A weekly list of things I love and what’s going on with me.

This week has been a hard one, what with one particularly stubborn molar wreaking havoc on Z’s jaw and temperament. Poor little boo. And frankly, poor little me.

So other than the heady days of clicking refresh on the Circle of Moms contest over and over (ahem), I haven’t spent much time exploring online this week. Which means the things I am loving right now are a bit more pedestrian. They’re mostly related to just surviving.

Gum-omile oil, jaw massage, and the occasional dose of ibuprofen are the only things I have found will help the pain for Z. He will not do any of the usual chewing on washcloths or frozen peas, never mind chew on that flipping overhyped Sophie. We have three bottles of gum-omile so that one is always within easy reach.

These are the kind of days where once Z is finally in bed and I get to take a breath, I’m just not motivated to do anything at all. Castle on Hulu has featured prominently. Like every geeky girl, I have a weird crush on Nathan Fillion. Not so much the actor as the roles he plays. Sigh.

The other thing that never leaves my side is my water bottle. I have many, many things to say about water and water bottles for both adults and children–but for now I’ll just share this one, my new favorite because it is made of only stainless steel, silicone and bamboo. No plastic or paint. It’s spendy for a water bottle but it’s something I use all day, every day so it’s important to me that it’s non-toxic. And, well, pretty.

It’s funny how even the really hard weeks also have these amazingly transcendent moments. Or maybe that’s just how life works.

This week our preschool co-op took a field trip to the Seattle Pacific Science Center and saw the butterfly room. So many butterflies,  just hanging out there, doing their butterfly thing amongst the greenery and little ponds. One even landed on my leg.

It was so incredibly fragile and beautiful, and I feel so lucky I got to take Z and see him seeing them for the first time.

I am amazed and tickled to report that Love & Greens placed at #18 of the Circle of Moms Top 25 Vegan and Vegetarian Blogs! Thank you so much to all of my blog readers (and Facebook friends, and Twitter friends…and my sister) for all of your votes.

Not only does it feel like just the nicest little chunk of validation for the work I am doing here, but through this contest I discovered so many other mamas feeding their families a plant-based diet. Yay for connections! Some of my favorites:

Bonzai Aphrodite: How did I not know about this gorgeous blog before? Sublime design! It is so rad and inspiring, and alas, now ending. But read this post for some thoughtful reflections on an amazing journey. At least I have a bunch of archives to catch up on.

Don’t Fear The Vegan: This post on Raising School Aged Vegans has me thinking about what is coming next for us with Z. At 15 months we are in complete control of his eating choices (not what he actually consumes, alas, but at least what’s placed in front of him!) but I now that will all change soon enough.

Woman in Real Life: Jo has completely inspired me to start reading poetry to Z. I have to admit it hadn’t ever occurred to me. Duh! Anyone have any good poetry collection suggestions for the wee-toddlers?

The Real Vegan Housewife: I especially needed to read this post on the Great Milk Debate. It drives me crazy that there is such a huge perception that babies need cow’s milk starting at age one!

Kid tested Firefighter Approved: I’m totally digging a bunch of recipes on this site. Especially Lemon Quinoa and Lentil Quinoa Stew with Red Chard. Can you tell I’m trying to get us to eat more quinoa?

In general, I just love it when people talk about their process and how they’re doing this whole feeding-the-family, compassionate-living thing.

My attention span swings wildly about, so I enjoy when other vegan mamas talk about hyper-detailed tactical stuff, or big-picture philosophical stuff, and pretty much anything in between.

So happy to have found a bunch of new blogs to add to my feed reader, and new peeps to follow on Twitter (I’m @evalazza there, btw).

It’s such a cliche–how there is no static point in parenting. Everything is exactly the same every day, until one day it isn’t.

This week the new thing was putting Z down when we got out of the car. I know, that sounds like such a tiny thing. But for the past almost-fifteen-months, every time we have gotten in or out of the car I have carried him. And then, one afternoon we arrived home with groceries in the trunk, and I wanted to carry them inside…and it occurred to me, I can put him down and he can walk.

Now he might not have taken the quickest route, but  yep, he can walk up the driveway on his own. Next up, college.

In my broccoli post I may have been joking about eating it every day all winter long…but that is exactly what has been happening at our house.

