Experimental

Baking day seems to have transformed into "experimental cooking day" as of late. This change has helped to revive my interest in cooking and that's something my whole family is happy about. I have been in such a rut with our meal plans that it's really put a damper on my cooking and our eating habits. I have been analyzing and overthinking what we put into our bodies far more than normal and it has left me feeling a bit helpless with the budget we are on right now (still waiting for that house back in Oregon to sell, but we just got an offer so I am praying it works out!) I am trying to stay grounded and focus on what is affordable and feasible for us at this time.

A couple of new favorites we found from recent experiments were Vegan "Deviled" Avocados With Chickpea Filling and Amanda's cracker recipe. I foresee the deviled avocados appearing on our lunch table quite often in the near future. I generally don't like avocadoes unless they are in something else but these are delicious! Do they taste like real deviled eggs? I really couldn't tell you, I never was a fan when I ate eggs as a child but you must try them for yourself. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

We made four batches of Amanda's cracker recipe but added our own topping to each one. The first batch was sea salt and sesame seeds, the second batch was the girls' concoction of cinnamon and agave nectar and then the third and fourth batches were sprinkled with sea salt and Italian seasonings. We enjoyed all of our variations but the Italian was the favorite by far - especially with a cherry tomato on top. Yum!

I also managed to get a few photographs of K's 8th birthday sweater (from last September). Of course, I didn't realize that she had it on backwards until after I took the photos. It's pretty obvious, too, with the short rows at the neckline. Oh well. You still get the idea, right? It was hard to capture it's beautiful turquoise color, but I think the fifth photo down (the one of the owls close-up) might be the closest to the actual color. I am quite smitten with the blues and greens in it. I used a skein I had leftover from my babywearer poncho.

Oh, and K is wearing my copper penny hat, another older project that I never got any pictures of - probably because it involved me having to be in front of the camera, something that doesn't happen nearly enough...

Experimental