Rice and beans make a complete protein!

Tiernan went to his first audition for the Wizard of Oz with the Empire Theatre today. Before we got there this morning he was extremely nervous and a little distraught over not being able to wear his tiger eye necklace. When I left I was unsure how the day would go, but had faith in the lovely people who he was with.. and hoped he'd have a great day. When I went to pick him up afterwards I stood outside in the torturous heat with all the other parents, chit chatting while we waited for our children to come down and tell us about their adventures. When the door opened and I spotted Tiernan I felt a huge wave of relief come over me. He had the hugest grin on his face! He told me all about the other two Lollipop Guild boys, and sang me the songs again. Now he's super pumped to go to the next rehearsal. So exciting!

We had a house full of kids today, and I needed to have dinner ready for 4pm since Rhianna had her first night of dance camp (hooray for my lovely dance moms!), so I spent my afternoon in the kitchen creating while the kids ran around the house. I made a Southwestern Rice Casserole from my friend Jill (altered a bit), a buttered chickpea curry (altered a bit), and some parsnips and carrots in brown sugar and butter. Dessert was a puffed wheat square from How It All Vegan. Yummy!

Butter Chickpea Curry

4 medium potatoes, cubed

2 tbsp canola oil

1 medium onion, chopped

5 cloves garlic, minced

3 tsp curry powder

2 tsp garam masala

1 tsp ginger powder

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp salt

1 can condensed tomato soup

1/2 cup coconut milk

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

Place the potatoes in a pot, cover with water, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a low boil and cook until potatoes are tender.

In a wok, saute the onion in canola oil until tender. Add the garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Add the spices and salt and cook for 2 minutes. Add the tomato soup, coconut milk, chickpeas and cooked potatoes. Simmer for 5-10 minutes.

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Southwestern Rice Casserole

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 onion, chopped

5 cloves garlic, minced

1 red pepper, chopped

4-5 cups cooked rice

1 1/4 cups coconut milk

1 tbsp cumin

1 1/2 tbsp chili powder

1 cup salsa

3 cups shredded Tex Mex cheese

Preheat oven to 350.

In a frying pan, saute the onion in oil. Cook until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds. Add the red pepper and cook until it's tender.

In a bowl stir together all of the ingredients until well blended.

Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray. Transfer ingredients to the dish. Cover and cook for 40-45 minutes.

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Puffed Wheat Square

1 cup sugar

1 cup corn syrup

1 cup peanut butter

6 cups puffed wheat cereal

2 cups chocolate chips

In a small saucepan, heat the sugar and syrup until it's hot and bubbly. Remove from heat and add the peanut butter. Once the peanut butter has melted, add the cereal and chocolate chips. Mix well. Pour into a 9x13 pan and chill for an hour before cutting.

A few of my recipes from the past couple of weeks.

As promised earlier, a post with food in it! I didn't take many pictures from our dinners, but here are the ones that I did take.


There's no real recipe for this one, but I had a picture, so I thought I would share. :) I made this pasta sauce, but added a can of chickpeas to the pot. I cooked up the pasta of choice, mixed it together with the sauce, and covered it with a blanket of mozzarella cheese. Then I cooked it until the cheese began to brown a bit. This is Kyle's favourite.

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These are the muffins I make for Summer Solstice every year. The white of the cake symbolizes the light of the long days and the chocolate chips symbolize the little bits of dark night that are sneaking in ever so slowly. The kids just love them. I got the recipe from the book Circle Round: Raising Children in Goddess Traditions. I get many of our Pagan ideas from that book. I think it's my favourite book of all time.

Summer Solstice Muffins

1/2 cup butter, softened in the summer sun

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

pinch of salt

2 tsp baking powder

1 cup milk

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.

Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat the eggs in, one at a time. Add the vanilla. Mix the flour, salt and baking powder together, making sure to mix well. Add half of the flour mixture, and half of the milk. Mix well. Add the remaining flour and milk and continue to mix well. Add the chocolate chips.

Bake in cupcake cups for 25 minutes.

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These? They were sinful! We had them for Date Night In this week and we both ate too many. These are not exactly low in fat and calories, but so so so so good. YUM. I got them from my Vegetarian 3 in 1, but altered them a tad bit.

