Scrumptious Layered Potato Casserole and Revolutionary Product Picks

I finally bought a little potty for Josie Friday to aid in EC-ing (Elimination Communication). I always prefer to just use the real toilet (less clean up), but I thought this would help at night. I either take her to the bathroom or change her diaper four times a night. I did this with the boys and they were done peeing at night by six months. Josie tried it out soon after arriving home. Dema was so excited and asked if he could go dump it for me. It was just pee so I said sure and he was so happy to help out and that Josie was going in her new little potty which he picked out. It takes so little to make him happy. Both boys love the color of the potty and are very into helping me EC Josie. She doesn't actually like to touch the potty so I have to hold her above it and it is a little awkward so I don't let them do this part.

Rob and the boys made Scrumptious Layered Potato Casserole from Vegan Family Favorites Saturday night. He used red onions and cut back on it quite a bit and I think it was perfect. We like onions, but he was running out of room in the casserole dish. The recipe called for vegan ground round crumbles and we used up some in our freezer. Several veg*n friends of ours have moved and they give us their perishable food so the crumbles were from a move. They added a nice texture, but it would have been fine without or better with seitan. This would be a great dish for meat-eating friends or satisfying meal on a cold day. It was also a great recipe for the boys to help with. The slicing and then layering was a lot of fun for them. Today the boys had some of their non-veg neighborhood friends over for a picnic and they ate left of Vegan Bake Ziti, Scrumptious Layered Potato Casserole, apples, and Weetabix (more about this later in the post under Parker's product picks) with Sunbutter and jelly.

This morning we had scrambled tofu (tofu, mushrooms, onions, sweet peppers, spices), oatmeal w/flax seeds, blackstrap molasses, and apples, and hash browns w/homemade ketchup (there is only one place in town where I can find the unsweetened ketchup we like and I keep forgetting to pick some up so Rob through together tomato paste, a pinch of sugar and salt...the kids couldn't tell the difference). We are in a little weekend breakfast rut. My goal this week is to plan out new menus. I'm not a big cereal fan (most of them are lacking in nutrients and processed so I prefer oatmeal, but there is only so much oatmeal one can eat) and I end up eating leftovers for breakfast quite often.

Parker lost another tooth yesterday. It was very loose and as is consistent with his personality, he tends to take his time loosing teeth (they can be loose for months) and for some reason the other top tooth is taking its own sweet time coming in as well. So, here he is missing his two top front teeth and may be wishing for them at Christmas since there is no new tooth in sight. He came in from playing to give me the tooth. He was all excited because his friend down the street "helped" him loose it by accidentally knocking his leg into Parker's mouth. I didn't ask since there was no blood and he was happy. Friends for seven year old boys will be a subject for another post.

Parker's Product Picks:

Weetabix

As I mentioned before, when our veg friends leave town we inherit some food. Parker and Dema love our friends Mike and Alison so they were excited to try any foods they left for us. Weetabix is one of these foods and I'm pretty sure they would never have been interested in them if it wasn't "Mike and Alison's food". (I'm guessing Weetabix was mostly Mike's since he grew up eating it in Ireland.) Now they are hooked. For those of you who haven't tried them, it comes in these little bricks (I think they call them "biscuits") which may be half the allure. Their favorite way to eat them is with some nut butter and jelly, but they will crumble them in soy yogurt, eat as cereal, or just plain.

Uncle Sam Cereal with Mixed Berries

Ironically, looking for Wheetabix (from the UK) led Parker to notice "Uncle Sam Cereal" which is not something I would even think to buy. I looked at the ingredients and said okay. He loves it with organic mixed frozen fruit, but I find it to taste way to flaxy for me. I love flax seeds (ground and oil), but this has too strong a taste for me, but Parker asks for more. Most cereals have whole flax seeds and this may be the case since it lists whole flax seeds on the ingredients, but I couldn't see them and the taste makes me believe the seeds may be ground. I found it interesting that I had never heard of this cereal before since it has been around 100 years.