Playing in the Snow

Monday: Black Bean Soup with Salad
Tuesday: Stir Fry with Cashews and Almonds
Wednesday: Baked Sole with Roasted Potatoes, Asparagus, Salad and Biscuits
Thursday: Pasta with Edamame Beans
Friday: Pizza and Greek Salad
Saturday: Minestrone with Parmesan Dumplings
Sunday: Veggie Lasagna, Salad and Mini Apple Pies with Ice Cream and Strawberries

The girls made this guy all on their own today!

Black Bean Soup with Salad
Oh, Harper.

This morning she climbs into bed with us at 4:00 (or some ridiculous hour) turns to me and asks,"Mama, how long until Easter?" I answer, "Six months, go to sleep." and she does actually go to sleep! When she got up with Dave and Hannah a little later she exclaimed in a super excited voice, "The Easter Bunny's going to be here in only six months!"

We also watched my cousin's little girl today for a couple hours, she's the same age as Harper. So Hannah and I told her all morning that we're going to watch Alexa this afternoon and she can play with her and share her toys, Harper was very excited. Then at lunch she was especially quiet and she looked up at me with a sad little face and asked, "Mama, are you gonna be here when I watch Alexa?" You could see the relief all over her body when I explained that I would be watching Alexa and she would just be playing with her.

Recipe
We've been having this black bean soup for years, my mom started making it a long time ago and I love it. It's easy and everyone likes it. The recipe is from The Best of Bridge, That's Trump.

2 cups dried black beans (I just use 2 19oz cans, drained and rinsed)
2 onions, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp hot pepper sauce
1 Jalapeno, chopped
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp fennel seeds
6 cups veggies stock
28 oz can tomatoes
4 tsp fresh lime juice
salt and pepper to taste

Garnish: sour cream cilantro or lime slice

In a large pot cover the beans with 6 cups of water - bring to a boil and cook 2 minutes. Remove from heat; let stand 1 hour. Drain, rinse and drain again (skip this whole step if you're using canned and just start with the onions).

Saute onions, garlic and celery in olive oil until softened. Stir in chili, hot sauce, jalapeno, oregano, cumin and fennel. Cook for 1 minute. Add beans and stock. Simmer for 11/2 hours, until beans are tender. Add tomatoes and lime juice and simmer for 10 minutes. Puree soup in batches - return to pot and heat. Serve with your choice of garnish. If soup is too thick add more stock.

We had this with a salad of lettuce, leftover bruschetta, cucumber, cut up leftover baguette toasts and avocado drizzled with olive oil and red wine vinegar.

Stir Fry with Cashews and Almonds
You know, you decide one day to have a baby and then they grow into these little people...and then big people (but let's not think about that) and you go along day to day. Sometimes you think about how wonderful they are, lots of time you're trying to sort through their clothes that they keep growing out of, get them to their activities, feed them, have enough play time with them, cuddle them, love them, ask them stop doing xyz, help them do abc, and try and remember when the last time they had a bath was (come on, we all forget...right?) and then you're reminded again. Today we had parent teacher conferences, and I was reminded again how between all that stuff, she, this little person we made, is growing into this wonderfully kind, funny, thoughtful, smart little girl. As we sat listening to her teacher talk about how wonderful she is and listened to her shyly recite poems and counting in french I was so proud of her and so, I wanted to gush!

Recipe
The stir fry sauce isn't anything to write home about, it was very tasty but it was mostly store bought. I always feel bad using pre-made sauce because I know the salt and additives are bad for us but we were in a rush tonight and it made it easy.

2 cups bean sprouts

1 Onion, chopped

2 Celery sticks, chopped
1 cup baby carrots, quartered
4 Baby bok choy, chopped
1 Bunch of broccoli
1 Yellow pepper cut in strips
1 1/2 cups of almonds and cashews
2 Cloves garlic, pressed
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, grated
2 Tbsp sesame oil
2 Tbsp soy sauce
4 Tbsp Hoisin sauce

Baked Sole with Roasted Potatoes, Asparagus, Salad and Biscuits
This is what I woke up to...

Harper: "I telling on you, Hannah."
Hannah: (in a condescending voice) "Harrrrper, come back here."
Harper: (sing songy) "Noooo, I'mmmmm going to tell on youuuuu."
Hannah: (same condescending voice) "No, you're not going to tell on me, you're going to come back here."
Harper: (sing song) "I'm going up the tairsss (stairs)"
Hannah: "Then, I'm coming to make sure the real story is told."

Meanwhile, Dave and are listening to this trying to stop ourselves from laughing, both girls climb into bed, cuddle up and say nothing.

Recipe
The girls wanted to make biscuits so we made these ones from Handle the Heart.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 425F.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix in rosemary. Add milk and olive oil and mix until just combined. Don't over-mix.

Drop golf ball-sized rounds of dough on prepared baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until cooked through and golden brown.

I tossed a mixture of baby potatoes and sweet potatoes with a little olive oil and then roasted them in the 425F oven for about 40 minutes, turning once or twice.

The fish was dredged through a bowl with a milk Dijon mixture (ratio depending on your taste, I like lots of Dijon) and then pressed into Panko crumbs and baked in the oven, 425F, until done (five to ten minutes depending on thickness of fish).

