A Quick Update

Where to start?
Well, first off I would tell you that "Things are Good."
We are good, happy, more or less healthy (though we've had our fair share of bugs this winter!) and all-in-all in fairly good spirits.

Eloise is getting bigger and smarter everyday, not to mention a HUGE personality to go with such a teensy package.
Her words right now consist of:
- Bapa (papa)
- Hippo
- Balle (ball in french)
- Suse (soother)
- Numnum (for food)
- Uh oh!
- Mama
- Lait (milk in french)
- L'eau (water in french)
- 'gard! (for 'regard' or 'look' in french)

And I'm sure of a few others that I've forgotten off the top of my head.

We've had an insane amount of snow this winter - and it just keeps piling up! I can't help but feel very Canadian as we shovel off our cars and drive in all sorts of crazy weather (at 10mph mind you...)

I have been keeping busy with all sorts of little crafts and my herbalism. I've even started getting some orders for my winter skin balm, which I handed out some samples of.
It makes me optimistic enough to think that maybe I really could work at home and make a little income this way.
I've been enjoying my quilting and drawing and also learning how to even do some gluten-free baking!
While none of us are celiac (thank God) we do have some carb issues and hubby may have a gluten intolerance, so we're slowly cutting it back and seeing if it helps.

Jeremie is in his first contract as an IT tech and really enjoying it. It's quite the change from the welding shop, and it was so funny having the discussion that yes, you needed to wear nice slacks, and a button-up shirt or a nice sweater...yes, you need to wear a belt and nice shoes...

Poor guy, he's only ever wore clothes that could get grease stains, rips, tears or catch on fire as opposed to a nice, clean-cut look.

Although personally, I think he looks very handsome in his  "office clothes." ;)

We recently celebrated my 26th birthday this past weekend by going to the Museum of Nature and then out for some wonderful Indian food while Grandma and Grandpa graciously babysat for us.

And today we just finished celebrating Shrove Tuesday with family and ate a wonderful pancake dinner! My Mum and Dad thought I was a little crazy when I told them I wanted to make blue, red and green pancakes; but being the wonderful sports that they are (and used to my weirdness by now) allowed me to play with the food colouring!

(yes they did taste better blue)

Lent is now upon us and I'm trying to get into the season! I've decided to do the 10-10 challenge for the internet/computer usage. Meaning I can't be on the computer between 10am and 10pm. I'm also going to try not to make any meat dishes on Friday and really honour Lent this year.

And that's what we've been up to!

Coming up, my DIY project for table-runners, and recipes for bottling your own berry cordial and gluten-free bread.

Peace,

Breadmaker 100% Whole Wheat Coconut Oil Bread

Breadmaker Whole-Wheat Coconut Oil Bread

1 c. plus 1 T warm water
1 T coconut oil
1 T other oil (olive, sunflower, etc.)
2 T honey
1 tsp salt
3 c whole wheat flour
1 scant T yeast
Put ingredients in bread machine in order listed, or in the order recommended by your bread machine model. Run the dough cycle.

Remove dough and place in greased loaf pan. Let rise in warm place for 30 to 40 minutes.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. To prevent over browning, cover in foil after 15 minutes. 

I loved this recipe, the loaf is fluffy and delicious - and you can't taste the coconut oil at all! (though I personally really enjoy the taste.)
A great healthy alternative to the normal white. 

Enjoy!

A Bit Of A Blizzard

There is something about walking through knee-high snow, while it's falling sideways due to the wind that makes you feel so utterly Canadian.

Jeremie and I needed potatoes and broccoli for our dinner tonight, so we bundled up and trudged to the local butchers for supplies.

You know you're Canadian when you step into a blizzard and your first thought is: "Hey! It's not that cold out, only about -15!" (It was after the sun had set, so the temperature was dropping.)

I'm happy when it snows; not because I'm that partial to snow after Christmas, but because if it's snowing that means it's warm out!

At -30 degrees, it's too cold to snow! And I would much prefer the snow to that biting, freezing cold where it feels like your lungs can't expand properly, and there's a 10 minute exposed skin frost-bite warning!

The snow was more than enough to keep us in for the day!

It was lovely having Jeremie home, and being snugly in our apartment. I was able to get laundry done, make some nice chocolate chip cookies and for dinner, made Saucy Pork Chops, the easiest, most delicious way to make them, in my opinion. With them were nice red potatoes and broccoli. (The recipe is linked to my Mother's blog, where she's posted it!)

In other news I also just bought my first "nursing necklace." A nice heavy necklace with beads for the baby to play with while nursing, and hopefully will keep little Pip (our pet name for the baby) from tugging on Mommy's hair, earrings or bottom lip!

My good friend Celynne made this one for me. Everything is non-toxic and can happily be sucked on or chewed by Pip without me having to worry if (she) is ingesting anything.

