Archive | FOOD AND DRINK

Summer is slowly coming to an end (so soon)! The kids will be heading back to school in the next few weeks — so it’s time to gather your friends and family for one last garden party to celebrate the long warm days of leisure. I like to host a back to school party every year. It’s a great way to get the kids excited about the upcoming school year and it’s just another reason to have people over.

My favorite party to throw is a garden party. What could be better than being outside in the sunshine with flowers in bloom all around? I love coming up with fresh, fun and festive drinks to share at all of my gatherings, and I think a child’s garden party should be no different. Jump over to Inhabitots for six eco-friendly garden party drinks that would be perfect to serve up and enjoy at a garden party — or to indulge in on any warm day!

photo credit Blush Printables via Inhabitots

This is one of my favorite vegan pasta salads – I make it all of the time! You can add any vegetables you want, non-GMO Hodgson Mill whole wheat spiral pasta and this amazing homemade Italian dressing recipe. So good! Since this recipe is served cold, it is the perfect back to school lunchbox lunch. Eben loves it – so you know it is delicious! 

Want to try it for yourself? Hodgson Mill is giving one of my readers a $25 pasta pack, just in time for those back to school lunches. Just leave a comment telling me what you will whip up with your pasta pack below the recipe and good eating!

Ingredients:

• Hodgson Mill whole wheat non-GMO spiral pasta
• organic tomatoes
• organic rainbow carrots
• organic broccoli
• organic olives
• (or any combination of your favorite organic vegetables)
• organic vegan Parmesan (optional)

Dressing:

• 1 organic tbsp garlic powder
• 1 organic tbsp onion powder
• 1 organic tbsp sugar
• 2 organic tbsp dried oregano
• 1 organic tsp black pepper
• 1 organic tsp salt
• 1/4 organic tsp dried thyme
• 1 organic tbsp dried parsley
• 1/2 organic tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/4 organic cup red wine vinegar
• 2/3 organic cup olive oil

Cook the pasta according to the packages directions, then rinse with cool water until the pasta is cold. Add your chopped vegetables and dressing to the cold pasta, mix well and enjoy. This salad is even better the next day, so go ahead and make it ahead of time.

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My favorite summer treats to make with my son always include fresh fruit. Whether we are making frozen fruit treats, fruit infused water or most recently fruit tortes, picking the fruit is almost as much fun as making and eating the treats. We love to visit our local strawberry patch to pick our favorite sweet fruit, take it home and make it into a delicious dessert we can share as a family.

We recently had an abundance of strawberries, so we decided to make miniature vegan fruit tortes using our organic strawberries. These tortes are a perfect cooking project for children because there are so many parts of the recipe process that they can help with. From making the dough and pudding to cutting out the torte cups and putting the dessert all together. It’s a fun way to spend an afternoon and the sweet treat at the end is a good time too! Jump over to Inhabitots for the recipe instructions!

BBQ season is in full swing. Hooray for summer! To keep perishables cold, rather than a bowl of ice – use a freezer pack. The freezer pack will fit easily underneath any food item and when it starts to melt, can be returned to the freezer instead of being poured down the drain.