Thankful Day 1

I have been having a tough time blogging. I log in, start writing a post, then half way through decide I just can't. I don't want to blog to complain, I want to blog to entertain (ha! A rhyme!) . So because my heart is usually sad and I spend so much time thinking about what I don't have rather then appreciating all that I do have, I would like to start blogging about things I am thankful for. I hope that by focusing on the good things in my life and how fortunate we are, how fortunate I am, I can let god take over my heart and experience the joy that my heart has been missing. The joy that surpasses all understanding.

So today, I am thankful that we live in Canada.

Last night, Gary and I went and watched Argo. It's a new movie in theatres based on a true story of American hostages in Iran in the 1980s I believe. We both decided it was the best movie we have seen in a long time and were also appreciating over and over how lucky we are to have been born in a country filled with peace. We did not choose to be born in Canada or to live such a blessed and easy life. We were given these opportunities and jobs and everything we need to survive and much much more. I keep thinking back to a twitter hash tag that I see once in a while #firstworldproblems. First world problems. Basically, they are menial things that we all complain about, (too many clothes to fit in the closet, having to do laundry, air conditioning made my house too cold, I actually have to cook food because all the prepackaged stuff is gone. You get the picture) I have posted a pic or two on Instagram and someone has commented with that hash tag. While it is kind of a joke, I always feel guilty because I can be such a complainer about things that just don't matter. Nobody cares that I don't want to wash my windows. I have a great house, with lots of windows. They need washing so suck it up and do it. Appreciate what you have. Take care of it.
I can be very ungrateful of many things in my life. Today I will be grateful I live in Canada.

Whole Grain Summer Berry Cobbler

Cobbler is one of my favorite desserts. Totally. I think I could create a whole recipe section based completely on my cobbler variations.

I know in the last post I was talking about all the things I can not eat. Cobbler is definitely one of the things I can not eat. Or at least not very often. Indulging once a week or once every two weeks is probably the max.

Anyways, today I was craving hot sweet fruit and a crispy biscuit crust. I knew I needed to make a cobbler, even if it meant giving it away the next day. Which is what I fully intend on doing by the way. Before bed I'll wrap it up in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge where it can hang out till I can find a happy home for it in the morning.

This cobbler is a little different then normal, because I used all whole grain flour and a bit of whole rolled oats. I also cut the sugar down a bit. Not that I could tell at all, it was still the sweetest thing I have eaten all week!

This kind of dessert is great for a last minute party or potluck offering. You probably have all the ingredients in your house and almost any fruit can be substituted in for the berries I used here. Get creative! Blackberries and peaches? Strawberries and rhubarb? Plums? You get my drift.

Top a generous serving with ice cream and you will be in everyones good books.

Warm up and top with yogurt (or heck, ice cream again) for breakfast and your husband may give you funny looks, but really, whats better then dessert for breakfast? Yeah...nothing.

Whole Garin Summer Berry Cobbler
( adapted from The Joy Of Cooking )

1 cup Whole Grain Flour
1/3 cup Whole Rolled Oats (any kind would work, but thats what I like)
2 tbsp Sugar
2tsp Baking powder
5 tbsp Cold and Hard butter or margarine
1/2 cup Milk

6-8 cups Fresh Fruit, cleaned and cut appropriately, I used 4 cups blueberries and 3 cups raspberries
3 tbsp Cornstrach. This makes your fruit thicker and jam-like, if your fruit is super juicey add an extra tablespoon
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon  (optional...I did not use it this time..)

1. Combine fruit with cornstarch and sugar and cinnamon if desired.
2. Pour into an 8x8 or 9x9 square casserole dish and set aside for a minute.
3. Turn oven on and preheat to 375 degrees F.

4. Combine all dry ingredients in a medium/large bowl.
5. Cut in butter till course crumbs form and no large butter chunks remain.
6. Stir in milk and quickly combine to make a cohesive dough. If the dough is super wet still, add 1 or 2 tbsp flour. Dough will be sticky.
7. Using two spoons, scoop little balls of dough and drop over the top of the fruit. There should be enough dough to almost entirely cover the top of the fruit. There will be tiny holes between dough. That is ok. You can smooth out dough with a angled spatula if you really want.
8. Brush dough lightly with milk and sprinkle 2-4 tbsp sugar over the top. This gives it a nice crunch.
9. Bake at 375 for 45-55 minutes. Check at the 45 minute mark. Cobbler crust should be browned nicely and slightly crunchy. Fruit will probably be bubbling around the edges of the pan. Yum.
10. Cool 10 minutes on the counter and serve warm with ice cream, yogurt, whipping cream or by itself. Also great cold or reheated the next day.

