Wordless Wednesday {Big Sister}

Meatless Monday: Cold Chickpea Salad

Today's recipe is a yummy cold salad featuring little hailey as a special helper. This recipe is quick, super easy and really nutritious. Chickpeas are really high in protein and fiber, and are great to use in a main dish or a side in a healthy diet. Our kids, like us, really, really love hummus.. and once I can remember to pick up some tahini, I will finally try my hand at making some. Until then, here is a cold salad to hold you over. :)

Cold Chickpea Salad

-4 cups of chickpeas, rinsed and soaked.
-1 Large carrot, peeled and grated.
-1 Large red onion, peeled and chopped.
-1 Clove of garlic, peeled and minced.
-1/2 Large red pepper, chopped. (Some roasted peppers would also be really, really good in here!!)
-1/2 Cup of balsamic vinagrette, or to taste.

Essentially, all the above ingredients get combined into a large bowl and mixed well, then refrigerated until it is well chilled. Easy Pea-sy. (har, har)
It's alot more fun when you have some little hands to help though. ^_^ Enjoy!

A very happy Easter to you & yours {from me & mine}

Our senses are tingling over here from a busy weekend. We've enjoyed the laughter in the air and the smells of summer. we were blessed with the most fantastic weather this weekend.
The kids are tired and happy to have one more day to rest up before heading back to school on Tuesday, while I'm happy that we have one more day to get back into our little routine.
The easter bunny was good to them, and we have a fridge full of leftovers and a ham & split pea soup bubbling away in the slow cooker.
Life is good.

I've given myself the past week to recuperate from a minor surgery and I'm happy to be feeling better. :)

Stay tuned for a special Meatless Monday tomorrow, with a little helper named Hailey.

Wordless Wednesday {Downtime}

It's been a quiet couple of days over here.

The littlest one had quite the fever over the weekend.. (we still aren't sure if he is getting sick, or just getting a few more teeth.. only time will tell.) so we've spent the past few days just trying to get back into our niche after several hours of sleep lost.

The weekend was spent playing catch-up with the laundry and doing a small bit of work around the house, but overall, it was far less productive than we would have liked.
Oh well, C'est la vie! There's always next weekend.. and the one after that..
Summer is so close I can nearly taste it. It was 21C here yesterday and we were outside in tshirts and life was good. There's one great thing about living in a mostly cold place, is that you appreciate the warm days just that much more.

daydreamin'...

Meatless Monday: Carrot soup with orange and ginger

So, before I dive into this recipe, I want to talk a little bit about stock.
Chicken stock, beef stock, vegetable stock.. whichever your preference, it is an essential in any kitchen. It is used as a flavour base for everything from rice to soup, and adds so much more to any dish rather than just using water.
Sure, it is readily available in any supermarket, but why buy it unless you have to? It is so easy to make.

What you need to get into the habit of doing, is to save and freeze your kitchen scraps... carrot end and peelings.. onion peels and roots.. celery leaves.. garlic peelings.. if you have a bunch of green onions that you know you aren't going to be able to use and are on the verge of being trash, throw them in. Did you roast a chicken? Keep and freeze the bones. All of these things may seem like garbage, but before they are, you can cook them down and use the flavours from them to make your own stock.




Simple as that. If you can get into the habit of bagging and freezing your scraps, you can have delicious, rich, flavourful stock. Just as good as the store-bought kind, and without all the added sodium and preservatives.

Now, onto the recipe.

Carrot soup with orange and ginger
2 Onions, chopped
2 Celery stalks, chopped
6 Carrots, chopped
juice from 2 oranges
2 1/2 Tbs of freshly grated ginger
4 Cups of vegetable stock

Cook onions in a small amount of vegetable oil until slightly tender. Add carrots, celery, orange juice and ginger. Cook over med heat until the carrots are soft.

Use a food processor, blender, or immersion blender to puree the mixture.

Add the stock and simmer for an additional 10-15 minutes, or until well blended. You can add some cream at this point, if desired.

Serve warm!

Twelve Months of Trenton (5)

Weight: Apprx 14lb
Length: aprx 26 Inches
10-20th Percentile for weight, 90th Percentile for height
Size: 0-3M onesies & pants & 3M hoodies & sleepers, some 3-6M sleepers Size 2 diapers
He is such a small guy.. considering his weight at birth.

Milestones:
-Chatterbox
-Has 2 bottom teeth!
-Can put things from point A to mouth.
-Squeals like a banshee
-Sleeps from 8pm-7ish am, waking once or twice
-Is starting to reach for people.
-Can roll from tummy to back & back to tummy.
-Giggles
-Eats feet.

Favourite things:
-Boobs
-Soother
-His crinkly yellow dog
-Bathtime
-Music
-His big fleece blanket. He wants it touching his face if he is going to sleep
-Books. He LOVES being read to.

DITL {just another day in the life}

6:45am. Baby T wakes up especially happy after a good night's rest. He hasn't been up since his 1:30am feeding and woke up babbling contentedly to himself. Great start to the day. We lay in bed nursing and chatting for 15-20 minutes until Kaleb comes in to say "Good Morning!" He joins us and talks for a few minutes to his baby brother before I help him get dressed and change T's diaper and then we all head downstairs.





Once downstairs I go into the girl-child's room to make sure that she is up and at 'em. She is. Dressed, fed, and sitting in her already-made bed, reading a book. I leave her to it and help Kaleb with his breakfast. We give Daddy kisses goodbye as he heads out the door to work.
8:25am, the kids are dressed in their outside gear and on their way to school. Bye kiddos! Have a good day!






I watch the kids walk as long as I can. T and I stand in the doorway and wave, "Bye-Bye!". We then plop down at the island. He sits in my lap happily munching on a toy while I eat my breakfast (lemon-poppy seed muffin, tangerine wedges and a coffee) and check my emails. We then head upstairs to make the beds.





It's now just after 9am. Trenton has his breakfast (milkies!!) and falls asleep while nursing. I put him down gently in his swing. SUCCESS! He stays asleep. I make the rounds. First the living room, then the kitchen. I wash the dishes from breakfast, then quietly sneak upstairs and get myself dressed. I get him some clothes and things from his room and sneak back down.







I pack up the essentials into the diaper bag and gently wake up the baby. Luckily he is in a good mood. I top him off with a quick nurse and then buckle him into his seat. Check the temperature.. it's gone up 6 degrees since I woke up this morning.. good sign! Off we go. :)







I make the 10 minute drive north to my friend's house. We had plans to go to a "Mommy-and-me" fitness program at the YMCA but unfortunately she doesn't have a membership and they got all weird about it so we made plans to go for a walk with the babies at the local zoo. We arrive in town. I drop my nephew's birthday package off to Rob to be shipped to Alberta and it starts to rain a bit. We decide to go for lunch at a local favourite, and then head back home.





2pm, at home. Nurse baby. He is pretty grouchy so we take a shower together. We get into comfy clothes. He lets me put him in his saucer and happily plays while I do a little spring cleaning.. today I clean the inside of the kitchen cupboards and clean the winter out of the mudroom.










3:30pm, kids arrive home and play outside, they each have a friend over. I put T down for some unwanted tummy time. Poor guy, up he gets for some cuddles. I put him in the sling instead and start dinner.









After dinner, the kids get showered. I braid Hailey's hair, then we all relax for a little while. Another nurse before bed for Mr T, then it's bedtime stories, tuck-ins, a hot beverage for Momma and cuddling with Dad on the couch watching The Big Bang Theory.










Rob and I retreat upstairs to bed and watch the news like old people.
Goodnight world.
xo