Because of the lack of space in the oven, I steamed the asparagus. I tossed together, lettuce, apple, raisins, toasted walnuts and almonds and then drizzled it all with a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar and maple syrup.

Pasta with Edamame Beans

The girls got hold of the camara last night and this is what they did. They had all their dolls lined up on the stairs and I could hear Hannah saying, "O.K. now that we've had a family picture, let's take a picture of each family member on their own." This occupied them for quite some time and filled up the camara with a number of...well, honestly kind of creepy photos. Except for the ones that Haper took which are mostly of her finger.

Recipe
I'm a little dissapointed because the picture for this pasta just looks, so so, but it was really good.

1 small red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
4 ripe tomatoes
1 1/2 cups edamame beans
1 pkg brown rice spaghetti
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Heat a really good glugg of olive oil over medium heat and saute onion for five minutes, add balsamic and continue to saute until soft. Add garlic and saute a couple more minutes then add the tomatoes and saute until nice and saucy - if it seems too dry add a few Tbsp of veggie broth and then balance with an other drizzle of balsamic. Let this get nice and saucy and then add the edamama beans and cook a few minutes unitl they're warm. Season to taste.

Meanwhile in a large pot bring water to boil, add the brown rice pasta and cook according to package directions. It is really easy to over cook brown rice pasta so error on the al dente side, I usually cook for about 7 or 8 minutes, testing often from minute 6. Rince with cold water as soon as you've strained it to stop the cooking process.

Put the pasta back in the pot and pour the sauce over, stir on the warm element for a minute to reheat and serve immediately.

Pizza and Greek Salad
Before Hannah started school I use to have friends that were stay at home moms and they'd always be so happy when their child had the day off school. They would say how it made life so much easier and honestly, I didn't get it. I would think, "Really? You're a much better person than me, because I think I would find it more difficult to have my kids home then at school." Perhaps I shouldn't have admitted that, but it's true. The difference though is that I had both my kids home all the time and so any break was welcome. Hannah didn't have school today and the day was so relaxed. There were no deadlines, we didn't need to rush out of the house so we could get to the bus stop. All we had to do, we did at our own pace, stopping and reading stories or playing a little hide and seek on the way - it was lovely.

Recipe
Well, it really was a layed back day and I just bought pizza shells and topped them with pizza sauce, grilled zuchini, sundried tomatoes, olives and mozzarella cheese. We had a wonderful greek salad with it.

Minestrone Stew with Parmesan Dumplings
I was the parent carrying a screaming six year old out of Canadian Tire today. It wasn't pretty, people stared (it was really busy in there) but yes that was me. Were you staring because you were judging me, my kid or simply feeling bad for both of us who were clearly having a bad day? The thing is people stare, or they obviously don't, because kids scream and throw fits when they're mad and sometimes, it gets out of control and you have to let it happen or in this case, carry them out. This happens rarely for us and really rarely with Hannah but it happens...I always kind of rather that it happen at a store that's not in our neighborhood because then as you drive home you can kind of try to regain your dignity and there's less chance that someone you know saw you. But, really, I try not to feel embarassed or ashamed, these things happen. Amazingly after finally getting in the car and driving about two seconds in silence, she was back to her old self as if nothing had happend. We did of course talk about it when we arrived home (because, quite frankly I needed the whole ride to cool off from the incident) and went on to have a pretty lovely day of pretending to put up Chrsitmas lights but abandoning it to play in the snow, reading, Dave and I reading our own books while the girl's played on their own, making this perfect comforting stew and dumplings and watching the hockey game.

Recipe
Dave claims that I've made dumplings once before, but I don't remember ever making them. It's a revelation, so easy, biscuits in a pot but warm and gooey. This was declared a winter winner by all tonight. I slightly altered the stew recipe from nofaceplate and she does also have a recipe there for vegan dumplings which I was going to try but I had run out of nutritional yeast and then came downstairs to see Dave finishing the almonds which I also needed and so I found a recipe at Dunkin Cooking the Semi-Homemade Way for dumplings that I did have the ingredients too. I thought the fact that it was a minestrone stew and not soup was stretching it a little but it is a stew, very hardy and filling.

Minestrone Stew

1 28 oz can chopped/diced tomatoes
2 small cans tomato paste
2 zucchini, chopped
1 large red onion, chopped
10 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp freshly minced parsley
1 Tbsp oregano
1 large bunch kale, sliced to ribbons
6-8 baby carrots, chopped
2 large ribs celery, chopped
1/2 cup good quality olive oil
1/2 cup bitey red wine
2 cans cannelini beans, well drained and rinsed
1 can garbanzo beans, well drained and rinsed
1 red pepper, chopped
1 Tbsp + more sea salt, to taste
10 cups water

In a large soup pot (I needed to use two large soup pots in order to have enough room to cook the dumplings), add your olive oil. Over medium high heat, saute your garlic, onion, peppers, carrots and celery for 5 minutes, until onions are translucent. Add zucchini - cook another 3 minutes. Add kale, stir, cook one minute more. Add your wine and turn heat to high for 2 minutes, until it has reduced a bit, then add water, tomatoes, tomato paste, beans, herbs, pepper and salt, stir well, and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook 10 minutes. Taste. You'll probably need to add a little salt at this point - but it's totally up to you. Now, add your dumplings and cook for 12 to 15 minutes on simmer. Be sure not to lift the lid, as the steam's cooking the dumplings.

