This blog needs a new name... WIN A CUSTOM FUNKAKNITS HAT!

While I still plan to post updates on my sister and brother in laws afghan, this blog seems to have taken on a life of it's own. Post your blog name change suggestions in the comments and the winner will receive a custom made Funkaknits hat.

Deal on Organic Alergen Free Halloween Candy

It's not too late to order this for Halloween (or just to have for special occasions). I love that these lollipops are colored with vegetables!

How to:
Click the photo/link to the left.
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Enter code: SEPYUMMY at checkout for an additional 20% off
Your final price should be $17.50 with free 2 day shipping.

To order through subscribe and save, choose your quantity and any delivery schedule, then click “Subscribe now!” When you sign up for Subscribe and Save you are under no obligation and can cancel at anytime. To cancel your Subscribe and Save items, just click on “my account” and then “subscriptions” and with the click of a button you can cancel (I often do this directly from the order confirmation page, which has a link to manage your subscriptions). The order you just put in will still go through, but no others will.

Violet's Friday Food Post- Sweet VS Savory

My Divvies' Bakery Cookbook came last week and I got busy making sweet treats I wouldn't ordinarily make for a 19 month old!

The first recipe we chose (Ella insisted) was Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Icing (both vegan). I even managed to score some cupcake sprinkles made with real vegetable dye instead of yucky red 40, yellow 5 (which V breaks out into hives from) etc.

The Divvies Chocolate Cupcake and Vanilla Frosting

Next time I make these I plan to make a "cream cheese"/powdered sugar frosting as opposed to this "butter cream" recipe. The girls loved them (squeals of "good! good!") and even Chris (a hard sell) said he enjoyed them.

Next from the Divvies Cookbook, Mini Marshmallow Chocolate Clusters, showed up as result of one of my late night cravings for chocolate.
I wish I could post these recipes but just don't feel right about it, especially since this is such a new book. I will say these were absolutely delicious and I will be making these again and again for parties or when I need something sweet in a pinch. The entire make time took about 5 minutes and I had all the ingredients already in my pantry. I used Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips, added about a teaspoon of canola oil (not in the recipe) and Dandies Marshmallows (vegan!). The ultimate test- I had to stop Chris from eating these out of the fridge so I could photograph them the next morning!

chocolate cooling/hardening

look how pretty! so easy and delicious!

Salmon Burgers with Vegan Avocado Dip
The girls were not home at the same time to eat these and loved them so much they each wanted the others serving. Ella tried to convince me that Violet could have bananas for dinner instead!


(egg free variation on Weelicious Salmon Burgers)
Ingredients:
1 Lb. Fresh Salmon, skinned
1ener-G "egg"

1 Tsp Dried Dill
1/2 Tsp Salt


Place ingredients in a food processor and pulse until just combined (you should still see tiny pieces of salmon).
2. Form into patties and place on a sheet tray lined with foil or plastic wrap (mixture will be sticky. Using wet hands will make forming the patties much easier).
3. Cover and refrigerate the salmon patties for 1 hour.
4. Heat oil over medium/high heat in a large skillet.
5. Cook the patties for 3 minutes on each side.

Vegan Avocado Dip 
in a bowl combine with a fork (I like mine chunky but you could food process this mixture for a smoother texture):
2 tablespoons of Grape Seed Oil Vegenaise
1 avocado 
pinch of salt

Summer Rolls
I've come to realize recently these could be filled with just about anything including fruit or meat.
This week my rolls were filled with any combo of avocado (a must for me), carrots, beansprouts, cucumber, plum sauce and Better Than Cream Cheese (didn't much care for it in my rolls).

These were not a kid favorite (yet) but I loved them so much I made them almost every day for my lunch.

deal on Nutiva Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, 15-Ounce Tubs (Pack of 2)

How to:
Click here
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Your final price should be $11.68 with free shipping.

To order through subscribe and save, choose your quantity and any delivery schedule, then click “Subscribe now!” When you sign up for Subscribe and Save you are under no obligation and can cancel at anytime. To cancel your Subscribe and Save items, just click on “my account” and then “subscriptions” and with the click of a button you can cancel (I often do this directly from the order confirmation page, which has a link to manage your subscriptions). The order you just put in will still go through, but no others will.

agave nectar on the cheap

For those of you who use Agave, this is an awesome price!

How to:
Click the link above.
Sign up through Subscribe and Save.
Your final price should be $16.15 with free shipping.

