Showing posts with label Thanksgiving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thanksgiving. Show all posts

Monday, November 29, 2010

sunny monday lunches

Reluctantly we all oozed back into the weekday after a fairly lazy Thanksgiving weekend...

Ryan & AJ's lunches: whole wheat mini pitas stuffed with tofu salad; Trader Joe's maple sandwich cookie; baby carrots; peanuts; cucumber slices; raisins for AJ, dried apricots for Ryan; green beans dressed with soy sauce.
I hope
the
boys
don't
feel
they're
getting
too
old
for
the
mini
giraffe
forks!
I have
not
seen
any
cool
super
hero
mini
forks,
only toothpicks and cupcake liners. Maybe I should invest in some plainer items...do they even make plain mini bento items?!

We had a few warm days
before Thanksgiving to
spend outside.









Thanksgiving Eve we had
sushi in Cambridge. It's
nice no longer requesting
a booster seat or highchair
for anyone! Of course Maia and Nate still require help popping out their edamame.












Thanksgiving Day was considerably colder, but we still went out for a hike before I cooked the big meal.And finally, the dinner feast...
This
year's
menu:
spicy
baked
tofu;
mashed
potato
celeriac;
roasted
sweet
potatoes;
steamed
aspar-
agus;
stuffing;
rolls;
pumpkin
walnut
bread;
cran-
berry
sauce;
roasted squash seeds; pea shoots with garlic & white wine; corn; and lentil mushrooms loaves. The lentil mushroom loaves were the new item this year...and I was quite looking forward to them. But we found them to be very dry and I didn't care too much for the mushroom lentil combination.












And pumpkin pie with
a chocolate crust, with
butter pecan ice cream
for dessert!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

before the feast

With my husband finally back from weeks of business travel, I can begin thinking about the coming holiday. But to be honest, I just want a break!

Maia's lunch: oyster crackers; Tofurky slice; pea shoots; pickle; steamed asparagus; carrots; cherry tomato.

Ryan
& AJ's
lunches:
mini
cinn-
amon
raisin
bagel
with
tofu
cream
cheese;
cucu-
mber
slices;
Tof-
urky
slice;
carrots;
steamed
aspar-
agus.

Today was the Thanksgiving feast in Nate's preschool class. The parents walking around asking if kids would like some "delicious chicken" brought him to tears at first, but I encouraged him to try the pumpkin muffins & stuffing we'd brought (he had two helpings) made with farm vegetables (sadly the celery leaves in the stuffing were the only green vegetable among the dozen plus food items). He
eventually decided to have
some cider and a clemen-
tine as well, and I'd given
him some animal crackers
to replace all of the other
cookies.
But he looked cute wearing
his painted pasta necklace
and vegetable print vest.
Maia's class made mini pumpkin pies...hers made with tofu instead.

I never did get 'round to posting fridays lunches...I was at the end of my rope then!

Ryan
& AJ's
lunches:
steamed
broc-
coli;
pickle;
peanuts;
apri-
cots
for
Ryan;
miso
chive
hummus
& spin-
ach
sand-
wiches;
mini
gel cup;
mini
pumpkin
muffin.

And here's Maia grazing on pea shoots at the farm yesterday...









...while Nate managed to find
probably the last fluffy dandelion
to make wishes with.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

my little turkeys

I've got some cute crazy turkeys:































































All the food...
Nate and Dad adore
asparagus. They wiped
out both plates at home
and at the cousins'
house.

We're loving all the
leftovers, but I'm going
to have to make a second
round of mashed
potatoes, everyone's
favourite!

Favourite Mashed Potatoes

3 lbs potatoes, peeled, chopped
3-4 garlic cloves, peeled, cut in half
3 T. Earth Balance
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup Tofutti sour supreme
fresh ground black pepper to taste

In a large pot, add potatoes, garlic and enough water to cover them. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a low boil. Cook 20-30 min until soft.
Drain potatoes, leaving a little bit of cooking liquid (1/4-1/2 cup) in the bottom of the pot. Add remaining ingredients and mashed potatoes with a fork. Stir to combine.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

gone

I've been offline a lot, getting ready for the big food holiday here in our country: Thanksgiving.
I took some fridge pics, and I was going to link back to the blog that I got the idea from--Raising Seven Vegans--but her blog appears to be GONE!!?? I am so sad! It was such a gem. It was one of those blogs where you say to yourself, "I hope I get to meet those people in real life some day". I hope everything's okay with them. There are many reasons people stop blogging, but it's hard when a blog is just deleted without ever knowing why. It's like reading a great book and having it suddenly go missing, and when you go to the library or Amazon to get a new one so you can continue reading it they tell you that it never existed. Nooooo!

Well, for better or for worse, here are my fridge pics...

