Summer Sangria

This is perfect for an outdoor barbecue.  And it's particularly good for a big get together, as it makes a lot and isn't terribly expensive.  

My mom requests this almost every time she comes to visit.  And only a glass or two of this gets her giggling like a little school girl.

1/2 bottle orange flavoured soda
1/2 bottle lemon-lime flavoured soda
1 bottle red wine (don't bother getting something super expensive)
1 orange, lime and lemon
ice cubes 

thanks for the awesome pitcher Brandi!

For the sodas, we used Fanta for the orange flavoured soda and sugar-free Fresca.  We've used a variety of different things over the years, but tend to never use Sprite/7-Up or Orange Crush, as we find they don't give it quite the right flavour.   

This is super simple to make.  You just mix together a bottle of wine, and about a half bottle of each of the two sodas.  Then slice up the lemon, lime and orange and put them into the sangria.  It is ideal if you can let this sit for a couple of hours before serving, to let the flavours mix.  And let sit for a couple of hours.  If not, just stir it for a bit to get rid of the carbonation in the sodas.  Serve cold with extra ice.

Difficulty level: easy

The Ultimate Homemade Hot Chocolate

Before I get going on today's post, I just wanted to give a little shout out to my sister Ash, who has started her own sewing blog.  For any of you who are beginner sewers, or wanna-be-sewers, you can check her blog out here.

Now back to my blog ;)

A friend of mine said to me the other day that he likes that I "tell it like it is" about what it's like to be a parent.  In thinking about this later on, I came to the realization that, although I certainly don't shy away from talking about the challenges of parenting, I probably still do sugar-coat it a bit, depending on who I am talking to.  It's difficult to admit just how hard it is to be a parent.  Some days I feel like the only thing I have accomplished is having changed a million bums and taken many deep breaths to prevent myself from losing it. 

Let's face it.  Parenting is tough.  Even on a good day, parenting is tough.  And on a bad day, when you've gotten no sleep...????  Let's just not go there.

Do I enjoy every single minute of being a parent?  No!!!   (If you have yet to read it, Glennon Melton wrote a wonderful article about this subject, which I highly recommend).

Do I regret my decision to have kids?  Not in the slightest.  I wouldn't turn back time for the world. 

I've decided to start including some of my favourite moments from the week here on my blog.  I figure that this will help keep me centred on just how much I love being a mom, despite the craziness that this entails.  And it will perhaps also serve as a wonderful record of memorable moments with my kids.  Since I am terrible at filling out baby books...
Now, these are not all things that I should necessarily be proud of, but are definitely the things that have made me chuckle and kept me sane over the last little while.  So... (drum roll) my favourite moments of this past week include:

- Logan pushing at Jérôme repetitively until Jérôme finally got up off of the couch where they had been sitting together.  Logan then turned and looked at Jérôme with a big grin and said "see ya!".

- Logan muttering "ah fuck" repetitively as he tried to get a piece that didn't fit, into a container.  Though I tried to convince myself that he was saying "ah stuck" (or maybe even "ah truck???"), I'm not 100% sure that this is true.  I apparently may say this word a little too often???? Kate, I promise that I am working my hardest to eliminate this from his ever-growing vocabulary before we come stay with you guys ;)

- Logan ***finally*** turning to me in a moment of frustration and saying "help mommy" instead of screaming his brains out as he usually does.  Do not ask this speech therapist mom how long she targeted this before Logan actually began to use it.  It might lead potential clients to reconsider ever coming to see me.

- finding 3 month old Chloé with a pretzel hanging out of her mouth.

And on a random, but somewhat related tangent, check out this video of Charlie here.  Related because it's another reminder of the great joy of being a parent.  This is one of my all-time favourite youtube videos and, coincidentally, just popped up on the side of my screen as I was typing this.  I laugh so hard I cry every time I see this video.  In fact, when my kids are driving me bonkers, I should probably just come down to my computer and watch this repetitively.

Speaking of kids driving you bonkers... I've been having major chocolate cravings these days.  In fact, I think that they are temper-tantrum induced cravings.  So I'll be posting a few chocolicious recipes over the next little while.

This absolutely delicious hot chocolate comes from the November/December 2011 issue of Parents Canada magazine. We made it this past weekend.  And it was delicious.  And pretty quick and easy to make.  A real treat.  It should probably be called heaven in a mug.  Maybe it would have been if I had put whipped cream on top??

Now what initially attracted me to this recipe was clearly the option to make a peanut butter hot chocolate.  But that'll have to wait until I can eat peanut butter again.  But it was pretty darned good as is. 

My initial instinct was to leave out the sugar and then just add some in if I didn't find it sweet enough after the fact.  But I then realized that the sugar may not dissolve properly if not added and heated, as the first step of the directions recommends.  So I just went ahead and put it in.  And I'm pretty sure that it would have been too bitter if I had omitted it, as neither Jérôme nor myself found it too sweet.  In fact, it was just perfect.

1/4 C sugar
1/4 C cocoa
1/4 C water
3 C 2% or whole milk (I used Logan's 3.25% milk for a treat)
4-6 oz. (120 -180 g) semi or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used good quality 70% dark chocolate)

1.  In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sugar and cocoa until no lumps remain.  Whisk in the water and milk and set over medium heat; whisk occasionally until the sugar is dissolved.

2.  Increase the heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a simmer.  Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the chocolate.  If you have one, blend in the pot with a hand-held immersion blender, until smooth and frothy (otherwise, mix together with a whisk).  Serve immediately; rewarm if needed.

Serves 4.

Variation: for peanut butter hot chocolate, reduce the chopped chocolate by half and then add 1/4 C smooth peanut butter along with it;  let stand and then whisk or blend until smooth.

Difficulty level: easy 

Green Monster Smoothie

I will keep this relatively short, as we've had a busy day.  Zumba in the morning and then off to the Biodome for the afternoon.  We bought ourselves an annual pass so that whenever we're going nuts inside with Logan this winter, we can head out there to keep him somewhat stimulated.

This recipe was inspired by both my sister and Heather, who coincidentally, both started talking to me about green monster smoothies at the same time.  My sister had also mentioned that there are apparently lots of good recipes for green monster smoothies on Oh She Glows, though I have yet to check them out. You can check them out here at the Green Monster Movement. 

This also coincided with another friend asking for more recipes with hidden vegetables in them for her kids.  So it got me thinking that maybe it was high time for me to try hiding veggies in smoothies, given that both Logan and I love them.  Particularly since it's hard to get vegetables in him as a side dish for the time being.
I'm not quite ready yet to do a truly green smoothie like Heather does, with hardly any fruit.  Not sure that I ever will be, to be honest.  But I'll try to sneak more veggies into them over time.

Logan had a blast helping put the spinach in the blender

Though he enjoyed trying to take the strawberries out!

I don't have a specific recipe for my smoothies, but will try to indicate general quantities.  I used a good 4-6 very heaping large spoonfuls (soup spoons) of plain yogurt and then poured in some milk.  Just enough for there to be some liquid for the smoothie to mix.

I then added a frozen banana and a half and two good handfuls of frozen strawberries.  And then filled the rest of the blender with spinach.  Oh, and threw in about a teaspoon of honey, just to give it some sweetness. And this made enough for three of us for a good snack.

It's important that your fruit be frozen, as that's what gives it a smoothie texture.  If you don't have any frozen fruit, you can throw in a good handful of ice cubes instead.  

Ever since my smoothie addiction started many years ago, I haven't thrown out any fruit.  Anything that is going bad gets chopped up and put into little ziploc packages in the freezer for future smoothies. I've tried everything right down to grapes and so far haven't found any fruit that doesn't taste good in a smoothie.  My preference is to always include some banana or pear though, as I like the nice creamy texture these give to smoothies. 

I went through a phase a few years back where I was busting blenders every 6 months or so.  Until I found this wonderful WaringPro blender at Costco.  Just be careful to stay in the room to be sure the blade isn't getting stuck.  And if it is, just pour in a bit more milk or stir it a bit, if necessary.

I should mention that you couldn't taste the spinach in this at all!  This smoothie probably wasn't green enough to really be called a green monster smoothie.  But I'm going to keep adding in more and more greens until you can taste them.

De-li-cious.  Even Jerome drank one and liked it.

Just a little note too that you can clean your blender by putting a bit of dish soap in it, filling it about 2/3 full with water, putting on the lid and turning on the motor for a couple of seconds.  Which makes smoothie making practical even when you have two little ones running around.

