Shhhh...

So. My kids like lots if others are hooked on a certain brand of Mac n' chews that comes out if a box. My oldest is lactose intolerant and I am trying to limit their consumption of meats and dairy. So today they wanted it. I made the "Mac" and then realized we had no milk made, and we were out I'd almond milk. Being the lazy momma I am, not wanting to make any. And thinking about the fact that get are eating, and I am feeding to them this crap, again, I added 1/2 a cup of apple sauce. ( one apple sauce cup really) unsweetened. And 1/4C of water. They lived it. I know my kids are low on their daily veggie count so hey. What a great cheat to get them to eat a bit more!! Some says I'm freaking brilliant! I think I could get away with a bit more in there too, but trying to ease them into it. ;)

Baby questions. Part one

PArt one, because clearly I won't get this all written with my own 4 babes....


Last week I had a long time client come into my salon. I have been doing N's hair since shortly before my oldest was born. While clearly with her eye on her impending nuptials, her soon to be DH and N have been having the serious baby chat. She will be a fantastic momma. No doubt about that. And I was honored that she felt she could ask me some questions that had been on her mind. The main topic centred around breast feeding. I am a huge breast feeding advocate. But I totally get that some people are not At all comfortable with the idea. And you know what, thinking back 10 years go when I was reading everything I could., I wasn't 100% into the idea either. But I gave myself a goal if 6 weeks to see if I could do it. As it turned out, it took me that long to get the hang of it and I am so glad for the time I put into it. To be totally honest, and I know this sounds wrong, but I questioned if I would be comfortable nursing a baby girl up until I held her in my arms. I'm not sure why I thought it would be any different then the boys. M.J. was the one that had a perfect latch right from birth.
Anyway, I've been thinking about what N and I talked about. And I got to thinking, if she had these questions and I had these questions and thoughts, how many others did too? I'm sure this has been covered, but here is my version of events.

I don't know if I will be comfortable with a baby attached to my boob.
There Is a chance that you may not. But there is a chance that it won't be weird at all. I think part of the "weird" is the sexualization of breast. And hey, they are there for that too. But you can give yourself the time and chance to get out of that mind set by getting lots of information. I know that was a huge help for me. The info is out there waiting for you. Read as much a you can. Talk to and seek out those who have had success and ask lots of questions.

What about hubby/partner?
So my original answer to this was there are lots of things a partner can do. Bring baby to you ( if you don't co-sleep. We do so Todd missed out on this one ;) ), change diapers, take the babe for a walk when your about to pull out your hair, give snuggles, get you a glass o water or snack, make supper. I can think of a ton of things dad can do when momma is nursing the sweet babe. Later I thought about our convo and asked Todd what he thought. I needed to know if he thought he missed out or I had taken anything away from him by being a breast feeding mom. So for the record. He says no. He loved that the babies were nursed. He enjoyed making sure we were comfortable. And, last week, while I was Working, M.J. Fell asleep on his arms twice. Todd says that more then made up for all the time she needed only me. It was so cute to come up and see them. My perfect healthy breast fed baby. All my kids have gone through stages where they want to be with momma more then dad and then stages where they want nothing to do with Momma and everything is Dad,Dad, Dad. I was glad to know Todd had been ok with the babies needing me. And Happy with his role as my support and baby snuggler during their momma time.

Colour fun!!

What better way to learn about mixing colours them to fingerprint!!! I mean, really, messy, sloppy and a learning experience. School doesn't get much better then that!! The kids mixed some paint colours up themselves and then we made a colour wheel using only the three primary colours so they could see how it really works. I think it turned our rather well. What do you think?

crock pot mushroom barley soup

This is a quickie for the lovely Ms. Melly!!
Based on the recipe found here.

I am completely trying to fall back in love with my crock pot.  Here is the Mushroom barley soup I made a full crock of today. Love that I can start it and have it ready when I am. Tonight is a busy one with C.J. and J.T. off to their scouting groups. above web site is filled with vegan crock pot recipies. I am so happy to have found it. The whole cooking one meal for Todd and the kids and then something for me with enough for all the kids to try, is getting a bit exhausting to think about. Most often then not I end up losing out and eating something that maybe I would rather not. So, I'm trying to make mine the main meal and then a little bit of something for Todd. Mostly since chances are the kids will eat what I make for me anyways. so, enjoy, and stick around. I will eventually keep this up a bit more.  ;)

MM MM Mushroom Barley soup in a crock.