Dumplings

1 1/2 cup flour
2 Tbsp parsley
2 Tbsp green onion, chopped
2 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Dash nutmeg
2/3 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
2 Tbsp oil

In a bowl beat the egg, add the milk and oil and beat together. Add the dry ingredients, parsley and green onions and mix until combined. Once mixed, wet your hands and pinch out dough (about the size of a Tbsp) and drop them carefully in the simmering soup. Once their all in put the lid on and simmer for 12 to 15 minutes.

Veggie Lasagna, Salad and Mini Apple Pies with Ice Cream and Strawberries

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. Today had a little bit of everything; playing, a few chores, a lovely visit with my cousin with a great cup of tea, a new Christmas tree to put up this week, some baking...well, actually just eating (Dave and the girls did the baking), some football with a delicious dinner and great company. I am ending the day full, tired and ready for the week. I hope your Sunday was good too.

Have a great week, I hope the sun shines down on you.

Girl's Town!

Monday: Shepherd's Pie and Salad
Tuesday: Leftovers with Salmon and Coleslaw
Wednesday: Left over Quinoa with Roasted Veggies, Shrimp, Scallops and Peas
Thursday: Oaxacan Potato Soup and Edamame Beans
Friday: Pasta with Oven Roasted Eggplant, Goat Cheese and Mint
Saturday: Out Celebrating Someone Very Wonderful
Sunday: Curry Rice Soup and Bread with Ice Cream and Pineapple

Harper's very excited that she can now touch both sides of the doorway!

Shepherd's Pie and Salad
Dave left this morning for Calgary and will be gone until Saturday, it's girl's town over here. I feel like maybe I should put up some sparkles or something. Although, they really do get everywhere and I find that very annoying...I may just move some furniture around or something.

The three of us headed out to the airport to pick up my parents this evening. Hannah actually chose to miss skating to go to the airport even though she would have been able to see them after skating. Somethings are just more exciting when your a kid. It was pretty fun to watch her jumping up and down when she saw them coming down the stairs (they were only gone for two weeks, but to Hannah I think it seemed like a lot longer, she really missed them).

Recipe
I made shepherd's pie for us to have when we got home from the airport, it needs a little tweaking, my potato to filling ration was off - needs more potatoes I tried to adjust it here.

2 small onions, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, pressed
olive oil
1/2 green pepper, chopped
2 baby zucchini, chopped
2 1/2 cups mushrooms, quartered
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp sage

1 batch of veggie gravy found here.

8 - 10 red skinned potatoes, boiled and then smashed (with skin on)
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 - 1/2 cup milk
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350F.

Prepare gravy.

In a large skillet heat a good glugg of olive oil and saute onions, carrots, celery and pepper until slightly softened. Add garlic, thyme and sage and cook a couple more minutes. Add mushrooms and zucchini and cook until tender. Once veggies are done add in gravy and combine. Pour veggies into a large, deep baking dish.

Smash up the potatoes adding in the milk and sour cream until smooth. Spread over the veggies and bake for about 30 minutes, until bubbly.

We had this with just a simple salad.

Leftovers with Salmon and Coleslaw
I'm often reminded how lucky and supported me and my family is and today was no exception. After dropping Hannah off at the bus stop I brought Harper over to my parents and my dad watched her all afternoon so I could go for a run and have coffee with my mom, grandma, aunts and cousins. I then went back to their house where they fed us dinner and my cousin took Hannah to the Winnipeg Jets Skills Competition with his two boys. It was actually kind of a vacation day for me. Hannah had so much fun at the competition, the thing she talked about most? The free Home Depot bag that she got, she told me she could have gotten a hat, but thought that I could use the bag for groceries - she's really a very thoughtful little girl (I really hope I remember to take it to the store with me tomorrow).

My parents grilled salmon on the BBQ, made a really yummy coleslaw and we had leftover shepherd's pie with it.

Left over Quinoa with Roasted Veggies, Shrimp, Scallops and Peas
I'm so glad that Dave doesn't usually go away, we're missing him a lot. Harper has woken up everyday looked over to Dave's side of the bed and asked, "Where Daddy?" When I remind her that he's gone until Saturday she asks me, "Is it Saturday today?" She's so cute.

Recipe
We had Sunday dinner at my cousins and they made quinoa with veggie stock and then stirred in some roasted veggies, it was delicious and there was a lot so she sent some home with me. I've been eating it for lunch the past couple of days and then for supper tonight I sauteed some chopped onions and garlic in a little olive oil, added a little white wine and  let it cook and then add some shrimp, scallops and peas. Once the seafood was almost ready I added the quinoa so it could heat up. It was simple and delicious.

