this and that

Today

Early Morning - Leonard Cohan (Geoff you should buy me flowers and chocolates for no reason more often)

Morning - walk around the block (it takes 1 hour when you have a toddler with you)

Lunch - with my family (parsnip & sweet potato soup and crackers)

Afternoon - dentist (perfect smile - well as perfect as it can be)

Late afternoon - groceries (Loblaws)

Evening - of so tired (want some tea)

Cute BF Story

After supper C Monster wanted to nurse; however his sippy cup had to come along - here is how it went. One gulp breastmilk; one gulp juice; one gulp breastmilk; one gulp juice; one gulp breastmilk.... you see were this is going.

That is it for Today.
Off to make tea.

Wet Pants, Tea, Poutines a trou

Wet Pants

The weather is turning nice here and C Monster is loving it. Today when we arrived home from a morning at our friend Ella's house C Monster wanted to stay outside and enjoy the warm weather. While he played with the snow, jumped in puddles and discovered that snow disappears when you place it in water; I had a chance to clean up a bit and take down the Christmas lights (yes we are guilty of having lights still up 2 months after the holiday). While I had my back turned to him C Monster decided to discover what happens if you sit on the snow he placed in the puddle....

Tea

Flavor of the night - Quangzou Milk Oolong from The Tea Emporium. This tea is very unique and the leaves almost smell like milk.

Poutines a trou

After supper tonight me sweet tooth wanted something - originally I was going to make an apple crisp I don't know why I changed my mind an made Poutines a trou. Poutines a trou is a traditional Acadien desert. It turned out pretty much like what I remember Poutines a trou to taste like. Basically it's apples, raisins and cranberries wrapped up in a pastry dough; you serve the final pastries with sugar syrup. The recipe I followed is from "La Cusine Traditionnelle en Acadie" - as always I changed a few things:

Dough
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons panela
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup whole milk

Combine dry ingredients. Cut in butter. Add milk slowly. Divide dough in 12 balls and set aside.

Filling
4 Apples peeled and diced
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup fresh cranberries (or 1/4 cup dried)

Combine ingredients, set aside. Role out dough balls until they are approximately 5" in diameter; place scoop of filling in the middle. Close dough by pinching together (use milk to help the dough stick), place in baking dish closed side down. Make a 1/2" hole in the top of each ball. Bake in 375F oven for45 to 50 minutes.

Syrup
1/2 cup panela
1/2 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup water

While poutines are cooking make sauce. Combine all ingredients in saucepan and bring to a boil for 5 minutes. Serve poutines hot or cold with 2 tablespoons of syrup poured in the hole.

tiger, cupcakes, tea and bye bye race track

TIGER

Every Thursday we go to Sports Ball, today was no different. I have to say the C Monster impresses me every time with his athletic skills. At the end of each class the coach gives each kid a sticker - C Monster got a sticker of Tiger. He can now say "Tiger" thanks to this and frequently made sure Tiger was still on his hand all day long. See this is were coach had put the sticker on his little hand. Around supper time Tiger fell off and we could not find him C Monster had a fit. Suprisingly to me all I had to do to calm him down is tell him "Tiger missed his family and had to return to the jungle" to witch he replied "Tiger bye bye Ricky" Ricky is his coach.

CUPCAKES

They are completed 30 vanilla cupcakes all cooling waiting to be iced tomorrow. I make this great recipe that does not call for eggs that way if C Monster wants to help I don't need to worry about him eating the batter - because well he always does. The recipe is an adaptation of the "Golden Vanilla Cupcakes" found in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World.

1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

bake at 350 for 22 minutes

Make sure to tune in tomorrow I will try to post a picture of them all iced up and decorated - you don't want to miss it.

TEA

Tea is because well as I am typing this I am enjoying a fantastic tea from The Tea Emporium called Sencha Kiwi Garden.

BYE BYE RACE TRACK

About a week ago I made this super cool race track for C Monster on the living room floor using green painters tape and markers. I wanted to see if he would enjoy following roads with his little cars before investing in a play mat. Also well I just needed something to distract him one day. the reason why this is called BYE BYE RACE TRACK is that we pealed it off the floor today, I was scared if we left it there too long the tape would not come off properly.

quick and easy summer drink

For those of you who know me you know you wont find any sugary or fizzy store bought drinks in my house. A great alternative to these are iced teas.

Cool and refreshing
Steep 2 tea bags of mint or speermint tea in 1 litre of water for 10 minutes. Remove tea bags let cool to room add 4 to 6 mint leaves and chill in refrigerator.

Gingery Tea
Steep 2 bag of rooibos tea in 1 litre of water for about 7 minutes. Remove tea bags add 4-6 slices of fresh ginger (leave peels on). Let cool to room temperature then chill in refrigerator.

Over the summer I will be experiencing with other teas and will let you guys know if I find any other pleasant mixes.

Image by: Arria Belli