And on that note, I'm off to make some homemade chicken fingers with broccoli hidden in them.  They'll be up here shortly if they turn out to be blog-worthy.

Difficulty level: easy

BBC: Wanna be in the sun drink(ing???)

Jerome and I discovered this drink while vacationing in Antigua many years ago.  That was the trip after which we were heavily questioned at customs because my wedding ring is yellow gold and his is white gold.  I guess they thought that was suspicious and an indication that we were smuggling drugs across the border!  When really, we were just smuggling a few extra bottles of rum. 

This drink is a Bailey's banana colada, known as a BBC in Antigua.  I've tried to get it on trips to other islands, but I've so far only been able to find it in Antigua.  It's very rich, so you likely won't be able to drink more than one.  And they're not super healthy, so you won't want to be drinking one of these every day if you're not on vacation.  When we were in Antigua, we had one of these each afternoon and called it our afternoon snack. These are delicious!!! Even my 88 year old grandmother loves them and asks for one (or several) every time we are together!  For a gluten-free version, you can use Panama Jack instead of Bailey's, though I find it slightly better with Bailey's.  

We whipped these up quickly one day over the Christmas holidays with my family.

Logan even got to enjoy his own alcohol-free version, with just coconut cream and banana:

Just up from a nap, sucking back his delicious drink.

2 bananas
1 can of coconut cream
Bailey's
ice
nutmeg

Be sure to use coconut cream in this recipe and not coconut milk.  Coconut cream is a bit harder to find, but is thicker than coconut milk.  You can usually get coconut cream at well-stocked grocery stores.  If not, you'll definitely be able to find it at any Asian market.

I don't have a real recipe for this.  I just put the two bananas and the entire can of coconut cream in the blender with a good handful of ice and a big swig of Bailey's.  Just add the Bailey's to taste and enough ice to make it the consistency of a smoothie or mixed drink.  Then sprinkle a bit of nutmeg on the top, close your eyes and enjoy it while envisaging yourself lying on a beach in your bikini!

Makes 4 large glasses.

Logan's first birthday bash

How is it that we celebrated Logan's first birthday only two weeks ago???? Wow... where has time gone?????? I feel like the days of me folding laundry in anticipation of his arrival were just yesterday...

And how has it already been a year since this tiny 6 lb. 4 oz. baby fell asleep in our arms??

Gone are the days of cuddling with him all day in bed. I often want to stay in bed much longer than he does these days. It boggles my mind just how quickly a tiny little helpless baby turns into an almost little boy (ok, I can't quite bring myself to think of him as not a baby just yet... one is still a baby, right?). A soon-t0-be-walking, starting to talk, full of personality, little boy. I'm sure that before I know it, he'll be heading off to university and I'll be wondering just where the time went. In the meantime, I'm trying to enjoy every single second that I get to spend with this precious little being. Life couldn't be any better :)

So my whole family (well except Scott, who was missed by all), came down to celebrate Logan's first birthday. We were joined by close friends and had lunch and a little party. Thanks to all who made the effort to come, as it was much appreciated, even if he had no clue what was going on (well maybe other than knowing that he was loving the sugar!).

My own decorations could never compare to Kelle Hampton-like standards. However, my sister Ashley may one day give her a run for her money and made Logan a beautiful birthday wreath:

and happy birthday banner:

to help decorate for his special day :)

And we picked him up some balloons to go with our monkey theme:

After spending an extraordinate amount of time decorating Logan's cake, I chose to make a variety of my quicker recipes for lunch. There's only so much that one person can get done with a one-year old underfoot :) So I served my mom's mac & cheese for the kids and tabouleh salad, chickpea salad, cucumber mango salad with cilantro lime dressing for the adults, to accompany the pulled pork recipe that I tried for a first time. Yes, breaking the rule of never trying a new recipe when you're having people over. But I was desperate for something quick, so I just crossed my fingers and prayed that it would be edible. And decided that I knew all of the guests well enough to just give in and order pizza if it wasn't ;) Lucky for me, we didn't have to eat pizza.

The pulled pork recipe comes from The 150 Best Slow Cooker Recipes cookbook. I doubled the recipe to make enough for the anticipated crowd... and have tons of leftovers in my freezer right now. Wow... I just realized that that means that the pork I made weighed about what Logan did when he was born :) I tried to get the liquid smoke at a local bbq store and was told that the only place I would be able to find it was on-line. And given that it was the day before the party, I just left it out.