• 10 ounces mushrooms ,
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 carrots, 
• 1/4 Med onion 
• 2 stalks celery,
• 1/2 cup barley
• 5 cups veggie stock. (I use home made. YUMM!)
• 1 teaspoon thyme (or 2 sprigs fresh thyme)
• salt and pepper to taste

So I like quick and easy for supper. So toss all this in a crock pot. set on low for 6-8 hours. A great filling meal ready when you are. (inexpensive too!!!)

I should add, this came out pretty thick and a bit starchy for me this first go round. so, I would also highly recommend properly soaking and rinsing your barley before hand if you think a head. I made this on a whim today. And upping the stock or adding water. I added about 8 oz of water when I was about ready to serve and let it get good and hot again! 

so, for some bizarre reason my 3 boys do not like sweet potatoes. we have tried giving them to them baked, mashed, fried like fries and chips mixed with other stuff. no go, they ran if you mentioned them. Weird right?!? At our local farmers market we buy these huge sweet potatoes One would easily feed the 6 of us. so really besides refrigerating the left over, which is a lot, what do I do with all this sweet potatoe. so, today I decided that there must be a sweet potato muffin or bread I can make. So surfing I went. I found several pages that all had muffins and bread loaded with tons of sugar, not at all what I was looking for. then, I foundit. the answer to my get the kids to eat sweet potatoes with out loading it with sugar prayers. Sweet potato biscuits. the original recipe is at the Ontario sweet potato  Web site. I, Of course, can't resist changing things up a bit, so here is my version...

Ok... and again with the no Photos.. so sorry. will post them when iPhoto loves me again.

Sweet Potato Biscuits

1 C all-purpose flour 1/2C Whole wheat flour 1 T baking powder ½ t. salt 3 T. coconut oil 1 C cooked and mashed sweet potatoes (i didn't peel mine, but do what  works for you) ¼ t. ground cinnamon 1/8 t. ground nutmeg ¼ C Almond  milk In a lg mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt.  drizzle the room temp oil into the dry mix. using the back of a fork mix into flour mixture until it's crumbly looking. you could use a pastry knife as well. this worked just fine though. add in sweet potatoes and spices. blend well.  Add milk all at once and stir with fork until mixture comes together. ** note I found this a very wet mixture** Roll out on generously floured surface to ½ inch thickness.  Cut with biscuit cutter or the open end of a drinking glass, which is my usual method.  Arrange on ungreased baking sheet Bake at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 minutes or until golden and puffed up place on cooling rack. theses little suckers are HOT!! So the kids went crazy for these. they even helped make them J.T. was in charge of the biscuit cutting! so, I will be making these again in the future! I don't mind them eating lots if the nutrition value is there! I think the only thing I would change is next time put the potato's through the ricer so they mix easier.

Pizza bread

YUM. I got this out of a cook book on my shelf that I have had forever. It is called "school Days Lunches"  by Jean Pare. It is from her company's coming series. Great book. Even though we homeschool I live to have easy to make projects for the kids that turn into portable lunches and snacks. Cause homeschooling is not about staying home!! This is a great recipie since it is easy to make vegan. (I generally make a vegan version) I will present it here as I make it and put the extras that I don't use in brackets.
Please pardon I have no photo's on here.. iPhoto is being a royal pain in my ass and I will get those up wen I figure out what the issue is!!!


1T coconut OR olive oil.
1C chopped onion
2 garlic cloves (org. calls for 1. we LOVE garlic...)
2t Paprika (I often skip this if I don't have it)
1/2t Pepper
(3/4C chopped Pepperoni slices)
1/2 C all purpouse flour
1C whole wheat flour
(really any combination of flour will do. Just need to make sure you have 1 1/2 Cups in there... i tend to try to use more whole wheat)
2t baking powder
1/4t salt
4 egg replacers (or 4 eggs)
3/4 C nutritional Yeast  (or 3/4C parmesan Cheese)
1/2C tomato sauce
1/3 C coconut oil in liquid state (OR hard margrine or butter melted)
3/4t dried Oregano (OR if you super lucky and have some fresh, I would totally do that. so 1T chopped)

You also need; a frying pan, a small mixing bowl, a LG mixing bowl, and either a 22cm (9") greased round pan or a greased muffin tin.

