Bake: Blueberry muffins

I’ve been spending a ridiculous amount of time on Pinterest, especially during middle of the night feedings. It’s highly addictive.  These muffins were one of the awesome treats I came across. Delicious and nutritious.  My favourite combo.

Do: Restraint

I am not exaggerating: I have basically no self-control.  I over-indulge in sweets; I call people too frequently; I never say no to seconds; there isn’t a sale I can resist.  If I were one of the kids in that marshmallow study, you bet I would have stuffed my face full of that sugary goodness. Delayed gratification ain’t my thing.

This lack of restraint has generally worked out OK for me.  I’m a fully functioning adult…who did well in school…has a few degrees under her belt…had a nice little run as a teacher and by all accounts am professional, reliable, and good at what I do. Yes, I’ve made mistakes and sometimes my impulsive nature was at least partially to blame, but not holding back has not prevented me from being blessed with a lot of amazing-ness.

The thing is, this lack of self-control is not helping me in the ‘getting-in-shape’ department.  And it’s getting on my nerves. I wish I didn’t care that I am carrying around an extra 10 pounds from this pregnancy and 16 pounds from the previous one.  But I do. I know that I do because I know exactly how much extra weight I’m carrying — to the pound.  It annoys me because I have more clothes that don’t fit me than clothes that do. It drives me crazy that even though I like to shop, I hate buying clothes right now because it seems soooo wasteful (or so permanent — what if I’m this size forever?).

I want it gone…sooner than later, please.  Yet despite how much I want to be in shape in my head, I’m stuck when it comes to making it happen. I’m basically hungry all the time (thank you, breastfeeding & sleep-deprivation) and I have not found a good rhythm to get organized with healthy snacks. It is no easy feat to lose 26 pounds — not when you eat macaroons like the local patisserie will close without your business.  Not when you can’t imagine when to squeeze in exercise between baby cuddles and toddler tantrums.  So, I’m just going to put it out there…for all to see. Maybe that’ll motivate me enough to start getting my act together.

TWENTY SIX POUNDS. Starting NOW.

Eat less junk. Move more often. Simple, no?

Think: Resolutions

My best friend and I have been sharing a journal that we mail back and forth to each other since 2001. We’ve both misplaced it during our numerous moves around the country.  We sometimes write long entries describing our dreams and fears, and other times we glue pictures and include quotations that we are finding particularly relevant. And a number of times we’ve listed our goals for the year. It’s so fascinating to read the old entries and to respond to each other’s meanderings. That’s probably why it usually takes us at least a year to send the journal back once we have it.

I love making lists and I am particularly fond of the New Year’s Resolutions list. I don’t really care about whether or not all my goals for the year are met. I am more interested in looking back at the year that is about to wrap up and imagine how the next could be even better.  Of course, I’d love to ‘lose the baby weight’ — who wouldn’t? —- and cut down on sugar, put the phone and computer down more often, and maybe, just maybe figure out what I want to do when I grow up… but really I’d rather focus on the more whimsical goals: spending more time having long conversations with my husband; creating a fairy garden with my children; going on a family adventure to Iceland…

The list this year is going into our little shared book of ruminations.  And I promise, it’s heading your way, Mo!

Sew: Festive

Hope everyone is enjoying a lovely holiday season. We’re in the middle of pre-Christmas prep/frenzy.  Here are some of my favourite holiday crafts. Hopefully, we’ll have some time to get to them.

• Oh Happy Day’s Snowflake Garland
• Lovely Design’s Little Forest Quilt
• Button Wreath Ornament
• Thrifted Holiday Trees
• Sample Stitch Ornaments
• Recycled garland
• D-sponge Snowflake Garland

Bak(ing) with Toddlers

If you are a parent, or have the pleasure of spending loads of times with tots, you already know this: toddlers are unpredictable. One minute they are gleefully singing away to some made-up Christmas lyrics and the next they are bawling their eyes out, or screaming bloody murder because you messed up the words. To a made up song.

There’s really no point in taking it too personally or trying to control the situation since just as quickly as the little toddler monster appeared, he or she will disappear and be transformed into the most amazing, inquisitive and hilarious human being on earth.

Because these little guys are so volatile (they’re basically teenagers, without the pimples and low self-esteem), it’s best to handle any activity-planning with a lot of flexibility and an enormous amount of patience for all that is messy.

It may seem counter-intuitive then to have rules to approach any toddler-related activity, but for what they are worth, here are my rules for baking with a toddler.

