Happy Birthday, Monkey!

I got accused of being a tease on my previous short post. This one may be overload. This month, my baby boy turned ONE so bear with me and all of my pics. I can't believe it. That's what we parents always say as our kids grow. It's true, though. I can't believe it has been a year. The infant stage of life is entirely too short for me. I wish the baby stage lasted 2 or 3 years. 

Sock Monkey theme, obviously. I went "shopping" at my parents' house for antiques to use, like this old potato crate, books, and lantern. 

painted paper mache letter: Hobby Lobby 

organic cotton stuffed monkey: 

Heidi's shop at Etsy

birthday printables: Cupcake Express at Etsy

candy: Natural Candy Store

 decoupaged paper mache 1: Hobby Lobby

old wooden Coca-Cola box: my parents

 

mixed nuts, olives, crackers, carrots, hummus, fruit, pasta, Smiley Face fries, tater tots, soy nuggets, Gardein strips, chips, salsa, PB & J sandwiches, banana chips, and banana mini-muffins

I Love Monkey by Suzanne Kaufmann 

is a cute book about being yourself.

Dr. Oetker Organics brand
cake and frosting mixes

t-shirt: this Etsy shop

He really didn't know what to think about having a cupcake. Upon examining it, he thought it was weird and seemed to wonder if he was really supposed to eat it. He figured it out, though, and wanted to share with everyone. He didn't make a huge typical 1st birthday mess as it was just a little cupcake...

however, his little pal didn't seem to have any trouble.

Every monkey party needs to end with banana splits, of course.

We had Rice Dream, Almond Dream, So Delicious soy and So Delicious coconut milk ice cream (added with bananas, chocolate syrup, strawberry sauce, crushed pineapple, nut topping, sprinkles, cherries, and Soyatoo) to choose from. One non-vegan family preferred the Almond Dream, and I think one family preferred the coconut.

He did also enjoy a few bites of ice cream.

lots of sweet help opening presents

I love you, my ONE-derful little man who has brought so much joy to my life. Every day with you is fun. (Slower and more difficult, etc., but I smile and laugh so much every single day because of you.) I love that you love it when we squeeze you into a group hug. I love how you've recently been hugging your brothers and sister around the neck tightly when we tell you to give them a hug. I love how fast you army crawl toward Daddy as soon as you see he's home. I don't like how you make a face and spit out pieces of steamed veggies, but we'll work on it! I secretly love how you can be screaming inconsolably with someone else, then the moment I enter the room and pick you up, there's silence - and you sometimes even giggle through your tears because you're so happy. I love your comb-over, and I promise I'll figure out a way to style it soon. I pray for peace and goodness and all wonderful things for you. Happy birthday!

*Thank you to my photographer friend/party guest Sarah who let me use her camera at the party and took a lot of the pics for me!

Larabar "Blizzards" & Tortilla Picante

This post is in honor of my brilliant husband.

I can't even tell you how smart and creative I think he is. (supportive, unselfish...etc.) First of all, I think he's a genius, when it comes to his job (and all things technological). I could never do what he does; my brain just does not work that way.

Then, besides that, he is an elementary teacher at heart, and I feel like I'm married to this little computer of ideas. And if I have an idea, I talk it over with him, and he perfects it. He learns how something works, and he can tell you all about it five years later. He always lets the kids go with him to do errands, even though it would be much simpler if he went on his own. He gathers the kids around him at night for a nightly devotion and prayer.

Those are just a few things I love about him. I know he's going to roll his eyes at all of this because he knows he's not perfect, and I'm not saying he's perfect.

He can be impossible at moments, let's be honest. :)

Then, besides all of that...he makes me healthier, too. I could so easily be a "junk-food" vegetarian because that's sort of what my natural palate leans toward...but besides the fact I choose to do better on my own, he encourages all of us to eat more vegetables, etc. He tells ME that I need to start preparing more raw food again because he really felt good when I was doing that. He stopped eating meat (around 7 years ago) as a (huge) gesture to me, but along the way, he has developed his own feelings about the subject.

