chopped (optional)
1 15.5 oz. can kidney beans, drained
1 15.5 oz. can black beans, drained
1 15.5 oz. can chick peas, drained
1 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen
1 cup diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups tomato sauce
1 T. balsamic vinegar
2 T. ground cumin
2 T. chili powder
1 cup soy crumbles (optional)

In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook until just soft. Add garlic and hot sauce and cook another 2-3 minutes. Add remaining ingredients, stir. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover. Simmer at least 30 minutes, preferably 45 minutes.

Muffin Tins

I thought I'd give the newly popular muffin tin snack/meal presentation a try with the boys. The portions end up about right for my trio, and if I serve it picnic style or on the kitchen footstool, cleanup is a cinch.

Row 1:
grapes,
pretzels,
peppers,
peanuts.

Row 2:
apples,
veggie
crackers,
cukes,
trail mix
bar.

Row 3: dried apricots, Tings, black olives, cashews.

Row 1:

pretzel
nuggets,
lettuce,
peanut
butter,
oranges.

Row 2:
Triscuits,
pickles,
sunflower
seeds,
raisins.

Row 3: cinnamon pita chips, green beans, edamame, cherry tomatoes.

I wouldn't do this every day, but it's a fun way to mix up the typical daily plate of table food at home. My next challenge will be to fill a 24 sized tart tin each with a different finger food!

Try this novel serving idea next time you're hosting a playdate. It's a great way for little hands to reach a variety of bite-sized foods.

Check out the Muffin Tin Meals Flickr group for more ideas.

No Luck for the Irish!

Nothing went right on Monday! After fixing all green bentos for the boys St. Patrick's Day snack, my husband left them in the car so the boys were stuck with school pretzels...and I can't even show them off because my camera seems to have lost 2 days worth of photos!

Tuesday's photos were also lost. My husband was the parent helper in Ryan's class and brought strawberries and homemade oatmeal raisin cookies.

Wednesday:On wednesday my husband was parent helper in AJ's class. I made his favourite mini pumpkin muffins. Ten kids gobbled up 2 dozen of these in no time, along with some banana halves.

AJ has this funny thing he does--he'll come up to you and poke your cheek gently and call you a "pumpkin muffin". For preschool I make sure these are nut-free. Just leave out all the "optional" ingredients for nut-free muffins or bread.
Another thing...while I do sometimes use canned pumpkin, or leftover steamed Halloween pumpkin, any squash will do. My favourites are red kuri squash or butternut squash--they give a bright orange color to the muffins. I cut a red kuri squash in half and bake it open sides down on a foil-lined baking sheet for 40 minutes or so, then remove the seeds and rind. For butternut squash I peel, seed, cut into chunks, and steam for 20-30 minutes until soft and mashable.

AJ's Pumpkin Muffins

1/3 cup margarine or butter (I use Earth Balance Buttery Sticks)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 to 1.5 cups pureed pumpkin or other winter squash
3 T. milk (any kind) or water
1 t. vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/4 t. ground allspice (optional)
1/4 t. ground nutmeg (optional)
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 T. raw cane juice crystals
1/4 cup pecan halves (optional)

Melt or soften margarine in a large bowl. Add brown sugar and mix until creamy.
Mix in mashed pumpkin, milk, & vanilla.
Add the next 6 dry ingredients. Mix well.
Add walnuts and stir.
Pour into greased muffins tins or loaf pan (I spray with olive oil). Sprinkle tops with sugar crystals. Sprinkle or decorate tops with pecan halves.

Cooking times:
mini muffins - 20-25 minutes - makes 3 dozen
regular muffins - 30-35 minutes - makes 12.
loaf - 45-50 minutes - makes 1 loaf...may need a few extra minutes if omitting nuts.

Ryan's snack: 2 mini pumpkin muffins, a strawberry, cucumber slices.

Thursday:
TLT sandwiches and grapes made a wonderful "picnic" lunch. Fakin' Bakin smoked tempeh strips replace traditional bacon. The rest of the sandwich imitates the BLTs at a Brooklyn, NY diner that my father loved:
Toast the bread. Spread your favourite mayonnaise on one side, spread the other side very lightly with peanut butter and sprinkle on a tiny bit of garlic powder. Then add the tempeh, tomato slices, and crisp lettuce (I used romaine). These are sooo good, Ryan even made up a song about them during his lunch.

Dinner: "Asian Cucumber Salad" from The Accidental Vegan (with half the dressing and mirin in place of honey), rice, spicy baked tofu, bok choy cooked in the style of "Snow Peas with a Hint of Pork" from Seductions of Rice, and a vegetable gyoza. Seductions of Rice has some really fantastic authentic tasting recipes. The boys went back for thirds or more of this dinner.

After dinner I went out to buy jellybeans and socks at Target. Who would have thought I'd bring home these goodies! Spiral picks, flexible Easter picks, some cute cupcake liners, & a Dyno Bytes sandwich cutter. They also had some pastel silicon baking cups and mini heart-shaped silicon baking cups.
No school on Good Friday. I almost forgot! Last year we showed up anyway, wondering why it was closed.