Late Fall Baby Carrot Harvest

Today in Minnesota, we had unseasonably warm weather. These days we are spending as much time outside as possible with the thought of a long cold winter looming. It was the perfect opportunity to harvest the last carrots from the garden.

This was our first year with our raised bed gardens, and I've learned a lot. It is nice to still be able to harvest this late in the season. Next year I will NOT be planting baby carrots again. While they aren't a lot of work, it just doesn't make sense to grow such a small carrot in limited space.

The kids are excited about eating them and they really do taste much better than what you get at the store. Yes, these still need to be washed, but I can't wait to eat them!

Vegan Mofo Dinner: Burritos and Enchiladas

Mondays always seem to be a hectic day for meals, so we usually go for simple. Anything with refried beans is usually a hit with the kids. Their favorite type is black beans. Mama and daddy appreciate the simplicity of the meal.

Items Used for Meal:
1) Can of Organic Refried Beans ($1.59, Seward Co-op)

2) Organic Tortillas (*$2.00, Seward Co-op)

3) Avocados ($1.50, Trader Joe's)*

4) Organic Tomato ($1.00, Seward Co-op)

5) Mango ($1.29, Trader Joe's)*

6) Organic Red Onion, ($.0.50, Trader Joe's)

7) Organic Rice and Quinoa ($1.50, Trader Joe's)*

8) Cheezly ($3.00, Vegan Essentials)

Total Time Spent Making Meal: 15 minutes

Total Cost of Meal for Family of Four: $ 12.34 or $3.10 per person

Vegan Mofo Lunch: Chick Pea Sandwiches



Today's lunch was a simple one that took a little over 5 minutes to whip up. It is always imperative to have quick, simple lunches for the busy days.

Since we ate a little late, I missed the opportunity to grab a picture before the food was devoured. That is what happens whenever we eat late.

Anyways, we ate chickpea sandwiches, watermelon, steamed broccoli, raw carrots, hummus and pinneaple. To make the chickpea sanwiches, all you do is mash up a can of chickpeas and mix in Nayonaise or Vegenaise (1/2 - 3/4 cups) with a little garlic and onion powder.

Items Used for Meal:
1) Can of Organic Chickpeas ($1.50, Whole Foods, Eden Organics because the can isn't lined with BPA), 2) 3/4 cup Nayonaise (*$1.00, Whole Foods)
3) 1/3 Bag of Organic Broccoli ($1.00, Trader Joe's)*
4) Organic Baby Carrots ($0.50, Trader Joes)*
5) 1/4 small Watermelon ($0.75, Trader Joe's)*
6) 1/8 Pinneapple, ($.0.50, Trader Joe's)
7) Organic Bread for three sandwiches ($.0.90, Trader Joe's)

Total Time Spent Making Meal: 5-7 minutes

Total Cost of Meal for Family of Four (Auntie was over for lunch): $6.15, or a more than $1.50 per person

*Item cost only includes the cost of the amount used. For example, the watermelon cost $3.00, but we only ate about 1/4 of it.

Vegan Mofo Day 4

Not starting out so great with this Mofo thing. In all fairness, yesterday I was dealing with a pre-schooler who had the stomach flu. I'll spare you the details, but blogging was the last thing in my mind. Yesterday's meal was put together with my son's illness in mind, not noteworthy.



Sorry for the low quality picture. I just snapped it with my phone. Next time, I'll make sure to get a better one.

Tonight's dinner consisted of baked tofu (pre-made), roasted butternut squash, roasted spinach chips, and fresh raspberries. I prepared the squash last night, since we were making boxed vegan mac and cheese, steamed potatoes, and banana.

Baked Tofu (1 1/2 packages, $5.00, Whole Foods)
Roasted Butternut Squash (1/2 butternut squash $1.25, Trader Joe's)
Organic Roasted Spinach Chips ($3.00, Trader Joe's)
Couscous (prepared half a box, $1.50, Trader Joe's)
Fresh Raspberries ($3.29, Trader Joe's)

Time Spent Making Meal: 20 minutes + 10 minutes (squash made yesterday)
Total Cost of Meal for Family of Four: $14.04, or $3.51 per person

Vegan Cupcake Cuties

While I enjoy making tasty cupcakes, it is fun to find simple ways to decorate them. I conjured up this monkey and lion design, because Evie loves animals. It made them all the more special at birthday parties where the cake wasn't vegan.

The best part is they are easy to make and take no time at all!

To make the monkey, I used peanut butter Oreos, but haven't been able to find them in stores anymore. Luckily, Newman's makes an organic vegan version of them. All I did for the monkey's face, was shape some marzipan to make the snout, and chocolate chips for the ears. The rest is just piped chocolate and vanilla icing.

The lion is made from Anna's cookies with marzipan to make the face and ears. The features are piped chocolate icing and pink tinted vanilla frosting. Next time around, I'll probably cut up a fruit leather or gun drop to make the nose. 

Vegan Mofo!



Being that I'm only a year into the blogosphere, I'm a Vegan Mofo virgin. Even still, I decided to take the plunge this year. Hopefully I'm able to get in the recommended 20 posts this month. It would be a record for me, but I'm always up for a challenge. If you are wondering, "What the heck is Vegan Mofo?" click on the link to find out.

Demonstrating affordable, easy, and healthy vegan meals has always been a subject I wanted to tackle. So often people tell me, "I don't have time to cook" or "being vegan is too hard/expensive." During this month I hope to dispel these common misconceptions about a vegan lifestyle. While I still reminisce the days of leisurely spending time cooking in the kitchen, those days are long gone now that Elliott and Evelyn have arrived. Little kids do not understand waiting when they are hungry, so our schedule is limited by our 5:30/6:00 dinner start time.

My goal is to provide information about the time spent and cost of the meals I post, as well as whether or not it is all or partially organic. Our family always aspires to buy organic as much as possible, but like most people have to do so within our budget. We try to keep in mind which items are known to be particularly high in pesticides and either purchase organic or alternatives.

Now on to the good part, the food! Today was a quick meal that only took about 10 minutes preparation time and another 15 minutes of cooking time. It is noteworthy that while it was 25 minutes total to get it all ready, I wasn't always working on the meal during that time. This dinner consisted of Chick'n Scallopini lightly fried, sesame roasted asparagus, steamed potato medley, fresh raspberries, and french bread.

Items Used for Meal:
1) Chick'n Scallopini ($3.50, Super Target)
2) Bunch of Aparagus ($3.29, Trader Joe's)
3) Steamed Organic Potatoes, types: Yukon, Red, Blue, and Sweet Potatoes (approx. ~ $3.00, Trader Joes
4) Organic Raspberries ($3.29, Trader Joe's)
5) 2 Medium French Bread, ($2.50, Trader Joe's)

Total Time Spent Making Meal: 25 minutes
Total Cost of Meal for Family of Four: $15.58, or a little less than $4 per person

Dinner is by far the most expensive meal each day, so I'll be sure to include some breakfasts and lunches
No idea what it costs to feed a family of four on average per week? Check out the information at the USDA.

World Wide Vegan Bake Sale

We participated in the World Wide Vegan Bake sale this year. I made truffles again. My son thinks that Ethique Nouveau is the bake sale store, since he has been to two bake sales there. It was a lot of fun trying out and making up some new recipes. I did coconut, cookies and cream, raspberry, almond, and pumpkin pie. These new additions were pretty good. After making them, I am toying with the idea of selling them on Vegan Etsy, but just haven't gotten around to researching all that entails. It would be great to help supplement out family's income a little bit.

If you are interested in making some of your own truffles here are some recipes.