Which is totally fine with me, I’m not a huge one for variety. However this week I thought it might be time to expand our repertoire of crucifers juuuuust a bit.

I wondered–if roasting could make broccoli, a vegetable I tolerate, into something I eat like candy–what might it do for cauliflower, a vegetable I frankly loathe?

I had recently read a recipe somewhere that included cauliflower steaks. Cauliflower steaks. I confess I don’t remember what else was in the recipe, I became so obsessed with this idea. Cauliflower steaks…cauliflower steaks…It just sounded so subversively vegan.

(As it turns out, the steaks aren’t really all that when compared to just the regular old clusters. I think because the cut of the steaks mean you lose some of the texture. So there are some “steaks” in these photos but I’m just sharing the recipe for plain ol’ regular-shaped cauliflower.)

This is another dead simple recipe. Actually, it’s not a recipe, just a thing I did that worked out well. The indian spices and the caramelized cauliflower make a delicious combination.

This may be another easy-to-make antioxidant superhero that will help carry us through the winter. My number one rule: keep doing what works!

Ingredients:

• 2 heads of cauliflower
• olive oil
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp chili powder
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450.

Chop (thoroughly dried) cauliflower roughly into florets. Toss with a light coating of olive oil and the spices. Arrange on a baking sheet lined with tinfoil or a silpat. Bake for 25 minutes.

Enjoy!

P.S. Today is the last day to vote for Love & Greens in the Circle of Moms Top 25 Vegan and Vegetarian Mom Blogs. I’m holding on to the #25 spot by my fingernails, and just generally happy to be included in this great group of women. I’d so appreciate it if you could vote for me so that I could stay in the Top 25! (There’s no need to register, and if you have already voted, you can vote again today until 5pm PST.)

My friend Cassandra tweeted after a few days off of work–Am completely feral, unshowered, overfed, nocturnal and irritable. 

Oh boy. Yep, that would be me when left to my own devices. When I lived by myself and worked freelance, it was pretty much my norm.

Getting married helped a little bit. Having a baby didn’t help at first–it made it worse. But now it’s helping a lot. A toddler provides structure with a capital-S. Our schedule is loose and based on many factors, but it’s pretty much run according to his needs.

Everyone wakes up when he wakes up. We have naps at regular intervals. We have an outdoor activity at least once every day. We do not skip meals. This is just the reality of parenting right now.

When it’s not crushing me with the weight of the responsibility, it’s oddly comforting.

I have way less time to be Alone With My Thoughts, which tends to be a good thing for an INFJ like me. I can get lost in my head and lose perspective pretty quickly. Life with a toddler doesn’t really allow this.

Okay, wait–this was going to be a post about lunch! Where was I…?

Ah yes, the overall structure helps me slowly and gently make changes to our eating. Since I can count on a general rhythm to our days, I can take a long view and see where I can make small tweaks over time…

What’s working: Mornings

Our mornings used to be fairly chaotic. And they still are when we get up earlier than we want (side-eye at Z) –but gone are the days when we’d wake up starving and find ourselves at the coffeeshop around the corner eating vegan donuts.

It took a lot of tweaking over months, and I’m sure it will change in the future as our needs change, but right now our smoothie system means I can at least count on several servings of raw greens and fruit going into my body every morning.

Now, I’m looking at the rest of our days, and moments when things tend to fall apart. Specifically…

Lunch

After breakfast and a midmorning snack I tend to start looking wildly around the kitchen for something to be a suitable lunch. Crackers and hummus are getting old. As is my beloved sunbutter sandwich. Occasionally I have some good leftovers, or heat up some lentil soup. Salads are great in theory, but don’t pass the toddler test.

Ideally we’d have some brilliant tasty legume and grain combination, with veggies of some kind. Made ahead of time so that I can pack some in my husband’s lunch, maybe in a wrap.

I’m looking for something oh-so-simple but delicious. I don’t even want to have to think about it.

I distrust recipes with more than 8 ingredients. I am not a big fan of chopping, although I will do it for something that will last me more than one meal. We’re not huge on variety: we can eat the same thing for a few days in a row. I’d love to have 4-5 recipes that I can rotate. Yum bowls are great, but we can only eat so much of those.

So I have been working my way through this book. It was recommended to me by friends, the parent educator at our co-op preschool, and our family naturopath. Okay, okay! I can take a hint. It’s something of a hippie family guidebook.