Lol! No, I don't know what the sex is of the baby yet, but I'm feeling it's a girl.

Jeremie however, feels pretty certain it's a boy...well, one of us will be right!

Other than that, we have been pretty good here. Surviving the Canadian Winter, and wishing for Spring.
Peace,
- Jenny

Of Soups, Strudels, Bread and Bears

I have been very bad. It has been over a month since I last posted; but I'm sure you all know how much running around we all do before Christmas.

I will try to give you a quick update on the comings and goings of my household.


P.J. is doing wonderfully on he diet and has noticeably lost several pounds, for the first time since getting her, we actually saw her jump for a toy! All four legs left the ground! Amazing!

I have been trying out a new cookbook: "125 Easy Quick Breads" and made for dessert a cherry-filled coffee cake. It was lovely and crumbly, wonderful to have with tea or coffee.


The only thing about the cookbook I found odd, was that they generally called for a 70-80 minute baking time at 350. That seemed a tad excessive to me, so I would set the time for 45 minutes and check every ten minutes until it was ready.

I also made some homemade Challah, one of my favourite breads. This batch I hand-kneaded for about 15 minutes, I could have used my bread maker, in fact, my mother has an amazing bread machine Challah recipe, but I like kneading, I find it therapeutic.

A couple weeks ago we had a really miserable cold day. Jeremie decided he wanted soup - nice homemade chicken noodle soup. The problem was, we had no cooked chicken.

It turns out my husband is a great improviser, we made a chicken broth and threw in just about every root vegetable we had. Any spice that we thought might taste good, 1/4 cup of pot barley and noodles.

It was delicious! We ate it for two days!

Two weeks ago, we decided to go on a walk at a local park. We bundled up and took off on a Sunday afternoon. We were enjoying ourselves until we came to a big sign at the front of the main trail that read: "Warning, Brown Bears have been seen in this area, proceed with caution." And a big picture of a mean-looking bear underneath it.

I didn't feel like we were in any real danger, and Jeremie felt pretty confident, so we kept walking. Though that didn't mean we didn't jump with every snapped twig!

By the end of our hour walk, we hadn't seen any bears, or really much wildlife at all; but I enjoyed the fresh cool air very much, and the exercise was good for us.

My nature man:

The next few weeks are full of Christmas planning and Volunteer work. My mother every Christmas collects donations for the Salvation Army, she stands normally in a grocery store with her red Salvation Army apron and donation kettle, ringing the little bells happily.

After hearing about how much she loved doing it, I decided to give it a try at my own local grocery store.

I love it! I have a three hour shift and in a small town, you know pretty much everyone, so I get to visit or chit-chat with people coming and going.

Though, unlike my Mum, I decided to dress up like an elf.

I figured, if I was gonna do this, I was gonna do it right!

I decked myself out in red and white, wore little elf boots and a Santa hat and just had myself a party!

I was so blessed by seeing how generous people are, how happily they give and how much they enjoy just a smile and a "good morning!"

More than anything else, doing this has really put me in the Christmas spirit!

Peace (on earth! :D )

- Jenny

Lavender Tea Bead

Today was a cold, gloomy day. We've been having rain all week, and it just was not letting up!
It was definitely a home-cozy kinda day.
I tried out two new recipes: Creamy Chicken and Broccoli Bake, and

Lavender Tea Cake.

I had never made a dish that included lavender before, so I was a little hesitant.
I had some dried lavender, so I went for it. It didn't call for much - just 3 Tbs. fresh or 1 Tbs. dried.
I did however, make some adjustments to the recipe, instead of adding the whole 1 Tbs of flowers, I ground 1/2 of it, so it would be able to mix into the batter more evenly; then mixed the other half in.

Next, you had to simmer it in milk, to really get the flavouring out. I also had some dried spearmint in my stash, so a couple pinches of that went in too!


I baked it in a loaf pan, and finished it with a citrus glaze of lemon and orange. Finally a few flowers sprinkled on top for presentation.
I quite liked and the smell in my kitchen was wonderful!
It's edible aromatherapy!!

Jeremie also put together some shelving for me to go in my craft room! Yay! I can't wait to get that room organized. Thanks hunny!

A little while ago I brought my drum over to my folks' place to play a few songs for Henry. Jeremie's a great guitarist, and I like to join him every so often on my own little instrument.

Henry's only 2 and a half but that little guy sure has a gift for music!

He would beat in time with me as we sung: "Octopus' Garden" Of course, instead of being in the octopus' garden in the shade, we're "In an Octopus' garden with Henry!"

And here's a picture of P.J. attacking her new enemy in the apartment.

The printer.

She hates it for some reason, and any time it makes even a beep, she's right there to pounce on any moving paper.

P.J. The Defender!

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving! I know I did!

Peace,

- Jenny