That sign has nothing at all to do with this post. I just spotted it in my neighborhood while Jack and I were out for a walk tonight and it made me laugh.

Once again we had lots of “outside time” today, which was designed to wear Jack out, but really it just makes ME sleepy. He was still raring to go after his bath 15 minutes ago. We started with a morning walk with his neighborhood buddies. It was so nice out when we got home that I called Brian to see if he wanted to have a picnic lunch with us at the Scottish Rite playground (our new favorite). So I threw a few sandwiches together and headed out.

Can you tell how much Jack loves this playground? He looks like a 6 year old in this picture and I do not like it. One. Bit.

There were several “big kids” there today and he just trails them like a little puppy, saying, “Hi! Hi! Hi!” over and over again. They just ignore him, of course. Poor guy- not that it seems to bother him.

Jack did not want to pose for any picnic pictures. Brian’s giving him the, “Look at Mommy!” point and he’s just like, pssssshhhhh. Places to go and people to see.

Once Jack was up from his nap, we met some of his friends for a playdate at yet another park. Then it was home to cook dinner: Sweet & Sour Chipotle Tempeh with Sweet Potatoes from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan, along with Coconut-Lime Basmati Rice (from the same cookbook).

I know I’ve made this recipe before, but I forgot just how SWEET it is. I even substituted apple cider vinegar for the rice wine vinegar and it was still super sweet. It’s a pretty easy recipe- you just chop up some sweet potato, bell pepper, onion and tempeh and throw it in a baking dish with pineapple chunks and the sauce, then bake for an hour. If you’re a fan of traditional sweet and sour chicken or shrimp then you’ll probably like this.

And that rice is one of my absolute favorites. Can anything with coconut milk and lime be bad?

That little hunk o’ meat on the side there is my leftover filet from Bob’s. Way to de-veganize my vegan meal, right?

Brian’s playing basketball tonight so I have the TV to myself. This NEVER HAPPENS. Off to catch up on some Hoarders…

What I DIDN’T think about was the fact that there are 2 elementary schools in our neighborhood. It was like running a gauntlet trying not get hit by all of the carpools. Yikes.

Got home and jumped in the shower, then Jack was up and at ‘em. Don’t you hate it when you shower and still can’t stop sweating (gross)? A smoothie seemed like a good solution to that problem. I’m always freezing afterward.

• 1 C Skim Milk
• 1 Scoop Vanilla Whey Protein Powder
• Frozen Berries
• 1/2 Frozen Banana
• Baby Spinach
• Honey
• Chocolate PB2
• Ice

We tried to fit in lots of hang-out time with my parents today, because they leave tomorrow for FINLAND. What? You’ve never been there? I’ve given them strict instructions to return with a reindeer for Jack and lots of Marimekko for me.

We met my mom for lunch at El Fenix, so I’ve had my fill of obscenely greasy tex-mex for a while. Oh, let’s be serious- I’ll probably have more this weekend.

The highlight of our day was paying a visit to my high school friend Amanda, who just had… wait for it… TRIPLETS.

Wyatt, Abigail and Jessy Grace.

Given my experience with a newborn, I expected to find 3x the chaos. Um, notsomuch. This was a calm, collected house. Amanda looked amazing. The babies were happily swinging, snoozing and being held, respectively. Perfect little angels. MY baby, on the other hand, barfed on my mom about two seconds after we arrived and then fussed for the rest of the visit.

The triplets were precious and I had so much fun holding Jessy Grace. Newborns are just so sweet. (Don’t worry- I’ll just be holding OTHER PEOPLE’S newborns for a while. Pukey McScreecherson is keeping me plenty busy enough, thank you very much.)

Tonight’s dinner was how we should be eating every night. And I’d be fine with that. Brian, on the other hand, loves nothing more than to complain about how the house smells like “broccoli farts.”

From Vive le Vegan: Sweet Curry Chickpea Casserole.

The loveliness you see here consists of chickpeas, sweet potatoes, diced apples, red onion, celery, coconut milk and lots & lots of spices. Other than all of the chopping, it’s super simple to make. Everything gets tossed into a large casserole dish, stirred, and baked for an hour. My only complaint was that the recipe lacked salt- but that’s easy enough to fix.

Served over brown basmati (my favorite… it smells like popcorn) with a side of roasted broccoli.

