Kids' Day at the Farm

This morning we took the kids over to Maplewood Farm. Great place for kids.

Got a chance to chill with the ducks:

  
And to feed them:

Shared some carrots and lettuce with the bunnies:

And then, Logan's favourite part, the kids got to splash around in the Vancouver puddles:

And to enjoy some of mom's cinnamon bread that Kate had made (this was an all-time favourite of ours back in university):

Lots of fun was had by all:

And then we were back home for some delicious carrot soup and gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches.  

With a slice of chocolate sour cream bundt cake, of course.

Valentine's Day Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone :)  We are now here in Vancouver, incrusting our way into Kate and Aly's Valentine's Day celebrations.  

Ella and Logan started the day in matching pink Valentine's Day bibs for breakfast. 

And then the kids got dressed into their Valentine's Day clothes (thanks grammy and grandpa!).

We went for a lovely walk with the kids this morning, lattés in hand, as Chloé and Logan alternately dozed in the stroller.  All the while, Katie and I were participating in a long overdue chat-a-thon.  With Jérôme in back, rolling his eyes and wondering how two girls could possibly talk for so long without ever taking a breath.  Way worth the hassles of transporting two little ones on a plane.  There's nothing better than catching up with long lost friends.  Who you've never really lost, but realize how you've missed once you're back together again.

Once home from our walk, Katie quickly whipped us up a delicious lunch of goat cheese and veggies on puff pastry.  Which I will one day blog, as I didn't get any pictures before we scarfed the entire thing down.  And then finished it off with one of her Valentine's Day cookies.  Which I believe were intended for the kids.  But clearly, also enjoyed by the adults.

Kate then mixed up this delicious chocolate sour cream bundt cake for dessert tonight that she had found here.  As Logan napped again, for 2 1/2 hours... at the same time as Chloé... maybe we should fly to Vancouver and keep them up until 4 am (our time) every day...???

The kids then giggled there way through the rest of the evening, copying each others' every movement.  Aly came home with awesome heart balloons for the kids, which I think I'm going to start doing each year as a new tradition.

And then it was time for dinner and this yummy dessert.  I'm gonna stock up on all sorts of recipes to blog over the next little while during our stay, as Katie is a wonderful cook.

Hope you'll enjoy this when you make it and that you've enjoyed your Valentine's Day celebration, whatever that may be.  This comes from the Lick the Bowl Good blog. 


For the cake: 

1 cup cocoa powder, sifted, plus more for dusting pan 
7 1/2 oz. (7 1/2 squares or 230g) semisweet chocolate, finely chopped 
1 cup boiling water 
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda 
1 1/4 tsp. kosher salt 
1 1/4 cups unsalted butter (I've used light butter and just dumped out the water it produces when beaten)
2 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar (I've reduced this to 1 3/4 C)
5 eggs, lightly beaten 
4 tsp. vanilla extract 
1 1/2 cups sour cream 
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

For the ganache:

  

6 oz. semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter 

1/2 cup heavy cream (Katie used milk)

1.  Have all the ingredients at room temperature.

2.  Preheat an oven to 325 degrees Farenheit. Grease a bundt cake pan and dust with cocoa powder; tap out the excess. 

3.  To make the cake, in a bowl, combine the 1 cup cocoa powder and the chocolate. Add the boiling water and whisk until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth and blended. Set aside. 

4.  Over a sheet of parchment, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

5.  In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy, 30 to 45 seconds. 

6.  Reduce the speed to low, add the brown sugar and beat until blended. Increase the speed to medium and continue beating until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. 

 

7.  Add the eggs a little at a time, beating until incorporated before adding more and stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat in the vanilla until incorporated, about 1 minute. 

8.  Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the sour cream and beginning and ending with the flour, beating just until blended and no lumps of flour remain. Slowly pour in the chocolate-cocoa mixture and beat until no white streaks are visible, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the chocolate chips. 

