Back to school and some yummy grub!

Farewell, Summer 2011. You've been good to us (if not a tad bit too warm .. hehe), and we appreciate all you did for us.

The kids headed back to school this morning a ball of nerves and excitement. Avery started grade 7, and when I remember how I was in grade seven, I start to panic a little. Ha! He has the same teacher he had last year and is super pumped about it. Last year he was in a split class, so all of the kids in his sixth grade class are in the same class again this year. Pretty cool for him. This evening he came out to run a couple of errands with me, and it was just the two of us. I caught myself just standing there watching him at times. His maturity level is astounding to me. He offers me help without being asked, he has conversations with me that make me realize he sees things from a more grown up view point. He's spent a lot of time lately talking about his plans for the future - where he wants to go to University, what he wants to study, what kind of life he wants to lead. My Cheeky Charlie is growing up! Sniff, sniff.

Tiernan started grade five today. Five! Even Avery is having a hard time wrapping his head around his little brother being in grade five. Tiernan has a supply teacher right now because his teacher was held up in Africa where she's been building schools over the summer. He enjoyed his supply teacher, loves that most of his closest friends are in his class this year, and can't wait to hear the stories his teacher is sure to bring back with her. He's in a grade 5/6 split which I think will be really good for him because he's a smart cookie, that one. :) I was a bit worried he wouldn't enjoy this year because he had a fantastic teacher last year and really wished he could stay in her class forever, but so far so good. I have my fingers crossed that it will continue being a good year.

Rhianna, like Avery, has the same teacher she had last year. This is a good thing! A very good thing! She has the absolute best teacher my kids have ever had (and they've had some pretty darn good teachers!). At the end of grade 2 (she's in grade 3 now!), he pulled me aside to ask if it was okay for her to be in his class for a second year in a row because he doesn't normally do that and I practically yelled "YES"! He helps her feel excited and happy with school. He's taught her so much - above and beyond the typical school things. I have no doubt in my mind that this will be as great for her as last year was.

Our back to school dinner was deeee-licious! I actually didn't expect it to be because it was sort of an easy meal, but ohhhh my. YUM. I even saved some leftovers for myself. I never do that. Ever! (Okay, only potato dishes... which this is... and lasagna.) I made a potato casserole with cheese and mushrooms (which doesn't look like much, but is so good!), a two cheese salad with homemade croutons, some tofu marinated in Kobe Tamari Garlic sauce and some leftover lemon poppy seed bread that we made in the bread maker yesterday. Mmm mm mmmmm!

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Potato Casserole with Cheese and Mushrooms

3 large baking potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly

1 tsp salt

3 tbsp olive oil

2 cups sliced mushrooms

3/4 cup parmesan cheese

1 onion, thinly sliced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 cups shredded mozzarella (or more)

Preheat the oven to 350.

Toss the sliced potatoes with half of the olive oil and half of the salt.

In a separate bowl, toss the mushrooms with the parmesan cheese, onion, garlic, thyme and black pepper and remaining salt.

Grease a casserole dish and layer 1/3 of the potatoes over the bottom of the dish. Top with half of the mushroom mixture and 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat with potatoes, mushroom mixture and mozzarella. Top with the last of the potatoes, the last of the mozzarella cheese and the remaining parmesan cheese. Drizzle with the remaining olive oil.

Bake for 40-45 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

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Two Cheese Salad with Croutons

3 thick slices of Texas bread

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp garlic powder

2 tbsp olive oil

1 large romaine lettuce, ripped into bite sized pieces

1 ripe avacado, cut into small pieces

2 tbsp juice from a lemon

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

lots of feta cheese

lots of parmesan cheese

balsamic vinegar

olive oil

Preheat oven to 400.

Cut the bread into cubes, and put them on a baking sheet. Drizzle them with olive oil, and sprinkle them with paprika and garlic powder. Bake 7-8 minutes until crisp.

Toss the avocado with the lemon juice and black pepper. Toss it together with the romaine lettuce, feta cheese, parmesan cheese, and croutons.

Make some basic balsamic vinegar dressing using the ratio of 3 parts olive oil to 1 part balsamic vinegar. Mix well and drizzle over the salad.

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And for a bit of cuteness... awww. These two are best buddies!

