Veg baby

So I said I would write about kid stuff... my little veggie baby is asleep and so I thought I'd take advantage. Here is a great article on nutrition for kids. And here's a whole list of articles, most of which I have yet to read but plan to soon. Currently, we have a chart on our fridge of the food groups and vitamin/mineral needs that our almost 18 month old needs. He doesn't always get them all down and some days is pickier than others. However, we're still nursing and so I rely on that as my backup. (Here is an article on the nutrition of nursing past the first year)

Although he eats more veggies than the av-er-age bear, he still often turns up his nose at green things. He loves green smoothies and so I pack mine with lots of fun things to get down him. Other things that have worked well for us are:

hummus with pretzel sticks/carrot sticks

fruit (especially banana and grapes at the moment)

black and pinto beans, especially if they have a bit of salt on them

avocado

bread, any kind (gets that from both sides)

penne or rotini pasta with tomato sauce

raisins, dried cranberries

pumpkin seeds toasted with soy sauce, sunflower seeds

peanut/almond butter whole wheat cookies

and the man LOVES Indian food, especially those quick and easy Tasty Bite potato/chickpea packages. I need to figure out a way to replicate that sauce to make it at home. I think the Indian food thing is residual from pregnancy...!

So those are my ideas. Anyone have more (plant based whole foods) toddler friendly snack/meal ideas to share?

Variety

We've been making salads recently with co-op lettuce and other veggies. I add sunflower seeds on top and sesame seeds (gomashio) on mine (J doesn't like it for some reason). I like salads a lot and enjoy seeing all the colors. As for variety, though we forgo the "variety" of meat (pig, chicken, cow=3) for many types of beans, lentils, grains, veggies, fruits.... There are definitely a variety of things to choose from. The longer I do this, the less 'weird' and difficult it seems, especially when I'm at home in my own house. Eating out is a bit of a different story. More on that later as well as kid stuff....

Green smoothie

Here's a picture (pre-water and ice) of my green smoothie for you Laura!!!

Kale, collard greens, carrots, frozen fruit mix--usually mango and blackberries/raspberries/blueberries, chia seeds, spirulina, flax (sometimes), hemp seeds, agave, water, ice... that's our usual daily mixture!

(Sometimes we throw in fortified tofu too!)

Veggie pizza

We picked up our veggie share today and got several Roma tomatoes. Normally, we would have made margherita pizza with them and so I thought I'd try a vegan version. We make our own crust at home in the bread maker--whole wheat flour (4c), 1 1/2 c water, 1/2 t agave, 2T olive oil, 1t salt, 2 1/2t yeast.

Once the crust is done, we roll it out with flour and put it on a cookie sheet (our pizza stone broke last year). Then we brush it with a mixture of olive oil and minced garlic (4-5 cloves). I thinly sliced the tomatoes (4) and laid them out, 1/2 green pepper, 1/2 onion. I didn't add any more veggies, though you definitely could. Then I sprinkled it with pepper, red pepper flake, oregano, basil and garlic salt (can you tell we like garlic in this house?). Bake for 10-12 minutes at 500F.

It turned out pretty good. My crust was a bit doughy because it didn't rise right (I was out of yeast and used beer instead). We both agreed that we didn't really miss the cheese. Normally we pile on the mozzarella, but in general, mozzarella doesn't have a ton of flavor--just mostly salt and fat, which were covered by the olive oil and salt--so it tasted fine without it!

Pancakes anyone?