1. Do some prep work

Have the recipe handy and all the ingredients ready.  Preferably, if it’s your first time baking with a little one, you’ll be baking one of your go-to recipes.  This Martha Stewart recipe for sugar cookies is a fave because it’s so easy and simple. Since it requires refrigerating the dough for at least an hour, plan a little dance party interlude, or some other distracting activity.

2. Get some toddler-sized gear

Little tools for little hands are key. Having tools that they can easily use, but that are actually cooking utensils, makes a huge difference.  No need to go crazy at Williams-Sonoma, a lot of stores sell smaller sized spatulas and other utensils that aren’t necessarily meant for kids.  I recently spotted some super cute and colorful tiny spatulas at West Elm. You only need a few basics: a child-sized apron, rolling pin, and a few spatulas, little whisks, etc.  Not necessary but totally fun: tiny cookie cutters, small cake molds, cookie cutters or cake pans in the shapes of animals or characters your toddler loves.  These Star Wars ones are awesome.

3. Relax (but keep it safe)

You will need to let go of any expectations of creating perfect baked goods.  Embrace the misshaped goodies that you will devour later; assume there will be a mess of flour…everywhere.  [I was digging flour out of my son's ear for a while after our last baking session]. That being said, there are a lot of opportunities for accidents if you’re not careful.  Give your child the room to take on tasks that are age-appropriate.  A little one can pour ingredients into a bowl, use cookie cutters to cut out shapes, mix and whisk, but probably shouldn’t be operating any of the electric equipment or using serious knives until they’re older. But they can help with the clean up from the start!

4. Enjoy!

The only thing more rewarding than eating some delicious and freshly-baked treats, is the experience of baking said treats with a kid.

Do (It Yourself): Christmas

One of my earliest memories is of pretending that I still believed in Santa Claus. I was three, maybe four.  I’m not sure how I found out the truth, but I remember feeling like I needed to pretend so that I wouldn’t hurt my parents’ feelings, or blow the whole thing for my little sister. What I do remember is that every year, Papá Noel, would get confused and drop off our gifts at my grandmother’s house and she would have to bring them over when she came for dinner.  We had a fake tree that we decorated with tinsel.  The family would be together, and one year, when my mom was pregnant with my youngest sister, I got roller skates and my uncle made smoke come out of a glass filled with ice.

Growing up in Argentina, Christmas didn’t have quite the same intensity as the holidays tend to in Canada.  It was just another part of summer vacation…and not the only celebration revolving around gifts.  We also get into the Epiphany down there, and on the 6th of January the three wise men bring more presents.  Then we have carnival and everyone gets soaked with water balloons.

Since we moved to Canada, I’ve always longed to have an uber-traditional Christmas.  With those little paper crowns that come out of crackers.  With popcorn garlands on a real tree.  With carolers and matching pyjamas.  The nice thing about starting your own family is that you can begin to cultivate new rituals and make them part of your shared history.  So, we buy a (little, but)  real tree now (and the house smells amazing).  Last year we did the Christmas cracker thing, crowns and all, but I realized that they weren’t really my thing after all.  And this year, I made an advent calendar.

I had been meaning to get to it throughout November, but got sidetracked every time I tried to make it out to the craft supply store.  Then, Emma posted her beautiful DIY and I was totally inspired to get my act together.

Materials:

• 24 clear-lidded favour tins
• card stock
• stencil and brush
• glitter paint
• 24 strong magnets
• krazy glue
• goodies to fill the tins

Martha Stewart produces such amazing craft supplies. They are a little more expensive than some other brands, but like her recipes, they never disappoint me. The adhesive stencils that I picked up for this project worked wonders and made it so much easier to pull this project together in one afternoon.  I also used Martha Stewart glitter paint and Christmas themed matte paper.  I went a little cheaper on the stencil brushes and a little too cheap on the magnets. I ended up having to double up on some as they wouldn’t hold up the heavier presents.  Unless you’re planning on filling the tins only with stickers, I would buy hardier magnets at the hardware store.

Step 1: Glue the magnets to the bottom of each tin and let air dry

Step 2: While the glue dries, trace and cut 24 circles to fit into each tin. My tins came with little clear plastic inserts in the lids and I used those to get the correct measurement.

