Oh Wednesday

I am not sure what it is about Wednesdays. They often end up being the most trying day of the week. Maybe it is because it is mid week for some of the kids and the start of the week for others. Maybe it is because there is no play school to break up the day. I haven't figured out exactly what it is yet, but I do know that often Wednesdays are the hardest day of the week.
This Wednesday was no exception. There was a higher level of pouting, whining, grabbing and yelling going on, and that was just me. I am mostly kidding. Twice we had to have group time outs to help us all refocus (including me) and have little discussion. Discussion #1 - being nice to our friends. Discussion #2 - When Sam says "Time to clean up then come up for lunch", Sam means clean the #@!* up. * disclaimer - no children were cursed at.*  . Looking back at the day I can now see ways I could have aided in the day going smoother. I have been slacking on crafts and activities, which I am sure would have been a godsend today. Even better I could have have gotten my sorry arse organized and taken them outside. Honestly, thought of bundling them all up to go outside gives my a severe case of anxiety. It takes a good 30 minutes and a Valium to get them out the door. It ends in me sweating, someone crying because their scarf is laying at a 47 degree angle when it NEEDS to be at a 45 degree angle and inevitably, someone poops. Of course once we get outside half of them have a blast, one cries because they have snow on their boot, someone else wants to be picked up the whole time, and one wants to back inside. I swear, in the summer we live outside, it is much easier to slather on some sunscreen and slide them out the door.
Okay, enough ranting. On to better and happier things.
First, today is a leap year! Leap year happens to be my momma's birthday. Happy 15th Birthday Mom!!
Second, today was the first installment of Waffle Wednesday!! Typically I have been doing pancakes on Wednesdays but decided to switch it up. I live on the wild side, hold on tight!
Today because the kids drove me bonkers I tried to make peace by making these deliciously sinful looking waffles. Of course because I had 7 kids pulling at my pant leg and ready to chew my leg of if I didn't feed them within 2 minutes, I had to simplify the recipe. Even with my modifications they were amazing. So much flavor, fluffy, so so so good. You should go make them. Now. Wait, stop!! Better read my adaptation of the recipe! *note: lunch time here can be a little chaotic to put it mildly. The kiddos were not patient enough to let me take a picture of the waffles I made, but trust me when I say they looked exactly like the ones pictured on the link. Minus the nuts. And the cream cheese. ;-)

Carrot Cake Waffles

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons of Epicure Apple Pie Spice

2 teaspoons of Epicure Maple Spice Fruit Dip

1 3/4 cups buttermilk

2 eggs seperated

4 tablespoons - melted

1/2 teaspoon Epicure vanilla extract

1 cup raisins

1 1/2 cup finely grated carrots

Cooking spray for waffle iron 

Mix together the flour, salt, sugar, baking soda and spices.

Mix together the butter milk, egg yolks, butter, and vanilla

Add dry mix to wet and combine

Whip your egg whites with a electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter then add your carrots and raisins (walnuts too if using, i didn't because a couple of kiddos have texture issues when I put nuts in things)

Ladle a little over 1/2 a cup of batter into your hot waffle iron and cook about 3-4 minutes or until done. 

As a mentioned before, the texture of these waffles were amazing! Next time I definitely want to "bloom" the spices as she does with the original and I WILL be making that cream cheese.

Sweet dreams everyone!

Terrific Tuesday

Such a busy and productive day I had! Even with an extremely sore wrist I managed to get lots of cooking and crafting and even a little cleaning. I love days like this. Play school kept the kids busy and they all generally played so well together very little intervention was needed by me. These are the days that make my heart smile.
This morning the kiddos that weren't at play school made cookies with me. Yummy soft oatmeal cookies.

Peering through the window

This recipe was my
base and here is my version.

1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Epicure Apple Pie Spice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups rolled oats (not instant)
Handful of Chia seeds (for added omegas and protein)
1/2 cup dark raisins & cranberries (soak them in hot water while preparing the cookies)

Preheat the oven to 375
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and apple pie spice
Beat the butter and granulated sugar until smooth. Mix in the brown sugar, then the egg, applesauce, and vanilla.
Stir in the dry ingredients, then the oats and raisins.
Drop the batter by rounded teaspoons 2-inches apart on the baking sheets and use a fork to gently flatten the dough.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes

Considering they have no oil, minimal butter and less sugar than most recipes, they are pretty tasty. The kiddos were asking for seconds and thirds, so they pass.

During nap/quiet time I got some hooking done. I've been slacking in this department and had some projects I want to finish up, which is what I think aggravated my slight wrist injury from yesterday to the throbbing pain that I have now.

First I finished up a Mickey Mouse hat for a sweet daycare boy who loves that crazy mouse.





And then I finished up my Breast Cancer Awareness hat.





I am thrilled with how this turned out! I'll be selling them for $20 each and all the proceeds will go to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. If you are interested in one please let me know ASAP!

All that crafting and I still have another recipe for you! For supper I made an amazingly simple yet comforting Tator Tot Casserole. I consider it a redneck shepard's pie for the lazy.

