In addition to the creative gift my husband gave me,  I also received a new coffee maker from my parents.  This machine is different because it does not have a glass carafe, rather a simple dispensing spout. I have had numerous machines over the course of my life and not one was totally leak proof.  No matter how careful I was or how I held my tongue, coffee somehow pooled under the spout.  This eliminates all of the mess plus the need to constantly clean the pot. 

With this new little gadget I finally decided to put some of these great tips I got via Momadvice.  Every Thursday she posts her notebook entries, from this compiled list there are dozens of neat ideas that would appeal to everyone.   Recently she started to ask her readers to post about a particular entry after trying to out.  The hardest part was picking one but finally Read More »

Several weeks ago I reluctantly celebrated my 32rd birthday.  Normally we don't go all out for birthdays, rather a small token or  gesture is enough to commemorate the day. 

Some time ago I mentioned to my hubby how I would love to get some new perfume.  For 16 years I have been working in an office environment which normally would implement a "no scent" policy.  I have relied on my surf scented deodorant for over a decade and now that I am home with the kids I would love nothing more than something other than eau de baby powder.  When I started to look at the different fragrances I was overwhelmed at the sheer volume of brands that lined the shelves and you can only squirt so many on before your nasal passages shut down.  

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I finally tackled my tomatoes.

After a disastrous gardening/monsoon season, my tomato plant yielded a measly 5 tomatoes, exactly enough for one sitting of BLT sandwiches.  One glorious day a good friend asked if I would like some because her sister had more than she could possibly harvest and were quickly rotting in her garage.    The next day she arrived carrying 4 massive baskets filled to the brim.  I proceeded to place them in every window in our two story cape cod and this past weekend saw the last one leave its perch to be processed.  In total, I managed to can 8 jars of crushed tomatoes, 5 diced, a few bottles of sauce and a batch of hotter than Hades salsa.  All this and I still had a tote left. 

For the last few months we have been experimenting with my oldest son's diet.  He eats very little, but what he does eat we have to ensure is free of preservatives, artificial flavours and colourings.  One of the worst culprits is ketchup.

Yup, this little condiment hides many things that otherwise he would not allow to touch his plate, let alone eat.  If you actually looked at the ingredients you would find many of these additives all rolled into one little fridge door squeeze bottle. ... Read More »

Monday - Broccoli lo mein. This has been on my "to try" list for several weeks.   

Tuesday - fish cakes and mini mashed potatoes.  These are both frozen so this will be an easy night for me.

Wednesday - All in one pot, sauce and pasta.  This is a simple recipe of cooked pasta (great time to use up the small bits of leftover pasta) a simple spaghetti or pasta sauce with whatever leftover frozen veggies kicking around the freezer.  To this add some cooked beef and cheese.  This is as close to not cooking as you get.

Thursday - leftovers or tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.

Friday - Halloween night.  Pizza braid with some shortbread fingers for dessert.  Pending they actually look like a severed digit I will post a picture, morbid I know.

Saturday - baked oatmeal.  Although we find this a little too heavy for breakfast, it is perfect for a supper meal.

Sunday - Normally we ... Read More »

I love old things, not an orange fondue pot kind of old, rather turn of the 19th century old.  Growing up we always lived in a country home with rustic feel, for me nothings says comfy like a well lived in old house.  Our previous abode was over a 100 years old, although cute as a button, it was not, I repeat not, child friendly.  Never mind the fact it had one tiny bathroom, it lacked closets in nearly every room and finding a plug was impossible.  I guess vacuuming was not high on the priority list back then since they were not invented yet. 

Finding out baby #2 was on his way, more space was definitely going to be in order not to mention the basics of modern convenience. The house required so much work, work that our busy lives could not afford. Although our new space is nearly a century newer, I still ensure some old world touches are included.  Here are a couple of my favourite pieces I keep out in the open as a reminder of my former home.

