Plant Strong Food Festival

Yesterday, we packed up the kids and took a ride on the GO train into Toronto to participate in the 10 000 Tastes 10 Billion Reasons Plant Strong Festival.  It was the kids' first time on the GO and they were THRILLED to experience being on a real train for the first time.

Chick enjoyed her veggie burger on the trip home.

We walked from Union Station to Yonge Dundas Square to enjoy a plethora of tasty plant strong foods (for free).  Afterward, we walked over to the Eaton Centre to browse the shops and toy stores. We bought a little school bus for Pea (he has wanted one for a while now) and a medical kit for Dr. Chick.  Both were ecstatic to get something new!

The twins did great after being on the train for over two hours (an hour into Toronto and an hour home) and we were so proud of them. Additionally, we received compliments from two separate passengers along the way. One passenger named Mark, a University of Waterloo student, was on his way to Port Perry to visit his girlfriend. He kept turning around in his seat to smile at us and then finally began asking us questions about the kids. He said it was nice to see the way we interacted with the kids and complimented the kids on their behaviour. It was so sweet of him to do that.

Then, when the train finally came to a stop, a woman and her daughter came up to us to tell us how well mannered they thought the twins had been. It was the best feeling in the world to hear those two compliments and it made our hearts swell with love and pride.

Last Day Of Nursery School

Since February, the twins have been attending nursery school on Mondays and Wednesday for a couple of hours each day and today marked the kids' last day.  Over the past few weeks, I scoured the web looking for ideas for teachers' gifts (you'd think I'd have a handle on this given my profession) and decided to make some yummy vegan fare for each of their four teachers.  Two teachers received vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (see yesterday's post for pictures) and the other two teachers received vegan chocolate zucchini loaves.  I ran with M3's idea for the gift, so THANKS!

Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Loaves

Our card read, "We 'loafed' being in your class!"

The cookie card read, "Thank you for making us smart 'cookies'!"

These four women are the BEST!

From left to right: Miss Cindy, Miss Joy, Miss Susan, and Miss Holly.

Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

As many of you already know, I've been vegetarian for more than 15 years and now J. is mostly plant strong and Chick and Pea are as well.  We don't consume cow's milk (almond and soy are our main sources of B12) and we are slowly moving away from most animal products.  I don't know that we will ever be completely plant strong, but I am happy consuming as little animal fare as possible.  We used to buy organic, free-run eggs, but no longer do so.  We still consume food that may contain cow's milk and eggs, but we don't cook with or eat either intentionally.

For my birthday this year, Tanya bought me Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar and I couldn't WAIT to try the recipes.

These cookies have become the "go-to" cookies in our house.  They are moist, chewy, and delicious. They also freeze beautifully. Give them a try!  You won't be disappointed.

Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Vegan Cookies Take Over Your Cookie Jar

Makes 24 cookies

Begin with some wholesome ingredients:

1/3 cup soy milk

2 tablespoons ground flax seeds

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

¾ cup whole wheat pastry flour

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups quick-cooking oats

½ cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, use a fork to vigorously mix together the soy milk and flax seeds

Add in the sugar and applesauce and mix until it resembles caramel (about two minutes).

Mix in the vanilla. Sift the flour, spices, and salt, mixing the dry ingredients as they are being added. Fold in the oatmeal and chocolate chips.

Drop dough in generous tablespoons, about two inches apart, onto the cookie sheets. Flatten the tops a bit, since they don’t spread much. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes (10 minutes for chewy and 12 minutes for crunchy cookies).

Let cool on the cookie sheets for five minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Store in a tightly covered container or freeze if you have any willpower whatsoever.

CSA Season Has Come to an End

In April we signed up for our very first CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and the program has been amazing. For 20 weeks we have enjoyed organic fruits and vegetables and have loved the eggs we've received each week from the pastured hens on the farm. The local, organic farm with whom we chose to work over the past 20 weeks has never failed us. Each week, we received beautiful fruit and veggies and their open-door policy to the farm allowed us a peek into the goings on of the work that is done on a daily basis. We could see, firsthand, the chickens roaming freely feasting on fresh worms, insects and grass and could see the acres and acres of land housing our pesticide-free, antibiotic-free and hormone-free veggies and fruit. I learned today that the farm won't be offering the Veggie Share next year, but this is a blessing in disguise. The farm won't offer the share as part of the CSA, but will still sell fruits, veggies and eggs at the farm and at our local markets. So, we will still be able to purchase local, organic food and will be able to purchase the amount and type we like the best. It's a win/win!
Last Saturday, the farm hosted a family fun day and we invited our good friends, Catherine and Hannah to join us in the fun.

Chick is in the upper left half and Pea is climbing the stairs just below her.  Pea has finally overcome his fear of bouncy castles and we couldn't be more thrilled!

Pea and I making our way up toward the sheep and goats.

J. transporting our barefoot kids across wet and cold grass (from one entrance of the bouncy castle to another).

Chick had a pumpkin painted on her cheek.

Pea introduced himself to the sheep and goats.  He was so sweet.

Who doesn't love a wagon ride? The ride took us across a portion of the 100 acres of farmland where we could see the remnants of the harvest. 

To see more pictures, please visit Catherine's site.

Smoothies!

Almost every morning the twins have an omelette (made from the organic free range eggs we get in our CSA) prepared in our cast iron skillet and a smoothie (or milkshake, as they like to call it). I love making the kids smoothies because I can add in some ingredients that are amazingly healthy for them while not compromising the yummy flavor. 
I was speaking with a mom at a play group last week who was telling me that her two year old daughter won't eat breakfast ever. In the course of our conversation, I learned that she hadn't considered making smoothies for her daughter and the mere thought of it seemed to excite her.  I wondered how many other parents struggle with breakfast for their kids (luckily, it's generally the twins' best meal of the day).  While my struggle is lunches, breakfasts seem like snap for us.  If any of you have ideas for me for vegetarian lunches, let me know in the comments and I will be forever grateful.
This is one of the twins' favorite smoothie recipes.  I have also been known to add a half cup or so of quick oats to the mix. They love that, too.
I start with some basic ingredients:

One banana, two tablespoons of ground flaxseed (pictured in the baggie - we buy ours in bulk), frozen fruit, a handful of spinach (for iron) and orange juice (to aid the absorption of iron). 

I like to put the banana farthest away from the blade of the mixer and the frozen fruit closest. Then, I add the orange juice - adding more as needed for smoothness and ease of sucking through a straw.

How pretty is this colour?

SLURP!

It's all fun and games until someone spills theirs.  Since this was early morning and I had had some semblance of restorative sleep, coupled with the fact that the twins hadn't been awake long enough to begin fighting over toys for the MILLIONTH time of the day, I was able to laugh it off and snap a picture.  Had this happened at dinner, I likely would have curled up in a fetal position on the floor and given up on life. Just sayin'.

Stromboli

I was looking to make something fall-friendly and comforting for our tummies on Saturday night and found a recipe for Stromboli that I thought I'd try.  I'd never heard of Stromboli before, but the recipe looked healthy and delicious, so I gave it a go.
I bought a pre-made pizza dough from our local grocer because, let's face it, I'm not going to be making dough from scratch anytime soon.  I was hoping to find whole wheat dough, but had to settle for white dough this time.
After rolling out the dough into a rectangular-ish state and placing it upon a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, I added some yummy ingredients to make the feast suited to our tastes. We added half of a diced red onion,  two diced tomatoes, one diced red pepper, two chopped veggie sausages, and a cup of mozzarella cheese.  I made little slits in the dough, then brought the slits together in a sort of braid in order to fancy that action up.  Brushing egg whites on top, adding some herbs (oregano and basil) and sprinkling some Parmesan cheese helped to make it even more tasty. 
Here it is as I prepared to put it into the oven at 350˚F for 25-30 minutes (until golden).

And here it is ready to eat. 

We served it with pizza sauce and it was VERY yummy.  I love that you can personalize it to suit your tastes and change it up when you like.  I'm thinking black olives would be great as well as broccoli.  The possibilities are endless, really.

I'm resurrecting the comments on the blog.  I miss them.  

Sushi Babies!

The last time I had a complete physical was back in 2008 - before the twins were conceived.  Three years later, I decided it was time to have a post birth check - up.  My blood results were awesome except for a little iron deficiency. Not surprising for a number of reasons, but most notably because I give blood every 56 days.  So, that will have to stop until my numbers are back into an acceptable range.

When I received the news about my iron levels, the first thought that popped into my mind was that I needed to have sushi.  I can't think of a more satisfying way to increase my iron intake than by eating seaweed salad, yummy maki rolls, and edamame.  Our sushi intake has drastically declined since the babies have come into our lives and it is high time we change that.

This afternoon, as the twins napped, I sent an email to J. to pick up a take-out menu from our local place here in town.  When he came home from work, we drooled over the menu and then made the call.  We decided to bring the babies into our sushi world and ordered some rolls and yumminess for them as well.  We had no idea what to expect in terms of their appreciation for this new food, but we were hopeful.*

Turns out, they LOVED it.  When J. went to pick up the sushi, he asked the hostess at the restaurant to fashion little makeshift chopsticks so that the kids could get the feel for using them to eat and they really enjoyed this aspect of dinner.

