Tag: baking

Posted in Daily Life as a Parent

Tiny Boots, Twirling Leaves, and Mama’s Magic Moments

Posted on by Mama

We’ve had some pretty great fun this Fall – spooky foods (compliments of mama chef), silly crafts and great outdoor adventures. I truly believe that parents, especially us mom’s, are the memory makers for our children. Those precious little moments and things that we do for specific seasons/holidays to make it more…magical.

Who doesn’t want stuffed bell peppers with a Jack-o-lantern face. Really easy and simple to make and tasty too! She loved this dinner, she thought it was funny.

Mummy hotdogs anyone? Okay forgive me for the mayonnaise/mustard eyes, I had to improvise. But super delicious, filling and easy to make.

For Halloween dinner, we decided to have spaghetti and Monster balls, which she really loved the monster balls, she thought the eyeballs were funny. (They were edible, however we did not allow her to eat them).

There were plenty of baking days as well sprinkled in there, between making pizza dough all the way to cakes and cookies. It was non-stop kitchen fun with her these last two months. However the fun wasn’t just limited to the kitchen!

I’ve sprinkled a few of our crafts that we’ve done together through various posts in October, but I find all the patterns online. Please, if you want some wonderful craft patterns for kids, this is my go to: https://www.simpleeverydaymom.com/

I found her site by accident and it’s been such a great tool to use, so full credit goes to her. But I’ve also gotten ideas on Facebook (from mom groups) and on Pinterest as well. Here were the last two crafts we did in the month of October.

Isn’t it cute!? Valeria loved sticking the apples together (with some help from mommy).

This one was a lot of fun and really nothing crazy is required! I had a picture frame looking cardboard piece that was used from a package we received. It was perfect for the sheer fact it looks like a little frame for the tree. The craft was easy; draw a tree trunk and colour it, then cut it out, place packing tape along the back for the leaves to stick to, go for a walk and let your little one collect leaves to stick on. That simple! Valeria placed all the leaves herself, pretty beautiful if you ask me.

I also have been putting the month and year her crafts were made so we have that as part of the memory.

We also had two pretty great day trips to an apple orchard and a honey activity farm. Lots to do and it’s become a bit of a tradition that we go every fall. This is our second year and it was so wonderful to watch her run around through the corn maze with us, to pet/feed the animals herself and to just explore and play. Truly a blessing to be a part of it as a mom.

But that’s about it, we had a wonderful Fall season full of activities, parties, cooking/baking and crafts galore! Another Fall season in the chaos chronicles completed. Now…onto the Winter fun!

I hope you have a wonderful day or night wherever you are in the world!

Ciao!!

Posted in Recipes

Zucchini Bread

Posted on by Mama

I really wanted to make zucchini bread for a bunch of reasons. One is because I love zucchini and two I’m not entirely sure I made zucchini bread before. I honestly can not remember, but I’ve definitely had it before and thought it was DE-LIC-IOUS!

So, I got some zucchinis in the markdown section at a grocery store called Farmboy, but I got them for zucchini fritters. However, there were far too many for the fritters, so zucchini bread it was!

I found the recipe online, which I have linked down below after the photos, so I take no credit for the amazing recipe. But I HIGHLY recommend going and trying this one. I didn’t add the nuts, however I made one plain and one with chocolate chips. Both turned out wonderful and you all know that I have to put my little spin on things. I never follow a recipe completed….I know I’m insane! Just kidding, I just enjoy the trial and error to be honest.

Just so everyone is aware, I made these last Wednesday, so this post is a little late. Sorry!

So as you can see below, hot out of the oven, there are the two beautiful breads. The flavour was like a cinnamon bread, super moist and you really couldn’t taste the zucchini at all, just saw the little shredded strands throughout the bread.

Here is the link: https://www.spendwithpennies.com/zucchini-bread/#wprm-recipe-container-140149

A must try and definitely going into my recipe book! Hope you enjoyed, more recipe trials to come.