I was excited to make these pancakes this morning. We have some oats that are thicker than normal and J refuses to eat them for breakfast since I got him his Quaker oats back. So I soaked them last night and was all ready to make them today (with egg alternative). It was a complete disaster. I don't know if I messed them up or what, but it didn't work. (I still recommend the site though for some things--but I'm nervous to try some of her recipes for various reasons...and even more so now). So I had a whole big bowl of oatmeal mixed with pretend eggs, a messy kitchen and now a toddler doing figure 8s between my legs. (J's off at a Gators game again). I was still craving pancakes so I busted out my old recipe... here it is:

1 1/2 c whole wheat flour (or regular if you don't have it)

3t baking powder

3T melted butter/margarine

1 egg (or 1T flaxseed with 3T water, or 1T chia seeds with 3T water--today's choice)

dash of vanilla

2t sugar or 1t agave

dash salt

1 1/3 milk/milk substitute... water works too--I did that today

Mix and make pancakes! I added in a half cup of my gloppy oatmeal too and that worked well. Unfortunately, I couldn't stomach saving the rest because I was still annoyed from the first recipe.

We used to make these every Saturday with blueberries, chocolate chips or Nutella. Mmmm Nutella....

Random question for moms out there--how much napping is a 17 month old supposed to do? Mine woke up at 9 and refused to go down at lunchtime (like normal) but waited until 4:30. At least he's down now...!!! I just hope this doesn't become a trend.

Cabbage usage

I found something to put my cabbage in: burritos!

Thinly slice the cabbage, put it in a bowl with black or pinto beans. Add in veggies like corn and/or chopped red pepper. Make a dressing of lime juice, olive oil, salt, pepper. Pour over the mix. If you want, you can add salsa too, but the dressing is good enough by itself.

This is great wrapped up in a tortilla. I used small corn tortillas taco style, which tasted great but weren't so convenient because the mix falls out and the tortilla breaks. If you're eating alone and don't mind the mess then go for it! Otherwise a bigger flour tortilla might be a safer solution.

3 Facts/Gomashio

In an attempt to convert you all (Buwahahaha) to a plant-based diet, I'm planning on posting 3 facts from time to time. That way it's not a whole huge paragraph to read and you can take the thoughts or leave them since they're relatively short!

I will tell you that the deeper I get into this thing, the more I'm convinced. We started for just economic and health reasons, but are now seeing a bigger picture that goes past our budget and waistlines/arteries. I read a chapter in a book about pesticides yesterday that would astound you. It's amazing what companies will do (or won't do) for a bottom line.

So with no further adieu:

1. "An estimated 85% of all U.S. agricultural land is used in the production of animal foods, which in turn is linked with deforestation, destruction of wildlife species, extinction of species, loss of soil productivity through mineral depletion and erosion, water pollution and depletion, overgrazing, and desertification." (Dr. Fox in his book Agricide)

2. The water required to produce just 10 pounds of steak equals the water consumption of the average household for a year.

3. 75% of the 418 million acres of publicly owned land in the West is used by ranchers for private gain. Public land ranching results in environmental destruction (see #1), costs the American treasury $1 BILLION or more ANNUALLY--and produces only 3% of American beef. We import much of our beef--up to 90% of Latin American beef exports end up in N. America, often in the form of fast food hamburgers. (I snuck an extra one in here on you, sorry!)

So enough bad news. I'll give you a quick recipe. Have you ever made gomashio? I hadn't even heard of it until recently but I now always keep it in my fridge.

Gomashio is basically just ground up, toasted sesame seeds. I buy sesame seeds raw in bulk at the local health food store. I then toast them (dry--no oils, etc) in my skillet until the majority of them are golden. Add a bit of salt while they're toasting too. Then I grind them up in my mortar--not totally ground, only partially--you don't want to make tahini! It's a bit time consuming, but I only have to make it every month or so. I store it in jars in the fridge and put it on top of salads or rice. Sesame seeds are a great source of magnesium, iron, manganese, copper, calcium, phosphorus, protein... but because they're little, this is a great way to get them into your diet. They need to be eaten ground up in order to get the benefits, like flaxseed does. You can also buy jars of gomashio at the health food store, but this is cheaper.

Fig recipe

As promised, I'm posting a recipe for the figs I got. It's really simple.