I love that he is sensitive and compassionate about the same things I care about. We argued when we were engaged about whether or not we would take our future kids to McDonald's. Now, when I'm not even in the room, I sometimes catch him talking to the kids about why we don't eat animals. And I see him with Dash, talking gently about why it's important to be kind to the little snail or rolly-polly or whatever he is holding. All of that warms my heart tremendously. I realize how much I lucked out in the husband-picking department. He's about as perfect for me, as I imagine they come.

He is always concocting these great ideas for meals. The other day, when he was driving home, he told me he was thinking about blending icecream with Larabars. So this weekend, that is what we did with some vanilla Soy Delicious. Here is our version of a Concrete or Blizzard.
We made different flavors. First, Cherry Pie. Then Banana Bread flavor mixed with Chocolate Coconut. And finally, Apple Pie. The ingredients of a Larabar are dates, nuts, and then whatever extra flavor is added, like bananas or cocoa powder and coconut.
I pinched the Larabars into pieces for the food processor, then blended them a little before adding the icecream, then blending it some more.

Here is another dish that Ryan created...about 11 years ago.

I was working 3 jobs at the time, and when I came home late, he had supper ready for me.

He did that a lot.

He named this dish Tortilla Picante, and we still enjoy it often today. First, you cut corn tortillas into strips, and cook them with olive oil in a skillet. They will get crispy. Put them aside. In a large pan, add chopped avocados, mashed silken tofu, olives, garlic, salt and plenty of salsa. (We always used Picante Sauce back then before I stopped eating it, which is how it got its name, of course.) Then, add the corn tortilla chips back in, until they are chewy.

Chocolate Ice Cream & Chocolate Covered Nuts

In other news...I think I have mentioned before that my kids will eat practically anything if it is in frozen form. Here is one of our latest homemade "ice cream" treats. I started out making chocolate chia shakes that were inspired by ideas from Green and Crunchy and Kristen's Raw. The ingredients were raw soaked cashews, soaked dates, lucuma powder, raw cacao powder, soaked chia seeds, hemp seeds, etc.



I actually really enjoy drinking it, and Tornado drank it well, too. Dash was not really crazy about it, and neither was Sissy. It's funny; they tried it, didn't like it, but it was so tempting seeing Tornado and me drinking something thick and chocolaty from a straw - they asked for their cups back. They just barely sipped it, though, so I decided to make ice cream (by just freezing it in a bowl) out of their leftovers. I have made different versions with slightly different ingredients (adding banana, avocado, maybe a little agave nectar), but they love it just the same. They don't call it "the ice cream that's only sort of like ice cream only not as good." It's just ice cream to them, and they devour it.
In "slightly" less healthy (but "pretty" healthy) news...we've also been enjoying chocolate covered nuts these days. I just melt dark chocolate or vegan chocolate chips in the microwave, add a little milk, stir, dump in a bunch of nuts (any kind, the softer the better - like pecans or walnuts...almonds are good but even better if you use sliced almonds), stir, and drop spoonfuls on wax paper. Mmmm, I had really missed chocolate covered nuts; it had been awhile.

Ice Cream Social

Friday Night's Mystery was, once again, simple and at home because the kids and I had to leave for Missouri early the next morning. We opened this play ice cream set that Googie got for Sissy in Chicago... ...and Tornado made this sign for Sissy's table that we carried downstairs...

...and we had ourselves a little icecream social (with crushed pineapple, chopped strawberries and bananas, and sliced almonds for toppings...I'm so annoyed I forgot to set out the cherries.)

We used SoDelicious strawberry - and we also tried the new Purely Decadent line of coconut milk "icecream."

Wow - it was DELICIOUS. I think it was my favorite type of non-dairy icecream yet - and it seems, perhaps, to be the healthiest alternative so far (other than making your own.) I'm going to get another flavor to try today during our trip to Whole Foods. The porcelain cups were so little Ryan had to have a ridiculous amount of refills - the kids enjoyed filling up their own cups, too! - but it was fun.