9.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan, spreading the batter so the sides are about 1 inch higher than the center. 

10.  Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached to it, 60 to 65 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let the cake cool upright in the pan for 15 minutes. Invert the pan onto the rack and lift off the pan. Let the cake cool completely, at least 1 hour. 

11.  Return the cooled cake to the pan. Using a serrated knife, gently saw off any excess cake that extends over the edge of the pan. Set the wire rack on a parchment paper lines baking sheet. Invert the pan onto the rack and lift off the pan.

12.  Meanwhile make the ganache: In a heatproof bowl, combine the chocolate and butter. In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the cream just to a boil. Immediately pour the cream over the chocolate and butter. Whisk until the melt and the mixture is smooth. 

13.  Pour the ganache over the top of the cake, allowing the ganache, to drip down the sides. Let the cake stand until the ganache is set, at least 15 minutes. 

As Logan would say, "all gone"

Difficulty level:  moderate to difficult

Serves 16

Note: This makes a TON of batter and is designed to fit into a NordicWare 15-cup Bundt Pan. If you don't have one large enough then only fill up your pan 3/4 of the way full and bake the remaining batter into a smaller pan or cupcakes.

Variation:  for an even denser version of this cake, click here.  Directions are about midway through the post.

Granola Bars

I'm on a bit of a homemade granola bar kick these days.  Since I'm not eating nuts these days, I've been on the lookout for recipes that can be adapted to incorporate seeds instead. This recipe comes from Canada's 150 Best Diabetes Desserts.  I made these a few weeks back for snacks.  The remainder of them are still in our freezer.  

Logan went wild eating this while I was making them.  But then, in true toddler style, wouldn't touch them ever again once they came out of the oven... if anyone ever figures out the finnicky eating patterns of toddlers, let me know.  I'd love to hear if anyone has any secrets!

1/3 C unsalted butter, softened
3/4 C honey
1/2 C packed brown sugar
2 C old-fashioned rolled oats
1 C natural bran
1 C sunflower seeds
1 C dates, pitted and chopped
1/2 C pecans, toasted and chopped (I substituted pumpkin seeds)
1/4 C sesame seeds
2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1.  In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter.  Stir in honey and brown sugar.  Bring to a boil, about 3 minutes.  Simmer over low heat for 5 minutes.  Let cool slightly.

2.  In a large bowl, combine rolled oats, bran, sunflower seeds, dates, pecans, sesame seeds and cinnamon.  Gradually stir in sugar mixture. 

3.  Firmly press into a 13 x 9-inch baking pan, sprayed with nonstick spray, then lined with parchment paper.  

 

4.  Bake in preheated 350 degree Farenheit oven until golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes.  Let cool completely in baking pan before cutting into bars.

Makes 18 bars.

Difficulty level: easy to moderate

We're on vacation for the next couple of weeks, so there may be a bit of a blogging lull.  I will try my best to post from time to time nonetheless, but no promises.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies

This was my second attempt to soothe myself with some chocolate.  And I LOVE these!!!! In fact, as I type this, Logan is upstairs screaming himself silly in his crib and I am dying to go get one.  Chocolate makes anything more manageable.  And chocolate peanut butter...!!!  However, my footsteps will make him scream even harder, so I will have to content myself with blogging them instead.  I used soy butter in this instead of peanut butter, since I'm not eating nuts.  But I can't wait to try it with peanut butter post-breastfeeding, since it's already so delicious with soy butter!!

This recipe comes from Taste of Home's Prize-Winning Recipes. Which is the same little cookbook where my grandmother got her recipe for the delicious raspberry truffle brownies I've previously posted.  Which were equally delicious.

I doubled the glaze, thinking that 1 oz. of chocolate didn't seem to be much to spread over the entire pan of brownies.  And the two ounces just barely covered the pan, so I'd definitely recommend doubling the glaze.  Or maybe even tripling it, as it was still tough to smooth over the entire surface when doubled.

