A delicious meal made by my man!

Apparently my kids are ready for back to school. While I was at work, Kyle was doing the stay-at-home-dad thing, and the kids gave him a run for his money. It was a busy errand running day, and our lovely children were on edge and arguing over silly little things. By the time I got home, I think Kyle was D-O-N-E! They've since calmed down after eating a big meal, doing the dinner dishes and sitting down in their jammies to watch a show with me. Hopefully the rest of the weekend is smooth sailing. Especially now that it looks like we won't be able to do the things we had planned due to weather.

Look who got a haircut! However, contrary to how it looks, he is not strangling our Mirri cat. :)

Kyle had our dinner mostly done by the time I got off work, and it was very yummy! He made the Chickpea Sensation Patties, Potato Squashers, Thick & Rich Gravy (all from Eat, Drink, Be Vegan) and a caesar salad (Surprise! We love caesar salads around here.). Mmm.

Chickpea Sensation Patties

2 tsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 cup celery, chopped

1/8 tsp salt

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 can chickpeas, drained & rinsed

2 cloves garlic, quartered

2 tbsp worcestershire sauce (vegetarian friendly)

2 tbsp soy sauce

3/4 tsp dried thyme

1/8 tsp salt

2 cups cooked short grain brown rice

3/4 cup + 1 tbsp oats

Saute the onion, celery, salt and pepper in oil for 7-10 minutes, until soft. Meanwhile, in a food processor, puree the chickpeas, garlic, worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, thyme and salt until well blended. Add sauteed veggies and puree some more. Add 1 cup rice and puree. Add the second cup of rice, and pulse a bit, leaving a good texture.

Transfer to a bowl and add the oats. Mix well, cover, and chill for 30 minutes to firm it up. Form into patties with moist hands and cook on an indoor grill until browned. (The recipe suggested frying them in some olive oil, which we opted against. In retrospect, it might have been better that way because they were a bit too dry done on the grill.)

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Potato Squashers

5-7 medium sized red or Yukon gold potatoes

olive oil

coarse sea salt

Preheat oven to 400. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Pierce potatoes with a knife, place on the baking sheet and bake for 45-60 minutes until tender when pierced with a fork. Remove from oven and increase heat to 450. Squash each potato with a wooden spoon making each into an uneven round. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle with the coarse salt. Cook for 10-12 minutes, remove from oven, flip them, and drizzle the other side with some olive oil. Return to oven and cook another 12-15 minutes.

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Thick and Rich Gravy

1 cup vegetable broth

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1 tbsp mild miso

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 cloves garlic, sliced

2 tsp onion powder

1 tbsp arrowroot powder

2 tbsp tahini

1 1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 1/2 tsp black strap molasses

1/2-3/4 tsp agave nectar

2 tbsp olive oil

Place all of the ingredients into a pot, and, using an immersion blender, puree together. Heat the gravy to a boil, reduce the heat and cook for 2-3 minutes to thicken. Taste and add more vinegar if needed.

Two days in one, and a bout of pneumonia.

I spent a couple of hours in the emergency room today with Tiernan. Not how we wanted to spend Easter, but I'm very glad we went. He was showing some strange symptoms this morning - itchy, red, tingly hands and feet that ended up swelling up as well. Some of Tiernan's toes were twice the normal size. He was having a terrible time during the chocolate egg hunt this morning (although the picture tells a different story!... it was still early then), breaking down into tears, collapsing on his bed and having his heart beat right out of his chest. We knew something wasn't right, so I headed into Belleville General with him. Luckily, we had a fantastic doctor and after some Xrays, we were on our way out the door with an antibiotic prescription in hand. Turns out he has pneumonia which is something I've never had to deal with before. The poor kid is a trooper, though. I guess he'll be doing a whole lot of resting this week.

Aside from that little adventure, our day was nice and relaxing. The Easter Bunny hid the chocolates on different levels of the house for each of the kids, and he hid them well! It was fun to watch them search high and low and finish with a smile on their faces and a big sense of accomplishment. I'll telling you - the Easter Bunny made it a real challenge this year! :)

Originally we were going to head to my parents' house for dinner, but with the whole pneumonia thing, we cancelled out on them. I had no clue what we were going to eat for supper since all I had planned on doing was bringing a Tofurky to cook in my Mum's oven. Around 4:30pm things started to calm down a bit (aka - home from the hospital and pharmacy) so I figured we'd better whip something up to feed our hungry family. Seeing as there were no stores open today, I think our meal turned out pretty good! We had our Tofurky, some carrots cooked in a Braggs/orange juice sauce, some very garlicky mashed potatoes, this miso gravy, a salad with mixed greens, cucumbers, broccoli and sesame seeds, and these Red Lobster-esque buns that I've made a lot lately (but this time I used 3 year old white cheddar instead of sharp orange cheddar). Not too shabby for a last minute meal! (And we just won't even talk about the fact that I burned my stomach pretty badly on a baking tray.... yup.. I'm that good!)

Yesterday was Slow Cooker Saturday, but not nearly as busy as it has been lately. This time it was only bowling in the morning (but Tiernan stayed home with Kyle), dance practice and a birthday party for a friend of Rhianna's in the afternoon and then swimming at the YMCA with a friend of Rhianna's in the evening. I have a serious love affair with my crockpot. It's such an easy way to have a nice, warm, yummy meal ready for you when you're ready to eat it. I made slow cooker sloppy joes which is one of my family's favourites. I got the recipe from one of my vegan cookbooks years ago, and I have searched for it again to no avail. If I do figure out where I got it I will definitely leave credit where credit is due!

Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 small green pepper, chopped

1 tbsp chili powder

1 1/2 cups dried brown or green lentils, washed

14 1/2 oz crushed tomatoes

3 cups water

2 tbsp Braggs

1 tbsp mustard

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a skillet. Add the onion and green pepper, cover and cook until softened (about 5 minutes). Add the chili powder, and stir to coat.

Transfer to the crock pot. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

I toast the hamburger buns in the toaster before adding the sloppy joe mixture. I then top them with dill pickles (for everyone except for Kyle) and sliced cheese and broil them for a few minutes until the cheese is nicely melted.

Saturday is also Date Night. If we didn't schedule a date night in, I'm not sure Kyle and I would really, truly see each other. We're both so busy with so many other things, and life just sort of gets away from us. It's been really good to have this scheduled date once a week to make sure we have time to connect. Last night we played some Catan (surprise!), drank chocolate peanut butter milkshakes (something I used to make for Kyle alllll the time, but hadn't made in years!) and ate some chips & pretzels with a curried garlic dip. No recipe for the dip since I used the seasonings from here instead.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Milkshakes

(for 2 very full glasses!)

6 scoops chocolate ice cream

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup milk

2 tbsp chocolate syrup

Stick it all in a blender and blend until mixed, but still thick. Add more milk as needed to thin it out.

To leave you on a good note, here is my beautiful Mirri cat. ♥

Happy Easter Weekend!