The weekly menu

Oy.  Where to start with this one.

I feel like I haven’t even been home so I hardly have an organized menu.  On top of that, Kyle’s been out of town for all but, like, two days these past two weeks (which were days we weren’t in Davis anyway…).  We all know I will happily eat the same thing 8000 days in a row (kale salads) if there’s nobody else to force me not to.  So picture the above times a million. Not joking.

The last post I wrote was from Idaho.  We were there visiting Kyle’s parents for a week.  It was completely relaxing (taking time off cooking, cleaning, and all that jazz does that).  Kyle and I even went on a morning run together!!!  Anyway, I didn’t take a single food photo aside from this one.

Does this give you an indication of how well they know me and prepared for our visit??  I thought so.  We also got MORE chocolate from the Chocolat bar in downtown Boise, where we went on the way home from the Saturday Farmer’s Market.  Dude, that place is FANTASTIC.  If you’re visiting Boise you have to go there.  We got a bunch of different kinds of bark and they didn’t last through the end of the day.

And in typical Beverly fashion, she attempted to feed us every second of the day and then send us home with as much food as possible.  Bear in mind we flew there, but we still came home with groceries in our suitcases!

Rather than go grocery shopping for the 3 days we were home, I just scraped random things together like the above salmon, wild rice, and broccoli bowl.  The salmon and broccoli were both from the freezer.  I sautéed them in tamari and coconut oil and P and I went to town.  This is basically Pattycakes’ favorite meal.  Ever.  He even said halfway through dinner “thank you mama for making this good meal”.  Kyle says it from time to time and yet hearing Mr. P say it spontaneously without Kyle even present made my heart skip a beat.

Another night, another burger.  The ground beef and peas were from the freezer.  The daiya and Udi’s GF bread were from Kyle’s parents.  See?  No need to hit up the store at all!

The final meal at home was tofu, kale and rice bowls with sunflower seeds.

Once again, my little helper was all up in this.

He participates every day in some way – even if it’s putting the lid on the pan – because it thrills him so much.  He’s utterly obsessed with cooking and adores helping me in any way, so of course I encourage and nurture the kitchen love.  It’s also awesome mama-son time.  Combining my very favorite things!!!

First, I pressed the extra firm tofu all day and then fried it in a lot of olive oil and tamari.  Then, I added kale until it wilted.

Kyle was home for this meal, which meant we were all fighting over the tofu.

One block of tofu is not enough for our family.  Lesson learned.

P wanted second, thirds, and fourths of the kale and tofu…which we ran out of (long before thirds).  Delicious meal though! We will repeat often.

Continuing the vegan theme…DATE NIGHT!!!!

We went to my parents’ house for the (long) weekend and my sister babysat the kiddos while Kyle and I went out to dinner (Veggie Grill) and a movie (Trainwreck).

It was a totally awesome night (aside from the text messages and calls around a little accidental exposure to something that resulted in hives on his face).  But it was all fine and I enjoyed the sweet potato fries and Bahn Mi salad (with added avocado!) pictured above, while Kyle got the Santa Fe crispy chickn sandwich shown below.

We are both big VG fans.  And Trainwreck was hilarious!  I heart Amy Schumer so so much.  Brought in our FIVE YEAR anniversary in style.

The next day my (other) sister arrived in town!!!!  She got to meet her niece for the first time and it was instant love.  P was equally obsessed and the novelty of her never wore off for all three days we were together.  He loves his Aunties SO SO MUCH it makes my heart overflow with feelings.

Once P went down for his nap the girls headed off to lunch leaving the dudes behind to watch P (aka watch football).  How ready is that girl for food!?!  All she wants to do is eat her fists and grab things to put in her mouth, but lately the way she eyes our food is different.  She wants in on the action.

I got a salmon Caesar for lunch at the Nordstrom Cafe.  Then it was time to shop.  My sister had American dollars burning a hole in her bank account…

Meanwhile, in a dressing room nearby…

Growth spurt for this little one.  🙂

Happy girls.

