Family Food

This summer the kids don't have any activities where they are away from home during mealtimes. There have been very few bento-making opportunities. So I thought I'd share a bit of our lunch & dinner fare...When I'm not going to be home for a meal with the kids, or if I'm not eating with them for some other reason, sometimes I just put a big plate of food on the table (or picnic table, or floor, whatever!) and they choose what they want.

Other times I'll put out a muffin tin meal. Having a meal of all finger foods is fun for the kids (you know, I bet it would be fun for adults too!).

Summer is full of local veggies from Stearns Farm, so they are the centerpiece of most meals. Often it's easiest to just roast a variety in the oven.













Sit down lunches & dinners at the table are usually family-style now that everyone is old enough. It takes a lot of food to feed everyone nowadays!












Camping can be challenging. I need to bring along more reuasables and fewer disposables. We create a bag of recycling every day, but I need to learn how to create less waste when outdoors for multiple days.

One of my favourite
camping foods is Tasty
Bite meals. Most of
them are vegan, and
I love a spicy meal
when outdoors. The
packaging is actually
pretty minimal compared
to most other shelf-stable
food items. When I'm
alone I eat them right
out the package.

A quick food for camping
or at home is cous cous.
This tiny pasta is effort-
less to prepare, and it
goes with just about
anything.







Oh, and let's not
forget...Maia turned
3! Happy birthday!

Catching Up with the Kiddos

Haven't blogged exclusively about the kids in a long time. Of course they're getting bigger.

Ryan:





















Ryan is really growing up.
He still loves his Lego
blocks and Pokemon though,
along with the usual Harry Potter, Club Penguin, etc. He is very interested in geology & astrophysics. He will be presenting a project about volcanoes at the gifted program's annual event next week. He's a very social guy, always taking off with friends after school. And he keeps some pretty cool looking TapFish, LOL.

AJ:





















I'm lucky to get any
pictures of AJ lately.
He either hides or sticks
out his tongue or runs off in a blur...he just doesn't like the attention. He is quite content to draw, write, or create animation videos on his DSiXL. However he has been spending quite a lot of time on the phone and online with friends discussing Club Penguin games and exchanging passwords & codes. Gotta get this kid into art classes I think.

Nate:








































Always the photogenic
one, Nate loves posing
for pictures. Although
4-year-olds can do a lot
of whining, Nate is fun
to be around lately as
he grows out of the
preschool stage. He still
likes to take his own
sweet time doing just
about everything. He
spends much time
building and pretending,
pretty typical for his age.

Maia:
























Talkative & outgoing, that's Maia. She can hold her own around her brothers, but she shows off a quieter side at school. She loves to get out and go places, read, and pretend with her Littlest Pet Shop toys. She has branched out from carrying her Toy Story Jessie doll and blue bear, usually leaving them in her bed, and can usually be found with a Hello Kitty or pink Puffle.

Borg cube crash lands!

Ryan's lunch: pineapple
chunks; mini Luna bar;
falafel hummus cucumber
wrap on flax lavash; mini
pumpkin muffin; snap
peas; gherkin pickles.


And a family hike...

AJ is
finally
getting
into
going
on
hikes.
He's
usually
my
quiet
indoor
type.
Having
Dada
come
along
piqued
his
inter-
est.






















Here
are
all
the
guys
stand-
ing
atop
a Borg
cube,
LOL.
It was
just
light
enough
to get
back
to our
car
and
home
for
dinner.

Cast of Characters

Since I've got some new visitors thanks to VeganMofo, I thought I'd take this holiday weekend opportunity to re-introduce our crazy family.

me:
Hello-Kitty lovin' crazy
Trekkie geek mama. I've
been vegan for 17 years,
veg for 6 years before that.
I like being outside, and
playing Roller Coaster
Tycoon (because I get
motion sickness quicker
than anyone I've ever met).
If you need to know more
about me, I spent a whole
month doing weekly posts
about myself earlier this year here, here, here & here to satisfy people's curiosity. My favourite films list has probably grown, but otherwise not much changes in my repetitive life!

my husband:
I met him in Paris back
in '97 at a Magic Pro Tour.
We got married at Star
Trek: The Experience in
Las Vegas 5 years later.
He plays/designs/sells
games for a living. He has
a weakness for fruit
desserts...okay, ALL
desserts. When we met he'd
eat ANYTHING, but
nowadays he's "mostly veg".