2 squares (1 oz. each) unsweetened chocolate
1/2 C butter
2 eggs
1 C sugar
1/2 C all-purpose flour

Filling:
1 1/2 C confectioners' sugar
1/2 C creamy peanut butter (I used soy butter)
1/4 C butter, softened
2 to 3 tbsp. half-and-half cream or milk (I used 3.25% milk)

Glaze:
1 square (1 oz.) semisweet baking chocolate
1 tbsp. butter
1.  In a small saucepan, melt chocolate and butter over low heat; set aside.  In a mixing bowl, beat eggs and sugar until light and pale-coloured.  

2.  Add flour and melted chocolate; stir well.  Pour into greased 9-inch square baking pan.  Bake at 350 degrees Farenheit for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the centre comes out clean.  Cool.

3.  For filling, beat confectioners' sugar, peanut butter and butter in a mixing bowl.  Stir in cream or milk until mixture reaches desired spreading consistency.  Spread over cooled brownies; cover and chill until firm.

4.  For glaze, melt chocolate and butter in a saucepan, stirring until smooth.  Drizzle over the filling.  Chill before cutting.  Store in refrigerator.

Makes about 5 dozen.

Difficulty level: moderate

Blackout Brownies

I'm going to keep this short and sweet, as it's been a busy week.  

Just wanted to share my favourite moments of the week, however:

- Logan incessantly telling me "careful", "fall" as I change his bum.  Clearly, if he would not throw a temper tantrum 50% of the time while he's on his change table, he would be at no risk of falling. I'm also clearly not the one who has to be careful, despite his constant reminders to me.  Maybe I should remind him of the time he wiggled his way right off of his change table and into emerg.

- Logan repeatedly screaming "want some" as I came out of the Tim Horton's drive through.  Apparently, the small handful of occasions I have gotten him a plain timbit while I pick myself up a tea has etched a solid memory into that young little brain of his.  Even though the last time he got one was over 2 months ago.  Sadly for him, this was a tea only occasion.

- Logan blinking in fear and covering his face in an attempt to protect himself from the water as we went through the car wash tonight.

Guess Chloé's gotta get older before I have some favourites for her. Though I did really appreciate her sleeping through the night last night and staying adorable quiet during my kinesitherapy session this week :)

I made these brownies couple of weeks back in an attempt to satisfy my temper-tantrum induced chocolate cravings.  Sadly, I overcooked the brownies, so they were not quite as delicious as I believe they otherwise would have been.  This recipe comes from 365 Great Cookies and Brownies.

As a quick aside, I am also super excited to have found this cookbook here while I was searching for a link for the above cookbook.  And doubly excited to see that they have it at my local library. Soooooooooo getting that out of the library the minute we get home from Vancouver.  Need to get back onto the whole homemade yogurt kick again.

Ok, back to the brownies...

1 stick (1/2 C) butter
3 squares unsweetened chocolate
1 C sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 C flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3 squares semisweet chocolate (I used dark chocolate)
1/4 C heavy cream (I used homogenized milk)

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.  Grease an 8-inch square pan and a 6-inch round in centre of a cookie sheet.

2.  In a medium saucepan, melt butter and unsweetened chocolate over low heat, stirring until smooth.  Remove from heat, turn into a medium bowl, and set aside 10 minutes to cool slightly.

3.  With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat sugar, eggs and vanilla into cooled chocolate mixture.  Mix together flour, baking powder, and salt and fold in to make a thick batter.  Remove 1/4 C batter; spread onto greased round on cookie sheet.  Turn remaining batter into prepared pan, leveling surface.

4.  Place both brownie pans in oven.  Bake brownie round 5 to 6 minutes,or until crisp.  Bake pan of brownies 12 to 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean. Slide brownie round onto a wire rack and let cool completely.  Set square brownie in pan on a rack to cool.

