Chocolate Covered Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Footballs
I want to be a cheerleader. Not the competitive, insane basket throwing kind on ESPN. More of the Sue Heck, bursting with enthusiasm, persistently optimistic kind. I know it’s a little late, but I can still carry that cheerleader spirit into my life. And maybe the skirt? I’ve spent too many years of my life thinking it was uncool to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day. I was too cool to play mini-golf, listen to boy bands or let my mom call me... Read More
Love Notes
Can it really be February? Otherwise known as The Month I Have to Hand Over the Manuscript I Only Started Three Months Ago. I have 23 days. I promise not to count it down every day on here until the due date. You know I don’t blog on the weekends, so there’s that respite for you. It’s also the month of love. And the love notes are flying around here. Lulu brought home this picture she made in preschool. That’s her in the yellow with... Read More
Black Bean and Roasted Corn Nacho Bites with Avocado Crema
We took a trip to the local farm stand yesterday and the girls were in absolute heaven because I bought them fresh honey sticks. Gigi got grape. Lulu got strawberry. And after sucking most of the honey out of the straws, slobbering and smacking their way through, they wanted to trade. Uh, no. Because there are some things that just don’t seem right to share. (And I’m not talking about my chocolate stash—that’s just a hoarding situation,... Read More
25 Vegan Recipes for Your Super Bowl Party
I had to make a mad dash to the store last night for pineapple rings for our very last photo shoot for the new book: Pineapple Upside Down Muffins. Only I forgot pineapple on my massive grocery run. And then again on my second massive grocery run. And then again on my mini-grocery run. I am brilliant sometimes. As I walked the aisles of the store, blurry-eyed, cranky and on a mission for perfectly round rings to top my muffins, an older... Read More
Notes From the Shoot: Weekend Edition
1. We’ve cooked and photographed 17 recipes in the past 5 days. My fridge is stuffed. And so am I. 2. Those are my photos of the recipes from the blog that we shot, not Ashley’s. Thank heavens she’s here. 3. If you recognize a favorite recipe from above and want to send me/leave me a quote to possibly be used in the new book, by all means, please do. If you want to come take any of the above out of my fridge, by all means, please... Read More
Twenty-One Questions To Ask Your Kids
Holy moly. I had a very rare breakdown into tears while packing lunches this evening. Pea Daddy asked why. Big mistake. My response: “I’d say it’s getting up at 5:30 to workout, racing home to make sure everyone is dressed, gone potty, had breakfast and has their hair done, packing snacks for preschool, making Cracklin’ Cauliflower, packing lunches, taking Gigi to school, finishing the Quinoa Tabbouleh, picking Lulu up from school,... Read More
Book #2: Photos + Quotes from YOU
The second annual “Cockamamie Idea to Cook and Take Pictures of Over 20 Recipes in a Week” festivities are underway. There’s a lot of cooking. A lot of eating. A lot of falling asleep at the wheel driving home from the craft store for poster board at 9 p.m. Dude, I’m tired. Take what I do in a day and multiply that by three (recipes) and then multiply that by seven (days) and that equals me. Exactly. But I am so glad we are doing this. ... Read More
Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs
I am the worst offender at helicopter parenting. Always have been, always will be. But when we went on our “adults only” vacation last week, I knew I had to let it go if I was going to have a good time. Yes, the girls might not eat, sleep or wear their hair like they do when they are at home, but they would survive. And they probably needed a break from me as much as I did from them. Still, the less I knew the better. I simply would... Read More
Cauliflower Rice Paella
How are those New Years’ resolutions holding up? I didn’t make any because, as I like to say, I am on a constant journey of self-improvement. My husband wishes I would hurry up and get there already. One of the ways I’m trying to improve is by learning balance. And not to feel guilty about it. That’s the hard part. Would you want to punch me in the face if I said that before we went on vacation I found myself googling “How to not... Read More
The Top of the World
The most precious gifts come from unimaginable sacrifice. Like waking up at 3:30 a.m. Driving nearly straight up the side of a mountain. Freezing your peas off while huddling tightly in a hotel blanket that just a few hours earlier you were picking off the bed with salad tongs. Haleakala Crater is the highest point on the island of Maui, reaching almost two miles up in the sky. When we booked our first trip back to the Islands without kids, Pea... Read More
