Several people have requested that I share vegetarian friendly recipes with them. Instead of emailing them separately, I've decided to put the recipes up on my blog. So when I find a good recipe or try an old favorite, I will try to remember to post it.
Hearty Seitan Salad
~1 pound seitan--this can be found in the refrigerated section of the health food section or you can omit this if you are unsure about it
~1 T light olive oil
~1 small head dark green lettuce, thinly sliced
~1 medium green or red bell pepper, cut into narrow strips
~2 medium firm ripe tomatoes, diced
~1 medium avocado, sliced
~1/4 C sliced black olives
~2 scallions, sliced, optional
~dressing
1. Cut the seitan into strips, about 1/2 inch by 2 inches. Heat the oil in a wide skillet. Saute, stirring frequently, until golden, then remove from the heat.
2. Combine the lettuce, bell pepper, tomatoes, avocado, olives and optional scallions in a mixing bowl and toss together. Add the seitan strips and enough dressing to moisten the salad, and toss again. Serve at once.
Here is the dressing that we used:
Tangy Tahini Dressing
~1/2 C extra-virgin olive oil
~1/4 C sesame tahini
~2 to 3 T apple cider vinegar
~juice of 1/2 lemon
~2 T natural soy sauce
~1 t dried dill
Combine all ingredients in a tightly lidded bottle and shake thoroughly. Shake well before each use. Keeps up to 2 weeks, refrigerated.
*We put the dressing on each individual portion.
*We also put the whole thing in whole wheat wraps and added fresh cut veggies to round out the meal.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Cooking School
Yesterday for Girl Scouts, Valen and her troop went to the Tops Cooking School in West Seneca. The girls had a great time watching the mirror over the counter and helping make the food.
Valen got to help chop the celery--with a plastic knife--for the chicken noodle soup.
I'm not quite sure how well the celery got chopped with a plastic knife, but she seemed to be having a good time doing it.
They also got to make banana muffins and mini personal pizzas. This is Valen shaping her crust. She was very methodical in saucing her crust and putting on the cheese and pepperoni.
This is Valen enjoying the fruits of her labors. She was especially glad to eat the pepperoni since we don't get them at home.
She had so much fun at the cooking school, that when I told her we were having pizza for dinner, she insisted that we buy mushrooms so that she could make her own pizza again.
Valen got to help chop the celery--with a plastic knife--for the chicken noodle soup.
I'm not quite sure how well the celery got chopped with a plastic knife, but she seemed to be having a good time doing it.
They also got to make banana muffins and mini personal pizzas. This is Valen shaping her crust. She was very methodical in saucing her crust and putting on the cheese and pepperoni.
This is Valen enjoying the fruits of her labors. She was especially glad to eat the pepperoni since we don't get them at home.
She had so much fun at the cooking school, that when I told her we were having pizza for dinner, she insisted that we buy mushrooms so that she could make her own pizza again.
Bicycle Museum
Last Saturday we went to the Bicycle Museum in Orchard Park. It wasn't quite what we expected--not sure what we were expecting--but at first Valen and Riley were very unhappy. Riley wouldn't let me put her down and she was screaming the whole time. After a few minutes we made it to this game and it was like magic:
Valen thought the game was cool--you paid $1 and the guy gave you 3 enlish pennies to play the game because it wouldn't accept anything else.
When Riley saw Valen playing the game, she wanted to play it too, and then she calmed down and let me put her down, and she actually started looking around at things.
At first, Valen was unsure about getting up onto the bike, but once we convinced her it was safe, we couldn't get her down.
Although Riley had calmed down quite a bit by this time, she really did not like the idea of me being up on the bike. She screamed the whole time I was up there. The guy that owns the museum even came back to make sure that everything was OK.
Justin. . .
Valen thought the game was cool--you paid $1 and the guy gave you 3 enlish pennies to play the game because it wouldn't accept anything else.
When Riley saw Valen playing the game, she wanted to play it too, and then she calmed down and let me put her down, and she actually started looking around at things.
At first, Valen was unsure about getting up onto the bike, but once we convinced her it was safe, we couldn't get her down.
Although Riley had calmed down quite a bit by this time, she really did not like the idea of me being up on the bike. She screamed the whole time I was up there. The guy that owns the museum even came back to make sure that everything was OK.
Justin. . .
We had a great time after all was said and done. I think the girls had the most fun in the gift shop area, but all in all it was really neat.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Valen's poem and non-boyfriend
~There wasan ice cream social at her school—Heritage Heights—tonight. Justin stayed home with Riley, while Valen and I went. She took off first thing to go play in the gym while I waited in line for the ice cream. Then, after eating the ice cream quickly, she headed back into the gym for rock climbing and stilt walking. She did really well with both.