(To reheat, either microwave individual portions, or pop the whole pan in a preheated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes)

Summer

I have not blogged for a bit and to be honest even starting this post is a struggle.

 I have had a huge diet change and many personal challenges that I am dealing with daily. So when I comes to blogging, a pretty personal snapshot into my life, I am at a tricky spot. How much do I share? And how can I keep blogging if I don't share? My blog is real me and it's tricky to just take my heart out of it and pretend things are just going on like normal. Also, I rarely bake anymore and we are eating some pretty weird meals lately. The other night we had baked tilapia, Gary had potatoes, but I had creamed cabbage and raw carrots. Weird.

 Anyways, I have decided to share a bit and then maybe post meals I eat and maybe also steer away from food a bit and find other things I can write about.

 Basically, for health reasons, I have been instructed to follow a low glycemic diet. Which allows me to eat almost all vegetables, fruit, and protein but no sugars and very specific carbohydrates. I can not eat any potatoes, rice, refined grains(rolled oats, flours, etc), and no sugars. The trickier it is for my body to extract the energy, the better.

 The glycemic index measures how long it takes for the sugars from the food to spike your blood sugar levels. All food is rated somewhere on the glycemic index any where from 1 to 100. "low" glycemic foods fall below the 55 mark. There is also a calculation to figure out glycemic load, but it is kinda tricky and I have not totally figured it out yet. Luckily for me, there are a huge amounts of online resources and lists of foods and their glycemic indexes online. I check different things almost daily.

 A typical daily meal plan looks kinda like this

7:30 Breakfast: 1 cup low-fat unsweetened yogurt, 2 tbsp holy crap chia seed cereal with whole buckwheat and hemp, 1 cup berries, 2 tbsp flax meal. 500ml Water.

10:30 Snack: apple slices with cheese/ natural peanut butter/ small handful of nuts. Water.

12:00 lunch: 1 slice Whole grain rye bread( soo heavy, but rye is the lowest glycemic grain), 2 slices natural ham, cheese, 1 egg, 1/4 avocado spread on the bread topped with egg, ham and cheese. Tomato, raw veg with hummus. Water.

2:30 snack: puffed quinoa cereal (treat!!) with milk. Pear. 5 almonds. Water

6:30 dinner: chicken bbqed, Green salad topped with hummus or Taziki instead of dressing. Roasted zucchini and broccoli. Water.

Later dessert?? Yogurt with no sugar added granola(super treat!) that same quinoa cereal, no sugar added ice cream with fruit and seeds. Usually if I had A sweeter 2:30 snack, I would not have a desserty choice.

 I also drink a lot of water. I try for 2l a day. Today it was probably only 1L, but yesterday I drank 3. I peeded a lot. I do drink coffee too. Iced usually, with cream and agave syrup to sweeten it a bit.

If you know anything about the low glycemic diet and have helpful tips, please share them! I am learning and experimenting and can use all the help I can get.

My heart is totally not in the kitchen like it has been. I don't feel the same passion for cooking or baking. Or, actually I do, but it's hidden by my frustration with not being able to enjoy any of it myself. How do you cook and bake and make wholesome meals and just cook without potatoes or flour or sugar or pasta or rice or bread? I used to just open my fridge and pantry, pull things out and make a pretty respectable meal. Now I have to plan and make salads and soak beans all day or whole grain cereals over night. Low glycemic food is not convenience food. You can't just throw together a supper. Unless its eggs. I am sick of eggs.

Fool Proof Roast Beef and Right Living

Today at 11:30am I decided I was going to cook a big family dinner. My two close cousins were coming into town, I had a free afternoon and a roast thawed and ready in the fridge. It was super last minute but everything just worked!

(dinner for 9 please and thank-you)

I spent the morning at the Yarrow Plant Sale with my mom, sister and grandma and then invited them over for coffee and cake and cookies ( ahem yes at 10am) and to come look at my gardens. Also, my mom did my dishes and picked a bunch of pretty blooms from my garden for my kitchen! Lovely.

(These are all from my yard! So fun!)

(garden touring)

(Thank-you Momma!)