Creamy Mushroom Cups

2 tbsp butter

6 oz cremini mushrooms, chopped

1/4 tsp salt

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp dry sherry

1/4 cup whipping cream

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

6 frozen filo party shells

chopped fresh parsley

Cook the filo according to package directions.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the mushrooms and salt and cook for 3-5 minutes until tender. Add the garlic and cook another 30 seconds. Add the sherry and stir to blend. Stir in the whipping cream, and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened a bit. Add the parmesan cheese, stir and cook until melted.

Fill the filo pastry with the mushroom mixture. Sprinkle the top with some chopped fresh parsley and serve immediately.

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Slow cooked curried veggies are pretty regular in this house during the busy days. It needs a full day to sit and cook, and I love it for that. The vegetables tend to lose their bright colours in the slow cooker, but it's still delicious. I usually serve over a bed of basmati rice and a side of Naan bread.

Slow Cooker Curried Veggies

3 carrots, sliced

1/2 green or red bell pepper, chopped

2 zucchinis, chopped

a couple of handfuls of green beans, trimmed and halved

1 cup frozen peas

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 can diced tomatoes

1 1/2 cups vegetable stock

1 can coconut milk, well mixed

3 tbsp curry powder

Put the veggies, chickpeas and canned tomatoes into the crockpot.

Combine the stock, coconut milk and curry powder until well mixed. Add it to the crockpot and stir it up.

Cover and cook for 10 hours on low.

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This was my first time making this pasta from Vegetarian 3 in 1 (altered a little). It was a huge hit in our house, though I would have liked a bit more punch to it. I served it with a simple cucumber salad and Harvest Herb Bread (recipe to follow).

Pasta with Spinach and Ricotta

12 oz box of tri colour fusili pasta

1 tbsp olive oil

10 oz baby spinach

5 cloves garlic, minced

300g ricotta cheese

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1/2 cup cooking water from the pasta

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cook the pasta according to package details.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet (I used a wok). Add the spinach and garlic and cook about 5 minutes until the spinach has wilted. Stir in the ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese and water. Stir to combine. Season with the salt and pepper.

Add the cooked pasta to the skillet and stir to combine. Serve immediately.

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I made this bread from How it all Vegan, but then I de-veganized it by using regular old cow's milk. I also changed it a bit (surprise!). It was crazy yummy. Nohing like fresh (quick) bread.

Harvest Herb Bread

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp marjoram

1/4 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp basil

1/2 tsp thyme

egg replacer to equal 1 egg

2 tbsp sugar

4 tbsp vegetable oil

3/4 cup milk with 1 tsp vinegar added

Preheat oven to 375.

Mix together all of the dry ingredients while the milk and vinegar sit to sour. Add the oil and milk and mix until "just mixed". Pour it into a lightly oiled loaf pan.

Bake for 20-30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

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I know I missed more than that, but it's a start. Trying to get back to my normally scheduled blogging now. ;)

This week is brought to you by the food: Rice!

This is a big week for my little dancers! Recital is this coming Sunday, so we spent Monday and Tuesday in Stirling for dress rehearsals. I took many photos and videos since there are no cameras allowed at recital itself. The kids are all amazing, and it was great for my two to get the opportunity to watch the other (and mostly older) kids do their numbers. If you're interested in any of the videos I took, they're up on my youtube channel.

Yesterday my oldest kitty turned 15 years old. Scooter is the sweetest, most Zen cat you will ever meet. I think back on our 15 years together and I can only think of once when I got annoyed with her - she pulled a cold glass of water down onto a sleeping me! Even then, she wasn't intentionally trying to irritate me. She just wanted a drink. My other two cats will actually try to get in trouble because they want something (typically food). So, my Scootie Wootie is my little Princess. She loves anything pink, she has the strangest hoarse cry unless she's hunting her toy mice, she still plays like a kitten, she's recently deaf, she loves drinking water and she always has to knead the air when you pet her. I couldn't ask for a better cat than my Pumpkin Eater. LOVE her so much.

Scooter had a little stroke last week. She started walking funny, lost balance, leaned into the wall, and looked dazed. I picked her up and she leaned her head over my shoulder and pressed in as hard as she could while breathing very heavily. It broke my heart, but she recovered just fine. She's back to her normal self, so now I will just keep my fingers crossed that she still has lots of life left in her. In the meantime, I enjoy every day I have with her. ♥ We made her a kitty cake last night (soft cat food with some cheese on top) and sang her happy birthday (kind of ironic since she's deaf). It's our little family tradition.

