Second birthday things

I know the birthday posts seem to be never-ending right now, but Kyle and V were born a mere few days apart and both need their own proper celebrations!  So each got a party in addition to their actual birth day.  Hence the excessive fiesta coverage on HHH.

The theme of this week was clean out the fridge.

I did the bare minimum for shopping…just enough to give the birthday people their requested dinners (taco night for K, waffles for V).

I did make pancakes 4 different days, but that’s because I froze each day’s leftovers to have on vacation next week.  The above spread was Monday’s breakfast scene…strawberries (picked fresh from the farm the day before – perks of Kyle’s latest side project) and melon with pancakes and Earth Balance.  I had waffles made with a similar batter to their, but with almond flour instead of whole wheat.

I made three days’ worth.

Tried this TJs mixed nut butter for the first time. It’s not very salty, which makes it not super addictive (appreciated for portion control) but then I added salt and fixed/undid that “problem” right then and there.

V saw these and that is what inspired her request for waffles for her birthday dinner.  Fine by me!

I baked birthday treats for her “school” snack, but just like her party “cupcakes” a few days prior, I made them super hippie with aquafaba instead of eggs (so they would be vegan) and applesauce, coconut oil, whole wheat flour, almond milk, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda.  I didn’t measure anything which was a bummer since a few moms asked for recipes.

It made me happy that they were such a hit since I’ve only used vegan aquafaba in place of eggs once before.  I used two cans’ worth of juice because I was roasting two cans of chickpeas for road tripping snacks anyway.

Kale and farro salad leftovers for the kids for lunch.

My lunch was mostly chips and carrots (had to honor some cravings).

And a kale salad – complete with miso dressing, avocado, and sweet/salty coconut chips.

Dinner that night was more leftovers from the fridge and odds and ends put together to make a complete meal.

Red lentil pasta with ground beef and peas for the wee ones.

Kyle finished off the farro dish with scallops.

And I had some WF leftovers plus roasted kabocha squash.

Kyle has practiced amazing restraint with this cake.  He has 2/3 remaining still!  Way better than I’d be doing.

I’ve been doing some damage to the chocolate shelf of the pantry, per usual.

This Lily’s flavor has the perfect amount of salt and nuts.  It’s great!  The mint crunch from TJs, however, out shined it by a bit.  It’s like a Thin Mint but better because it’s more chocolate…but it has that cookie crunch kind of thing inside too.  So great.  Hopefully it won’t be seasonal.  Cmon TJs!!

Can-cakes (what V calls them) for breakie again.  🙂

And leftover waffles for mama.

With mixed nut butter again.

After dropping off P at school, some friends came over to hang until V and I went to gymnastics.  They all sung her happy birthday after.  She was so thrilled.  It was very sweet.

I don’t have pics of their lunches…probably sandos with apples slices…but this was their snack.

I bought this root vegetable blend in the frozen section of WF on a whim, because they didn’t have butternut squash (V’s favorite) so this was a decent runner up option.  It’s pretty fancy!  I paired it with white beans, and even though they didn’t care for the onions, they still ate it.  It would be so great in a soup and it’s already cooked so a quick thaw and you’re done!

I made a kale salad with the last bits of the sweet/salty coconut flakes.

But I accidentally added too much avo (I used a whole one because it was a smaller one) so it overpowered the dressing…which meant I had to add more dressing on top. It’s a tricky ratio to master 😉

Mmmmm…

After V woke up from her nap (P seems to be done with naps but we are doing quiet time/reading in bed for my sanity) we went to Art Beast.

I wanted to get one last visit in before our monthly pass expired and I knew it would be the perfect birthday treat for my baby girl.

We met friends there and had a fun afternoon cutting, pasting, painting, singing, playing, splashing, digging, scooping, and everything else a toddler could ever want to do.

I left him to figure out cutting on his own, never thinking he actually would!

He is going to have a hard time picking which instrument he wants to learn first…drums are his passion, but guitar, violin, and some sort of brass may be in the cards too.  Those are what he pretend plays the most (violin and cello are kinda tied but he may be too small for the cello).

Back at home it was present time!

I took a video of her opening his present and I have rewatched it approximately 23987 times. He was so excited for her.

So…waffles for dinner.

Per Valley girl’s request, I decided to test out something I’d been meaning to do for a while – cornbread batter on the waffle iron.  I made them before we went to Art Beast and put them on the baking sheet in the oven and pre-set it to warm them at 5.  I’m loving the delay settings on my oven!

It was so easy!  They cooked quickly, and while they were a little dense (and require a bit of tweaking to get to a softer, more waffle like texture), they were delicious and we all loved them a lot.

I had chicken sliced and breaded (in GF flour) in the fridge ready for frying as soon as we got home.  Because I can’t think of a better way to say happy birthday than with fried chicken and cornbread waffles with honey and butter (or agave and Earth Balance).

Kyle has now called in his birthday order for next year.  So it was definitely a hit with the boy who grew up in the South.  I’m calling that a big a$$ compliment.

I started small but went back for seconds.

Finished off the See’s Candy and started up this Equal Exchange bar.  The toasted almonds are great but a touch of salt would have taken it over the edge.  Definitely worth buying again though.

Without much food left in the house, I had the rest of this granola for breakfast.

Kyle joined us at “school” with V to sing to her for her birthday and from there on, the day was a blur of packing and soccer and driving.

We ate dinner at my parents’ house but they were at March Madness games.  it’s just a pitstop though, because we are back on the road manana to OIT 🙂