I spent a couple of hours in the emergency room today with Tiernan. Not how we wanted to spend Easter, but I'm very glad we went. He was showing some strange symptoms this morning - itchy, red, tingly hands and feet that ended up swelling up as well. Some of Tiernan's toes were twice the normal size. He was having a terrible time during the chocolate egg hunt this morning (although the picture tells a different story!... it was still early then), breaking down into tears, collapsing on his bed and having his heart beat right out of his chest. We knew something wasn't right, so I headed into Belleville General with him. Luckily, we had a fantastic doctor and after some Xrays, we were on our way out the door with an antibiotic prescription in hand. Turns out he has pneumonia which is something I've never had to deal with before. The poor kid is a trooper, though. I guess he'll be doing a whole lot of resting this week.
Aside from that little adventure, our day was nice and relaxing. The Easter Bunny hid the chocolates on different levels of the house for each of the kids, and he hid them well! It was fun to watch them search high and low and finish with a smile on their faces and a big sense of accomplishment. I'll telling you - the Easter Bunny made it a real challenge this year! :)
Originally we were going to head to my parents' house for dinner, but with the whole pneumonia thing, we cancelled out on them. I had no clue what we were going to eat for supper since all I had planned on doing was bringing a Tofurky to cook in my Mum's oven. Around 4:30pm things started to calm down a bit (aka - home from the hospital and pharmacy) so I figured we'd better whip something up to feed our hungry family. Seeing as there were no stores open today, I think our meal turned out pretty good! We had our Tofurky, some carrots cooked in a Braggs/orange juice sauce, some very garlicky mashed potatoes, this miso gravy, a salad with mixed greens, cucumbers, broccoli and sesame seeds, and these Red Lobster-esque buns that I've made a lot lately (but this time I used 3 year old white cheddar instead of sharp orange cheddar). Not too shabby for a last minute meal! (And we just won't even talk about the fact that I burned my stomach pretty badly on a baking tray.... yup.. I'm that good!)
Yesterday was Slow Cooker Saturday, but not nearly as busy as it has been lately. This time it was only bowling in the morning (but Tiernan stayed home with Kyle), dance practice and a birthday party for a friend of Rhianna's in the afternoon and then swimming at the YMCA with a friend of Rhianna's in the evening. I have a serious love affair with my crockpot. It's such an easy way to have a nice, warm, yummy meal ready for you when you're ready to eat it. I made slow cooker sloppy joes which is one of my family's favourites. I got the recipe from one of my vegan cookbooks years ago, and I have searched for it again to no avail. If I do figure out where I got it I will definitely leave credit where credit is due!
Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 small green pepper, chopped
1 tbsp chili powder
1 1/2 cups dried brown or green lentils, washed
14 1/2 oz crushed tomatoes
3 cups water
2 tbsp Braggs
1 tbsp mustard
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Heat the oil in a skillet. Add the onion and green pepper, cover and cook until softened (about 5 minutes). Add the chili powder, and stir to coat.
Transfer to the crock pot. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine.
Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
I toast the hamburger buns in the toaster before adding the sloppy joe mixture. I then top them with dill pickles (for everyone except for Kyle) and sliced cheese and broil them for a few minutes until the cheese is nicely melted.
Saturday is also Date Night. If we didn't schedule a date night in, I'm not sure Kyle and I would really, truly see each other. We're both so busy with so many other things, and life just sort of gets away from us. It's been really good to have this scheduled date once a week to make sure we have time to connect. Last night we played some Catan (surprise!), drank chocolate peanut butter milkshakes (something I used to make for Kyle alllll the time, but hadn't made in years!) and ate some chips & pretzels with a curried garlic dip. No recipe for the dip since I used the seasonings from here instead.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Milkshakes
(for 2 very full glasses!)
6 scoops chocolate ice cream
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup milk
2 tbsp chocolate syrup
Stick it all in a blender and blend until mixed, but still thick. Add more milk as needed to thin it out.
To leave you on a good note, here is my beautiful Mirri cat. ♥
Happy Easter Weekend!
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