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This Little Blog of Mine

Category Archives: vegan

We made it to Portland!

22 Wednesday Feb 2012

Posted by Momma J in The Travels, vegan

≈ 2 Comments

We’re here, in Portland, Oregon! The vegan food capital of the world!

Oh Little T, I hope you are ready for the food adventures we are going to have today.

The sad news is: I didn’t bring my fancy camera. It was too much to bring. Traveling with a baby requires so much stuff! Big T and I used to pride ourselves on traveling with nothing but a backpack. We must have stared at our luggage in the living room for about 30 minutes while we tried to see if we could leave anything out. Nope, we had to take the baby stroller, the pack in play, the car seat, and the other things that go along with a baby. How can one little person need so many things?

Highlights of the trip so far:

  • We went to Trader Joe’s to get some last minute snacks, and the lady gave Little T a spoon of vegan cookie flavored peanut butter. Five minutes later, he had peanut butter all over his face and was still holding the spoon and saying “thank you” as we got in the car and drove away from the store.
  • Little T was upset that he couldn’t help me pack. Big T tried to get him out of the packing room by playing a drum and marching into the hallway, to which Little T responded by turning around and closing the door on him after Big T had marched out of the room. Then Little T turned around and said, “geez, mama! We’re finally we’re rid of that goofy guy.” 😉
  • Little T and I were waiting for Big T to meet us in the airport lobby. I was having a hard time juggling the bags, the baby stroller, and the baby. A really nice girl stopped and looked and me and said, “are you alone? Do you need help?” A random black man happened to walk in the door at that moment and she looked at me and Little T and said, “oh, you’re with him” and walked off.
  • Little T’s love of restaurants runs deep. He decided to walk up to every restaurant in the airport and try to convince us to buy him more food. This was while he already had food in his hand.
  • Every time he’d see a kid that was the same age as my two nephews, he’d chase after them screaming and laughing. This was fun for Little T, but slightly frightening for the little kids.

But of course, our favorite part of the trip was this:

Little T was great on the plane and loved the trip. We were worried beause he’s older now and loves to shout, but he did fine. When we got to our hotel, he kept running up to these two random women and pointing at things he wanted to show them while shouting, “look!” The hotel receptionist was also vegan, and helped us start out the trip right by ordering a vegan pizza that was delivered to our room. Little T and I fell asleep before the pizza arrived, but Big T told me it was delicious.

Happenings Via Instagram

03 Friday Feb 2012

Posted by Momma J in Photography, Quick Snippets, The Family, vegan

≈ 11 Comments

Helping out backstage for a beautiful Disney Wedding in the Animation Building:

Leaving ransom notes in exchange for my all time favorite vegan cookies from The Last Drop Cafe ;):

The moment where you think, “do I help him out??? Or do I let this play out for a few seconds more while I take a picture?” mwaha

Speaking of Little T, he loves to copy me lately. His favorite mommy thing to do right now is throw on a scarf and pretend to take Miss Piggy on a walk.

He’s also training to be a news reporter, didn’t you know?

Meeting with some beautiful girls about a bridal portrait shoot:

Every once in a while, we drive by Mother’s Market. It’s a good thing this is rare, because vegan junk food is inevitable when we make this stop:

*pictured below* Tofurky Frozen Pizza, Vegan Cookie Dough, Butternut Squash Ravioli, Coconut Yogurt, Oatmeal Cookies for our DL trip this week, and fake mac and cheese (we throw in some green peas and make this for Little T when we’re in a pinch).

To even out the junkiness, we also shared some yummy beet juice. Note to parents: beet juice makes for a very interesting diaper change.

And my *zomgsquee* thing of the week! One of my fancy new camera lenses arrived, with it’s beautiful red ring and everything!

Unfortunately, this moment was short lived, because it was followed by Little T grabbing my 50mm lens and smashing it onto the floor. The good thing is that of all my lenses, he smashed the cheapest. The bad news: it was my favorite lenssssss. Gah!

But what can you do? He didn’t know what he was doing. It was a good lesson to learn that we need to make sure we keep our camera equipment away from sweet Little T. 🙂

And that was my week, I hope you had a great one!

