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.

Tasty Tuesdays

OK I know I am a day late with this one...

This is something simple and easy to make that dresses up any drink... During the summer months many of you guys know that I live making ice-tea and have even found a few blends that taste pretty much like KoolAid but with no sugar. Durring the past few weeks I have started making a variety of ice cubs to add to my drinks.

Just take an ice cube tray fill up each section just shy of half way with water. Add a few leafs of fresh mint to each section and place in the freezer for 2 hours. After the 2 hours finish filling up the ice cub tray with water and freeze until solid. The reason why you do these in 2 steps is to make sure the leaf gets trapped in the center. I like using perfect cube shaped silicon ice cube trays; Tovolo makes some great ones that can also be used to freeze baby food.

I have also made these following the same steps with fresh raspberries (about 2 per cube), Blueberries (3-5 per cube), strawberry slices. I am sure you could use almost any fruit.

For those of you wondering what is the magical KoolAid tea . Both of them are from The Tea Emporium in Toronto: Sunburst Raspberry and Blend 1592. For Blend 1592 I add about 1 tablespoon of honey per 1 litre of tea, add the honey when the tea is hot. Sunburst Raspberry is perfect just as is.