Vegmom Moments

Accomplishments, Messes and Leaf Jumping

Today started with a CrossFit workout where I got my first real Chin-up.  Was pretty excited about that as a real pull-up still seems miles away.  I also tried pull-up negatives with a weight between my legs.  One of those things that I always saw others do and thought "Ummm, NO"... but today I tried and well... I did NOT like that one bit.  However, I did like getting 32 Double-unders unbroken.  THAT was fun!

Then it was off to Vegkid's school where I volunteered to help the art teacher with something messy.  Although I didn't know what "messy" thing this was until arriving and found out my task.  YEAH it was MESSY!!!  Our job was to help three different grades at three different times create paper mache pumpkins.

I'm not sure who got messier, me or the kids but I had a blast and got a HUGE thank you from my Vegkid for helping out.  Think I will be picking dried flour contents off every bit of my being until next year.

A quick detour after school for dinner & veg friendly treats, then it was home to a yard FULLLLL of leaves!

I asked Veg if he felt the need for some jumping and was sort of hoping he'd say no.  But he said yes!

After more than an hour of CrossFit and three hours of working with children in an art-like capacity, raking the yard did NOT seem fun for my arms.  So I had the brilliant idea to grab the leaf blower...

However, I realized quickly that the leaf blower gets heavy with arms that already feel heavy and was competing against the wind to keep my pile in check.  This was quite comical actually...  Leaf blower goes "zoom", and the wind goes... "Whoooooosh"... 

Finally I gave in and grabbed the rake.  

The picture above was after he had destroyed the pile, buried himself and shot out like a zombie... We took videos, it was spooky, trust me!  *wink*

We still have a LOT of leaves on our trees, so if the rain doesn't get too bad, there will be more jumping before the season ends.

I do love the Fall, what a wonderful time of year!!!

Vegan Pumpkin Spice Pancakes - The Recipe

The Very Awesome Mom of 3 over at Brown Vegan  asked for the recipe for our Pumpkin Spice Pancakes.  I was going to provide a link to the Silk Website Recipe, but can't find it... 

So I thought the recipe deserved its own post...   here that post is:

We buy the Silk Pumpkin Spice Soy Milk each year that we find it and one year my friend said "Hey, did you try the pancake recipe on the back of the carton"

Well No... I hadn't... But then I did... and the Vegkid LOVES them.  If I were eating bready things or soy for that matter right now, I would love them too.  

But I still love them, because they are so easy.  My personal Vegan "Buttermilk" Concoction takes a whole lot more ingredients.  So I love that this only has 8 ingredients and takes about 10 minutes to cook a whole batch.

The recipe is no longer on the carton nor the website,  But I do remember theirs requiring eggs, which I don't use.  I also add cinnamon and choco chips depending on the day.. So here it goes with my modifications:

Note: I have been known to double/triple this recipe for a fridge/freezer stash or extra visitors and they come out just as good.  I also take short cuts by using a Glass Measuring cup as my wet ingredient mixing bowl.

• 1 Banana
• 1 Cup Flour
• 2tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• Lots of Cinnamon (to taste)
• 1 Cup Pumpkin Spice Silk Milk
• 1tsp Vanilla
• 2TBS Oil

Pour the Silk Milk in a Measuring Cup, add Vanilla and Oil, stir then set aside.

Mash a Banana with fork in the bottom of a large mixing bowl, Add remaining dry ingredients to mixing bowl.

Pour wet ingredients on top of the dry ones and mix it all together with spoon...  Add choco chips if desired or more cinnamon if needed. (we like lots of cinnamon)

We make our pancakes on a very old electric skillet set at 350 Degrees, or poured in donut maker thing.  But you can use this mix anyway you choose.  Maybe even waffles?

Don't forget to flip them!

Sometimes I pour one set on the skillet, THEN add the chocolate chips to the rest of the bowl.  Providing options, as not everyone likes the chocolate ones (Gasp!  its true)

OK, now I'm hungry!!!

 

Leaf Pile Jumps

The Hubby came home from work tonight and surprised us with his Leaf Blowing magic.

He realized that we had Silly Apple Pumpkin Day without any Leaf Pile jumps.   We ALLLWAYS have leaf pile Jumps on this day.  

But this year, our leaves hadn't fallen yet, so I didn't think much about it.

