Friday, February 19, 2010

Dora, Dora, Dora

Ok, Mikah is obsessed with Dora the Explorer right now. So obsessed that I have this song running constanty through my head this week.



Could it be that I am a grumpy old Troll who wishes she had a bridge to hide under lately?

Is it in your head now too???

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Ground Beef... Blah.

After the baking this afternoon, followed by lots of cuddling of Lukas, it was almost supper time. Gah!!! Where did the time go? What was I going to make for supper considering that I hadn't taken anything out of the freezer. Ground beef was going to save the day, but the thought made me kind of sick. I really don't like ground beef and needed to do something other than spaghetti sauce, meatballs or hamburgers. Hmm, what else did I have? Rice and cauliflower. I just might be able to do something with this.

Curried Cauliflower Casserole
2 cups cooked rice
1 lb. ground beef
2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp corriander
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 med. diced onion
1 small head cauliflower
1/2 pt. sour cream
Salt & pepper to taste

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Cook rice so that you have 2 cups of cooked rice.
- Saute beef and onion . Salt and pepper lightly. Add curry powder, corriander and turmeric.
- Steam cauliflower until tender, but not over cooked.
- Take a casserole dich and mix beef, rice and cauliflower. Layer sour cream over top.
-Bake for 25 minutes.

~I think it would be even better if topped with plain yogurt instead of sour cream but it was still pretty darn good. Alek didn't even complain about the cauliflower, and they all loved the spice.~

Barb's Boy's Banana Bread

We're in the middle of our February Break here, which means that 3 boys and I are rambling around the house. Well, we should be if the littlest boy wasn't very very sick. Since Friday the house has been filled with horrible smells, crying, wimpering and bad behaviour from the older two from being cooped up and not having enough parental attention.

Today would be the end of all that, I decided! Enough is enough. But how to turn our blues around??? Baking, of course! We were in need of some serious comfort food baking and what comforts better than banana bread? So, we came up with this recipe, which is fantastic if I do say so myself. The only thing that would have made it better would be if I actually had the chopped walnuts that I was imagining were in the freezer. Oh well, I'll eat it any way. This recipe makes a lot, but you will be wanting a lot. Enjoy!

Barb's Boy's Banana Bread
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2  cups white sugar
2 eggs
4 or 5 ripe bananas
4 cups of flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts

- Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Mix the butter and white sugar until creamy. Add the eggs and mix until well blended. Mix in the banana's. Pour in the flour, baking soda, salt. Stir to incorporate it into the wet mixture. Add in the sour cream and brown sugar; mix until well blended. Stir in the walnuts.
- Pour mixture into 2 or 3 well greased loaf pans (depending on their size). Bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes depending on your oven.

Try to contain yourself until the banana bread cools enough so that you can eat it without burning your mouth. Oh, and make sure that you slather your piece with butter before you eat it.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Celebrate The Boy!

I love crafty projects. When I have the time (and my sewing room is clean), I could spend hours whipping up some wonderful things for my kids. The only problem, aside from my room never being clean and never having enough time, I have 3 boys. It's hard to find and think of wonderful projects to do for them. I try, really I do but I think I've made more things for my 2 neices lately than for my boys. Sad but true.

Then, after blog-hopping late last night, TA-DA, I discovered that Dana over at MADE has dedicated the whole month of February to projects for boys. Yay! Click on the button on the side and you will be able to see all the wonderful projects for yourself. The projects are boy-worthy and the tutorials are fantastic.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

New Canadian Indy Music

If you know me, you'll know just how much I lurve the Canadian Indy music scene. I've been sadly neglecting my musical needs lately, so here are my new favorite tracks. Check out my playlist; pay special attention to The New Lightweights, Hawksley Workman, and Kathleen Edwards.

http://radio3.cbc.ca/#/playlists/playlist.aspx

Who do you love???

Work Inappropriateness

I'm pretty sure that someone at work has a crush on me.

Does, "I was just going to turn you on," sound appropriate for the work place?

I think not.

I'm feeling harrassed.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

DIY Sweater Boots

O.M.G! Look at what I just found! Urban Threads has the most amazing and in-depth tutorial for making your own sweater boots out of recycled materials. I have been wanting a pair of these, but haven't been able to part with the cash to actually buy some. This sounds better, and we all know how much I lurrve a DIY project. Grab the tutorial for yourself here. I'm thinking vintage buttons instead of embroidery though...


p.s.   Heather be prepared for this project when you come to visit this weekend :)

Monday, February 1, 2010

Vehicular Woes

The past few weeks have not been great for our poor vehicles. Let's see...
  • first the car was involved in a middle of the night hit and run where the front end was smashed in. We figure it must have happened while the kids were up, because who could hear anything outside over their racket;
  • then about a week later, the van was broken into and someone made off with my purse that I had stupidly forgotten stashed between the seats. Thank god for the wonderful lady down the street who not only found my purse in the morning, but also scoured the street and picked up all my id and miscellaneous purse contents. She saved me the biggest hassel trying to get all of that replaced! Honestly, I had no idea that such wonderful people still existed out there.
  • and then today, the Mr and Alek were involved in an accident where no one was hurt, thank god, but our car did not survive. Now begins the arduous and stressful task of dealing with the insurance and all the other junk. I'm really not sure how we are going to manage with only 1 vehicle.
Ok, do those count as things-that-happen-in-3's? Please say yes. We could really use a good break right about now.