Flex on the Beach Smoothie
Well, aloha. I’m sorry I didn’t send you a postcard. I didn’t find one that spoke to me. I was looking for something really sleazy, with six women lined up in different colored thongs saying “Flex on the Beach.” I know you love that kind of thing as much as I do. I’m sorry I also didn’t bring you home a box of chocolate-covered macadamia nuts. We bought a Costco-sized box full at, where else—Costco, and then got to the airport... Read More
The Best of P&TY: No Good, Stinky Rotten Cheater
After a wonderful week in paradise, our vacation is coming to an end. I miss my girls so. Get out your recorder, Gigi and set up Connect 4, Lu. Mama’s coming home! For all my bragging about what a good sport Gigi is, I’d be remiss not to share that I also have another child who is a no-good, stinky rotten cheater. The Treat Fairy swooped down from the sky Sunday night, snatched up the twelve pieces of candy that we were... Read More
The Best of P&TY: Dora’s Secret
It’s a little silly that a simple post about a can of soup is one of my favorites. But this is the point: no matter how you eat (vegetarian, omnivore, whatever) everyone, everyone deserves to eat better that this. Especially our children. Don’t you agree? Originally posted: October 7, 2010 I feel so bad when the girls are sick, and not just because I have to pick up soggy tissues that I inevitably find in totally inappropriate places.... Read More
The Best of P&TY: A Mighty Wind
I think I can still hear the recorder from Maui. Maybe she’ll leave it at Mimi and Poppy’s? Originally posted: August 29, 2011 Any time I have to go somewhere and leave Pea Daddy in charge, I get scared. I’m not scared the girls will get hurt, be underfed or even that they will walk around with mismatched clothes and unkempt hair. I’m not here, why should I care? My main concern now is what I will return home to. It’s... Read More
The Best of P&TY: Tofu Dippers
One of the best things about this vacation is that I don’t have to pack lunches! But you might. Here’s a delicious idea you can try out this week, whether you carry a lunchbox or not. Originally published: September 21, 2011 I have goals for this school year. I am determined to have Gigi complete her homework of reading aloud for 20 minutes each night, even though it pains me considerably. She’s a great reader, she just chooses... Read More
The Best of P&TY: It Had to Be Lu
We still have this chair, so if you ever come over for dinner, don’t lean back too far. We also still have Lu. So if you ever come over for dinner, be ready for some entertainment. Originally published: January 6, 2011 I’ve always called Lulu “Trouble.” As in, “Here comes Trouble.” Or “What’d Trouble do now?” My mother hates it. She thinks I’ll give her a complex. But what about me? I bought wrinkle cream this week.... Read More
The Best of P&TY: Cereality Check
We are off to Maui! Thanks for sticking with us as I take a little breather. Here’s a fun and delicious breakfast cereal recipea you may have missed. Hope you enjoy! Originally published: February 22, 2011 I’m scared to tell you what’s in that bowl for fear that you might think I really and truly am certifiably crazy. Fear is also the reason I haven’t yet told you about the time I o.d.’d on helium. “What?!” (said... Read More
The Getaway
Who are those people on that beach in Maui? You, girly, with your long hair, your perky…smile and your uncompromised uterus. Quit looking at my uterus. You, young man, with your shoulders yet to have given a piggy back ride, your eyes sparkling from uninterrupted sleep and your…Tommy Bahama shirt. Oh. I guess that is us. My how eight years have aged us. We’ve become grownups. (shhh…don’t argue with me.) We’ve become parents. And,... Read More
Wannabe Recipea: Goldfish Crackers
Lulu might be taking her self-imposed lessons in empathy a little too far. Yesterday she sat in her baby doll stroller and rolled herself around the house, claiming to be in a wheelchair. I was going to put a kibosh on her game as being insensitive, but it came to a crashing end all on its own. Let’s just say our stairway is not up to ADA standards. Today she’s pretending that a pair of blue Minnie Mouse sunglasses are actual eyeglasses and... Read More
Games Peas Play
1. We received about eight board games for Christmas and played them each a half a dozen times this weekend. Any bonds of friendship bragged about last week have since been broken. Badly, badly broken. This led to me playing a game called, “Google Cocktail Names To Decide Which Drink I’m Going to Order First When We Get to Maui.” Odds are 4:1 that it’s a Lava Flow. 2. The point of the game “I Never Forget a Face” is kind of... Read More
Wannabe Recipea: Chocolate Chip Zee Bars
