Oh Joy, It's bok choy!

I love the spring and fall crops of baby bok choy at the farm. So delicate and tasty compared to the gargantuan white stemmed variety at the regular supermarket (though the asian market always carries the light green variety).

Bok Choy Joy

3-4 heads young bok choy,
or 1 large bunch
1/2 yellow or white onion,
roughly chopped/sliced
1 T. peanut oil (or substitute
canola or sunflower oil)
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp. hot chili paste (I use my own, but any hot store-bought sauce or paste will do, or use dried chili flakes)
1 T. soy sauce
1 T. cooking sherry
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 heaping tsp. cornstarch + 2 T. water

Wash and cut bok choy, separating the thicker stems from the leaves. Chop onion & garlic.
Heat oil in large pan or wok. Add bok choy stems, onion, garlic & chili paste. Stir fry 2-3 minutes over medium-high heat.
Add chopped bok choy leaves, soy sauce, sherry, salt, sugar. Stir fry another 1-2 minutes.
Add vegetable broth, bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium, cook 2-3 minutes, until bok choy stems are tender.
Turn off heat. Add
cornstarch & water
mixture. Stir gently.

Great with rice or noodles.
Also, if you are a protein
fiend, you can add your
favourite thin pieces of protein
fodder at the beginning with
the bok choy. I like tofu, tempeh, chik'n strips, "beef" strips, or cashews.

----

Another thing I end up with a lot of are chard stems. Often I just add them to a soup base...sort of a mirepoix + chard...very colorful!
You can use them in many
places you'd normally use
celery. Or just chop them
thinly and use them along
with your swiss chard
leaves. I usually prefer to
keep them separate though.

Lots of delicious produce from
the farm this week despite all the rain: kale, swiss chard, collards greens, lots of flat leaf parsley, garlic scapes, zucchini, radishes, beets & greens, spinach, scallions, strawberries, snap peas, carrots, tea herbs.













AJ had his first kindergarten
playdate at the playground
next door. Luckily the incessant
rain actually stopped for a few
hours! Maia came along in the
backpack of course.






And Nate brought a lollipop...
a reward for using the potty
without fuss before we left and
his first day in underwear!

first last day of kindergarten

Last day of the school year for Ryan!
Ryan's last lunch of the schoolyear: rice & bean burrito; peas; strawberries; 2 slices homemade pizza; Lake Champlain dark chocolate w/almonds.

I didn't have a huge selection
of lunch food to choose from,
but he was psyched about the
pizza, burrito & chocolate to
be sure!

For his teachers, Ryan took
with him gifts of strawberry
pints that we picked from
the farm. I labeled them, and
Ryan made his own notes for them...

To celebrate the last day
of school, I made a big
strawberry rhubarb tart.
Right up my husband's
alley too!

AJ was very interested
in the pastry. For the
past few months he has
been telling everyone he
wants to be a baker when
he grows up!






AJ ate his ice cream first,
then picked up the tart
slice in his hands. Nate
watched him do this and
has dubbed this dish "ice
cream pizza"!

AJ has already gotten
quite the list of homework
to do over the summer for
his kindergarten class in
the fall. One of the assignments
is to "help someone make
dinner". He was eager to
get started, so I had him
help me make pizzas last
night. I forgot to take a pic
until they were half-eaten!
They were topped with soy
cheese, black & green olives,
onions, garlic, spinach,
mushrooms & fresh
oregano.

Lots of...everything

Ryan's
lunch:
straw-
berry &
beet
stems
biscuit
"blobs";
a pickle
(hiding);
water-
melon;
mini
peanut
butter
bagel;
tater
tots w/
ketchup.

And for the afternoon,
Ryan's class is celebrating
"summer birthdays", so
I frosted a cupcake for
him to bring along.

Ryan didn't have school
yesterday because it was
the day when new kindergarteners visit...which meant AJ got to visit his new class! He will only be going half-day in the fall (full day costs a lot, and we're out of dough). So he has a different teacher I'd not met before.

Here he is making a Lego
building. Then I went off
to the parent meeting (same
as last year, so it's already
getting dull). He had circle
time and had already learned
the name of a few new
friends.

