A Homemade Life- Part 2

This is a continuation from my first post on this topic found here. 

When Brian and I got married, and despite the fact that I was working full time, we still managed to fall into somewhat traditional roles around the house. Due to me working shift work with a sporadic and changing schedule, I was often home during the week and able to do things around the house. I had time for things like cooking and baking, and I had an eager audience to practice on! Brian came home hungry and I was able to make a nice dinner for us to enjoy together- so much more fun than just cooking for yourself. I baked for our lunches, started to make bread from scratch, made granola for breakfast... and it all continued from there. Brian usually cooked for us on the weekends and we still do that now.

The groceries that I bought changed as well. Almost everything can be made at home! For example...

Salad dressing- there is a reason why those dressings keep so long on the grocery store shelves! You can make many different dressings with olive oil, vinegar, fresh herbs, maybe some mustard, and spices. Here are some examples. Delicious homemade dressing goes very nicely with greens from our garden in the summer.

Bread- Fresh, homemade bread is one of the simple pleasures of life. We very, very rarely buy storebought bread- the exception being hamburger or sausage buns.  I have tried making those too- it's just usually a last minute meal for us and there's no time to make buns. But I love homemade bread for a few reasons- it's healthy, it's fun and satisfying to make, its so much cheaper- but most importantly, it tastes amazing!
Making bread from scratch with yeast, kneading it and shaping it into loaves doesn't take as long as you might think. And the only ingredients are flour, water, yeast and salt. It takes about 4 hours including baking time, so a morning or afternoon at home is all you need- and most of that time is hands off! We usually make bread most Saturdays, and slice and freeze it right away for fresh toast and sandwiches all week. Since homemade bread has no preservatives, its best to eat it within the first couple of days, or freeze it right away. We buy flour from Costco in 10 kg bags for about $8.

Homemade falafel (deep fried chickpeas) on a homemade pita bread

Tortillas, pitas, naan- any type of flatbread- Also very easy to make! And much cheaper.. there are all sorts of recipes and they also taste delicious.

Bagels- On the topic of bread, homemade bagels are amazingly good. They are quite time consuming, but well worth it. I have tried the ones from this book and they were delicious.

Granola- I have a classic recipe and it's a quick and healthy way to start the day. There are all sorts of granola variations, depending on how sweet, crunchy, or clumpy you like your granola. We tend to go for mildly sweet, goldenly toasted, and minimally clumpy in our house. It's nice not to have to buy storebought cereal.

Yogurt- I was given a yogurt maker a couple of years ago and have given it a lot of use! I'm not making yogurt as much these days though, maybe once or twice a month... we discovered the plain Liberte yogurt at Costco was almost the same price as buying the equivalent amount of milk and turning it into yogurt. Milk in NL is expensive, $4.25 for a 2 L carton. Maybe I'll make more yogurt again when we live somewhere else.

Baking- the possibilities are endless! Mmmmm. I usually have a couple of types of baking in the house at all times. We keep it in the freezer for freshness and to slow down our consumption.

Granola bars and other snacks- I have tried granola bars a few times, and haven't quite perfected a recipe, but we aren't buying this stuff either.. too much packaging and not cheap either. When our kids are old enough to need packed lunches I'll probably experiment with this again.

Sandwich meat- Brian likes to have meat on his sandwiches, and after a while of buying deli meat every week we decided to try our hand at making sandwich meat at home-- success! We just buy a large cut of meat, for example a beef roast, and then have it for dinner one night. The leftovers get sliced thinly and put in the freezer, all ready for sandwiches! Delicious hearty meat, without all those nitrates, and a lot cheaper too- $3-4 per pound instead of $2 or more per 100g.

Crackers- This is something we just started recently. Who knew crackers were so easy to make! This is my favourite recipe right now.

Beer- Brian has been brewing his own beer for a while now, using grains, hops, yeast... all sorts of interesting combinations and the results have been great! I'm not much of a beer drinker, but even I can tell that he's getting pretty good at it.

