Holidays

It's so easy to get derailed from blogging. A stomach virus had us laid out flat, my husband had a very busy travel schedule, and there were so many school events and holidays and projects to attend to. Suddenly you realize that you are no longer allotting time to blog, but instead posting 30 second bursts of pics on Facebook instead.

We arrived back from Florida just in time for the brunt of the winter holidays.
Here is one of the travel meals I made for the plane, in nestable containers for the kids so they would take up little space when emptied, and the grownup meals were packed in recycled disposable containers. There was sesame tofu, marinated mushrooms, blanched spinach, soba noodles, and pickles.

One thing I don't own is
a crock pot or slow-cooker;
I rely on my rice cooker or
deep Calphalon cookware
for those tasks. But the
Florida house is stocked with
a crock pot, so I used it to
make easy dishes like chili,
so I could spend more time
enjoying the vacation instead
of cooking for the family. I
made sure to plan ahead for the trip, pre-mixing the spices I'd need for various dishes in zip-top snack bags, pre-measured for easy cooking. You don't want to have to go out and purchase half a dozen spices when on vacation just to make a tasty meal!

After spending most of
every day in the pool
(thank goodness it was
heated because the
weather in Florida was
unusually COLD), it
wasn't easy to come back
to New England and want
to jump right into Xmas
and snow.


At least Delta was able
to ease that transition
with free drinks.

Because my husband
travels so much, he is
allowed free upgrades
to business class, which
he graciously passed on
to me for our trip.


Many airlines only serve
non-vegan meals on
domestic flights that must
be purchased onboard
(unlike international
flights where you can order
a vegan meal ahead of time
for no extra charge). But at
least the snacks are often
vegan, like these cookies.

I still had a few more
days of school lunches
to pack before schools
were off for the holidays.
Even if I wasn't in the
mood for fancy face
food, I could still try to
make a simple sandwich
into something festive.

So I got out the holiday
cookie cutters and made
reindeer sandwiches. A
red sprinkle affixed to the
nose completed the face.

For a full sandwich, I just
use a sandwich keeper
from Tupperware or one
from the Target $1 section.
There's usually plenty of
space along one side to add
some crudites.

For a treat for the kids,
and to give away to
family and friends, we
made some sugar cookie
stars. Super yummy as
always, these are one of
my favourite kinds of
cookies ever--slightly
crisp on the outside, but
they stay soft inside for
many days (if they last
that long before being
eaten). I often make sugar cookies for school events because nobody can resist them.

I also made a bunch of
mini loaves of walnut
crusted banana bread.
I must say it's nice to
be able to cook with nuts
when on school holidays,
since almost every school
nowaday is nut-free.




We spent the rest of
the school holiday
visiting with relatives
nearby, playing in the
snow, and even got in
a trip to the local
Danforth Art Museum.

AJ is rather interested
in taking art classes
there some time.

There was an adorable
exhibit from the
children's book
Pocketful of Posies
by Salley Mavor, of
her embroidered
fabric nursery rhyme
scenes.




In between all of the
inevitable holiday
treats I try to infuse
some balance with
healthy snacks. Here
was an entirely green
snack of raw broccoli,
bell pepper, snap peas,
celery sticks, and
cucumber slices.


Shortly after the new
year we celebrate
AJ's birthday. He
requested a chocolate
Mario Bros. cake.
I used raisins for the
eyes, and we served it
with vanilla soy ice
cream.

AJ had a painting party
at Plaster Fun Time.
Again I had to make Mario Bros. themed cupcakes. They were a big hit.

And then came the dreaded stomach virus...slowly making it's way through every family member, my husband twice, and two of the kids THREE times. We were all but quarantined for 3 weeks! We never get flu or strep or many colds, but offer us a tempting stomach bug and apparently we can't say no. Ugh.

And so we passed the rest of January stuck indoors, with near-record snowfall, doing lots of laundry (but little cooking).

I made quite a few
noodle soups, but
mostly we served up
crackers and ginger
ale. At least with
soup I could still
use most of the
vegetables from our
winter farm share.



Otherwise I made
simple dishes like
roasted vegetables,
mashed potatoes,
and muffins. It wasn't
easy to get outside
even when everyone
was feeling better
because of the
extremely
deep snow.

Sunshine & Hearts

The friday before
Valentine's Day! So
of course I had to
make cupcakes. Nate's
class was baking heart-
shaped cakes, so I used
my silicon baking cups
to do the rest for us.
Have I told you how
much I hate baking in silicon? Seriously, not worth it. I should stick to the paper liners and just pipe a heart on the top. They barely looked heart-shaped anyhow, and a bit of cake always sticks inside. Not to mention they're harder for kids to get off themselves.

