Happy Easter!

 

 



13/52 - Bubbles ...

This past week Hugo had his first real interaction with bubbles and boy was he fascinated. Don't get me wrong, last summer we played with bubbles too, but he would look at them for 5 seconds and be attracted to other things real quick. Not this year though. I think we are going to have lots of fun with bubbles this summer!

It was interesting watching his reaction and observing him trying to figure them out. He was so focused ...

The above template is one of five free Project Life templates from Sherelle Christensen's  Blog - My Crazy Life As A Farmers Wife. I am so happy she shared these with her readers. She is amazing! The templates are great if you know the basics of Photoshop. The above template can be found HERE.

On a side note ... I'm super excited! My stamp has arrived and things are slowly coming together for my small business adventure. I ordered the stamp from Vistaprint and am happy with how it turned out.  I am still working on getting things sorted and organized, plus I have a couple projects on the go. However, I am happy with the progress so far. My amazing and talented Husband is doing a great job with the website and I am so lucky to have such an awesome Hubby!! I couldn't stop trying out my stamp. Here it is (photo taken with my ipod so it is a bit grainy)...

Hope everyone has an Egg-stra wonderful Easter!

Quick Easter Treat

Last year for Easter I made Rice Krispie Easter Eggs with a surprise mini chocolate egg inside and little bird nests. They are a bit time consuming making since they need to be shaped into an oval, but they turn out cute.

You make them like you do regular rice krispie squares and then you just shape them to look like eggs or a nest and put the little surprise treat inside. You can also add food colouring to make the eggs different colours.

They were a hit. Whenever people bit into the eggs they seemed to enjoy their little surprise. Here is a photo of the inside surprise (this is a photo I found online since I didn't get a chance to take one)

When I was looking for the above picture I found some of Hugo's 1st Easter (aka our little Easter Bunny from 2012).

 

What a difference a year makes.

 

Seedling Update - Week of March 25, 2013

Just a couple quick pics (taken with my ipod) of our seedlings this week. They are growing like crazy and doing really well.

The pepper plants started to appear this past weekend.

 

 

Today our little man is 17 months. I can't believe next month he will be a year and a half -- yikes, where is the time going?

 



When Dad Makes Dinner

In our house, Dad (aka Byron) usually makes dinner on Sundays. We think it is only fair as Mom usually makes dinner the other 6 days of the week. Dinner always turns out wonderful and delicious.

Here's proof - Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding ...

Prime Rib with bone- Roast Beef

 

 

 

Byron's first time making Yorkshire Pudding from scratch ... they turned out amazing both taste & looks.

 

 

I usually help with the prep and for this particular dinner I made the Mashed Red Potatoes With Garlic And Parmesan (recipe bellow) which also tasted good and I would make them again ...

Here's Dad's view of the end product ...

 



Here's Mom's view (I apologise for the mess and the picture quality as it was taken with my ipod). I wish I had a photo of the kitchen before Dad made dinner, but I don't. The counters and sinks were empty with no dishes at all and clean.

When Dad makes dinner = Mom is in the kitchen for hours cleaning. You should see the mess he created in the oven this day (oh my, my poor oven). But this is why dad usually only cooks 1 day a week. I would never ever leave the kitchen if he was in there more often making dinner!



Mashed Red Potatoes With Garlic And Parmesan from  food.com

Ingredients

2 1/2 lbs red potatoes, unpeeled, quartered
3 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

 

Directions

Put potatoes and garlic in large pan.

Cover with water.
Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes, until potatoes are tender.
Drain well.
Mash with the butter, milk, and salt.
Stir in the Parmesan cheese.

Wonderful Sunday dinner and super delicious ...

In all fairness though he does always prepare a fabulous meal. We just need to hire a cleaning fairy for the days he cooks and all would be good!

12/52- Happy St. Patty's Day

Hope everyone had a good St. Patrick's Day! On St. Patty's day at our house we wear green. It's kind of become a tradition.

 

I'm not a beer drinker and had a headache most of the weekend (darn storm that was heading our way) so no alcohol for me. Instead I made a green snack for us to all enjoy! Hugo just had one bite as there was a wee bit too much food colouring ...

Green Rice Krispie Squares!

Hope everyone is having a good week!

