Sunday brunch

I woke this morning to a leftover baguette that was screaming to be turned into yummy French toast. But this couldn't be any French toast. First of all, the French toast we make in our house is made without the key ingredient of French toast the world over - eggs. We substitute this staple with apple sauce or bananas, which makes for a nice and sweet Sunday brunch treat:
3/4 C apple sauce or 1 mashed banana
1/2 C milk 
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Dip the bread in the mixture. Now the trouble I have found with making French toast without egg is trying to fry it in the frying pan - I've never been able to fry it without it turning into a bready mess. To solve this problem, I simply bake them. 
But I was feeling a little more creative this Sunday morning than usual Sunday mornings - maybe it was the long-lost sun that was beaming in through the kitchen window - and thought I would try adding a little somethin' somethin' to the tops of the toast. A little oatmeal? A little brown sugar? Margarine? But of course! It was just what this little toasts needed!
2 tbsp margarine
1/3 C brown sugar
1/3 C oatmeal
2 tbsp walnuts (optional - I added these to the adult toasts)
Mix together and top on each toast before baking in a greased baking dish at 350F for about 10-15 minutes.
Voila! Apple Crisp French Toast! I heated up 1 C frozen blueberries with 1 tbsp honey to add to each plate. We're fuelled and ready to get out into this beautiful spring-like weather! 

This and That

What???? It's March already?? Boy, time sure flies when dealing with some technical difficulties, healing from illness, and feeling a touch of the winter blues! But February wasn't all coughs and sniffles, crashing internet and dreary days! Here's a taste of what we've been up to.

Watching Team Canada 'own the podium' at the Vancouver Olympics!

Playing lots of board games.

Trying out some new desserts! 

This one went so fast, poor G didn't even have a chance to try it! This is my dairy-free version of fruit pizza. I borrowed my friend Nelda's recipe for whipped green, which includes: 

½ ripened avocado 

1 banana
1 Tbs agave or maple syrup 

1tsp vanilla extract
¼ cup soymilk or rice milk
A little lemon juice

To these ingredients I added 1/2 cup melted dark chocolate and blended until smooth. I spread the mixture over a graham cracker crust and topped with fresh fruit! Such a great pick-me-up on a blustery day!

Mid-winter Night's Hike

Hello, I am Amy's guest blogger, often referred to as G around this blog. On Friday night our family went on a wonderful mid-winter night's hike in the Goderich Woods. This was a special hike in celebration of the weekend's annual Winterfest, and featured lots of LIGHTS, LANTERNS and COLD. Here are some highlights of our hike. 

It was a nice mid-winter hike in the Goderich Woods.

Nate admires this fish lantern.

Even Gene Simmons was there!

The trail glowed with creativity! 

One Small Change update

Well January came and went in the blink of an eye - which is okay by me since it means we are one month closer to spring and it means I survived one whole month without any frivolous shopping. Yes, I survived the first month of the One Small Change challenge in which I pledged to buy nothing that was not absolutely necessary for the entire month of January. There were no random mid-winter-blues shopping sprees at the mall, no blowing the Christmas money on gadgets or gizmos just for the sake of spending extra money, and no, when our television broke down mid-month, we did not run out to the store to replace it. That may have been the most difficult challenge - wanting to curl up under a warm blankie to watch a good movie was something we were going to have to live without for the time being. We actually started to take family walks around the neighbourhood instead which has started to become a really nice habit! My sister-in-law must have felt sorry for us though, because she showed up at our house last week with an old TV she dug out of her basement - but it worked out great because we are reusing something instead of buying something newer, and bigger, and flatter. And now that February is here and last month's challenge is over, I did not run out to the mall to make up for that lost shopping time. I have continued to question the things I do buy - Do I really need this, or do I just want it? One small change towards making a difference in the amount of 'stuff' our family consumes.


So, February is now upon us and time to take on a new challenge. Our family has decided to make our Mondays meat-free. This was inspired by a campaign launched by Paul McCartney and his family to raise awareness of the impacts livestock production have on our environment. According to the campaign's website, "Meat Free Monday is an environmental campaign to raise awareness of the climate-changing impact of meat production and consumption. Many people are unaware that livestock production is responsible for 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions – that’s more than the entire transport sector." We've never been huge meat eaters - it's not a nightly requirement at our dinner table - but I'm not going to lie, I do enjoy a few slices of greasy bacon alongside my Sunday morning pancakes (especially if it's been a late Saturday night!). And it's so easy to throw a roast in the slow cooker before heading off to work without giving a second thought to the environmental cost of eating that roast. I'm pleased to report our first Monday was a success! Finn actually scarfed down 4 of these vegetarian tacos! No slow cooker needed for this recipe - it is a super quick dinner to throw together at the end of a busy day, and SO yummy!! I look forward to sharing more of our Meatless Monday meals!