Oaxacan Potato Soup and Edamame Beans
Winter is here...well, not really it's still fall (this is a large source of confusion in our house), but I'm pretty sure the snow this morning is here to stay and so is the chill. I took Harper to get some new winter boots this afternoon, hers are just not very warm, at the mall. We found a great pair on sale and we saw Santa at the center of the mall. Harper was in awe. She was first fascinated with all the moving stuffed characters that they have around his village and then she spotted the big guy and could only utter a whisper, "Santa." She stared at him with big eyes and when he finished with the little boy on his lap he turned and waved to her, she stuck up her little hand and waved back whispering, "Hi, Santa." We didn't sit on his knee because we're going to wait for Hannah (and I can't seem to bring myself to have them on his knee before December).

When Hannah got home we told her all about it and this was the topic of conversation to and from swimming lessons tonight. You could actually see the sparkle and magic in their eyes. On the way home Hannah asks me, "Do you think Santa can hear everyone anywhere because he's so magical?" I answered (my standard), "I don't know, he is pretty magical." I could then hear Hannah in the backseat whispering, "Hi, Santa."

Recipe
This recipe is from Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special. I really love it, like really decadent mashed potatoes but better, it's best with all the fixings. We had this with edamame beans.

2 cups chopped onions

2 Tbsp olive oil
5 cups peeled and chopped potatoes
4 cups water
1 tsp salt
2 tsps prepared yellow mustard
1 cup peeled and diced carrots
1 cup frozen green peas
1/2 cup chopped green olives
1/4 cup chopped pickeled jalepeno or banana peppers
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 tsp black pepper

Chopped red onions

In a soup pot on medium heat, saute th eonions in the butter about 7 minutes, until soft but not browned. Add the potatoes, water, salt, and mustard. Cover and bring to a boil on high heat. Cook until the potatoes are just soft, about 10 minutes.

Remove the soup pot from the heat and coarsley mash the potatoes in the soup pot with a potato masher. Use slow, steady pressure to avoid splashing th ehot cookin gliquid. Return the soup pot to the heat, add the carrots, cover and summer for 5 minutes. Add the peas, olives, and pickled peppers and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, just until the peas are tender.

In a small mixing bowl, combine the sour cream, black pepper, and a couple of ladlefuls of the soup broth. Pour the hot sour cream mixture back into the soup pot and stir well.

Serve garnished with chopped red onions.

Pasta with Oven Roasted Eggplant, Goat Cheese and MintHere's a little lesson I learnt today. If you are claustrophobic (even to a small degree) do not hide in a small, squishy, restricting space if your seeker is two, trust me. We recently set up a little camping area for the kids with these two little tents (one much smaller than the other) so today when Harper and I were playing hide and seek, she was counting and I was desperately looking for somewhere to hide (probably because I wasted 1 -10 looking at a flyer and she was now quickly on her way to 20 - and she skips 15) so I tried to quickly dash into the tent. I didn't realized that the smaller tent was in the bigger tent, the doorways slightly lined up (but not), and it was full of stuffies and a sleeping bag until it was too late. I was already halfway in when I heard, "Wenty...weady or not ere I ome." I had to continue, and so I heaved the rest of my body in, curled up in a very uncomfortable position and listened to her toddle past me again and again. My breath made the air very hot in the tent, I felt like the space was getting smaller and smaller and I would never find my way out of the tangle of stuffies, sleeping bag and entrances. This voice in my head kept saying, "Just get out, seriously....seriously, I think you can do this for a few minutes." So there I sat sweating in my own personal hell until Harper finally found me. When she did, I had to push her aside (gently) as I tried to escape from the tent, in my haste I tried to come out head, legs and bum all at the same time...I'm not actually small enough to do that, so I kind of got stuck for a moment or two, panicked, calmed and then was able to get free. Harper kind looked at me a little funny and then declared, "You turn to count."

Recipe
We had this pasta from this post which I is really one of my favorites right now.

Appetizers
My morning started at 4:30...I'm so glad Dave's came home today. We did go out and shovel the driveway and then began a pile for our winter snow fort in the backyard. It's so funny, every year we plan on cleaning up all the toys in the yard before the snow flies and every year the snow flies and the toys get buried and forgotten about under the white blanket. We will find them again in the spring, half of them broken from the cold. It's like we don't believe the snow is coming until it's actually here - which is funny because I have lived here pretty much my whole life, there has never been a winter where the snow didn't fly.

Dave got home around 4:30 this afternoon and it gave me a flashback to when Hannah was a newborn and every minute that Dave was late coming home felt like an eternity. The three of us were in the window watching him pay the cab driver and seriously, I felt like he was in that cab for 15 minutes and I was getting more and more annoyed - what is he doing in there? Perception is a funny thing, I'm sure it was five minutes and he was simply paying the man. I receive so much help and support when he's away (which is like once or twice a year) and yet I still complain and pine for him to be back, it's really a little pathetic but I think I'm O.K. with that.

Recipe
I actually ran out the door shortly after Dave got home to gather with a very wonderful group of women to celebrate one of their birthdays. We all brought different snacks and then had yummy chocolate cake with chocolate sauce for dessert. This is what I had for dinner, I'm pretty sure Dave and the kids had pancakes. I brought bruschetta with baguette toasts and this olive tapenade from epicurious that I slightly altered.