5.  Meanwhile, chop semisweet chocolate.  In a small saucepan, heat chocolate and cream over low heat, stirring until smooth.  Or combine chocolate and cream in a glass measuring cup and microwave on High 1 to 1 1/2 minutes, or until chocolate is melted; stir until smooth.  Pour over baked brownie in square pan.

6.  Break brownie round from cookie sheet into pieces.  Place pieces in a plastic bag and roll to make crumbs.  Sprinkle brownie crumbs over frosted brownie in pan.  Cut into 16 squares and let cool completely. Store in an air-tight container or wrap well and refrigerate.

 

The Attack of the Man Flu

It's been a grilled cheese sandwich and (no) cream of vegetable soup (defrosted from my freezer) for dinner kinda week.  And so far, I've eaten at Subway for lunch every day.  I suspect I may find myself there again tomorrow.

My plans to slowly get ready for our upcoming trip to Vancouver were derailed this week when Jérôme came down with the man flu.  You know the kind?  One of the most prominent symptoms is a complete inability to do ANYTHING AT ALL.  I mean, AT ALL.  It's particularly contagious amongst males. Women have been known to catch a similar bug, but for whatever reason, the symptoms affect the two sexes differently.  For instance, when I had it last week and two weeks before that, I somehow managed to still breastfeed Chloé and get supper on the table.  But they've never had to be in labour before (or really, even be pregnant for 9 months), so maybe just haven't completed the requisite training????

This has been coupled with both kids suddenly waking frequently at night.  And I also have a a week full of appointments, so I am out of the house almost all day every day.  And am trying to get a Shutterfly album compiled for the daycare board that I volunteer for, which is due tomorrow.  Thankfully, we don't leave on vacation until next Monday, so I should have a couple of days once Jérôme is eventually healthy again to get things in order before we leave.

But ouf, I'm exhausted!! So it's been a grilled cheese sandwich kinda week.  Yes, despite my obsession with cooking, we do also have those kinds of weeks. 

This, in part, explains some of my recent "mommy brain" incidents, including:

- driving right past the street Logan's daycare provider lives on, c with Logan in the car, and not even realizing it for a full 5 minutes;

- putting Chloé in a cloth diaper and her pyjamas at about 4pm yesterday afternoon and completely forgetting to ever change her diaper after that. She woke up in a pool of pee up to her neck (as did I, since we co-sleep!);

- accepting a friend's offer to try some new blueberry tea and realizing only after I had poured the water into the mug that I had already also put an English breakfast tea bag into the mug;

- turning on the wrong burner in the kitchen and only realizing it as the peanuts in the (thankfully metal) container started to blacken and fill the house with smoke - and I'd almost gone down for a nap while simmering my soup... thank goodness!!

Jérôme thinks I'm losing my mind, but I swear it's just lack of sleep.  And you've just gotta chuckle at all the brainless things you do, despite having a Masters degree and having previously been able to paint your toenails while making a soup and studying for a midterm...  I recently heard on tv that going 17 hours straight without sleep is equivalent to having a blood alcohol level of 0.05.  No wonder sleep deprivation is used as a form of torture!!  But I'm exaggerating... it hasn't (thankfully!!) been quite that bad. 

On that note, I'm off to have a relaxing bath and hop into bed early.  Sorry, folks.  No recipe tonight ;)

Vegan Red Lentil and Squash Curry Stew

This recipe also comes from the wonderful Oh She Glows blog. I particularly love that if your squash is already cooked, this literally only takes minutes to whip together.  So it's perfect for those nights when you realize you've forgotten to pull a pre-made homemade meal out of the freezer.

Jérôme and I both quite liked this.  Logan, on the other hand, turned his nose up at it instantaneously.  The minute I put it down in front of him, he passed it right back to me, saying "all done".  And then "fini", just in case I hadn't fully gotten it when he said it to me in English.  I got it kid.  I'm bilingual too.  In fact, we're the ones teaching you to be bilingual.  I just thought that if I ignored you, you might actually try to put some of this in your mouth. 