I love how simple it is. It is not a vegan cookbook per se, but it has quite a few vegetarian and vegan options, and it breaks down the major food groups in a way that makes sense to me. I also like that it focuses on getting everyone, including babies, to eat the same meal (she includes tweaks and alternates for the littler ones, but everyone gets the same general flavor).

It is really inspiring and walks through a lot of the “basics” with regards to cooking grains and legumes, which I appreciate. I’ve made beans a million times but they never seem to come out as nicely as the ones in a restaurant or prepared meal, so I think I’m doing something wrong. It also talks about sea vegetables and fermented foods–two groups that I have read about and have been meaning to add to our diet, but had no idea where to start.

I’m going to work on a few recipes from it in the next few weeks and see if I can’t find some favorites to eat for lunches. There may be a pressure cooker in my future…

So, hey! Do you have any times of day when Things Fall Apart? Or do you have any phenomenally delicious grain and legume recipes?

This little blog has been nominated for the Circle of Moms Top 25 Vegan and Vegetarian Mom Blogs of 2012! (The category is quite a mouthful, eh?)

I am more excited than I probably should be. Still…somewhere in my heart I would love the validation of making it into the Top 25.

If you’ve been enjoying this blog, here is where you can go vote:
http://www.circleofmoms.com/top25/top-vegan-vegetarian-mom-blogs-2012

Voting is super easy, just click on the orange “thumbs up” button next to my blog (Love & Greens, currently at #33)–no need to register or anything annoying like that. And you can vote every 24 hours until Valentine’s Day, hint hint.

If you’re visiting from Circle of Moms, here are a few posts that give a sample of what this blog is all about:

• Welcome to Love and Greens
• My Mission-festo!
• Anything-Oatmeal Bars
• Oh, Right.

As always, thanks for being here!

With love (and greens),
~ Eileen

Five! Wow, five seems like a lot. Almost like a tradition or something. Here it is, again: A weekly list of things I love and what’s going on with me.

My friend Kate has started an inspiring and important project called the In Good Company project. If you have had or have depression or anxiety, read some of these beautiful and tender stories and know that you are not alone.

I swear I am not usually a “cute video” kind of person, but this video of a Grizzly Bear cub and a Wolf cub playing may be the cutest thing I have ever seen! Awwwwww. Gush.

Ever since Z started to walk a couple weeks ago it has become more and more challenging to get stuff done (like cooking!) and keep him engaged. I know, that’s the story of parenting, right? Anyway last week when I was making oatmeal bars I let him help me put the ingredients in and stir. He had so much fun! But it was sort of awkward with him sitting in his high chair in order to be at counter-height…

So! I think we are going to get this. Or maybe this smaller one. Or maybe another version I haven’t found yet. Anyone have a toddler learning tower type thing that they like? My worry is floor space in our teeny kitchen.

As always, thanks for being here! If you want to keep up with my posts, you can subscribe to this blog here.

I have to admit, when the idea first came up to take our dog to acupuncture it sounded a little…extreme to me. Kind of out there. Something a crunchy mama would do. (I am a proud crunchy mama by the way, but I have to draw the line somewhere!)

Still. I pursued acupuncture for myself to increase my breast milk supply, so why did it seem so weird to do it for my dog? Eventually I decided to give it a try, and we finally got around to going last week.

How did it go?

It was pretty much like acupuncture for me (only he was way less bajiggity about it than I was.) The doctor placed needles to help with his internal bleeding, and for his joint pain, and we sat there for a good 45 minutes on the floor together. She showed me a spot on his knee where I could press that would help with pain and blood flow.

She talked to me about how Sawyer’s end might come, what the signs would be, and about whether we would have to put him down or whether he would choose his own time to die.

We talked about the decisions I had made with regards to his treatment. (No chemotherapy, which I still feel was the best choice.)

She recommended that all of us close to him let him know that he was free to go when he needed to go, that his work here was done. (That’s where I lost it. But I told him that and I will continue to tell him.)

I thought I could write some sort of informational post about this, in case anyone else is considering something like it for their pet– but the truth is I have no clue whether any of this helped him or not. Much like when I went to get acupuncture for my low milk supply. It seemed like the thing to do–go get acupuncture! People are always talking about getting acupuncture.

