'twas the night before 2nd grade

'Twas the night before second grade, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even the pug.  His backpack was hung from the dining room chair, loaded with notebooks and back to school gear.  Monkey butt was nestled, all snug in his bed, while visions of zombie killing pea shooters danced in his head. Regi and her Mac book, and I, with iPad, had just settled down for an episode of Breaking Bad. Then in the kitchen there arose such a clatter, I sprung from the sofa to see what was the matter. Away to the doorway I flew like a flash, tripped over the vacuum and caused quite a crash. The moon light reflecting off Hootie the Beta's fish bowl, illuminated the counters, and floor down below. When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a new, shiny red bento, and cutlery set from last year. With tofu bunnies, and penguins, and frog, atop of rotini they sat like a dog. With agave in a bear, and a sliced pink pearl apple, and chocolate almond milk, so much better than Snapple! There was a sprinkling of Oppenheimer white chocolate chips, and carrot expressions on the tofu critters, to cross over his lips. Sliced olives, and rotini, in a smoky tomato vinaigrette sauce,and a little note card, with a funny joke about math, I thought "Surely this is a lunch he won't toss." And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the stove, the zipping of a sparkly Spider-Man lunch bag; what a trove! As I drew in my head and was turning around, down onto the floor it fell without sound.  He was made of green paper, of the construction sort. In a green hue similar to that of a caper. An origami yoda to help brighten his morn, "Great first day of school, have you will" he would say. His eyes, they were drawn on, and his mouth was too. His ears were crumpled bits of tree pulp, but alas, the poor fellow's saber was gone.  I folded, and creased, and used a bit of tape. i hope in the morning, the boy's mouth is agape. i shall hide him some where, with out a rest break. i know, by the potty, that's his first stop once he's awake! Now I am quite tired, and anxious with delight, so  Happy eve of school to all, and to all a good night!

Zucchini almond chocolate chip cookies

Zucchini almond chocolate chip cookies

1 cup sugar

1 cup grated zucchini (I used the second smallest size on my "cheese" grater)

1/2 cup sunflower oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup cocoa powder

2 cups all purpose flour

1/8 cup sliced almonds

1/3 cup chocolate chips

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. I let the zucchini sit for a few minutes after I grated it and drained the excess liquid, and gently squeezed it a little bit. You don't want it dry, but you don't want gobs of zucchini juice going in it either. minutes.  Cool on parchment or wire rack. Makes about 3.5 dozen cookies.  Mix the wet and the dry ingredients. Roll about a hefty tbsp of the dough into a ball. Plop onto a pre-greased cookie sheet. Bake for 12-14 . Have some ice cold almond milk on hand to wash them down :)

Brunch is served!

Strawberry lime muffins, organic grapes (major score at wholefoods on Friday, only 99 cents per lb!), sautéed kale and chard with mushrooms and scallions in ginger ponzu sauce, and scrambled tofu. Haven't blogged in a while. Trying to get back into it now that I got me a fancy, schmancy, iPad. Enjoying my Sunday off with the family, about to hit up some yard sales. Maybe I'll post some finds later.

Back to school

So my computer crashed in the midst of vegan mofo last year, and I didn't get it working right again until sometime in January, and by then it seemed as though most of the year had gone by, so I sadly let it be. But I'm back this year, and trying to keep track of every day again. Lets see how it goes :) Day 1 lunch consisted of organic sliced carrots, with ginger soy vinagrette dressing to dip them in, peach mango fruit gel from trader joe's, silk almond milk, and a home made seitan pepperoni sammie on trader joes sprouted bread,. I found some cute little lunch box notes at Target in the dollar section, which ironically coordinate with his ice pack. They're adorable, and he liked getting a note from me in his lunch. He said it made him smile and reminded him  that I love him. <3 First day of first grade outfit consisted of DKNY t-shirt and jeans, a Shawn White hoodie, and a pyramid spike belt which was sadly not pictured. I'm thinking it's going to be a good year!

Farmers market feasts

We hit up the farmer's market today. Sadly it was the first time I've made it this year, and they're closing up soon :( Big scores of the day were 3-5 lb organic pie pumpkins for $1 each, organic cukes for $0.50 a piece, amazing "uncertified organic" tomatoes (red, orange and yellow) for $5 a bag, roughly 12 tomatoes I think, incredible dill, fresh italian parsley, mint, and both chili peppers and cayenne peppers to make some home made hot sauce from the sweet little (now certified, I'm so happy for him that he finally made it to being officially organic) French guy. Dinner today was home made pumpkin and roasted red pepper raviolis (see pic). I used the ravioli dough recipe from vegalicious.org, for the filling I used 1/4 of a pie pumpkin that was baked, pureed with 1 roasted red bell pepper (seeded and peeled) 1/4 cup toasted peppitas, 1/8 cup toasted sunflower seeds, 1tsp italian seasoning, 1/8th block extra firm tofu ( I added this last to make it have a crumbly texture) 1 tsp olive oil, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper and a clove of garlic. This makes a ton, and even with making a double batch of the dough, I still have about half of it left over (and for a purpose, check back on Wednesday evening to see why). Then i roasted 3 of the larger red tomatoes, mixed with italian seasonings, and mashed/strained for a farm fresh marinara sauce. Topped with freshly ground gomasio mixed with a little nooch :) And a slice of challah with some earth balance sprinkled with the gomasio nooch as well.