Over
the
weekend
it rained
almost
constantly.
But that
didn't
stop the
preschool
end of
the year
event at
a nearby
play-
ground.
The rain
stopped
briefly
so I could get a few pics of the boys. Otherwise they slipped and slided, Nate played in a puddle, and Maia finally fell asleep for a short nap on me.










I thought this sign was pretty
cool telling about how many
recycled materials are used to
make a playground nowadays.

And then the moment all the kids were waiting for...the visit from the ice cream truck.






















At home, Ryan trimmed his Grass Head he grew in kindergarten.

My husband worked at the farm this weekend, and a record 9 people hadn't shown up the day before for friday share pickup, so we got lots of extra food, plus the opportunity to pick tons more strawberries, which are now frozen safely in the freezer awaiting fall applesauce and smoothies!

Off to get this week's share...

finer moments

Parenting only looks easy on the outside...
Ryan's lunch: blanched spinach; strawberry "blossoms"; green grapes; soba noodles w/enoki mushrooms (w/soy sauce); cucumber slices; edamame; vegetable gyoza. And sitting outside the bento is a rice cake filled with sweet red bean paste, a typical treat during cherry blossom season....I'm sure there's a technical name for them in Japanese, but I don't know it!

AJ's snack: green
grapes; soba noodles;
edamame; blanched
spinach.

Nate's lunch: more of
the same...





Despite the cheerful daily
bento pics, things aren't
always neat and tidy and
efficient outside the camera
frame...not that you think
they are...and I'm certainly
not trying to maintain that
illusion. But today contained
prime proof that sometimes
one's lunch is not only the epicenter but the sole source of calm and order in an entire day.

Exhibit A - the dining room
table, remnants of not one,
not two, but THREE meals,
all I must shamefully admit
served on the SAME plates...
and no, I don't mean that
they were washed in between,
I mean the same DIRTY plates.
For what it's worth, the first
two meals contained things like cinnamon toast, carrot sticks, nuts, and giant soft pretzels...not terribly messy. But surround the dirty plates (in this pic it's Ryan's, hence the "RYAN" spoon) with an unconsumed cup of oj, a dirty cereal (rice) bowl, an empty water cup, a mouse finger puppet, a wounded upside down Imperial probe droid, and a plate containing an inverted Tech Deck and two Lego boulders...well, you get the picture...

While I got lunches ready,
AJ adorned Maia's exersaucer
with Bionicles.

Nate cried for the first time
at preschool...for over an hour...
because I didn't say goodbye
apparently, distracted by AJ
needing his shoe tied in the hall...but they couldn't reach me once I'd left because my cell phone was out of juice and to top it off apparently the classroom schedule had been changed a third time and my husband was supposed to be parent helping in Nate's class today...and it was raining too of course, and AJ almost went to school in his pajamas (no there was not another pj breakfast on the schedule).

Well, after playing in the
wet yard, followed by a
handful of chocolate chips
(two handfuls for me), Nate
was back to his moody 2
year old self. He stuck Ryan's
bows into my boots and
balanced his sneakers on top.
You would not believe some
of the things I sometimes find in my shoes when I go to stick my feet in.

But as the day wore on
and frozen whole wheat
pizza dough defrosted on
the kitchen counter, things
began to improve. Even
though I had to wake her
from her nap, Maia survived
being surrounded by 22
kindergarten kids as the
object of Ryan's "star sharing",
formerly known as show & tell
back in the day. She smiled and drooled and babbled and "danced" and dropped her ball enough times that almost every child who wanted to got a turn to toss it back to her.

But I'm better at showing you my day through the guise of a quickly-crafted bento.

If you want daily parenting wit and humour (and Photoshop prowess I do not possess), you need to check out my friend's blog Unruly Helpmeet. She also gives away DAILY free art here. And she just invented a hysterical brand new blog award and gave one to ME! Is it stupid and lame to get a made-up award from a friend?? NO! It's even better than some "big" award from some body I don't know because a) she's not vegan & never will be b) doesn't make bentos c) only chose 5 blogs to start her award cascade with and I'm one of them! I'm totally flattered whether she likes it or not.

