Posts filed under 'Reno'
We are currently on vacation. Yay! I’m posting from Ocean Grove, New Jersey on my iPhone thru a Wordpress app. I hope it shows up ok.
Right now Reno and I our sitting on the porch of a rented house enjoying our new favorite smoothie. It simply consists of organic strawberries, organic frozen bananas and some vanilla oat milk. It’s so good! It is also a great way to get extra nutrition into Reno. I wish I had brought some ground flax seeds or some sorta protein powder stuff to add to it for her (and me). She will just have to do with me forcing peanut buttered toast down her throat. She’s just so excited to be on vacation that she doesn’t have time to eat. All she wants to do is stay on the beach. It’s all I want to do too but we have to still eat. I’m thrilled that this house came with a pretty kick ass blender so I can make more of these for us this week. I’m now thinking I might try to track down some cocoa powder in this town to make us some chocolate peanut butter dessert smoothies.
July 20th, 2010
Hidden Veggie Tomato Sauce
I have a very picky eating child. No veggies will pass by those precious lips of hers except peas. Occasionally when I’m chopping up carrots she will say “Reno eat that” and I’ll give it to her and she either eats it or throws it in the trash. One day I had her help me snap some string beans in half and she again said “Reno eat that” and she took 2 bites of one and then that was enough. At least she tried it though and when she tries foods or actually eats foods I have Yo Gabba Gabba to thank for that. I’m always singing 2 of their songs to her. One goes something like “There’s a party in your tummy, SO YUMMY, SO YUMMY” the other ones goes “Try it! You’ll like it!” Those 2 songs have helped us get a few extra bites of food into her body.
This is all so frustrating to me on so many levels. One being that my career before having her was all about food and cooking.Two, I’m a veggie mom to a veggie kid who won’t eat her veggies. Third being…(i forgot! i know there was a third though!) Anyway I have basically resorted to blending veggies into our foods to trick her into eating them. The best thing ever for doing this besides mashed potatoes are tomato sauces. I could dump a pot of tomato sauce on our front lawn and she would eat it. Needless to say…we eat pasta…ALOT.
Hidden Veggie Tomato Sauce
Don’t worry about your knife skills on this one. The veggies are blended in the beginning and the entire sauce at the end of the recipe. The chopping of the vegetables in the recipe are to make it easier on your blender/food processor.
1/3 cup olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 bunch of kale, stems removes and chopped
2 medium carrots, scrubbed and chopped into 2 inch pieces
1 red bell pepper, seeds removed and chopped
2 28oz cans Whole Peeled Tomatoes (i like Muir Glen)
1/2 cup fresh basil, washed well
Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Saute onions for 5 minutes then add garlic and saute for 3 more minutes or until soft.
While the onions and garlic are cooking chop the kale, carrots and pepper in a food processor until the vegetables are fully broken down into itty bitty pieces. Then add them to pot of already cooking onions and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes.
Then add both cans of tomatoes. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer. Place a cover over the pot with a bit of the pot still open to let steam escape. Cook or 1 hour stirring whenever you think about it. Add the basil for the last 10 minutes of cooking time.
Turn the heat off and blend the sauce in batches in your blender or food processor.
This recipe makes a ton of sauce. It keeps in the fridge for about 5 days. I like to freeze single serving sizes for just Reno. Its great for those nights when I don’t want to fight to get her to eat what we are eating and we don’t in turn have to eat pasta again.
Happy VeganMoFo
October 13th, 2009
Jamaican Veggie Patties
Have you ever gotten a new cookbook that was just love at first sight? I was lucky enough to receive a copy of Vegan Soul Kitchen by Bryant Terry to review and it truly was love at first site. What’s not to love about a book that has a whole chapter on using the ENTIRE Watermelon! Zero waste watermelon! I’m still amazed at the concept. As I was quickly flipping through it and seeing the titles of all the recipes I realized that this would be a book that I would read from front to back (that night) just to make sure I didn’t miss a single thing.
As I usually do with new cookbooks I make a list of recipes I want to make right away and a grocery list. The problem was I wanted to make at least 15 dishes right away so I had to just narrow it down and save some for later.
I first went for the Jamaican Veggie Patties. I found them very easy to make even though I couldn’t find my rolling pin and just pressed out dough in single pieces to make “circles” for the filling. The crust was amazingly flaky and tasty and the veggie filling was creamy and delicious. I ate one cold out of the fridge the next day which sealed the deal that I will double the recipe every time I make it from now on.
Other recipes I tried were 2 sides. Simple Seared Green Beans and Roasted Sweet Potato Puree w. Coconut Milk. The Green Beans were good but you have to make a garlic oil first to make them. Which is a technique I can appreciate because I use to do it all the time in restaurants but to be honest I want to see the garlic in my green beans when I eat them. The Sweet Potato Puree was heavenly. You could totally skip the pureeing part of the recipe and have a damn good side dish for you meal.
I really can’t wait to cook more recipes from this book. It will be covered in food stains before you know it.
I beg you all to go out and buy this book and love it as much as I do. (and I’m not just saying that because the author went to the Natural Gourmet like I did.)
June 11th, 2009
Roast “Pork” Lo Mein from Veggie Heaven
You know what sucks? Moving. You know what doesn’t suck? Lunch at Veggie Heaven in Montclair NJ. Its one of our favorite places to go. Why? One..because it’s really the only all veg place we got. Two..Reno loves their “Chicken” Nuggets. Three…the staff loves our child and it’s cool if she runs around like the mad women that she is.
I get obsessed with certain dishes there and will only order that for months and months then switch to something else. Their Roast “Pork” Lo Mein is something I always switch back to here and there on a regular basis. I love the noodles, I love the “pork” and I love the big chunks of scallions. I could do without the cabbage but I put up with it anyway.
“Chicken” Nuggets
The one thing I can count on her always eating at a restaurant are these damn “chicken” nuggets. They are fabulous! They come with a nice spicy-ish sauce that we keep away from her. She dipped once into it and it wasn’t a fun time. Its hard for Peter and I not to steal to many of these from her.
Spring Rolls
Better then the frozen ones I keep in my freezer.
Scallion Pancakes
Our one true love. I don’t think there has ever been a time where we haven’t ordered these. We use to order 1 for each of us. Now we split one and order the above spring rolls or something smaller (usually).
April 13th, 2009
Reno (18 months)
For those of you who followed my last blog you are well aware that I have a daughter named Reno*.
She is 18 months old already, the size of a 3 year old and such a punk. She’s saying new words all the time. Her favorite word is CAR. You can imagine what a joy it is to drive with her on the highway with her in the back saying “car! car! car!…etc..” with every one that drives by.
This is my new favorite picture of her and I wanted to share it. She insisted that she wear her new vest and old hat in the house the other afternoon.
*her real name is Reno it is not a made up internet name. (I had to add that..I always get emails from people asking if that is her real name.)
March 12th, 2009