He's a natural!

She took a long while trying to figure out the chopsticks.

She then opted to use her hands instead (which is the proper way to eat sushi, anyway).

We were MOST surprised that Pea devoured his rolls so fervently.

Cheese, Mama!

Miso Soup?  Yes, please!

J. showing Pea how to drink his soup directly from the bowl.

We are so happy to be able to share our love of sushi with the twins. We hope they develop a taste for adventure in their eating habits.


* Of course, the twins had vegetarian rolls without shellfish or roe.

CSA Update

As our first CSA season comes to an end in the next few weeks, I am already thinking about how we will move forward for next season. While we have enjoyed the CSA and have expanded our tastes and recipes, I don't think we'll be investing in another CSA in the spring. What we will do instead is purchase all of our vegetables and fruit from the same organic farm at our local farmer's market (which is open every Friday between April and October). This way, we will get more bang for our buck by purchasing the specific vegetables and fruits that we know we enjoy and we will purchase the amount that suits our family. I am more excited than ever to be part of this particular organic farm and have loved providing my family (and extended family and friends who have reaped the benefits of our overflow) with wholesome, unprocessed, pesticide-free, and cruelty-free food.
This morning, the twins and I headed up to the farm to pick up our third to last CSA bin and dozen eggs. Before we left, the kids had some fun in the play area.

There are usually chickens roaming the driveway and the play area.  We didn't see any today, sadly.

This boy loves tractors!

And shovels.

You're doing it wrong, Chick!

Loving this rocking horse.

The twins were so happy (as they usually are) in the swings.  They were giggling the whole time.

Case in point.

Etc.

Soulful.

Butternut Squash Soup

I was able to check something off of our Autumn Bucket List even though Autumn doesn't officially begin until tomorrow. I hope it still counts!
This was the very first time I had ever made Butternut Squash Soup and I have no idea why I waited so long. It was simple and delicious. I scanned many recipes online and then made my own recipe by tweaking several recipes here and there.

Butternut Squash Soup

1 butternut squash peeled, seeds removed and diced
1 onion
one carrot sliced
two medium potatoes diced
3 cloves of garlic cut in half
6 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon chipotle pepper (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon of salt (or to taste)
1/2 cup of vanilla soy milk or whatever dairy alternative you like
Pepper to taste
Add the squash, onion, carrot, potatoes and garlic to the vegetable broth.  Add in the Chipotle pepper and cumin.  Bring pot to boil and then simmer on low heat for 40 minutes (until the veggies are tender).  Puree soup in a blender then put back in pot.  Add milk, salt and pepper to taste.
We put croutons on top and shredded some Parmesan cheese as well.

Next time, I may sauté the veggies first, then add them to the pot.  J. thought that adding chick peas would be good and would increase the protein.  Maybe I will do that next time too.Both kids gave it the ol' "finger-licking-good" rating, so I'm sure this recipe will be made several times over the fall/winter months.




Check one off the list!

Bullet-y Goodness

• Thank you for all of your comments and emails on the last post.  It took a lot for me to hit publish on that one.

• We are getting very lazy when it comes to bringing the camera on our excursions.  Every time we leave the house I think about bringing the camera, but between the sunscreen, the hats, the snacks, the sippy cups, the sand toys and the kids, I run out of hands quickly.

• We are loving the CSA and are enjoying vegetables we've never eaten before.  Who knew that Bok Choy was so delicious?  When I eventually get brave enough to plant my own garden, this summer's adventure into Community Sustained Agriculture will allow me to plant those items we've loved the most.

• Our persistence and determination to teach Chick and Pea "Please, Thank You and Your Welcome" is paying off in spades.  Yesterday, I gave each of them a brand new sippy cup and as I did, Pea said, "Tank You, Mama" completely unsolicited.  Of course, then Chick said it, but I know it was only because Pea said it first. 

•  My babies are going to be TWO in just over a month.  Wow.

• Potty training is in our near future.  Not NEAR, near.  But near enough.  Does anyone have any advice for potty training multiples? 

•  My very generous Aunt and Uncle have offered us their cottage for a vacation this summer.  We are very, very excited!  Though we are weeks away from heading there, I've already started making lists.  Lists make me happy.  

• We would like to buy portable DVD players for the babies for the trip as it is a 5 hour drive.  We will be buying two (one for each of them) but have no idea what we should be looking for.  Any recommendations?

• I cut my hair a couple of weeks ago - short.  Shorter than I had anticipated.  Those of you who have been following along for a while know that I don't place a great deal of importance on the length of my hair.  It grows super fast, anyway. I am really loving the new shorter style.  