Back in the kitchen... (enter sigh of relief)

The past few days have been different, to say the least. I started training for a casual part time job, and was in every day of the weekend. This meant no kitchen time.. at all. I think I started going into withdrawal on the second day in. How strange to be away from my family, and not able to be creative in the kitchen. I was finally able to get back in there today, thankfully! The boys headed over to visit with some friends today, so Rhianna and I had a date afternoon. We delivered our papers, played a board game, baked some cookies and threw together a dinner. Rhianna chose the Spice-Spiked Chocolate Chunk Cookies from The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes, and they turned out really good! Then I decided I needed to clear out our pantry and fridge before I go grocery shopping. I had two cans of cream of mushroom soup and some macaroni in the cold room pantry, and along with some veggies, milk, spices and cheese.. and it became dinner. :) It was nothing earth shattering, but was happily eaten by all.

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Spice-Spiked Chocolate Chunk Cookies

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup margarine

1/2 cup, plus extra sugar, divided

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 tbsp molasses

1 tbsp milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup chopped dark chocolate bar

Preheat oven to 350.

Cream the butter and sugars together. Add the milk, molasses, vanilla and chopped chocolate bar. Add in the baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices. Mix well. Add the flour and stir until well combined.

Make tablespoon sized balls of cookie dough, roll them in the extra sugar, and press down slightly on the baking sheet. Cook for 8-10 minutes.

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Empty Out The Fridge And Pantry Pasta!

1 box whole wheat macaroni noodles

2 tbsp olive oil

4 mini onions, chopped

7 cloves garlic, minced

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

2 cans cream of mushroom soup

1/4 cup milk

2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp sage

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1/2 cup fresh peas

parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350.

Cook the macaroni noodles according to package directions.

In a pan, heat the oil and add the onions. Cook until soft. Add the peppers and garlic. Continue to cook until they're tender. Once they're cooked, add the soup, milk and cheddar cheese. Stir until it's melted and smooth. Add the spices and peas and stir until peas are cooked.

Mix the cooked pasta with the sauce, and put it in a casserole dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Cover with parmesan cheese and cook for about 20 minutes until it's heated through and the parmesan has melted.

Date nights, appetizers, breakfast for supper, birthday lunches and decorating cupcakes!

This weekend, like most weekends, has been busy. It's been worth it, though. I live for weekends! Having our whole family together... exploring, visiting, playing, or just doing nothing.

Friday night found Rhianna and I on our own since Kyle took the boys to Goodsell Collectibles to play some Friday Night Magic. Originally Rhi and I were just going to hang out at home, but then I read (on Facebook - what did we ever do without Facebook??) that the Kelly's Irish Dancers were performing at the Waterfront and Ethnic Festival. Awesome! We got there as quickly as we could and headed over to the pavillion just in time. We bumped into Tiernan's teacher from the past year which was a nice surprise - I adore her! The kids dancing were incredible. I love, love, love Irish dancing. I also love Celtic music... it's so comforting for me. Rhianna really wanted to join this dance school on top of the dancing she's already doing with Angela Maracle Studios, but the lessons clash with her Acro class so it's a no-go for now. Maybe next year. She took some Irish dancing when she was super small and was complimented back then for her toe points so I'd like to see how she'd do now. :)

After the Irish dancers finished we wandered around the rest of the festival together. I had told the kids there would be no rides this year because the wrist bands are way too much money when you have three kids. Buuuuuuuttttt.... since Rhianna and I were on a date and it was her birthday weekend.... ;) I bought her enough tickets to go on two rides. We fleeted from ride to ride, measuring to see which ones she was tall enough for this year. She was happy to find out she was tall enough to go on almost all of the rides of her own (except for that darn hang-glider that she has so desperately wanted to go on for two years now! She is *so* close, too.). She chose Zero Gravity (as seen in this picture.. that's her with the yellow shirt and striped skirt) and a Cobra roller coaster. Seeing that smile on her face was so worthwhile! She gave me many hugs and thank yous and told her this birthday weekend was the best ever. Awww. She bought herself some mini donuts and I treated her to a game where she was guaranteed prize. After we got home we cuddled together with a glass of rootbeer, a big blanket and some game shows. It was a perfect date night!

