{ this moment }

a friday ritual - a single photo - a moment I want to pause - savor - and remember

inspired by soulemama

Sweaty hair...

and puffy eyes!

Up from her nap and looking CRAZY!!!!

(crazy cute)

Kitchen Tour.

 We talked a bit about our space yesterday in the workshop.

Kitchen space that is.

I thought I would share some highlights of my space.

First, let me say, I am very fortunate and grateful to 

be able to do my thing in this kitchen.

I have lived in many apartments with rickety appliances 

and below average counter space.

So, in this season of my life, I am happy 

to say I have a wonderful kitchen in which 

to nourish family and friends.

It was completely gut renovated about 9 years ago.

Enjoy the tour..

Shelving space in the island provides a home for cookbooks.

Incidentally, I am just bringing them back out of hiding since this used to happen...

Why yes, that is a "bikini" onsie she's wearing.

I forgot all about that outfit.

Ah, memories.

I try to keep as many items in the pantry in glass jars. 

Some things stay in their original packaging as long 

as they can stand on their own.

I hate having bags of things piled up and hard to find.

I recently added that under shelf storage for 

potatoes, onions, garlic, and ginger.

It. is. priceless.

You may also notice the little white board on the door.

I use it to make my grocery lists.

As soon as I run out of something it goes on the board.

When I don't have time to transfer the list onto 

paper I just snap a pic with my phone and,

whammo, instant list.

This is the message center. 

You can read about that here.

It's not usually this clean.

But in a perfect world it would look like 

this all the time.

Pot rack.

Oh, how you've provided sweet sweet cabinet 

space for more kitchen gadgetry.

 More about how this came to be here.

I like to keep the mixer out because I'm more 

compelled to use it if it's in front of me.

Even the filtered water has a little space of it's own.

Here's a wide shot of the whole room.

You can see the corner of the skylight which provides

 amazing natural light.

So that's our kitchen. 

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

And, just for fun, here was yesterday's lunch

 A wrap crafted from all the little leftover 

produce scraps that were 

hanging around my fridge.

Shredded red cabbage, a handful of spinach, 

half an avocado, micro greens, 

a few slices of apple 

( a delightful addition I might add), 

and a couple of sliced cherry tomatoes.

Delish!

Workshop.

The 30 Day Vegan Workshop is under way.

I've done my shopping and I've planned our menu 

for the first week.

I'm really excited to learn more about the menu planning.

I never really did that but as Iris gets older and eats 

more of what we eat it makes sense.

photo from Beauty that Moves

Breakfast.

I'll be sharing some highlights of 

our journey here. 

We hope you'll follow along.

I also wanted to share some links of other 

things I like/participate/learn from.

http://www.bodyrock.tv/

http://consciousparentingsummit.com/

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/

Enjoy!

{ this moment }

a friday ritual - a single photo - a moment I want to pause - savor - and remember

inspired by soulemama

Working on our new sleep routine. Ha!

It looks like I could use another 12 hours.

First harvest from my deck containers!

French Breakfast Radishes. My fave.

Product Review: Mimiccreme

MIMICCREME.

I spotted this in whole foods and it inspired this 

whole product-review-like post.

What is it you ask?

It's an almond and cashew cream!

If you don't have a super duper powerful blender 

(like a vitamix) this is a difficult 

thing to make.

It comes in several flavors 

(plain, hazelnut, vanilla) 

also sweetened and unsweetened.

I'm working with the straight up plain 

unflavored unsweetened variety.

The ingredient list is short. 

The only red flag was the "natural flavors". 

What the hell does that mean?

Other than that it was sea salt and sodium biocarbonate 

(baking soda).

Also, this product is not raw which would be totally 

kick-ass if it were.

 Whatever, it's vegan, soy free, cholesterol free,

 gluten free, and maybe most importantly, non-GMO!

 So my first thought was, Vegan Ice Cream.

It's almost summer.

It was time to dust off the old ice cream maker.

I adapted a recipe from Vice Cream, my favorite vegan/raw ice cream "cook"book.

Chocolate Chai Ice Cream

adapted from Vice Cream

2 1/2 cups Mimiccreme (plain, unsweetened)

2 dates (soaked)

1/4 cup Maple Syrup

2 tsp. minced ginger

1/2 tsp. ground cardamom

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. allspice

1/2 cup raw cacao powder

I put everything in the blender and got it nice and smooth.

Add it to your ice cream maker according to it's directions.

What went right.

It was quick and easy to put this all 

together and it tastes fantastic.

What went wrong.

In the blending process the "cream" seemed to 

lose it's... creaminess.

I'm not really sure why.

Which brings me to my next problem.

When it was done in the ice cream maker and I put it in the freezer it froze up super hard.