Until recently I have not had a green thumb. Not even close! I have actually killed everything I have tried to grow in my house except a Christmas cactus which can go a very long time without water and still come back to life. Early this spring I planted basil and lavender seeds in small containers in my house. To my surprise 99% of the seeds came up and are now living happily in bigger pots! The lavender will take a good year longer till I will ever see flowers. Talk about patience.
I also have spent hourssss weeding and pulling out buttercup ( ahh I HATE buttercup!) from my mostly overgrown rental house gardens. They are now looking pretty good and healthy! I just hope we get to stay here all summer so I can enjoy all my work! I actually am starting to feel knowledgeable in my gardens and really loving being out there on gorgeous, sunny days. I have planted a very small veggie garden of brussle sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, peas, sugar peas, swiss chard, tomatoes, dill, summer savory and mint. Ok that list doesn't make it seem small..but its like... four or six plants of each and the garden plot is verrry tiny. The herbs and tomatoes are in pots on my porch. Ohh yes and 12 strawberry plants!
Also, I am helping Jill plant her gardens (and to share in the harvest) at my mom and dads house. We expanded the previous garden so we could plant more potatoes and zucchini and cucumbers! Today we worked on weeding a insanely overgrown smaller garden where we hope to plant corn, pumpkins and squash.

Its great gardening with Jill because she knows sooo much and, as a bonus, I get to spend time with my sister. Jill went to UFV and got her horticulture certificate? diploma? I don't know...two year program thing. Anyways, she knows a lot about all sorts of gardening things so she it a great person to be learning from.

(Matching garden boots)

(Jam cat in the row of peas)

(Essie painted nails permanently caked with mud...also this is probably not good for my wedding rings)

After spending many hours in the gardens today, I made a super great dinner for my cousins, sisters and mom and dad! We had roast beef, roasted potatoes, roasted broccoli and zucchini chunks and a fresh salad. (wow so much roasting going on). It was a super easy dinner to feed so many people! (nine in fact). I did have help from everyone though. For dessert we had left over chocolate sheet cake, ice cream and vanilla sugar strawberries.

(easy, delish dessert)

(tossing broccoli and zucchini)

(medium- cooked roast)

  

Fool Proof Roast Beef

      While this does occupy your oven for quite some time, it also lead to a great, hands off dinner!

2-3lb Roast thawed and brought to room temperature

              (today I used a sirloin tip roast, but I have also used a prime rib roast and a rib roast with success!)

2 tsp Herbes de Provence
1 tsp Garlic Powder

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Pepper

3 tbsp Olive Oil

*any spice combo would do, this is my favourite right now* 

1. Preheat oven to 375 degree F. Mix together herbs in a small bowl.

2. Rub roast with olive oil then, while your hands are still slimy, rub herbs liberally into roast. Use all the herbs and cover the entire roast.

3. Place roast into a roasting pan fat side up ( if possible) and place in heated oven for 1 hour.

4. After an hour, turn heat off but leave roast in the oven for an additional hour this hour should end about 1 hour before dinner to be served.

5. If you do not need your oven, leave roast in oven till 30 min before serving time. Turn heat back on at 375 degrees F and heat till warmed through. Let sit on counter 10 minutes covered with foil, before slicing. With a three pound roast this should be about medium rare. If your roast is closer to two pounds decrease waiting in the oven time to 1- 1 1/2 hours.

6. If you do need your oven, remove roast from oven and immediately cover roasting pan. Wrap in a towel or place somewhere to keep it warm as long as possible. 30 minutes before serving place back in oven till headed through. Let sit on counter ten minutes covered with foil, slice and serve.

*cooking longer during the second heating time will result in a more well done cut of meat. Mine was in for 45 minutes and was medium-well done*

The Best Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Today I went to cycle fit (or some people call it spin class). I have been going since January once or twice a week. Its is a major cardio workout. Every time I tell Gary I have never sweat so much in my life. Except that one hot yoga class. That takes sweating to a whole new level. I was literally drenched.

I know. This is totally the best way to start a cookie post...talking about sweat. Appetizing.

The thing is, I need to work out. Often. Daily if possible.

I also bake daily. That means I eat baking daily. Spin Class is necessary.

True life.

I am soo tempted to make croissants right this moment. It is an all day commitment. And I don't even like croissants.

I just drank 20 ounces of chai tea and ate two of these cookies, and an apple dipped in natural peanut butter. I am a snacker. Speaking of snacking, I totally need to go to Trader Joes asap. They have the best snacks eveeerr.