Saturday was mostly a get things done sort of day. We've been having some issues with tiny little ants coming into the house so we needed to deep clean our kitchen (where they were coming in). As per the advice of a friend, we moved all of the food out of our kitchen and it's now in boxes in our basement. Convenient? No. But necessary? Yes. Luckily they hadn't spoiled any of our food! We found a few on the outside of our clover honey, but that's all they touched in our pantry. Under the pantry, though... we found a red sucker... in a package... half eaten by the ants! There was probably a good 20 or so ants stuck in the package! It was so gross. Since clearing that out, along with the rest of our food, we've had far fewer ants in the house. I have my fingers crossed that this is going to work. After our de-ant-ing, we cleaned the house, bathed the dog and then I settled in to watch 'The Blue Butterfly' with the kids while Kyle took a much needed nap.

For dinner I made waffles, mango smoothies and chocolate waffles. The kids were delighted! What kids don't love breakfast for dinner? :) I got the recipe for the waffles from The Garden of Vegan years back, and we like them so much we don't really try other recipes. I did, however, decide to try a new recipe that I found in my September 2010 edition of Vegetarian Times magazine. Dessert waffles! I found them a bit too sweet - I can't handle anything that's too chocolatey (weird, I know!). The kids sure enjoyed them, though! The boys pretty much wolfed them down the minute they hit their plates. How the heck are we going to feed them as they continue to grow? Ahhh!

Nummy Yummy Waffles

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup flour

1 1/4 cups soy milk

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp maple syrup

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

Grind the oat flakes in a food processor until coarse. Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Spoon into a well oiled, hot waffle iron. Repeat until the batter is gone.

Mango Smoothies

(enough to feed my family of five)

1 bag frozen mangoes

milk - read for amounts

4 tbsp yogurt

2 tbsp honey

3 tbsp flax seed

Empty the bag of frozen mangoes into a blender. Add milk until you reach the 750 ml mark. Add the yogurt, honey and flax seed. Blend until smooth. If it's still to thick, add a bit more milk. Continue until the desired consistency is reached.

Double Chocolate Waffles

chocolate sauce:

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 cup maple syrup

2 tbsp unsweetened soy milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

waffles:

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2/3 cup unsweetened soy milk

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

5 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

3 tbsp vegan chocolate chips

1/3 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

icing sugar, for dusting

To make the sauce, whisk together the cocoa powder, maple syrup, soy milk and vanilla in a saucepan over medium heat until smooth. Lower heat, but keep warm.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. Whisk together the soy milk and apple cider vinegar in a glass measuring cup. Let it stand for 10 minutes.

Combine cocoa powder and chocolate chips in a bowl. Whisk in a 1/4 cup of boiling water into the mixture, and blend until smooth. Whisk soy milk mixture into the chocolate mixture. Whisk in brown sugar, oil and vanilla. Whisk in the flour mixture.

Cook on a pre-heated, well oiled waffle iron. Once they are cooked, top with a tbsp of the chocolate sauce and dust it with icing sugar.

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Saturday night also brought us an unexpected date night in. Our internet connection has been terrible and sketchy lately. We're going to have to call Bell to come out and make a house call because I'm pretty sure our router is on its last limbs. Oh well, looking on the bright side is always a good idea - Kyle couldn't do any of his contract work OR his podcast. Instead we feasted on some spinach and artichoke cups that I got from my 3 in 1 Vegetarian cookbook (and altered slightly) and watched many episodes of Lost together. So addicted! Kyle really liked the appetizer that I made, but I was a bit iffy. I loved the inside of it, but would have preferred it without the wonton shells. I just ate them by dipping some pretzels in and leaving the shells. Ha!

Spinach-Artichoke Party Cups

non-stick cooking spray

24 3-inch wonton wrappers

1 jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

5 oz baby spinach, wilted in a pan

1 cup grated monterey jack cheese

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/2 cup mayonnaise

2 cloves garlic, minced

Preheat oven to 300. Spray the cups of a mini muffin tin lightly with cooking spray. Press 1 wonton wrapper into each mini cup, and lightly spray with oil. Cook for about 9 minutes, or until lightly golden brown. Remove the shells from the pan and place on a rack to cool.

Combine the artichoke hearts, spinach, cheeses, mayo, and garlic in a medium bowl and mix well.

Fill each wonton cup with the cheese mixture. Place the filled cups onto a baking sheet. Bake about 7 minutes until heated through. Serve immediately.

