March Projects

This month I have been feeling really cool with my little projects.

I made cupcake toppers for the first time. Okay, now I know what all the rage is about. 

They turn a party into a fiesta! haha. I also broke out my sewing machine. Our home is so tiny my sewing machine doesn't have a place to hang outside of it's box. But I have plans to turn a corner of our room into a craft area for me. So excited about that! (We kicked Athena out of our room. She is now sleeping with the big girls! And we feel like adults again now that we don't have to tip toes around snoring infants.)

A friend of mine is always posting super cute dresses she makes for her daughter. I decided enough was enough! I cut out a couple rectangles and sewed up this dress for Thérèse. Okay, so it wasn't that easy. It did only take me one afternoon, but since I didn't have a pattern and not much clue as to what I was doing, (I have never gathered before), I'm going to have to devote some more time to fixing it. And such is life. We got some fabric so I can make Monique a dress as well, but I have already come into problems with it since I want to add a sash. Clearly I have no idea how to do that.

Here is Thérèse's dress made from scraps of fabric and ribbon from around our home.
The same friend gave me her fabric scraps! 

 

Had a mini desert inauguration party on inauguration day. 

You can find these awesome cupcake toppers and bunting here. 

Served Babycakes NYC blondies the girls and I made. They were soooooooo

so so so so good. My husband requested we keep them around the house all the time. We've made these multiple times before but, I guess we just forgot how mind blowing delicious gluten-free, dairy-free goodies can be. I have the cookbook, but you can find the recipe online here, along with Zooey Deschanels personal testimony of her deep love for them. 

I was pretty excited to learn that a couple recipes I posted on The Kind Life were given four and five stars! Now that's just amazing. Thank you to those kind people who tasted and rated these dishes! You can find the recipe gallery here.

Big fat fail. I didn't take any pictures of my last freezer crock pot meal making. Here is an itty-bitty picture of the ratatouille from fitness magazine. 

I only had to make three dishes since I still had a couple meals left over in the freezer. That's the great thing about freezer meals. I don't have to worry about food going bad in the fridge if we have an unexpected meal out. Everything is frozen, ready whenever I need it. 

I made chickpea ratatouille, Coconut curried tofu spinach and Thai Sloppy Joe's. I was a little disappointed that the sloppy joe's were only four small portions. We like leftovers. But if we end up not liking it, I guess it will work out. I was a little apprehensive about this dish. But last week I made her Cannelloni and Daniel and I decided it was one of our new favorite meals. We were pretty upset it only made six cannelloni (how did I not realize that while I was preparing it?) In our house, that is enough for one and a half people, not four like the recipe suggests. That day my husband had ridden his bike to and from work, a mere 54 miles, so the guy could have easily ate them all by herself. I left off the top cheeses and I made my own tofu ricotta cheese. Next time I make the ricotta, I will leave some miso out since I think the flavor was too sharp for the girls.

The last project March will see is the girls' early morning Easter celebration.
Excited about the sweets and treats! 

Soup's Up!

Hey Y'all!

So I know I popped up, "Hey! I'm back!" and then, "Just kidding...Not back..." So this is the deal. My MacBook is dead. We are on a super tight budget so waiting to get it revived. But the main reason I'm often unable to blog, is because Daniel is working a full time job, part time job and attending graduate classes full time. Whew! I got winded just saying that. So I'm home alone with the girls all day everyday. We get Daniel Wednesday evening and night and all of Sunday. That's it! We miss him. Today's Wednesday so he's home! WooHoo! He's been swamped with finals. Today he came home from work, got the girls involved in playing an educational game on their own, helped with dinner, burped the baby and said, "What do you need me to do?" But I didn't hear him. All I heard was a symphony. I have the best husband.

On another note, being alone with three girls three and under all the time has made me incredibly strong. I can hold a 15 pound baby, squat and brush a kid's teeth all at once. Don't I get some sort of badge for that? No? Okay. I guess I'll settle for semi-strong legs and a clean set of toddler's teeth.

I've been spending the last ten days trying to get my toddler to stop sucking her thumb 24/7. Have you ever spent time with an addict being forced to get over a major addiction? Draining....Get the thumb out get the thumb out get the thumb out. The way she reacts to this request would make a person passing by believe there was some sort of real torture involved. No, no torture. Just fighting addictions. I can joke about addiction because I have an addictive personality. I hold a record for completing all seasons of Prison Break in record time. Hello, how is it possible to stop looking at Wentworth Miller once one has seen his face? Too bad the poor kid can't act. He'd be unstoppable.

So why am I blogging today? Oh, why to share one of my favorite soups of course! Today is officially the first day of Fall in our neighborhood. We broke out our pants! It'd been so long, I had totally forgotten what my pants looked like. We also got to wear sweaters. We hit up Farmers Market and the produce looked amazing! So beautiful. I wanted to kiss the growers. I wanted to make this meal to warm us up and use lots of our fresh veggies.

