Birthdays, Pizza and Eyeglasses

So I made a goal (not a resolution!) to be more active on the blog this year, even if it just means posting silly daily stuff rather than a recipe every post. 

Today was Bella's best friend's birthday party.  It was a Chuck E Cheese party which the kids were soooo excited for, I totally get it... Chuck E Cheese is an AWESOME place for kids.  Not so much for a vegan mama, it's difficult to have to say "No" over and over again to them. But we love our friends and knew it would be a crazy fun party so I had to figure out a way to make it work. 

Per Peta, Chuck E Cheese's crust and sauce are vegan, so a quick call to talk to the manager and ask if I brought in my own bag of Daiya would they make us a vegan pizza?  He was very kind and accommodating and assured me it would not be a problem.  When we got there I asked at the counter for the manager and he took our vegan cheese in the back and made our pizza himself.  It was not bad as Chuck E Cheese pizzas go.  I didn't get a pic... sorry.  The kids had me pretty distracted, but I did manage to snap a couple pics of the pretty princesses.

The party was a princess theme and all the girls were encouraged to dress up as their favorite princesses.  Bella of course always one to go against the grain decided she wanted to be a fairy (Tinkerbell).  I think I managed to pull off a pretty respectable Tink outfit for her.  It was an awesome party and the little princesses (and the big bros) all had a great time.

So.... if your little one's have invitations to a Chuck E Cheese party, never fear... make a call to your location and ask to bring in your own vegan cheese, and kick back and enjoy the party.

My little Tinkerbell

Brandon and some of the cool swag he scored with his game tickets

 After the party we came home and had some family reading and writing time.  We are working hard as a family to get our kids more excited about reading.  So at dinner we pass around the kindle and each of us takes turns reading out loud to the family.  Right now we are reading book one of Harry Potter.  It's slow going, as reading aloud is something both of the boys need some focus on, but I'm hopeful that the added benefit of time spent doing it together as a family will help.

After reading everyone took sometime to write in their journals before bed.  The boys write stories about their toys, or just about whatever happened in their day and Bells practices her name, numbers or drawing pictures.  Daddy works on a fantasy story he is writing and I have decided this is a perfect time for me to work on the blog :)

Oh one more exciting tidbit to share... The first born got glasses yesterday.  He's pretty stoked about them and had a lot of fun with me going to the different eyeglass places to try on frames and find one he really liked.  We went with these ones.  They were only $50 for frames and lenses at Vision Works in our local mall.  The second photo (the bolder frame) are the ones he really really wanted but they were $139 for the frames plus another $30 for lenses.  So we told him if he does a good job of taking care of these we'd consider getting him a more expensive pair in the future. 

Simple Dinners: Enchilada Casserole

Time is never on my side... as evidenced by the fact that is has been way too long since my last blog post.  Lately I need meals to come together quickly and taste good because I don't have time for dinner meltdowns over who doesn't want to eat what.  My oldest son for some reason absolutely hates enchiladas, any enchiladas I have made in the past have resulted in one of those dreaded dinner table meltdowns.  Not because the enchiladas are bad... (I know you were thinking it!) because everyone else in the house gobbles them up with relish.  He just has an aversion to enchiladas, which really sucks for him because the rest of us love them.  So last night I was craving enchiladas but really didn't want to go to the time and trouble of rolling them all up, plus I still have very vivid memories of my hands in flames from the last time I made some.  I made green chili chick'n enchiladas with jalapenos in the sauce and OMG my hands BURNED for two days after wrapping all those up.  So I wanted all the yum of enchiladas without the work... typical huh lol.  Then the answer came to me:
"Enchilada Casserole!" YES!! Enchilada Casserole!  It came together very quickly with about 10 minutes in prep time, there was very little clean up involved, NO ROLLING of enchiladas and best of all my oldest surprised the heck out of me and wolfed it down and asked for more!