Ok I know that list looks long, but I promise these are super easy and you can substitute the extra's you don't like.

As a side note to the Oregano, I I happen to not have enough I just wing it with what ever spices smell good that day.

so, your going to take that first bit of coconut (or what ever cooking oil you are using) and heat it in your fry pan.
in the pan add your onion and cook until softened. then add in the Garlic, Paprika if your using it and pepper. Just heat it until it smells yummy (about 2 mins)
if you are using the pepperoni. add it now and cook until browned.  then transfer to your smaller bowl to cool. if not, then transfer and cool.

Hey! this is a great time to make a tea while everything is cooling. Or do something really exciting like throw in a load of laundry... Yeah, I'll stick with the tea too...

Preheat your oven to 375.

Put the flour, baking powder, and salt in the Lg bowl and make a well in the centre. add your cooled mixture from your small bowl into your well in the lg bowl, and then add in the last 5 ingredients.

I find this mixture very wet. so if your used to making bread be ready for it. I also find it mixes better when you flour your counter top and give it a quick knead. although the book says just to stir until moist. I found stirring left it not well mixed.

This is also a great time to add your extra pizza toppings you may like. I loved a few handfuls of mushrooms and black olives (rinsed and drained!) Just add until it looks good in the dough. go crazy!!

Now you can either dump it into your round pan or put it into your muffin tins. I fill my muffin tins about 2/3 of the way. This way they are a great size for small hands and make cute sandwiches if you chose to stuff them.
toss them in the oven and let them bake for about 20 mins. the tops turn a pretty golden colour and your should be able to stick a toothpick or fork through the middle and have it come out nice and clean. I've found the muffins took as long as the round. keep half an eye on them as all oven are different. and some have hot spots.

This recipe freezes awesome (if they last that long).
Hope you enjoy them.

Inside out Carrot cupcakes

 I know.. Another food post. Sorry. I love the kitchen!

So, this past weekend we went to the farmers market here in town and got a huge steal on carrots and apples. So Now the big question... What to do with all these carrots before they go bad. The kids have been loving them. they taste so good. But we can only eat a bushel of carrots so fast. This morning I was looking at them and realized we needed to do some thing with them fast. some were starting to turn. Ahh Carrot cake! But how do you easily store a carrot cake and only take out what you need.. Maybe something smaller... carrot cupcakes.. Perfect. I had most of a whole package of cream cheese left for icing and away we go. I've frozen Cream cheese icing before and know that it's fine.. But now how do I frezze cupcakes with the icing on them... I could ice them when I need them, but that defets the purpose of just being able to pull them out and thaw... ahh the icing on the inside.. Perfect. So here is my inside out carrot cup cakes!!

The recipe I used came from the King arthur flour site. I just altered it a bit to fit our preferences And I doubled it. so this is easily halved. But, like I said we have a whole bushel of carrots

• 4 1/2 C flour (I use whole wheat for everything!)
• 1 C raw sugar ( you can use reg. sugar. I happen to have raw.)
• 1/2 C firm packed Brown sugar
• 1T baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1T ground Cinnamon
• 1 1/2t ground ginger
• 1t salt
• 4 lg eggs
• 11/2 C water
• 3/4 C coconut oil
• 3/4 C apple sauce. ( with all the apples I made my own. lol)
• 2C grated carrots

(If your dividing the recipe, use either the oil or the apple sauce. or split both)
All the ingredients from the top to the salt goes in a big bowl combine them together.
your eggs go into a second bowl and beat them well. them add everything down to the Apple sauce. combine these all together. add the egg mix to the flour and spice mix.
stir everything together. Add the carrots and mix until combined.