We have a date with Tivo so I’m signing off. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

And the dough is delicious.

Chocolate-Banana Oat Bites

Makes 15-20

• 1 Cup Rolled Oats
• 2/3 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
• 1/4 tsp Kosher Salt
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/4 Cup Unsweetened Coconut
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 3 Very Ripe Bananas, Mashed Well
• 1/2 C Brown Sugar
• 2 Tbs Coconut Oil (or Canola Oil)
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 C Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• 1/4 C Raisins

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, combine oats, flour, salt, cinnamon, coconut and baking powder. Stir well.

3. In another bowl, stir together bananas, brown sugar, oil and vanilla.

4. Add banana mixture to flour mixture and stir to combine. Do not overmix. Stir in raisins and chocolate chips.

5. On a greased cookie sheet, scoop out dough in small mounds (I used a 2 oz ice cream scoop). Bake for 12-14 minutes. They’ll maintain the rounded shape- so don’t worry when the cookies don’t spread.

The cookies are SUPER moist, thanks to the bananas. Although the ones I baked weren’t, it wouldn’t be hard to “veganize” the recipe- just sub in vegan chocolate chips.

Enjoy!

Wine & Reese’s Pieces.

(Yeah, yeah- giant glass, I know. There was only a tiny bit left in the bottle so I just dumped it all in.)

I also have a nice little ringing in the ears going on, thanks to The Senator. He was fus-sy tonight. I think he was just tired. I rocked him like three times and he was out like a light.

This morning he actually slept ’til 8, which was great since he was up at 3:45am and then again at 7. Breakfast was Yoplait Apple Turnover Yogurt topped with my neverending homemade granola. Seriously, I’ve been eating this stuff for a week and barely made a dent.

After breakfast we played, Shredded and then Jack went down for a nap. I threw together what actually turned out to be quite the delicious lunch:

Leftover chickpea ratatouille, along with an Oroweat Sandwich Thin topped with leftover rotisserie chicken, mayo and 1/4 of an avocado, mashed. Oh, and carrots.

We only have a teeny bit of the ratatouille left. Sad. It’s one of those dishes that gets better after the first day.

After lunch we ventured to Newflower and Target. I think I’ve mentioned that my only beef with Newflower is their tiny, narrow grocery carts. Since Jack’s not old enough to just sit in the cart, we have to Baby Bjorn it (Hangover-style). Luckily Jack likes the Bjorn, but it’s really awkward when I’m trying to unload the cart at the register. I have to lean sideways into the basket, reaching in for stuff while trying to keep Jack from falling out. Luckily the guy in line behind me took pity on us (or realized that this was going to be a looooong process) and helped unload everything. People are so nice.

And then it was on to Target, where we bought dog food and clothes for Jack. GOD- I’m too weak for the cuteness of the Dwell baby clothes. I just need to stay far, far away. Oh, and I bought a new planner because I refuse to pay $40 for REFILL PAGES for my Kate Spade planner. I’ve used that thing for 10 years and love it, but apparently they jacked up the prices and I just can’t see spending that much for paper.

And anyway, this one is cute and was only $20 for the whole shebang.

Last week I bought a loaf (slab? log?) of tempeh at Whole Foods and have been trying to think of something good to do with it. Tonight I ended up stir frying it with broccoli, red pepper, celery, mushrooms and garlic. It was topped with a spicy sauce made from chicken broth, mirin, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, cornstarch, soy sauce and sriracha (recipe from Food Network Magazine).

Served over quinoa:

Good dinner. I needed the veggies.

Alright, off to fold some laundry and then BED. We’ve been staying up too late recently.

- SURVEY -

How do you “reward” yourself?

Had a little PB&J action for breakfast- along with a couple clementines.

I did the Shred today- level 2. I’ve been on level 2 for a while now, but I’m terrified to amp it up to level 3. This workout still seems REALLY hard, which I guess is a good thing. Have I mentioned that I’ve lost 10 lbs since starting the videos (a little over a month ago)?? So now I’m about 10 lbs from pre-preggo weight… and like 30 lbs from my happy, I- feel-like-me weight. Slowly but surely.

Lunch was leftover Lemon-Asparagus Pasta, and 2 flatbreads topped with Sabra hummus.

