Happy April Fool's Day! I wish I were one of those people who could pull off really amazing pranks. I always try and fool Chip (like casually mentioning that I had veal for lunch, or very seriously telling him I need to move to Latvia, or hiding from him and surprising him) but it rarely works. If it involves telling him something untrue, I usually crack a smile before the first sentence is out of my mouth, and by then it's all over. I guess because I can't play jokes, I don't take them well either. Chip's really good at fooling me, and I must be really gullible too. I wonder what today has in store for me.
I thought about making an elaborate April Fool's Day lunch, but wasn't sure what would be really funny. Then a friend from college rolled into town and I've been spending a lot of time with her, and lunch has been kinda the last thing on my mind. So today is just a very regular, normal lunch.
Homemade fried rice with broccoli, organic tofu, and pastured eggs, Honey Nut Cheerios (with a separate container of plain soymilk), organic dark chocolate with almonds, banana, and a whole organic Cameo apple.
Chip's been on a cereal kick lately, so I've been trying to stock the house with plenty of healthy, not-too-sugary cereals. I love Kashi cereal but it's crazy expensive, so we usually end up buying Cascadian Farm organic cereal. I think tomorrow I'm going to pack breakfast for lunch, so perhaps we'll be seeing cereal again.
The applesauce is a quick version of a family recipe. My grandmother used to make applesauce from scratch, and it's become a staple of family gatherings (along with pork roast, sauerkraut, etc...hey; they're German!). Since I don't really have the equipment to make applesauce from whole apples, I try to recreate her recipe with store-bought applesauce. I started with Musselman's no sugar added applesauce, and just added a dash of evaporated cane juice, then cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla extract to taste. Allspice and cloves can add some good flavor too, but I didn't happen to have any on hand. I promise that that this makes the most delicious applesauce ever.
Left over mushroom pizza on whole wheat crust from Mama Mimi's, Cascadian Farm organic multigrain checks cereal (plus a container of unsweetened soymilk that's not pictured), Quaker granola bar, applesauce, and a whole navel orange.
Tonight marked my first foray into preparing Indian food. I came across this recipe the other day and decided it wouldn't be too hard to make. In true Katie fashion, I added all kinds of stuff (1/2 cup chopped carrots, 1/2 cup chopped celery, a dash of cinnamon) and made it vegan (I made the mashed potatoes with Smart Balance and soymilk) and organic (organic peas, carrots, potatoes, soymilk, and curry powder). Chip even tried (and liked!) the spicy mango chutney. I was floored! I did buy the pie crusts at the store; I think next time I'll make the crust myself. Overall, I was really pleased with the results; the potatoes and crust have carbs, the peas have protein, and the celery, carrots, and peas are veggies.
Homemade vegan samosas, spicy mango chutney, organic honey nut O's, dark chocolate Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and half of a Jonagold apple.
Here's another beautiful Katie lunch! For the wrap, I took a few bits of tofu out of the pad thai from the previous night's dinner. I couldn't fit it all in Chip's lunch anyway!
Whole wheat/flaxseed/oatmeal wrap with spinach, organic red leaf lettuce, tofu, quinoa, and Sriracha sauce, grapes, Frosted Mini Wheats, and an apple.
This one is definitely colorful; Chip really liked this lunch. He loves sandwiches...they're his favorite food. And scalloped potatoes are an extremely rare treat. Partly because it's hard to find them without chicken flavoring, partly because I don't love them, and partly because they don't have much nutritional value.
Scalloped potatoes with cracked black pepper, steamed broccoli (Chip mixed it in with the potatoes), vanilla soymilk (in the lidded container; to be poured on the cereal), Frosted Mini Wheats, and sandwich with hummus, pepper jack cheese, lettuce, and spinach on whole wheat.