Then it was time for the dancing. Valen really didn’t dance too much, she was spending most of her time with boys playing chase. One of the boys that she was playing with—Darrian—has a crush on her pretty bad. His parents told me that he randomly yells out that he loves Valen, and was heartbroken one day when he found out that she liked someone else. She played with him and Alex. After Darrian left, Valen and Alex hung out quite a bit. By the way that they were playing I could tell that there were some shared feelings between the two. When I confronted her about liking him, she just grinned at me. “But,” she informed, “he is NOT my boyfriend.”
Darrian is the one in the middle, Alex is on the right.
My Dad
My Dad is nice as three mice.
He is a sweet treat for me.
He has a smart heart in the family.
He is super duper.
He shares and cares like a bear.
He is helpful and caring.
He is friendly and courageous.
My Dad!
Then it was time for the dancing. Valen really didn’t dance too much, she was spending most of her time with boys playing chase. One of the boys that she was playing with—Darrian—has a crush on her pretty bad. His parents told me that he randomly yells out that he loves Valen, and was heartbroken one day when he found out that she liked someone else. She played with him and Alex. After Darrian left, Valen and Alex hung out quite a bit. By the way that they were playing I could tell that there were some shared feelings between the two. When I confronted her about liking him, she just grinned at me. “But,” she informed, “he is NOT my boyfriend.”
Darrian is the one in the middle, Alex is on the right.
Valen got to read the poem that she wrote at school in AM Program today.
My Dad
My Dad is nice as three mice.
He is a sweet treat for me.
He has a smart heart in the family.
He is super duper.
He shares and cares like a bear.
He is helpful and caring.
He is friendly and courageous.
My Dad!
Friday, February 20, 2009
Mid Winter Recess
Valen had the week off from school and we tried to pack in as much stuff as possible. So here's a run down of our week:
~Monday--Valen got to hang out with Justin for the day at school and be his lighting model. Then she tested for and got her Green Belt in Karate. Riley loves going to Karate and playing out on the mat so much that she will invent a poopy diaper and need to changed--the bathroom is on the opposite side of the mat from where we sit.
~Tuesday--A catch up day from everything I didn't do on Monday. Although Valen did have Activity Days and Riley did have her music class.
~Wednesday--A day at the beach!--inside a shopping mall:
This is Riley surprised that I actually managed to catch up to her.
Valen and some of our friends. Hold still Jane!
I even fed my kids fast food! We had a pretzel, cheeseburger, and ice cream for lunch!
Riley being cute!
Valen also went to her first Sparring class for Karate. It was great watching her beat up other little kids and not get in trouble for it.
~Thursday we went to the Buffalo Science Museum:
Riley enjoying the boat sailing exhibit.
Valen putting a dinosaur puzzle together.
Yet another puzzle--this time with human bones.
This room is the one that I have a hard time getting my kids to leave--it contains most of the hands on exhibits. Riley likes the messy exhibits, as well as the live ones--"The bunny tickled me Mom." And Valen likes all of the games and puzzles and the ants.
~Friday--We went to Riley's new preschool class and had lots and lots of friends come over and play.
Somewhere in there we saw Justin a few times, watched a few movies--High School Musical 2 and the new Veggie Tales--ate out a few times and hung out at home a little bit.
All in all, it's been a great week! Can't wait till spring break!
~Monday--Valen got to hang out with Justin for the day at school and be his lighting model. Then she tested for and got her Green Belt in Karate. Riley loves going to Karate and playing out on the mat so much that she will invent a poopy diaper and need to changed--the bathroom is on the opposite side of the mat from where we sit.
~Tuesday--A catch up day from everything I didn't do on Monday. Although Valen did have Activity Days and Riley did have her music class.
~Wednesday--A day at the beach!--inside a shopping mall:
This is Riley surprised that I actually managed to catch up to her.
Valen and some of our friends. Hold still Jane!
I even fed my kids fast food! We had a pretzel, cheeseburger, and ice cream for lunch!
Riley being cute!
Valen also went to her first Sparring class for Karate. It was great watching her beat up other little kids and not get in trouble for it.
~Thursday we went to the Buffalo Science Museum:
Riley enjoying the boat sailing exhibit.
Valen putting a dinosaur puzzle together.
Yet another puzzle--this time with human bones.