And a little chocolate fix for dessert:

After lunch we headed to the mall to meet my mom. Jack has officially “found” his voice and shrieked all over Macy’s. It cracks me up- I think he just likes hearing himself. He’ll let out this loud cry and then grin. I forced myself to buy a dress at Ann Taylor Loft. I really didn’t want to buy any clothes for myself until I was back to my normal size, but we have a few events coming up where I probably shouldn’t show up in Target yoga pants and flip flops. Like weddings.

Dinner tonight featured a few of my favorite foods: The Cashew Ginger Tofu from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan, roasted broccoli and brown basmati rice.

The cashew-ginger sauce is a-mazing. Try it. It’s like peanut sauce but BETTER.

I think I’m going to have a glass of wine now &  hope the ringing in my ears (thanks to Jack) goes away. Hey, guess what? Tomorrow’s FRIDAY!

- SURVEY -

What are you looking forward to this weekend?

Lunch with Brian tomorrow (our new Friday tradition), getting some sleep and hopefully hanging out outside. It’s supposed to be gorgeous this weekend! Finally! Oh, and I’m looking forward to my glass of wine in… 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Breakfast this morning was a Brown Cow Greek Yogurt buried deep in the fridge (score!), topped with a chopped apple, a little granola and the dregs of a bottle of honey:

Lauren called to see if Jack and I wanted to meet up for lunch today. Both she and Allison were off for MLK Day, so we met them at a new restaurant off Knox: Farnatchi. The Dallas Morning News gave it a good review last week, and I’m all for busting out of my sad, sad restaurant rut (Tony’s, anyone?).

It’s not a very big restaurant, and not very busy either. BUT pretty much everything on the menu sounded great, and they had some good deals on lunch specials (pizza and drink; pasta, soup and drink; sandwich and drink- all for less than $8). All three of us ended up ordering pizza.

I had one with mozzarella, gorgonzola, pears, candied dates and arugula:

Lauren had the “3 Funghi” with mushrooms, goat cheese, mozzarella and spinach:

And Allison had the Grilled Veggie with Caramelized Onions:

We all shared slices. The pizzas are thin and crispy and would give Fireside Pies a run for its money (and so much less crowded!). The toppings all taste really fresh. I loved the dates and gorgonzola on mine, but Lauren’s was the best.  Ohhhh, goat cheese. Did I mention that the small pizzas- PLENTY for one person- are $7 or less? I even brought a slice home. I can’t wait to take Brian here soon. The couple at the next table were going nuts over the burger and the salmon sandwich, but I think they might have been affiliated with the restaurant somehow (they refilled their own drinks).

So guess what??? I took my first post-baby run today! My mom and dad hung out with Jack while I did my good ol’ neighborhood route- around 3 miles.  I definitely didn’t RUN The entire thing, but it went much better than I thought it would. A little more jiggling (lovely) and a few side stitches. I was just so excited to be getting some real exercise again. I never thought I’d be so happy to sweat. I have a feeling that the booty might be pretty sore tomorrow.

Post run snack:

Dinner was the Channa Palak Masala I made yesterday. We served it on top of brown basmati rice, along with a side of leftover baked tofu with Annie’s Woodstock for dipping.

I really liked it. Brian was not a huge fan- though that probably stemmed from the lack of meat.

Alright, off to shower and hopefully get some reading in before bed.

(PS- I just realized that this is my 500th post!!! Holy crap I’ve been writing this blog for a long time… almost 2 years!)

So Jack turns 6 weeks tomorrow. I can’t believe it! And the coolest part is that he’s started smiling at us. It’s the sweetest smile you’ve ever seen (not that I’m at all biased)- this huge open mouth grin. He’s super happy in the mornings and during bathtime. I’ve been trying to snap a photo but he’s too quick for me… here’s a blurry one from tonight:

Mothers, lock up your daughters!

This morning he actually hung out in his swing long enough for me to eat breakfast. I had crunchy pb and sour cherry spoon fruit on double fiber bread, along with coffee.

Leftovers to the rescue for lunch.  Last night’s Southwestern Grilled Chicken Salad, topped with Annie’s Goddess Dressing.