The Best Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

(Based on Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip and Pecan Cookies from Smitten Kitchen)

1/2 cup softened butter or margarine

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oatmeal

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1) Cream butter and sugar together till light

2) Add salt, vanilla and eggs and mix for three minutes scraping down the sides of the bowl after one minutes

3) Mix flour and baking soda together. Add half the flour and mix till combined. When just combined, add the rest of the flour.

4) Stir in oats and chocolate chips.

5) Roll into heaping tablespoon sized balls and place on parchment lined cookie sheets.

6) Bake in a 350 degree oven. Bake for 10-15 minutes ( mine were perfect after 12 minutes) . Let cool 2-4 minutes on the cookie sheet then cool completely on wire racks.

Options: Add nuts (2cups, decrease oatmeal to 1 cup), Add orange zest ( 2 tsps), Add 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/8 tsp cloves with the flour. Doing all these additions will create the same cookies found on Smitten Kitchen. I prefer mine much more plain so I didn't do any of them!



Happy Birthday to ME (and my sister)

Today, April 18, is my 22 birthday and because I am a twin... it is also my sisters birthday.

 Happy birthday Jill!

This is Jill (annddd me). She is so awesome and a great gardener and can bake like nobody's business. She also likes flower patterned shorts and to embrace messy hair and Harry Potter is totally her thing.

 Last night we went to see hunger games because I have been dyyyyinnngg to see it. This was her third time! What the heck! By the way, Jill told me we could only go see it Tuesday night. Why? Because that's cheap night and " there's no way I am paying full price when I can go on Tuesday for so much cheaper!" I have lost that extreme frugalness apparently. Thankgoodness she still has it!

Because I love food, specifically sweet, homemade food, I decided yesterday that on my birthday I am going to eat good food.

Last night I searched through the blog Joy The Baker  to find exactly what I was going to eat for breakfast. I chose joy's blog mostly because she shares my love of making dessert into breakfast. How can you go wrong eating chocolate cake for breakfast?
Answer- you can't.

 But because I am trying to eat better. ( ahem no cake for breakfast) I decided to go with orange and chocolate scones and rice pudding.... Totally healthy I know!

Some people really don't like rice pudding, I on the other hand love it.
I could eat it everyday.
Preferably with only a few raisins and maybe a touch if cinnamon here and there.
But, to be honest, I have never met a rice pudding I didn't like.
The newest way I have cooked it is kinda like risotto... The rice is cooked in milk with sugar. Ummm sooo good!! There are also crock pot variations, oven baked variations, left over rice variations, custard variations. The list goes on.

Anyways I am sure you don't really care about the numerous ways to make rice pudding... Especially because this blog post is actually about the chocolate orange scones.

Oh man.
They are just so good!

Orange Chocolate Scones
Recipe from Joy The Baker

1 1/2 cups Flour
2 tbsp Sugar
2 tsp Orange zest
2 1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
6 tbsp cold Butter
1 large Egg Yolk
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp buttermilk (or soured milk)
1/2 cup Semi-sweet or dark Chocolate chips

Move oven rack To upper third of the oven. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Mix together flour, sugar, orange zest, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Cut butter into dry ingredients until butter chunks are very small and mixture looks coarse. I like to use my pastry blender, but you can use your fingers equally well.

In a small bowl combine egg yolk and buttermilk and beat till combined. Add to dry ingredients and stir with a fork till moistened. Add chocolate chips.

Use your hands to bring dough together, kneading a bit so it holds together easily.

Place dough onto a lightly floured counter. Flatten till 1 inch thick. Cut into four squares. I like to make eight smaller scones so I then cut the four large scones in half.

Bake immediately on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet at 425 for 12-15 minutes.

Best eaten the same day they are baked.

Also, after scones are shaped, you can place them on a cookie sheet and freeze until solid then transfer to a plastic bag and keep in the freezer for a quick breakfast treat!. Then when you are ready to bake them, preheat oven, place scones on a cookie sheet and bake from frozen. They may take just a few extra minutes to bake.

Freezing scones is always a good idea if you can not bake immediately. Even if your just waiting for room in the oven. Putting the scones in the freezer even for 15 minutes, helps to keep your butter cold (for flakier layers) and slows down the baking powders rising action (higher, more even rise of the scones in the oven) .

Sunday Morning Baked Oatmeal

Happy Tuesday!

Weekend breakfast in my house is generally nothing special. Almost always Gary has to milk and I stay in bed too long and then we are running around like crazy people to get to church on time. Once in a while though, I pull myself together and make bacon and eggs or french toast. There was even a few fantastic mornings when I would wake up to the smell of bacon and pancakes! Gary was actually cooking breakfast! Whhhaaatttt???