Cream Cheese icing.
so this is the way I like cream cheese icing, it is a ton less sweet then traditionally. But thats just our preference.

• 1PK of cream cheese. (8oz)
• 1/8 cup coconut oil
• 1/8 C butter
• 1/2 cup Icing sugar
• 1T vanilla extract

Dump everything into your mixer and mix away until it looks a bit light. If you want this to be stiff enough to actually ice your cupcakes you will probably need more icing sugar.


NB: it is generally 4 cups, so you can go up to that amount. but it is really sweet. I never add more then 2 cups and just deal with it being a bit runny.

Put just enough batter in your greased or papered cupcake pan to cover the bottom.



Plop 1 1/2 T(ish)of your icing filling in the middle of each cupcake and then cover with more batter. ( I tend to fill mine to much...)

and then bake at 350 for 20 mins or until they are done.





OH so yumm!!

Sorting things out

As a side...
this took me several weeks to write and I apologize for the jumbled mess it is. it is unclear and not well written, and missing some parts.


In 2008 my grandmother died.
She is my mothers mom.
After battling several times with breast cancer and wining three fights, Cancer eventually won the war with her body. She fought for 7 plus years. I didn't go to see her in her last 5 months of life here. I was, at that time pregnant with my second son. I was asked not to go and see her so that she wouldn't feel bad about dying before our baby was born. She never knew I was pregnant. My sister (K) is an amazing RPN. She was able to help provide end of life care to my grandmother. she would stop by on her way to and from Clients and was able to send information along to us. After my grandmother could no longer stay at home, she went to a hospice. She was expected to be there for a week Grandma passed away 3 1/2 weeks later on May 14th It was just after Mothers day weekend. my mom went to Burlington to spend as much time there as she could. During that time Todd and I did her job here as well as our own. (I worked full time then running a salon.) my mom didn't have a job at that time that didn't allow for days off. So the responsibility was left to us to take care of everything at home. I would do it again. But I missed my chance to say good bye.

I don't pretend that I know either of my sets of Grand parents well. We lived 3 hours away. Not a fun drive. But in the past few years I began to get to know My Dad's Mom better. Began to find common threads in our lives. I liked that Grandma F talked to me like an equal. And I liked that when you asked a question you got an answer. an honest one from what I know. seeing the strong bond that my Kids have with my parents, And Todd's with his makes me crave a connection to my Grandparents as well.

 On April 3rd Dad's mother passed away. (when I started typing this she was still alive. When I originally got to this spot, She had been gone only a few days.) 2 years ago it had become apparent that grandma wasn't well. After several trips to the ER for various other complaints it was discovered that she had cancer. She had surgery and it appeared to have been erraticated. .
nearing the middle of last summer during a routine check up in the area of the surgery two small masses were discovered. K was then put charge of medical care for both of my Dad's parents By my grandmother at the suggestion of my Dad. After several appt's to decide what was to be done, it was decided that it was in fact a reoccurrence of cancer but likely so slow growing and she would probably have several (I think the number 5ish was through around) years left if she chose to not undergo treatment for the tumours.She was apparently very insistent that treatment was not an option. My Grandfather has had many strokes and medical issues in the course of the last 30 years that she had been his primary care giver and she was not wanting to be to incapacitated to care for him. At his insistence they packed up and left for florida for a few winter months and returned in March. A few weeks later and after two trips to the ER it was discovered that the cancer had moved much quicker then anyone could have predicted.  3 months at this point was an optimistic assumption. She would not leave the hospital. E-Mails flew from the finger tips of K to the family with up to the minute updates. Through all of this from the beginning we were and are blessed to have someone with such intimate knowledge. We actually knew what was really going on.  She knew the right questions to ask.  I hadn't seen my grandmother since last summer. I was making plans to go up to see her. What is it they say. life is what happens when your too busy making plans? We weren't able to make it up until the end of that week. I really wanted her to meet M.J. Tuesday morning K called and told me that I had 48 hours at the most. She knew my desire to get M.J. there. I know how selfish that is. Don't think I don't know. an hours later K called me back and got Todd on the phone and told him if we weren't already in the van on our way we wouldn't make it. I was just finishing with a client. So we sat and waited. What else do you do. after a short time I went and sat by myself with M.J. in my arms sleeping on the edge of my bed. I tell you I felt her. it was a brief moment. It moved by quick it was warm and comfortable, but then it was gone. And then the phone rang, and I realized what had happened. I'm not sure if she came here as she passed through, or if I just felt her relief. she had been asking K a lot of questions the day before about who would take care of Grandpa. I think she just wanted reassurance. I missed my chance to say Good bye. But I suppose she may have come to say it anyways.