1 2 3 GROW

I was up at 5:00 a.m. this morning (I got up with Byron and was able to see him before he headed off to work). For the past couple weeks now this has been part of my morning routine. I find it's the only way I can get anything done. Most days it is slightly difficult getting up this early, as I am usually up once or twice between 12:00 a.m. - 4:00 a.m. dealing with an unhappy Hugo. I find if I don't do it I can't seem to get much done through the day as I am doing my regular job (being a mommy) and then during nap time that is when I do all the fun stuff -- laundry, cleaning, prepping dinner, etc., repeat. I find getting up early I am able to deal with the blog posts and some other stuff I have on the go. Byron thinks I am crazy, but oh well ... it means I get a bit of "me" time (which is almost non-existent when you have a kid). Over the past couple days, however, I have slowly fallen behind as I have been feeling a bit under the weather. I think the current bug that is floating around is trying to attack me but I will not give up without a fight.

Last week (March Break), I finally got around to planting our seeds for our garden this year. This is the first year we are planting our own seeds. In past years we have just gone to the green house and bought the little plants the weekend before May 2 - 4 and away we went. Last year though, it seemed to add up really quick so we thought why not try our own seedlings this year. We also figure when Hugo is a bit older, it will be a good learning experience for him to see the entire process of how veggies grow. I may or may not have planted the seeds to early. I am aiming to plant things in the veggie garden the week of May 2 - 4.  I followed the recommended dates on the packages for planting indoors, but my Mother-in-law informed me this week that I planted them to soon, she always plants hers the first week of April. We shall see how they do.

Here are some of the seeds we planted ...

 

 

We bought a greenhouse kit which came with everything we needed to start our seeds.

 

The tray with cover and 72 plastic cells.

Fiber Grow Growing mix pods

These are neat ... when you add warm water they grow ...

 

I planted my seeds and labelled it.

the pods turn into the above.

 

 

 

I sprayed some water with my water bottle, covered it and then placed them in front of our living room window where they will get lots of sunshine.

 

And then we wait ...

 

 

 

Yesterday (March 19, 2013) I checked on our seeds ...

 

 

They appear to be doing well ...



These are our beefsteak tomatoes

 

Mini pumpkins are also starting to grow (bottom left of pic).

The cucumbers are doing GREAT!

 

 

So far our plants are doing great, we shall see their progress next week! It is so nice thinking of the garden. It's a wonderful reminder that the lovely summer weather is around the corner {Yippee, Yahoo, Hooray}!

 

 

 



 

 

 



Cauliflower Soup with Sharp Cheddar & Thyme

The other day I wanted to make a different soup, so I went on a search for a cauliflower soup and stumbled upon the following recipe from Big Girls Small Kitchen. I made a couple revisions to their recipe and the end product turned out great!

 

 

 

Recipe adapted from Big Girls Small Kitchen

Cauliflower Soup with Sharp Cheddar & Thyme

[Makes 4 servings]

 Ingredients

1 tbsp unsalted butter [I had a bit of salted butter that need to be used, so I used that instead]
1 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 celery stalks, chopped [I added this in]
1 small carrot, chopped  [I added this in]
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 large russet potato, peeled and cut into small cubes
1/2 teaspoon salt [I omitted the salt- as butter already has salt]
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves [only had dried – used ¼ tsp dried]
1 quart (4 cups) chicken or veggie stock
2 1/2 cups chopped cauliflower florets (should be the same size as the potatoes) [I had a small head of cauliflower and used it all]
2/3 cup finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

In a medium Dutch oven or lidded saucepan, heat the butter and olive oil over a medium heat. Cook the celery, carrot and onions until onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Add the potatoes, cover, and cook until just beginning to soften, about 4 minutes. Uncover, stir in the salt, garlic, thyme and broth. Bring to a boil. Cook for two minutes, then check the potatoes to make sure they are tender. If so, add the cauliflower, cover, and cook for another 10 minutes.

Remove from the heat and puree with an immersion or standing blender. Stir in half of the cheddar cheese and the mustard. Taste for seasoning and add more salt as needed. Serve in individual bowls, topped with the remaining cheese.

This was my very first time making a cauliflower soup. It's not really a type of soup I thought I would enjoy, but it did turn out good. Have you made Cauliflower soup before? If so, what recipe do you use?

Boler reno day 2

So it was a much easier and faster day today. I had a buddy come over to help out. Now the frame is fully out from under the body. All nicely supported and safe. Taking a good look at the frame makes me happy I have decided to go this route. Will have to go to a steel shop and place a nice big order this week.

I put up a tarp to protect the egg, cause the grinding, welding, and sandblasting is about to start.

Real Whip Cream from Scratch

It took a while but as promised, here is the recipe I used to make Real Whip Cream from scratch. It worked out great for the Peanut Butter Cream Cheese frosting and for putting a bit on top of coffee or hot chocolate (just had to add a bit of icing sugar). I have made this recipe again since I used it in the frosting in a different recipe and it didn't work. I had to fold the whip cream in with other ingredients, and it fell apart. Just wanted to make note - this recipe works well for some things, but not everything, so keep in mind.