There are lots of things I don’t get. Of course, that’s just a nice way of saying, here are some things I am going to complain about before I give you a recipe. We could be here awhile. But we won’t be, because incessant complaining is one thing I don’t get. It’s a cruel joke of fate that I could teach a master class on it, though. Such a wasted gift. #1 Thing I Don’t Get: Sweaters for Dogs Or rain slickers. Or any sort of outerwear. ... Read More
I’d Lie, Cheat or Steal For You
My girls have a bond that I am not sure I will ever understand. Though I have brothers, I definitely don’t relate to the connection they have. The willingness to do anything for each other. The nicest thing I ever did for my brother was sneak into his dresser drawer, break all his cigarettes in half and stuff them back in the package. I thought I was so clever. What was he going to do? Tell my mom? My girls, on the other hand, will do whatever... Read More
Turn 5 Vegan Recipes into 25 Dinners
I know I said I wasn’t going to do a best recipes of 2011 post. I lied. This is that post. Kind of. I know a lot of you have “eat healthy” resolutions, “get organized” resolutions and maybe even “go veg” resolutions. I can help. Rather than just list off our five most popular dinner recipes of 2011, I want to show you how to take these five recipes that you may or may not have already made and turn them into twenty-five recipes. ... Read More
Everyday Eats: Black-Eyed Pea Salad with Corn and Peppers
My year is not off to the luckiest of starts. Yesterday, while packing up all of our Christmas decorations, putting our gingerbread house and painted pinecones decorated with Red Hots in the safest of places*, Gigi made an upsetting discovery. *the recycling bin is a very, very safe place She found not one, but two Karaoke Christmas Microphones that my dear aunt gave the girls for Christmas. I had unfortunately not put them in the safest of places**. **Pea... Read More
Healthy Eating Tactics for the New Year
Happy New Year! I know we’re all done with gifts for the season. But one of the greatest gifts I think you can give for the new year, be it to your kids, your spouse or your significant other, is the empowerment to make healthy food choices for themselves. This is a gift you can even give yourself. Like new jeans. Totally the same thing. I think it was about a midway through Christmas break that I decided we needed a new technique for empowerment... Read More
Wannabe Recipea: White Chocolate Cranberry-Kissed Cake
I’m trying really hard not to be cliché. Then again, maybe I’m just lazy. My hair for the day would confirm that. I’m going through an awkward stage which I’m attempting to mitigate with the tiniest ponytail you’ve ever seen and a headband. I look like I either just got my wig snatched on Jerry Springer or like I’m about to film a Proactiv commercial and am poised to go in for the big sink splash. The UPS guy came to do the door,... Read More
Palace of Pain
One innocent day, a couple weeks ago when I was wiping a Baby Mouse’s runny nose with my bare hands at Nutcracker rehearsals, Pea Daddy went Christmas shopping for the girls. There’s no denying that Pea Daddy’s a great dad. There might be loud, shrill denying that he is always the best of husbands. Rarely. But when selecting Christmas gifts for the girls he overlooked the important consideration that should always be made in all key decisions: “How... Read More
Everyday Eats: Mediterranean Salad Shakers
Now’s the time of the year when everyone starts making lists. It starts with lists of what they wanted to achieve last year, followed by big red checkmarks and “x”s by what they did and didn’t achieve. It’s a real “feel good” exercise. Then, in the afterglow of their successes and shadows of their failures, they make lists of what they want to achieve next year. If I’ve learned anything in 2011, though, it’s that no matter how... Read More
Lessons From Christmas
1. Do not buy your children Advent calendars. It is better that they don’t know when exactly Christmas is. Unless of course you enjoy waking up at 1:00 am, 3:00 am, 4:00 am, then there was that long stretch until 5:50 a.m and then 6:30 am only to tell your little angel that it is still not time to open presents yet. 2. Remind your spouse to buy things to fill your stocking so you are not going through your junk drawer at midnight finding... Read More
The Perfect Christmas
It’d be very easy for me to just sign off for the holiday now and wish you the very best of Christmases with your loved ones. And I will. But I wanted to share something else too. It’s far from the perfect Christmas here. Despite Gigi making up her own, very creative Spanish lyrics to “Feliz Navidad” today and Lulu donning her skunk costume for no apparent reason, I’m not quite in the Christmas spirit. I feel like I have the weight of... Read More