1 cup Kalamata olives, pitted
1 cup mixed green olives pitted
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, drained
1 Tbsp capers
1 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
1/2 Tbsp fresh thyme
1/2 Tbsp fresh oregano
1/2 Tbsp chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
1 clove garlic, pressed
1/4 cup olive oil

Put all the ingredients, except the oil, in a food processor and whirl together. Once it's all chopped up together add the oil at the end and combine.

There was some left and in the morning I cooked up a one egg omelet, spread a little of the tapenade on it with a little bruschetta and rolled it up and ate it - mmmmm it was delicious.

Curry Rice Soup and Bread with Ice Cream and Pineapple
What a wonderfully lazy day. I slept until eleven, that's right I said eleven! We all kind of lazed around, the girls played outside for awhile, working on the snow pile fort while Dave and I talked about our renovation plans (a very common topic these days) and tried to figure out how we could love our house in the meantime. It was perfectly lovely, there was a big football game on that we turned on, I didn't really watch not being much of a football fan, but we won and I'm very happy for all the fans!

We ended our day walking down to my parents for Sunday dinner. Hannah arrived first and declared, "It's very toasty in there, I know because I saw Pepere built a fire!" It was very toasty, cozy and the soup was delicious. I will have to get the recipe and share it next week!

I hope the sun shines down on you this week!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

Monday: Burritos
Tuesday: Chickpea Piccata with Caulipots and Sweet and Maple Carrots
Wednesday: Scrambled Eggs in Puff Pastry with Fruit Salad
Thursday: Portuguese White Bean Soup with Lemon Tomato Salad and Biscuits
Friday: Pizza
Saturday: Veggie Dogs and Laser Tag
Sunday: Maple Salmon, Roasted Veggies and Quinoa with Salad and Pumpkin and Lemon Pie

Burritos

We woke up to a blanket of snow covering our little world. I know that there were so many people unhappy to see the snow but I love the first snowfall. It's not that I'm so excited to see the snow, but that it gives the morning a kind of peaceful calm. The world is quieter the morning of the first snowfall...at least for a few minutes as we all stare out in amazement, like we had no idea this was coming. The Earth has finally closed it's eyes to get some needed rest and we bare quiet witness for a few moments...Then it's rush, rush, rush as Dave tries to get out the door early in case traffic's bad and the girls gulp down their breakfast and beg to go out and put their mark on the blank canvass of the backyard, sigh...life moves forward.

Recipe
Monday is skating and we don't get home until after six, so it is a wonderful day for leftovers or a one pot meal. Today it was both. We had some chili left from yesterday, I added a handful of bocconcini cheese while it was heating which melted in perfectly and then piled some in warm tortilla wraps with some sour cream, salsa and hot peppers.

Chickpea Piccata with Caulipots and Sweet and Maple Carrots
The most stressful part of the day is getting Hannah from the bus stop after school. If I'm not there to meet the bus it won't drop her off (which is good), so I'm always worried that this will happen and trying to get there with a two year old is not an easy feat. If I were on my own it would be a two to three minute walk to the bus stop (five to be safe), with Harper we leave fifteen minutes ahead and I'm still worried, as we usually get there to see the bus only a couple blocks away. We stop at every driveway, periodically she stops to jump of a curb once or twice or thirty times, she needs to swing around every pole, play peek-a-boo around all the parked cars and often with no warning walks backwards with no end in site. Her walk is way more fun than mine!

Recipe
The recipe for the chickpea piccata can be found on this post. I find it to be a lovely comfort food. The carrot recipe can be found on this post, although carrots don't sound super exciting this are really worth trying!

Scrambled Eggs in Puff Pastry with Fruit Salad
What is it about littles holding their fingers up to show you a number that is so cute? I think it's because they have to hold them right up to their cheeks and kind of whisper the number. This is exactly what Harper did today when we were making muffins and she wanted to have two, one when they were ready and one with Hannah after school, she was so cute that I had to say yes. I could just eat her sometimes. I'm trying to treasure all these moments, the year from two to three seems to be such a huge change. I still get glimpses of my baby right now, but I know that once this year is up it'll be all three year old...

Recipe
The muffins that we made were from Living Lou and they are very yummy without being too sweet.

Seriously, I should bake with her more often.

Whole Wheat Apple Muffins
1 1/2 cups chopped apple
1 cup oats
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup apple cider
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

*we also added 1/4 cup of raisins at Harper's request.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray a muffin tin.

Start by peeling and chopping the apples, place them aside in a bowl.

In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients, (flours, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg,) create a well in the middle.

In another bowl, combine the wet ingredients (yogurt, apple cider, vegetable oil, vanilla, and egg).
Pour the wet ingredients into the well in the dry ingredients. Mix just until combine. Add the apples and walnuts, mixing until evenly distributed. Be careful not to over-mix as that will create a very dense muffing.
Using an ice cream scoop, scoop batter into the muffin tin until about 2/3 of the way full.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until when pricked with a toothpick it comes out clean.

Supper was inspired by this one at Jo Cooks but as it had ham in it I changed it a little bit.

1 Sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
1/2 onion, chopped
1 large clove garlic, pressed
1 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1 baby zuchini, cut in quarters and chopped
6 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup swiss cheese
Olive oil
1 egg for eggwash

Preheat oven to 375F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Heat a glugg of olive oil in a pan and saute the onions and garlic for a few minutes and then add the rest of the veggies and saute until soft and then set aside.