Whip it ...

End result ... nice and fluffy whip cream!

If you're in a pinch, like I was with the frosting recipe or if you need it for - potato soup, alfredo sauce, etc., this recipe works as a substitution for MOST recipes, (keep in mind it's not that great for  simple recipes were cream is a main ingredient).

The recipe for Heavy Cream Substitute is from  - CDKitchen


Heavy Cream Substitute
 
Ingredients:
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup butter
 
Directions:
Use in place of one cup heavy cream.
 
Heat together over low heat until the butter is melted into the milk. Do not boil. Blend. Refrigerate for 24 hours or longer. Whip it as you would cream. If you need to thicken up the cream due to using low fat milk, add about 1 tablespoon of flour!

Looks like a bowl of ice cream.

11/52 - New Activity

Recently Hugo has discovered two new things. I'll just let you see for yourself ...

 

His new exercise while he watches TV. He is obviously very against becoming a couch potato, so he exercises while watching Curious George.

 

 

 

And one of his other favourite activities lately ... opening the door to the china cabinet and going through my cookbooks trying to decide what I should make for dinner ...

 

 

 

or dessert looks better ...



 

He makes a mess, but it keeps him busy looking at the pictures.

Cesar Dressing - Opps I Forgot

The other day we decided to have chicken Cesar salad for dinner ... sounds like a good idea, we have everything at home to make it or so we thought we did. Everything was ready to go ... only one problem --- we didn't have any Cesar dressing at home, we had finished it and since it didn't get put on the shopping list I forgot to grab it during my grocery shopping run. The sad part about this whole thing ... I was staring at the cesar dressing when I was grabbing thousand island and it didn't dawn on me. Oh well, I'm getting old {insert upside down smile}.

Byron quickly went searching for a homemade recipe and found so many, however, they all called for anchovy fillets which we do not have in our pantry. We found the following one for perfect cesar dressing and we had everything at home to make it so it won. 

Overall it was not a bad recipe [we only made 1/2 the recipe though]. Next time we make it, we will make some slight changes -- add a bit more garlic [we like things garlicky], cut back on the lemon juice, and omit the salt [we really can't handle salt any more], and then I think it will be perfect for our liking.

The recipe is from Natasha's Kitchen

 

Perfect Cesar Dressing Recipe

Serving: 1 pint (2 cups)

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp mayo
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 2 large garlic cloves, pressed
• ½ cup lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1½ cups mild olive oil
• ½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. Place 2 tbsp mayo, 2 tsp Dijon, 2 pressed garlic cloves, ½ cup lemon juice 1 tsp salt and ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper in the bowl of an electric food processor. (Press garlic and squeeze juice right into the food processor; think dish factor),
2. Process until smooth and well blended. While the food processor is still on, very slowly pour in the 1½ cups olive oil. Process until thick and creamy.
3. Add Parmesan cheese and pulse 5 or 6 times, and, it’s done!

 

 

 

 When I was almost done eating, I realised we forgot to add our Costco croutons {insert frown}. They are just so tasty and such a good price for the quantity you get. I don't think I will ever grab them from the grocery store again. The salad was still good though.

 

If you give this recipe a try, let us know how it turned out for you.

 

 

 

 

Productivity = A+

This past weekend was a very productive one, as you can tell from Byron's post. We both managed to get a lot done. An added bonus - the weather was beautiful out our way, which I think really helped get us motivated!

When we got up Saturday morning, this was our view off our back deck ...

the fog had rolled in overnight. It looked a little eerie but also so beautiful and I just had to snap a photo.


I figured what better way to end our nice weekend, than with a freshly baked homemade peach pie (thanks to my wonderful mother-in-law for making it in advance for us. All I had to do was bake it).

It was delicious! Thank you! Hope we have some more beautiful days like that this week!

Boler Reno - Full Day 1

So I just finished my first full day of boler reno work and got the frame off. It is not out from under the body but I should be able to get that done tomorrow, or next weekend. I had a couple hiccups, but that was due to the previous owner. I don't know if I am getting over my head with this project, but it's going to be fun. I am super sore after today so here are a couple pictures that show the problems and the progress I was able accomplish.

Boler Work after work

So after doing a 10 hour shift at work I was feeling ok and figure I should start working on the boler. So I took out the two rear benches and the water tank. Only took a hour or so but makes progress to the project. Snapped a quick picture just so I remember how bad or good this boler really is. Hope to start and work on getting the frame off over the next couple weekends.

Got to get ready to camp this summer.