A MANIFESTO

I have a one year old babe now.  She is precious, perfect, enjoyable, amazing, far from challenging.  I am a mother of two other babes who rock my world daily.  They love our interactions and encourage me to be the best.  Hilarity, cleverness, curiosity, happiness and health permeate.  And to me emotional intelligence is far more important than other "intelligences".  I fill their day with play centred learning, affection, good food, love.  

My vision for my children may not fit into the mainstream.  I want to homeschool with a nature-based unschooling approach.  I want them to be taught to navigate through this "real world" of commercialism, greed, technology, with an understanding but also with questions.  I want them to value the earth, our greatest gift and cherish all its gifts which we destroy each millisecond.  Mainly I want them to love.

These are all  simple desires.  For some, surprisingly those closest to me, these are absurd.  My decision to unschool by some is considered outlandish.  They site anti-social behaviour, have had the audacity to imply that my children are unintelligent and that their ways of mothering are better.  They seem to also imply that I am intentionally trying to harm my children.

Let me begin with the fact that I've heard it all before.  My babes are Vegan.  Okay...are you over it yet?  Well I am.  Everything I do, I approach from a place full of experience, education and research.  To ever imply that I would go out of my way and harm my kids implies that I am uneducated and basically a selfish monster.  So thanks for that.  Secondly,  if you don't know anything about veganism, research and then maybe ask me about it.  I'll be happy to inform you.  Because I am confident.

 

So back to the homeschooling thing: IT IS MY THING!  It is the one thing that I am passionate about. It is the one thing, next to veganism, that I have researched extensively and implement daily.  And for those of you who don't know, or know and choose to ignore,

Or still judge or whatever, I am educated.  I graduated top of my class. I am well read and for that which I lack I seek assistance.  I love learning.  

I am writing this post to basically get it off my chest because quite honestly it hurts when those closest to you, those who are supposed to support you in your passions don't.  It hurts even more so when those same people who you have supported unequivocally and have never talked smack about, don't afford you the same respect.  And quite frankly, I'm tired (physically and mentally...ask the papa how ill it has made me) of explaining our decision and having my confidence kicked in the butt.  So this is the last you will hear of my thoughts on homeschooling.  I'm going to carry on my confident way and love my babes.  

(Any grammatical errors I chalk up to the old I phone)

VEGAN MOFO: COMFORT FOOD SERIES - ASIAN TOFU SLIDERS

It is getting cold outside.  Autumn in Canada is my fave season.  It brings about thoughts of harvest, cozy socks, tea and chilling with a blanket.  It is when I get most of my crafting done and recipe development.  Vegan Mofo has begun and I am too exhausted to come up with a clever theme.  So I thought..."this is the season of comfort so why not blog about comfort food!"

I plan to post all the deliciousness prepared over the next month.  There is no set schedule but if I'm feeling like a little home cooking is necessary and it is infused with nostalgia and taste, I'll be sure to bring it!!!

Tonight I was craving sliders.  I've actually never had one but for some reason the end of summer weather is making me yearn for a good tasting burger, fresh and sweet.  So I came up with Asian sliders with homemade guac and grilled pineapple.  

Asian Tofu Sliders

1 block of tofu (if you like a more raw tasting burger... If you like a mild more solid burger go for two blocks)

1/4 cup parsley

2 cloves of garlic minced

1/2 a bunch of green onion finely chopped

2 tbsp of soya sauce

1 tsp of ginger and curry spice each

2 tbsp of maple syrup

1 tsp of lemon

1.  Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until desired consistency.  I prefer very smooth.

2.  Preheat the oven to 375•

3. Heat a skillet with a generous amount of oil on medium-high heat.  Place a heaping tablespoon of the "batter" in the hot pan and press down. Cook until brown on both sides and place on an non-greased cookie sheet. 

4.  Once all patties are on the sheet place into the oven and cook for approx. 15 minutes.

COMPOSURE

Grilled pineapple

Guac

Greens

Ketchup

Sliced shallots

Sweet relish

Dijon mustard

I found that all of these components out together make the best tasting slider.  Enjoy!!! And happy vegan mofo!!!

 

VEGAN MOFO: BAKING WITH BABES

As vegan parents to vegan babes it is important to model our veganism as well as involve our babes as much as possible in the preparation, gathering and making of food.  We live in a great community surrounded by local Farms and gardens which I am hoping to be involved in the upcoming growing season, but for now we cook and eat with our babes and to us, it is important.  This morning the Littlest Big Babe helped the Papa in the kitchen with making his Sunday morning pancakes (today is a holiday so we are making them instead).  It is so fun to watch them make messes and feel the ingredients.  I think there is great satisfaction in making something.

Here are my top tips for baking with babes:

1.  If you are new to the idea, pick a day and time each week to bake a simple cookie recipe.

2.  Have all ingredients gathered beforehand and read the recipe so you can better guide them in the process.

3.  Let go of the idea of containing the mess.  It may get messy.

4.  You can write down the recipe for each child and put pictures of the ingredients beside the measurements to visually guide.

5.  Ask them what they enjoy doing.  Everyone has tasks they like.  Let them do those.

6.  Get down to their level or bring them up to yours.

7.  Invest in some baking tools for little hands.  They would definitely enjoy that trip.  

 

VEGAN MOFO: CUPCAKES AND VISITS

Today was our official day in our new home after frantically moving and cleaning the old apartment.  It has been exhausting.  For me, I am so worried about getting everything in its place.  I cannot sleep well until this and that are just so.  As I look around at the piles of boxes, the realization that my desire to settle easily may take a long time.  The Papa is exhausted for other reasons.  He literally moved our entire contents of our apartment in eight loads.  I helped a lot with our first but after that I was on baby duty, which is a bit much in itself, considering that nothing is baby proofed yet.  He also was the one who had the pleasure of going back to the old apartment (which I have separated from weeks ago).  He was the one to bid it a fond farewell.  He said goodbye to the home our babes grew up in, the room my babe was born in and their recorded heights on the doorframe.  There was no looking back as he said goodbye.  He left to new memories but it is hard to say goodbye to a place you called home for soooo long.  

Well, the house is a work in progress but today is the start of the most awesomest month of the year VeganMoFo.  Basically it is a month where bloggers dedicate their posts to veganism.  Some people have themed blogs, others share recipes. The support for being vegan is there.  I believe this is my fourth one!!!  So WELCOME!!!  All of my contact information is available on the blog if you wanna connect.  Follow my instagram and also leave a comment.  I would love to hear from you.  

For today's post I am gonna talk about the best housewarming gift.  We live in a small town as some of you know.  We love it, except for the fact that amazing vegan fare is hard to find.  You have to travel about an hour to get to Ottawa to experience vegan heaven.  Today we happened to head to Ottawa for business (which I will talk about shortly), so vegan restaurant hopping wasn't in the cards.  

We did our thing and rushed back to meet our friends Em (who is starting a blog soon eeek! ) and Graham.  These two are awesome!!!  Anyways, we ended up stopping at a tool store for my hubby and guess who was there too.  Yep!!  I fell in love with some boxes and Em did too.  I had the idea of putting them up as bookshelves.  We went ahead from the store because the babes were bugging out.  Our friends were close behind.  Next thing we know they are in our foyer with the box I adored full to the brim with vintage finds, handmade aprons for the babes and vegan Thimblecakes cupcakes: tiramisu, double chocolate, s'more, cookie dough and a baby cake.  Yum!!! 

I think we will keep them around.  In other news, I bough this: