It has been quite lonely around here without Mazen these past two weeks. I cannot wait to see him this weekend! Meals have been more simple, and I’ve actually been working more than usual because 1) I’ve been using the time to get ahead, and 2) Mazen and I relax together and without him here I am less likely to splash around in a pool or cozy up on the couch in the afternoon. I will say that dinnertime and evenings have been quite relaxing without all the usual chores of a family dinner, bath/bedtime routine, but I am looking forward to getting back into a good routine once school starts in just under 2 weeks! I am not, however, looking forward to the school bus coming so early! M, who has been on West Coast time, and I are not used to getting up before 7, much less being ready at 7! Early bedtimes for all.
Lately I’ve been obsessed with looking at old photos of him – oh my soul!
He was just as eager to hop on a school bus then as now!
VIDEOS
Looking dapper and all grown up in his Abercrombie shirt <3
I digress!
Thomas and I have been busy nesting cleaning out some of our trouble zones of the house: the garage and utility room. We made huge progress last weekend, including taking a large trunk of stuff to Goodwill.
I should have taken “before” photos, which I rarely remember to do because I can’t imagine an after! But there was literally a mountain of stuff in this corner from when Thomas moved in and from when I piled stuff over the year. Looking better!
I joined my friend Lynsie (she is the founder of Vie Meal Plans and a chef) for a morning of catering our friend Scott’s Camp 4 Real.
Have you ever seen so many smoothie bowls?!
Scott is a vegan, and all of the snacks and lunches at the camp are plant based. Nutrition is even woven into some of their activities, like tag. I helped serve these smoothie bowls with a toppings bar to 100 campers. Not a single child seemed surprised by the smoothie color, and they gobbled them up. I was surprised! The recipe was a blend of banana, dates, oats, peanut butter, cinnamon, spinach, and almond milk plus granola, banana, chia, and raisins for toppings.
Lynsie also made brown rice and bean bowls (for 100!) with chimichurri sauce, fresh peppers, roasted corn and tomatoes, pepitas, and lime. The kids got to assemble their own from the toppings bar. They were fantastic!
Continuing the bowl theme, I had Chopt for lunch another day. And ate a lot of leftovers!
I don’t have too many dinners to share because many of theme revolved around recipes I’m banking for the future! T and I had unphotogenic dinner salads with leftovers two nights as well. Keep it simple!
I did go out to Common House again with the ACAC crew. The lime juice-based mocktail the bartender made for me was fab!
I really wanted to branch out, but I could not resist getting the exact same pork and grits dish I ordered on my first visit to CH – it was that good! Love the green-chilli sauce, lime segments, and swiss chard. And, of course, the grits!!
Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!
The food at the camp looks so good! It’s so nice that the children enjoyed the food as well. 🙂
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
I am still hoping that Chopt makes its way to the Orlando area. It’s by far one of my favorite quick-fix salad places that
I have tried.
And I want to make a brown rice, bean and chimichurri bowl at home! Yum!!!
Have a great weekend!!!
I have a question about all the mocktails. As someone who loveeees a cocktail-probably more than the average person- I also figure pregnancy a time to save the calories and cost of drinking. Any reason you want to have these so often?
Because nothing is so boring to me as plain water in a restaurant. And I’m not into diet sodas or caffeine iced tea at dinner. I do love club soda with lime. Most of these mock tails are made with lime juice, lemon juice and soda water and aren’t huge juicey calorie and sugar bombs (maybe a few are but I always ask for “not sweet”). They are also usually about half the price of a cocktail so to me it’s meeting in the middle for some beverage enjoyment.
What kind of car do you have? So much storage!
Toyota Highlander! Love it so much.
I’m impressed that there were 100 kids at an all vegan camp. My kids would not survive…lol.
Well it’s not a vegan camp per se – it’s a fun active camp that happens to be plant based. (Kids can also bring their own lunch!) but yes, I am not sure how Mazen would have done with rice bowls but I didn’t see anyone complain! (One child opted out of the smoothie and got only toppings, I noticed)
Coffee = check!
KERF = check!
Friday cuteness overload with little Mazen pics = check!! 🙂
I pull out old pics of my daughter from time to time too and just smile and marvel at how much she’s changed. She is now 13 with purple streaks in her hair! hah! Mazen has grown into such a handsome little guy!
We love, love, love blueberries; great picture of some nice ones!
Just curious… when you order mocktails, what do the restaurants charge without the alcohol? I love lime and would like to try it sometime. Have a great trip to Cali picking up your sweet Mazen!!
Most of them charge $2-4, occasionally they don’t charge at all.
Thanks for posting those plant based kid friendly meals that are also really easy (and cheap!!) to recreate ag home!
I feel like adding plant based meals doesn’t need to be the Big Scary Project so many people think it is.
Ready at 7am?! Eeek. We’re awaiting the bus schedule for kindergarten and pretty sure it’s 8:30am. Did they flip elementary and high school there?
Yeah, so I’m sure I’ll be happy in 10 years. I think HS doesn’t start until 9!