laundry

Laundry list? French laundry? Money laundry?? No, just laundry. I promised myself I would do no blogging til I had done ALL of the laundry today. And I do mean ALL...clothing, diapers, towels, bed sheets, socks (the only thing I bleach). So it's 7pm, and while the diapers are still in the dryer and have yet to be folded, everything else is indeed done and PUT AWAY.

I had intended to share my gyoza recipe over the weekend, but a plethora of kids' birthday parties, Star Wars characters at Build-A-Bear, and an excess of hiking on sunday kind of quashed that plan too.

So here it is, monday again. But a RAINY monday, thank goodness. We need the rain here desperately. However it does nothing good for food photography. Meh.

Ryan & AJ's lunches: mini gel cups; checkered apples; Pichu sandwich of Tofurky, lettuce, mustard & Veganaise; baby carrots; meatless meatballs; gherkin pickles.

Now, on to the problem of the not-so-spiffy napa cabbage left under the lettuce in the produce bin. Bleh.

Napa cabbage is my
favourite. Not that
cabbage is in general
my favourite, it's not.
But I like the light &
mild flavour napa
cabbage has. It's great
cooked or raw. But I
had inadvertently left
a lovely little head of cabbage in the bottom of the bin too long, which makes me angry, because I hate wasting food. I mean, we compost all produce scraps, but we only get a couple of heads of napa cabbage from the farm each year, and I hate to pitch it all in the compost pile.

So I began removing the
outer layers. The frilly
leafy part was pretty
gnarly, but most of the
inner rib was perfect.
So I salvaged that, about
a cup's worth, and set it
aside for a few hours
while I took out some
frozen dumpling wrappers to thaw on the counter. The ones I had are Assi Brand imported from Korea. I buy them at the local asian market in the refrigerated section. They are one of the few I've found that are free of eggs.

Sunshine Gyoza

1 cup chopped cabbage rib
(or bok choy stems)
1 small leek, sliced thinly
(or scallion)
1 tsp. grated ginger
1/4-1/2 tsp. hot sauce
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Barbecue Sunshine Burger, thawed & crumbled
24 gyoza skins
oil for frying (optional)
shoyu for dipping (optional)

Dice cabbage. Slice leeks. Grate ginger. Chop garlic.
Mix first 6 ingredients together.
Thaw or nuke the Sunshine
Burger for 30 seconds.
Crumble and mix into cabbage.
Spoon 1-2 tablespoons onto
each gyoza wrapper. Fold in
half and pinch the edges
closed, then press the edges
with a wet fork to secure.


Heat peanut oil in a non-
stick saute pan and fry
for about 1 minute on each
side, or until lightly browned.
Alternately, you can steam
these (in single layers so they
don't stick) for a few minutes.

Drain on a paper towel
on a large plate. Serve
at any temperature.

All four kids absolutely
loved these, as did my
husband. Yippee for such
a yummy cabbage
delivery system!My lunch hike bento: blanched spinach w/shoyu on the side; soba noodles; Sunshine gyoza; mini tofu broccoli quiche.

Sunshine Burgers or Krabby Patties?

The boys love Spongebob, so no matter what type of burger they're being served, they're bound to refer to it as a Krabby Pattie. But this week they've gotten an education about burgers, and they've even called them by their actual names a few times. Regardless, if you have school-age boys, you'll probably get some good reactions to lunch by spiffing it up with Spongebob gear.

Ryan & AJ's lunches: Sunshine Burgers w/melted Daiya cheese, ketchup & lettuce on wheat buns (I'd have added pickles, but the store was out of the usual kind and I refuse to buy ones with added colouring AND high fructose corn syrup...I mean really, WHY?!?); french fries; broccoli; a side of ketchup.
So that wraps up a week of Sunshine Burger lunches for the boys! We received some cool hats and coupons from the Sunshine Burger company. If you know us in real life we'd be happy to pass along a few $1 off 2 boxes coupons...just let me know!

I was hoping to put together a giveaway this weekend as well, including some of the Sunshine Burger coupons. But of course things never go as planned, so I need to come up with some new items. Ryan and AJ were both in need of desk space for homework now that they're getting older, so I reluctantly gave up the bulk of my creative space to them. In the process of rearranging and packing up much of my craft supplies (:::sob:::) I misplaced my box of bento giveaway goodies. Horror! So I guess I'll have to go shopping. So keep a patient eye open...

Sunshine Burger pizza

Did I mention we FINALLY got a new oven a couple of months ago? Last night was the first time I'd made homemade pizza in it. And I decided to top it with some crumbled Sunshine Burgers. I made some plain as well, and also some with Barbecue Sunshine Burger, red onion & sliced tomato... tasty. I'd have put hot peppers on it too, but the kids probably wouldn't have appreciated it.Ryan & AJ's lunches: 2 leftover pizza slices; raspberries; mini banana blueberry muffin; baby carrots.

Here are two of the four pizzas...and the new oven...












And because I can't resist FINALLY being able to use my Hello Kitty collection...
Maia's preschool snack: raspberries; 2 baby carrots; 2 poppyseed thyme crackers.

Sunshine Burger Breakfast rice

I like rice for breakfast. There was one variety of Sunshine Burger that I'd never used before, which was the Breakfast style. I nuked one for 30 seconds, broke off a bite, and immediately knew what I'd be having for breakfast and serving Ryan for his lunch. There was leftover rice in the rice cooker from the night before, just the right amount for fried rice.
I heated a tablespoon of both olive oil & Earth Balance in a pan, diced about 2 tablespoons of onion, and crumbled in the burger. After sauteing for a minute or so, I added the leftover rice, sprinkled on a bit of salt and a pinch of garlic powder, and stir fried for another minute or two. Voila. Super yumminess. Ryan had requested a repeat of yesterday's Sunshine Burger falafel wraps because he loved them so much (actually fell down on the floor in bliss describing their deliciousness), but when he saw and SMELLED what was in the pan he was very excited.