Ciao!

Posted in Health & Wellness, Recipes

Return of the…Mom-i

Posted on by Mama

As you can tell, my attempt at a play on words kind of sucks and Star Wars would be sadly disappointed in me right now. I’m also not a Star Wars fan, I know I know! Please don’t come for me, does my love for baby Yoda count for anything?!

It’s been a tough couple of weeks to be quite honest. I’ve been terribly sick with food poisoning, heat stroke, Iron deficiency and even parasites (YUCK!). Not to mention just within the last few days, my husband and daughter have been pretty sick, we think it’s food poisoning, but not entirely sure. There is definitely something going around this summer. Regardless, it’s been a bit of a struggle.

But I’d like to talk about the more positive points, instead of all the negative ones. Valeria is loving her swimming lessons, we are enjoying the summer heat (when we can and aren’t sick), we are spending plenty of time with family, I’m trying out new recipes (and tweaking as I go) and I’m trying to catch up on reading everything!

Below are the blueberry muffins I made today and I will link the recipe, if you are interested in giving it a go. I didn’t end up doing the topping because I thought it may be too sweet for Valeria. They turned out absolutely delicious! I will tweak this a bit next time and do a bit of experimenting by adding a touch of lemon to it and probably substitute the granulated sugar for brown sugar. I personally think brown sugar just gives a deeper flavour. Here is the original recipe: https://www.culinaryhill.com/blueberry-muffins/

I used frozen wild blueberries, I just let them thaw a bit as per the recipe. I found the blueberries at Costco!

Next recipe on the agenda is a Macaroni salad. If anyone has a recipe suggestion for this, please let me know!

That’s it for today and I’m glad to be back to writing. Hope all you lovely readers are doing well and enjoying your summer wherever you are in the world!

Ciao!!

Posted in Daily Life as a Parent

Runnin’ Around

Posted on by Mama

Not much to report today, I was planning a different post, but thought this was a little more appropriate for the day. The day started fairly early for my husband since Valeria decided on an early morning today

The morning went by too quickly; breakfast, nap, walk, laundry folded, lunch and than out the door to run some necessary errands. We needed to pick up a gift for my sister-in-law and a card, return a package from Amazon and pick up some grocery items. When we got home, Valeria played a bit on her mat and than off for another nap, but it wasn’t very long. I took full advantage and started making homemade pizza. My husband started grilling up a steak for Valeria and I.

A few weeks ago we went to the farmers market to pick up some things and they had a sourdough vendor there. He was advertising all sorts of breads and than in the corner of his booth there was a tiny sign that said “Sourdough pizza dough – 3 for $10”. Well you know I had to try that! So that’s what I used tonight for the pizza, though not sure I did it quite right. I stretched out the dough, topped it with the roasted tomato and garlic sauce I made the day before (really easy if anyone would like the recipe…maybe I’ll just do a post!) and than toppings. I left it in the oven for about an hour, but the dough didn’t seem like it was cooking. After an hour and 20 minutes I took it out. My husband said it was delicious, my mother said the dough was still raw and I was like “Crap, I think I did this wrong….maybe don’t eat it…” With concern plastered on my face that I might give them food poisoning. If anyone has made sourdough pizza dough before and has tips, please let me a comment. Any help is appreciated. All in all though, for my first attempt, I was pretty happy with the results!

We were planning to leave for my mother-in-law’s today, but the day just got away from us so we opted for tomorrow morning instead. Just finishing off some laundry and getting some things ready for our family beach day tomorrow near my husband’s hometown and we’re all set! We’ll leave after Valeria has breakfast and hopefully she will be a happy camper in the car. She has not enjoyed long car rides recently, which is a new little phase she is going through. But I’m hoping it won’t last long too long.

Otherwise, that’s all for today; busy but boring and honestly just how I like it. I hope you had a wonderful day wherever you are in the world!

Ciao!!