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Today my beautiful Rhianna turned eight years old! I still remember very vividly when Avery turned eight and I couldn't believe I had a child who was already eight years old. And now here I am with my baby at eight! How did this happen? She's an incredible little girl, though. She never ceases to amaze me with her determination and capabilities. Everyone who meets her falls in love with her. The more you get to know her - the more you'll fall in love! Her smile lights up the world. Her laugh makes my heart sing. I don't even know what life was like before her. I love that little girl so much!

We headed out to visit my parents and hold her family birthday out there. Rhianna had requested a barbeque for her birthday and seeing as we don't have one, we opted to use theirs. :) Lunch was delicious, the cupcakes she requested were a hit (and perfect for a BBQ!) and she felt like the princess she should feel like on her birthday. She got some great gifts, and we had fun testing out her new karaoke machine!

Lunch at Rhianna's request consisted of portobello mushroom burgers (altered from the July/August 2009 edition of Vegetarian Times), BBQd potatoes (a la Kyle - baked in the microwave until soft, sliced in half, butter spread on, and sprinkled with Montreal steak spice and seasoning salt and then BBQd), corn on the cob and fruit salad with all of Rhianna's favourite fruits.

Smoky Portobello Burgers

9 small portobello mushrooms, stems removed

olive oil

1/4 cup light brown sugar

5 tbsp sweet paprika

2 tbsp freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp coarse sea salt

3 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp celery seed

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

2 medium vidalia onions, thinly sliced

1/2 tsp rosemary

1/2 tsp thyme

1/2 cup prepared bbq sauce

1 cup shredded smoked cheddar cheese

hamburger buns

Toss mushrooms in a bowl with some olive oil (enough to coat) and the brown sugar, paprika, black pepper, sea salt, garlic powder, celery seed and cayenne pepper. Let it sit for a while.

Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan and add the onions, rosemary and thyme. Cook, slowly, for 30 minutes until onions have caramelized and are golden, soft and sweet. Remove from heat.

Heat the BBQ and coat the grill with oil. Cook the mushrooms, stem side down, and brush the tops with BBQ sauce. Cook 3 minutes until tender. Flip and grill another 3 minutes. Add the smoked cheese to the centre of each mushroom and cook for another 30 seconds.

Toast the buns on the BBQ, put some barbeque sauce on the bottom bun, add a mushroom, some caramelized onions and the top bun. Enjoy!

A delicious fruit salad of Rhianna's favourites - watermelon, canteloupe, honeydew melon, Bing cherries and purple grapes. :)

These are the cupcakes that I whipped as per Rhianna's request! Corn on the cob! :) How perfect are these for a BBQ birthday? They looked so cute and were so simple to make - bonus! :)

A few more photos because I just can't help myself...

Candles all lit - eight little candles, and a number 8 for good luck!

I hope all your wishes come true, baby girl. Now and always.

We're alive and well!

I have been such a terrible blogger! June is typically a whirlwind, and this year is no different. It's been all wonderful though, so I'm not complaining.

So what exactly have we been up to? Well...

There has been canoeing on the Bay of Quinte!

There have been cousins visiting from Northern Ireland!

There was Dance Recital day for my two youngest kiddos.

There have been long walks along the trails and on the docks at the marina to drool over the boats.

There was Summer Solstice and all of the traditions it brings us!

And there was lots of crazy family antics!

This was only to name some of the fun. There was also a few different birthday parties, Father's Day, some soccer games for the biggest boy, watching of So You Think You Can Dance & SYTYCDCanada and more stops at playgrounds. This makes me even more excited for the adventures that await us this summer! Only three more days of school left. It's hard to believe.

Yes, we have also been eating delicious food. I admit to quite a few repeat dinners - ones that are pretty easy to throw together, along with some BBQs at my parents' house. I have made a few blog worthy items and I plan on writing a new entry tonight to include those. For now, I'm going to do some dishes and then maybe head out for a bike ride since it's not raining (yet!). They've been promising rain all week, but so far we haven't had much at all.

Enjoy the last few drops of your weekend, friends!

So much food and laughter and pride.

Hopefully you all had a weekend as fabulous as mine! I'm really sad to see it end.

I started the weekend out right with my first Fishbowl Friday! I headed over to Boston Pizza with a bunch of my lovely AMS ladies for a Killer Koolaid fishbowl (the red one is mine!). The night was completely filled with laughter... so much so that my cheeks were in pain for hours after I left. There was much chatting about life - often ending up with our topic of the week - boobies, haha. No, I'm not kidding. :) I'm waiting and ready for the next Fishbowl Friday.

