EASTER CHEZ LES WISEMAN

Easter this year was pretty simple. As neither Geoff or I celebrate easter as a religious holiday it's really all about C Monster.  On Friday night he planted magic jelly beans in the garden and a lollypop grew overnight for him.

Then Saturday afternoon papa and C monster started colouring his eggs, that they had so carefully emptied all week.

Then in the evening I helped C Monster make his easter train and this morning we filled it up.

Last night the easter bunny also visited and left a trail of eggs behind for C Monster along with a chocolate surprise at the end. (Pictures to come papa took these)

He also received a few easter packages in the mail from my family - thank you guys!

Now as I relax with my day to myself C Monster and papa are of to the skate park.

C MONSTER'S NEW BEDROOM

To convince C Monster to select the room we wanted for him we told him he could chose the colour we would painted it.  I went to the hardware store and selected a dozen colours for him to chose from; that way it would not end up black.  He selected a colour called "mac n cheese" and the name says it all. 

I ended up needing a little over a gallon to paint his room; bigger house, bigger rooms = more paint required then I estimated.  We picked up the paint at Paint Depot on Queen Street East, I highly recommend them.  As always we used Sico paints; they have a no VOC latex base paint. However the tinting colour added to the base is not VOC free. I will post pictures of his room after the room has all been set up.

A sneak peek at C Monster's Room... 

Rain Rain Rain

We have been getting lots of rain these days.  I have been trying to enjoy the dry spots in-between the downpours.  C Monster wont stop asking me to go jump in puddles...

Painting

It's been a few weeks now that I am working on the back walk out.  It's all primed and ready for paint;  I went to our locale green hardware store - yes we have a green hardware store - and picked up some paint from yolo.  Will let you know what I think about them after I'm all done painting.  

Juicing

I have been trying to expand my juice repertoire.  C Monster will only eat fruit if they are dried or pulverized.  I checked out from the library the book "Juice!" - so far so good.  I have tried 3 recipes, C Monster drank 2 reused the other.

As always I only use the book or insparantion here is one of the recipes I made that was C Monster approved:

Blueberry Quinoa

Ingredients

1 cup  blueberries

1/2 bananas

1  tbsp quinoa flakes, (prepare by adding 3 tbsp boilling water and let sit covered for 5 minutes) 

1 tbsp honey

1 cup milk or yogurt

2 large handfull ice

Directions

Process all ingredients in blender until smooth

Looking Forward To

Eating my preserved eggplant (in oil) - I need to wait at least one month before trying it

Menu planning? / art / and a bit more

Menu Planning - What's that?

I was asked by a reader a few weeks back -  "What does a meal plan look like in the wiseman house??How do you find the time to make everything??"

Lets start by answering the first question.  I will address the second half in tomorrow's post. We don't have a menu plan.  I used to plan all the meals every second Friday; then make sure the groceries were all bought and so on.  I found that I was spending too much time researching what to cook and then things would happen and the planned meals were not mad; then food would be wasted.  So sometime over this last winter I stopped pre-planning my meals.  I like it better this way - some of my best cooking comes from just opening the fridge and getting inspired but what's in there.

To give you an idea of what C Monster eats (he does not always eat what we do - he is 2 and 2 year olds are picky - at least mine is) I decided for the next 3 days I will post a diary of everything that goes in his mouth plus recipes if applicable.  As you will notice as you read C Monster food intact we are not perfect he also eats a lot of crap - well sometimes.

Saturday April 3rd - C Monster's Food Diary

Breakfast: 

Organic Spelt Waffles with Organic Maple Syrup 

Strawberry & Kale Smoothie

Breastmilk

Morning Snack:

12-14 Organic Raw Unsalted Cashews

1 PCO Toddler Berry Granola Bar

Strawberry & Kale Smoothie (left over from breakfast)

Lunch:  

He refused to eat

Glass of Organic Almond Milk

Breastmilk

Afternoon Snack:

Kiju Organic Apple/Grape Juice (%50 juice / %50 water)

Supper:

1/2 Slice of Cheese Pizza from Amato

Glass of Organic Almond Milk

Breastmilk

Evening Snack:

1 Square of Chocolate

1/2 Box PCO Raisins

4-6 Organic Unsalted Raw Pistachios

Homemade Herbal Iced Tea

Breastmilk

 

 Strawberry & Kale Smoothie Recipe

300g frozen strawberries (1 bag)
5 curly kale leafs vines removed
1 banana peeled
3/4 cups yogurt
1 cup apple juice
2 tbsp maple syrup

Place Strawberries in blender and crush using your blender's ice crushing mode. Once all large chunks are gone add Kale and half of the apple juice blends scraping sides occasionally until kale is mostly chopped. Add all remaining ingredient and process until smooth. Makes 3 - 4 smoothies.

I place C Monster in his sippy cup with a few ice cubes; when he done I put it in the fridge - he knows to ask for it when he wants it back.

Organic Spelt Waffles Recipe

1/3 cup Spelt flour

1/4 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

2 tbsp maple syrup

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup milk

1 tbsp melted butter

2 egg whites

1/4  cup plain yogurt

1/2 zuchinni, shredded 

1 1/2 tbsp mixed seeds

Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl. In another bowl beat the egg whites until they are just stiff peaks (it’s better that they are a little soft than over beaten). Mix all wet ingredients (minus eggs) into the dry ingredients until just combined. Preheat the waffle iron.

Add the egg whites to the bowl and fold together quickly.  Brush or spray the hot iron with a little canola oil and then cook the waffles per your iron’s instructions.

Serve with butter, and maple syrup.

Makes 5 waffles.

Art - crocodile

Yesterday C Monster did some painting; I am particularly proud of this one.  He told me it was a crocodile. I see it do you?

Coxwell &  Fairford 

After some residents in our are complained about too much trew trafic the city temporarly blocked off one section of Fairford at Coxwell - to see if it would improve things.  The youth of the neighborhood did not waste time to take over this section of pavement that is now safe for them to play in.

 

Looking Forward To

Seeing Christophe reaction to his easter egg hunt and finally building a box around our vegetable garden tomorrow.