So here you are Vegan Enchilada Casserole:

Ingredients:

1. 1 can vegan refried beans (Amy's has a good one)
2. 1 can black beans
3. 1 can or the frozen equiv corn
4. 1 can (the 15 oz one not the huge one) enchilada sauce
5. 1 can diced tomatoes
6. 1 package vegan tortillas/wraps whole grain/spinach... whatever you have will work.  The spinach wraps would add some pretty color.  You need about 12 if you use the smaller ones or 8 if you use the larger 10" ones
7. 1 package pepperjack Daiya
8. Olive oil for bottom of pan

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 350
2. Heat up your refried beans (they are easier to spread around when warm) and corn in separate bowls in the microwave or pans on the stove
3. Put enough olive oil in the bottom of a 13x9 casserole pan to coat
4. Pour about 1/2 of your enchilada sauce into the pan
5. In a large bowl mix (or the pot you warmed the corn up in if it's big enough) mix the remaining sauce, drained black beans, drained tomatoes, and corn together.
6. Slice your tortillas/wraps in half (a pizza cutter works great for this) so you have a flat edge and then lay down a single layer to cover the bottom of your pan.  You can slice a few into quarters if you need to to cover the corners
7. Layer 1/2 of the refried beans onto the tortillas you just laid down
8. Do another layer of tortillas
9. Cover this later with 1/2 of the black beans/sauce mixture
10. Add a good handful of your Daiya over the layer (About 1/3 of the bag)
11. Add another layer of tortillas
12. Cover with remaining refried beans
13. Add another layer of tortillas
14. Cover with remaining black bean/sauce mixture
15. Add another 1/3 of the Daiya to this layer
16. Cover with a final layer of tortillas and then add the rest of the Daiya to the top
17. Bake for 30 minutes and let it cool for about 10 minutes before slicing it up (the layers stay together better if you let it sit for a few minutes before cutting into it.

 You can top this with black olives, avocado slices, vegan sour cream and a sprig of cilantro for plating. 

Cheesy Chick'n and Wild Rice Casserole

Some people have this crazy idea that vegans live on grass and tofu but the truth is your options for eating vegan are endless.  I love to challenge the thought that vegans don't eat good, trust me we eat and we eat GOOD!  To be honest we eat so much better since going vegan, the world of food just kind of opened up to us.  Before we were vegan we had about 5 or 6 meals that we ate all the time, it was pretty boring and we ended up eating out so much because we were bored with our rotation.  Now I have so many things I want to cook and bake I often can't make up my mind!  I love to take non vegan recipes and veganize them, I have a LONG list of dishes I want to make vegan and when I saw this pin on Pinterest I knew I had to add it to the list.  My husband loved Rice-a-Roni type dishes but in addition to being vegan we try make healthier choices which means staying away from most packaged processed foods so Rice-a-Roni type boxed products are off the table.  When he took his first bite of this dish he said "It tastes like Rice-a-Roni" and I knew I had a winner! 

We served this with a fresh salad and the recipe made enough for everyone to have seconds, and for lunches the next day.

Click here to see the original non vegan version of this recipe

Vegan Cheesy Chick'n and Wild Rice Casserole

3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, finely diced

3 stalks celery, finely diced

3 carrots, peeled and diced (I used precut carrot chips about a cup and a half)

2 Tablespoons fresh minced garlic (I used a whole head, minced we LOVE our garlic!)

2 Cups shredded, cooked chicken breast  1 Package Gardien Chick'n Scallopini browned and chopped

4 cups of cooked mixed wild rice 

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Cheese Sauce

4 Tablespoons butter Earth Balance

1/4 Cup all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 Cups chicken broth Imagine Not Chicken Broth

2 Cups shredded cheddar cheese

Top with 1 1/2 Cups shredded cheddar cheese 1 package Daiya Pepperjack Cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large skillet or pot heat oil over medium heat.  Saute onion, celery and carrots until softened, about 10 minutes.  Stir in garlic and cook for 1 minute.  Stir in chick'n, cooked rice, salt and pepper.  Reduce heat to low.

In a medium saucepan melt the Earth Balance over medium high heat.  Whisk in flour, salt and pepper then slowly pour in the not chicken broth whisking continuously.  Whisk until thick and nearly boiling then stir in 1/2 of the package of Daiya cheese until thick and creamy.  Pour cheese sauce into rice mixture then transfer to a 9×13 inch baking dish. Top with the reminder of the Daiya and bake for 30 minutes.

Saute away!

Browned and chopped Gardien ready to be added

Add the rice and Chick'n to the veggies

So many tastes and textures!

Getting Cheesy!

Add the cheese sauce

Transfer to baking dish, top with the remainder of the Daiya and bake for 30 minutes