Scramble the eggs in the pan and mix in the veggies and let mixture cool a little.

Lay the puff pastry out on the parchment and cut slits, 2 1/2 inches in length every 1 inch. Fill the middle with egg mixture and then alternating between each side, cover the middle by pulling over the cut edges in a braidlike pattern.

Brush with eggwash and then bake for about 30 minutes, until golden. Serve

Portuguese White Bean Soup with Lemon Tomato Salad and Biscuits
On the way home from swimming lessons tonight Harper chirps up from the backseat, as we're stuck in traffic, "I see a monkey." Hannah and I ask her where, as we are very perplexed about the monkey in traffic, and she says, "Wright tere on the bicycle." Sure enough ahead of us and in the next lane is a man on a motorcycle, and I suggest that perhaps it's a man she says, "No, (eyes big and determined) it's a monkey." (I feel I should clarify that it was dark and cold out and the man had on a jacket with a helmet so you couldn't actually see any part of the man, I think it was the way his legs were positioned on the bike - not that he actually looked like a monkey).

Recipe
My parents are in Portugal right now on vacation and so when I saw this soup I thought we should have it. It was a hit, Hannah gobbled it all up. Dave found the biscuit recipe and made them while we were at swimming, they were really good. The soup and salad recipe are both from Moosewood Cooks at Home while the biscuit recipe was from allrecipes.com.

1 cup onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, pressed
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium red or yellow bell pepper
1 bay leaf
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp ground fennel
1 medium potato
2 Tbsp dry sherry (didn't have any and used a little white wine instead)
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 cups veggie stock or water
2 cups undrained canned white beans (19 oz can)
ground black pepper to taste

In a soup pot, saute the onions and garlic in the olive oil, stirring often, for about 5 minutes or until the onions soften. While the onions, saute, chop the bell pepper. Add the bay leaf, salt, fennel and bell peppers to the pot, and continue to cook for about 5 minutes stirring regularly.

Cube the potato and add to the pot along with sherry, lemon juice, and stock or water. Cover and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. Stir in the beans and gently reheat. Add black pepper to taste.

Lemon Tomato Salad

2 tomatoes, chopped or thinly sliced
Juice of 1 lemon
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt and ground black pepper to taste

optional (I added all of them)
1/2 cucumber, sliced
1/2 avocado, pitted, peeled, and cubed
2 thin slices red onion, separated into rings

In a serving bowl, combine the tomatoes, lemon juice, oil, and salt and pepper. If you choose to add the cucumber, avocado, and/or red onion, stir them into the tomatoes. Serve immediately.

Biscuits

2 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp white sugar
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 425F.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles coarse meal, gradually stir in milk until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.

Turn out onto a floured surface and knead 15 to 20 times (Dave didn't do this, he kneaded it in the KitchenAid mixer for 3 minutes instead). Pat dough out to 1 inch thick and cut into rounds with a juice glass. Place the biscuits on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 13 to 15 minutes, until the edges begin to brown.

Pizza
Rememberance Day. I wish we lived in a world where we didn't need Rememberance Day. Where we all got along everywhere, shared resources, learned and respected each other's beliefs, worked together to make our planet safe and beautiful. I wish that I was raising my children in a world where I didn't have to try and explain about all the brave men and women out there who fight for us, sacrifice for us and have been lost to us and their families to make our world, country, all that it is. As I look at my family, my life, I live in a country where I feel sheltered and safe and I am grateful (I wish there were a better word) to all of those that have fought and sacrificed and all of those that continue to do so today. Thank you.

Recipe
Pizza Friday, somehow for us it never gets old. We topped ours with mushrooms, olives, hot banana peppers and a mix of cheddar and mozzarella cheese.

Veggie Dogs and Lazer Tag
That's right, I said lazer tag, we headed out to Stonewall for my nephew's birthday party (with his friends) and the kids played lazer tag. When we told Hannah about it (Harper's too little to play) she asked, "Are there going to be real bullets in the guns?" I'm quite certain she didn't actually think that there were going to be real bullets, but was trying to put the whole idea of this game together - no little boys in our house means no gun play. She had a lot of fun though!

They were serving hot dogs and so we brought our own veggie dogs, I just cooked them at home, got them all ready in thier buns and wrapped them in foil.

Maple Salmon, Roasted Veggies and Quinoa with Salad and Pumpkin and Lemon Pie
Today Dave and I were standing in the mirror together brushing our teeth and I said, "When I was young, I never thought I would look like this at 33 (while noticing new wrinkles)." Dave said to me, "Aren't you 34?" I responded, "I also never thought that I would forget my own age."

Just a note, after careful consideration and math (luckily I can still remember the year I was born) I am 33.

We had dinner at my cousin's house for a very special nine year olds birthday. It was lovely. I can't believe that he's nine, it seems like all of a sudden he's turned into this big wonderful kid!

Have a wonderful week, I hope the sun shines down on you.

Happy Halloween!