Spaghetti bread!!

Ok, so I've had several requests. So here is the spaghetti bread I made the other night.
I used to make "baked sandwiches". It had been a long time though. I'm not sure why I stopped boredom I suppose. But a few months ago I was cruising "pinterest" and saw a pin called spaghetti bread. I. Love. Spaghetti. My mom cooks us what ever we want for dinner for our birthdays, and has for as long as I can remember. And for as long as I can remember I get spaghetti. So I pinned it and then clicked through to check out the recipe thinking maybe it was similar to a pizza bread I do for the kids. Nope. It is a baked sandwich with spaghetti in it. Crazy. Thinking who would eat spaghetti in bread... Then remembered my hubby likes it (oops sorry hon;) )I scrolled down an was unimpressed that is was made of frozen dough ( just not my thing. If its yours great!) then noticed that is was a frozen dough website. (I will put the site here when I am not on my phone..)
But I totally live the braid so anyways enough of the babble and on with the how to!!

The bread part!!

I used a white bread recipe out I the book that came with my mixer. I don't like white bread so I used while wheat flour. Really use what ever bread recipe you want. This makes two loaves of bread. I uses just under half to make this and them made a loaf of plain bread with the rest. If you want thicker bread on the outside of you loaf, use more and don't roll it so thin.

• 1/2 C Low fat milk. (I should note that I use milk made from skim milk powder. We live frugalish)
• 3 T sugar
• 2t salt
• 3T butter 
• 4 1/2 t active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 5 to 6 C flour (If you use whole wheat you won't use s much.)

Place your yeast in a warm bowl with your warm water. (If you are going to use a mixer, do this right in the mixer bowl) While that is dissolving, heat milk, salt, butter, and sugar over low heat in a sauce pan (duh) cool to luke warm. After it has come down to temp add to the yeast mixture hanging out in the bowl. Add 4 1/2 cups of your flour. If you are using a mixer and dough hook you will want to mix it on a low setting for just a few mins. If you are a hands on kinda person then start kneading away. Slowly add more of your flour until it becomes a smooth dough ball that no longer sticks to your hands or counter (Or bowl) Place in a greased bowl and cover. set aside to rise for an hour or until double in bulk.

Turn your dough out and divide into two. (I do one slightly smaller then the other for spaghetti bread.)

While your dough is rising you need to cook yourself up some pasta. and then mix it in with your fav sauce... OK now set is aside.

Get out your rolling pin and roll out your dough. I rolled mine to about a 1/2cm thick. I like thin sandwich bread though. so you kinda have to figure out what you like here. I rolled mine straight onto my stoneware sheet that I was going to put into the oven. you may have to roll it on the counter and then transfer if your sheet has an edge. (I didn't take photos) will next time Promise!!) lay your pasta right up the middle 1/3 of your dough. I also added cheese and extra garlic to the middle of mine. To do the braid make slits in 4-5cm increments up the edges of the dough sticking out and fold them over one side then the other. (check out the link to the other web site above until I get my photos.) I stretched mine a bit while I did it. Let it sit and rise for about an hour (Then I rubbed olive oil and sprinkled garlic powder and parsley to the top of mine.) I baked it along side my other half of the dough that I just popped into my stoneware bread loaf pan and let rise With it, for about 40 mins at 375(F)

You can do tons of stuff with this idea. CJ used to love individual sandwiches with ham and cheese baked in. It will go as far as our imagination. 

STRETCH.....

I do suppose its time to shake off the cobwebs...