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I don't think it's possible to make this dish healthy, but I am giving it my college try

I initially tried this addicting dish around Christmas several years back and besides the memory of the worlds worst belly ache and sugar high, I vividly recall not being able to stop stuffing my pie hole.  Logic tells you to stop but for some reason you find your hand reaching up to your face filled to the brim with the stuff.  Logic doesn't apply when it comes to certain junk food.  What was this evil, yet addicting, stuff?

Puppy chow.

So simple.  Melt chocolate chips, don't bother with the measuring cup, simply use what is left in the package after ingesting some upon opening package.  Add this to some peanut butter and coat dry cereal such as Chex or Crispix.  Once cooled in the fridge, generously cover with thin layer of icing sugar.  My blood sugars are out of whack typing this.  No doubt tasty and addicting not something you would want lying around your house calling out to you while sitting on the couch while trying to figure out Hero's.  Read More »

  I have always said that my son lives on love because he barely eats and what he does consume on a daily basis would barely sustain his guinea pig.

I know that children don't need as much as we think they do but a handful of whole grain cheerios and a slice of bread is not exactly nourishing.  He does, however, tip the scales more than the average for his age, so I am pretty certain he is not malnourished.  Despite this I still worry.

He does like pizza, if you classify dough sauce and cheese an actual pizza. I promote this because I know he is getting homemade sauce, cheese and whole grain dough.  I recently bought a rather pricey organic can of pizza sauce and after spreading some on a whole grain bun I got the idea to fill and freeze cubes future use.  Now I can easily haul out a bun, thaw the cube and sprinkle some pre shredded cheese for a quick pie.  Next time I make my pizza dough I will be making some small 9' ones for Landon, pre-baking them and freezing them for quick lunches and suppers. 

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Normally my muffins barely make it out of the oven before they are devoured by the vulchers, otherwise referred to as my family.  No matter how quickly they are eaten you are still left with the large dirty pans after the fun part of consuming them is over.  As most of you know, muffin liners stick to warm baked goods and must be thoroughly cooled before attempting to peel and that is exactly where the problem arises.  My kids...Ok, OK! and myself cannot wait for that to happen, so I have been avoiding this practice.  Honestly making muffins means a messy pan and that in turn means I am stuck having to soak and scrub them.  That alone is enough to discourage me from making a batch on a regular basis so I was hoping liners would give me the much needed break without resorting to muffin strike.

Recently I ran across these silicone muffin liners at the local dollar store.  They are inexpensive and best of all reusable and result in minimal mess for mom to contend with.  Downfall (of course there has to be one) I am sure there must be something in these to make it unsafe to bake muffins in.  Lately, it seems everything has a toxin in it and although nothing was listed I can bet my bottom it's not good.&n ... Read More »

Monday - baked fish and baked potatoes drowned in melted cheese and my homemade salsa.  I was going to write on how I attempted to make and can my own salsa.  Seeing how I cheated and resorted to a package mix and the outcome resulted in the loss of sensation to my lips for a period of 48 hours, I thought I should avoid the topic altogether.  I will sparingly coat my potato and have plenty of sour cream or at least my toddlers milk filled sippy cup nearby to put out the flames.  My hubby and father love spicy food so this will not go to waste and should be a great addition to our chili.

Tuesday - cream cheese chicken soup with rolls

Wednesday - creamed tuna over toastRead More »

I wrote on this topic some time ago but I feel the need to revisit this because of what I witnessed several times over the past week.

I was grocery shopping and I saw several people with brand name pancake syrup sitting in their cart.  I wanted to jump in front of them, take off running with the jar and never look back.  These people need an intervention of the Aunt Jemima kind.

If you are buying 100% pure maple syrup I can see some advantages but the artificial kind is no different than making your own and adding some maple flavouring.  Not only is in simple and easy it is very cheap, I am talking pennies. 

Check out this link for the whole journey to fooling my dad into thinking he was eating the "real" stuff all along.