I think there's more, but that's what comes to mind off the top of my head. A theme seems to be keeping to a budget, while not sacrificing taste- two things that are important for this graduate student household.

Next up.. why making all this stuff from scratch makes it easier to feed your little ones! Stay tuned for Part 3.

Brown butter toasted steel cut oats with roasted pears... Good Friday breakfast treat!

Our dinner guests... Easter Sunday 2014 (it was a potluck, we din't make all that food! :)

A Homemade Life- Part 1

Something that I have really enjoyed doing since Brian and I got married is learning more about cooking and baking. Or more specifically, developing a love for all sorts of homemade goodness and learning how to make many things from scratch.It's become one of my favourite hobbies, and also something necessary to keep our family well-fed, healthy, and happy!

I did cook a little before we were married. But it wasn't quite the same. Looking back, the first time that I really had to cook for myself was during my high school summer job at a provincial park in Northern Ontario. We were at least an hour drive from any sort of grocery store, and I didn't have a car. So if I managed to catch a ride to town on my day off, that's when I got groceries. I usually stocked up on quite a few boxed and canned items as I wasn't sure when I would next be in town. Looking back, I'm not exactly sure what I ate those two summers... a lot of instant oatmeal and canned veges? Definitely a lot of peanut butter and jam for my lunches in the front gatehouse. Supplemented by things cooked over the campfire, and some moose. Probably not the most nutritious experience! 

My next cooking adventure was during my time at Western. First year was taken care of by residence dining hall, along with instant oatmeal for my early clinical mornings. The dining hall wasn't open before 7, so I would make instant oatmeal in a paper cup in the dark so as not to wake my roommate, and eat it at the bus stop waiting for my transportation to the hospital. These days, I find instant oatmeal tastes horrible.. but I'm spoiled now with the real stuff cooked on the stove every morning.Claus's love oatmeal! 

The rest of my university years were spent living with dear friends in the Pink Flamingo, our student house. There were a lot of baked potatoes with ketchup in the microwave, frozen veges, and bread with peanut butter and jam. And granola bars. Or pancakes, thanks to Aunt Jemima. I used to ask Lindi if she wanted me to make her pancakes... I liked making them, and pancakes were a great snack anytime. Supplemented by weekly student dinners at my church's young adults group, always with leftovers to take home- what a treat that was! 

here we are, way back then....

Then I moved to BC, and lived with my great-aunt and uncle- and they ate well. Really well. Fresh salads before every meal! Blueberries and delicious yogurt for dessert every night! Multigrain bread from a local bakery! It was a real treat. Living in BC was a contrast to how I had eaten in university. This was due in large part to my aunt who is an excellent cook, with many years of homemaking under her belt. Though, I do remember thinking that everyone in Victoria seemed to eat a lot better... as all the nurses took whole avocados out of their cooler bags at lunch break. Fresh, delicious food seemed to be everywhere.

And, I met a man who cooked amazing omelettes, whipped up cookies on a whim, and made cooking a hobby and a joy. We always laugh now at how I used to make him pancakes.... slapping them with the spatula to make them 'cook faster'. My patient future husband never said a thing but now I know he must have been cringing inside! Good thing that didn't scare him off ;)

to be continued...

the early days... this was 6 years ago now!

Spring Day at the Park!

Well, almost all of our snow is melted and it's starting to feel like spring. What a feeling- I think that we forgot what it was like to feel the warm sun on our faces! One of the things that I really like about Newfoundland is because the weather can be so awful here, when the weather is nice its really nice and we appreciate it a lot! 

Love this little guy! 8 months old today

Just sitting on this bench. In my red snowsuit. Yup.

Bronwen loves the playground. Last summer she was a bit nervous to set foot on it, but this year she's all over it!

Wheee!

Found a friend.

Maybe I can try this way?

The first time Bronwen went to the top of the slide, I was all ready to catch her but before I knew it she was going down herself.. no fear!

I will make circles with my mittened hands...

Mr Blue Eyes!

All fun and games until it's time to go home...

