Can you tell that I'm not on vacation anymore?? No
posts in almost a week! And I haven't been trying out a ton of new
recipes either (though I'm working on a brioche right now that, if it works, will be up here shortly).
I've
had a great week overall though. Busy, but great. In fact, it's made
me realize that I think I need to keep myself busier like this to
maintain my sanity. I feel that some weeks are so loaded with random
appointments that whenever I don't have to be out of the house, I often
feel like just relaxing alone. However, I realized how happy I was this
week and that I need to strive for more similar days of fun activities
for me.
Earlier this week, I tried out a great mom and baby yoga class at Cielo Studios, which was a fantastic opportunity to relax AND work out a bit at the same time.
The next day found me at the West Island Women's Centre, volunteering for their annual luncheon in celebration of International Women's Day.
For those of you who live out this way and are not yet familiar with
the WIWC, they offer a vast variety of courses to women of all ages at
extremely reasonable rates. Free preschool childcare is also offered
during the day while women attend classes, which makes it a fantastic
way for moms to get a chance to have some precious "me time", while at
the same time, working out, learning a new skill or working on
self-growth (they offer everything from zumba to quilting to
decluttering!). This is where I am taking the knitting class that I
talked about here.
I
had a lot of fun helping set things up for the luncheon, and
particularly, getting a chance to preview all of the delicious food!!.
One of the women (Donna) was even nice enough to give me a copy of a
cookbook that the Centre produced a few years ago. So stay tuned for
some recipes from there as time goes on.
As an aside, it turns out that Donna also has a blog, on books, which you can check out here. And, funny enough, the review that is posted right now is of a cookbook!
Friday
led me to a long visit with an old friend who I don't see near as much
of as I used to. And it was wonderful to reconnect.
I
also think that the beautiful mild weather is also helping me feel more
like myself, as I've been enjoying tons of long walks with the kids in
the afternoons (for daily visits to see the diggers, of course).
Spring
should keep me nice and stimulated, as I plan to continue my knitting
course and also sign up for a cake decorating and a muscle toning class
(talk about contradictory!!) at the WIWC if I can get to registration
early enough. I'm also going to take aqua-stroller
again, as I did with Logan when he was a baby. So I figure that
between these classes and my zumba, this should keep me feeling like
myself, despite the business of having two little ones.
I
made today's recipe awhile back, but never found the time to post it.
Still in a quest to make Logan eat more vegetables, I whipped up a
double batch of these carrot muffins. I particularly like this recipe,
as it has both carrot and bran, plus has only a little sugar and oil.
Pure health. In one delicious muffin.
This recipe comes from Dietitians of Canada's Cook Great Food.
1 1/4 C whole-wheat flour
1 1/4 C high-fiber bran cereal (I used Bran Buds)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 C grated carrots
3/4 C buttermilk
1/3 C packed brown sugar
1/4 C vegetable oil
1/2 C raisins
1. In a large bowl, combine flour, cereal, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
2.
In a separate bowl, beat eggs thoroughly; blend in carrots, buttermilk,
brown sugar and vegetable oil. Add to dry ingredients, stirring just
until moistened. Stir in raisins.
3.
Spoon batter into greased or paper-lined muffin cups, filling about
three-quarters full. Bake in preheated 400 degree Farenheit oven for
about 20 minutes or until tops of muffins spring back when lightly
touched.
Makes 12 muffins.
No comments:
Post a Comment