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Archive of ‘Reno’ category

02
Oct
2013

Ciao VeganMofo

categories: event, Reno, school lunch, vegan

VeganMoFo 2013 is over! I got 13 of the 20 posts in and I’ll say I’m quite pleased with myself. Perhaps next year I can get all 20 in. That would be exciting.

To continue a bit with my somewhat theme this post is about Reno’s school lunches again. These types of post will be winding down soon since I’m sure to run out different foods that she will eat. She definitely has been more open to trying new foods this year so I got a lot farther then I wanted to with this mini theme.

The most exciting thing about her lunchbox this week has been the 1/2 cupcake I’ve put in yesterday and today. Her delight at the thought of eating a cupcake at lunch thrilled her to no end.

I’ve gotten her to eat burritos lately which makes a nice change from just plain old rice and beans even though it’s just plain old rice and beans in the burrito. She thinks she’s eating something different and it keeps her willing to try new things.

While at Whole Foods the other day I found these delightful pumpkin tortilla chips by a company called Laurel Hill. They are delicious and went perfectly with some packed hummus for her lunch. They are savory with a touch of sweetness. We are all fans! I’m looking forward to trying some of their other chips.

12
Sep
2013

VeganMoFo Post 8

categories: event, Reno, sauce, school lunch, Uncategorized, vegan, veganmofo, VeganMoFo 2013

The main part of this lunch box was dinner the other night and it was all eaten by trickery…I mean lies. I realized a while ago that I spend a good part of my day telling my children lies. Just little ones. Nothing that will do any harm. Most of those lies come around dinner time. I lied to Reno the other night when I made Pasta Primavera for dinner. The recipe for that pasta is basically my Mushroom Cream Sauce recipe subbing mixed veggies instead of the mushrooms. Although I would have kept the mushrooms in the recipe if I had any. That night I used broccoli, carrots and zucchini. For the herbs I just used some dried rosemary. When I make any of my versions of this recipe I will just give her butter and nooch. She wasn’t around when I was cooking the sauce this night so when dinner was ready I just gave it to her as is and told my little lie of how it was just a butter and nooch, 2 of many ingredients in the recipe, pasta dinner with some veggies. She gave me a skeptical look but tried it and really liked it. Thats when I came out with the truth and told her what it really was. She had a look of great shock on her face. I think the shock was because she liked something she usually would say no to without even trying it. Well it was a successful lie and I have no regrets telling it to her.

To finish out her Planet Box lunch box I gave her a piece of Trader Joe’s Rosemary Focaccia with some Earth Balance, an apple and banana pouch and one of the best nectarines I’ve tasted so far this year. Lucky girl!

11
Sep
2013

VeganMoFo Post 7

categories: beans, event, instagram, Reno, school lunch, vegan, vegan school lunch, veganmofo, VeganMoFo 2013

Grateful for leftovers!

There are some days when I’m packing lunch that I’m thankful for leftovers. Whether they come from my kitchen or someone else’s. Ideally I would do my weeks worth of food shopping on Sunday. Our weekends are so busy that that doesn’t usually happen so Mondays lunches are a bit interesting. Thankfully my Mother-in-law sent home some Rice and Beans Sunday night and I had 1 extra Mini Pesto and Vegan Cheese Pizza left from a few lunches before. The beans made up the main part of the meal. I gave her 1/2 of the mini pizza and saved the other 1/2 for her brother. We rounded out the meal with the never ending supply of grapes that it seems we have for these past 2 weeks and some crackers. She always has a reusable bottle of water and for the past 2 days I’ve been packing a mini apple juice box. She has been complaining about not having enough to drink. Last year she would come home with an almost full bottle of water so at least we are improving on her rehydrating habits at school.

So far every lunch I’ve sent to school has come home completely finished! I’m really excited about that and I’m sure I just jinxed it!

10
Sep
2013

VeganMofo Post 6

categories: event, Reno, school lunch, seitan, vegan, veganmofo, VeganMoFo 2013

Chicken Fried Seitan, Mashed Potatoes and 40 Cloves Chickpea and Broccoli

This post is part dinner part school lunch.

Last night was not the perfect night to make a big dinner with 3 different parts to it. It was a Monday. Reno had school, homework and dance which we didn’t get home until 6:30. Miles didn’t nap. I made the Chickpeas and Broccoli earlier in the day and that was going to be our dinner with some type of potatoes. When we got home from dance I decided to make some mashed potatoes and use up the rest of my homemade seitan. It was a longer process then I really want to do on a busy Monday night but it was worth it in the end. It was a lovely meal and I got my now picky eating son to eat the seitan!!! I was so excited. I was sure he was just going to eat the broccoli for dinner and nothing else. He won’t even eat mashed potatoes anymore and this is coming from a kid who would shove handfuls of kale into his mouth. Oh well.

Last nights dinner turned into today’s lunch for my daughter. She was so excited about the mashed potatoes that I gave her that as her “main” food group for lunch today. Along with a few pieced of the seitan with way to much ketchup to dip them in. Some really amazing nectarine slices and green grapes which we really need to use up. I think I need to work the rest of the grapes into dinner tonight. They gotta go!

06
Sep
2013

VeganMoFo Post 4

categories: Reno, school lunch, vegan, veganmofo, VeganMoFo 2013

Pizza Lunch

My wrestling match last night with an uncooperative pizza dough was my daughters gain for lunch today. I don’t know what was going on with me and that dough that was meant for dinner last night but it did not want to stretch at all! I was able to rip off small pieces of it and shape it semi properly but that wouldn’t have worked out for us with dinner last night. So I made 4 approx 4 inch pizza’s for Reno’s lunch! Topped them with a nut free pesto and finely grated some Follow Your Heart vegan mozzarella cheese. I have to say that cheese ain’t 1/2 bad. As you know I don’t like Daiya so I bought some of the Follow Your Heart cheese for Reno’s birthday party where I made pizza’s. It was very well received by Daiya dislikers!

I packed 2 of the 4 pizza’s for todays lunch with some grapes, more dried apricots, pretzels and 1 not 2 chocolate chocolate covered pretzels. Not shown is a reusable bottle of water.

Some news on my end. If you happen to be going to the Bethlehem VegFest in PA tomorrow me and Dianne over at VeggieGirl will be doing a cooking demo together. We will be making seitan or tempeh tacos with a chipotle aioli. Samples will be available. Come up and say hi to us!

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