Saturday morning started with a Ballet dance exam for Rhianna - her first one! She was feeling pretty nervous that morning saying she had a sick tummy and a headache. My poor girl. She practiced a few times at home, and then felt much more confident and ready. Coming out of the exam she seemed confident and proud of herself, and that was really all I could ask for. Later that afternoon she also had her first Jazz exam, and felt much less nervous going in. We have since found out her marks, and she got the highest mark she could get for her Ballet exam... I am, once again, so proud of my girl!!! She did very well in her Jazz exam, too, but that one isn't graded at this age. It's a pass or fail, and she passed. You go, my Starshine! I can't wait to read all of the comments the examiner left for Rhianna!

This weekend was also full of playdates for the kids. Between exams, all three kids headed over to the house of their friends'. Kyle and I took Tibbs for a walk around the marina, and down the North Shore Trails. It was really nice to have some time to chat about life and our future without little voices interrupting every few minutes with a new conversation. We were even surprised to see that Tibbs jumped into the Bay! He hated the water last year, so we have hope that this year he's going to come swimming with us at Bon Echo. *fingers crossed* After we got home I headed straight to bed with a terrible pressure headache that wasn't relieved until it started thunder storming. No wonder I love the rain so much!

Today Tiernan headed over to another friend's house, while Avery passed a playdate up because he wanted to be with his family. Awww. ♥ We took another walk by Quinte Bay to show the kids all the houseboats that we drool over, and once again, Tibbs went into the water! Shocking. It was such a gorgeous walk - breezy (but not cold), warm (but not hot) and the sky was blue with beautiful puffy white clouds. When we got home the four of us played some Settlers of Catan to pass time until Tiernan got home (at which point Tibbs ran around in circles with excitement that his whole family was together again - he is such a family dog!). That was the second time Kyle and I played Catan this weekend. We also played last night for Date Night In, and followed it up with a couple of episodes of Being Erica. We've been hooked since the show first came out, but we often don't have the time to watch it when it's on.

And onto the other important stuff - food! We ate lots of good food the past two days that I can share with you. Saturday I made an easy dinner from the Moosewood Simple Suppers cookbook - Vegetarian Reuben sandwiches with the roasted garlic potatoes I wrote about in this entry. Date Night's snack was a five layer dip that I got from The Garden of Vegan and de-veganized. Haha. Tonight's dinner was Kung Pao noodles from Rebar and some dry fry tofu marinaded in barbeque sauce from The Garden of Vegan.

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Vegetarian Reuben

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1 tbsp ketchup

2 tsp white vinegar

pinch of salt

black pepper to taste

pinch of sugar

8oz package of coleslaw mix

8 thin slices of pumpernickel or rye bread, toasted

4 tomatoes, thinly sliced

8 oz thinly sliced swiss cheese

Mix together the mayo, ketchup, vinegar, salt, pepper and sugar in a medium sized bowl. Add the coleslaw mix and mix well.

Place some of the coleslaw on eat slice of toasted bread. Top with the sliced tomatoes and the slices swiss cheese.

Broil in the oven for a few minutes until the cheese is nicely melted. Serve open faced.

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Five Layer Dip

1 small onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small red bell pepper, chopped

1 1/2 cups refried beans (I made my own since most canned refried beans include lard)

3/4 cup salsa

3/4 cup sour cream

1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated

Saute the onion and garlic in oil, in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook until the onions are translucent. Add the red pepper, and saute another minute. Add the beans and mix well. Cook for 5 minutes.

In a medium bowl, spread half of the bean mixture on the bottom. Layer it with the salsa, sour cream, remaining bean mixture, and cheese.

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BBQ Sauce

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

3 tbsp tomato paste

3 tbsp maple syrup

2 tbsp molasses

1 tbsp Braggs

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp liquid smoke

1/2 tsp vegetarian worchestershire sauce

In a small saucepan, combine all of the ingredients, and bring to a boil while continuously whisking. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer until desired thickness.

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Kung Pao Noodle Sauce

2 tbsp fresh ginger, minced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup hoisin sauce

1 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp dry sherry

2 tsp sesame oil

1 pod star anise

2 tsp sambal oelek

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup vegetable stock

1 tbsp cornstarch

Combine all of the ingredients, except for the cornstarch, in a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover partially and cook for 15 minutes. In a small bowl, stir together the cornstarch and 1 tbsp water. Add to the sauce and stir to combine. Cook for 5-10 minutes longer until the sauce thickens. Remove the star anise and use the sauce for any of your favourite vegetable in a stir fry.