And so you see, every day has its finer moments.

6 and a half

Why is 6 and a half important you ask?? Well it's half way to being a teenager! AGGHH!!!!
Ryan's lunch: wheat flax crackers w/Tings "6" & soy cheese "1/2"; underneath is a lychee gel cup; edamame; wakame onigiri; cucumber; broccoli; vegetable gyoza w/soy sauce.

A few weeks go, Ryan was sharing a bag of Tings with his brothers and came to show me one that looked like a number six. We saved it in an airtight container until today!

Teacher conferences in pajamas!

Yes, I wore my pajamas, Hello Kitty pajamas, to two parent-teacher conferences today. There was a reason--my 5 year old's pajama breakfast (or brunch really) at preschool--but ya' know I'd have probably done it anyway as I often don't get dressed til the afternoon anyhow, if at all. Four kids will do that to a person.

I sent vegan equivalents
of bagel w/cream cheese
(Tofutti cream cheese),
scrambled eggs (broccoli &
onion tofu quiche), pancakes
(just basic vegan pancakes
made with Vitasoy soymilk),
and real maple syrup versus
corn syrup sweetened fake
syrup. I tossed in some raisins too.
For the class we provided sliced oranges, and a bag of oranges so the kids could learn to squeeze their own juice. There were also banana slices & strawberries, cut by the kids. This was a huge amount of food, but AJ ate all but a few crumbs plus some of the class fruit, and a full size drink box of Rice Dream rice milk!
Instead of allowing the leftover fruit and class bagel pieces to be tossed in the trash, we brought them home and made fruit smoothies with coconut milk, and spread some peanut butter on the bagel pieces.

Just beforehand we met with
Nate's teacher for spring
parent-teacher conferences.
Maia came along and played on
the floor while we chatted with
his wonderful teacher. She is
just so great with the toddler
age. I wouldn't normally consider
sending a 2 year old to preschool,
but when we visited the school for
Ryan when he was 3 and found
out about the toddler class, we
just had to send AJ too. It's been a great experience for everyone. The boys have all loved going to school, never a complaint!

So this is AJ's third and
final year in preschool. I
think he will miss it!

Since he was having
breakfast for lunch, I
just gave the other boys
the same food in their
lunches...



Nate's lunch: pancakes w/maple syrup; sliced strawberries; piece of broccoli & onion tofu quiche; bagel w/Tofutti cream cheese.

Ryan's
lunch:
same
as his
brothers'
lunches,
with the
addition
of some
dried
apricots.

At Ryan's
parent-
teacher
conference
today,
one of the
assisant
teacher's who apparently ends up on cafeteria duty commented on his awesome lunches. And his teacher said he is "very ready for 1st grade" and is doing so well in all areas of school.

Valentine fun

Monday:
Ryan's lunch: mini cinnamon raisin bagel w/Tofutti cream cheese; Macabee kosher eggplant sticks & ketchup for dipping; a pickle; a carrot; strawberry applesauce.

AJ's snack:
mini cinnamon
raisin bagel w/
Tofutti cream
cheese; a pickle;
a carrot.


Tuesday:
Ryan's lunch: blueberry Whole Soy yogurt w/snowflake sprinkles; avocado, lettuce & tomato sandwiches; carrots; a pickle; a strawberry.

Nate's lunch: avocado,
lettuce & tomato
sandwich; strawberries;
a carrot; a pickle;
chicken-free nuggets.

AJ didn't need a snack
bento since Dada was
parent helper. They brought pretzel rods, carrots & cranberry apple cider for the class.

Wednesday:
Ryan's "Twisted" lunch: portobello spring rolls; pbj sandwich rolls; spinach roll; Tofurky, soy cheese & tomato roll; cucumber twirls; carrot twirls; flax lavash roll-up with Tofurky, raw spinach & Tofutti cream cheese; spicy spiral fries.

This was my submission to Jewelmaker's 1st bento contest! She's giving away a fabulous stainless steel bento lunch set.

