stir-fries and sunlight

I have been thinking about simple, yet tasty vegetables lately. Yesterday, I made this stir-fry with:

chinese broccoli,
chopped onions, lots of garlic
soy sauce, rice wine vinegar
and hoisin sauce

I had to boil the broccoli's stalks (or stem?) for a few minutes while I sauteed the onions and garlic in veggie broth. This time, I remembered to use just a splash of vinegar, less I ruin the whole thing! If you haven't had chinese broccoli before, this is nothing like the regular broccoli- you just have to try it. This is good stuff!

Chinese broccoli over brown rice.

I decided that instead of my rice cooker I would just use a regular saucepan to cook my brown basmati rice. Since I didn't have to make the stir-fry until the last few minutes of cooking the rice, I sneaked away from the kitchen and did some "blogging."
Oh yeah, I almost burnt the rice, but it smelled so darn good that I didn't throw it out. It tasted better with the veggies, too!

Kale and some sunlight-- so good and healthy! What a pair!

My 8 year old just decided that she's going to add kale to her very short list of "edible" vegetables. Now, I am looking for ideas on what else to do with it,though she really liked this one! (I pretty much cooked it like the chinese broccoli.)

Did I tell you that was lunch?
Well, here's what we had for dinner. I had some creamy hummus that I want to use up so I decided to use it as a sauce base. The hummus was really good, but have I told you that my crew is not a big fan? I decided to thin it with vegetable broth and added more fresh lemon juice to it. It really reminded me of an old pasta sauce I used to make that the whole family loved, so I thought this would work. See for yourself:

This girl is up to something again! Yes, it's the same hand that grabbed the falafel! Yes, she eats edamame just like that. And no, that is not her plate!
Well, dear hubby barely touched his dinner. Cub #1 finished hers because mama bear promised that if she does, she could have a muffin after. I almost finished mine, but just because...well, you know, it wasn't really that bad!
So the hummus was really good- but I shall remember not to be so bold as to make my own pasta sauce with it. I should have just learned from Leslie of EatPeacePlease and her recent soba experience!
So what happened to the rest of the pasta? Down the drain- it wasn't even good enough in hubby's standard to go in his lunchbox for the following day, which by the way, I took a photo of the other day's.
That's the baked falafel on whole wheat pita with lemon tahini sauce and lettuce, a VLV* chocolate chip muffin, some oat bars (also VLV) and yeah, some carrot sticks. Though I packed him a banana, I wouldn't put banana inside this lunchbox. I just don't like how it makes everything else taste and smell like itself!

--the end--

*VLV- Vive Le Vegan!