It was nearly impossible to scoop and had to sit out for 

quite a while.

Not good if you're having a major snack attack!

Next time, I would combine all the

 flavoring ingredients seperately

and mix them into the "cream" by hand.

Not sure if it would solve this problem 

but it would be worth a try.

Ok, so that was ice cream.

One other thing I tried was a chai latte.

When I drank coffee I had to have a nice frothy cream with it.

I didn't mess around.

If I was going to do it, I was going to do it right!

You can read more about that here and here.

Anyhoo, I thought a nice chai latte would be nice once in a while and since I'm trying to seriously limit my dairy (and meat) intake this might be just the replacement.

I was right.

It frothed beautifully using my handy dandy frother that I bought at ikea for $2.99.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos of this gorgeousness. 

But can't you just picture it in your mind?

Overall, I give this product a big thumbs up!

I hope you enjoyed this post.

I'll do another one next month and if there is anything you think I should review/try leave a suggestion in the comments.

It can be anything (within reason).

*Never paid to promote products. It's just for fun!

New beginnings.

Goodness, where to begin?

Well, let's start with a toddler who decided to bail out of her crib.

She wasn't hurt thank god!!

All I heard was a thud and when I opened the door 

(after sprinting to it) I found her sitting on the floor with 2 bears and a couple of binkies like she was gonna plot some kind of Toy Story style escape.

We had no choice (other than buying a new crib) but to convert her crib into a toddler bed to avoid possible injury.

With new found freedom comes new found challenges.

Oh the challenges!!

All of the wonderful sleep routines that we had down pat.

Gone.

It's a brave new world... mostly with a toddler who won't go to sleep until 10pm and a nap is not a sure thing.

I remind myself that this stage is only temporary but it's difficult to imagine when you're in the thick of it.

There has been quite a bit of this, however.

Couch napping.

And chaise napping.

I quite like being able to keep an eye on her 

and steal a little kiss every now and again.

Washing her dishes.

This, coupled with a father-in-law who gave us quite a scare last week (everything is totally fine now!), was enough to sap my motivation to do just about anything.

Time to pick myself up and get on with it.

The 30 Day Vegan Workshop begins this week,

I've been experimenting with one of the products I want to review for you and I have a pretty big birthday party to plan for G.!

Let's do this thing!!

Family First.

Please excuse me this week.

I have some family matters to attend to.

I know I've been blog lite these past weeks but we'll be back next week with gusto (provided everything goes well).

I've promised some product reviews and I can't wait to share my finds with you!

Until then dear friends.

{ this moment }

a friday ritual - a single photo - a moment I want to pause - savor - and remember

inspired by soulemama

I didn't capture anything worthy of a moment this week but I did stumble upon this oldie 

and just had to share.

Quite possibly my most favorite picture ever!

Mama's Mac-n-Cheese.

After this post I had some requests for the full recipe of this bubbling cheesy gem.

Butternut Squash and Swiss Chard Mac-n-Cheese

Well, I am happy to share it with you.

Let me tell you up front that I don't always have exact measurements because I've been making baked mac-n-cheese for so long that I just wing it.

But I'll do my best.

 The interweb is an infinite abyss of information so find one you like if you're not comfortable "wingin' it"

 and you can add almost anything to it.

Here we go.

Butternut Squash and Swiss Chard Mac-n-Cheese

Pasta.

Boil off 1lb. (one box) of whole grain elbow macaroni or any smaller shaped pasta that you prefer.

Veggies.

Steam two bags of organic diced butternut squash until tender.

Wash and chop swiss chard. Remove any large stems. 

You do not have to precook the chard. 

Set aside.

Bechamel.

Be sure to use a pot large enough to incorporate

 all you ingredients in the end.

Make the roux.

Melt about a half stick of butter and add in about 3-4 tbsp. of flour.

Whisk constantly until it turns golden. 

Add in about 3-4 cups of whole milk and 1-2 cups heavy cream and whisk until your roux has dissolved and the mixture starts to thicken.

Season with salt, pepper, and a little nutmeg.

Add your cheese.

I used 3 cups shredded cheddar but the possibilities are endless.

Whisk together until mixture is smooth.

Finish it up.

Add in the steamed squash.

Use your whisk to mash and puree the squash into the bechamel.

Add the pasta.

(You'll want to switch to a mixing spoon at this point.)

Mix until the past and sauce are well incorporated.

Add the swiss chard.

Mix well.

Transfer to a casserole dish.

Top with grated parmesan and bread crumbs.

Bake at 350 until bubbling and golden brown.

You could skip this step and put it right in the freezer or bake and freeze or put it in the fridge for later or just start eating it right out of the casserole dish.

Let it cool a little first though.

I hope this was helpful!

If I left anything out or you have a question leave it in the comments and I'll address it for you.