Mac and Cheese

Kids love mac and cheese, although not always my kids.  I find that making the sauce a bit time consuming and I am not really all that great at not goofing up the cheese sauce.  I found this recipe that makes the mac and cheese in two step and they both involve a rice cooker.

Rice Cooker Mac & Cheese

Adapted from: Weelicious.com 

2 cups Macaroni Noodles or other small Noodle

1 1/2 cups Chicken Stock

1/4 tsp Salt

1 1/2 cups Shredded cheese, I used a cheddar mozza blend

1 cup milk

3 or 4 drops of Worcestershire Sauce

pepper

*Add noodles, stock and salt to the rice cooker and cook for 15 minutes on the white rice setting.

*Then add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.  Cook another 20 (25 if you like a golden crust).  Check it after about 15 minutes to keep an eye on it since there is variety between rice cookers.

Pasta in the cooker, then add salt and stock, stir and cook for 15 minutes.

Then add the milk and the cheese and other tasty additions.  I would have added mustard powder too but I couldn't find it.  Stir ingredients to spread out the nummies.

The mac and cheese is still cooking.

All done.  It even had some golden bits.  I mixed it up so you can see the little bits of golden.  Delicious.  Rosie even asked for seconds.

`\

I made some chicken pot pie for Ladybug's lunches and of course, I didn't take any pictures so there isn't anything to show you but the nice thing that happened is that I had enough extra filling and puff pastry to make 6 small ramekins of chicken pot pies.  I decided to take them over to my parents for dinner and Rosie wanted to talk to Grandma, so we ended up inviting Grandma over for dinner as well.

What more would you want, all your immediate family over dinner.  The kids had a great time with the both sets of grandparents.  Ladybug ate the whole ramekin of pot pie, she liked the puff pastry the best but Grandma kept hers for L as long as she ate the filling first.  Smart Grandma :)

Tea at the Cottage

I had a thought today about a yahoo group that I was part of for a number of years.  It was made up of some of my friend here in Victoria, and some of the people they had met in Finland while on exchange.  It was a nice way to keep in contact, so that when E moved to Scotland and N moved to Seattle we still had our little group.  No one uses the group now but it came to my mine today

It was named for the cottage in Finland called Dragoon.  The cottage belonged to a Miti's family (Miti is now my sister-in-law, so I have one more tie to this group of people)  This is were E or N would vacation with Miti.  

I met with Pirjo and Miti at E's wedding, which was a fun experience and I am really glad I got to meet such nice and interesting people.  I got to meet a few more of the crew while in Finland for Miti and Stephen's wedding. 

Friends come into your live and sometimes they move away and maybe even move back again :)  But is always nice to know that you are friends.  There are some people who come into your life and you only see occasionally but it feels like the time between visits is insignificant.  I have such great friends in my life and I wish I could visit with them more, but I know that when we meet again there will always that bond.

This is a great gathering of memories.  My pink Muumin cup that was a apartment warming present from Miti's mum when we were visiting Finland for the wedding.  The tea pot is the same pot I made tea in every morning when were staying at my cousins house in Reading while he was in Victoria.  In the pot is my favorite Finnish tea called Emperor's Bride.  Even the kettle is a the same brand that I grew up using, it is a Russell Hobbs which used to be difficult to find in Canada (but now I can get it at Costco)

Ah, Muumin and some lovely Emperor's Bride.  Two Finnish delights.

Chocolate Salty Balls.

Ok, they aren't really salty but I couldn't resist making that a title.  These are my first attempt at raw brownies and boy are they good.

Very simple and quick to put together.

Raw Brownies

3 cups Walnuts

1/4 tsp Salt

20 Dates

2/3 cup Cocoa Powder

1 tsp Vanilla

*In a food processor wuzz the Walnuts and the salt until it is a fine crumb.

*Then add remaining ingredients until the mixture starts to ball up in the machine. (I had to add 2 more dates since it was a little dry and didn't really want to stick together well)

*Using a small scoop, form balls and then roll them between your hands until they are the desired shape.  (Obviously, I chose balls)

The walnuts are chopped to a fine crumb, I scrapped the bowl a couple time to stop it from turning the bottom into walnut butter. Th

I added the dates. but wait there's more.

I also added the cocoa and vanilla.