Keeping with the birthday theme, I made all the humans in our family a chocolate zucchini cake to celebrate. Oh yes, I did! I don't even remember where I got this recipe, but I've been making it for years now! It's definitely a family favourite.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup milk with 1 tsp lemon juice added (let it sit for a few minutes)

2 3/4 cup flour

4 tbsp cocoa

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

2 cups grated zucchini

1 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325.

Mix butter, vegetable oil, and sugar together. Add the eggs, vanilla and milk. Combine well. Add the dry ingredients and beat until smooth. Stir in zucchini.

Grease a 9x13 pan. Pour in the batter. Top with mini chocolate chips.

Bake for 45-50 minutes.

Let it cool completely before icing. (I make a margarine, icing sugar, milk, cocoa powder icing that I've been making for as long as I can remember. I even remember making a little bowl of it for myself (or me and a friend) when I was living on my own because I was craving sugar. Haha!... bring back memories, Sarah?!)

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Dinners have been easy, repeats and not always blog worthy this week. They've also been full of rice. I'll share the recipe for the carrot feta risotto (can you tell I love risotto?) because it's not a new one, and you know if you revisit a recipe it's pretty good. The Hawaiian beans I made with them are not blog worthy though. Won't be making them again. They were edible.. but.. no one loved them. Both recipes came from Moosewood Cooks at Home.

Carrot Feta Risotto

5 cups vegetable stock

4 carrots, chopped into semi circles or into matchsticks

1 small onion, diced

1 tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 cups arborio rice

1 tbsp chopped fresh dill (you can use 1 tsp dried in a pinch)

juice of 1 lemon

1 cup crumbled feta cheese

Bring the stock to a boil in a covered pot. Ease the carrots into the stock and lower the heat to very gently simmer.

In a large saucepan, saute the onions in oil for about 5 minutes until softened. Add the rice, and stir gently to coat in the oil. Add the dill. Ladle 1 cup of carrots and stock into the rice. Stir until the liquid is absorbed. Continue to do so with the remaining stock until it's all absorbed. Remove the rice from the heat, add the feta and lemon juice and stir to combine. Serve immediately.

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Tonight I made even more rice. This time I made a fried rice with this vegetable stir fry recipe I blogged about before. I had originally planned on making my friend Jill's vegetable spring rolls, but forgot to take the filo pastry out early enough. Instead I'll make them tomorrow for Fun Food Friday - with homemade pizza! Interesting combo, but it'll be delicious, I'm sure. My fried rice really doesn't have a recipe because it's so easy. I heat some toasted sesame oil in a pan and add my mushrooms (about 6 fairly big cremini mushrooms). Once they're cooked I remove the mushrooms and add a bit more sesame oil. I add my already cooked rice (I cook it the morning of so it's nice and cool by the time I need it.. freezing also works) and coat it in oil.. cook for a little bit. Add a bunch of Braggs (or soy sauce) until it looks right. Stir it up, cook for a bit. Add the mushrooms and a couple of handfuls of frozen peas and heat it through. Voila, easy rice!

A cheesy beer risotto? Oh yes, indeed!

I made a very interesting risotto from my Moosewood: Simple Suppers cookbook! It's called a rarebit risotto... not a typical risotto, but the beer and cheddar cheese was a really yummy combination. I also dry-fried some tofu and marinated it in a sweet and sour marinade from the same cookbook. They tasted great, but I definitely didn't see it as "sweet and sour". Not my perception of it at any rate. I also baked some savory cheese biscuits that I mentioned before (which I love) and a baby spinach and apple salad with a sweet red wine vinegar dressing from La Dolce Vegan. Not my favourite dressing, but Kyle and Rhianna loved it.

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Rarebit Risotto

1 quart vegetable broth

1 tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 cups arborio rice

1 1/2 cups beer (I used a Creemore Springs lager)

3 cups chopped broccoli

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

4 cups loosely packed grated cheddar cheese

heavy sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper

In a saucepan, bring the broth to a boil and then simmer.

In a large, heavy saucepan, heat the oil over med heat. Add the rice and stir to coat in oil. Add the beer, and stir until the beer is absorbed. Once the beer has absorbed start adding the broth a cup at a time, waiting until the liquid is absorbed before adding more.