And this for dessert… my last Baci chocolate

I don’t think there’s any cookbook I use more than Eat, Drink and Be Vegan. A lot of vegan/vegetarian cookbooks tend to have a lot of  hard to find, pricey ingredients (brewer’s yeast, seitan,  TVP, etc) and complicated instructions. Not so with this one- and every recipe I’ve tried has been good. Tonight I made one that we’d had once or twice before: Cocoa-Coconut Chili. It sounds weird; cocoa powder and dried coconut in a savory recipe??? But it’s actually really good. The cocoa isn’t overpowering and the coconut milk kind of mellows it out a bit.

I had it with lots of lime (per the recipe recommendations), along with a MSF Chick Pattie and a couple of pieces of gruyere. I forgot that we had a chunk of cheese in the fridge leftover from the Gruyere Walnut Crisps I made at Christmas.

Wow, this is the shortest post I’ve had in a while! I’m scrambling to finish a book before our book club meets on Wednesday- Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. This afternoon I had to resort to pacing through the house wearing Jack in the Baby Bjorn while trying to catch up on the reading.

It’s amazing how much this chills him out. He was asleep about 2 minutes later. Thank you, Mr. Bjorn… whoever you are.

(PS- I’ve never watched The Bachelor before, but I might just be sucked in now. Both Brian and I were glued to the TV tonight. Scandal!)

Anyway, today was fun. Actually, it was fine until about noon- after which Jack cried all. freaking. day. Aren’t newborns supposed to sleep a lot? I don’t think Jack is aware of this. Last night he was up at midnight, 3am, 6am and 8am, and then he never slept for more than a 10 minute stretch the rest of the day. I could tell he was exhausted (and crabby), but the little guy just wouldn’t give in and go to sleep. Usually if I stick him in the Baby Bjorn he passes out, but today it didn’t really work. Any time I stopped moving he woke up. I hear that things get easier after 6 weeks… soooo, six more days, six more days.

Thanks for all of the microwave oatmeal suggestions!! I took your tips and: 1. Used a bigger bowl, 2. Added salt, and 3. Stirred after 1 minute. I also used 1/2 milk and 1/2 water instead of milk only, and I reduced the amount of liquid just a little. It turned out MUCH better!

It still almost boiled over a few times, but I didn’t have to check it every 10 seconds like yesterday. I pulled out the cinnamon-raisin PB and then got really excited because the jar was almost empty… meaning that I can be like all the cool kids and make Oats in a Jar!

It’s worth the hype.

I was all pumped to watch tivo’d Teen Mom while I ate lunch. The plan was to make a faux chicken parm sandwich, but unfortunately someone ate the last chicken patty and didn’t tell me. So I shook my fist and cursed Brian (who was probably out eating a delicious lunch and conversing with actual adults), then settled on a MSF Garden Veggie Patty instead. Topped an Ezekiel bun with the patty, some baby spinach, pasta sauce and mozzarella then put it all under the broiler.

Along with baby carrots and cucumber-dill hummus.

Okay, so Brian and I are not responsible enough to own a home. Ever since it’s gotten cold (the past month or so), our heater hasn’t been able to keep up with the thermostat. We set it at 73, and in the mornings it’s registering in the mid-60′s. We’re supposed to have an “Arctic Blast” in the next couple of days, so today I called our Heat & AC guy to see if he could come check out the heater. After I explained the issue, he asks me, “Have you changed your filter lately?”

Um, noooo. I went to check it out and the thing is so black and dusty it’s disgusting.

So I pull out the filter. In less than an hour the temp in the house was back up to 73. And the heater stopped making a funny noise. Huh. GOOD TO KNOW. At least we didn’t have to pay anyone to fix it.

For dinner I tried the Brown Rice and Bean “Jumble-Aya” from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan.

Very yummy. And it’s pretty easy to make, minus a lot of measuring and chopping. I will tell you that the rice took much longer to cook than the recipe indicated (at least 10-15 minutes longer). I also had a baby spinach and grape tomato salad with Annie’s Woodstock Dressing.

Off to bathe Jack and hopefully get him to sleep. Stay warm!

I didn’t want to eat anything too hot (oatmeal) or too cold (Green Monster) for breakfast, so I toasted an Ezekiel english muffin and topped it with almond butter and a sliced banana.

After the dentist I headed downtown (er, uptown) to meet Brian for lunch. He suggested La Cubanita, and being a fan of Lombardi restaurants in general, I concurred.