Vegan Thanksgiving Menu Plan

22 Tuesday Nov 2011

Posted by Momma J in Meal Plans, vegan

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Vegan Thanksgiving

Just wanted to pop in and share some linkage of what we’ll be cooking for our vegan Thanksgiving. These are tried and true favorites that we’ve been making over the years. I won’t have time to post again until after Thanksgiving, so if you’re in the U.S, have a happy holiday! If you aren’t in the U.S., have a great week. ^_^

Main Course: Vegan Pumpkin Pesto Ravioli

Veggies:

  • Roasted Brussel Sprouts by Susan at FatFreeVegan.com
  • Green Bean Casserole from http://www.FatFreeVegan.com

Side Dishes:

  • Garlic Roasted Mashed Potatoes from The Veggie Queen Cookbook.
  • Stuffing from The Veggie Queen Cookbook.
  • Pre-Made Cranberry Sauce from Whole Foods Market
  • Yams from my beautiful Sister in Law (can’t wait, D!)

Desserts:

  • Impossible Pumpkin Pie from Susan at FatFreeVegan.com

And we had a special request for the amazing chocolate chip cookies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.

SoCo Farmers’ Market {Farm to Food Truck Challenge}

20 Sunday Nov 2011

Posted by Momma J in Photography, The Adventures of Little T, The Family, The Travels, vegan

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

seabirds, socal family events, socal farmers market, vegan food

Yesterday we drove to Costa Mesa to see the Farm to Food Truck Challenge, hosted by the SoCo Certified Farmers’ Market. On the drive over, Big T, Grandma G and I had a serious talk with Little T. We said, “listen, Little T. Just because they’re going to have lots of amazing gourmet food trucks, that doesn’t mean we’re going to be able to try everything.” Little T just smiled, knowing that Momma J and Big T are defenseless against good food. Let me just say that being proven wrong by Little T tasted mighty delicious.

From their website:

A farmers’ market inspired cooking competition. Top gourmet food truck chefs will compete against each other to create the best dish using locally grown farm fresh ingredients.

If you’re a foodie, you have to go to this event. I’d suggest getting there a little before the challenge starts so you have time to browse the food trucks and purchase some tasty treats while you wait for the chefs to cook their meals for the competition. When we first arrived, we were happy to see that Seabirds was there. They’re a vegan gourmet food truck that made an appearance on the Food Network in season 2 of The Great Food Truck Race.

I asked what they recommended, and they said we had to try their macaroni and cheese. Um, yeah. It was the best mac and cheese I’ve ever had. In my life.

Seabirds Mac and Cheese

We also tried out their Tempeh Tacos and Beer Battered Avocado Tacos, because we couldn’t just try one! Big T said it was like his tongue was riding a flavor train, all the way to yumsville.

We were too full to eat anything else after that…Okay, okay, so we found room for three of Seabird’s cupcakes.

Tempeh Tacos and Beer Battered Avocado Tacos from Seabirds

Our non veg fellow foodie friends had a freshly made waffle with ice cream from the Waffles de Liege food cart.

While we waited for the competition to start, Little T listened to the music from The Tyler Steel Co. We purchased two of their CD’s (they let us choose the price of their CD’s because they’re awesome like Radiohead) and we listened to their CD for the rest of the day. Little T was especially mesmerized by the drummer.

Little T also had a handmade strawberry lemonade pop.

For the competition, they gave the food truck chefs a list of ingredients they had to use. Once they got the list, they lined up, had to shop for the food at the Farmer’s Market, and then had 60 minutes to prepare their dish.

The Competition Begins

And they're off!

It was fun to watch the Chefs run around the market and quickly pick out the food they needed for their dishes.

While the chefs cooked, Little T said he had something he needed to do. Next thing we knew, we found him hanging out with all the cheerleaders. He kept trying to run off with their pom poms.

He also tried out some new shades:

It was awesome when the competition began. We loved seeing all of the entries as they were presented to the judges.

The Judges

Little T clapped along as they announced the winners!

First Place:

Slapfish
-Lobster doughnut with leek and apple
-Seared Scallop with lemon almond butter and brussel leaf salad
-Santa Barbara Black Cod with a beet-pomegranate slaw

Second Place: Seabirds Food Truck

Third Place:

Taco Maria

Once the competition was over, we decided we needed some more food (hah). So we drove to The Camp and ate at Native Foods.