While the risotto is cooking, steam the broccoli until it is still bright green, but tender. (Just a warning.. if you reheat it like I did, the broccoli will lose some of that bright green colour.) Set aside.

When the last of the broth is absorbed, the rice should be al dente and the risotto moist. Add the mustard and cheese, and stir until combined. Stir in the broccoli and black pepper and serve hot.

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Sweet and Sour Marinade for Tofu (but not to s&s-y!)

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp dark sesame oil

3 tbsp soy sauce

2 tsp fresh ginger root, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tbsp vinegar

1 tbsp maple syrup

Mix it all together!

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Sweet Red Wine Vinaigrette

3 tbsp apple cider vinegar

3 tbsp red wine vinegar

1/4 tsp paprika

1 tbsp maple syrup

1/4 cup flax oil

1/4 cup olive oil

Mix it all together, and keep it in the fridge with a lid until ready to use.

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And just for the cuteness factor....

My boy and his baby. ♥

My girl and her baby. ♥

Have I ever mentioned that I have the best kids in the world? I really do.

How to make basic sushi rolls!

The past few days have been pretty hectic. Avery has been horribly sick all week and has yet to make it to school at all. He got sick on Sunday afternoon/evening, and basically spent all of Monday, Tuesday, and most of Wednesday in bed. He's barely eaten anything in days, so I've been trying to force him to eat as much as he can today. He's weak and tired and still coughing, but the fever seems to be keeping at bay. My poor big kid. The days have also been busy with errands, taking kids to dance classes, Rhianna getting her competitive dance invitation for next year (we are all very excited about that!), and watching Tiernan during his track and field meet. He rocked that shotput! He always was an arm strength kind of kid. I can still picture him, clear as day, army crawling around the house. He didn't even try to use his legs when he crawled! It was all arms dragging him around.

Needless to say, dinner has been nothing special for the past couple of days. Yesterday it was fried egg sandwiches, the day before? Frozen pizzas! Certainly nothing to blog about. Dinner for today is made and ready to be eaten, thankfully. I'm looking forward to something a little more nourishing to feast on.

As you can tell in the photo, I made some veggie sushi. This is a favourite around here for dinner. It's also a favourite for the kids' school lunches. I promised my friend, Karen, that I would do a step-by-step post about sushi making, so here it is. This is very basic sushi rolling, and it can get a lot more fun and exciting as you get good at it.

I prep my vegetables before I even start the rice. (This picture shows far more veggies than is needed, but we like to snack on them over the next couple of days.) Here I have some thin asparagus that I trimmed and cooked for a very few minutes in some boiling water (making sure to keep it bright green). I took a yam and sliced it into fries. I tossed it in olive oil, sprinkled with salt and cooked it on a baking sheet in a 325 oven until tender. I have some thinly sliced coloured bell peppers (yellow, orange, green, red). I also have my favourite vegetable - mushrooms!

Sushi Mushrooms

large container of cremini mushrooms

2 tbsp sugar

4 tbsp white wine

6 tbsp soy sauce

Slice the mushrooms thinly. Mix the sugar, white wine and soy sauce in a wok and heat it over med-high heat. Bring it to a boil, and then leave it on a low boil until it reduces by about half. Add the mushrooms and cook until tender.

Try not to eat them all before you get to making the sushi rolls... like I do! ;)

Rinse your rice thoroughly (about 3 times) and then drain completely (15 minutes). We use 3 rice measures (3 cups) for this. Once it's cooked, let it sit in the rice cooker on "warm" for another 10 minutes. While the rice is cooking, mix together your sushi vinegar.

Sushi Vinegar

(for 3 rice measures)

8 tbsp rice vinegar

4 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

Mix together in a glass measuring cup. Heat slightly in the microwave to dissolve the sugar. Set it aside until ready for use.

After the rice is ready, add the vinegar slowly while using a spatula to separate the rice a bit. I don't use quite all of the vinegar mixture.

When the rice is room temperature, the rolls ready to assemble!

Place your nori sheet on the edge of a bamboo placemat. Spread your prepared rice over 2/3 of the nori sheet, leaving some space at the end furthest away from you.

Add your veggies to the nori sheet & rice. Try not to add too many or your rolls will be too stuffed and they won't form properly. Now it's time to start rolling!

Take the bamboo placemat, and use it to start rolling the nori over the veggies. Take your fingers and lightly press the nori around.