Monday: Lentil Soup (because mini chocolate bars seemed a little embarrassing)
Tuesday: Halibut, Roasted Sweet Potato and Turnips with Salad
Wednesday: Chana Masala, Pitas, with Eggplant
Thursday: Stir Fry over Rice
Friday: Scrambled Eggs with Basil and Bocconcini Cheese, Toast and Oranges
Saturday: Macaroni and Cheese with Kale Chips
Sunday: Chili, Bread and Apple Crisp and Ice Cream

Lentil Soup
Happy Halloween! Besides eating too much candy tonight (and mostly I mean Dave and I) our Halloween was pretty good. Poor Harper is still sick and very slow moving but, she did eat today and really wanted to go trick or treating and so we let her. The first thing we noticed when we put her in her costume was that she has had a growth spurt lately, she looked very stretched. Hannah very proudly put her cake costume on and Dave headed out with the girls. Although I think Hannah was a little disappointed that she had to slow down for Harper, she also wanted to be with her for the trick or treating. Dave brought Harper home after a few houses and went back out with Hannah. Harper took off her costume, sat on the step and opened a few different things but didn't really eat much of anything, she was very excited to open the door and give out the candy. Hannah bounded back in a little while later, sat down on the kitchen table and started opening different things (she had no problem eating what she opened).

The girls are allowed to eat what they want Halloween night and then we buy their candy from them and they get to go out and pick a toy with the money. This really saves Dave and I from eating all the candy. Luckily we donate it to my cousin who brings it to work for their volunteer program.

I have to add that the next day when we took Hannah to the bus stop every house we passed Harper said, "We tick or teat dere and dey gave me candy!"

Recipe
Dave took Hannah to skating and I sent sandwiches for them to eat so that they would be ready to go when they got home. I made this soup because it's what I make when someone's sick and Harper and I ate it, I also ate an embarrassingly amount of mini chocolate bars...

Halibut, Roasted Sweet Potato and Turnips with Salad
Harper seems to be feeling better...physically? She was dressed and up and about today...well, except for the fits of frustration and tiredness and not quite rightness that dropped her flat against the floor every five to ten minutes. I know you think I'm exaggerating but I'm really not. I know it's because she's still recovering from the flu, but I have to tell you that I cried when she finally fell asleep tonight from sheer joy (and perhaps exhaustion) that I wouldn't have to peel her off the floor another time tonight - the poor thing.

Recipe
There really wasn't anything to this dinner, it was simple and good, although we all decided that we aren't big rutabaga fans.

For the halibut I drizzled a little olive oil on it and sprinkled some salt and pepper and baked it at 400F for five to ten minutes (depends on the thickness of your fish).

I tossed sweet potato and rutabaga cubes with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and roasted them on a parchment lined baking sheet for 25 minutes, turning a couple times.

The salad was sliced cherry tomatoes, mini bocconcini cheese, cucumber and croutons* drizzled with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper.

*for croutons I simply cut cubes of bread and pan fried them in a little glugg of olive oil with some oregano.

Wednesday

I'm pretty well brain dead tonight, Harper had another day like yesterday and I have this terrible pang in my belly at the thought that she may never go back to the way she was, she will, right? I really moved through the afternoon like a zombie trying to get some laundry done and the breakfast dishes cleaned up (yes, I said breakfast) between stories, games and breakdowns with Harper.

I did notice, that when it was only Dave and I, the laundry loads were mostly jeans and black, now I have a light load, a dark load, towels and a pink load.

I am also strangely turned off by the new scent of the dishwasher soap that we buy which smells just like my laundry soap, is that weird? or does not seem very wrong? It makes me think of eating cotton which makes me instantly gag....

Recipe
We had Chana Masala from this post except I baked some eggplant and added it in. It was really good and added just a little sweetness to it.

1 eggplant, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 Tbsp of olive oil
2 Tbsp of balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400F.

In a baking dish mix all the ingredients and bake for about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally (until the eggplant is soft). Mix in with the Chana Masala when done.

Stir Fry over Rice
This morning Hannah was playing with the rocking horse (which we call Neigh), who was pregnant. She talked about how Neigh was giving birth and pulled a Barbie doll from under Neigh and declared, "It's a person!" Then in a very robotic voice, "I am what comes out before the baby, all is good in there." ????

I just finish Tina Fey: Bossypants, I have to say, I'm not sure I've ever even seen an episode of 30 Rock and although I've of course seen SNL, I don't really watch it, but I did laugh out loud throughout this book and was able to relate to her in many ways (especially how turning 40 to her means needing to change her pants when she gets home - although I'm not 40, I always need change into my comfies when I get home...maybe this just means I'm lazy...). Anyway, I recommend it, it had more to it than just being so funny that my silent belly laughs woke my sleeping, sick little one.

Recipe
This is probably the greenest stir fry I've ever made. I didn't really do much of a grocery shop this week because we had a bit of a weird collection of food in the fridge that I wanted to use up.

1/2 head of broccoli
1/4 head of cauliflower
1/2 onion
2 baby zucchini
2 handfuls of pea pods
2 sticks of celery
olive oil
Tofu
2 cloves of garlic
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, grated
Sesame oil
Brown rice, cooked according to package directions

Warm a little sesame oil in a pan and add the ginger and garlic cooking for a minute. Add the tofu and cook until golden, the remove from pan and set aside.

