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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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.

We are a panini loving household!

Fun Food Fridays = easy cooking day for me. I love Fridays. I really love Fridays. I consider them my day "off" from errands/cleaning/appointments/chauffeuring etc. This Friday evening will be even better since I actually have my husband around (usually he's editing a podcast) and I have a couple of Sasparillas chilling in the fridge. That's a false statement... one is open on the table in front of me. ;)

For Family Movie/Games Night we've decided to just watch this week's episode of Survivor because my brain is in a complete fog today. I really don't like feeling this way and hope it's gone by the morning since our day promises to be a busy one. Gotta love Slow Cooker Saturdays.

Today was Panini night. You really can't go wrong with paninis, aside from adding too much sauce. I have no real recipe for tonight, just the picture to share. Each of us puts our own favourites on our paninis, so it keeps everyone happy. Tonight mine had a whole lot of fried cremini mushrooms (did I mention my deep love of mushrooms?), some mozza cheese, spinach, green & red pepper, red onion and then my favourite combination of sauces - honey mustard and barbeque. Delicious! On the side we had some of the leftover coleslaw from last night.

Happy weekend, everyone!

This blog brought to you by Chickpeas!

Welcome to yet another Hella Busy Thursday. This one is even crazier than normal - but it's the second last one! Thank goodness.

Once again, today finds me making supper in the early afternoon. For tonight's on-the-go menu I have croissant sandwiches with chickpea salad spread. I got the croissants at our local bakery, Belleville Bakery. The chickpea spread is a favourite around here - it's sort of a mock chicken salad spread. Once I became a vegetarian I really missed the occasional chicken salad sandwich, and when we discovered this, I was hooked! With that I'm bringing along a creamy coleslaw (Tiernan's favourite!) and some Pockys for dessert. ;) This morning I also whipped up some hummus for the kids' lunch tomorrow (another of Tiernan's favourites!).

Bring on the swimming, kung fu, ballet, jazz, meeting (?? Is there a meeting tonight or not??!), and soccer practice. I am woman, hear me ROAR!

Hummus

2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1/3 cup tahini

juice of 1 lemon

3 cloves garlic

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp olive oil

paprika

Mix all of the ingredients, except for the paprika in a food processor. Add some water a little at a time to thin it out to desired consistency. Place in a dish, sprinkle with paprika (or cayenne is you want more bite!) and refrigerate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chickpea Salad Spread

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2 tbsp mayonnaise

2 celery stalks, sliced thinly

1/2 tsp dill weed

sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Place the chickpeas in a bowl and mash gently with a fork or masher. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until well combined. Refrigerate until ready to use.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Creamy Coleslaw

1 medium head of cabbage, shredded

1 large carrot, shredded

1 tbsp onion, minced

1 apple, shredded

1 1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup vinegar

1/4 tsp celery seed

1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

sea salt, to taste

Shred cabbage, carrot and apple in a food processor. Add to a bowl with the minced onion. Combine the mayo, vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper, and celery seed well in a small bowl. Mix with the vegetables and chill.

Dance nights are my favourite!

My evenings spent at the dance studio are my absolute favourite. I laugh so hard while I'm there, and it keeps me laughing well into the night after I'm home. Kyle thinks I'm a teenage boy with the things I find funny, and that is a-ok by me. ;) They truly are the best nights spent with the best ladies! I have such love for these women! Good thing since I've been spending more and more time there ... and it promises to become more as time goes on.

One of my favourite parts was coming home to a clean kitchen (I am VERY messy when I cook!) and the vacuuming done! Oh yes, I really did win the lottery. :)

I spent my entire morning searching this small (!!) city for certain ingredients. I was met with a whole lot of blank expressions, and quite frankly, a lot of rudeness. Then I remembered Global Foods! It's a tiny little store north of the 401 that has the best little treasures out there. When you are looking for something ethnic and can't find it anywhere in Belleville, chances are they have it... or can get it! At any rate, I had the best time slowly walking up and down the aisles and browsing their goods. I found quite a few items that I was looking for, and even a few I hadn't planned on. One of those items was a chili garlic sauce which I came straight home and played around with in the kitchen making a marinade for my dry fried tofu. This marinade is very different from the teriyaki one I posted about the last time. This one was super bold and spicy and powerful! I was worried that it would be too spicy for my kids so I let them dip it in plum sauce, but Tiernan ate a second helping, Rhianna said it wasn't spicy and gobbled hers up, and Avery even ate his without much complaining (although he won't do plum sauce... not a sauce type kid). Don't be fooled, though... it is spicy! If you've eaten sriracha before, you get an idea of the heat in it. If you try it, be prepared for a bite!