Pull the placemat forward a bit, and continue to guide the rolling, using your fingers to press it together.

Ta-da! You have successfully rolled a sushi roll! To cut the sushi rolls, start by cutting them in half. Then take those halves and cut them in half. Do that one more time with all of those halves.

Now go enjoy your rolls! Scrumptious! :)

This is what an afternoon spent in the kitchen looks like..

I thought my oven died on me this morning! This would not be good for me. At all. As you may or may not have noticed, I enjoy my oven. I enjoy being in the kitchen. I enjoy creating things to feed to my loved ones. My husband came home during his lunch break and after some fiddling around, he was able to figure out the issue. He fixed my oven! Oh, great relief. I celebrated by spending the majority of my afternoon in the kitchen baking and cooking with the windows and back door open and the sun shining in. I baked a banana chocolate chip loaf (different from my normal one... I had no eggs), snickerdoodles and peanut butter cookies. These were all new recipes for me, but the peanut butter cookies were my favourite. So soft and chewy and perfect. Mmmm. Then I made dinner - spinach risotto and baked beans with pineapple which I just served with some raw carrots and sugar snap peas.

I guess I made up for last night when we went out for dinner (Again! We didn't go out for months and now it feels like we're always going out.) to East Side Marios where I had the best dish I've ever had there - mushroom spaghettini. I am typically not a fan of that restaurant (Kyle and the kids love it), but the kids meals were only $2 yesterday, and I'm cheap. :P I'm sold on it now, though.. that meal was delicious. With the salad and bread? Mmm, I'd totally go again sometime.

Now onto the recipes! I'll also put up the recipe for the grasshopper pie that Tiernan and I made together the other night. Funny story: When I was a little kid my Mum would make Grasshopper Pie and I loved it. I once asked my parents why they called it Grasshopper Pie and my Dad told me it was because you used grasshoppers to make it. Being the terribly gullible child (okay, person) I was (am), I believed him. I felt so shameful that I was eating this pie made of grasshoppers and enjoying it. I felt awful for all the poor bugs who had to die so I could eat their minty bodies. Ha! Oh, yes. This is definitely a true story. I was very relieved when I learned the real truth!

The banana bread, peanut butter cookies and snickerdoodles are from the cookbook, The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes.

Grasshopper Pie

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 bag Oreo cookies, crushed

7oz jar marshmallow cream

1/4 cup milk

some green food colouring

1/4 tsp peppermint extract

2 cups whipping cream, whipped

After the cookies have been crushed, mix them in a small bowl with 1/4 cup of melted butter. Reserve half a cup of this for the top of the pie and spread the rest of it in the bottom of a 9x9 dish.

Mix milk, food colouring and peppermint extract. Add in the marshmallow cream, blend it well and set aside.

Whip cream until stiff. Fold into marshmallow mixture gently.

Spread the marshmallow mixture on top of the cookie crust, and then sprinkle the 1/2 cup of crumbles on top of that.

Put it in the fridge and chill overnight so the cream will set.

Banana Chocolate Chip Loaf

(which is tasty, but fell in the middle)

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup oil

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

2 mashed bananas

1/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9x5 inch pan.

Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. In a large bowl, combine the oil and brown sugar and blend well. Add the bananas and milk and combine. Add the dry ingredients slowly, and mix until just combined.

Spread batter in the loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes until it's golden and a toothpick comes out clean. Let it cool in the pan for 30 minutes.

Snickerdoodles

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 3/4 cup sugar, divided

1/2 cup margarine

1/4 cup applesauce

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 tbsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, cream the margarine with 1 1/2 cups sugar. Add applesauce and vanilla and mix well. Add dry ingredients and mix until well combined.

Mix the remaining sugar with the cinnamon in a small bowl. Form the batter into tablespoon sized balls, and roll them in the cinnamon sugar. Place on a baking sheet 1 inch apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes until they have cracked and the edges are set.

Peanut Butter Cookies

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup margarine

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup applesauce

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup natural peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl cream the margarine with the sugar and brown sugar. Add the applesauce and vanilla. Mix well. Add the peanut butter and mix on low with an electric mixer until well combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix well.

Spoon the batter by heaping tablespoon onto the baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 minutes until they are slightly browned and have spread.