Doesn't that look so chocolatey

Here is the finished product.

Summer Traditions

 I thought it was finally time to take the kids to one of the places that was a treat to go to most summers.  I think we may have eaten there once.  It is not the food we go for, it is the Ice Cream.  They have the best soft serve ice cream and it is always mile high on those cones.  The Beacon Drive In, has been a Victoria staple for ever and now I got to stand in line at the outside window and order them their first Beacon Drive In cone.  

It is near Beacon Hill, so it is not that far from where we normally go.

Here are the outside order windows where we place out orders.  Surprisingly there is no one there when I took this photo but there had been the usual line when we ordered.

Rosie was quite appreciative of the ice cream and managed to get it all over her face.

Ladybug is a lot more dainty about licking her ice cream.

The kids were full of beans, surprising that, so they did a lot of running around and hidding.

The ice cream on her face was done just for the camera.  I managed to get her to stand still long enough to take a few pictures and she puts ice cream on her face.

Here is Rosie running around.

and Ladybug running around.

It was a great time and there was few explosions due to sugar so it as a win for the home team :)  We might have to do this again when J is back in town.

Mmm Balls

In preparation for Ladybug's start in school in a not that long, I decided that I should make some meatballs.  I did a great job putting it together the meatballs but I forgot the egg and I over baked them.  They were tiny so it didn't much matter that there was no egg but over baking did make them a little dry.  I think that will be okay if I put them in sauce but now I know.

Mini Meatballs

1 lb Ground Beef

1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

3 large dashes of Italian Seasoning

salt and pepper

glug of Olive Oil

1/4 onion

2 mushrooms

1 clove garlic

1 crust piece of Bread, 

2 tbsp Milk

*Preheat oven to 375

*In a bowl put the beef, Worcestershire sauce, oil and seasonins.  

*In a small food processor, Wuzz the onion, mushroom, and garlic until finely minced.  Add that to the beef.

*place the crust piece in the processor and wuzz until finely chopped, place in a bowl and add milk (just enough to moisten the bread) and then put it in with the beef

*Gently mix the beef and all the ingredients, try not to mush it up too much since that makes it tough.

*Gently shape into small ball and place then on a lined cookie sheet.

*Bake until just done, maybe 15minutes

Where the beef?  Here's the beef, with all the other stuff added to it.  I just mixed it gently.

Look at all them balls :)

They are probably about 2 tsp worth of meat mix.

All cooked up.

Oatmeal Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins

Ladybug wanted make lemon sauce.  Sauce is her favorite thing she wants to make, it is usually a random list of ingredients that she mixes in a bowl.  Instead, I decided that we should make muffins and Ladybug asked for lemon blueberry muffins - score!

I wanted to make a whole wheat muffins so in steps the internet to save me :)  Cooks.com was happy enough to spit out a few choice from which I decided to make Oatmeal n' Wheat Blueberry Muffins and then I made modifications.  I apparently I can't look at a recipe without modifying it.

Oatmeal Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins

1 cup Quick Oats

1 1/4 cup Buttermilk or 1tbsp + 3/4tsp of lemon juice and then fill up to 1 1/4cup of milk

1/2 cup Honey

1/4 cup Oil

1 Egg

1/2 tsp Lemon Extract

1 1/2 cup Whole Wheat Flour

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Nutmeg

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1 cup Blueberries

*Preheat oven to 375 and grease or line 12 muffin cups.

*Soak oatmeal in the milk for 5 minutes and then add honey, oil,  egg and lemon extract.

*In a small bowl add flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

*Add the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients until just mixed and then add blueberries.

*Fill muffin cups 2/3 full and bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Mummy's helper, she measured out the flour and I didn't even double check it was right, I though about it but didn't :)  As you she did manage to get some on her knee, but overall a fairly mess free exercise.

Here are all the wet ingredients.  I think I need a 3 or 4 cup measuring cup since I really like mixing in it; it make one less bowl to wash.

In the oven.

Don't those look nice.  I opted to grease the pan rather then line it since I still have to grease the cups. If I don't then I lose a lot of muffin to the liner.

They came out really well.  Only one broke coming out of the pan.

Crafty Project: Dream Board

I decided that I needed a bit more focus for what I am looking for with getting healthy and losing the baby weight.  To facilitate this I put together a Dream board.  It needs a bit of work still since it is held together with packing tape, but it will work for now.  