See, Leaves are still on tree:

Well Hubs being all Manly says "That just won't do"...  he gets out the Leaf Blower and begins to blow the leaves that have fallen from our entire lot, then gets them all across the drive way and in to a pile:

Before we knew it, there was a Nice Size Pile on one side of the house.  

Next thing I know, the kiddo comes Running across the driveway to Jump in:

(I happened to click the camera mid air)

Then he did a Jumping summersault... This one, the camera caught mid-rear *smile*:

Vegkid was Quite the happy guy.  

I guess Fall is officially here... Or maybe winter is here?  It was 34 degrees this morning!  Brrrr!!

Did you jump in the leaves when you were a kid?  Do you still?  *wink*

 

Silly Apple Pumpkin Day 2011

For those of you new to the blog, here is the low down on Silly Apple Pumpkin Day...

Summary...We don't do Halloween, We Do Silly Apple Pumpkin Day!!  

I asked Veg if he wanted to even celebrate this year, hoping he was a little too old.  But ummmm, NO!!

"OF COURSE we will have Silly Apple Pumpkin Day"  He says!!  

Oooookie Dokie, Here we go again!!

That is short for me saying "Plan something, QUICK!"

I woke up extra early to surprise him with Fresh Juiced Apples and Pumpkin Pancakes:

And a surprise silly lunch of the Pumpkin and Apple variety:

Then it was time for Evening Festivities.

Silly Pumpkins of the Silliest kinds:

I think this guy definitely wins the cutest/silliest of all time award!

Seed flicking Contest Galore (I actually won this year):

Some Pumpkin Targets hanging from the trees (using recycled carry out lids and scrap paper).. Nerf Darts came in quite handy for this fun.  We hung up different sizes and each were a different point value:

Grabbed a few leaves from said tree, to make book marks:

Silly Apple Pumpkin Day wouldn't be complete with out Christmas Candy.. Don't ask!!

I happened to find some Christmas Colored Veg Friendly No Dye Gooey Beans which fit the bill:

Always a Baked Apple:

And our New Pumpkin Favorite... HH Pumpkin Bars:

Soooo Silly Apple Pumpkin Day of 2011 has come to an end!  

Once again, Vegkid went to bed a happy camper, and I can claim success for a last minute, thrown together mish-mosh of Silliness..  

Happy Silly Apple Pumpkin day to you and yours!  *smile*

SILLY APPLE PUMPKIN DAY 2010

Ah, its that time of year again... For Halloween???  No... not in our house... We have Silly Apple Pumpkin Day in our house...

Only the best activities, best Vegan Junk Food, and lack of scariness on this side of the planet!!...

Today was Silly Apple Pumpkin Day 2010, and my Vegman was more excited then ever... Why??  I don't know.. I had nothing planned.  Really...

Each year, I pull this stuff out of my hat by the hair of my chinny chin chin... But this year, was even worse...

Him being older, I thought he would totally be over this by now... Not to mention what activities would keep a 7 Yr Old Kid occupied that are related to Pumpkins and Apples... So I thought I would just down play this one...

UNTIL.... he tells me this morning how excited he was to be awake.... "This is my favorite day of the whole year..." He says.... "What do you have planned for our Silly Apple Pumpkin Day, Mom?"

OH GREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTT!!!  Did I mention I really had NOTHING planned.  But yet again, I can't let the kid down... so on goes my planning cap!

He wanted Bobbing for Apples.... He got that.. as did the dog:

<pause here>  Ok I must share.. it was soo funny... the dog remembered Silly Apple Pumpkin Day also... because as soon as we pulled out the water bowl and apple, he came running..

He stood patiently for Veg to get his, and then waited in line for his turn...  I was laughing soooo hard... and wish I had gotten this on video.  I mean the first year he did it, that was cool... but the fact that he remembered... and waited... and then walked right up to the bowl, cracked me up....

There was a Pumpkin faced brunch:

A carved Pumpkin with 3 eyeballs:

A decorated Apple Volcano Experiment:

And a delicious Apple Stir Fry for dinner to round up the day:

In between all that goodness, there was apple pie, apple smoothies, basketball at the park, and pumpkin seed tossing contests.

And the Vegman was asleep before 8pm... I think this day was a success.....

Yet Again... Silly Apple Pumpkin Day has come to an end... Maybe next year, I'll actually have a real plan.. or maybe next year, he will truly be "over" it....