Step 3: Stencil the numbers on the inserts.  While I love the way the final product turned out…and find glitter oh so Christmas-y. It would have been a lot faster and easier to simply buy number stickers or use a glitter marker to write out the numbers. Waiting for the ones and twos to dry on advent-eve (is that a thing?) made me a little nervous that I wouldn’t finish the project on time.  Another nice alternative would be to print the inserts. Here’s an example from Twig & Thistle.

Step 4: Once the paint has dried and you’ve removed the adhesive stencil, place inserts in their appropriate tin. I was aiming to have all the tins in alternating paper inserts, but decided at the last minute (and at my husband’s suggestion) to display the tins in a tree-shape which completely threw off my plan.  I still think it looks nice since most of the paper I chose was similar, but with more time, I would have mixed it up a little more.

Step 5: This is the best part. Fill the tins with all the little surprises you’ve collected.  Our advent calendar is really for our eldest son who will be three in two weeks. It was so much fun to hunt down tiny treasures and treats to greet him over the next month.

Happy holidays!

Think: Romance

There must be something going around because all my favourite blogs seem to be romance-themed today, in particular engagement-themed or wedding-focused.  I’m totally a closeted romantic.  I wouldn’t normally admit it, but I am kind of obsessed with wedding blogs. Despite my protestations, I loved planning our wedding (sometimes I faux plan our 10 year anniversary party).  I get goosebumps when I think of my hubby’s casual yet romantic proposal as we were going to sleep in Milan when I was five months pregnant.  I’m a sucker for rom-coms.

I know the proposals, the flowers, the pomp and ceremony are not the ingredients that make a good relationship work, but they sure are the sweet frosting.

Sew: Monsters

Just practicing putting some monster appliques on some old tees.

A little felt from the dollar store.  Googly eye. And presto!

Next time, I’ll try matching the thread to the felt and some alternate options for the eyes since the googly eyes are unlikely to survive the washer. Quick and easy crafty project = success!

Bake: A little deception

Before I had kids, I was adamant that once I did, I would not lie to them. Ever.  I wasn’t going to pretend that there is a man living in the North Pole who brings you presents in December.  I wasn’t going to drop them off at school for the day with an “I’ll be back in a minute.” I was going to be straight up honest: all the time.

It’s pretty hilarious to me now…because no matter how much I work at being honest, patient, kind and (did I mention?) patient with my toddler, there are times when a little lie is simply appropriate, or easier, or at least relatively harmless.  That’s how daddy’s Coca-Cola turns into an “adult drink.” Or grandma’s TV seems to be always broken.  It’s apple juice that’s 80% water and the disappearance of certain toys explained as their having gone on vacation.

Until recently though I haven’t been deceptive about meals—-I really didn’t need to be.  I want my kids to love all sorts of food and to enjoy healthy, balanced and nutritious meals and snacks.  And I guess I thought I’d dodged the picky eater nightmare.  Lil fromaggi ate everything with delight: bok choy, even — until all our dinners became a struggle to get him to eat at all.  Our boy with the hearty and curious appetite had found a new area in which to try and exert control. Of course, at school he eats incredibly well. Every day he has at least two servings of the quinoa-filled hippy healthy food they dish out, without so much as a tiny bit of whine. In desperation, I bought Jessica Seinfeld’s book: Deceptively Delicious.

I have been really impressed with what I’ve made so far.  Many of the recipes require a lot of advanced prep, mostly in the form of pureeing various veggies and fruits, but I recently tried her chocolate chip cookies (with chickpeas) and that only required opening up a can.  I didn’t even really lie, we baked the cookies together and he saw the chickpeas go into the mix…but he ate chickpeas! At home!  Without any struggle.

The sugar high that came later is another story!

Here’s the recipe as I adapted it from Deceptively Delicious:

1 cup of sugar

3/4 cup of butter (room temperature)

2 large egg whites

2 tsps vanilla extract

1 can of chickpeas (drained and rinsed)

2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate (chopped)

2 cups of flour

1/2 cup of old fashioned oats

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350.  Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Beat sugar and butter until smooth. Beat in egg whites and vanilla, then chickpeas and chocolate.  Add flour, oats, baking soda, salt and mix until a thick dough forms.  Drop the dough by the tablespoonful on the baking sheet about 2 inches apart.  Press with a fork to flatten. Bake until golden brown and just set (15 minutes in my oven). Transfer to rack to cool.

Do: Nuits Blanches

It has been four weeks since our Little Ninja arrived.  A month’s worth of “look at his little fingers,” and cuddles and my baby becoming a big brother, and of course sleepless nights.