all good things...

...must come to an end. First summer and our weekly CSA share, then Vegan Mofo, and now our local farmer's markets.

Thursday afternoon I
managed to sneak off
solo to nab some final
goodies. The weather
was nice, the fall colours
were just beginning to
wane, and the vendors
were ready with lots
of great food.
I bought tomatoes, purple brocco-flower (broccoli? cauliflower?), white cauliflower, zucchini, summer squash, bell peppers, eggplant, lettuce, kettle corn, and loaves of bread...including Nate's requested "farm bread" which means white bread...though I got some extra seed bread to freeze.

Now comes the long dark winter...what to do? There is a farmer's market a few towns away that runs for another month. And there is the year-round Haymarket in Boston. Otherwise, in addition to our monthly winter CSA share, it's back to the supermarkets. I pay close attention to the little stickers on everything, denoting location and growing method. When all else fails, I head to one of warehouse stores for a giant bag of organic broccoli and freeze the extras. I've got quite a bit of soup veggies frozen from the farm, but the failed tomato crop will either keep me making brothy soups or buying tinned tomatoes. And I'll likely treat myself to a few trips to the various asian markets.

So tell me, how do your eating habits change when the cooler weather arrives? What fall/winter crops do you look forward to most? I always reminisce about a December trip to Australia we took, when the local avocadoes and mangoes were in season. Sometimes it makes me long to live in a warmer locale.

Stocking the pantry

Actually we don't have a
pantry, just a few over-
stuffed cabinets and Elfa
racks over the basement
door. A pantry is one item
on a very long home
renovation list that I
may never see. But while
I impatiently wait for our
clutch of green tomatoes to
slowly ripen, I turn my attention towards evaluating and restocking the pantry items I'll want for packed lunches next week.

- canned & jarred items: beans for hummus, salads, burritos, soups...refried beans for dips...pasta sauce & canned tomatoes for stuffed pastas, pizza, lasagna, soups, sauces...olives, pickles, and other finger foods...sauces & condiments like soy sauce, ketchup, mustard, maple syrup, agave nectar, salad cremes...furikake, toasted sesame seeds, dried seaweeds.

- stocks, broth, bouillon...not just for soups, but for flavouring rice & pasta dishes, a homemade sauce, or sauteed vegetables.

- crackers & pretzels...though I had intended to be ambitious and learn to make my own crackers over the summer I never got to it. But I haven't bought any crackers in months either. I like the new Mary's Gone Crackers, but I don't want to buy anything too "weird" for the beginning of the school year, so I'll have a look at what's on sale and has no bad oils. Pretzels nuggets, sticks, & puzzle shapes are fun snacks & gap fillers.

- nuts & seeds...for trailmix, gap fillers, salad toppings, yogurt toppings, asian noodle toppings, cooking in rice, baking in breads & muffins. Of course I can only send nut-products with Ryan, since preschool is nut-free. But the kids love peanuts, almonds, cashews, & sunflower seeds.

- pasta...cool shapes are a favourite, and I often buy those mac & cheese boxes, toss the cheese packet, cook the pasta, and add my own healthier sauce.

- noodles...save yourself some money and check out your local asian market or online retailer for an array of different noodle styles.

- rice...sticky, brown, sushi, basmati, wild, arborio, or forbidden black, there are hundreds of rice varieties available to liven up lunch and keep your grocery bill low. You don't have to have a rice cooker, but if you want one, pick one up cheap at an asian market or buy one online. They really make cooking rice a cinch. There are whole cookbooks dedicated to rice cooker recipes, or search online for thousands of ideas.

- flour & other grains...wheat flour and bread aren't your only options. Try something new like shelf-stable pre-cooked polenta, make your own oatmeal bars for a fraction of the cost of those storebought cereal bars, try a few gluten-free recipes, use millet or barley in place of rice or oats for a new taste & texture.

- other baking ingredients...make sure to have the basics on hand such as sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, spices

- treats...I don't like to add too much fruit or lots of sweet foods to lunches, but it can be fun once in a while; things like mini gel cups, tiny dark chocolates, refined shaped crackers, sweet cereals, Luna bars, fruit leather, fruit shapes, dried fruit, cookies, baked chips, Veggie Booty, Tings, etc. can be added in small amounts on special days or to complete a themed lunch.

- drinks...while water is great, a bottle of lemonade or Vruit juice can be a nice change...my kids also love vanilla rice milk and chocolate almond milk--adding some coconut milk is a nice creamy addition too. I'm going to try not to resort to drink boxes as much this year; even though we recycle them at home, schools do not. While the kids all have Sigg water bottles, I've bought a few new cheaper BPA-free plastic ones made by Eastar that are short and slim for fitting in a lunchbox, perfect alongside a bento box.

I'm sure I'm forgetting things. Help me add to this list so everyone can benefit!

And if you want to challenge yourself during the first few weeks back at school, check out my newest "Chopped" style challenge at Bento: Impossible.

Vegetarian Books for Kids

I did something last week I'd never done before...I went shopping on Black Friday. Agh! Actually, it wasn't too bad. I took 3 kids (minus the 2 year old) and parked at the top of the mall parking garage. I hit Gymboree for boys pjs and girl-colored shirts. We browsed the Lego Store, ogling over the Lego Star Wars Death Star while Ryan fantasized about owning the newest Bionicle sets. We played briefly at the new playspace. And then we came home just before the rain started. Done by 9am!