Currently the only thing on it is a picture of a blogger who is 3 months postpartum and is looking fit and back to her pre-pregnancy body/weight.  I am using this as a push to keep myself on track.  I still need to find other things that inspire me to keep doing it and things that show me why I want to succeed.  

How I made it:

Found a large cheap frame from Micheal's and I took out the glass.  

I cut out some quilting batting since that is what I had on had and cut it to fit the backing board.  I might need to look for something a bit sturdier then the frame's backing board.

I cut the fabric a bit bigger then the board and stretched it over the edges and held it in place with some packing take.  (I still need to find another alternative to that)

I cut ribbon to make the cross hatch pattern and taped it down as well.  (Next time I will weave the ribbon a bit more since that will keep the pictures etc in place better.

Placed the whole thing back in the frame and bob's your uncle.

School Lunches Planning

Ladybug is starting full time school in a little while so I have been thinking of what to do for her lunches.  She isn't really into food out but it is still important to get her to eat so she doesn't turn into a meltdown kid.  This has led me to do a bunch of testing with possible lunch time entrees.   I have noticed in the kids a proclivity for things on skewers, so I am attempting to put things on skewers to see if they eat it.  Here I have placed canned mandarins on a skewer since I know that neither of the kids like mandarins.  They ate them up :)

Cheese Pizza with fruit skewers and flower shaped carrots.  I see many bentos in my future.

Looks like something the kids might eat, right?

I have put some thought into what would be some good lunch options for Ladybug's school lunches, so far my list included:

-Shepard's pie with mashed sweet potato

-Butter chicken with rice

-Meat balls

-Pasta with salad dressing

-Stir-frys

-Veggies, noodles and protein

-Roll up (Tortilla, cream cheese, salami or lunch meat)

-Pea Butter and Jam Sandwich

On the side:

-fruit skewers

-yogurt

-smoothie

-veggies chips (either raw or baked veggies)

-crackers

After this I am at a loss.  I haven't packed a lunch for a very long time and since we don't usually have any leftovers I figure that I will make a batch and freeze it in appropriate portions so that I can reheat in the morning and put it in her thermos.

August Update.

The last week has not been that great for me.  I have figured out that I need to do my exercise otherwise I do a head dive off the wagon.  Exercise is my link to looking after myself.  I figured this out last week when I did feel like I did a good job eating because I wasn't able to get out for my runs.  I still did my karate but my runs keep my grounded.  Last Wednesday, J didn't get home until 9:30 so I didn't get a chance to run since I am not really into running in the dark.  Friday he left for the weekend and so again I didn't get a run.  Monday I had a great run and I felt like a million bucks but this week has also been a loss.

I tried to get out for a run this morning but J had other plans so I was just getting my shoes on when he left the house to take the dogs for a walk and then he went grocery shopping.  So this would have been okay had I know, I could have taken it into consideration and had a light snack but I didn't know what he was doing and by the time I figured it out it was too late for a snack since it wouldn't have had time to digest some.   So I would either have to go out with an empty hungry stomach or one with something in it, either way that would lead me to feel terrible.  I was so pissed.  I know I blew it out of proportion but I wanted my run and now I will  have to wait until later in the day.  But I will go for my run.

I have lost 3lb this month, which is not great but still I am happy that it is heading in the right direction.  4.5lb to get me down to the next level.  I just need to keep my head in the game and that is why I am posting.  This is a way for me to keep my head in the game and keep on track.

No Bake

Yesterday I wanted to make something and I didn't really want to spend too much time baking or cleaning up afterwards.  Here enters the no bake cookies.  So not so healthy for you, so I might have to fiddle with the recipe to make it more nutritious, but currently this is a sometimes food.  (I just need to make sometimes foods happen less often)

No Bake Cookies

2 cups Sugar

1/2 cup Butter

1/4 cup Cocoa

Pinch Salt

1/2 cup Milk

4 cups Quick Oats

1/2 cup Peanut Butter

1 tsp Vanilla

*In a sauce pan add Sugar, Butter, Cocoa, Salt and Milk.  Bring to a boil

*Remove from heat and add Oats, Peanut Butter and Vanilla.