I sent Nate off with his
little cake undecorated,
along with a container
of frosting and sprinkles.
It's so hard for people to
understand that ingredients
are not always straight-
forward. For example, at
first glance many products
might appear vegan...if you don't know where "confectioner's glaze", "shellac", "resinous glaze" or "lac-res" often come from. So I try to avoid the kids sharing embellishments that I haven't had a chance to research myself. Short rule: if it's sweet and shiny, it may not be vegan. (But that doesn't even account for all the items out there that contain gelatin, so better safe than yucky!)

Before I get to lunch, I
have to send a big thank
you to Ramona of the
blog Alone in Holy Land.
Her blog about the struggles
of being a single mom from
Romania living in Israel
often puts things in per-
spective for me. Or some
would say it's because we're both Libras, LOL. Anyhow, I love my award. Thank you!

And now on to lunch! I gave Ryan one of my nicer bentos today, as the colours seemed suitable for a Valentine's lunch...
Ryan's
lunch:
pickled
beets;
mixed
nuts;
veg
gyoza;
rice
cheese
hearts;
mini
heart
sand-
wiches
of rice
cheese,
Tofurky,
spinach,
mustard,
Vegan-
aise; red
bell
pepper hearts; sliced plum; Tofurky cupid hearts; baby carrots.
Here's my bento that
Ryan used. And of
course what did I pack
my snack in for a picnic
around a frozen reservoir
this afternoon?? A Miffy
bento. Go figure. LOL

It must be friday

Oy. Just finished a shift on the Death Star construction. Almost 11pm and I'm just getting to the computer!Ryan's lunch: blueberries; mixed nuts; baby carrots; steamed broccoli; english muffin pizza.

Both AJ and Nate
needed a cupcake
for class birthdays
today.

Regardless of the
"fruit only" policy
in AJ's class, I was
told to bring "some-
thing special" for
him. Once again the
food policy was
ignored and the
parent brought in
pizza for the class
(at the last birthday
rice krispie treats
were served).

For the final day of
the school's food drive
AJ brought a box of
brown quick rice and
Ryan brought a bag
of organic flour.


Nate's lunch
for grandma's
house: mixed
nuts; steamed
broccoli; blue-
berries; english
muffin pizza.

It was super
cold & windy
today, so very
little time was
spent outside.
The kids were
certainly tired and restless at the same time by the end of the day. Two more days until Dada gets home from Philadelphia. Then he can help with the Death Star!

too much to do

Totally ran out of time this morning! I had grand plans to make a cat out of a darker medium, but resorted to rice cheese with the intent to added nori stripes to him, but not even that materialized before it was time to shuffle the boys out the door to school...

Ryan's
lunch:
cous
cous
w/nori
witch's
hat,
rice
cheese
cat,
and a
broom
made
of a
pretzel
stick,
kizami
nori &
thinly
sliced
leek;
green
beans
w/soy sauce; meatless meatballs.

The broom looked a little neater until my first leek tie fell off because I'd cut it too short, so I left it longer the second time, but the broom bristles got quite ruffled in the process.

What I needed the time for this morning was preparing a platter of food for AJ's kindergarten Halloween party. The school nurse declared the 1st grade rooms "no food" zones due to so many different food allergies, but AJ's half day kindergarten was allowed "fresh fruit, canned fruit, fruit juice & water", since they ONLY have nut and dairy allergic children! The room parent and I chatted about plans and decided we'd break the rules and include raw carrots...gotta have orange & black for Halloween after all! I brought tiny boxes of raisins to donate to the goody bags, along with this:
Halloween party platter: cantaloupe "maple leaves"; gherkin pickles (hey, biologically they're a fruit!); baby carrot & black olive "pumpkin"; orange "smiles". The platter was returned to me empty, so I take that as a success. AJ said he had a great time. But the big fun was their Halloween parade with all 5 kindergarten classes to show off their costumes to the rest of the school and next door to the assisted living residence where they were also read a Halloween story.

It turned out to be
a perfect fall day for
the parade. AJ was
recognized by the
older kids (who were
more likely to be
familiar with video
game characters) as
a Blue Flower Pikmin,
and the boy in front
of him happened to
be dressed as Mario. (Two years ago AJ went as Luigi from Luigi's Mansion.)

It's hard to tell AJ is even
wearing a costume though.
Here's a slightly better
picture of him leaving for
school in the morning.

As if I weren't busy
enough, I wanted to make
some cupcakes for one of
my husband's employees, so I spent yesterday doing that--saving back 3 for the boys--and I managed not to make any extra for myself!
Stay tuned for another crazy day of Halloween fun tomorrow!

school birthday

Call me crazy, but by elementary school I just don't think kids need yet ANOTHER birthday celebration at school! We're one of the few families not bringing in goodie bags of plastic toys or snacks to give out to the class for our kids' birthdays. They got more than enough of that when they were in preschool!