Little T shook his head at us and said we were ridiculous, while the rest of us patted our full bellies. Mmmmm, what a tasty day it was.

Friday Giveaway {The New Fastfood Cookbook}

18 Friday Nov 2011

Posted by Momma J in Photography, vegan

≈ 59 Comments

*Update* Thanks to everyone who entered this giveaway. The winner via a random number generator from Random.Org is Beveanne McKinley! Beveanne, I’ll contact you through your Facebook link and get the cookbook shipped right away. 🙂

When Jill gave me the opportunity to photograph the cover of her delicious cookbook, “The New Fast Food: The Veggie Queen Pressure Cooks Whole Food Meals” it took me all of two seconds to say yes. Being the photographer gave me the chance to try many of the recipes, and if you enjoy pressure cooking, this book is a must have.

The New Fast Food

For a chance to win a copy of “The New Fast Food” that’s been autographed by Jill Nussinow, please leave a comment in the entry below. For an extra entry, you can like my White Rabbit Photo Boutique Facebook page and leave another comment. The lucky winner will be picked from a random number generator and announced next Friday on a new blog post.

Good Luck!

~Momma J

P.S. I promise I have a few fun Little T entries coming up next week. :p

Eeeek! Gah! Squee!!!!

10 Thursday Nov 2011

Posted by Momma J in Photography, vegan

≈ 1 Comment

Check out the new book from The Veggie Queen! Not only are the recipes amazing…but I took the picture on the cover. w00t!

The Veggie Queen Cookbook

I was honored to be able to take a few photos for Jill. I cook from her book all the time and loved the opportunity to try new recipes. I spent the entire day cooking and snapping photos, which just so happened to be the day that some hungry friends and family members stopped by. Hmmmmm, suspicious? I think so. Let’s just say that everything disappeared. Some things disappeared before the *ahem* photographer had a chance to try them. Yes, I’m looking at you, Big T.

Riley’s Farm: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

02 Wednesday Nov 2011

Posted by Momma J in The Family, The Travels, vegan

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Family Friendly Vacations, Riley's Farm, Sleepy Hollow

How can I begin to explain how fun and seamless this event was? The Riley’s Farm created an evening that was unique, special, and something we’ll always remember. I can’t think of the last time I’ve laughed so hard…oh wait, maybe I can, but that’s besides the point.

My Mom and I discovered Riley’s Farm on our trip to the Lavender Festival. We looked them up on the internet and saw they were going to have a reenactment of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” in October. We were intrigued, and made arrangements for the family to go, not really knowing what to expect.

On the day of the event, we spent the day in Oak Glen’s Apple Valley. We timed it right and arrived at Riley’s Farm around 6:00. Here’s the main part of the farm, but our event took place in the old Packing Shed.

Beautiful, right?

As we arrived, families were taking tractor rides around the farm. These were included in the price of the ticket.

The packing shed was pretty, complete with string lights and colonial touches everywhere. I didn’t have my camera equipment with me, so I did the best to take photos with what I had. All of the employees were dressed in colonial garb. I talked with one of the employees for a while, and she confirmed there are weddings in the packing shed all the time. Oh, how I’d love to photograph a wedding there!

The inside, from the outside.

Little T was mesmerized by the band. They sounded just like “O Brother Where Art Thou”. They even played “Constant Sorrow”.

The host of the evening was Katrina’s father from “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”.  In this picture, he is making an announcement about a couple who’d been engaged earlier in their pumpkin patch. Aw, mush.

After getting settled in at our table, we took a tractor ride around the farm.

This was the outside of the packing shed at night:

All of the characters from Sleepy Hollow were walking about, mingling and interacting with the guests. They were enjoying the party with us, after all. 😉

We ate our dinner as the beginning of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was performed onstage. They did the show up to the point of the party scene, because that’s when the story changed from the past to the present. Dinner was a huge serving of baked potatoes, corn on the cob, baked beans, salad, fresh bread, and steak or chicken for the non-veg’s. We had BBQ’d veggie skewers instead of meat. We had more than enough and they took special care to make sure they had our food right.