To order through subscribe and save, choose your quantity and any delivery schedule, then click “Subscribe now!” When you sign up for Subscribe and Save you are under no obligation and can cancel at anytime. To cancel your Subscribe and Save items, just click on “my account” and then “subscriptions” and with the click of a button you can cancel (I often do this directly from the order confirmation page, which has a link to manage your subscriptions). The order you just put in will still go through, but no others will.

Kanapaha Botanical Gardens

Wednesday for us was a beautiful Florida day at Kanapaha Botanical Gardens.

ready to go!

little girls

E in the bananas

Violet's Friday Food Post

This was kind of a crazy week so I didn't get many food photos. I did get to take some of the girls playing at beautiful Kanapaha Gardens (stay tuned for the next post coming up).

Monday nights, meal:

Wilted Kale with Mustard & Organic Beef Hot Dogs 

In my head I head whoever is reading this laughing in disbelief...allow me to explain. Every Monday we go for our local organic produce coop pick up. This particular Monday, I happened to have ordered a few packs of hot dogs from the coop as well. The whole ride home both girls had been snacking on raw kale in the back seat and while I had planned to make them hot dogs for dinner, they were enjoying the Kale so much that for some reason it all sounded good mixed together. So that was dinner. And it was really really good (we promise!).

Another meat item we had this week is something Ella calls Pig Roll-Ups
No photo, but it's a quick and easy snack!

ingredients:
a few slices of ham (Make sure your deli meat is Casein free!)
Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese (Garlic & Herb)

spread each slice of ham with a light layer of the Tofutti, roll it up and slice into bite sized pieces

Last on our Friday Food Post is a recipe we'll be making quite a bit from now on. While the original recipe comes from Weelicious,  if my friend mØmmacat hadn't blogged about it recently I never would have seen it!

PUMPKIN MILKSHAKES!!! 

We used Publix brand Organic Vanilla soy Milk and they came out AWESOME.
Violet took her first sip, looked up at me and said, "GOOD!"

late night poetry

Nancy A Henry

Art Appreciation

It was Mrs. Selly’s kindergarten

the first chilly day

Julie Wilcox, at naptime

on her mat by the radiator

intoxicated by the scent

of freshly painted iron

heating up

the magic smell of crayon

that janitorial odor of floor

was not napping. So she

reached into the box

of fat fist-sized crayons

broken and slipped from

their paper tubes

discovered how nicely

they melted on the

 hot groaning metal

 how they mashed

into vivid splotches

under her Mary Janes

on the old beige linoleum

and then

we were all off our mats

quietly doing the twist

on this spreading blob

of melted wax

making a kaleidoscope

making a new beautiful floor

for teacher and wherever

Mrs. Selly went at naptime

she came back from

and we were the worst

class of kindergarteners

she ever had and that night

our mothers had to iron crayon

off the bottoms of our new shoes

onto white rags

and my mother showed me

how that was beautiful

too.

----------------------------------------------------------

The daughter of an old friend of mine, I was introduced to her poetry right before I had Ella. I remember skipping back and forth in the two books of hers I'd been given, unable to tear my eyes away.

Violet's Friday Food Post

First up this week is Monday's dinner:
I sauteed some fresh cauliflower in garlic, sea salt, Earth Balance and a little bit of water. In the background you can see 12 lbs of beets from our weekly produce order.

This is a meal the girls and I eat for either lunch or dinner every day:
It's just a light saute of Cut 'n Clean Greens (one of my new favorite things!), broccoli and mushrooms with Braggs, olive oil, garlic, sea salt and a bit of water. They devour their bowls and ask for more!

Last up is Vegan French Toast.. This is no "vegan substitute recipe"- it's far better than any "real" French Toast I've ever tried!

I started with a loaf of white bread baked the night before (I wasn't sure how this would be with whole wheat but after trying the recipe I think it would work and will make it that way next time):

The recipe I used

Ingredients:
2 cups vanilla soy milk
4-5 tablespoons flour
3 teaspoons sugar
dash cinnamon
bread slices (your choice)
sugar to taste

Directions:
Mix flour, soy milk, vegan sugar and cinnamon to form a batter. Dip bread and fry in lightly greased pan until golden brown. Sprinkle with vegan powdered sugar (we also used Earth Balance).

Makes: 4 servings, Preparation time: 15 minutes, Cooking time: 10 minutes

 I made this a second time this week and made E & V thick french toast sticks.