Ryan's lunch: peanuts; honeydew melon; raspberries; broccoli; Sunshine Burger Breakfast rice.
Sunshine Burger Breakfast Rice

1 T. Earth Balance (opt.)
1 T. olive oil
2-3 T. diced onion
1 Sunshine Burger
Breakfast pattie
2 cups cooked rice
1/4-1/2 tsp. salt
1/8-1/4 tsp. garlic powder

Heat Earth Balance & olive oil over medium heat. Add onion & crumble in the Sunshine Burger. Saute for a minute or so. Add rice & remaining ingredients, raising heat slightly if necessary. Stir almost constantly for another minute or two. Done! Feel free to add in some diced veggies with the burger to round out the meal.

On to AJ's lunch...I am going to refrain from introducing new dishes to him in his school lunches. He responds best to new things while assisting me in the kitchen or eating them in the company of his siblings. So for him I took two rice balls out of the freezer, a handy thing to have ready to speed up lunch prep...they just need to be nuked briefly and they're ready to go.

AJ's lunch: rice balls with goma shio & rice cheese stars w/nori faces; broccoli; honeydew melon; raspberries; peanuts, cashews & raisins.

Sunshine Burger falafel

What's ever better than a Sunshine Burger? Six different flavours of Sunshine Burgers! Yep, there's a variety for every taste. There's even a falafel burger. They're a bit drier than the other varieties (as falafel is normally rather dry), but serve them with the right combo of condiments and they're delish.

Ryan
and
AJ's
lunches:
falafel
Sunshine
Burger,
hummus,
cucu-
mber,
avocado
on flax
lavash
wrap
bread;
salted
almonds;
dried
fruit
(apricots
for Ryan,
raisins
for AJ); baby carrots; gherkin pickle; mini zucchini muffin.













For presentation purposes the wrap halves are stood on end, but you'd need to lay them down as in the pic on the right to fit them in a bento or sandwich keeper. I gave the boys Spiderman and Pokemon sandwich containers today--I'd intended for them to have coordinating Spiderman boxes, but it appears they left one somewhere in the past few week...Water Country? cousins house? grandmas? Who knows.

You can make the same sandwich with pita bread, or if you're gluten free try topping a corn thin or rice cake with hummus, then the rest of the fillings.

Today was also Maia' first day of preschool! I know, I know, you were expecting bigger fanfare, but the first week is only an hour each day, so she barely needed a snack. But here's what she brought:

Nate
and
Maia's
snacks:
raisins,
pretzel
twists,
mini
banana
muffin.

Nate
had
the
Thomas
the
Tank
Engine
contain-
er and
Maia
brought
Hello
Kitty of coure! It wasn't as
big as the photo makes it
seem...a toddler snack is
pretty minimal. Here is
Maia's snack in my hand
so you get the size
comparison...






And here they are
heading into school
together.

Sunshine Burgers, part 1

You are probably thinking, "She makes her own burgers, so why would she review frozen veggie burgers??" Well, I have 4 kids, and we get busy, and sometimes even I need a break from cooking. But I try not to compromise nutrition for convenience and taste.

I've tried most of the packaged vegan burgers out there. I don't mind soy products if it's soy flour or whole soybeans, or tempeh, or miso...but I try to avoid buying too many things made with soy protein isolates. Sunshine Burgers are soy free, gluten free & vegan. The ingredients are surprisingly simple, made with only organic whole foods. And they taste terrific. An all-around win. They even taste fine if prepared in the microwave.

Check out our friday night addition to preschool's opening night buffet of appetizers:
These Sunshine Burger
canapes were made with
Barbecue and Garden
Herb varieties. Both were
sandwiched in between
toasted wheat english
muffin rounds spread with
Veganaise and homemade
guacamole. The Garden
Herb burger appetizers
also contained thinly sliced
mini red & yellow tomatoes,
arugula, & red onion. The
Barbecue style had melted
Daiya cheddar, red onion &
a tiny bit of organic ketchup.

There was lots of leftover
food when the evening was over...but no Sunshine Burgers!

This morning we were getting ready for homevisits from both Nate's and Maia's preschool teachers. They begin school tomorrow, and the teachers always visit each student at home before the beginning of the year. I needed a quick lunch to make for Ryan and AJ, and I already had the oven preheated from baking breakfast muffins. But the store was out of healthy burger buns this week, so I rummaged around and found some not-so-nutritious crescent rolls that I could warp into an entree.Ryan & AJ's lunches: burger rolls; green grapes; steamed broccoli; baby carrots.

First I pinched together
the refrigerated crescent
roll dough, scored it with
a rotary cutter (like a
pizza cutter), and nuked
a Garden Herb Sunshine
Burger for 30 seconds.
I cut the burger in half,
then into eighths, added
a few drops of ketchup &
cheddar Daiya, then rolled
them up.

I baked them in a 375
degree oven for 11 minutes,
and while they cooled I
prepped the rest of the
lunch food.

I cut one in half and ran
it by AJ to try...he is
quite picky, not so much
about taste, but about
texture. He is the only one
in the family who doesn't
adore veggie burgers.

But he said it was fine, so
I made his lunch the same
as Ryan's and crossed my
fingers. His lunchbox came
home mostly empty; he
ate half of the burger rolls,
so for him, I consider that
successful.

Stay tuned for more Sunshine Burger lunches this week!