I love this recipe because it has a variety of veggies and instead of pasta contains quinoa. When I make this, I use only 4 cups stock and substitute the rest with water. I don't toast the quinoa and I omit the coriander (because we don't have any and I'm too cheap to buy it). My favorite topping to add to this soup are corn tortillas which I cut into strips and then pan fry till crispy. Yummy! 

Saucy Southwestern Meal recipe here.  

from veria.com

I encourage you to check out other recipes on this site by Ann Gentry. This is definitely the easiest one on the site, her dishes can get really complicated, but all her food is amazing and the site has great cooking videos by her as well.

Here is my baby! We called her Sunny in the womb and she definitely has lived up to her name. 

 How about that chunk! Her two faces are happy and terrified. Aw...they are growing too fast. Not allowed.


Today I scrubbed my kitchen sink so bright it almost blinded me. Yes, these are the things that excite me in life now. I love being a stay at home mom! All the sippy cups and the... the...mess...I take comfort in knowing that a cleaning fairy is going wipe the mess away. Yes, I'm the fairy. Do I get a badge for that?

I'm on the hunt for easy, quick, cheap vegan dishes (that does not include just rice and beans). Please share if you have a staple!

The Best Vegan Lasagna and My Embarrassing Kitchen Moment

I try to avoid posting recipies that are labor intensive.

But I couldn't resist posting this one because 

it's the BEST lasana I've had in a long time.
I could have this every week.
So many layers of yumminess.
The hubby and I were in heaven eating it up.

I think making lasana is labor intensive in the first place.

I also came up with a great lunch recipe 

with some of the left over ingredients. 

So that's it,

had to share it.

Besides, I really don't think it's that much work.
I mean, okay yeah, it's very involved.
But it's totally worth it.
Don't let this recipe scare you.
Watching this video with the chef herself helped me a lot!

You can get the recipe here.

The only ingredient in here you all are probably the most unfamiliar with is miso.
Miso is in lots of vegan cooking because it contributes great flavor.
It also is an amazing food because it prevents tumors
by blocking the blood flow to them.
How incredible is that?!
I'm definitely going to be sharing a
Miso Anti-Tumor Soup soon.
Although, I don't plan on calling it that.

When you buy miso, make sure you get organic
to ensure you aren't getting Miso made from GMOs.
Cold Moutnain is a great brand.
You can find it at your local health food store
or Asian Market.

You need the miso to make the ricotta cheese for the lasagna.

I thought the lasagna recipe called for too much ricotta cheese. 

So I left some out and made this quick yummy dish for lunch the next day. 

Pasta with Carrots, Peas and Ricotta

Olive Oil

1/2 pound cooked pasta

2 chopped carrots

1 cup peas

1 cup vegan ricotta cheese

Sauté carrots in the olive oil for a couple of minutes until slightly soft.

Add peas and cook for a few minutes longer 

until peas and carrots look slightly brown. 

If I had had left over vegetable oil, 

I would have thrown a couple tablespoons in for flavor.

Add pasta.

Mix well.

Add ricotta cheese.

Get all those ingredients mixed well together.

Turn off heat.

That's it! 

Totally done. 

Crazy fast, easy and delicious!

Great way to sneak veggies into your toddler's

(and husband's) lunch. 

That just happened

I never knew why you were not supposed to put dish soap 

instead of dish washing soap into dishwashers. 

Now I know why. 

I grabbed the wrong bottle from the closet by accident and well, 

the result was an accident in the kitchen.

I still don't understand how two dish soaps can be so different.

My husband is so great.

I think he understands my Lucy Ricardo brainless moments by now.

He just cleaned up the mess,

all while he shook his head and smiled. 

Thanks babe.

And now you know how teeny tiny our kitchen is!

This is one half of it. 

My hubby put in an Ikea kitchen before we moved in.

I love it! It's totally perfect for me.

If I had a bigger space, I'd just make a bigger mess

(enter Daniel nodding his head).

Just goes to show you great food can come out of little spaces.

Yes, by saying that I mean both

the little kitchen and my little Lucy Ricardo head.

Vegan Macaroni and Cheese

Growing up, I could have lived off of cheese. 

Especially in the form of Mac 'n Cheese which highlights cheese at it's peak. Now that I'm vegan, I'm always trying different Mac 'n Cheese recipes to meet my occasional craving. After several different tries, the search is over! 
I have a new favorite that is totally satisfying and delicious. 

First, I'd like to introduce you to the star of the show Daiya, 

a new vegan cheese on the market,
which has taken the vegan world by storm. 

This stuff is really amazing. Soy-free and it doesn't have a long list of strange ingredients.
It melts like cheese and will kick any cheese cravings butt. 

Sigh, I'm in love. Thank you Daiya, for killing my dairy fetish. 

It wouldn't be a proper Mac 'n Cheese if it wasn't covered in bread crumbs before sticking it into the oven. Favorite part next to the cheese. 

Gooey and creamy, just what mac 'n cheese is all about. My husband loved it too.

I found this recipe to be surprisingly simple. It helps that Daiya packages the cheese pre-shredded.

For a crazy super short paragraph on 

why we opt for vegan mac 'n cheese

 instead of using typical dairy, click here and scroll to 15.