Ah, A girl can hope... I'm running out of ideas.... Man, who started this thing anyway???? <hiding head>

 

SILLY APPLE PUMPKIN DAY 2009 - THE END

Sheww, this was a busy silly day.. Soccer was canceled so we took our extra time this morning to create festivities that were fun for the whole family.. Hubby even had some fun and we all ate some good food...

If you don't know what Silly Apple Pumpkin Day is, read all about it here!

Started with Vegan Pumpkin Spice Pancakes:

And apples for breakfast:

Then on to carving Mr. Pumpkin... Which we all took part in... Our silly Pumpkin had three faces... And he was the silliest best Veg House pumpkin of ALL Time:

 

Veg's Face:

Hubby's Face:

And My face with the Silly Apple Nose:

 

Then a shot, with Mr. Pumpkin near a Mirror, shows all three faces at once.... He was a very Cool Mr. Pumpkin:

The seeds.... Ahhhh the seeds.... 

We started with a Seed Shooting contest... Which I lost in a big way... Those suckers can fly when squeezed between two fingers, I tell ya!   I used the muffin tin as a target, and Veg was the only one to make a shot.

We then started shooting the cleaned ones down the hallway and trying to hit different doors for our targets... It was messy I tell ya!   But Hubby was the fastest and best seed shooter in the house.

Then it was time to Cook them seeds....  We did three different coatings...  A Parmesan and Italian seasoning version.  A Vegan Worcestershire sauce version, and a Cinnamon/sugar/all spice version....  

Oh My Yum!!  They were tasty.  Baked at 350 for 12 minutes. 

We did some Bobbing for apples, Even Spunk joined in the games...

 

 

Played spin the bottle (with paint not kisses).. Filled the bottom of a small recycled bottle with orange paint, and then secured the lid, and rolled back and fourth. 

We played a game that if it touched a person's leg then you were out.  So had to keep it rolling..  Lots of fun...

And made this cute little pumpkin head with craft paper and stickies...He was cute, in a creepy kind of way.

We Gutted an Apple, to make an awesome Carbonated Apple Juice Cup... Veg and Hubby thought this was the coolest thing...

On top of all our home fun events... We went to a friend's church festival to help her celebrate a birthday.. There was a bounce house, which lead to the bloody lip of said friend *sigh*...  And Potato Sack races, Bobbing for apples the sanitary way (catching them from a stick), Pumpkin Painting, and much much more.

By the way, I LOVE this tree...  nothing to do with Silly Apple Pumpkin Day, but I'm just sayin' I love this tree!

And its orange... Very Very Very Orange.... I'm putting in this pumpkin day post!  So there!

We went out to dinner for yummy veggie food and their famed Pumpkin Pie (with carrots added in..)

So there ya have it... Darkness and quiet has come over the Veg House and Silly Apple Pumpkin Day has come to an end...  A Success?  I think so!  *smile*

Don't forget to change the clocks tonight.. And we get an Extra hour of sleep in the Morn...

OH - and I planned to make Candy Canes, based on the crisis mentioned earlier this week.  But Veg was happy with his Vegan no dye Lollipops and said he didn't want candy canes.  Shewww!!!

I think each year this Silly Apple Pumpkin day gets better and better!!

Hope you had a great day where ever you may be!

SILLY APPLE PUMPKIN DAY 2009

It all started here... 2007 and then the results of all the planning, it turned in to so much fun we agreed to have Silly Apple Pumpkin Day every year...

2008 was a last minute Blast  And now we have 2009...

Silly Apple Pumpkin day Year 3...It will be HUGELY busy!!

A soccer Game, A Birthday Party, A Pumpkin Carving... and LOTS of delicious foods!  

Will there be crafts?  I dunno!  Will there be Leaf Jumping?  Not sure, the rain hasn't been our leaf jumping friend.... Will the Vegman kick and scream because I couldn't find Vegan/no Dye candy canes?

I hope not!  But I do know that we'll have some fun... and we'll be together... and I'm thankful for that... Oops.. wrong holiday!  Don't even get me started on Thanksgiving Spaghetti and Christmas Mexican fiesta...

Isn't it fun how a tradition can be what ever YOU want it to be, and not what the world says it should be... Especially when you have your own family to share it with...

Do you have silly traditions?