Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Farmer's Bounty

What a difference a day makes...yesterday our fridge was almost bare, and today its shelves are overflowing with produce. Our first CSA share pickup was yesterday afternoon, and we couldn't be happier. Some of the bounty included strawberries, lettuce, bok choy, baby tat soi, scallions, spinach, rhubarb, beets & greens, pea shoots, lovage, chives, kale, rainbow swiss chard, collard greens, & an edible marigold plant.
Last year--the worst yield for the farm in 10 years--I chronicled each week's pickup in detail. This year would probably be more impressive! The new greenhouse has given some crops a headstart, with some produce so long I had to cut it in half to fit it into the refrigerator!

First order of business was to eat some of the strawberries! I still had that box of Bisquick sitting around...

Strawberry Shortcake Quickie

2 1/3 cups HeartSmart Bisquick mix
3 T. melted Earth Balance (margarine)
3 T. sugar
1/2 cup plain almond milk
1 pint strawberries, washed & halved + 1 T. sugar
Vanilla soy ice cream
coconut cream (optional--I just scoop a glob of the thick cream from the top of a can of coconut milk, but you can also whip the thick part like whipped cream)

Preheat oven to 400F. Mix first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl.
Scoop 6 globs of dough onto a baking sheet. Bake 12-14 minutes.
While biscuits are baking, prepare strawberries, mixing with 1 T. sugar.
When biscuits are done, cool for a few minutes. Cut in half and place one half in a bowl or plate. Add a small scoop of ice cream, then a large spoonful of strawberries, then more biscuit. Then a little more ice cream & strawberries. Top with coconut cream (optional).

There is a considerable
percentage of space
dedicated to berries at
the farm. It really is a
wonderful treat!







Not so welcome was the
snapping turtle, clawing
up the black plastic around
the tomato plants. The farmer had a chat with her, but she seemed more interested in perusing the rows looking for puddles of rainwater to sip.

If you get excited about
lettuce, check out this
huge head of buttercrunch
bib lettuce, a new variety
to the farm this year. Delish!

On to today's bento...

Ryan's lunch: grape gel cup on the side; blanched mixed greens of spinach, beet greens & tat soi dressed w/ a little soy sauce; strawberries; pita bread stuffed w/ collard & chive hummus and garnished w/ purple chive blossoms; sourdough pretzel nuggets.

One of my new favourite accompaniments to hummus is Mary's Gone Crackers. They remind me of raw crackers I make in the dehydrator, except they're baked so they're crispy. But they are vegan, gluten-free, organic, and made in a dedicated nut-free, gluten-free facility.

Dada was parent helper again in AJ's room. This is the last week of preschool. AJ brought watermelon slices & animal crackers to share for snacktime. I can't believe he's almost done with preschool forever! He's been there since he was 2 1/2 years old...

Here is AJ doing the
calendar & weather
chart, one of his
favourite jobs. I'm
glad it was his turn
on the next to last
day of school!


And here is AJ on the
bikes inside (it was a
rainy day). He's really
getting too big for them.
But I remember when
he first rode them and
could only push himself
along with his feet.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Alphabet Breakfast

Ryan's lunch pbj sandwich w/"ABC" soy cheese; green beans; cherries; soy cheese cubes.

AJ's snack: green
beans; soy cheese
cubes; pretzel
nuggets; a cherry;
raisins; mini
waffles.



Nate's lunch: mini
waffles; green beans;
cherries; soy cheese
cubes.

I unloaded the camera
before taking a pic of
Nate's cupcake--tomorrow!

The kindergarten classes at Ryan's school had alphabet breakfasts this morning. Ryan picked out the letter "W", so we brought mini waffles. Luckily we live close to the school so we could toast them 5 minutes before the breakfast and they were still warm.

Ryan
chose
his
food:
grapes;
waffles;
rasp-
berries;
pine-
apple;
a lolli-
pop!

There
were
some
rather
unique
ideas
for 'breakfast foods' brought to class...I'll try to remember what was there...

