Here we go!

The Ballerina, The Bride, The Dog Father, The Meter Reader and The Photographer.

The walk home.

The classic post-trick or treat pumpkin dump!

I heard from a reliable source that The Candy Fairy was going to pay us a visit tonight in exchange for all but a few select pieces of candy. Thanks to little legs who were ready to head home after about a half hour, a couple of grown men who put a serious dent in the T or T loot (and a certain mother who shall remain nameless but did enjoy a mini kit kat bar) – the stash for The Candy Fairy is pretty pathetic. They opted to forgo handing over the last of their goods for a toy from The Candy Fairy in the morning. I guess the stuffed unicorns will have to wait in toy purgatory until Christmas.

Oooo look! Crayons and Mad Libs? Now that’s more like it.

For our trick or treaters – raisins, pennies, toothbrushes and hummus were all considered. I figured a house without eggs on the siding would probably sell faster. Granola bars? Deal.

Mad Libs a la Ava anyone? Busted.

Now it’s Mama’s turn to Trick or Treat!

Give me something good to eat!

Dang, I totally should have passed out sweet potatoes to our trick or treaters! That would have been easy. I guess there’s always next year.

• Thanksgiving is Officially Over
• Strawberry Shortcuts
• Loafing Around

I had the most fabulous run this morning!

But this fabulous run actually started yesterday – with an innocent homeschooling Halloween party where Mama went as a Dirty Hippy and Maxine went as a ballerina.

I don’t know that this was much of a stretch from how we dress day to day, but whatever.

There were lots of fun treats and goodies.

Including some Mama Averie inspired raw donut holes, available in both chocolate and pumpkin.

Lots of fun games and activities too.

Ghost Ghost Goblin anyone? Hmmm, this seems a lot like another game I know with a duck and a goose…

And who doesn’t love some salt dough fun?

Giant rice krispy treats and Halloween chasing games aside, the climax of my story has yet to come! I know you’ve been on the edge of your seat since my opening line.

Yesterday’s party was held at the home of some friends who happen to live in our soon-to-be-new-neighborhood. Their house is just a block and a half from our new house, and yes I totally went the long way around and drove by like the house stalker that I am.  Thanks for asking!

I peppered our hosts with all sorts of questions about city living and our new stomping grounds.  The husband of my friend happens to be a runner and mentioned the neighborhood running group that meets regularly just a block away.  They run three days a week at 6am, all year round. Four to five miles, down the city streets, through the university campus, along the river path, over the foot bridge, through the cemetery to grandmother’s house we go!

Oh!  And they’re going tomorrow morning?  Wanna come along?

Do I want to come along? Do you know how many times I’ve driven by my new house? And now I get to RUN by? Getting my sneaks on now!

Fast forward to this morning - picture me dragging my butt out of bed at 5am to get dressed and drive into the city (and by the new house – of course) to run 5 miles with a group of strangers in the dark and in the rain.

Now picture me doing a little dance of joy! I loved it despite the fact that our route did not in fact take us by the new house. That’s ok, I can just drive by on my way home. No big deal – I do it all the time.

One of the biggest concerns I’ve had about moving to the city was how living in a more urban area was going to affect my running life.  All of my concerns were laid to rest this morning. I can’t even believe the new house comes with a built in running group.  Why wasn’t that a part of the house description?

Hardwood floors, new furnace, updated kitchen, running group… SOLD!

Home again and back in Suburbia, I put together a cereal parfait worthy of eating on Halloween morning.

Bottom Layer: Pumpkin, agave, cinnamon and nutmeg

Middle Layer: Kashi Cinnamon Harvest. I’ve been avoiding boxed cereal like Swine Flu but bought this for the girls and as far as boxed cereals go, I find that shredded wheat is far from addictive.

Top Layer: Sliced bananas, sliced almonds and flax.

All while being observed by a black cat. I know what you’re thinking – she looks like she’s annoyed and ready to claw me in the eye. But really she’s just showing her support for my attempt to create a Halloween feel for today’s post.

Take it from the top!  A good pour of hemp milk.

So that’s it! I’m officially ready to move!  Right now!  No time to Trick or Treat – let’s PACK!

