Sunday, April 25, 2010

Kids Cooking, Consuming, and Creating


Josie and Her Green Smoothie
Most days we drink at least one green smoothie. Often they are red or purple, but 99% of them contain greens of some kind (kale, chard, collards, etc.) and Josie thinks they are all picture/blog worthy. Problem is, she is usually a mess, but she insists I take the picture anyway. Green smoothies are not for parents who like their kids super clean or my kids are just super messy. Anyway, she is sad that these smoothie pictures never show up on my blog so here ya go. She is a little less messy in this one, believe it or not. Most of our smoothies contain greens, various fruits, nuts, water (sometimes a vegan milk), flax seeds, and recently the kids talked me into buying Vega Smoothie Infusion. I think it is a tad chalky tasting, but the kids insist it takes great. I'm not a protein or any type of powder person, but I thought I'd try it out. We will use it up, but I can't say yet if we'll buy more. Here is a review from a fellow vegan blogger which makes me think it will grow on me like the hemp shake powder.

Parker's Painting
Parker painted this a few months ago when he wanted to do something nice for our neighbor/friend who was going through a lot at the time. He knew she liked flowers and thought the bright colors would cheer her up and the leaves are intentionally hearts. He hasn't painted much since because another wonderful neighbor has taken him under her wing and is teaching him knitting. Parker loves it. Soon he will take pottery again through the local park district (his favorite class to date). He loves anything artistic, but doesn't get enough art time away from his younger sibs who do not make it easy to concentrate and who always want to "help".

Perfect Pancakes from Vegan Brunch, Vanilla Ice Cream from Vitamix cookbook (Parker made), thawed wild blueberries, Cheesey Grits with hot sauce

Parker takes after me and can be found thumbing through vegan cookbooks on any given day. He loves to read the recipes and find new things to make or inspiration for his own creations. One such time, Parker was flipping through the cookbook which came with our beloved Vitamix. We were very low on ingredients in the house so the only recipe he found which we wouldn't have to substitute something was the Vanilla Ice Cream. I decided to make dinner into breakfast and he could top the pancakes with the ice cream. You have to eat it really quickly because it starts to melt immediately, but it tasted a lot like the homemade dairy ice cream I remember from my childhood. It was fun and easy to make. Parker had the idea to top it all with blueberries from the freezer and this made them complete. The cheesey grits are always a favorite any time of day. We love hot sauce and each member (including Josie, our two and half year old) has his/her own special hot sauce. Thus, grits means five hot sauce bottles on the table.

Ginger-Pear Pancakes (made by Parker) from 1,000 Vegan Recipes
We eat a lot of pears. We also eat a lot of ginger. Josie has been know to eat raw ginger from time to time. Parker often is the first one downstairs in the morning and he loves to whip up some of these Ginger-Pear Pancakes from 1,000 Vegan Recipes. Smelling these pancakes gets the rest of us up in a hurry! We use white whole wheat flour, of course, date sugar (date sugar is perfect in this recipe!), and canola oil instead of melted Earth Balance or apple sauce instead of any oil. Picture by Parker.
Blueberry Banana Pancakes by Parker (just a wing it thing)
We were out of ginger and pears one morning so Parker decided to make blueberry and banana pancakes instead. He just made up the recipe. The funny thing is we noticed weeks later that the recipe after Ginger-Pear Pancakes in 1,000 Vegan Recipes is Banana-Blueberry Pancakes. Neither one of us had noticed that before. We'll have to try Robin's version sometime. These were delish, but Parker didn't keep track of exactly how he made them. Picture by Parker.
Avocado Hummus Za'atar Sandwich on Veggie Seed Bread by Josie
Josie wanted to make her own sandwich a few weeks ago. She got everything out, came up with the combination herself, helped me make the hummus, cut the avocado, spread everything, and took the picture with my iphone. I cut the sandwich. She loves za'atar and would put it on almost anything. In fact, when we ran out of za'atar the other day she broke down and cried on the kitchen floor. I think she might have a past life which was not based in Midwestern America.

2 comments:

the sandwich life said...

I hope Parker knows that painting has a place of honor in our living room. It did indeed really, really help me that day....and I still love looking at it. My mother would have loved it as well.

Crystal said...

Josie's little green smoothie face is adorable and I have to agree with her love for Za'atar (seriously good stuff on everything)!

Parker is quite creative. Oh, how I wish I could borrow him one morning to make me pancakes. They all look so delicious.