Heat a glugg of olive oil in the pan and saute your onion for a few minutes, until slightly soft then add the rest of you veggies, saute until tender crisp (add a little water while cooking if need be). Once the veggies are ready add the tofu and sauce and cook until all warmed, serve over rice.

Sauce (the one from my cousin, it's really my go two whenever I need a quick and good sauce)
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 soya sauce (Braggs is best)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cloves garlic
1/4 cup nutritional yeast

Whirl up all the ingredients in the blender except for the oil, add that while rest is whirling around

Friday
The girls always like to watch Dave shave. It's funny how something so mundane to us is fascinating and fun to them. I get it, I can remember watching my Dad shave, then there was no spray foam or gel, it was a tube that looked like toothpaste (I'm sure it must of been some sort of Old Spice product, it was the early eighties), and he had that little brush that would magically turn it foamy. I'd watch as he contorted his face in all different ways and magically shaved off the soap.

The girls went shopping and picked these toy shaving kits for the bathtub with their Halloween candy money. Now, I am not a fan of bathtub toys, I think that they never dry properly and are really gross, the girls have two plastic containers and an empty shampoo bottle as their bath toys (for the record they seem perfectly happy with these), but the shaving kits are kind of brilliant. None of the parts or pieces have any kind of squirt part so they dry properly, they come with super fun spray cans with foamy soap in them, the little brush which makes me think of my Dad, and the kids loved it. Hannah's giggles bordered on ridiculous, she was having so much fun.

Recipe

I was in a bit of a cleaning frenzy today and so I needed a quick meal. I scrambled eggs and added some basil and bocconcini cheese, so simple and the kids raved about them. We also had toast and oranges because one can not survive on eggs alone.

Macaroni and Cheese

We all spent the day outside together trimming trees, playing soccer, raking and playing in the leaves. Dave and the girls headed to the dump with a trailer full at the end of the day and I headed to the grocery store to get a few things for dinner. We had a plan to all meet back home to eat and watch the hockey game at six.

Did you know that Superstore has pumpkin pie ice cream? Seriously. I almost gasped out loud I was so excited (but controlled myself...although I may have skipped over to the freezer after I noticed it), it was right next to the candy cane ice cream and red velvet cake ice cream - which also seemed like solid choices. I was going to grab the pumpkin pie ice cream and then I thought of Dave. Pumpkin pie doesn't really excite him (crazy, I know). He's also the kind of guy (although flawed because he's not a huge pumpkin pie fan) who would still buy the pumpkin pie ice cream because he would know that I would be really excited, he's nice like that. I'm not really nice like that. I knew that he would be kind of excited by the new red velvet cake flavour and so in an attempt to be "nice like that" I bought the red velvet cake. I was actually rewarded for this, (not because the ice cream was so good, it's good but not heavenly or anything) when I went to put the groceries in the car there was one mini chocolate bar sitting there in the trunk, which must of spilled out from when the candy was in there and went unnoticed, until now, the first day of my period - it made my day (a little sad, I know).

Recipe

We had macaroni and cheese tonight and although both girls declared that it was not as good as Grandma's they would still eat it. I agreed, it's never as good as my moms - and I kind of love that they feel the same way. We also had kale chips, mostly because I knew that Hannah would be over the moon excited for them. They can both be found on this post.

Chili and Bread with Apple Crisp and Ice Cream

It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring. We turned the clocks back and so Harper got up at 4:15 this morning. At lease it was kind of a lazy day because of the rain. The girls played like crazy together this morning. Most of the morning was taken up playing shoe store. They fitted everyone in the house and I got a pair for only 8 pretend dollars, it was a pretty good deal... or bad considering I already owned them. They then had a bath for an hour and a half (toy shaving kits, brilliante) and we played games, read books and watched the very first Winni the Pooh movie which made the girls collapse in giggles. I have to tell you that the day seemed really long but it was nice and relaxing right down to the hockey game. Harper made it until six o'clock which is pretty good considering she was up so early. Falling back no longer means an extra hour of sleep, but an extra hour of day.

Recipe

Chili seemed like such a good choice for such a dark, dreary day (or drooly day as Hannah would say). I bought some cheese bread to go with it. Dave and I also added pickeled banana peppers to ours which was really good.

2 onions, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 mini zucchini, chopped

1/2 red pepper, chopped

1/2 yellow pepper, chopped

1/2 green pepper. chopped

2 Tbsp chili powder

1 tsp salt

1 can lentils, drained and rinsed

1 can mixed beans, drained and rinsed

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 28 oz can diced tomaotes

1 14 oz can tomato sauce

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

sour cream and pickled banana pepper for serving

Heat a good glugg of olive oil in a large pot and saute onion until it starts to soften , add the garlic and chili powder and saute for a minute and add the peppers and zucchini and saute until tender (adding a little veggie stock or water if need be). Add in all the beans, lentils, tomatoes and tomato sauce and simmer for 30 minutes or longer. Before serving stir in cilantro and top with sour cream and peppers.

I made the apple crisp recipe just like last week's pear crisp (I love crisps in the fall) but with granny smith apples instead of pears and topped with ice cream (clearly the pumpkin pie would have been the better choice here, but again trying to be "nice like that").

I hope the sun shines down on you this week!