• A Day of Calorie Counting
• When the Garmin Strikes Midnight
• Two Lefts Don't Make a Right

Dark, dark, DARK. The mornings are so dark! Come on daylight savings time – Mama’s ready to set the clocks back!

On my bike first thing this morning to ride – in the dark yet again – to the gym to pay my respects to the treadmill. I even dug out my reflective vest to wear on the way there today too.

Flash photography: Friend or Foe?

Foe. Definitely foe.

If I’m going to run on the treadmill and be a rat on the wheel for 30 minutes, I feel like I have no choice but to run sprint intervals to keep things interesting.

Today I did 4 sets of intervals, holding on to a speed of 9.3 to 9.5 for 4 sets – 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 2 minutes and 2 minutes, respectively. I don’t know about you but 9.3 is pretty damn fast for me. I’ll admit though, the more I do it, the easier it becomes, but still. That’s faster than a 6:30 pace and I swear that the treadmill makes this easier than it is out on the open road.

I also swear that I was a little concerned about the possibility of vomiting at the end of that 3 minute set. Take note that it was the only 3 minute set I did.

By the time I was done, the sun had finally dragged itself up over the horizon. I enjoyed the mild air and daylight on the long way home, making my round trip this morning about 20 minutes.

Speaking of round, who wants Pumpkin Fruit Cereal for breakfast today?  (Pumpkins are round people, please don’t make me spell it out. Oh great, I just did.)

Oh me!  I want pumpkin fruit cereal!  I do!

1 diced banana tossed in 2 Tbsp or so of pumpkin puree and a 1/4 cup ground flax seed.  Sprinkled with cinnamon and nutmeg and last but not least some sliced almonds stirred in for crunch.

I know it’s not Halloween yet but we’ve got a homeschool Halloween party to go to today so it’s feeling like a Halloween-y kind of day to me.

I thought using this Halloween magnet from our Melissa and Doug calendar was pretty cute and clever.  But suddenly I’m thinking about the millions of times I’ve picked these magnets up off the floor, fetched them out from under the couch, the stove, the litter box (kidding! I think.) and wondering if putting it on my spoon was really the best move I could have made?

Of course I didn’t really think about this until I saw the picture just now and that amazing bowl of pumpkin fruit cereal is long gone – spoon licked clean. Twice.

Bah.  Halloween is supposed to be scary, right?

—-

New today on Health Blog Helper! Quick Tip: Guest Posts!

• A Day of Calorie Counting
• Stay at Home
• New House Perks

I am a vegetarian. I do not miss meat. But I love still burgers.

Veggie burgers that is. I heart them.

It might be that veggie burgers are merely a vehicle for pickles, piles of lettuce and sliced tomato. Whatever the reason – veggie burgers rock my world.

On my 7 mile run today I tried to come up with something to make for dinner. I attempted to recall what was in my fridge – 3 miles from home – as I blew by the grocery store.

I am embarrassed to say that I totally flunked out of Dinner Planning 101. I might plan one meal in my head as I roam the produce section and recklessly throw jicama’s into my shopping cart.

(Spell check thinks that jicama is not a word and when I right click the red underlined “jicama’s” for spelling suggestions it is offering me “Jamaican’s”. Do I recklessly throw Jamaican’s into my shopping cart? I don’t think so. Get a clue spell check.)

So where was I? Oh yes… hmmm… what’s in the fridge? What’s in the fridge?

Ohhh looky looky it’s not a cookie!

Why does this picture make me think dirty thoughts? Maybe because I haven’t washed the beet yet? Probably.

OK a beet. Now what.

An email! This was buried deep in the recesses of my mind as well as the recesses of my inbox. My loving mother sent this along a month ago, shortly after I declared my new found love of beets.

Roasted Beet-Tofu Burgers from Fat Free Vegan.

Susan’s recipe called for roasted beets. Me, Dinner Planning School Drop Out, didn’t have the patience to wait an hour for my beets to roast – so I steamed them instead.

Who wants to a watch a block of extra firm tofu do the tango with my steamed beets?

I’m totally going to make this next year for an April Fools Day Party. Bring a dish to pass? Why sure! I’ve got a Raspberry Cream Pie recipe that you’ll just LOVE!