With the tofu we had a peanut/coconut/ginger/miso stir fry over udon noodles. I originally got the stir fry combo from my friend Mary Jo, and our family loves it. It was a good contrast from the spicy tofu.

Spicy Tofu Marinade

1/4 cup of Chili Garlic paste

2 tbsp honey

4 tbsp Braggs

2 tbsp rice vinegar

Mix it up until the honey dissolves, add tofu and chill until ready to reheat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peanut Coconut Ginger Miso Stir Fry

2 medium zucchinis, chopped

15 cremini mushrooms, sliced

2 large carrots, sliced

1 red bell pepper, sliced

1 orange bell pepper, sliced

3 cups baby spinach

1 chunk ginger, grated

2 tbsp toasted sesame oil

2-3 tbsp Braggs

1-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/2 can coconut milk

1 lb udon noodles

Sauce:

1/4 cup natural peanut butter

1 tsp ginger, grated

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp Braggs

1 small lemon, juiced

3 tbsp miso

water, to desired consistency

Heat sesame oil in a wok over medium high heat. Fry the mushrooms for 2 minutes, and then add the rest of the vegetables, except for the spinach. Fry for a minute, and then add the Braggs, balsamic vinegar and ginger. When the vegetables are slightly tender, add the coconut milk and simmer without a lid to reduce the liquid. Once the vegetables are cooked, add the spinach and cook until it's wilted.

While the vegetables are simmering, boil the water and cook the udon noodles for 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine all of the ingredients for the sauce, but not the water. Once all the ingredients are well combined, slowly add some water, thinning it out until desired consistency is reached.

Throw it all together and enjoy.

Tried & True.

I am so full now! We had a delicious dinner of Bulgar Patties, stuffed potatoes and cucumber salad. I know I got the original recipe from a Moosewood cookbook years ago (don't remember which one), and I only changed a few things about it... more garlic, and no eggs. If you're okay with eggs I suggest you add one because the patties will likely hold together better if you do. I, however, am not a fan of eggs (mildly allergic) and omitted it. The patties can be eaten on their own (with a splash of Bragg's!) or on a bun. Tonight we ate them solo. I saw the stuffed potatoes on a Rachael Ray show, and the cucumber salad is one of our (okay... MY!) all time favourites. It's so refreshing and tangy, and it's even better on a hot summer day. Mmmm mmm mmm. I made it early this afternoon and could not stop eating it. I seriously thought it would be all gone by the time dinner rolled around.

Bulgar Patties

3 cups water

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 bulgar

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 cup chopped green onions

1/2 cup grated carrot

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup tahini

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp Braggs

1 tsp Dijon mustard

dash of freshly ground black pepper

1 cup mashed chickpeas

Bring the water to a boil. While it's heating, saute the bulgar and garlic in the oil over medium -high heat for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the boiling water. Return to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes until all the water has been absorbed.

When the bulgar is ready, stir in the green onions, carrots, parsley, tahini, tomato paste, soy sauce, mustard, pepper and mashed chickpeas.

With moistened hands, form into patties. Cook for about 10 minutes on an indoor grill.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cucumber Salad

2 medium long english cucumbers, thinly sliced

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

4 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground dried mustard

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Combine the vinegar, sugar, salt, dried mustard and black pepper in a bowl and stir until sugar and salt has dissolved. Add the cucumbers and chill until ready to eat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stuffed Potatoes - Broccoli and Cheddar Style

5 baking potatoes

olive oil

coarse sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

between 1/2 and 1 cup vegetable broth

grated cheddar cheese

1 head of broccoli, cut into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 350.

After scrubbing off the potatoes, place them on a baking sheet and pierce them several times with a fork. Drizzle some olive oil over top and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Turn them a few times to coat them.

Roast them for 45 min to an hour until a fork slides in easily.

While the potatoes are cooling down a bit, cook the broccoli pieces in an inch of water for about 3 minutes until crisp tender.