Yeah, that happened 3 Sundays in a row. I was impressed.

In actual fact, Gary loves breakfast, specifically bacon and eggs "sunny and runny" with toast and on a good day a few slices of french toast.

Well, this weekend I made baked oatmeal instead

This is baked oatmeal. If you haven't tried it, you should! Its great to prepare the night before and then throwing in the oven before you get in the shower. This is just a basic recipe that can be made even better by adding fruit, spices, nuts, or peanut butter. Yum!

Baked Oatmeal
Recipe adapted from Mennonite Girls Can Cook

3 1/2 cups Oatmeal
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Coconut (optional)
1/4 cup Oil
2 Eggs
1/2 cup Apple Sauce
1 cup Milk

Mix together ingredients in order given. Pour into a greased 8x8. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes. This is also great reheated and eaten for many days! Top with milk and sugar.
To make this oatmeal even better try topping with fruit, nuts, coconut, peanut butter, and what ever else you can think of!
* You can also mix all the ingred togther and keep in the fridge then bake in the morning. I like to crumble up the cooked oatmeal in my bowl before warming up with milk and sugar.

Banana Coconut Ceam Pie.

Its 10:35 on Sunday night.

Gary went to a guys night...so obviously, I baked.

I NEEDED to bake actually.
So, I made Joy The Baker's Banana Coconut Cream Pie.

This recipe is from her new cookbook which I highly recommend! I have made 4 things so far and have only had it two weeks! I fully intend to try every.single.thing.

This recipe is not on her blog as far as I can tell, but is probably worth buying the book for...um actually totally worth buying the book for.

Here is a bad picture of the pie I took with my ipad. Let me tell you. This looks not so pretty. Joys pie looks pretty. Mine is minus the whipping cream and good lighting. But I died from deliciousness. Before I had actually cut into the pie and had just licked the bowl and spatula and stuck my finger in the pie a time...or three, I thought " holy, I dont even need the crust! Just give me a spoon, I am eating this out of the bowl!" and to be honest, it would be so good that way. But the crust...just kicks things up 100 notches. All coconut-y and kinda chewy and totally good.

So now that I have told you alll about it, I am not giving you the recipe. Mostly because its not on Joys blog, and her book just came out, and you should TOTALLY buy it .. and then maybe come to Seattle with me ( and 3 other friends) for the weekend and get your book signed and actually MEET JOY THE BAKER! AHhhhh SO excited! Anyways. I am not an excitable person but this pie and joy the baker has just got me all fired up.

I need to get this pie out of my house but 9 am. Somebody else has to eat the other 3/4.
( um I only at 1/8th tonight...but you bet I am eating 1/8th for breakfast.)

Maybe I should divide it into 6 pieces and put them on plates and wrap them up and take them to 6 different people rather then just one? Because I really cant decide who I should feed this to.

Chocolate Toasted Coconut Doughnuts

Its been about six months since I wrote and posted my last blog post. I guess I needed to take a break and wait till I knew I could blog once in a while and be ok with one post a week rather then four. Four is too many! That is just too much food for two people to eat and for me to write about and be happy with. So I am going to come back and try and relax and just blog when and how I wanna blog. Ok?

Great.

I made Chocolate Coconut Doughnuts. Baked doughnuts actually, in a special doughnut pan.

If you have a spacious kitchen and a addiction to pans, like me, then I highly suggest you order yourself a doughnut pan. Your friends will thank-you, but your jeans...well, they will just get tighter. Sorry.

I am not sorry.

I bake in yoga pants. A while back, I read something about how women who wear yoga pants all the time actually gain more weight compared to women who don`t. Now this was probably not some special study or anything, but still. Doesn't it make a bit of sense? You would have no idea that your hips were expanding (or your thighs in my case) until it was much too late. I was just going to say something about hole-y crotch yoga pants, but I am not going there today. (Yes there has been such thing once in my life...they were my fav)

Anyways, I took the doughnut pictures with my iPad are kinda...blurry? Or is it me?

Here is the step by step:

 First, sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda

Whisk in sugar, nutmeg and salt. 

( I know nutmeg seems weird, but trust me, 

it is the difference between these tasting like 

cupcakes or doughnuts) 

Scoop two tablespoon of coconut oil into the dry mixture and rub in with your fingers until crumbly and well combined. ( You can totally use butter, but I lllooovvveee coconut oil! ) 

Kinda like this. 

