Toddler Food Fail

I was so proud of myself for this toddler supper.  Oh I thought I was so hip and cool.  I knew I was taking a risk though -- this is all completely new food to Little R, but she's a pretty good eater so I thought it would be a hit.

--fresh rutabaga, gently boiled to soften, with fresh shredded spinach on top
--zucchini noodles, gently boiled to soften, with turmeric and cumin to add flavor (I see the downfall here)
--purple corn tortillas with a homemade garbanzo bean spread (garbanzos, lemon, olive oil)
--garbanzo beans

This is what Little R did:  she went around the plate placing one of each of the items in her mouth, making a face, and promptly spitting it out/scraping her tongue with her fingers. Okay, I get it!  You really do not like this food!  (I'm thinking the turmeric and cumin were too much.)

Even the beans and spinach were spit out, and she normally eats those things no problem!

Luckily I had a back-up plate of tri-color quinoa pasta waiting.  Never fails. I also spread coconut peanut butter on the rest of the tortilla and she of course gobbled that right down with a hefty glass (sippy cup) of almond milk.  I sneakily added the spinach shreds to her bowl of applesauce mixed with chia.  And there we go. 

Steamed Chard and Roasted Potatoes

Look at this bright, colorful meal!  How excited am I?!  The cover of this month's Martha Stewart magazine shows an amazing dish of rainbow chard and carrots, so I have been craving this for weeks.  I don't know why it took so long for me to make it. 

I cut the green leafy part from the stems of the chard and steamed them separately.  Covered them with a fresh lemon-garlic vinaigrette.

Meanwhile the colorful potatoes and carrots roasted for 30 minutes with some onion.  Best meal all week.  And surprisingly hearty and filling!  Even though Will did say "This would be awesome with some steak!" he was happily satisfied with just the veggies.

Here's the link to Martha Stewart's version:

Click here!

Native Foods for lunch

 

It was an extremely stressful week and I had to take the morning off for a doctor's appointment, which are never fun, so I decided to treat myself to Native Foods for lunch.  I didn't even bother looking at the menu because I knew I wanted my favorite -- the Soul Bowl.

It's a big bowl of rice and beans, topped with steamed veggies and two skewers of the Southern Fried Native vegan chicken.  But seriously the best part is the barbeque sauce and ranch dressing.  Oh yum.  I always ask for extra.  Oh, and I had $10 off, so I added a chocolate brownie, which, yes I started eating before my lunch even came.  

Vegan Snacky Stuff

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Just a casual spread on a Saturday afternoon with friends.

--Carrot and celery sticks

--Two types of crackers

--Two types of hummus

--Chips and Salsa

Spinach Artichoke Casserole

 

A couple weeks ago, I actually sat down with my cookbooks and searched for some recipes to try.  The idea was to find recipes that I could prepare on Sunday and have ready for the whole week.  My vegan casserole cookbook seemed like a good place to start!

This one was described like a spinach-artichoke dip, but with instructions to mix in pasta and bake.  Everything about it was great!  And it lasted through one dinner and several lunches!  Perfect.

Toddler Food

 

Little R is a pretty good eater and she loved this meal!

--Farro

--Red lentils

--Tri-color pasta with cooked carrots and sweet potatoes, mixed with quinoa and spinach

--Pears

Bake Potatoes

I'll be honest, I used to think baked potatoes were the most boring thing in the world to eat ever.  There were probably a good number of years (we're talking double-digits here) where I refused to eat anything potato, except french fries.  Gotta love my fries.  If there's nothing vegan to eat, there's always fries.  But that's a whole other story.

Back to baked potatoes.  This has become one of my favorite meals and is a monthly, if not weekly, staple meal in our house.  Other than the hour of baking in the oven, it's super easy and quick.  I just have to remember to put them in the oven early enough.

This baked potato meal included steamed broccoli, Cowboy Caviar, and Tofutti Sour Cream.  Freshly ground salt and pepper and Dijon mustard

Dessert

This is amazing.  That's it.  Just amazing.  Thank you Trader Joe's for making dessert wonderful for me.

Taco night

When the toddler is yelling, and everyone is hungry, and you still have your computer out trying to work, this is a quick and easy midweek meal.  Tacos!

I heated up some soy burger, and refried beans.  I sauteed some broccoli and carrot slaw from Trader Joe's and opened a jar of Cowboy Caviar.  

The end.

Alfredo Sauce

This is one of those meals that is not a gourmet masterpiece, but is still delicious.  I just opened a jar of Victoria's Vegan Alfredo sauce and basically poured it over some linguini noodles and broccoli.  It's like I'm the quintessential working mom who comes home and opens a few jars of food or something for dinner, you know what I mean?  Hey, we are trying to eat our meals at the same as little R now, and since she eats supper at 5:00, that doesn't give me much time between finishing up work, preparing her vegan toddler food, and trying to figure out something for us to eat.

And this is pretty good, I do admit.