Portobello Salad Spring Rolls

12 spring roll wrappers
bag of mache or other greens
2 portobello mushroom caps
2 T. olive oil
1 T. balsamic vinegar
pinch of salt
small tub The Bridge Tofu
Salad*
1/4 red bell pepper, julienned
1 scallion, julienned

Wash or wipe portobello
mushrooms and slice into
thin strips. Heat olive oil &
balsamic vinegar over
medium-low heat, add
mushrooms, sprinkle with
a pinch of salt, and saute
until soft but not mushy.

Rinse spring roll wrappers
one at a time under
lukewarm water until soft
& pliable...you want them
rollable, but not so soggy
that they'll stick to your work surface like plastic wrap. Rinse one and use it right away, finish a roll, then rinse the next, etc.

Place a little mache, followed by the mushrooms, tofu salad, bell pepper, scallion, and top off with a few more greens.
Roll starting on one side (like a burrito), fold over the top & bottom, then continue rolling the rest.

FYI, mache is an heirloom green with a unique taste. It's is worth it if you can find it, but if you can't, some baby greens/mesclun or even regular lettuce will suffice.
Another nice addition to these spring rolls is radish sprouts. They are often available at asian markets, or you can buy seeds and grow your own.

*I buy The Bridge tofu salad at Whole Foods. It is made here in New England (Middletown, CT) so I'm not sure it's available nationally. I like the tart vinegary taste it has along with a nice crunch from some onion, carrot & celery. A complete list of ingredients is available on their website.

It was also Ryan's 100th
Day of Kindergarten. His
class was having a party,
but I wasn't sure what was
going to be served (his
teacher's father passed away
the previous day so there
was a substitute teacher
all week), so I sent an array
of junk with him for the afternoon...a dutch pretzel, fruit roll, lollipop, chocolate sandwich cookies. He ate the cookies & fruit roll but brought the rest home.

And here's AJ and
his Maia as he likes
to call her.






Thursday:

Just as big brother Ryan
did last year, AJ got to make
a special "Valentine Party In
A Box" for a friend in his
preschool class. He did a great
job decorating with stickers
and writing his friend's name.

Even though his friends aren't
vegan, all the treats in the box
are, so we tried to picked things
that are well-liked by most
kids...a Glenny's chocolate
marshmallow crispy bar, a
Dum-Dum lollipop, a dutch
pretzel, a Lake Champlain
dark chocolate heart, a cherry
fruit strip, a small juice box,
a Play-Doh display globe, &
a Valentine stamp set.

AJ ate most of the treats
from his gift box at school,
but he told me he received
an apple juice, some chips,
a lollipop, & a bar, along with
3 Maisto cars.

I included a small heart
sandwich & chocolate just
in case, but he saved them
to eat when he got home.
Nate's lunch: 3 mini heart sandwiches, strawberries, Veggie Booty.

Nate's class also had a
Valentine celebration.
I included a vanilla
cupcake for him with
pink frosting & heart
sprinkles. Here it is
before transport in a
Cup-A-Cake container.

Ryan's lunch: pickles; sunflower butter & raspberry jam heart sandwich (propped up by 2 mini ones underneath); carrots; strawberries; grape tomato; mini pumpkin muffin; mini banana Craisin walnut muffin; Lake Champlain dark chocolate square.

While Ryan was at school still,
we went to do some shopping
at Whole Foods. I usually shop
on fridays & the weekend, but
I needed a few extra things for
the preschool Valentine party
in the evening...plus it's got to
be easier to shop with 3 kids
instead of 4, right??












At home, Nate opened all
of his Valentines from his
friends and teachers. He
was very proud before
school to be able to tell
me all of his friends'
names in his class.


Here's Maia having a break
in AJ's classroom during the
evening Valentine party.
We had a family photo
taken in a giant heart, ate
pizza (that I made for us) &
cookies, did crafts, and
donated food to the local
food pantry. Maia got to
wear her "Kisses" shirt given
to her by her great aunt.
Maia is 7 months old today!

Friday:
Ryan's lunch: a strawberry; blueberries; a Lake Champlain dark chocolate heart; grilled chreez sandwich with tic-tac-toe made of ketchup, soy cheese & black olives; broccoli; peanuts.
I thought this was a cute boy-ish theme for a Valentine lunch for a kindergartener.