So, what did we do this week? When I was taking photos, I realized we’ve been at the kitchen table a lot!
— I cleaned out our pantry, which meant rediscovering and finally using the rice paper wraps I bought ages ago. The girls had never had fresh spring rolls before, but they were very excited to try their hand at making them! They’re going through a *fairly* adventurous food phase lately (except for the lentil sloppy joes I made this week — can’t win ’em all!). It’s nice.
— The pantry clear out also resulted in a bunch of empty spice bottles, plus a couple of eye-dropper bottles. I washed them out and then filled them with water (with a drop of different food color and scent in each) or sugar. I gave each girl a bowl, and they made potions for about an hour. They LOVE making potions. I had to ban F from making them in the bathroom sink after she clogged the drain with a waffle. I bet you didn’t know there was a potion that required waffles!
— We made chocolate chip cookies, using the recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance. I used to make those all the time, but it’s been a while! We’re not actually vegan, so I did use butter, but it’s the perfect recipe for this time of year, when the hens aren’t laying any eggs.
— The girls had been saving coins for about nine months and brought them to the coin machine to “cash in”. They’d saved up over $40! Of course, they immediately spent it all on toys — like they didn’t get enough at Christmas? But it was their money…
— My mom discovered a food bank that regularly holds “pop-up pantry” days, where anybody came come and, for a $20 donation, receive a cart-load of food that has been dropped off by corporate donors. It’s almost all food that is recently or nearly expired, so they’re just looking to distribute it to actual humans, rather than throw it away. You bring containers and then get a cart and weave your way through as volunteers hand you one (or more) of each item. We went on Saturday, and you can see what I got here. I’m pretty psyched about it! Both because it’s an incredible deal (I won’t have to buy the girls granola bars for ages!) and because it means that at least SOME food is not going straight from the manufacturer to the dump. I’m hoping these sorts of organizations exist everywhere! I e-mailed this place as soon as I got home, asking to volunteer. It looked like it was pretty fun to be handing the stuff out — a lot of positive, excited energy everywhere!
