Hey Friends…
Sorry for the disappearing act yesterday, but after breakfast Linsey and I hot the grocery store, came home and I cooked the rest of the day!! Oy… my kitchen was a DISASTER, but the food was pretty good. 
Here’s a recap of the last 24 hours in the Sparks’ house…
The girls woke Jason up (not very nicely) but at least they had fun. 
Then we all had steel cut oats with 4 different ways to eat them. Jason had molasses and banana, Linsey had PB&J oats, Regan had cinnamon and I had almond butter, pumpkin butter, dried cranberries, cinnamon and banana. Plus a giant mug of coffee. 
Then it was off to do some serious grocery shopping for the Passionate Vegetarian Challenge and the week. We hit Target first and (surprisingly) got a lot of the main stuff we needed there. 
Saturday’s are insane at Target and there were some grumpy people walking around the store so Linsey and I figured it was a perfect place to leave a World Peace Project note. 
After Target we headed off to Whole Foods to get the more specialized stuff that I couldn’t get at Target. We each had a snack while we shopped…YUM!
I saw this end cap and am wondering if this is a good idea? I’ve been wanting to do a ‘cleanse’ but have heard bad things. What do you guys think about the Master Cleanse??
We managed to find everything on our list AND some extra goodies plus lunch. Somehow we ALWAYS manage to do that when we’re at Whole Foods! Anyone else have this problem??
After we checked out we had to make a potty stop (can you tell I”m a mom??) and then made our way to the car. When the groceries were in the car I looked down at the empty cart and thought the seat was the perfect spot to leave another World Peace Project note…
Perfect right!?!?
We made it home, got all the groceries put away and had a quick lunch. Linsey got pizza at Whole Foods and I got some sushi for Jason and I. Regan had already had her lunch and was napping by this time so the house was extra peaceful.
Then it was time to get down to business. I think I bit off a little more than I could chew for one person in one afternoon, but Jason pitched in and it all went pretty smooth.
I know that’s kind of cheating, but I did all the main stuff myself. He chopped the onions (which I HATE to do) and made a butter dish in the food processor, roasted some asparagus and pretty much picked up behind me as I went AND kept the girls out of the kitchen which is a HUGE help!!
Here’s the menu for the dinner…
- Mixed Green Salad (pg 71)
- Sharp Classic Vinaigrette (pg 72)
- Seitan, Onion & Mushroom Stew (pg 234)
- Vegetable Stock (pg 139)
- Dark Brown Roux (pg 209)
- Basic Mashed Potatoes (pg 788)
- Crusty Bread with Better (pg 905)
- Old Fashioned Banana Almond Layer Cake (pg 1018)
- Almond Cream Cheese Icing (pg 1019)
Ok…here’s a confession: besides the fact that Jason helped me a little I also ate my ENTIRE meal without taking one photograph!! I didn’t even realize it until we were having dessert. 
So the dinner picture was actually taken later when I was putting the leftovers away. I made a plate to wrap up and eat another time so it’s missing the salad. SORRY! 
WOW!! I didn’t really realize that I knocked out that many recipes until I was in it and cooking. We had Jeff and Jennifer over with Olivia and Mia. They made kid food because we knew the kids wouldn’t eat anything that we were having and we wanted them to be good and play and eat so that we could enjoy the food and chat and be grown ups for an evening!! It ended up working well.
We played Yahtzee and had a ball!! During the game we munched on this awesome grape salad that Jennifer makes. I had a huge helping mainly because most of MY cake went to Regan…
I think everyone had a good time and enjoyed the food. If they didn’t – they were very polite and didn’t say so. It’s fun making new things and trying them out on people you love!!
So that brings us to this morning. Jason let me sleep in a little since he got to sleep in yesterday. When I got up he was in the kitchen cleaning up from last night so i started some coffee. Obviously our coffee maker needed to be cleaned our something because it backed up ALL OVER THE FLOOR!!! We had to stop the whole cleaning and cooking process to clean that mess up. 
We finally got everything all together and managed to have a nice breakfast – just much later than we had planned.
It was time to kick it old school this morning. I made my Grandmother’s WORLD FAMOUS (or at least famous in our family) chocolate chip pancakes with scrambled eggs and soy sausage. As usual there was a GIANT mug of steaming hot coffee…life is good!
Jason’s out running a secret errand. He’s trying to find a specific item for Linsey’s birthday that is exactly 1 week from today. Hopefully everything works out and he comes home with said item…
I have some housework to do and then MUST take a shower…
Check back tonight for another giveaway announcement and a ‘personal’ announcement!! Talk about a teaser huh…
The informality of family life is a blessed condition that allows us to become our best while looking our worst. ~ Marge Kennedy