Started with the Lentil Soup with Chorizo:

Delicious. Lentil soup has the potential to be painfully boring, but this one was smoky and well-spiced. The chorizo provided a nice chewy constrast to the lentils, too. Would have been great with a big hunk of bread.

For my entree I had the La Cubanita Chopped Salad:

Romaine, mango, tomato, bacon, hearts of palm and avocado. I’m not going to lie, the main reasons for ordering this were: 1. avocado, and 2. hearts of palm. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough of either. But I was happy with my order and really liked the passion fruit vinaigrette.

We just had new neighbors move in next door and Brian suggested that I stop spying on them and go say hi instead. He’s nice like that. So rather than head over empty-handed, I pulled out my trusty old Mrs. Field’s Cookie Book (I’ve had this since I was 10) and decided to make the Applesauce Oaties. Could they have come up with a more unfortunate name? I think not. This is basically a spiced oatmeal cookie with raisins, walnuts and chocolate chips. It does contain about 3/4 C of applesauce, which seems like a lot. I baked them for longer than the recipe indicated and they were still kind of falling-apart moist. Oh well.

(Oh, and the neighbors seem very nice.)

We had a couple of eggplants in the fridge, so for dinner I made the Tomato and Roasted Eggplant Stew with Chickpeas from Veganomicon. You roast the eggplant for a LONG time and it came out kind of charred, so I was dubious. The stew also features roasted red peppers, onions, chickpeas and a whole can of tomatoes. It looked thick so I added a little water. It came out wonderfully!

Even Brian liked it. I had mine with an East TX tomato with salt, and a toasted pita smeared with goat cheese. Mmmm.

Hope everyone had a productive Monday!

OH, look at these cute studded bracelets I found at Target today:

They remind me of these CC Skye bracelets I was lusting after last year. Except $10. For FOUR.

What’s the best deal you’ve found lately?

We were out of bananas, so this one was:

• 1 C Vanilla Almond Breeze
• 1 Scoop Vanilla Protein Powder
• 1 Cup Frozen Berries
• 2 Handfuls Baby Spinach
• 1 Tbs Cashew Butter
• Ice

Today I was scheduled to babysit and realized 5 minutes before leaving the house this morning that I had nothing to bring for lunch. Dug around in the freezer and unearthed this baby… I have no idea how long it’s been in there:

This is what it looks like straight out of the microwave:

And a little more presentable- mixed together in a bowl:

Verdict? It was okay. I don’t think I’d buy this again. It had kind of an overwhelming cumin flavor but desperately lacked salt. A little sriracha also helped matters quite a bit. If you’re interested in nutrition info, it was 300 cals and around 30% DV of sodium (that’s all I paid attention to). The rice part was surprisingly tasty, though.

I got home a little early and got the urge to bake. When I say “the urge to bake”, I actually mean that I wanted to eat a bunch of cookie dough. Apparently raw eggs are a no-go for us preggers (salmonella and foodborne illness and whatnot… blahblahblah), so that’s where vegan cookie recipes come in handy. I found this recipe for high-protein, high-fiber On The Glo Cookies on Oh She Glows. It packs in quite a few ingredients, but all are pretty healthy- and by some miracle we actually had all of them on hand. Hooray. I didn’t have any spelt so used whole wheat flour instead.

They’re yummy.

A lot like the Eat, Drink and Be Vegan Super-Charge Me Cookies, actually, but with cocoa powder and bananas.

Tonight we went out to Allen to visit my friend Ashleigh’s new baby, Cayden. He was gorgeous! Afterwards we headed to Abuelo’s for dinner. I’d never actually eaten at an Abuelo’s but was always intrigued by their decor. I ordered one chicken enchilada with sour cream sauce and one avocado enchilada with ranchero sauce:

I’m sad to say that, aside from the chips, it was not good. They sat us in the bar (weird- the restaurant was almost empty) and then the food took forever. I wish the meal had made up for all that… but not so much. Maybe we’re just spoiled- there are so many great tex-mex restaurants here that it’s sad when you eat at one that’s just so-so.

Trying to decide what to do tomorrow. As I said, I’m off for the rest of the week. Maybe I’ll find some good recipes to make for dinner- like ones that take longer than 15 minutes to prepare, for instance. Oooh, let’s not get too crazy.

-SURVEY-

Are there any chain restaurants that you really like? Or do you avoid them at all costs?