Today is Ryan's "school birthday" because his actual birthday is on the weekend. He is excited to wear a birthday crown made by his teachers, and I packed him a birthday lunch with some of his favourite things and a cupcake, of course...

Ryan's
lunch:
roll-up
sand-
wiches
with
lettuce,
vegan
soy
cheese,
smoked
Tofurky,
and
Vegen-
aise
spread
on wheat
bread
(flat-
tened
with a
rolling
pin);
soy cheese "7"; raspberries; fried apples; pickles; steamed broccoli; Cup-A-Cake holder with a VCTOTW vanilla cupcake with chocolate buttercream frosting, rainbow sprinkles & mini chocolate chips...and a mini pinwheel toothpick!

Cup-A-Cake containers do
leave indentations in the
cupcake frosting and cupcake
just above the level of the
paper liner in order to hold it
in place. But they really do
keep cupcakes immobile. Our
kids have tested this many
times by dropping them in
parking lots or throwing their
backpacks around. In fact this
morning baby Maia got hold of Ryan's packed lunchbox and dumped it all upside down. I took everything out to check it, and the cupcake was still perfect. And the only thing out of place in his bento was a slightly off-center soy cheese "7". So it pays to pack your bentos snugly!

Nate's snack: Annie's
bunny saltines; raisins;
dried apricot.

Annie's saltines say
they contain milk,
yet the ingredient
list is clearly vegan, so
I believe it's one of those
'made on the same equipment' as the cheese crackers cases.

And yet another birthday
in Nate's class this week...
the last until late November
thank goodness! Here is
the cupcake I decorated
for him.

My birthday was last
week, and I have a few options when I want someone else to do the baking...

The awesome bakery where
we got our wedding cakes,
anniversary cakes, and my
baby shower cake no longer
ships or delivers, so if we don't
want to drive up to southern
New Hampshire to Hippie
Chick Bakery, I usually opt
for a slice of carrot cake from
Cafe Indigo to treat myself.
It is very moist, full of carrot
flavour, with a fabulous
creme cheeze frosting.

A few nearby restaurants
serve vegan cake and baked
goods as well, such as Diesel
Cafe and Blue Shirt Cafe in Davis Square, Somerville (near where we used to live...before kids!)

To go

There
are
many
occasions
that
require
larger
methods
of food
transport
than
a bento
box or
lunch
bag.

My
husband's
40th
birthday for example, required cupcakes to be moved in good condition, since he insisted on scheduling work that sunday. I love my Wilton cupcake carrier, and it's really cool because the insert flips for 24 mini cupcakes, or is removable for a sheet cake.

One cannot live on
cupcakes alone--or
maybe they can, and
I'd volunteer to try if
I ever lose the rest of
the baby weight--so
I brought along some
pasta salad and pbj
sandwiches.

A few days later I was in for an even bigger challenge-- one of my sisters was coming to visit and had recently gone gluten-free (among other restrictions, including no garlic)!

I needed to pack up a tasty
vegan meal for 3 adults &
4 children to be eaten at
grandma's house.

These roasted lemon
potatoes were garlic-free.

Next, some rice noodles
with bok choy and red
pepper with a mango
ginger sauce and bbq
tempeh.

Not shown, a 4 bean
salad.

Grandma's favourite food
is green beans, so I cooked
up the week's green and
purple beans from the farm
and created this salad...
she likes things rather
simple and also doesn't
like garlic.

Green Bean & Tomato Salad

2 quarts string beans,
steamed or boiled
2 tomatoes, cut into wedges
1/2 cup pitted kalamata
olives
1 red onion, sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
2 T. lemon juice
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper
a few T. of fresh herbs (optional) such as thyme or marjoram

Cook green beans until just tender. Run under cold water in a collander or place in a large bowl of ice water.
Cut up tomatoes. (I chose a red tomato and a yellow tomato for contrast.)
Slice the onion. Heat olive oil over medium heat. Saute onion until softened and add lemon juice and wine.
Place green beans, tomatoes & olives in a large serving bowl or platter. Pour sauteed onions over green beans and toss gently. Sprinkle with salt & pepper.

I also tried out the gluten-
free cupcake recipe from
VCTOTW for the first time.
Pretty good, very easy to
make, though still sort of
grainy or muffiny. I may
spend the big bucks next
time I make these and use
almond flour. The corn flour
in these made them taste like corn muffins instead of cupcakes.
Everyone enjoyed them, though they're definitely more crumbly in the hands of a 3 year old!













And Maia has racked up another month...cruising the kitchen at grandma's house at 13 months.