1. Wash fig

2. Remove stem

3. Feed to toddler

;)

(Chocolate) Almond Butter Cookies

J's off at his first Gators game with some guys from our neighborhood and I'm missing GermanFest up in Lafayette... so I decided I needed cookies today to make the afternoon a bit more enjoyable! :) Not that I needed an excuse to make cookies... haha

These are SO delicious. I had bought some almond butter from Costco and wasn't really enjoying it by itself, so I went in search of good cookie recipes. This one is a great one:

Mix 3/4c almond butter with 1/2c brown sugar.

Then add 2 "eggs" (2T with 6T water--let the mixture sit for about 2 minutes before adding it in). Whisk the following dry ingredients: 1/2c whole wheat flour, 1t baking soda, 1t cinnamon.

Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well.

Form into balls. Stuff a chunk of chocolate in the center if you want to... it's good both ways...

Bake at 350F. I always under-bake cookies and let them cool for awhile before eating (if I can help it) so they stay soft.

Quick lentil recipe

We just joined a veggie co-op and I am loving it! It was started by some local ladies and it's mostly local, all organic. It also forces us to try new fruits and veggies that we wouldn't normally buy. Like figs or cabbage. I'll hopefully find a good recipe to use and post for both!

Here's what I did last night:

Big pot, a bit of olive oil, 1/2 onion+1 celery stalk sliced thinly+a handful of baby carrots, sliced. Those go in and cook for a few minutes. Then I added 6c water, 1c french lentils, 2 small potatoes cut thinly/small, salt, pepper and a few sprigs of fresh rosemary (from the co-op too!). Cover and simmer until lentils are soft. It made about 4 servings.

Gazpacho and chocolate "ice cream"

This weekend we've all been a bit sick, unfortunately. We aired out the house today and fulfilled veggie cravings by a quick trip to Publix for gazpacho makings. Want my recipe?

In a blender: 3 tomatoes, peeled. 1/3 of a cucumber, peeled. 1/2 of a green pepper, cored and peeled. 1/2 clove garlic, 1/2 small onion, chopped. a bit of olive oil (1T?). some water (around 6 oz? start with a little, add more if necessary), salt to taste. Blend and refrigerate!!! Make sure to stir before drinking/eating.

We also had chocolate ice cream. I saw the Vitamix guy demo-ing this at Costco and it was great. Even though I don't have a Vitamix (though totally want one now--they're amazing!), I decided to try it at home. I might have just taken a year off the life of my cheapo blender, but it worked for the most part. Not as smooth as the Vitamix one but still really good.

Here's that recipe: 1c almond milk, 1-2T cocoa powder--I like the dark chocolate kind, sweetener of some sort like agave or honey, 1/2 avocado... yes, I did say avocado...., and a ton of ice. Sorry for the lack of preciseness in this post--when I cook I don't usually measure things. And blend and serve! It's sort of like a Wendy's frosty, but better and healthier!

Hope you all are having a great Labor day weekend! We're just hanging out, celebrating the start of college football and trying to get over our colds!!!

Breakfast idea

I ran out of oatmeal this morning--I always eat quick oats with berries, almonds, flax and maple syrup in the AM--and didn't have time to make a smoothie. So I improvised and 'came up' with an idea that is probably not new or inventive to most... ;)

Leftover brown rice straight out of the fridge with slivered almonds, ground flaxseed (you did know that your body can't process whole flaxseeds, right? Unless you're just that thorough of a chewer...), a fair amount of cinnamon and a bit of maple syrup on top. I was a bit hesitant but it was delicious! It tasted a bit like rice pudding. If I didn't have avocados in the house (hooray!) I probably would have eaten it again for lunch!!

And one more thing... if you are interested in test-driving a vegan diet... or just seeing what it's all about, there is something going on in a couple of days called the 21 day kickstart that could help. I posted a link on the side of my blog, but here it is again: http://www.21daykickstart.org/