J had a friend over for a babysitting playdate, so besides a grocery store run (okay, two: I forgot stuff), we mostly puttered around the house today. Some weeding was accomplished, although you couldn’t tell by, you know, looking at my garden.
For much of the time, though, I was in the kitchen. The girls were playing so nicely that I feared my presence could jinx it. So I was trying to lay low. I did amble out with a snack which, if I do say so myself, was raaawh–ther lovely:
Lately, I’ve been feeling a little bit like all my kids want to eat is junk. I decided to amp up the presentation. I’m not going, you know, all crazy-ass Bento Lunch or anything (and I mean crazy-ass in a good way). But kids really do like their food cute. And they like to do it themselves, hence the mini-spreader revelation. Three vegetables, hummus, peanut butter, whole wheat, two fruits: everything was at least nibbled. And, yes, I know that bologna isn’t health food, but that was J’s special request.
Incidentally, the drinks are decaf iced tea with mint leaves, 3:2 ratio of green tea & black, sweetened with a little bit of maple syrup. Exotiques, non? Come to think of it, I don’t think J’s friend drank any. . . . But this beverage is my latest solution to my near-constant craving for Coke Zero. I have been mostly on the wagon for, like, months now. I still need The Serenity Prayer on Mexican food nights. Not really, silly! That’s what Coronas with lime are for!
Later, I finally managed to make a vegan dish that everyone in the family will eat! It’s the peanut butter cups from The Kind Diet, which I’ve borrowed from the library. Actually, I was supposed to use special vegan graham crackers in them, and instead I used the crumbs that I brought home back in December, after some other moms and I made small faux gingerbread houses for all the kids in J’s nursery school class. I know: I’m shameless. Turns out that if you smash them up and soak them in peanut butter and fake butter, you can’t even tell if they’re stale!
But truly, the peanut butter cups were delicious. The only “problem” was that they were perhaps too ooey-gooey. This is not such a terrible problem in a chocolate-peanut butter concoction in my book.
Alas, the vegan main dish I tried–Rustic Pasta–was not so popular. Personally, I loved it. I would actually like to go downstairs and eat more of it right this minute. But the girls didn’t even give it a try, and W took a taste and then sheepishly reached for the big bowl of marinara with meatballs that I’d prepared as a back-up (bottled and frozen, thank you–I can only cook so much in one day). That reaction is what I’ve come to expect, as you know.
Which reminds me: guess what this is?
This is what happens when you still haven’t cleaned the Silly Straw from lunchtime and it’s waiting in the sink when you go to drain your pasta for dinner. Whoops.
