It's Menu Monday, Again!

Sunday - Spicy Thai Noodles. I have been looking for a recipe that is similar to the Asian noodles they serve in The Fruit Center's salad bar. They are so good. These were pretty close, but something was missing. Pineapple juice maybe?
Monday - Penne with Broccoli and Sun dried Tomatoes. Sounds yummy right? I am going to substitute nutritional yeast for the parmesan cheese.
Tuesday - Simple Sesame Noodles. Love Pioneer Woman. In my opinion, Peanut Noodles are yummier, but Joel likes these ones better.
Wednesday - Pizza Night
Thursday - Veggie Quesadillas
Friday - Scalloped Potatoes with Eggplant Bacon. Again. It was yummy! It will be yummier this time because I can tweak a few things after trying it once. Also, I will plan better. Last time we didn't get to eat this until 9:30 pm. Oops.

Menu Monday on Tuesday

I was distracted by Wahlbergs yesterday so I did not get a chance to write out my menu for you. So, here it is today:
Sunday - Lentil Burgers. Same old, same old...but Joel loves 'em.
Monday - Potato and Vegetable Curry from Simple Veg. Pleasures. All I have to say about this is
                OMG. It. was. so. good.  Fairly simple and so flavorful. Joel was "meh" about it, but I loved it.
                 Had it for lunch today too.
Tuesday - Pizza night. We made the dough from scratch this time. Oliver is in charge tonight while I head
                 over to Wahlburgers with Cari for some girl time.
Wednesday - Grilled Cheese, Fries and Edamame. Boring, but everyone eats it.
Thursday - Veggie Wraps. Quick and easy after a busy day with speech and OT.
Friday - Scalloped Potatoes and Eggplant Bacon This was too interesting not to try. The cream sauce is
             made out of cashews. And eggplant bacon? Really? We'll see.

Some Food Photos

We've been eating gooood this week. Here's a glimpse of some things we have had:

Brazilian Black Bean Soup with Vegan Cornbread. Admire the fancy plates!

Ziti with cauliflower, tomato and red pepper. SO YUMMY! So Easy!

But, really, the yummiest, easiest thing I have eaten this week is this toast with peanut butter and nutella. Heavenly.

Just Another Menu Monday

Ok, here it is:
Sunday - Lentil burgers and mashed potatoes. Yummy, but very time consuming.

Monday - Veggie burritos with rice. Another staple in our house. I like the addition of the rice in the burrito.

Tuesday - Brazilian Black bean soup with vegan cornbread.  This soup is delicious! I have never made vegan cornbread before, so I will let you know how that goes.

Wednesday - Potato and Vegetable Curry. A first time with this recipe. We'll see.

Thursday - Ziti with Cauliflower, Tomato and hot pepper. I made this once before. It was simple and good.

Friday - Baked Tofu and Mushroom Hoisin. Another first timer. I guess I am feeling daring this week.

I am not really sure what the kids will eat this week. I can tell you one thing for sure, they will not be eating any of this stuff!!  Maybe I will try to take pictures this week.

Menu Monday

Here's what we are serving at Chez Bielawa this week:

Monday - Spicy Peanut Noodles from the Simple Vegetarian Pleasures cookbook. (Or, as I like to call it, Pleasuring Your Simple Vegetarian.) We LOVE this meal. It is simple and yummy. (And by we, I mean all of us except for Oliver who doesn't like much of anything. That is another post for another day.) These noodles are also delicious as leftovers.

Tuesday - Veggie Wraps. Looks like I may have to whip up some homemade tortillas for this meal since the 4 packages I bought yesterday are already almost gone! My boys love their tortillas! I bought real sour cream for my veggie wraps and I can't wait for the dairy goodness. This vegan thing is so not for me!

Wednesday - Homemade Pizza. We still have some sauce leftover from last week's pizza which is a bonus. Oliver has become our pizza maker in the family. He loves to stretch out the dough and make individual pizzas with no sauce for himself and Morgan and a big pizza with sauce and "cheese" for Mom and Dad. I love that there is at least one meal that we can all enjoy together without stress.

Thursday - Grilled "cheese",  French fries and baked beans. I asked the kids to design their own flags today for school and Morgan put baked beans on hers. That is how much she loves them. 

Friday - Chickpea and Swiss Chard Soup. Also from Pleasuring Your Simple Vegetarian. Never made this before, so I will let you know. Joel tends to love all things chickpea, so I am hoping this soup is a hit.

 

Saturday - Lentil Walnut Burgers. These have become a weekly staple for us. I got the recipe from the Moosewood cookbook. Joel LOVES these and it has been fun to add our own little touches here and there and experiment with different added veggies and spices. The only bad part about making these is that the kids do not like them and they are really time consuming. So, not only am I spending the time to make the burgers, but I also have to come up with something else for the kids to eat. 

So, that's what we're eating at our house. What are you eating at your house this week?

Step One

Fabric has been purchased!! Now, if I could just find the time to sit down and get to work. I cannot wait to get started.

One Year Later...

Funny how it is almost exactly one year since I last wrote on this Blog. I guess fall is my season for getting back into blogging. And winter is my season for forgetting that I even have a blog.

Instead of trying to recap the last year, I am going to treat this as an old friend and pick up right where we are as if no time has passed at all.

Here are my goals for this blog, if I can keep up with it. (I make no promises!)

• Menu Mondays - I have been doing really well at planning out our meals for the week and think it would be cool to share ideas and recipes here. All of our meals at home are vegan now and it has been fun and challenging to find new, exciting recipes. I like my food to be exciting, don't you? My kids on the other hand, they like their food to be exactly the same all the time. Oliver especially. He would eat a bagel with cream cheese for every meal if I let him.
• Homeschool Updates - Year 2 of homeschool has been going really well. We are doing first grade curriculum and I am so proud of the progress they have made just 3 weeks in. We are doing more reading, with less stumbling and guessing, handwriting is improving and spelling is new this year. So far we are 3 for 3 with the spelling tests! We have already had a few days of just not being motivated (me and/or kids) but we have learned to press on in some cases and scrap it and do something else in other cases.
• The Saga of the Flower Girl Dresses - I will be making two flower girl dresses this month for my nephew's wedding in November. I am more than a little stressed over this. I am happy to do it, but feeling the time crunch and the pressure to not mess up. I will try to post updates and photos of the process. First item on the agenda: buy fabric.
• Links to interesting things - like this blog. This is a heart wrenching blog about a mom's battle with her little girl's terminal cancer. I heard about it from a friend on Facebook and looked it up last night and could not stop reading it. I kept telling myself not to read anymore because I know where it is going and do I really want to get that emotionally involved in this? But I could not stop. That poor child and that poor Mama to have to go through that. But, here she is a few years later able to write about her experience and, I am sure, to encourage other moms in her place. For me, it has made me spend a little more time thanking God for my healthy babies, a little more time snuggling with them first thing in the morning and just before bed and a little more time watching them sleep and marveling at the miracles that they are.

So, join me on my journey to rediscover blogging. And if you see me, remind me to blog.