(Note to self, yellow bowl + bad light = not good picture) 

Pour milk, yogurt, vanilla and egg into a small bowl or measuring cup and stir and until well combined. 

Pour liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir gently with a spatula until just combined. 

Think, muffin method. 

Fit a piping bag with a medium round tip and fill with doughnut batter. 

Grease doughnut pan and fill 1/2 full with batter. 

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 5 minutes. Let cool in pan for 1 minute and remove from pan. 

Let cool completely on a wire rack. 

Dip in a glaze of icing sugar and milk. and sprinkle with toasted coconut. 

Recipe adapted from Lara Ferroni's website.
She published a book all about doughnuts a while ago so she must be an expert!

Chocolate Cake Doughnuts with Toasted Coconut

1 cup Flour
2 tbsp Cocoa
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
2/3 cup Sugar
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Salt
2 tbsp Coconut oil
1/4 cup Buttermilk
1/4 cup Yogurt
1 tsp Vanilla
1 large Egg

1. Sift first four ingredients together into a medium sized bowl.
2. Whisk in sugar, nutmeg, and salt.
3. Rub coconut oil into dry ingredients until crumbly and well combined.
4. Mix wet ingredients together in a small bowl and pour into dry ingredients.
5. Stir carefully until just combined.
6. Scoop into a piping bag fitted with a medium tip.
7. Pipe into a greased mini doughnut pan.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 5 minutes.
9. Let cool in pan for 1 minute and then remove from pan. Let cool completely and dip in glaze or sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Optional: sprinkle with toasted coconut, sprinkle, nuts, what ever you like!
*Keep in an air tight container, best eaten within a couple of days.

Cereal

Every single day, Gary has cereal. Two bowls when he comes in from the barn and then two bowl right before bed. That is a lot of cereal. I have estimated that one large box, lasts about 1 1/2 weeks. I should clarify, he only eats Bran Flakes. There is no substitution. No Honey Nut Cheerios, no Shredded Wheat, no Honey Bunches Of Oats. Just Bran Flakes. 

 I do not like Bran Flakes. I will eat them if you make me, or if I decide for 5 minutes I want to eat healthy breakfast. Blah. You have to eat them sooo fast or else you have soggy bran-y mush and that is a consistency that I just can not swallow. 

Back 11months ago, when Gary and I got married, I knew this about him. What I didn't know was how this was only a glimpse into the crazy things he does. (crazy in the most loving way of course) 

I think in the past two weeks, I have said to him " you are just insane!" so many times...I can't even count. 

I usually laugh, shake my head, and then wonder what our kids are going to be like. 

When ever I tell Gary he is insane, his most common response is " hahaha honeyyy, its not that bad, your forgetting about how good I am to you hahaha, remember last night we went out for quality time and I bought you ice cream, you should blog about this. You are sooo funny when you are frustrated, your hair just bops around and you say funny things" 

ps. Quality time when he bought me ice cream was going across the boarded to look at cows and we stopped at a dairy store so Gary could go to the bathroom and I bought myself ice cream and then we looked at cows for 2 hours and then came home. Obviously, this was a date night...

Seriously, he says my hair "bops" around. and then he can't stop laughing.  I usually laugh too. It makes it hard being frustrated. 

Anyways. Gary's strict cereal  preferences are a metaphor for his life...unexpected, strange and a little over the top

And if cereal is a metaphor for Gary's life...

Maybe it is for mine too...

I bought Halloween Captain Crunch. Its like candy for breakfast. 

I would be lying, if I said the fact that the ghosts turn the milk green wasn't a selling feature. 

Marketing companies really know how to suck me in. 

My Cereal shelf also contains Mini Wheats

Honey Puffed Kashi ( Basically Sugar Crisp...with a little less sugar) 

Apple Cinnamon Cheerios

 I also have instant chocolate oatmeal and 2 varieties of granola. Unfortunately I do not usually eat cereal or yogurt or anything like that for breakfast. I much prefer pie. 

I am not sure what this says about me other then the fact the I like to eat sweet stuff. Perhaps that I am a bad decision maker? 

I really just wanted to show you my Halloween Captain Crunch. Its tasty. 

A Whipped Cream Disaster

The other day I made Gingerbread Scones. They were so amazing, and perfectly spiced and sweet, but not too sweet. I was impressed with myself and Allrecipes for another tasty dessert.