But it got me thinking about holiday gifts. So I thought a book review of our collection of veg-friendly kids books was in order...

Baby & Toddler books:

One of our favourites is
Eating the Alphabet, by
Lois Ehlert. We actually
own 2 copies, one board
book and one paperback.
Both are well-used.

The bright watercolor
images are engaging,
and the text is simple: letters & labels of fruits & vegetables.

Lois Ehlert has many other great titles we enjoy too, such as Growing Vegetable Soup, Planting A Rainbow and Nuts to You!.

Another awesome book for the
whole family is Food for Thought,
by Saxton Freymann and Joost
Elffers. If you haven't seen any of
their books before you are in for
a real treat. All of their illustrations
are crafted out of fruits, vegetables,
beans and nuts. Some of the
creations are unbelievably cute and
jaw-droppingly realistic. Nate was
given this book by a friend for his
second birthday, and we have a few
of their other titles. You've gotta check them out!

Strawberries Are Red, by
Petr Horacek is a simple
little board book that has
been extremely well-loved
by our kids, especially AJ
and Nate (there's a bite
mark out of the spine from
when AJ was a baby). I
usually change a few pieces
of the simple text to my liking, for example "apples are [sometimes] green" and "grapes are [often] purple". The end of
the book is pretty cool,
revealing all of the pages'
colors at once in a bowl
of yummy fruit salad.
AJ often read this book
to himself, concluding with
the exclamation: "Look at
all the fruit!"

Preschool:

For young children there are a plethora of titles to choose from. Here are a few of our favourites for the 2-5 year old set...

Our boys have been
fascinated by this book
about fruit and how it
grows. Let's Look At
Fruit is a factual picture
book with lots to look at.



The Surprise Garden, by Zoe
Hall is a quick book about how
vegetables grow. It is a
fictional book about kids who
are given a handful of seeds
by their mother to plant.
They discover how the different
plants grow and eventually
reveal what food they are.
At the end the kids all have
a garden party.

One book that was missing in action (so I couldn't photograph it) is The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear, by Don Wood. The kids just love the suspense of this book, even though the bear never does appear and the mouse decides to eat the strawberry but shares half with the reader.

Early Childhood:

As the kids get older and
become more interested
in why we have chosen a
vegan diet, there are
fewer books to choose
from.
One of the more engaging
is Benny Brontosaurus
Goes To A Party, a story
about a brontosaurus boy who moves into a new neighborhood and makes friends with his neighbor, a tyrannasaurus rex. He learns how to politely decline the cake and ice cream at his friend's birthday party because it is made with milk and eggs and he is a herbivore. Later they go out to a fast food restaurant where there is a "nut burger" option for Benny, and his t-rex friend decides to join him and orders the same thing.
This book is great until the very end where in my opinion a little too much emphasis is placed on how different Benny's diet is. But a few verbal text tweaks can fix this fine. It's a good choice for the preschool-3rd grade set.

The Organic Adventures
of Tucker the Tomato, by
Rey Ortega and Amanda
Roeckel is an odd little
tale about an organic
tomato that falls out of a
truck and tries to get
back to his friends at the
natural food market. He
encounters a group of "conventional" tomatoes along the way, and learns that he prefers being a healthier organic tomato.
I wish this book introduced a few more facts about the differences between organic and conventional produce. It's a bizarre adventure, though Tucker is cute nonetheless.

One of the cooler selections
is Herb the Vegetarian
Dragon, by Jules Bass, (I
bought my copy from a
friend's store here). This
vegetarian dragon is
harassed by the other
dragons in the forest and
blamed for crimes. He is
sentenced to death for a crime
he didn't commit, but saved
by a little girl who has
befriended him and has witnessed his gentle ways. I wish Herb had just stood up for himself instead, but it's a fun book, and dragons are always enjoyable with the kids.

Yet another book that is probably hiding under the covers of Ryan's bed is Benji Bean Sprout Doesn't Eat Meat, by Sarah Rudy. I think ours boys love this one because Benji is a vegan boy who goes to school, just like they do. And he loves animals.
However, a lot of the text is full of teasing and the word "hate", so I tone it down with some verbal editing when I read it aloud. Benji is teased by 2 boys at his school, so he and his mother bring some vegetarian food to class to share, the kids try it, and the boys and Benji become friends. I would prefer to have seen some consequences for the boys who teased, but such is life.
Benji's visit with his dad to the animal sanctuary is quite enjoyable. He takes pictures of the animals and shares what he learns with his class.

School-age & Teens:

There aren't many books about
vegtarianism or veganism for
older kids. I stumbled upon the
book Eating the Vegetarian
Way: Good Food From the
Earth, by Lila Perl when I was
in my late teens and found a
used copy as it is now out of
print. The text presents the
basic concepts of vegetarian
diets in a simple format for
children as well as more
mature young adult readers.

There are many cookbooks for vegetarian kids (a topic for another post), and a decent variety of vegetarian parenting books too. But not a ton dealing with introducing a vegetarian diet to older kids, which is often when many kids make the choice to adopt a vegetarian diet.

I hope this review is useful if you're in the market for some veg-friendly holiday gifts. What are your favourite vegetarian children's books?