Once the potatoes have cooled down enough to be handled, slice them lengthwise and scoop out the insides into a large bowl. Mash the potato insides and add as much broth as you want to make it somewhat smooth. Add some grated cheddar cheese (maybe 1/2 cup or so), salt and pepper and mash them in. Add the cooked broccoli and stir to combine.

Stuff each potato skin with the filling and top with some extra grated cheddar cheese. Bake again for a few minutes until the cheese has melted and it's warmed again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After dinner we took advantage of our beautiful Spring weather with a walk to a neighbourhood playground & park. The kids ran up ahead of us, while Kyle and I casually walked our dog and chatted about our day. I feel so much better now that the weather has been so mild and the sun is shining. It's a whole new world out there! At the park we played on the swings, and kicked the soccer ball around.

Now we're catching up on the Amazing Race episode we missed from Sunday. It's a perfect way to end a really good day.

♥ I love his Sharpei neck rolls! ♥

He's growing up for too quickly. Far, far, FAR too quickly. So proud of him.

He's so handsome, that husband of mine.

Creativity.

What a very satisfying meal today! For our Soup Monday I made a soup I've made before... Pepper Jack Soup. I got it from my "old" friend Christine (who I've known since elementary school!). The soup is seriously amazing. It's so polished, and yet so easy to make. I won't post the recipe up on here, but go over to this entry of Christine's to make some for yourself. You won't be sorry!

This morning before my doctor's appointment I decided we needed to have a caesar salad with dinner. Typically we buy Annie's Naturals caesar dressing, but I really don't care much for it. I also noticed on their website that it contains anchovies?!! Is this a new thing? Because last time I checked I thought it was fish-free? At any rate - I wanted a caesar salad dressing that didn't have anchovies OR eggs. I browsed online and in cookbooks and didn't really like what I was finding. Most of them were lacking the "creamy" aspect I was looking for. So, I decided to go ahead and throw some ingredients into my food processor and see how it turned out. I tweaked and added and finally came up with something that I thought "would do". As it turns out, it was perfect once mixed in with the romaine, croutons and parmesan cheese. Yum yum! Then I figured I was on a roll, so why not try to come up with a new bun recipe. I wanted a garlicky bread (apparently there wasn't enough garlic in my soup and dressing?! haha! Garlic lover, much?) and they turned out not bad. I may play around with them a bit more, but all in all... yum!

Caesar Salad Dressing

3 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup tahini

5 tbsp olive oil

juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp vegetarian worcestershire sauce

1 tsp Dijon mustard

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 tsp agave nectar

freshly ground black pepper

Throw all the ingredients in a food processor and whir until well blended and smooth. Chill until ready to use.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Garlicky Buns

Dough:

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup warm water

1 tbsp dry active yeast

1 tsp salt

1/2 tbsp sugar

1/2 tbsp olive oil

Garlic Butter:

5 tbsp margarine

2 tsp olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp oregano

salt and pepper, to taste

Mix warm water, and yeast in a bowl until it dissolves and gets a bit foamy. Add the salt and sugar and dissolve. Add the flours and knead until it makes a soft dough.

Cover with a wet towel and place in a warm area. Let it sit for at least an hour.

While it's sitting, mix up the garlic butter (all ingredients into one bowl), and put in the fridge until later.

After the hour is up, add the olive oil and knead it into the dough. Roll the dough out into a rectangle on a clean surface. Spread the garlic butter you have refrigerated onto the dough. Save a small portion of it for the top of the buns.

Roll the long end of the dough into a spiral, and slice into 6 even pieces. Spray a square pan with some Pam and lay the spirals on the pan. Top with remaining garlic butter. Let the pan sit on the stove while you heat it up to 325. This should help the buns rise a bit more.

Cook for 25 minutes in the 325 oven.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We finished dinner off with a slice of the Maple Sugar Pie we bought on Saturday at Maple in the County and a dollop of freshly whipped cream. It was incredibly sweet, and I was only able to eat half of my slice before my sugar coma kicked in... Kyle finished off my slice (since he hadn't taken any pie for himself)...



... He completely agreed that it was sickly sweet. ;)

Tiernan never finishes his crusts... but as you can see, a certain someone was VERY happy about that!

Now I'm off to take Tiernan to Tap! Just in time.

Our very long, but very good day!