1 lb of extra lean hamburger
1 small onion chopped
3 celery stalks chopped
Tbsp of butter
Garlic
1 can of Cream of Mushroom soup
1 tsp of Epicure Gravy Mix
Frozen Tator tots
Cup or so of grated cheese

melt butter in frying pan, add onions and fry until the start to turn golden. Add celery and garlic and oil until softened. Add hamburger. Fry until browned. Add the mushroom soup, 1/2 a can of water and gravy mix. Pour mixture into a casserole dish. Cover top with Tator tots and bake at 375 for about 30 minutes. Add cheese and bake for another 10 minutes. Scoop and enjoy!

May not be pretty, but it's so yummy! And can be easily modified. Next time I would add some chopped mushrooms to dry up with the onions.

With a full tummy and top up of Motrin I skipped my way to bowling. As per usual my night had highs and lows. The high being a 164. Not bad with my wrist in a brace (don't ask what my low was)

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Nothing Mellow About That Yellow

On our way home from Minot C stopped to grab a drink from a machine. Miss Lily in her helpful way was quick to push the buttons and she chose Mellow Yellow. I poured it into a glass today and was very scared by the radioactive yellow liquid that came from the can.



It was quickly poured down the drain. The amazing part - I think my sink is draining better now.

The girls are in bed and I'm in my housecoat trying decide between tea or beer as a crochet. I'm starting to work on some Breast Cancer Awareness beanies that I'm making to raise funds for our CIBC Run For The Cure Team - Pirates Of The CUREibean.
Stay tuned for ways you can support us in this journey towards a cure!




Random Lily Funny:
::Set Up:: Miss Lily caught site of one of those Easy Mac containers and declared that she was going to have this for dessert when she finished all her supper. In a haste to keep peace I agreed thinking that she would forget. She did not. This Easy Mac became a battle right up until bedtime (she even asked for it as her bedtime snack).
C was reading her a bedtime story, "Jillian Jiggs and The Great Big Snow",  which has a part where they are making a snow fort.

C: "What are they making"
Lily in the saddest voice ever: "KD" and she starts sobbing in a dramatic way that only Lily can pull off.


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Snow Interruption

We have had a abnormally beautiful winter. The sun has shone, the temperatures have stayed above average and the snow accumulation below average. It has been bliss. Being that I am over optimistic and just plain don't like winter, I put my winter jacket away. My Lulu hoodie has served me well most of the winter. Of course, just like the rain that will fall when you wash your car, we got a winter storm. Surprisingly, I didn't mind this interruption in our spring like weather. It was nice to cover up the drab dirty landscape that we have been staring at for the past 4 months. Miss Lily had a blast playing in all the fresh snow and helping daddy shovel (wish I had some pictures but Miss Daisy has a runny nose so I attempted to clean the house as she undid everything I accomplished)

picture taken from theweathernetwork.com

On Saturday the girls had their swimming lessons. My little mermaids. I accidentally/on purpose skipped a couple levels for Miss Lily. I couldn't get into the one that I wanted so I signed her up for the next level as it was the same time as Miss Daisy. She goes in the water without us. I never gave much thought to the other ages of the kids as the program is described for ages 3-6. Not only is she the youngest, but she is also the shortest. My heart jumped a little when they walked out into the deeper end of the pool. While the rest of the class are comfortable with their shoulders above the water level, Miss Lily is up to her chin. It does serve well in the fact that it gives her just enough fear and respect that she is very attentive to the instructor and doesn't goof around with the others. The competitive supportive mommy was thrilled when she out swam all her older classmates during one drill. She was the only one that could swim independently (with a pool noodle for support) all the way to the wall. That's my girl :-)




Saturday night we had supper at a friend's place. The girls were well behaved and it was not nearly as stressful as I anticipated. Sometimes my sweet Miss Daisy gets a little grumpy when away from her space close to bed time. But all was well and we got to enjoy a nice grown up visit, a delicious meal (a recipe I will be repeating and maybe sharing with you later), scrumptious dessert (this one I will repeat - but I might keep a secret ;-) and wine!
One of my happiest moments of the weekend, we finally installed the over the range microwave that has been sitting on the kitchen floor for over a month! Oh sweet counter space, I love you!

Random sweet (but blurry) picture from the weekend:

Long Time No Blog

I've been absent. I apologize to my possible 2 readers ;-)
As you may or may not notice, I have changed the title of my blog. I've decided to expand my blogging horizons beyond my children. My blog is now going to focus on recipes, my daily life/thoughts, and a little crafting. I'm excited to blog again and promise with fingers crossed behind my back to post more regularly now.
After years of being an avid Epicure buyer, I have become a consultant. It just made sense and the time was right. I've been having a blast playing with recipes and products, which I will be sharing with you!
Let's get the slow cooker started now!


Pulled Pork Burrito Bowl
Epicures Pulled Pork Seasoning Mix
Pork (I used some Costco pork chops cubed or use a pork shoulder as suggested)
Can black beans - drained and rinsed well
Quinoa or brown rice
Shredded lettuce
Shredded cheese
Sour cream
Prepare the Pulled Pork as directed on the package. Shred your pork (skip this step if you cubed like moi) and add the black beans. Cook for another 30 minutes.
Prepare quinoa or rice as directed.
Layer in a bowl - quinoa/rice, pork and beans, lettuce, cheese and some sour cream. Dig in and enjoy.




If I had any I would have added some avocado. This was so flavorful as well as filling. If you like things with a little more heat add a sprinkle of Epicure's Chipolte Chili powder. She's got some kick.

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