The way things are

It's blessedly quiet in the house right now and all I can hear is the slosh of the cars on the soggy street below, punctuated by the scrape of the plow every now and then. It's March 24 and Sheilagh's brush has hit us with a vengeance. I don't really mind too much though. It's been a long and cold winter here, the same as much of the rest of Canada. But I am so used to spring coming late here that more snow is expected, really.

Brian left at 4 am this morning for a whirlwind trip to Montreal.. he is meeting up with some fellow Canadian glider experts. That means I am home with the kids on my own for 2 days, but we can handle it. 2 days doesn't seem so bad as I have already had 3 solo parenting runs ranging from 5 days to 9 days since John was born. It's a bit lonely in the evenings, that's the hardest part... when I want to talk to someone who can speak in clear English and can wash and dress themself. Ha! But tomorrow morning a friend is coming over for waffle breakfast so that will be fun.

There's so much to say, and I sometimes feel like I should actually write more on this blog instead of just posting big batches of pictures every now and then. But I don't always know what to say, or how to say it. Or feel like talking about things at all, really. Looking back since I very first started this blog 7 years ago, my posts certainly have changed. My time to sit and reflect and ponder life has gone from long uninterrupted coffee shop stints to snippets here and there when the kids are in the stroller or that sacred small window right now when they are both napping. And then sometimes it's all I can do to make myself a nice little coffee and finally check my e-mail. Bronwen has a fascination with sitting in front of the computer and pressing all sorts of buttons, so I try to not turn the computer on when she is awake anymore. My time is better spent doing things with the kids or stuff around the house than going online too much anyway. But that means sometimes when I do sit down at the computer I just want to read all my favourite blogs and don't end up with much time to write down my own thoughts.

Sleep is the most challenging thing for us these days. I do confess that Bronwen was such an excellent sleeper as a baby that I think I got a little too cocky about it. I do remember thinking, 'hey, having a baby isn't so hard... why is everyone so tired? Why don't they have time for anything?' when she was sleeping long stretches at a young age. Ha! I have since learned that far more babies wake up than sleep that long... and John is one of those babies that wakes on the frequent end of the scale.

I've stressed about it, I've googled possible answers and methods of 'curing' him of his wake-ups. In that research, I've come across some interesting thoughts by all sorts of people. Babies wake up and cry. It's just what they do. As adults sometimes we get impatient because we want babies to fit our schedules... go to bed early in the evening so we can finally have some time to ourselves, sleep all the way till morning so we can finally get some sleep too. Maybe wake up once in the wee hours, have a quick feed, and sleep some more. But it often doesn't work like that. People always ask how babies sleep."Is he a good sleeper? Does she sleep through the night?" and it becomes almost a point of pride (see my previous comment re: Bronwen's (previously good) sleeping habits. But kids are all just so different. They are little people after all.. and we're all certainly quite different ourselves.

Still, I sometimes get anxious in the evenings wondering how our nights will go. How often will John wake up? Will Bronwen be up too? For a few months now, the answers to these questions have been 'lots' and 'yes'.
We've tried to let John cry a bit more.. but it's a lot harder with more than one child because the older one wakes up. We've tried going in at his every fuss but then we are usually up out of bed every hour all night.. sometimes even more. We've tried 'plugging' him with the soother.. before I go to nurse him yet again. He's slept in our bed, we've slept in his room, he's slept in his crib in his own room. White noise, soothers, swaddling, special blankets...
And the bottom line of all of this? Just gotta love the little guy and ride it out. Do what works. When he's 18, he won't be needing his mum or dad at night anymore (or maybe he will? Haha!). He's sprouting two teeth right now and also gearing up for crawling, so that doesn't make things much easier for our little man.
I hate being tired, being grumpy at my husband and my toddler. Two is a tricky age and demands a lot of patience from the parents.... which I am frequently running short on. But I just need to pray for strength and patience.. and sometimes, just to get through the day. Or even just the afternoon.