Our day started at the lovely hour of 3:50am. I don't know if you know this about me, but I don't like mornings. I really, really, really don't like mornings. Today, however, we had to be out of the house and on our way just after 4am. Rhianna and one of her best friends, Madison, had placed a spot in the PeeWee Bowling Provincials as a team in the High Low competition. It was being held in Chatham, Ontario... which is a good 5 or more hours from us in Belleville. Our two choices were to leave yesterday and stay a night in a hotel, or leave this morning. We didn't want to miss Maple in the County, or Avery's soccer game yesterday, so we chose the more difficult choice. Ha! We wanted to make sure we gave ourselves enough time for any unforeseen issues on the 401 (any Canadian knows how dreadful the highway 401 can be near Toronto!). Luckily, this morning there were none!

This is what I do in the van at 5 am when I'm trying to pass time on the road in the dark.

Kyle and I had woken all three kids (actually two... Tiernan woke up on his own before our alarm went off, the nut!) up to use the washroom before we left, but let them climb into the van in their pjs. We wrapped them up in blankets and luckily, they all fell back asleep for a couple of hours. Phew, crisis averted! Once we were on the other side of the GTA we decided to stop for some breakfast.. and what's a mini road trip without a stop at McDonald's in your pjs?? Haha. We so rarely eat there... I don't even remember the last time we did.. but I still have a soft spot for their hotcakes at 6am before the sun comes up when we're on a highway and it's at a rest stop! Everyone gobbled their food up (except for Rhianna who was having some butterflies in her tummy... and eats like a bird on the best of days!), changed into day time clothes, brushed teeth and then we were on our way again!

We got to the bowling alley at the exact same time as Madison and her parents. We got the very last spot in the parking lot and settled in to the jam packed alley. The girls were anxious and excited to start their games, and eventually, it was time. They both bowled incredibly well for the entire day! Even if they placed dead last, I would have been so proud of them because they were so good natured and bowled so hard. They bowled a total of three games, and after the first game they were quite a bit behind in 4th place. After the second game they were bumped up to second place. We all refused to tell the girls what position they were in because we didn't want them to be thrown in either direction. I'm really glad we didn't because it kept their excitement pretty high! In the end, they came in first with 231 pins above their average!! Wow. Rhianna and Madison are currently the Provincial champs for Ontario and will have their scores from today put into the Inter Provincial standings... a sort of National competition. We should find out how they stacked up against the other winners from other provinces next month sometime!

WAY TO GO, GIRLS!

One other cute story... :) While we were out at Maple in the County yesterday, Rhianna lost one of her top front teeth. She was very happy since it had really been hanging in there. As it turned out, last night when Rhianna put her tooth under her pillow for the Tooth Fairy, she also wrote a note that asked the Tooth Fairy if it was possible for her to leave her some luck for her bowling tournament. The Tooth Fairy came through and left her a little note and a lucky penny! Rhianna was so delighted at 4am this morning when she checked and found it. She kept that penny in her pocket today, pulling it out between frames and rubbing it ever so carefully in her hands. It was the sweetest thing to watch. Everyone should lose a tooth before a big event! ;)

After the plaques were awarded the kids (and we!) were starving so we headed next door to Pizza Hut for a Celebratory Lupper (what else do you call a big meal at 2:30pm?) with Madison and her parents, Tanya and Patrick. The food was yummy (I ate too much!), the company was lovely, and the kids were punchy from the high of winning and the lack of sleep! All in all, a great way to finish off the day in Chatham.

Tiernan loves lemons, but apparently these ones were far more bitter than what he's used to... hahaha!

Our drive home was fairly uneventful, aside from many cop cars pulling people over for speeding (thankfully not us!), and one traffic jam around Toronto. We sort of expected it since we were driving past the city at 6pm on a Sunday. We stopped in to pick our Tibby guy up from my parents' place, and got home at a perfectly decent hour. We thought for sure we wouldn't be home until 10pm, but we got in just after 8pm. It was a long day in the car... hello 10 hours, at least.. but also a very worthwhile day. It was so good to see how happy those two little girls were! What an adventure!

This is how I keep myself awake when I'm dead tired on a road trip. Hadn't had one of these since I was pregnant with Avery in Wales! How time flies.

What a busy past couple of weekends. Satisfying, good, but busy. It's been pretty rough, food wise. Looking forward to some real food again tomorrow!