Spawn #1: Ryan, 7
Here is our oldest, who
talks a mile a minute. He
designs his own games and
plays games, just like his
father. He is saving all his
allowance for a Lego Death
Star. He is a fan of Sponge-
Bob, iCarly, Pokemon, Alton
Brown, Iron Chef America,
and Survivor. He enjoys
sports and video games.

Spawn #2: AJ, 5 3/4
A disaster as a baby, AJ
is now often our easiest
child, happily building with
Legos, blocks or playdough
or drawing comic books
for hours. He will always
tell you his favourite food is
tofu, and he likes to try
spicy foods when he's not
being a picky eater. He
wants to be "a baker and an
artist" when he grows up.

Spawn #3: Nate the Great, 3
A cute destructive little
dude who you can't help
but like. He will argue with
AJ that he will be the baker.
His favourite phrase: "I'm
sooooo hungry!" He has
always loved artichoke
hearts and broccoli, among
other less typical "kid foods".
He loves going to the farm
and wandering the fields,
picking things as he goes.

Spawn #4: Maia, 1
The little princess. After
3 big boys, Maia is a tiny
little thing. She totes
around a blue bear that's
missing most of the stuffing
in its head, and a hard Jessie
doll from Toy Story 2. She
is totally a Dada's Girl, and
would like to be superglued
to him 24/7. She loves coconut yogurt and chana masala.

Life's Short, Eat Dessert First!

Here's a straightforward
dessert the whole family
loves...

Coconut Rice Pudding

1 cup arborio rice
1 can coconut milk
2-3 cups water
2 T. sugar
1/2 cup almond milk (optional)

Place rice in a large saucepan. Add 1 cup coconut milk and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low. Simmer about 20 minutes, stir, then continue simmering until most of liquid has been absorbed.
Add remaining coconut milk, and as liquid is absorbed, slowly add warm/hot water in approximately 1/2 cup increments, stirring almost constantly. When rice is tender, remove from heat.
Add almond milk or thin with water before serving if pudding has become too thick.
The kids love to top with a little brown sugar or fruit...I like frozen strawberries or ripe banana slices while the pudding is still quite hot. If you want, you can also add fruit during the cooking process if you prefer softer cooked fruit.

I've made a few too many
desserts this week! Finally,
a recipe from Colleen
Patrick-Goudreau's The Joy
of Vegan Baking that I
actually liked, Banana Crumble.
The top was nice and crunchy
and the bananas didn't need
to be overripe.

We ate it with Trader Joe's
vanilla soy ice cream. Their
soy yogurt imitates Double
Rainbow's brand very well.
My favourite flavour is
definitely the Cherry
Chocolate Chip.

But one cannot live on
dessert alone...
Time to roast up whatever
veggies I had on hand in
the fridge. I covered two
baking sheets with onion,
garlic, kohlrabi, broccoli,
potatoes, zucchini & summer
squash, asparagus, & colorful
bell peppers. A little olive oil,
salt, pepper in a 400 degree
oven until tender & browned
and you have a great start
to many meals.

I tossed the veggies with a
can of chick peas, and a
dressing of olive oil, lemon
juice, garlic, salt & pepper.

In the rice cooker I had a
batch of Ina Garten's
Herbed Basmati Rice ready.
The two dishes went
perfectly together. And what
a great way to use a mix of
fresh herbs.

I know some people think
a rice cooker is a single
purpose gadget, but in my
opinion they couldn't be
more wrong. There's a good
reason most asian households
have a rice cooker!

Got leftover rice? I used
a heaping of leftover rice
in this Broccoli Rice
Casserole recipe from the
VegPeople recipe archive.
It traveled well to the park
the following day in a
Thermos too (and of I
forgot to take any photos
of our picnic, oops!).

I love the cheezy broccoli.
This is a quick recipe that
uses a bag of frozen broccoli.
The sauce was a bit salty in
my opinion, which meant my
husband didn't have to add
any to his for once!