The first set is before our winter farm share pickup, when we desperately needed groceries! But at least this way you get to see stuff at the back of the fridge for a change...
Top shelf, left: 2 bins of lettuce; a bottle of sake; 2 jars of homemade hot sauce; almond milk; Ryan's leftover breakfast cup (he never finishes his drinks!).
Top shelf, right: pitcher of homemade apple syrup; 2 tubs of miso; jar of capers; jar of grape jelly; big jar of marinated mushrooms; another container of apple syrup; jar of sunflower butter; bottle of agave nectar; maple syrup; jar of elderberry jam (made by my mother-in-law); vegan parmesan.
Middle shelf, left: tub of flax seeds; tin of tahini; jar of kimchee; tub of red thai curry paste; 1 can of natural cherry soda (leftover from Ryan's birthday last month); 3 tiny cans of tomato juice.
Middle shelf, right: tub of raw cashews; leftover homemade tofu salad; 1/4 of an avocado; jar of leftover homemade pickled radishes.
Small drawer, left: tubes of crescent rolls; container of tofu; package of chick'n Smart Strips; japanese pickled gourd strips (kanpyo); package of tempeh.
Bottom shelf, right: leftovers of my dinner the day before.

Bottom drawer, left: 2 thai chili peppers; 2 zucchini; a red bell pepper; green & purple kale; a bag containing a few sweet potatoes.
Bottom drawer, right: bag of shallots; big bag of carrots; bag of celery; cilantro; scallions and a cucumber (kind of hidden).

And the door...
Top left:
jar of
grated
ginger;
stick of
Earth
Balance;
jar of
Marmite;
dropper
bottle
of DHA
supple-
ment.

Covered
shelf,
right:
tub of
Tofutti
sour
creme;
parti-
ally used stick of Earth Balance; partially used tomato.
Middle shelf, left: rice milk; orange juice.
Middle shelf, right: mustard; various salad dressings; rice vinegar; ketchup; balsamic vinegar; lemon juice; red wine vinegar; sesame oil; canola oil; walnut oil.
Bottom shelf: baking soda; bag of yeast; ground flax meal; bottle of mirin; Worcestershire sauce; a couple jars of teriyaki marinades; chinese mushroom sauce; daquiri mixer.

And the next set are AFTER farm pickup:
Definitely some added greens, lots of kale, baby salad greens, leeks, swiss chard, bok choy. And more dinner leftovers in various glass containers.
And the bottom drawers have more scallions, radishes & salad turnips, and various herbs.

Then after pre-Thanksgiving grocery shopping! Whoa!

Various
bever-
ages
that we
don't
normally
buy,
the
first
Tofurky
feast
for the
kids to
try,
Vegan-
aise,
a couple
of diff-
erent
pickles,
an open
soy
yogurt
(that's gotta be Maia's), drink box for Ryan.
I didn't take another "door" picture, but there's a tub of Earth Balance spread, and a jar of probiotics.

Hope that wasn't too boring! I had fun seeing what was in another family's vegan fridge, so I just thought I'd share ours.

Ryan had a special meal planned for Dada when he returned from Rome, but his flight was delayed, so he had to wait a day, but here it is...
Between the square rolls
Ryan spread mustard &
Veganaise, then added
shredded carrot, avocado
& lettuce. Tasty!

Maia was just happy to
have Dada home again...




And today Ryan only had
a half day of school, so I
packed light for him, and
made it a treat of some
favourites...

Ryan's snack: roasted corn; Ju Ju Stars; 1/2 mini bagel smoked Tofurky & lettuce sandwich.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Thanksgiving Butterflies

Monday:
Ryan's lunch: grilled nutritional yeast cheeze sandwich w/ soy cheese & nori Calvin; blueberries; baked tofu; steamed asparagus; stuffing.
This was my first attempt at chibi, or a cartoon/anime bento. I ran out of time in the morning with children & husband yelling that it was time to go, so I didn't have time to add the nori title. But many might recognize Calvin from the cartoon Calvin & Hobbes.

AJ's snack: stuffing;
asparagus; Veggie
Booty; baked tofu;
grilled cheeze
sandwich.

We already had leftovers
to add to lunches after
an early Thanksgiving
celebration at my sister-in-law's new inn.

Tuesday:
Ryan's "family" lunch: yellow bell pepper; sesame tofu; rice ball "people"; asparagus; sliced black olives; broccoli.

AJ and his class made
vegetable-print vests
and clay necklaces for
their harvest feast at
preschool.

After school Dada took
Ryan, AJ & Maia to visit
their aunt, cousins, grandma
& 97 year old great
grandma.

Thanksgiving Day:
Our noontime dinner: garlic mashed potatoes/celeriac, stuffing, spicy baked tofu, broccoli, corn, roasted balsamic butternut squash pastina risotto (similar to this), cranberry cabbage (from a Russian cookbook of my mother's--she's Russian/Latvian), sauteed swiss chard, pickled beets, braised celery (veganized from Alton Brown's recipe here), crescent rolls, cranberry sauce, pickled asparagus, pumpkin pecan bread, pickles, cranberry apple cider.

We did a "dessert dinner"
of pumpkin creme pie,
baked apples, and vanilla
soy ice cream.





Many thanks to River
of Wing-It Vegan! She
tagged my blog for a
Butterfly Award!

Now it is up to me to
pass on the award to
10 more blogs of my
choosing. I liked River's
"veggie moms" theme.
I am going to deviate
from the expected food
blogs and choose 10 of my favourite parenting/parent-authored blogs, some food-related, most not. I am not concerned with whether or not these blogs have been awarded in the past--these are my picks. Enjoy!

http://www.theattachedparent.com/

These bloggers can post the Butterfly Award picture on their blog and give the award to 10 bloggers they think are the coolest!
Whee!!!