My daughter, the artist.

I need to take a moment to show off the artwork Rhianna sketched today. This girl (at age 7!) is a better artist than I've ever been! My Uncle Don is a very talented artist (if you're in Winnipeg and you're ever at The Spotted Cow... the cartoons on the wall? My Uncle!), and I've always looked up to him for that. I remember when I was a little girl (and even a 20 year old girl), I would ask him to teach me and he would tell me that "everyone is capable of being a great artist, you just have to keep drawing". Unfortunately, this was never the case with me. I loved to draw. I doodled all the time, often on my school work (shhhh, don't tell my kids). But it was never very good. As much as I appreciated his confidence in me, I just didn't have that kind of talent. I'm okay with it now. Especially since I can see that the artistic gene that my Uncle has skipped my generation, but is firmly planted in my children. I love seeing how much joy Rhianna gets from creating art. She's artistic in so many ways. Drawing, painting, writing poems, writing books, singing, dancing. You name it, and she's probably good at it.

This afternoon she started sketching and the next thing I knew, there were 10 different drawings for me to admire.

Stroll in the Garden

The Cold Pirate

The Married Couple

Go To Bed!

Troublemaker

The Stomach Ache

Nightmare

Cowboy School

Not Granny's Best

Biggest Carved Pumpkin

And the artist herself. :)

Night night, sleep tight.

Wow, am I ever exhausted. Weekends can be so tiring sometimes, and this is one of those times. I'm thinking a book, my bed and ... sometime super soon (alliteration.. squeal!) would be perfect. Hopefully my weakness/lightheadedness/headache/tummy ache is only from being spent rather than anything else. Crossing my fingers.

My friend Tanya took the boys for a playdate today so they wouldn't have to tag along to Campbellford with us for the Family Two Step tournament that Rhianna and my Mum were in. It was nice not to have to worry about them while we cheered the bowlers on, and I know the boys loved every minute of it. Thanks again, Tanya! Mum and Rhianna had a really fun time, and bowled really well, but didn't leave with a medal this time. They had some pretty serious competition out there since all these kids were bowling with parents/grandparents/uncles/aunts etc, and in some cases these people were good. I would not want to face off against them, that's for sure! These two really held their own, though, and I'm proud of them. What a great memory for Rhianna to have. :)

For dinner tonight I made a rice dish that I used to make all the time a few years back. It's great because you can just stick it in the slow cooker, so there wasn't much preparing for me to do after we got home. I was going to make lentil burgers with it, but changed my mind last minute since we got home later than I expected and I didn't have time to soak the lentils for 2 hours. So, I went with another burger recipe I had on my menu for another day - Jamaican veggie burgers. This was my first time making them, and for me they were very ehhhh. Edible. Decent. But not my favourite. Kyle and the kids raved about them, though. Maybe I felt there was too much rice at dinner? I'm not sure. I just wasn't as much a fan as everyone else. These burgers were also pretty crumbly which drives me bananas. I did enjoy the bite the jalapeno gave, though. I also served the same salad as yesterday with the same leftover honey ginger dressing. Dessert was leftover apple crisp, also from yesterday.

Jamaican Veggie Burgers

2 tbsp olive oil

2 onions, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 jalapeno, chopped

1 1/2 tbsp grated ginger root

1 tsp salt

3/4 tsp nutmeg

3/4 tsp allspice

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed

2 cups cooked long grain brown rice

2 1/2 cups bread crumbs

Heat oil in skillet. Cook onion and garlic for a few minutes. Add the jalapeno, and cook until tender. Add to a large bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients, and stir to combine.

Wet hands and form into patties.

Cook on a large indoor grill until browned (the original recipe called for frying in oil... maybe that would have turned out better).

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Wild Rice Casserole

2 onions, chopped

3 stalks celery, thinly sliced

2-6oz packages of dry instant long grain and wild rice mix

2 1/2 cups water

1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup

1/2 cup butter

1 cup cheddar cheese, grated

1/2 lb sliced mushrooms

Add everything to a slowcooker. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours, or high for 2-4 hours.