Week 8

Note: The thumbs: 👍👎 that you see after each meal pic are the opinions of my 4 children in order oldest to youngest.  Take them with a grain of salt, as they tend to be quite picky.  My husband and I are loving pretty much everything I cook! I'm hoping my kids will learn to like more and more, but for now we have the thumbs!!

Week 8 ...

I am realizing that my younger two kids are much easier to feed than my older two.  My older two are picky!  Here's how our week went...

Cauliflower Fried "Rice"

Julius & I loved this, but the kids... not so much

👎👎👎👎

Cherry Tomatoes, Green Beans and Vegan Sausage (Muskoka Foods)

👍👍👍👍
Hubby cooked this, it was such a nice treat!

Toasted Garlic Bread

👍👍👍👍

Buckwheat Pancakes

with banana & chocolate chips & chopped apple

👍👍👍👍

Hubby's takeout lunch from the food court.  Afgani Style Cooking (Yummy and different)- (Chickpea flour dumplings, vegetarian samosas, garlic naan, salad, eggplant, rice & cilantro)

Chickpea flour "hotdog" (FAIL)

👎👎👎👎
This was very dry & chalky with a bad taste.

Vegan Squash Mac N' Cheese With Quinoa Noodles
https://www.veggieinspired.com/butternut-mac/

👍👎👍👍
Note: This mac n' cheese was a huge hit with my kids.  The first time it was 4 thumbs up.  This time, however I used nutmeg (left it out the first time) and I used quinoa noodles for extra protein.  Kids preferred it the first time. Tip: leave out nutmeg and use plain macaroni noodles for kids to LOVE  this! It's so 'cheesy' and creamy. Tip 2: Use pumpkin seeds instead of cashews to be school safe/allergy friendly.

Spanish Rice & Beans
https://sweetsimplevegan.com/2018/01/spanish-rice-and-beans/

👎👎👍👍
I used black beans instead of pinto beans and halved the chili powder (I should have left it whole).  I put a ton of extra fresh cilantro on my serving! Delicious! (Kids were picky about this one.  The two big boys wouldn't even taste it based on the fact that it contained beans!  I mean seriously?  I also had a rice cooker situation!  I think I need to crack open the Insta pot that I have in a box in the basement becuase the rice cooker took way longer than the recipe said it would, thus making me frustrated and late for my youngest son's basketball!  C'est La Vie!!
I served this Rice & Beans dish with salad (organic romaine, parsley, tomatoes, avocados, celery, cucmbers topped with hemp seeds) and roasted root vegetables with pumpkin seed pesto from Mama Earth Organics.

Kids wouldn't try either of these, so I'm not even bothering with the thumbs.  I thought they were both fresh & delcious!

Blueberry Smoothie with Silken tofu & banana
https://www.thespruceeats.com/blueberry-tofu-smoothie-recipe-695280

👎👍👍👍
(One with only banana as Q dislikes all berries)

I added vanilla and KALE (heeheehee)

The youngest 3 drank their entire glasses full of blueberry smoothie!  G had an issue with the texture of the fresh blueberries, and wished I'd used frozen.  What a critic.

Gnocchi with Marinara Sauce (with hidden matpe beans), Baked Eggplant
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/262462/sheet-pan-vegan-roasted-eggplant-with-garlic/

Gnocchi with Marinara Sauce & hidden matpe beans: 👍👎👍👍
Baked Eggplant👎👍👎👎
As you can see from the thumbs, Q has different taste buds from the other 3!

Take-Out Thai Food

👍👍👍👍
Between hair cuts, gymnastics and basketball, tonight was a night for take-out!

Bonus: Q tried the cashew rice- first I rubbed a cashew on his cheek, and after we observed no reaction, he braved the rice and cashews.  He was fine!  So happy cashews are ok for him!  This opens up more vegan options for creamy sauces and homemade vegan cheese.  Excited !!

Quinoa Bowl with Tofu Steaks
https://pickledplum.com/southwestern-style-baked-tofu-steaks/

👎👎👎👍
This was absolutely amazing!  I don't understand what is wrong with my kids' tastebuds!!  This was probably my most favourite vegan meal I've ever made!  Fresh lime, fresh cilantro and jalepenos. 🧡🧡🧡 The flavour was bursting and paired so well with the smokey tofu on a stable quinoa base.  My littlest gobbled it down, so did my husband and I.