Little princess MJ was born December 20th 2011. Much to the excitement of her 3 older brothers. Really CJ has wanted a sister since I became pregnant with JT, My second little angel. In fact, he was asking for one before that. I suppose we will see if they are still that excited to have a sister in a few years.. lol.
M.J. came a full 36 days early, so we spent the first 7 days in the special care nursery. so yes, Christmas kinda sucked. But on the plus side, our experience in special care was way better then last time. Seems as though they may have taken my letter to heart after my last stay.
We went grocery shopping Late Tuesday morning. I was feeling completely like crap. tired and sick. just totally drained. while we were walking (OK i was waddling far behind.) every so often I had to stop and catch my breath. some where in the back of my mind I was thinking to myself "Please don't be in labour, Please" I knew from having AJ that at 36 weeks I would be in for a hospital stay if the babe decided to make an appearance. and I really wanted to make it until after christmas to Know for sure that It would be a healthy birth. We were funny enough also using this grocery shopping trip to purchase all out birthing snacks and refreshments. Nice thing about having a midwife this time is I knew I wouldn't be starved during labour! By the time we were loading the groceries in the van I was pretty sure a call to my wonderful midwife would have to be placed. (I was told by her that if I even suspected I was in labour to call since I have a habit of being quick. The day before she had giving T a run Down on how to deliver the baby Should things progress really quick. I know they do it for everyone, but seemed a little more important considering. lol.)  I did however keep it to myself. I didn't want to freak Todd out before we got home,  I thought it would be best to not worry the kids, and lets face it, Denial. Being in labour was not in my plans for the day and, don't tell my dad I admitted this, I'm a bit of a control freak, but that's just between you and me eh? We get home and I leave Todd to empty the groceries out of the van and go lay down. I had been timing on the way home (Pretty sure he caught on to that) and after laying and staring at the clock for 30 mins, decided it was time to break down and call. as I was on the phone with my midwife my membrane ruptured and it was decided that to the hospital we would go. It was 3:00pm at this time. After being hooked up to a monitor to see what was what It turned out that my membrane had ruptured and I was having regular contractions, but they really weren't strong enough to do anything, but i wasn't going to get sent home either. It was decided that I would stay and be left in labour, But if things didn't progress on there own I was getting a drip in the morning. well that was not in the plan at all. Around 4:30, after having a discussion with my midwife she decided she would maybe go home and come back when things were progressing along. We talked about how the baby had to come in the next 12 hours as my waters had ruptured and she helped me come to terms with the fact that this baby was coming early whether I liked it or not. I discussed my concern from my last experience with the Special care nursery and she assured me that they would be there to advocate for me. So around this time I decided to see what I could do to gentle help it along. after several trips to empty my bladder and standing around my tiny assessment area it was decided to move us to a birthing suite. My midwife stayed on. This was around 5:00pm. My progress was also being monitored by an OB/GYN because there was concern that I would need meds to get it going the next day.  Labour SLOWLY progressed. By 7:00pm or so I was only 4 CM. In the past I would have had the baby by then. But she was still high up and not engaged. so labour on I did. The contractions were only 3 -4 mins apart, but they weren't really doing a lot. Todd and I were left alone a lot of the time which was nice. at about 8:30 After having a nice visit with a friend who works i the lab at the hospital, I decided I wasn't going to be in labour all night soI started to grab ahold of the IV stand and leaned over and started rocking. Thankfully, this did it's job and my contractions became more intense. By 9:30 the second midwife was called in. I had also gotten up on the bed on my knees and hung over the back for support. (Highly recommended by the way!!) In my past labours I was always been forced to labour on my back for the convenience of the drs's and nurses, so I was thrilled that not only midwife allowed me to labour how I needed, but the nurse that was helping for the OB/YN was helping me and had great suggestions for keeping me up. Mj was born at 11:31PM that night (Finally!) and had low blood sugar and had a low temp. But her breathing was fantastic. (in fact I almost didn't have to leave her in special care.) She was there for 7 days however. she developed Sleep Apnea type symptoms on the third day of the stay. I came home for 4 hours to see my boys open their Christmas gifts Christmas day and then went back to my care by parent room. Santa visited the babies in the nursery and they all got gifts and beautiful hand knit hats and boots. MJ was finally discharged on the 27th of december with a clean bill of health.