Now here's the thing.  I have recently become increasingly aware of the crap that Logan is fed day in and day out at daycare.  Like how they've told me that he refuses to eat whole-wheat bread there, so they just give him white.  Which just knocked my socks off because I do not ever, ever, ever buy white bread and he eats whole-wheat just fine at home.  In fact, he eats dense whole-grain breads, with added flax, sunflower seeds, etc. etc. at home.  But little monkey has figured out how to get himself some white bread when I'm not around.

And I've been told over the past two weeks how well he now eating, all of a sudden: "He ate a whole hot dog!", "he ate two chicken fingers and some fries!!", "he loves his chocolate muffins!!!", "he ate some meat pie!!!!".  The only comment I was even slightly satisfied with was "he ate his chicken and rice stir fry and even ate his broccoli".  Now that one deserves an exclamation mark!

My personal favourite was the time that I picked him up, his face covered in sugar, as he was snacking on Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  And his daycare provider went on to tell me how healthy it was, given that it was whole-grain (insert expletive here).  What just turned 21 month old needs hot dogs, chicken fingers, fries, chocolate muffins and Cinnamon Toast Crunch????  

Now don't get me wrong.  I'm not against him ever having any treats.  We gave him birthday cake on his first birthday.  And I occasionally give him pudding (sometimes this avocado pudding), or some baby cookies.  And on the odd occasion, maybe even a little taste of something sweet we're having.  But I don't feel that it needs to be a part of his everyday (or even, every week) experience.  No wonder he turns his nose up when I give him this lentil and squash stew or South American black bean soup for dinner.  What kid would eat that when he can shove himself full of Cinnamon Toast Crunch mid-afternoon???

Grrr.... that's just my little rant.  Although this definitely does bother me, I am choosing to just let it be for now.  We'll continue to offer him mostly healthy options and I hope that he will eventually learn to eat (and even like!) them.  And really, at some point, I'll be the one making both his lunches and dinners, so he'll have the option of eating or starving himself to death.  Which I guess means he'll eventually eat some of this healthier stuff...

That being said, when I served this as leftovers (picking all of the spinach out of his, just in case), he did take two bites of it before declaring he was "fini".  One step at a time...

1 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 sweet onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp. good quality curry powder (or more to taste)
1 carton broth (4 C) (I used low-sodium)
1 C red lentils
3 C cooked butternut squash
1 C greens of choice
fresh grated ginger, to taste (optional)
kosher salt and black pepper to taste

This recipe calls for the squash to already be cooked.  I cooked mine in a veggie steamer.  Simple as can be.  Just cut it in half, scooped out the seeds, and threw it in the veggie steamer until cooked (maybe 20-30 minutes??).  Then I let it cool and scooped out the flesh.  You've just gotta remember to put some water in the veggie steamer, which seems to be a bit of a challenge for me these days.  

What to do if you don't have a veggie steamer?  Well, you should get one.  It's the easiest way to prepare healthy veggie side-dishes with essentially no effort.  But if you don't want to get one, check out this link here on how to cook butternut squash in the oven.  You can get going on the rest of the recipe while your squash cooks.

My sister also suggested I use much more than the suggested 1 C of spinach, as she found that wasn't enough.  So I just dumped in all of the spinach I had left in my fridge.  And it didn't seem like too much (well, perhaps in Logan's opinion in was too much!!).

1.  In a large pot, add olive oil, chopped onion and minced garlic.  Sauté for about 5 minutes over low-medium heat.

2.  Stir in curry powder and cook another couple minutes.  Add broth and lentils and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and cook for 10 minutes.

3.  Stir in cooked butternut squash and greens of choice.  Cook over medium heat for 5-8 minutes.  Season with salt, pepper, and add some freshly grated ginger to taste. 

We served this with quinoa, to increase the protein content of the recipe.