After we were all shopped out we returned home to cozy up on the couch and look at wedding dresses.  [My sister is engaged btw]

P and I shared the same taste!

We also shared produce from the garden.  Well.  Mostly I shared and he just accepted with an open mouth.

With the UCLA game in the background we enjoyed a nice little family dinner (minus my parents who were in Vancouver the entire weekend).  Take out above is from Chow.

My parents probably had mega FOMO with us all hanging out and spending the night at their house without them even there, but man did we have fun.  We played scattergories and drank Roscato until bedtime.

But not without first setting the crockpot up.

Football done right means nachos for all.   Chips of multiple kinds + shredded chicken + black beans + goat cheddar (4 of the 5 of us are lactose intolerant) + corn + bell peppers + tomatoes + red and green onion + avocado + lime + salsa.

I added tomatoes after this photo.  They were from the garden (so were the bell peppers).

Baby girl tested out the world of solids too…

The photo is deceiving.  While she didn’t get it (at all) she didn’t hate it as much as the picture would lead you to believe.  Ha.  It’s a funny shot though.  I don’t think she actually successfully swallowed any sweet potato, but whatever.  She can play with it in the meantime.

Sunday night’s dinner was more take-out (this time from Roam).  I broke tradition and didn’t get a burger!  Instead I got the farmer’s market salad which was both enormous and delicious although they kinda skimped on some of the good stuff (pepitas).  I got a side of the seasonal veggies (roasted squash) but they came covered in parmesan cheese so that sucked.

The next day we hung out until the afternoon…then we had to part ways with my sister to go back to Davis.  She was in town for Dreamforce so she went to SF but it wasn’t as sad of a goodbye because she will be back in a month for my g-ma’s 90th birthday party.

Kyle left the day before for a work trip so it was just me and P for dinner.

I had a seriously substantial bowl of kale and gave P random leftovers (burger, etc.).

That night I attempted to get things semi-prepared for the week despite not having been to the grocery store.  I made a big batch of banola, and massaged kale and cabbage down with a bunch of Brianna’s poppyseed dressing.  And then made crackers.

Which set me up perfectly for breakfast (and lunch) the next day.  My big boy had his first day of school which had us all out the door by 8:45 am!  It’s not really school (it’s “creative playtime”) which is two hours with parents, inside and outside, separated by a snack.

I have lots of thoughts on the “snacks” thing which I’ll save for another post.  The teacher is very allergy conscious as well as health conscious so we will see how that works out with other parents rotating snack duty.  She gave a handout with loose guidelines, but I suspect I’ll be bringing something separate for P each time anyway.

Please note my hand for size reference.  And then I had 4 times the amount of crackers shown.  Because they are salty and fatty and perfectly addicting.

After naps, I went grocery shopping with the kiddos (to TJs and WF) and came home excited to actually make something.

I had a momentary freak out when I looked at the ingredients in the spring roll wrappers (since I planned on sharing the meal with P).  But then I looked online and found the company’s site with the actual ingredients.  They maintain they are gluten free and list the ingreds as tapioca starch, rice starch, salt, water.  So I guess just ignore the “flour” listed on the package?

Let’s get to work!  Sometimes helping isn’t actually helping at all.  😉 

And sometimes he eats everything as we go.

I love that little stinker face.

The inside of the spring rolls had sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cucumber, and cilantro, with tamari and rice vinegar.

The dipping sauce was sun butter, coconut milk, tamari, rice vinegar, fish sauce, sugar, dried ginger, and salt.

Intermission.

Thanks to the marinade, the veg portion reduced down and softened by the time the rolling hour arrived.

I got better as we went, but none of them were particularly great.

He didn’t seem to mind.

Kyle is still out of town through the end of the week so we will see if I get inspired again or stick to kale salads for the rest of the time he’s away.  HA.