My wise husband told me that I should find joy in the little things, and that it will help me keep going. And it does. A delicious cup of coffee.. the caffeine helps too of course. Homemade treats, a walk in the sunshine, a sunny playgroup with other moms. Hilarious moments with the two kids, they make me laugh. Belly giggles. These are the simple things that give me joy.

This post  describes a little bit how I feel sometimes. The author says it well. I've got to try to remember where my strength needs to come from when there's a toddler howling in the night again, a baby waking up immediately after that, and a day filled with tantrums and tears. Phew.

Thanks for reading, friends!

Bananas Foster

During our time spent with family last week, we finished off a delicious meal with one of my favourite desserts, Bananas Foster. Well actually, I have a lot of favourite desserts... but this is one that Brian and I learned how to make when we lived in our little bachelor apartment as newlyweds. It's simple, dramatic, and delicious. Brian had the camera out when I was making it and thus documented the process quite nicely.. I never usually do these food type posts but thought I might as well!

Here is how you make it, step by step. The actual recipe can be found here. You should give it a try!

Slice the bananas in half and then horizontally. You want them to be firm-ripe.. sweet tasting but not so ripe that they fall apart, they need to stand up to cooking.

Melt the butter over medium heat, stir in the brown sugar and cinnamon. Cook until moist.

Add the banana liqueur and stir continuously. We've had that same bottle for a while now and it's finally almost gone. Made by the Dutch! (Bols Amsterdam)

Put the banana pieces rounded side down in the pan and cook until they begin to soften.

There they are, getting all soft and delicious in the caramelly sauce.

Get your rum ready! You also will want to have a lighting device ready. A BBQ lighter would probably work well... we just used matches with a homemade skewer- aka pared down chopstick. If you do something like that it's easier to light the skewer from a lit candle than a match.. timing is important!

Turn the bananas over onto their flat sides. They are a bit fragile. Remove the pan from the heat and pour in the rum. When the pan is off the heat, turn that element up to high.

 Put the pan back onto the hot element, and quickly ignite the rum! You should see flames like this. Flambéing..... ooh la la! Shake the pan gently.

See how the flame dies down...

Get your ice cream ready. The Breyer`s Natural Vanilla is an excellent choice.

Arrange some banana pieces on your ice cream and pour some sauce over them. Serve immediately. Yum!!

A satisfied customer! :)

a lovely birthday!

On Friday I celebrated my 28th birthday, and I have to say it was one of the best birthdays I have had in a long time! Here are some pictures...

We started off the day with delicious homemade sticky buns made by the Baker Extraordinaire herself! We had Mom and Dad Claus visiting with us for the week which was great... more about that later. But just look at this deliciousness....  enjoyed with one of Brian's coffees, a match made in heaven!

In the afternoon Brian and I left the babies with Grandma and went on a coffee date! We haven't been out for coffee for a very, very long time. Definitely not since John was born. We went to Fixed, one of my favourite coffee shops downtown. It's not a great place to bring kids, so we thought we would take advantage.

That's a ginger and date scone.... yummy!

It's been really cold here lately, and the harbour actually was completely frozen in the day before my birthday. When we were down there it was thawed a bit, but you can still see some ice.

We ran into our friend Rebecca who kindly took a couple pics of us.. hurray for moving beyond selfies!

some romantic! ;)

Brian was inspired to go up to the top of the parking garage so we could have a better view of the harbour. So we ran up the ramps.... feeling like adventurous teenagers again. Not saying we're not adventurous anymore... but a double stroller kind of cramps the style when doing stuff like that. ;)

View from the top! See the sheets of ice?

Mom and Dad treated us to an amazing dinner at Mallard Cottage, a new restaurant in town that opened in November 2013. It was delicious. We had an early reservation, but the dining room was full before too long.

They have an open kitchen, so you can even sit at the bar and watch the chefs at work.

This is my seared halibut with barley risotto. The picture doesn't really do it justice as the lighting is low, but it was really delicious. What a treat!

Contented husband!

Reflection when looking out the window

So there are a few pictures from my day. It was a treat! More pictures to come but now there's a little lady who is up from her nap...