I do know that it didn’t hurt him at all, and the session cost less than a conventional vet visit.

Overall, I think the session was more for me than it was for Sawyer, even though the needles went in him. It was sweet and precious to have the container to spend some time just the two of us, without a toddler distracting me. So we’ll be going back next week.

Have you had acupuncture for your dog? Or any sort of “out there” treatment for a pet? Do you think it helped?

Taking a breath and calming the mental chatter once a week.

One unseasonably warm weekend in the middle of February and you’d think Seattle up and turned into Los Angeles! We pulled out our backyard furniture, went hiking, and searched for long-lost sunglasses.

I kept trying to get one with everyone looking at the camera, until I realized these captured the moment perfectly…

A couple nights ago my husband asked me, hey why haven’t we had salads at dinner in a while?

It’s true, I have sort of been sliding on salad-making. Now I could say I’ve been busy, life is hectic, the toddler, yadda yadda…but what it comes down to is that in the deep of winter, I’m just not a big one for salads. I’m sure spring will find me once again joyfully tossing raw veggies with homemade dressings. But for now I am pursuing warmer ways to get my vegetables in.

Vegetables! Specifically, crucifers are great in the winter. And I think we all know how gloriously nourishing these little buggers are. They might as well be wearing anti-cancer superhero outfits.

So I don’t know if I mentioned this, but I like to do boatloads of research. Which means I know that ideally I’d steam these guys ever-so-lightly and enjoy them almost raw, so that I could get every last phytonutrient into my body.

However! My philosophy on nutrition can be summed up thusly: I do what I can. Which doesn’t mean I don’t try to keep learning and evolving and changing my tastebuds and my habits…I do. But I also don’t force myself to eat things I don’t like. That’s a non-negotiable. It’s not sustainable, and I’m not out to win any races, I’m in this one for life.

So part of doing what I can is that I very much believe the best vegetable for me is the one I eat.

Anyway,  back to crucifers and this seriously awesome roasted broccoli!

Roasting may in fact reduce the nutrient profile when compared to steaming. However I still think these are pretty darn beneficial. And this broccoli just might make you want to eat broccoli every night all winter long. The first time I made it I ate the whole plate like I was licking cookie batter from a bowl, it’s that delicious…

Ingredients:

• Broccoli (about 4 stalks)
• Nutritional yeast (a couple spoonfuls)*
• Hemp seeds (a couple spoonfuls)*
• Juice from half a lemon
• olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

(*) Ingredient note: This recipe was adapted (and simplified) from an Ina Garten non-vegan recipe, so if you’re not vegan just use grated parmesan instead of hemp seeds and nutritional yeast. I’m sure it’s just as awesome. Although I don’t know firsthand, Ina does seem to know what she’s doing!

If you are vegan (or thinking about going vegan), you should know about these nutritional powerhouses…

Hemp seeds: Hemp seeds, or hemp hearts, are a great source of essential fatty acids, vitamin E, and protein. 3 tablespoons of hemp seeds have 11 grams of protein. That’s a pretty big chunk of your daily protein requirement from something that can just be sprinkled on top of other foods (salads, oatmeal, etc…they have a wonderful soft nutty taste to them.)

Nutritional yeast: Nutritional yeast is also high in protein,  as well as B vitamins, including B-12–making it another must-have in the vegan pantry. Another great thing about nutritional yeast is that it is a non-animal source of the savory umami flavor–usually associated with cheese. So you can sprinkle it on pasta, or use when “veganizing” dishes that normally include cheese.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450.

Chop broccoli roughly and make sure it is very dry. (Now I’m pointedly not going to suggest that if you buy organic maybe you can get away with not washing it, since it will be roasted at such a high temperature. Nope, not me, dee dee dee. Just make sure it is very dry or else it won’t brown.)

Toss broccoli with a very light coating of olive oil, salt and pepper.

Lay it out on a baking sheet lined with tinfoil (or a silpat.).

Bake for 25 minutes.

While it’s baking, grind a couple spoonfuls of hemp seeds and nutritional yeast in a coffee grinder (or something like this.)

Take the broccoli out of the oven and toss with another tablespoon of olive oil and juice from about half a lemon. Sprinkle a couple spoonfuls of the hemp-yeast mixture on top.

Enjoy!