Vegan side note* The web said they served dinner, so we called ahead and asked if they had vegan and vegetarian options. They didn’t, but said they could make a special meal for us. w00t.*

Once they got to the party scene, they had everyone step outside while the tables and chairs in the room were cleared. I was pretty impressed with how fast all of this happened. I dabbled in Crowd Control at Disneyland, and know this is no easy task. Once the tables were cleared and everyone came back in, the real fun began.

*the rest of these pictures were taken with my mom’s camera, and by my mother and I, because I’d put mine away after realizing I hadn’t brought my gear* Bummer.

The night started out with a chain dance. Everyone in the room linked hands as they were led in circles around and outside the farm. They were given the instructions to not let go. The characters from the play taught us the dances and were great at getting the room involved. We laughed so hard and had a great time. I think Big T may have been the belle of the ball, heh heh. I had to sit out after the first few dances because Little T fell asleep, but I laughed and watched instead.

Here’s Big T and my nephew doing a dance that got progressively faster.

They had pumpkin seed spitting contests (two groups, 16 and under and 17 and over). One little girl was distraught over having to spit out her pumpkin seed, what a sweet little lady. My nephew, on the other hand, thought this was the coolest thing he’d ever been given permission to do.

While this was all going on, I was working on the pumpkin carving contest. We had 20 minutes to carve. I could tell a lot of families come every year because they had some hard core equipment to add to their pumpkins. I wanted to feel fancy too, so I carved a mustache in our pumpkin.

I’m not going to lie, competitive eating kind of grosses me out, but I still had fun watching Big T and my nephew compete in the pie eating contest. Pie Eating was split into two groups, 16 and under and 17 and older.

In addition to the pictures above, they had apple bobbing, apple pie for dessert, and lots more. The night moved seamlessly and fast, with dances between the events. You could tell they’d really thought everything out because these people knew how to keep the night rolling!

After the party, we all walked outside to see Ichabob Crane say goodbye to Katrina and stroll down the dirt path for the famous Sleepy Hollow scene. I wasn’t sure what to expect, and couldn’t believe when they actually had a headless horseman chase Ichabob around with a pumpkin that was on fire. My seven year old nephew talked about this non-stop on the way home.

To make a long story short, if you’re looking for something family-friendly that will make your holidays extra special, this is the place to be. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is over, but I noticed they have Thanksgiving dinners and a Christmas feasts during November and December. I haven’t been to either of these, but if it’s anything like the event we were at, I’m sure it will be amazing. Just to warn you, the Sleepy Hollow tickets sold out fast and I’m guessing the other events are the same.

Day at Oak Glen’s Apple Valley

01 Tuesday Nov 2011

Posted by Momma J in The Adventures of Little T, The Travels, vegan

≈ 1 Comment

I’m not sure if I warned Big T that my house will always be full, but I think he’s figured it out by now. It’s the way I’ve always rolled. Last weekend, in addition to having four cats, a dog, and two awesome roommates, we added four more adults, my seven year old nephew, and a baby. Everyone came up for a trip to Apple Valley. MMmmmmmm, apple season…

We were going to be out all day and I never know if my family will be able to have things to eat, so on Thursday I made Apple Figgy Hand Pies for everyone to take from Isa Chandra’s new book:

Vegan Pie in the Sky


The first batch tasted delicious, but didn’t look as great as I felt they could:

They only lasted two days in our house, so I had to make a second batch and they turned out beautiful. I didn’t have time to take pictures, though. The hand pies wound up being perfect for a day trip because we could grab and eat without utensils.

In Apple Valley, you drive around and stop at different apple farms. You taste different types of apples and goodies at each place, and most farms have entertainment and craft booths. Here’s the kiddos taking a break to try some mini apples. Little T thought his nephew was hilarious:

For our picnic lunch I made a yummy chickpea spread.

Recipe:

  • 1 can chickpeas, drained and blended in the blender.
  • Juice from 1 lemon
  • 1 tbls Soy Mayo
  • Chopped pickles
  • Chopped celery
  • Salt and Pepper
Procedure: 
  • Blend chickpeas in a blender.
  • Mix other ingredients with Chickpea blend in a bowl and add salt and pepper to taste.
Sandwich Fixings: 
  • Whole wheat bread
  • Pickles
  • Tomatoes
  • Lettuce
  • Mustard

After buying apples and trying everything from apple bbq sauce to apple salsa, the grown ups babies needed to take a rest at the park.

