Woman in Real Life

Before I get to my meal plan for this week, I would like to review some highlights from last week's plan. I deliberately made it a pretty simple cooking week. Although it's still cold here and we had some snow yesterday, I like to pretend it's spring. Once warmer weather comes, we will have lots more simple meals, like our Friday night treat, above.

We enjoyed Sol veggie burgers, Alexia waffle cut fries and rapini sauteed in olive oil and garlic. I also tried a  (tasty) vodka beverage called Sucking Lemons. I can only have one though, because I find this type of drink hard on my stomach.

I'm not sure what the weather's doing at the moment. One day warm sun, the next cold rain. That's September around here, I guess.

Anyway, for today's What I Ate Wednesday, I am looking back at a week of eating that included a lovely end-of-summer barbecue. Maybe we will get a few more barbecues in (with my husband wearing a coat out on the deck and me watching from inside).

I am once again linking up with Jenn at Peas & Crayons for What I Ate Wednesday. Jenn's theme for August (yes, it's already August!) is Summer Staples.

A staple for this vegetarian family in summer is barbecued veggie burgers. We had such a dinner this week, along with potatoes, portobello mushrooms and salad.


A staple for us all year round is tacos. This week, I put refried beans, salsa, guacamole and diced sautéed portobello mushrooms in mine. I had broccoli and rapini on the side.


We took the kids to the Art Gallery of Ontario one day. To save money, we brought our own peanut butter sandwiches, fruit and popcorn for lunch.


And now for the sushi making fun. My husband and I have been talking about making our own sushi for years now. I even bought him a sushi book one time...hint, hint. But, we didn't try it until yesterday. We bought the supplies (sushi mat, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sticky rice, Nori) and watched a couple of YouTube videos about rolling maki sushi. They make it look so easy!


For toppings, we went with carrots, cucumber, orange pepper slices and avocado.



Here is my first set of maki sushi. Okay, this is my second. The first roll didn't stick together and I ate it like a hand roll while standing at the counter. The book said to cut the sheet of Nori in half, but we found that size sheet difficult to work with. So, we went with a full sheet after that.


After my husband and I "perfected" (ha) the art, we invited the kids to help.


They LOVED it. They kept saying how much fun it was.



Here is our finished platter of (slightly imperfect) maki sushi. Quite fresh and tasty. And more inexpensive than a sushi restaurant.

Do you make your own sushi?

I am excited to report that I have 99 GFC followers. Will you be my 100th...please? (Thanks Carolyn for being my 100th...yay!)

Not to be too pushy, but would you consider following my blog with Bloglovin' too? It's my favourite way to follow blogs, because you get a daily email summary of new posts and you can pick and choose what you want to read.

Hello and welcome to another edition of What I Ate Wednesday.

Happy What I Ate Wednesday!

When I woke up this morning to the sounds of a Toronto radio station, the morning radio host was talking about his company’s campaign to feed needy children in Canada.

With 36% of food bank clients being children, I feel fortunate to be able to feed my children healthy, nourishing food every day.

This What I Ate Wednesday, I am looking back at some highlights of meals from the past week. This week, I am seeing them with a different set of eyes.

Wouldn’t it be great if all children (and adults for that matter) had access to healthy, fresh meals and snacks each and every day?

Top photo: my favourite kamut udon noodles with a simple homemade pasta sauce.








Fresh juice. My crappy little juicer comes out about every two years. I think I would juice more often if I had a good one. If anybody knows of a reasonably priced juicer that works effectively, let me know...please. Juice recipe below.

I mentioned in my last "What's for lunch?" post  that my favourite lunches are made up of reheated leftovers from the evening before.

For me, a cold sandwich cannot compare to a nice warm meal. And, since you already did the work in preparing your food a day earlier, there is little to do now but enjoy it.

Yesterday, I was fortunate to have Sunday dinner leftovers for lunch. On Sunday, my husband and I both pitched in to make a meal that was a little more special than our average weeknight fare.

For a while there, it looked like spring would come early, and I was craving the types of things we ate last summer—simply prepared barbecued veggies and tofu in particular.

While my husband marinated some portobello mushrooms and prepared some baked tofu, I went to work recreating a sweet potato dish that I had enjoyed at Kale restaurant. We also prepared some asparagus and a quick lentil and rice dish.

What are you having for lunch?

Linking up to the Potluck Party at Lifeologia.

My husband and I enjoyed seeing the whole gang, and, of course, eating Nonna’s food. We only told her we were coming a few hours before dinner time, so we offered to pick up some take-out. But, she would have none of that. I don’t know how she does it, but she had a whole big meal waiting for us. You can see in the pictures the ravioli and spaghetti that the others so enjoyed, the kamut penne that I had, and a dinner plate of: breaded and fried tofu, salad, cauliflower, asparagus and roasted potatoes. Nonna finished with a lovely fruit platter. We later had espresso or tea and a platter of chocolate chip bars that I made from a recipe in How it all Vegan.


On Tuesday, we had fun watching my son and his friends participate in a dribble, jump and shoot competition.


I also made Hannah’s delicious Coconut Vodka Sauce and served it on penne with sides of baked tofu and broccoli with garlic, olive oil and salt.


You know I had to have some sweets too! Besides making my favourite banana bread and some yummy berry oat bars, I also made these berry muffins from a recipe in Vegan Brunch.

When all of this eating occasionally upsets my tummy, I turn to my tea drawer. (It was once a tea chest, but the increased varieties necessitated a tea drawer.) For real tummy emergencies, my go-to brand is this Traditional Medicinals Eater’s Digest tea. It just works somehow.

Have a great weekend!

Linking up to:

The weeks seem to fly by. Here’s another look at my family’s cell phone pictures from the past week.

The best weeks are full of little indulgences that make us feel good, aren’t they? A little food, a nice cup of tea, a fun project completed.

Speaking of making us feel good, we actually had a couple of days of sunshine this week. Quite a pick-me-up. Still, I’m not giving up the Vitamin D drops yet.