[gingerbread scone in limited day light]

I couldn't just eat a scone and be happy though. I wanted to improve my skills or learn something new. I decided to try caramelizing pears. Sounds easy enough. And it totally was. I didn't take any pictures, but basically you melt butter in the frying pan, throw in your pear quarters and soften a bit then add some brown sugar and cook till the sauce is thick and the pears are tender. Easy peasy.

Then this happened...

I just wanted to whip a little bit of whipped cream to top my tasty dessert. 

Apparently my container was a bit too small. 

My computer is still sticky. So is my phone.

Facebook is open...yes. 

Messy hair, grade 12 PE shirt, disaster kitchen...everyday life. 

It looks kinda gross. 

It tasted really good though! mmm

So finally, here is the recipe for the scones. Add pears, add whipped cream, or just eat with some butter and a pumpkin spice latte. Mmm. 

Gingerbread Scones, adapted from allrecipes.com 

2 cups Flour

1/4 cup Brown Sugar

2 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Ground Ginger 

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt 

1/2 tsp Cinnamon 

1/4 cup Cold Butter

1/3 cup Molasses 

1/4 cup Milk 

1 egg

Sugar  for sprinkle over top 

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, ginger, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. 

3. Cut in cold butter until it is the consistency of course crumbs. 

4. In a separate bowl, combine all the wet ingredients until smooth. 

5. Add to flour mixture and stir till just moistened. 

6. Turn out onto a floured surface and kneed a couple of times. If the dough is way to sticky, add a bit more flour about 1 tbsp at a time. 

7. Pat out into a circle about 1/2 inch thick and cut into wedges. ( I pat into a rectangle and cut with a biscuit cutter to get round scones. ) 

8. Place onto a greased or parchment lined cookie sheet. Brush with milk then sprinkle with sugar. 

9. Place in the freezer for 5 minutes and then take directly to preheated oven. 

10. Bake for 10-15 minutes until they bounce back slightly when touched. 

 * serve warm with whipped cream or butter, cream cheese icing on top would also be amazing* 

When "Bake Zucchini Cake" is on Your To-Do List, Your Bound to Get at Least One Thing Done

I need lists. I am probably the biggest procrastinator you know. I can waste too much time on Facebook, Pinterest , and blogs that I get nothing done for hours!

So I make lists. Every morning while I eat breakfast and check Facebook, I make my list of things that need doing that day. Usually there is at least one house cleaning item, dinner, some yard work and some impossible task that getting written down day after day and never actually gets done. ie. paint the living room, clean the fridge, go to the bottle depot ( I hate going to the bottle depot...is like...wahoo I am going to bring in all these bottles and cans I have been saving all this time and get some money and then I can feel awesome...and then you go and empty out the sticky bags and take all the lids off the bottles and sort all the different sizes and then bring them up to the counter and they ring it through..."and you get $4.67 back today, don't spend it all in one place!" gee...thanks...)  . Anyways, that was a little side note.

So yesterday I started my day by making a list...

 Yeah, its messy...but really who else was supposed to read it? For about 30 seconds I considered making a nice neat one and fakin' it for the picture...but this is real life. 

I like how I felt the need to clarify that I only "sort of" needed groceries. Meaning, of course, that I only needed eggs and cinnamon sticks. 

By the end of the day, I had completed all of the things on my list except cleaning the upstairs bathroom, and reprocessing my unsealed pears. 

I did find it funny that I added "Bake zucchini cake" to the list. Because really...since when did I need to remind myself to bake? It probably would be better if I forgot once in a while. Haha..not likely. 

Anyways, I made the zucchini cake. This was my second time and my oh my..its just so tasty. Just a little chocolatey, and a little zucchini-y and perfectly soft and tender and moist and really really great for breakfast. (But really, what cake isn't?)  Um on the topic of eating cake for breakfast, just the other day, somebody was quite shocked that pie is a regular breakfast item at my (and my parents!) house. I think I have a dessert problem. 

Ugh I keep getting off topic! So I made the cake. And its really really good. And you should totally make it. 

This is what it looks like. Kinda plain, I know. The actual recipe says to top it with chocolate chips, but you know me..always trying to cut down on the sugar, so I left them out. 

Actually I just forgot. And I found it totally tasty this way. 

This recipe I found through Tasty Kitchen  and is actually from another girl/lady's blog, so when that happens I don't generally like to post the recipe on my blog. So here is the LINK . I have not spent too much time on this blog yet, but it looks interesting! She even took step by step pictures! Yay. :) 

If you are still there...