Gifts You Can Eat (But Shouldn’t): Lavender Rosemary Gel
One of the worst things about making a living putting things in writing is that, well, it’s in writing. Even really stupid things. Even worse is when you spell “lavender” wrong, photograph it, realize your mistake and know there’s no way in h-e-double hockey sticks that you are reshooting. Don’t do that. Worse still is when you say something stupid in a book. That doesn’t go away, people. Pull out your copies of Peas and Thank... Read More
Tuesday News
1. I’m still addicted to Pinterest, and it’s not doing me any favors. Since joining, I’ve been wearing a sloppy smoky eye to Target for laundry detergent, I’ve stopped washing my hair with shampoo and I’ve cut off the sleeves from my cardigans to make boot socks. In other words, I’m a hot mess. Thank you, Pin-interest. 2. The candy on our gingerbread house is “accidentally” falling off faster than it was put on. ... Read More
Wannabe Recipea: Gingerbread “Cliff” Bars
You know what’s the worst? Staying up until midnight watching the Survivor finale and then having your phone alarm go off at 5:45. Only your phone fell off your nightstand and under your bed and you have to scramble around and try to find it before the whole house wakes up and you have to workout with an audience. And they totally call you out when you do girl pushups. Also the worst? Getting icing caked on your jeans that you just washed for... Read More
The Certificate
Say what you will about Gigi, but that girl wears her heart on her sleeve. She gets it from me. If I get a paper cut, you’ll know about it, the thickness of paper that instigated the wound and the eight naturopathic remedies I’ve applied to ensure rapid healing. Aloe vera for the win. Pea Daddy, on the other hand, internalizes things a bit more. I’m sure it has nothing to do with me or my listening and empathy skills. Nope. Gigi came... Read More
Gifts You Can Eat: Ranch Oyster Crackers
Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should. I find myself saying this a lot. “Look Mom, I can stick this whole Christmas ornament in my mouth!” It wasn’t a candy cane. And the ornament hook is still missing. That’s gonna leave a mark on the way out. “Look Honey, I can get free shipping on a Tommy Bahama dress for you for Hawaii!” Perfect. I’ll look lovely in it while I crochet doilies on the plane... Read More
Namonia for Me, Present for You (GIVEAWAY)
Remember that cold the little mouse ballerina who coughed on me gave me a week ago? It’s not a cold. It’s ‘namonia. But it’s not hospital pneumonia, it’s not even bed rest pneumonia. It’s walking pneumonia. Lace up those toning shoes, strap on the ankle weights and head to the mall pneumonia. Okay, maybe not. So I’m prescribing myself a little breather. Specifically, I’d like an inhaler that applies lip gloss when... Read More
For Santa: No Bake Snowball Cookies
I haven’t been fully working this Santa thing to my advantage. We haven’t gone and seen him yet this year, and I’d be surprised if we do. I’d also be surprised if I make gingerbread men for our tree or mail out our Christmas cards. The Christmas card thing would be especially surprising since I never ordered any. So, friends and family, consider this your Christmas card/newsletter nearly every day of the year. Merry Christmas! But back... Read More
Ten Things About Sunday
1. On the 13th Day of Christmas my true love gave to me, one case of pinkeye, acute bronchitis, four missing teeth, and a partridge in a pear tree. 2. How ‘bout some irony? Gigi, both a pacifist and a vegetarian, has been cast as the solider who gets to kill the Mouse King in The Nutcracker. I feel nothing but pride. I suspect Lulu, cast as a mouse, will find her harder to forgive. 3. The worst part about writing a cookbook: 4. ... Read More
Vegan Pie in The Sky (GIVEAWAY)
I was on Math Team in seventh grade. I’m still not sure how that happened. I was a book nerd. I read books. And not books about math. Unless you count A Tale of Two Cities. See, I‘m such a book nerd I actually said that. Is it a wonder I was bullied on my seventh grade math team? Our math team, wearing matching purple t-shirts with all sorts of algebraic formulas screen-printed on them, would pile onto a big yellow school bus and... Read More
Gifts You Can Eat: Eggnog Spiced Nuts
I’m nuts. I blame Jingle Cats, which Pea Daddy decided to play for the girls right before bedtime last night. Brilliant move. I heard meowing Christmas carols from their bedrooms for an hour straight. I further blame the 102 degree fever I spiked around caroling time last night. And for that I blame Maya, Myla, Mayla or whoever was coughing on my lap at Nutrcracker rehearsals last weekend. I wanted to die when I woke up this morning, only... Read More