*Spoon on to parchment and let cool.

All boiled up and ready to go.

Oats are added to the cooked mixture.

It makes this gooey chocolaty oaty peanut buttery goodness.

I used a disher to form the balls, which are a bit deformed.  I used to use a plastic coffee scoop and they came out great, although I think that I might have sprayed the scoop with oil first.

The last lonely ball left to pack away (I thing this one might not have made it to the container)

My day went really well, but that might be due to the kids being with their dad most of the day.  I got to clean off the junk counter since it had started to grow and multiply I decided that it was time to decluter the counter.

Dinner was a bit of left overs mixed with the bounty of my garden.  Swiss Chard, Zucchini, Onions, Garlic and Green Beans all from my garden topped with a bit of left over Satay covered in peanut sauce and some Mmmm Sauce and the last of the goat cheese.  It was so good that I had something similar with lunch today although it didn't have the chicken and sauce but it did have some corn cut from a cob.

Meltdowns by Proxy

Wednesday was an interesting day for melt downs.  We started with Rosie fulling stepping into a Terrible Two Tantrum which is nice since she is 2 1/2.  It just means we are on that side of 2 1/2 and that tantrums will be a new part of our lives where she is concerned.  30+ minutes of tantrums left a very tired kid who fell asleep at 10am.  I managed to get her home and in bed and she slept until 12pm, which left us the rest of the day to do stuff, fabu.

We had gone out for lunch at Baan Thai, and the girls eat quite well and since it was mostly veggies, I was okay with a less veggie filled dinner (more on that later :)   Ladybug spent the afternoon with J doing errands and we got together at 3 so I could pick up the girls to try out their new bikes.  Rosie's was still too big so I opted for the tricycle rather then a bit that is too big.  I wanted Ladybug to try out her new GyroWheel, which didn't turn out as I had hoped.  Ladybugs friend AJ did have a great time on the bike but L was too concerned about falling over that she wouldn't even try.  "I WANT TRAINING WHEELS," so she stole Rosie's tricycle and off she went.  Once the batteries ran out on the Gyrowheel, I resorted to the Scooters.   AJ wanted to ride them too but neither of the girls wanted to share which led to A having a fuss.  While I was trying to ask L to leave A alone while she calms down, ladybug erupts in her own set of meltdown and so it was time to leave.

I was fine with this until L started kicking and hitting me and then started kicking my new car.  So I took her boots off and she continued.  I will admit to falling into the blind hand of justice, which just shows that I was over the edge too.  So I made sure that L knew that we would  both be taking a time out when we got home, although she was trying to yell at me that she was calm and didn't have to have a time out  now.  "Unfortunately sweetheart, it is not about your actions now that I am concerned about.  You wouldn't listen and were kicking my car which lead to me telling you to stop or you'll have a time out when we get home.  you continued to kick so you now have a time out. Next time try to listen and know that I will follow through on the consequences if you don't listen."  Not fun for everyone.  I am not claiming that was the best situation or that I handled that well, but I handled it.

Earlier I had gone shopping for some milk and I, of course, came home with a few extra goodies.  Including a package of Indonesian Satay marinate.  I was interested to see if the kids would like this, since they last time I made chicken on a stick it went over very well for the 4+ crowd since it was a little spicy the 2 year old thought it was too spicy.  This claims it is mild, so I thought I would give it a try.

It was quite easy, mix 1lb of chicken although I used almost 2 lbs, add some oil.  I decided to add some ginger and some garlic, it made it smell really good.

I soaked the skewers and then threaded the chicken chunks onto it.  Then I barbequed them until they were cooked with a little colour.  Ladybug doesn't like the deliciousness of the slightly crunchy bits.

Don't they look delicious

Here is Rosie's dinner.  She didn't eat that much but did eat both skewers and some corn.

This is the Peanut sauce, that Ladybug help me make but didn't want to eat any of.

Peanut Sauce

1 1/4 cup Coconut Milk

1/4+ cup Peanut Butter

1 tbsp Fish Sauce

2 tbsp Lime Juice

Blend together until it is delicious.

For dessert I made myself a root beer float.  Some double churned vanilla bean ice cream and some nice A&W root beer.  Made a a lovely creamy float, so good I had another.

I have already taken some of the foam off.  It was great.