I'm back!!!

Yes, after a 3 month summer break, I have decided I have some time to get back into blogging! 

The main reason for the lonnnggg break, was that I took over doing all of our book keeping work in June and when I began, I was already 6 months behind. So every minute I had of computer time was spent logging onto quickbooks and entering bills and invoices and cheque stubs.With the help of our accountant and his assistant, we are all caught up and brought up to date as of last week! 

My hope is, now that we are caught up, and the summer hay/farming rush is coming to and end, I should be able to blog about life again. 

Its time for a shower, I smell like cows from milking this morning. I think I am going to make something delish for dinner and then tell you allllll about it this evening. 

It feels good to be back! 

Sausage On a Bun

My husband is not a picky eater.

He hates carrots and doesn't like mustard. In other words I can make almost anything and he will never complain. 

His favourite meal, he claims, is sausage on a bun. 

How easy is that? 

Its a quick supper that takes very little time to prepare, and is really tasty and man pleasin'.

This time I made homemade Pesto Buns ( I need to make them again so I can post them!) for the Sausage on a Bun dinner, but you could totally use and hamburger bun or deli bun or even bread if you really wanted. 

Our favorite way to prepare them goes like this:

1) Buy pork farmer sausage ( my personal fav) 

2) BBQ sausage till nice and toasty

3) Toast buns while BBQing and slather with mayo, BBQ sauce (and sometime relish and mustard)

4) Slice BBQed sausage into chunks as thin as you like and pile a bunch on prepared bun

5) Top with gouda, cheddar or your favorite cheese. 

6) Tada! dinner is served! Of course adding a salad would never be a bad thing! 

Is this really a recipe? Not really. But we love it and eat it all the time and this is my blog so I can do what I want :) 

Now You Know

Can I share something with you? I mean its not that deep. It wont change your life or anything. 

I hate unloading the dish washer. I don't know why. I just do. So you can imagine, when today I found myself with a small pile of dirty dishes:

And the "clean" light glowing on the dish washer:

I sighed, ate a strawberry dipped in chocolate sauce, checked facebook, checked twitter, then opened the dish washed and did what I had to do. 

I know. Monumental.

Can I share something else with you? 

You may or may not know, Gary (my husband) and I moved about 1 month ago. We live in a super cute and good sized house on a dairy farm we rent. Its great. We had our whole old house all packed up and we were all ready to move. We had rented a farm and a house and we were good to go. About 2 weeks before we were supposed to move, everything fell through. We had to find a new place to live and a new place to milk our cows. We had 2 weeks. ( The reason our deadline was so short was because we had to go to Toronto to film dragons den! It was a crazy time) So 1 week went by. We still had nothing. Not a thing. By the beginning of the second week...we had 6 days to find a place to live and move. I was a big ball of stress. I walked around with my hands in fists constantly. I do that when I am stressed out. 

Case and point, above picture. This is the day ( or 2) before my wedding. There was lots to be done. LOTS. and  my mom made us stop and take a picture. My fists were balled so tight that day. There is about 8 other pictures that my hands look exactly like that. Sheesh I need to calm down. 

Anyways, this is totally beside the point. 

We had no where to move I was stressed out. 

Then we found a farm and it had a house! But the house was going to be rented. Shoot. Then the owner of the house talked to the soon-to-be renter about us moving in instead and the soon-to-be renter said that was ok and we could move there! This happened on Monday. We had to move by Friday. We had NEVER been inside the house. It was a bit scary. 

So on Tuesday we got the keys and I went in the house for the first time. Gary was on Vancouver Island delivering hay and two guys that work for us were loading up trucks to bring all our stuff over. 

The house could have been a disaster. It could have been a mess. It could have been stuck in the 80`s or 70`s or some other era. But it wasn't/ isn't. Its actually amazing. Pretty. Newish. Clean. Big. 

The only room that left me questioning was the office/main-room-off-the-kitchen-thats-weirdly-open-but-not-the-living-room room. 

It looks like and ocean. Sort of. There are waves. And orange trim. 

You thought I was kidding.

I mean, the waves are very nicely done. Perfectly shaped and everything. But really. Waves? The orange trim only goes up half the door. I don't know why. Sooner then later this needs to get painted. Though I am tempted to leave it. People think its funny... sort of. 

Oh and of course there are dogs in the ocean. See: 

Now you know.