Old South Pulled Pork on a Bun

1 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 onions, finely chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cracked black peppercorns
1 C tomato-based chili sauce
1/4 C packed brown sugar
1/4 C cider vinegar
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. liquid smoke
1 boneless pork shouler, trimmed of excess fat, about 3 lbs.
kaiser or onion buns, halved and warmed



1. In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook until soft. Add garlic, chili powder and pepper and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add chili sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and liquid smoke. Stir to combine and bring to a boil.

2. Place pork in slow cooker and pour sauce over. Cover and cook on Low for 10 to 12 hours or on High for 6 hours, until pork is falling apart.

3. Transfer pork to a cutting board and pull the meat apart in shreds, using two forks. Return to sauce and keep warm. When ready to serve, spoon shredded pork and sauce over warm buns.

This recipe is freezer-friendly.

I also served both an alcoholic and non-alcoholic version of a delicious and super easy lime sherbet punch. I mean, really, what one-year old party is complete without an alcoholic punch?? Ash got this recipe from her good friend Julie, appropriately enough, for my baby shower before Logan was born.

Lime Sherbet Punch

2 bottles of gingerale
1 can frozen limeade
1 C vodka
1 pint lime sherbet (after searching all over, I learned you can find this at Loblaws)

You basically just put it all in a bowl and the sherbet melts into frosty yumminess.

So once we were done lunch, we moved onto the cake. Did I mention how long this took me?? I originally was convinced I would never make a cake like this again, but now that it is all said and done, I'm thinking I might possibly attempt it again if I had someone to keep an eye on my little guy. I figure it must get faster with practice and I was rather satisfied with the (though not perfect) outcome:

You can get the directions on how to make this cake on the Wilton website here. And you can rent the pans for $2 at Bulk Barn.

Logan ate his whole entire piece, plus some ice cream. Can you say tummy ache?? My original thought awhile back had been that I'd make him a super-healthy, sugar-free cake, but as the time approached, I figured, who cares... he only gets a birthday once a year and a bit of sugar once won't kill him.



The cake is my grandmother's recipe that she got out of the newspaper years ago. Super easy to make. She says everyone always asks her why the name. This is apparently really a recipe of Mike Harris'.

Mike Harris' Chocolate Cake

1 1/2 C brown sugar

1/2 C vegetable oil
1/2 C milk
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
1 3/4 C flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 C cocoa

Mix all of the above, then add:

3/4 C boiling water

Mix. Bake at 350 degrees Farenheit for 30-40 minutes.

This recipe is freezer-friendly without the icing.

I got my icing recipes from the Wilton website, using their buttercream icing and their chocolate buttercream icing.

We also served an ice cream buffet, complete with waffle cones, crushed oreos, gummy bears, smarties, sprinkles, whipped cream and cherries. Obviously, for the one year old ;) I served the following warm fudge sauce with the ice cream. This is a recipe that I got from Katie years ago, when visiting her at her parents. I canned a bunch of these before Logan was born, so I was able to just pull one out and heat it.

Fudge Sauce

1/2 C butter
2 1/4 C icing sugar
2/3 C evaporated milk (or cream)
6 squares of bittersweet chocolate

1. Add butter, sugar, milk and chocolate into a pot and put in a double boiler. Cook for 30 minutes. Do not stir while cooking.

2. Remove from heat and beat. Store in jars in the fridge and reheat as needed. If you want a thinner consistency, add more cream (never water).

I also served some Glutino gluten-free cupcakes for my sister, who has Celiac's disease:

We then headed to our newly finished basement to completely spoil Logan with presents:

We all got a blast over watching Logan on his new Elmo riding toy, oooohing and aaahing for several minutes, as he excitedly pressed all of the buttons and played with the propeller. Gosh, life is simple when you're one :) And it's crazy how the simplest of things can bring an entire room of adults to laughter.

And so that's that. A party. Time spent with family and friends. Wonderful presents. Being totally spoiled. And my little guy is apparently, not so little anymore. He's one:

And he's even got his own bike and cellphone now to prove it:

He's also soon going to be a big brother, as I'm pregnant again:

This is now officially the longest post of life :)

So we're going to have our hands full with two little ones running around here shortly. As of early November to be exact. And again, we couldn't be happier :)