Spinach & Feta Risotto

1 1/2 cups arborio rice

1 litre of vegetable broth

2 tbsp olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup white wine

1 tbsp dried dill

salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

3 cups baby spinach

1 1/4 cups feta cheese, crumbled

In a medium saucepan, bring vegetable stock to a boil and then simmer.

In a large pot, cook the garlic in the olive oil for about 30 seconds. Add the rice and stir it to coat the rice in oil. Add the wine and dried dill and cook, stirring, until it's absorbed. Add the warmed vegetable stock a cup or so at a time, stirring until it's absorbed. Keep adding the broth until it's done. When the last bit of broth is almost absorbed, add the spinach a little at a time until it's wilted. Add the feta and salt and pepper to taste. Stir to combine well.

Baked Beans and Pineapple

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 can baked beans in tomato sauce

1 can crushed pineapple

1/3 cup ketchup

1 tsp mustard

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 350.

Heat the oil and cook the onions until soft. Add to a casserole dish along with the rest of the ingredients. Combine well. Cook for 1 hour, stirring halfway through.

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.

Lazy and delicious!

What a drab, gloomy, overcast kind of day. One of those days where it hits you that Spring is never coming. Please tell me I'm wrong. Pretty please! With a cherry on top! I don't know how much more winter I can take. It's like this every single year for me. I want the snow in November, I love the snow in December, I want it gone in January, and I loathe it in February (and March.. and possibly even April... please no!).

At any rate, today was the kind of day that I didn't get very motivated at all. I tinkered in the kitchen a bit, I went to the store, I did some laundry and general tidying up, I talked on the phone, and I cuddled on the couch. Luckily for me, I had picked out a simple supper for my menu today so not a whole lot of motivation was needed.

This morning I made some granola for my granola-loving husband. He eats the stuff mixed with yogurt every morning. He also enjoys it on ice cream, and it's now become a little inside joke on his twitter feed. He's known for his granola. What a thing to be known for. Ha!

Granola

4 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1/2 cup flax seeds, ground

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup sesame seeds

1 tbsp cinnamon

1/2 -3/4 cup honey (enough to make it clump together a bit)

1/2 cup oil

Heat oven to 300.

Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the honey and oil and stir to coat completely. Add more honey if needed.

Pour mixture onto two 9x13 inch baking sheets. Cook in the middle of the oven for approximately 20 minutes. Stir halfway through, being careful to watch and make sure it doesn't burn.

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I have a deep love affair with risotto. I find it so comforting, filling and delicious. The best part about it is that it tastes even better as leftovers the next day. There are not many leftovers I will eat, much less look forward to... but risotto is definitely at the top of that chart. My husband on the other hand lives for leftovers. He says he actually enjoys them, and I believe him. He's a strange fellow. ;)

So I guess you can guess that part of dinner was a cheesy risotto, huh? Genius! If you've never made a risotto before, don't worry. It's actually quite simple.. just a bit tedious.

Cheesy Risotto

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, minced

salt and white pepper, to taste

6 cups of veggie broth

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 lb arborio rice

1 tbsp butter

1/4 cup cream

1/3 cup parmesan cheese

1/3 cup Asiago cheese

2 tbsp chives, chopped

Heat a large pot over medium heat and add the olive oil. Saute the onion, salt and white pepper until the onion is soft.

Add the vegetable broth and minced garlic and bring to a boil. Turn to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the rice, stir and cook for 20-30 minutes. The key point is to make sure you are constantly stirring the rice. Test the rice after the 20 minute mark, and add time as needed.

Add the butter, cream, cheeses, and chives. Add salt and pepper if needed. Simmer for another few minutes, and serve.

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To go with our rice dish, I made a simple broccoli, cauliflower, carrot dish and some (frozen) veggie meatballs made in my mother's delicious sweet and sour sauce. My kids love their Nana's sweet & sour sauce!

Sweet & Sour Sauce

1 medium onion, chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 lemons worth of juice

2 tbsp white vinegar

1 tbsp vegetarian worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp brown sugar

1/2 cup water

1 cup ketchup

salt & pepper, to taste

Saute the onion in the oil until soft.

Mix the rest of the ingredients together in a small bowl. Add the cooked onion and stir to combine.

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All in all, even though the day has been rather lazy and blah, I'm happy to have an excuse to sit with my family on the couch, under a blanket and cuddle up watching Survivor. We all need days like this one! Hopefully this will be the last snow dump that Mother Nature brings us this winter.