Beets and Tofu? Check and check.

Nutritional yeast, chili powder, ground flax? Salt? Garlic?

Check x 5.

For whatever reason I forgot soy sauce, omitted the onion and added some cumin. I also added a couple of tablespoons of whole wheat flour because it seemed a little runny to me.

I plopped my purple piles on a pan and prayed they’d peel off.

Baked at 350 for 30 minutes along side some sliced sweet potatoes.

Totally different, but very edible! I’m not sure I’d add this to a future dinner plan (but I think I’ve already established that’s not likely to happen anytime soon…) but for dinner on a whim? I liked it!

The beet burger money shot. Shoot! I should have started this post with this picture and lead you to believe I was going to eat a raw beef burger for dinner!

Oh well. I guess I’ll save that joke for next year. On April 1st.

• Stay At Home Turkey Trot
• Stay at Home
• Scary Spoon

I shed my yoga pants this evening in honor of the ribbon cutting ceremony being held at the library. (There’s no better reason to shed your pants if you ask me.)

A new wing was unveiled at the library today! And it was named after me! Just a little “thank you” from the library to me for all the overdue fines I’ve paid.

I gave a speech after they listed all the new books, equipment and monuments they’ve purchased with my overdue fines. You’re welcome Library – it’s been my pleasure.

OK, so that’s not exactly how this went down but it’s more interesting if you ask me. And besides, I don’t pay that many late fines. I pay fees for putting books on hold as well.

It was actually an email from my automated library pen pal who gave me the good news that my book was ready and waiting to be retrieved (with a big ol’ hand out for the hold fee before they were going to hand over the goods, I might add).

After reading more than one rave review of Eat, Drink and Be Vegan by a few of my fellow mama bloggers – namely Mama Pea, Mama Westford and Mama Averie Harmony – I had to see what all the fuss was about.

I like to say “I take my children to the library!” and lead you to believe I’m a doting mother who reads her to children almost every waking hour of the day.

But really it’s just a cover up to go and sit on the little couch and read to myself (not out loud – I don’t even move my lips) while they play My Little Pony on the library computer and I get to read without feeling guilty about laundry I should be folding or a phone I should be answering.

I enjoyed my new book with an ocean view.

At some point Maxine was allowed to take over and drive and I peeked in to watch her add ingredients for a wondrous My Little Pony cake.

Her recipe…. hmmm. I think she could be on to something here.

Mushrooms? Not what I would have picked but what the hell. I’ll try it. Gimme a bite.

Library hour over, it was time to head home to Eat, Drink and Be Inspired to make a cup of vegan hot chocolate.

I whipped up my own version of Dreena’s vegan hot cocoa to make do with what I had on hand. (Note to Maxine: no mushrooms were used in this recipe – just an FYI.)

1 1/2 cups of unsweetened chocolate almond milk
1 heaping tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp of agave nectar (to negate all the unsweetening of the ingredients above)

Heat on the stove on medium-high heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until smooth. Add agave and whisk some more.

Whisk a little more – just because whisking is fun. Pour into your favorite over sized mug.

To be enjoyed at your desk while reading email, blogging and your children watch a movie they got at the library tonight. OK yes, we DID get some books out too, don’t look at me like that. I guess that’s what we’ll go do now – read or something *wink wink*

• One Armed Carrot Jokes
• Whensday?
• Weekend Randomness

Brownies last night called for a very simple, cleansing breakfast this morning. Cleansing in both body and refrigerator. Who the hell bought all these damn apples anyway??

Speaking of cleaning, notice that barely in focus disaster of counter top back there? That mess was sponsored by yours truly from deserting the kitchen after birthday brownie dessert last night.

So! I’m sporting my stay at home mom outfit today and flashing you the international sign for “Get to Work”.

Yoga pants and inside shoes?

Check!

Toys to be picked up?

Check!

Laundry to be folded and put away?

Check!

Checking account begging to be balanced?

Check-ity Check!

10 AM and kids still in pajamas?

Check!

Yup – it’s a stay at home day for sure. I declare it.