A - apple cinnamon muffins
B - banana bread
C - cantaloupe
D - donuts
E - --
F - fruit salad
G - grapes
H - ham quiche
I - iced tea
J - Jaylin's Jacks (Apple
Jacks cereal with a kid's
name pasted over 'Apple')


K - --
L - Lucky Charms
M - milk
N - NutriGrain bars
O - lollipops (they're round??)
P - pineapple
Q - quiche
R - raspberries
S - strawberry yogurt
T - Triscuits
U - (pineapple) upsidedown cake
V - V8 Splash juice
W - waffles
X - --
Y - yogurt
Z - --

When we chose waffles to bring, we decided to an exercise with the kids listing all vegan foods we could bring for each letter. Here's our list for an imaginary kid-friendly vegan alphabet breakfast:

A - apples.
B - bananas; bagels; blueberries.
C - cantaloupe; cream cheez (for bagels).
D - doughnuts.
E - Earth Balance (margarine for toast).
F - figs; frittata (tofu).
G - grapes; graham crackers; granola.
H - home fries.
I - iced tea.
J - jam (for toast); juice.
K - ketchup (for the home fries).
L - lemonade.
M - maple syrup; mangoes; muffins.
N - nuts; nectarines.
O - oatmeal; oranges; orange juice.
P - pancakes; pineapple; peanut butter.
Q - quiche (tofu); quinoa.
R - raisins; raspberries.
S - strawberries; starfruit; smoothies.
T - toast; tea.
U - upsidedown cake; uglifruit.
V - vanilla almond granola; vanilla soy/coconut yogurt.
W - waffles; watermelon.
X - xigua (Chinese pronunciation of watermelon).
Y - yogurt (soy or coconut).
Z - zucchini tofu frittata; zucchini muffins/bread.

And don't forget to check out the awesome book Eating The Alphabet, by Lois Elhert that I included in my holiday kids vegan book review last year!

Monday, June 8, 2009

Simple Things

Ryan's lunch: my hummus; homemade mini chocolate chip cookies; celery sticks; carrot sticks; blueberries; pretzel nuggets.

AJ's snack: chocolate
chip cookie; pretzel
nuggets; carrot &
celery sticks; hummus.





A friend made me a bag
out of recycled fabric &
remnants. Pretty neat!
I can't sew, so I'm always
impressed by this kind
of thing!


Princess Maia thinks
the swing is pretty great.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Festival & Finances

To get your attention...












Vanilla cupcakes, with beautiful layered strawberries for the husband, and blue sprinkles for the kids and myself (I don't care for fruit desserts much).

And cute kids...the younger two...












Nate & Maia

Thank goodness for cloth
diapers! We're in major
financial purgatory at the
moment....But you say, "You
just got back from vacation!"
Yeah, that's right, but that
was paid for months ago...you
notice I didn't review a single
restaurant...that's because we
didn't eat at ANY...the Disney popsicles and cotton candy were it baby!
I'm not here to explain it all, nor whine about it. But I wanted to preface why my bentos during the last 2 weeks of school will be centered on frugality. I hope they don't disappoint!

Today was one of our favourite
events--the Stearns Farm Spring
Festival! I was going to make a
tempeh stew for the potluck, until
I realized we were out of tempeh.
So I took that recipe on a tangent
with whatever we had available...

Cashew Veg Stew

2 T. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
5-6 carrots, peeled chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, diced
1 bell pepper (or 1 cup frozen bell pepper strips)
1 can chick peas, rinsed & drained
1 jar pasta sauce
1/4 cup mirin
1/2 cup cashews
1/4 tsp. salt

Add first 6 ingredients to a large pot. Cover & cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally 5-10 minutes.
Add remaining ingredients. Cover. Reduce heat to med-low to simmer. Cook at least 1/2 hour.
Serve. Goes great over brown rice.

























In addition to the potluck
lunch, there was music,
poetry reading, rock painting,
a hay ride, and someone had
brought their pet turtles for
everyone to enjoy...















There were even the two baby turtles...they stayed in their bin though. But the big turtles were later allowed to roam the farm, followed closely by many kids.

Rock painting...













Ryan's first time climbing
the apple tree...





Forget the nice cool
grass...Maia kept crawling
back to the irrigation
access cover??

And Ryan tried the
swing.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Food & Fun

Finishing up my pics from our vacation...
It's a fulltime job watching so many kids in the pool!

Maia explores...







And relaxes by the pool...





And sleeps in...
occasionally!




Nate enjoys some
bean dip & chips...







Ryan...and his blue eyes.





Mini-golfing Irish twins...
almost...they're actually
15 months apart.



Maia likes it when her
brothers play with her.






Ryan with sorceror Mickey
at the entrance to Pooh's
Palace (the house we rent).




Maia loved the pool!






The entrance to the castle
playground. So kewl!





Maia is in the first stages
of learning how to stand
on her own, getting up on
all fours.























Everybody relaxed and
enjoyed themselves...
even Nate with his
Leapster.

And finally some food...

from front
to back:
salad
(with
local FL
tomatoes);
cantaloupe
(also local),
grapes,
carrots;
bean salad;
roasted
lemon
garlic
potato
wedges;
crescent
rolls;
rice
pilaf
w/broccoli & cauliflower; corn.

So long Florida!
See you again when
we're not broke!