• The twins are repeating back to us the phrases we say most often.  It's quite hilarious to hear what we say without thinking.  Chick likes to say "Oh, Dear!" (my most oft said phrase) and Pea likes to say "Watch Out!" which is J.'s most oft said phrase. Their mimicking reminds us to watch our words carefully.

• I love discovering tiny, brand new birthmarks on Chick and Pea.  Pea has two - one in the exact same place I have one (on our wrists) and the other is on his lower back.  Chick has one on her thigh and it's the cutest little birthmark ever.

• Lastly, I will end the post with two pictures that I think are pretty darn sweet.  The first one shows Chick sitting in her chair holding a bunch of balloons that J. brought home from work.  She sat in that chair holding those balloons while she watched an entire episode of Waybuloo.  The second is a picture of Pea asleep in my arms.  He had woken up from a nap and by the time I brought him downstairs, he had fallen asleep again.

I Should Be Sleeping

It's been a week since I last posted. I have a million things on my mind and no time or energy to post about them.

The twins turned 20 months on Saturday. That's a TWO and a ZERO, people. To quote my best friend, "That's emmereffin crazy!"

The weather here in Southern Ontario was incredibly glorious last week, so we spent an inordinate amount of time enjoying it. The kids are so happy when they can spend so much time outside and happy kids make for happy parents.

We found a new park just down the road. It is literally brand new and not just new to us. It has at least two feet of soft sand (instead of the hard gravel at our nearest park) to cushion falls and the equipment is super-fun and challenging.

I bought some sand toys, some sidewalk chalk, and some little cars and trucks at the dollar store. Each time we traveled to the park, we sprawled out all of the new toys and invited other kids to come play with us. I loved seeing Chick and Pea walk up to the other kids and hand them a toy. It completely melted my heart. Isn't this what parks are for?

Unfortunately, the weather over the weekend was not as friendly and we were back to spending time indoors. April showers? You betcha!

I have learned to trust my Mother's Intuition. Ten minutes after we put the twins to bed on Saturday night, I decided to check on Chick. She usually plays in her crib until she falls asleep and we can hear her doing so on the monitor. On Saturday night, we didn't hear anything. When I went up, she was just lying there with her eyes open. I kissed her and left. I told J. that I thought it was odd that she was just lying there and he thought maybe she was just overtired. Twenty minutes later, I checked on her again and she was still lying there awake. I scooped her up and rocked her for a bit until she fell asleep. She woke up crying shortly after midnight (Chick never cries through the night unless she is sick) and was completely stuffed up and coughed (bark-like) until she conked out just before 5am. A trip to the clinic on Sunday revealed croup. Poor little thing.

The doctor told us to keep Chick outside as much as possible and that the cold air would be good for her. So, when J. and Pea left to run some errands, I took Chick on a 5K walk. It was FREEZING and snowing, so I bundled her from head to toe. We were gone for about an hour (we stopped at a park midway so she could stretch her legs and have a snack) and when we returned home, she was full of energy and ready to play for the first time all day.

I bought all of the fun Easter goodies we are going to give to the twins on Sunday and will assemble it all in their new Easter Baskets. We weren't going to do anything for them this year because they would have no idea otherwise, but something stirred in me that made me want to have them go on a hunt this year. I can't wait!

We are signing up for a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Organic Veggie Bin service from a local farm. In addition to lovely fruits, vegetables and herbs, we will collect a dozen eggs per week from pastured hens. The program runs for 20 weeks (from June to October) and I'm excited about buying from local farmers who are humane in their treatment of animals and the Earth.

Pasta With Garbonzo Beans (Vegetarian)

It's Friday and you're likely wondering what to make for dinner tonight. No worries, I've got you covered.

This is a doubled recipe as I always like to make enough for two meals.

Pasta With Garbonzo Beans - Doubled

(Adapted from Epicurious)

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups chopped onion

1.5 cups chopped celery

6 garlic cloves, minced

1 bay leaf

7.5 cups vegetable broth

2 15-ounce can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), rinsed, drained

6 tablespoons tomato paste

1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

2 cups uncooked small elbow macaroni

6 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley

8 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, celery, garlic and bay leaf; sauté until onion is golden and tender, about 7 minutes.

Add broth, garbanzo beans, tomato paste and crushed red pepper. Bring to boil.

Add macaroni; reduce heat to medium and boil gently until macaroni is very tender, adding more broth by 1/4 cupfuls if mixture is dry, about 15 minutes (mixture will be thick but some broth should remain).

Season with salt and pepper. Discard bay leaf. Stir in parsley and 1 tablespoon oil.

Ladle pasta mixture into 4 bowls. Top each serving with 1 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

It's delicious and the twins love it.
ENJOY!