This room is the one that I have a hard time getting my kids to leave--it contains most of the hands on exhibits. Riley likes the messy exhibits, as well as the live ones--"The bunny tickled me Mom." And Valen likes all of the games and puzzles and the ants.
~Friday--We went to Riley's new preschool class and had lots and lots of friends come over and play.
Somewhere in there we saw Justin a few times, watched a few movies--High School Musical 2 and the new Veggie Tales--ate out a few times and hung out at home a little bit.
All in all, it's been a great week! Can't wait till spring break!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Picture Princess Contest
Valen, age 8
Valen has natural beauty. She has piercing blue eyes and an amazing smile. She loves showing the worl how beautiful she is. She is very confident in herself and knows that she is special. She has a heart of gold and finds the good in everyone.
little girls and girls dresses from shabby baby
Riley, age 2
Riley is the cutest two year old in the world. She has a perfect button nose and beautiful eyes. She is full of life, love and laughter. She loves taking "smiles" and being in front of the camera and showing the world how cute she is. She is very tender hearted, happy and loves life.
little girls and girls dresses from shabby baby
Sunday, February 1, 2009
The Past Ten Days
Instead of blogging about all of these separately, I thought I would put them all together, and not necessarily in order.
Art Day
These are my little artists hard at work. We were making a birthday card for Valen's friend, and Riley wanted to join in the fun.
She had brushes, paper and cups of paint in the beginning, but we ended up just squirting the paint directly on the paper and using fingers.
Another look at the master hard at work. The cool thing about it was her asking for specific colors and telling me where to squirt them. I would suggest a color and she would tell me yes or no, and then tell me exactly where to squirt the paint.
This is Valen decorating the bag for the birthday present. She had more fun mixing colors and seeing what the outcome would be. She wasn't real focused on a design or picture, just color experimentation.
Riley's masterpiece.
This is Valen at the birthday party--for which we made the card and colored the bag--at Page's Party Paradise. She got to climb the rock wall, play games--her favorite being skee ball--and a game of laser tag. She was on the blue team and told me that she won the game because she shot the red teams target. She has requested that we go play laser tag again so that she can show me how to win.
Leaps N Bounce 
At the end of the day she was trying to go up the slide.
It's not a good picture, but this is me and Riley at the top of the slide watching Valen go down. Inflatable objects make it hard to take pictures.
Again, not a good picture, but this is Valen's "I'm having a good time" face. She really did have fun, I think she was upset that we were leaving.
Sun Day--or in other words, a Sunday with sun.
I'm not sure, but it might be a warrior bunny, maybe that's why it's holding the stick.
This is Justin's snow centipede--would that be snowtipede--and Valen's warrior bunny.
Art Day
These are my little artists hard at work. We were making a birthday card for Valen's friend, and Riley wanted to join in the fun.
She had brushes, paper and cups of paint in the beginning, but we ended up just squirting the paint directly on the paper and using fingers.
Another look at the master hard at work. The cool thing about it was her asking for specific colors and telling me where to squirt them. I would suggest a color and she would tell me yes or no, and then tell me exactly where to squirt the paint.
This is Valen decorating the bag for the birthday present. She had more fun mixing colors and seeing what the outcome would be. She wasn't real focused on a design or picture, just color experimentation.
Riley's masterpiece.
This is Valen at the birthday party--for which we made the card and colored the bag--at Page's Party Paradise. She got to climb the rock wall, play games--her favorite being skee ball--and a game of laser tag. She was on the blue team and told me that she won the game because she shot the red teams target. She has requested that we go play laser tag again so that she can show me how to win.
Leaps N Bounce
On Saturday we decided to take the kids to Leaps N Bounce in Williamsville. Riley was absolutely obsessed with the slide. I think we set a new record of 40 slides in 20 minutes. She had a hard time climbing up to go down the slide, but after several runs she learned how to do it all by herself. She also insisted that she go down the slide all by herself. She was very good at going down the normal feet first, but when that got a little old, she was willing to try head first.
At the end of the day she was trying to go up the slide.
It's not a good picture, but this is me and Riley at the top of the slide watching Valen go down. Inflatable objects make it hard to take pictures.
Again, not a good picture, but this is Valen's "I'm having a good time" face. She really did have fun, I think she was upset that we were leaving.
Sun Day--or in other words, a Sunday with sun.
It was finally sunny today, and so Justin and Valen had to take advantage of it and play outside in the snow. This is Valen's snow bunny--my favorite part is the tail on the behind.
I'm not sure, but it might be a warrior bunny, maybe that's why it's holding the stick.
This is Justin's snow centipede--would that be snowtipede--and Valen's warrior bunny.
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