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.

So much blue.

Another weekend has come and passed all too quickly. Our Saturday was busier than usual, but the timing was perfect so it left us enough time between activities that we weren't too rushed. At the kids' bowling league they had a competition for the Family Two Step. Each of the kids gets to bring a parent/grandparent/uncle/aunt etc to bowl with them as a team. One pairing goes on to a zone tournament for each level. Kyle and Tiernan bowled together and did a wonderful job, even bowling a 198 game! Avery bowled with my Dad, his Pa, and they also had great games. Neither of them won their age groups, but Rhianna and her Nana (my Mum) won at their level by 1 pin! There are only two Peewees at our bowling alley so it was either them or Rhianna & Nana. They both seem pretty excited to be going on to the zone levels next weekend. Way to go, Rhianna and Mum! What a cool tournament to have won.

The rest of Saturday was a whirlwind of lunch, soccer drills, dance practice for the hospice Rhianna is in, a soccer game, home for dinner (nothing special - we went with easy since I didn't have time to start the slow cooker after bowling as planned), and then... DATE NIGHT IN! Kyle and I watched half of The Tourist before I told him I was falling asleep. How pathetic am I? Haha. We didn't even make and eat the dip I was going to make for date night since we were so full from our filling dinner. It's okay, though.. I made it today instead. Yum!

This morning we woke to the brightest sun shining, so we took the kids and Tibbs down to the waterfront trails for a walk. We love these trails, and go as often as we can. With our busy schedule these days it hasn't been nearly enough. I love looking out onto Quinte Bay (part of Lake Ontario), watching the birds swim around and looking for fish near the shores. There were lots of people there today. There were people on roller blades, running, riding bicycles, walking their dogs, or just casually strolling. The water was so blue, as was the sky... and the best part... I wore my birk sandals for the first time this year! How liberating! I hope this weather is here to stay. I know everyone is dreading our rainy upcoming week, but I'm totally and completely okay with that. Rain makes this mama very happy. Bring it on! Rain or shine, I don't care as long as it isn't snow.

There's a little area of rocks that you can climb across to get further out into the water, and we absolutely cannot ever walk past this spot without heading out there. The kids love to push the boundries (Mummy, can we go a little further? Mummy... that rock has a feather, can I go there? Just a few more rocks out, Mummy?), and the dog always stops for a drink. Typically there are lots of birds sitting on the end of the rocks, but today there was one lone gull.

♥

We had a full house this afternoon since all three kids invited a friend over. They mostly played outside - basketball, hockey, Beyblades, skipping, swinging and climbing trees. They polished off an entire watermelon, and spent some time fleeting from one toy to another in the house. During this time Kyle worked on taking the wallpaper off Tiernan's ceiling (UGGHHHHH) and I played around in the kitchen. I threw what I had planned for yesterday's dinner into the slow cooker for tonight, and then made the dip I was supposed to make for Date Night.

After dinner we headed out to Dairy Queen for some ice cream! My favourite ice cream store isn't open for the season, yet, so DQ just had to cut it. Big disappointment since they didn't even have any waffle cones OR bowls! Both Rhianna and I were pretty sad. I love Tiernan's BRAIN FREEZE look in this picture. He cracks me up, the ham.

One other picture I just have to share before getting into the whole dinner/recipe part of this entry...



Two more reasons I love my husband: 1) he will jump in to play a random game of Twister with our kids while I update my blog and 2) just after this photo was taken he said "Uh oh" and farted. Hahaha. I am such a child because I find this hilarious. :)

And now for dinner today...

I made a slow cooked enchilada casserole and served it simply with some spinach and pumpkin seeds. I had been searching for some recipes like this one online a while back and found a few (meat) recipes so I took my favourite parts of those to make the following recipe. The kids enjoy this recipe a lot - it's a "Mexican Lasagna" according to my kids. :) So, today was a Slow Cooker Sunday... and as Tiernan put it, that's not as strange as Soup Sundays! Ha... love that boy.

I'll also include the recipe for our Afternoon Date Dip. ;) I found this artichoke dip (and only altered it slightly) in a cookbook called Rose Reisman's Light Vegetarian Cooking. My sister got this cookbook for me for our Thrifty Crafty Christmas last year, and everything I've tried in it has been delicious! We had made this dip before, and decided it was a definite keeper.

Enchilada Casserole

12-14 flour tortillas, cut into thirds

1 tbsp olive oil

2 onions, chopped

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp cumin

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 tall jar salsa

1/2 of a 28oz can enchilada sauce

1 bag Tex Mex cheese (Kraft.. I use the bigger bag)

First put some olive oil in a skillet and fry the chopped onion until soft. Add the seasonings and stir to coat. Remove from heat.

Spray your crock pot down with some cooking spray and line the bottom with flour tortillas.

Next, spread 1/3 of the black beans, 1/3 of the kidney beans, 1/3 of the cooked onion, 1/3 of the salsa and enough enchilada sauce to cover the top. Then sprinkle the layer with 1/4 of the Tex Mex cheese. Repeat with two more layers done the same way. End with another layer of tortillas. Spread some enchilada sauce (cover the tortillas) and the remaining cheese.

Cook on low for about 4-6 hours.

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Three Cheese Artichoke Dill Dip

14 oz can artichoke hearts, drained and halved

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/3 cup shredded swiss cheese

1 tsp dried dill

1/4 cup light sour cream

3 tbsp light mayonnaise

1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

3 cloves garlic, minced

pinch cayenne pepper

grated parmesan, to cover the top

Preheat oven to 350.

In a food processor, combine all the ingredients except for the parmesan cheese. Process on and off until just combined, but still chunky. Place in a small casserole dish and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Bake uncovered for 10 minutes. Broil for 3-5 minutes until top is browned.