C is for (peanut butter) cookie

Kid breakfast on the left, mom breakfast on the right.

Another winner from Sugar Plum Bakery (via Temple coffee roasters).  This was the walnut zucchini (also vegan and GF) and just as good as the pumpkin pecan.

The kids’ breakfast was a tapioca “pudding” which was met with mixed reviews.  I’ve made them tapioca pudding before and they were meh on it then, but it’s been a while and I thought I’d retry it.  This time P liked it and V didn’t.  50% is failing but I’m ok with that because it’s still progress!  I cooked the tapioca with 2/3 almond milk and 1/3 water and then added agave, flax meal, cinnamon, and vanilla.  There was leftovers, though, which I was kinda wondering what to do with because I don’t like feeding them separate things and I thought Valley would really be pissed if I tried to serve it to her again (she ate her small portion that morning but was over it by the end).  Despite what I just said, I DID in fact give it to them again a few days later.  This time I added fresh blueberries and sunflower seeds and guess what?  They both loved it and didn’t even say a thing about it.  Random.  So the moral of the story is: just keep trying things, mamas!  Your kids palates change and adapt (sometimes in as few as 3 days, ha!).

I had leftovers for lunch because I couldn’t stop thinking about the roasted cauli and lentil salad from the night before.  It wasn’t quite as good as the earlier one because I didn’t have as much dressing as I’d like but oh well.  It also ended up hurting my gut, which I should have seen coming but I got cocky.  Eating lentils and cauliflower in two meals within 24 hours is a fodmaps no-no, and I was totally paying for it the rest of the day.  Bummer.  🙁

While V napped and P had quiet time, I bottled batch #3.  They are getting better and better, guys!  I’m loving my home-brew so much!

I also have SCOBYs to spare. I wish I could gift them to other hippies.  I’m betting my dad will want in on this business soon, so I’ll save one for him.  Does anyone know if you can have too many SCOBYs in your kombucha?

V had gymnastics that afternoon, but Kyle got off early and came to watch, so I took the opportunity to go run errands with P.

We had an experiment to run!

That up there is a (vegan) peanut butter chocolate chip cookie.  And he took a bite out of it.  And nothing (NOTHING!) happened.  Can you even believe this is our life right now?!?!?  I’m beside myself over this.

OIT saves lives people.

We will try a bigger bite later to see what happens, but for now I’m celebrating the fact that he can tolerate accidental exposure in the form of an actual bite.  The other major cause for celebration here is the fact that he didn’t hate the flavor of the cookie.  His aversion to peanuts has been a big problem for us because he has to take daily doses, but ever since we started using Reese’s pieces, he has slowly seemed to adapt to (and maybe even like??) the flavor.  I know what you’re thinking…how could anyone dislike the combo of chocolate and peanut butter.  I’m telling you, it’s possible.  Full gag reflexes of proof.  So to see him get to this point…there really are no words.

Once home, I got to work on dinner.

It was a quickie thanks to this stir fry sauce I had made a few weeks prior.

If you ever have extra citrus hanging around that you don’t know what to do with before it goes bad, I urge you to make this.  It’s awesome to have on hand because it turns any protein and veg into a meal.

I made rice in the rice cooker earlier, so all I did when I got back to the house was chop and sauté a ton of veggies in the sauce, and then add beef.

It had broccoli, bell peppers, celery, cabbage, and carrots.

Since I was already chopping, I did a bunch of extra for lunch prep.

Dinner is served!

The next day was gut recovery mode.

Kyle was out of town so I did a work out in the living room while the kids ate and then had a tiny amount of granola before heading off to our morning activities.

We celebrated a friend turning 3 at paint and sing class…which made Valley’s cupcake loving heart fuller than full.

This girl never leaves a crumb behind.

Note how that necklace has made it’s way into her permanent wardrobe.  😛

Oh hey!  Fancy seeing you here?

Dinner prep involved trays of Brussels sprouts and bacon.

After a LONG afternoon of soccer for both kids we finally returned to eat as a threesome.

Last week I was going to make a recipe with ricotta, but Nugget market only had cow milk ricotta.  They got this sheep milk kind back in stock a few days later so I bought it, but haven’t decided on a use for it yet.

Since Kyle was out of town I decided to test it out a little bit – just on my portion of dinner.

It has basically no sugar, so the lactose content is negligible.

I’m happy to report it had ZERO effect on my gut.

That said, it wasn’t the most flavorful of cheeses.  Maybe that’s the nature of ricotta?  I was expecting a more salty cheese, but what do I know?!  I may try it in a lasagna recipe soon…or on top of pasta?

Anyway, here’s the kids’ plates. We all had seconds and there weren’t any leftovers. Yes, you read that correctly.  The three of us ate 2 pounds of Brussels sprouts.  Brassicas for the win.

Instead of kombucha I had hot chocolate that night.  I was cold and this seemed a perfect option (almond milk, water, cocoa powder, maple syrup).

I’m determined to catch up on the rest of the week!  Stay tuned. 🙂