It’s official. The temperature has dropped 10 degrees. The leaves are suddenly turning, and the gusty wind that’s arrived from nowhere is happy to pluck them from their branches, pick them up and carry them off and away. It’s raining again.

So naturally, I’ve been: baking, cleaning, sewing, re-organizing, planning, brooding, and imagining fun new ways to use pumpkin. I think it’s fair to say that fall is my favorite season, and even though we barely had a summer, and even though I’m truly dreading winter, I’m really really happy to be exactly where I am right now.

This past Monday seemed to feature an especially autumn-inspired menu.

Also, I always forget to mention it, but Waits still nurses . . . like, a lot. At least once between every meal/snack, and with free access all through the night.

Pre-Breakfast



The first thing I did upon waking was my shred. After a workout you’re supposed to get some calories and some protein into you pretty quick, and since I’m never hungry in the way-m, a half a banana and a protein “shake” is what does the trick. And by “shake” I mean 1 scoop of hemp protein in water. Chug ‘n glug, blech.




The other half of the nanner went to Waits, sliced thin with a dollop of peanut butter on each piece. I’ve been trying to get some food into him a little earlier, and this kept him occupied while I made . . .


Coffee




I’m drinking coffee again these days, because I’ve been fighting this cold and I feel like I need the extra kick. Yes, coffee is actually worse for my immune system, I know. But it gets my groggy ass up in the morning and more importantly, it really brightens my mood. So coffee it is!

I had my coffee with stevia and fortified coconut milk, and Waits had some fortified coconut milk in his steel sippy.


Breakfast



After we’d had a long lovely dog walk (don’t you love the smell of fall?,) I gave Waits half of a homemade gluten-free sugar-free pumpkin muffin (recipe coming next month for MoFo!), while I set about preparing our smoothie:



Kombucha, banana, blackberries, hemp protein, a sprinkle of stevia, and a ton of kale. Yum! Waits drank most of this, and had a jolly ol’ time dipping his muffin in the green goodness. Breakfast is always a messy project, but it sure is fun. We both finished off with a spoonful of molasses.



While Waits was making a mess, er, I mean eating, I threw a rough-chopped mirepoix (onion-celery-carrot) into a pan and sautéed it a bit, then covered it with water to simmer while we took our bath. This became a lovely veggie broth that went into our dinner.




First Lunch



I munched on this veggie plate while Waits was napping and I was working. Farmer’s Market tomatoes (unbelievable! so flavorful!), Farmer’s Market white cucumber (I fell in love with these last year – so crisp!) and Farmer’s Market broccoli. Farmer’s Market at this time of year is sort of amazing!

I ate them all with a raw tahini sauce. I’ve been stuck on this stuff for a while, I think it’s about time I changed it up . . . nah.


Second Lunch



When wee little mister woke up, I fixed him a snack tray using my awesome new stainless steel plate. Snack trays are so fun! I swear, he eats more when food is presented like this (and for a super-active guy like Waits, more calories is definitely a good thing). This particular tray had: watermelon (he can’t keep his hands off, ha!), the other half of his breakfast muffin, a bottle with more coconut milk, black and kidney bean mash, a couple of pickled asparagus spears, and a lot of kale chips.

He ate the watermelon, some of the muffin, and a few kale chips. I ate the asparagus (he took one bite and refused any more) and most of the kale chips. The beans were a no-go, which is odd since I call him my “beanie baby” based on his undying love of beans. But otherwise, that’s pretty typical. What I put in front of Waits, and what Waits actually eats, are often very different!


Dinner



Autumn on a plate! This is an heirloom acorn squash, a white variety called “Cream of the Crop”, which I picked up at the Farmer’s Market (of course). I roasted and stuffed it with a mixture of pink rice and green lentils, which I’d cooked up in that veggie broth from earlier. I also sautéed some more onions, celery, and carrots, and stirred those in along with some garlic, salt, and pepper. This was reeeeeally good.

Served with a side salad of spinach, cukes, and tomatoes, tossed in garlic olive oil and balsamic. Waits had basically the exact same thing:



He wasn’t a fan of the squash – he’s not so big on starches (doesn’t like sweet potatoes either, crazy right?) but he sure dug the rice/lentil filling.


Dessert/Late Night Snack



Frozen banana slices, peanut butter, maple syrup. ♥ ♥ ♥

~~~

This outfit is actually from Tuesday, because on Monday I sort of didn’t happen to leave the house. Well that’s not entirely true – we did walk the pooches to the grocery store. But I promise, you don’t want to see what I wore. We were still getting over the sick, and it wasn’t anything worth sharing.

On Tuesday afternoons we like to go to “Tiny Tots” storytime/singalong at the public library. My mom was a children’s librarian, and the first time I took Waits to something like this, I totally cried. Super embarrassing. But now it’s all fun and songs and blowing bubbles and making friends. And dancing!




A hoodie and knitted knee socks – yup, summer’s over! I wore :

• “Vegan” hoodie: secondhand
• Red and navy skirt: secondhand, originally Forever 21
• Black tights and white knee socks: Sock Dreams
• High-high-high top converse: the secondhand score of the year, especially considering the monster size of my massive monster feet
• Red bandana, which is way old

HAPPY AUTUMN!