• Confessions
• We Came, We Saw, We Raked
• The Thanksgiving Bowl

Packed in today’s magic basket of super snacks?

Whole Food Energy Bar from Vega that I was sent last week to review.

I liked this one better than the Vibrancy bar actually. I especially liked that at 220 calories, this sucker easily held me over all afternoon while Maxine and I ran errands and Ava spent the afternoon at her homeschooling class.

And I totally needed the energy to play along with Maxine’s latest Take-My-Socks-and-Shoes-Off-Everytime-I-Get-in-the-Car antics.

5 or so stops this afternoon? That would mean lots of playing her new favorite I Take My Shoes Off, Mom Puts Them Back On game over and over again.

Tonight for Zachary’s birthday dinner I made Sweet Potato Tempeh Chili.

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 glove of garlic, minced
1 sweet potato, diced
28 oz canned tomatoes
2 cups vegetable broth
1 8oz package of tempeh, chopped
1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained
(Spices are approx – more or less to taste)
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp red pepper
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt

In a large pot, saute garlic and onions in olive oil. Scrub sweet potato with a brush (or peel if preferred) and dice into cubes, keeping in mind this is basically ready as soon as the potatoes are done. Read: smaller potato cubes = less cooking time.

Once the onions are soft, add tomatoes, broth and potatoes. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cover.

You want those potatoes cooking while you get work on the tempeh!

I chopped the tempeh in my mini prep. My mini prep is pretty mini, so I had to do it in 3 batches.

Add chopped tempeh and rinsed and drained black beans to the pot. Add spices and stir, simmer on medium-low until potatoes are cooked.

If it happens to be your sweet husband’s birthday, this is where you would get to work on Birthday Peanut Butter Brownies for dessert! Gotta undo all the good stuff that birthday beet juice did for us this morning!

Be warned:

This recipe is not vegan, not raw, not gluten free, not healthy – but hey, it’s not from a box either.

1/2 c creamy peanut butter (I used natural – this would be me grasping at straws for something healthy in this recipe)
1/3 c butter, softened
3/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1 c granulated sugar
1/4 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup flour (I used a half cup of white flour, half cup of whole wheat flour)
1 tsp baking powder
dash kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 c chocolate chips.

Preheat oven to 350. Cream together peanut butter and butter. Stir cocoa powder, white and brown sugar and eggs. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Add vanilla and fold in chocolate chips. Grease a 9 x 9 inch square pan (I used coconut oil) bake for 30 minutes.

Brownies in the oven – time to eat!

The chopped tempeh in this dish gives this chili a great texture. With the sweet potatoes too it’s a nice change of pace from my usual beans, beans and more beans vegetarian chili.

Ding! Brownies are done!

I snagged a couple of mini peanut butter cups during shoe game errands today knowing peanut butter brownies were on the birthday dessert menu for tonight. Oh! What do you know?! The mini prep is already out! Rinse off the tempeh and it’s as good as clean.

I asked Zak to pick up the ice cream of his choice on his way home from work, failing to mention peanut butter and chocolate were on the agenda. Mint chocolate chip and PB cup ice cream? I think it’s safe to say we all got our recommended daily allowance of peanut butter tonight.

Brownie sundae fixings assembled – let’s rock.

Warm up those pipes, we gotta sing!

Haaaaapppppyyyy Biiiiirrrrrthhhhhdaaaaay tooooo yoooooouuuuuu…

It’s pretty much a tradition here that after we sing to the birthday person, we have to sing to the girls too.

Don’t worry about singing to me – I’ll just eat.

Birthday’s rule. Watching the Biggest Loser after eating a brownie sundae does not.

• Pastry Drills
• Mom 2.0
• Like a School Girl

Today’s work out was my favorite ride-the-bike-to-the-gym, 10 minutes on the elliptical, 10 minutes on the stair climber, 10 minutes on the indoor track doing speed work, ride the long way home and wonder how on earth a 45 minute work out went by so quickly.

In honor of Z-Man turning the big 3-2 today, I whipped us up a big glass of birthday beet juice. You know you want beet juice for your birthday breakfast – don’t try to deny it!

I don’t have any romaine and given I want to save my red leaf lettuce for something like oh… say… salad, I rocked out with these beautiful beet greens instead.

Green and Red (Beet greens) + Green (Cucumber) + Red (Apples) + Yellow (Lemons) + Brown-ish Yellow-ish (Ginger) = Interesting.

Do you take cream in your juice or do you take it BLACK?

OK it wasn’t exactly black, it very dark purple – but still. I can’t say I was more than a little concerned when I filled our glasses. The beet greens gave it a totally different taste, but still enjoyable – and I didn’t even have to add cream or sugar.

Continuing with my liquid meal theme for the morning, Breakfast Part II a couple hours later was a pumpkin smoothie.

A big shout to Tay for this idea!

My pumpkin smoothie concoction contained:

1 banana, partially frozen
1/2 c pumpkin puree
1 c soy milk
1/2 c ground flax
cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger

Doesn’t that just scream “Suck on This”? Well it must have because I did.

I could not get the cat to sign the damn release waiver to appear in the blog this morning. I’m just hoping he won’t see it because I really wanted a black cat in picture with my pumpkin smoothie for a nice Halloween feel.

Black juice, orange smoothie. Seriously folks, if you’re not color coordinating your breakfast with the holidays – I can’t help you.

• Scary Spoon
• A Day of Calorie Counting
• A Breakfast Carol

We hit up the apple orchard again today after my friend Sharon saw my post from last week. I figured I’d better go before I had a chance to finish our 11 lb bag.

Before we left, her girls drank green lemonade and after they were done I was totally jealous that my kids will not.

After juice but before we left I tried one of these Heart Thrive bars I picked up the other day.

Before I finished it I knew I was going to need something to drink after I was done. This sucker was dry!

After an afternoon full of new house related phone calls and tasks, but before we left to get groceries I had some chia pudding.

After you add 2 tablespoons of chia seeds, 1/2 cup of your milk of choice with a dash of cinnamon and a tablespoon or so of agave, give it a good stir before you stick it in the fridge for a few hours.

After grocery shopping, it was time to make dinner.

Uh oh – better eat this spinach before it goes bad!

Before I made a spinach salad, I steamed some beets.

After I saw purple cauliflower at Wegmans today, I had to have some!

My salad was ready before my roasted cauliflower and sweet potatoes were.

After my veggies roasted for about 30 minutes at 350, it was time to eat.

I’ve got apples baking in my oven right now before they go bad! I’ll show you tomorrow after they’re done.

I better hit publish before I fall asleep, it’s been a long day after all!

• Whensday?
• We Came, We Saw, We Raked
• There’s Always a Silver Lining

I had a real breakfast crisis on my hands this morning:

Empty banana hammock.

No milk.

Well, I guess that’s not exactly true. There was rice milk that Ava drinks… but umm, in a word – no.

Surely I jest – of course this is far from a real breakfast crisis. But I realized I could remedy this situation with a well planned run this morning.

I took the last couple of bucks out of my wallet, stuffed them into my sports bra and planned my route so I would run about 3 and a half miles and end up at the my little neighborhood grocery store before the final half mile trek home.

The last half mile looked a little like this:

I seriously wonder what my neighbors must think. Hiiiii don’t worry – we’re moving! NO not to the circus.

I need to give a big shout out this morning to the self timer on my camera and the mailbox for helping me take this series of pictures. I couldn’t have done it with you guys, you rock!

(Love that “3 shots” option with the self timer!)

Shake well?

How about a good half mile shake all the way home? Check!

All in the name of toasted apple cinnamon cereal for breakfast.

I am a breakfast nerd, what can I say. No shame, no shame.

My other banana is now snoozing in the banana hammock until some child tells me they want a snack.

And the rice milk has a little friend until I get to the grocery store later today. Unfortunately my little corner grocery store is just that – little. Almond milk isn’t ever in stock, let alone hemp milk. Have no fear, soy milk will do!

Breakfast crisis averted!

Hey Blog fans – be sure to head over to Health Blog Helper today and tune in to the latest Health Bloggers Dish interview: Gena from Choosing Raw!

• A Breakfast Carol
• When the Garmin Strikes Midnight
• Turn It Up