Hittin' the road

Living in the snowbelt of Ontario can often feel like a three-month-long prison term. You never trust the weather enough to head out on the roads because you never know when the winds could blow in a storm that will ultimately close the roads that lead back home. Cabin fever sets in and just before you think you might be starting to go insane, a glimmer of hope peaks through the clouds - the sun! It reminds you that there is life out there and you somehow muster up the strength to pull yourself off the couch, pack up your bags and hit the road. We did just that this weekend as the weather forecast called for no snow and above-freezing temperatures. It had been weeks and weeks since we had even left the county and we were ecstatic to head out while the weather bordered on spring-like. It was all very last-minute and so much fun since we didn't tell the boys we were headed to T.O. for a show and a sleepover at a hotel - very rare and special treats! While Finn would have been content to stay in the hotel room to soak in as much cable T.V. as he could, we were quickly off for the best surprise ever (according to Nate) - an evening at Medieval Times. To say my boys love all things knights is a bit of an understatement, so they could hardly contain themselves when they realized where we were going. Great fun - and a great time to get away, get refreshed and steel ourselves up for whatever winter weather we have coming our way! That's Finn, above, riding the subway, and some of the action we cheered on, below. 

One Small Change progress report

It's coming up on one week since I joined One Small Change and pledged to buy nothing my family didn't absolutely need for the month of January. I thought I would give you a quick update on how my week has gone.

• Needed to go for a weekly grocery shop - begged G to go in my place. He's far less likely to fall into the trap of grabbing a few last-minute check-out treats. And, he has pledged to join the cause along with me and did a great job of buying only the necessities.
• Skipped lunch before heading off to an afternoon workshop - I was so hungry (and disappointed the workshop was without snacks!) I spent the rest of the afternoon fantasizing about dashing through the drive-through on the way home to scarf down a Happy Meal. I kept driving and surprised my kids when I picked them up early from Gramma and Grampa's house.
• A frosty winter walk ended at the local coffee shop for a hot apple cider - we desperately needed to warm up and I refused the to-go cups that we were offered. However, Nate had an allergic reaction to the cider (I suspect cross-contamination) and bad allergic mommy was caught unprepared. NEEDED to buy Benadryl (got a great head start on my 5km run training as I sprinted to the pharmacy) and ended up buying an extra treat to make my frightened kid feel better.

It's been a great week and I have really enjoyed participating in this exercise - it has forced me to really stop and question whether or not I really need a particular item. Hoping to break old habits of thoughtless buying.


Christmas jammies

My good friend (and #1 cheerleader!) AC has been bugging me to share pics of the jammies I made for the four of us for Christmas. Nate, Finny and Daddy G all got matching PJs made from a fun skull-and-cross bones flannel. In case you can't tell, those pretty pink ones are mine - made, along with G's, from the Amy Butler's Wide-Leg Lounge Pants. I used the Pajamas for Everyone pattern from Heather Ross' Weekend Sewing for the boys' PJs. We're all snug and warm in our new jammies, thankful to be inside 'cause baby it's cold outside!

A greener shade of green

There was something I left off of my colossal list of things I would like to do in 2010. O.k., there were two - the first being that I would not sweat it if I didn't make it through the list by year's end, and the second being that I would try and be just a little more green. I have always been pretty environmentally concious - I am pretty faithful about recycling and composting, I try to buy local as much as possible, and I like to ride my bike when weather permits, or when I'm not feeling too lazy. But, as they say, there's always room for improvement. So I signed up for an on-line challenge today that will hopefully take my level of green to a whole new level! Hip Mountain Mama has challenged fellow bloggers to make one small change a month from now until Earth Day, April 22, 2010 and to blog about their experiences. 


Since I started a new job out of town, I have been feeling green guilt about having to drive the car on a daily basis. This has resulted in me becoming a little bit lazy and a little more reliant on my car than I would like to be. So my initial desire was to commit to getting off my lazy butt and to riding my bike for all in-town purposes. But this being Canada in the early days of January, I didn't think that would work out so well for me (I'll maybe save that one for April!). So I've decided, for my first challenge, to not buy anything that our household does not need. Having just come down from the Christmas glut and having just cleaned out my kids' rooms of Christmases past, I was shocked to see how much waste our tiny household had created! This was just the exercise we needed to really start considering what and how much we buy. It wasn't long after I had committed to this challenge that it met me face-to-face when I had to stop at the pharmacy on my way home from work. Trust me, I really needed to buy deodorant. But a quick stop at the pharmacy is never just a quick stop at the pharmacy for me. As I walked toward the check-out counter, those glossy magazine covers were calling me over to pick up the latest issue that would show me all of the hot trends for 2010. Stop! And I did. Oooo! A new flavour of lip gloss! Must...have...but I put it back. But wait! Look over there! An entire aisle of discounted Christmas chocolates! Step...away...from...the...aisle! And I did. (My pocketbook and my waistline were thanking me! Hey! I might be able to knock a few of my New Year's resolutions off the list!) I'm not going to lie - this is really going to be a challenge. But I do hope that it will be one that will carry on once the month of January is over. Stay tuned!