When they were done resting, we drove to a playground at the Old Schoolhouse in Oak Glen. These two had a blast.

They weren’t the only ones:

Ro is such a sweetheart, I love this picture of her:

We’d had a big day, but it wasn’t over. We were on our way to see a reenactment of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I’m sure I’ve already blown up your computer with these pictures, so I’ll wait and post those later this week. I hope you all had a nice Halloween!

P.S. Since the trip to Apple Valley, Little T freaks out and cries if we pass apples in the store without giving him one. I guess I’d rather have him throw fits over apples than Snickers Bars?

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Vegan Halloween Dinner Party Meal Plan

24 Monday Oct 2011

Posted by Momma J in Meal Plans, vegan

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

dinner party, halloween, vegan, vegan dinner party

We’re having some family and friends over for a weekend of fun filled Halloween activities. Here’s what we’re planning on making:

Halloween Dinner: It’s a potluck, so we’re only in charge of a few items.

Creamy Pumpkin Penne Image from Chef Chloe

 

Fruit Compote

  • Homemade Spiced Cider
  • Creamy Pumpkin Penne with Crips Sage and Toasted Pecans from Chef Chloe
  • Unstuffy Stuffing with Mushrooms and Walnuts from The Veggie Queen Cookbook
  • Spiced Fall Fruit Compote with Figs over Vanilla Ice Cream, also from The Veggie Queen Cookbook
Breakfast for our Guests: 
  • Vegan Crepes with Vegan Nutella and fruit
Halloween Dinner: 
We wanted something special for Halloween, but also something we could make a few days before so we weren’t cooking. We decided on our favorite chili recipe from Susan at FatFreeVegan. If you haven’t tried this recipe, you should! It’s so hearty and filling and tasty.

Gold Rush Chile from FatFreeVegan (image by Susan Voisin)

  • Gold Rush Chili from Susan at FatFreeVegan
  • Freshly Baked Bread
  • Vegan Candy Bar that you can order from Food Fight Grocery. It’s the only time a year that I allow myself to eat a candy bar, and these are the best out there.

Image from Food Fight Grocery

P.S. Food Fight Grocery has lots of great vegan treats. Definitely check them out if you haven’t before.

Menu Plan for next week

24 Monday Oct 2011

Posted by Momma J in Meal Plans, vegan

≈ Leave a comment

Okay, so I’ve been terrible about writing down my menu plans. Things have been crazy busy around here so we’ve been relying on our go-to meals that never require a lot of thought  like baked potatoes, spaghetti, burritos, ect. This week we have a lot of events planned so I’m having to write everything out and I thought I would share. 🙂

Breakfast: 

  • Oatmeal with bananas, cinnamon, and agave
  • Cereal with Soymilk
  • Dr Oz’s Green Drink (Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it!) 🙂
Lunch:
  • Burrito bowl (Spanish rice, lettuce, salsa, beans, lettuce) with baked corn chips. (Cut up corn tortillas, brush on fresh lime juice and sprinkle with salt, bake for 10 minutes at 450 degrees)
  • Leftover Pumpkin Ravioli from dinner with friends.
  • Three Bean Salad and bread
  • Chickpea Salad Sandwich (you can tell what ingredients we have a lot of) 😉
  • Spring Rolls from Trader Joe’s

Chickpea Burgers Image by Susan Voison at FatFreeVegan

Dinner: We’re going out a lot this week, so not that many dinner meals
  • Vegan Vegetable Quesadillas (no cheese, just beans, roasted red peppers, brocolli, salsa, and avocado
  •  Herbed Pasta with Broccoli and Peas
  • Baked Potatoes
  • Chickpea Burgers from www.FatFreeVegan.com I can’t wait to try these. BTW, have you noticed we have a lot of chickpeas hanging around here that we’ve got to get rid of?
Snacks:
  • Strawberries
  • Fruit Smoothie
  • Corn Thins with Salsa

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