Liebster award - get to know a bit about me!

I have been nominated for the Liebster Award by Ally at My Prairie Abode. Thanks Ally! As I am just starting out in the blogging world, this is new for me and I am excited to be able to participate.

Here are my questions:

                

1. What is your most treasured memory? 

Wow, it is hard to pick just one. Christmas mornings as a child rank up there, but so does the moment I was proposed to, the moment Josh and I shared our first kiss, and the day my son was born. 

I think ultimately I will say my honeymoon in Cuba. It is the memory I return to most often and the one that I think of whenever I need a pick me up, or need to relax. I have such fond memories of that week. It really was a magical vacation.

2. What is a recipe that you are super good at making? 

Baklava. I have perfected my recipe to make it just the way I like - perfect honey sauce, crispy texture.

3. Why do you blog? 

I wanted a way to share the things I am doing for Jacob and the things I am doing in my life. I like to be creative and I figured this would be a good outlet. I also want to have a place where I can record memories of this time in our lives. 

4. What is your greatest accomplishment?

My thesis and undergrad degree.

5. What is something that you've dreamed about doing, but haven't yet done? 

Travelling to Greece.

6. A movie/show that you must watch if it is on TV, no matter how many times you've seen it? Forrest Gump or Stepmom. I'm that annoying person who has the dialogue memorized and says it all along with the movie.

7. How do you treat yourself? 

Usually with junk food :) Sometimes with a massage, bubble bath, or by painting my nails.

8. Do you have a cool party trick? 

Unfortunately no I don't.

9. Where do you see yourself in three years? 

Hopefully enjoying another maternity leave.

10. What is the best feeling in the world to you? 

The feeling I get when my baby smiles at me.

11. What is a personality trait that you really like about yourself?

I am extremely loyal.

I don't follow a lot of blogs and I am pretty new to this, so I definitely don't have 11 people to nominate but I will nominate two friends who are launching blogs. I nominate Katie at The Kaleidoscope Eyes and Sarah at Cats and the Cradle. Here are your questions!

1. What do you consider your strongest moment?

2. What season is your favourite and why?

3. Where would you like to travel next?

4. What are you most looking forward to this year?

5. Do you have an unusual talent?

6. What makes you proudest?

7. Which celebrity do people say you most look like?

 8. What hobbies do you have?

9. What do you hope to get from blogging?

10. What is your favourite thing to do after a long, stressful day?

11. How do you want your child's upbringing to differ from yours?

Storm day muffins

 When I was young, my mother used to bake with us on storm days. My parents were teachers so when we had the day off from school, our parents did too. 

When I heard a storm was forecast for this week, I started reviewing my recipes. What could be cozier than enjoying a freshly baked muffin or cookie while cocooned in a warm house on a cold day? Since I am still on maternity leave I don't have to worry about leaving the house to go to work, and we have nothing planned for the rest of this week.

The weather forecast was right. When I got up, a lot of snow had fallen. 

Most of it was blowing and drifting around the house and garage, sneaking into nooks and crevices.

The perfect pyramid shape.

Snow drifts are so pretty, don't you think?

 Even Emma was excited about the snow.

When Jacob woke up from his morning nap, we had egg salad sandwiches for lunch. It was Jacob's first time trying a sandwich and he enjoyed pulling the triangles of bread apart and holding one tringle while eating the other. After he finished his dessert of smushed blueberries, I put him up on my back in our Pavo Unicornio wrap and got to work in the kitchen. 

We made a batch of muffins for Jacob and a batch for Josh and I to enjoy. Jacob's muffins were mini banana and raisin muffins (from Little Grazers) which I chose because they are small, include fruit in the recipe, and have no added sugar or salt. I made them with white flour today as we are out of whole wheat but in the future I will likely use whole wheat flour. The recipe doesn't call for it, but I sprinkled a teaspoon of ground flax seed in before mixing up the batter.

The perfect size for tiny hands

For the bigger, adult-size muffins, we baked a batch of lemon blueberry muffins (from Silver Boxes). I have made this recipe before after finding it on pinterest. These muffins are the most amazing lemon blueberry muffins I have ever tasted. They include a lemon butter and sugar topping and have the perfect lemon/blueberry flavour. To make the topping, while the muffins are still warm you dip them into a mixture of melted butter and freshly squeezed lemon juice and then dunk them into white sugar. The soft crunch you experience from the lemon butter sugar topping when you bite into these muffins is extraordinary.

I made these muffins once while a friend was home in NS visiting and when she got home she messaged me for the recipe as she could not stop thinking about them.

Yes, they're that good.

My mouth is watering just thinking about that topping.

 If you got as much snow today as we did, I hope you were able to enjoy a snow day at home!

Sunday morning smoothie

This past Christmas I was given a Sally's Baking Addiction cookbook by a friend who knew how much I loved her recipes. Although I haven't yet had a chance to try out a recipe from the book, this morning I thought I would try out one of the smoothie recipes from her website. I made the Orange Creamsicle Smoothie found here. 

We had some fresh oranges laying around and I had some bananas in the freezer so it was perfect timing. I put my ingredients in the blender and poured it into a nice thick glass. 

I wanted a little extra treat to top off my smoothie, so I took some chilled coconut milk, added vanilla and sugar, and whipped it until it was thick. It made a sweet whipped cream with a hint of coconut flavour. The decadent, sweet coconut whipped cream was the perfect compliment to the bright, fresh, citrusy smoothie.

Yum!

The coconut whipped cream was every bit delicious as it looks.

I enjoyed the smoothie recipe and would make it again; however I would likely section the orange and remove the membranes (or just blend it much better next time) because I found the smoothie a bit pithy. There were small pieces of membrane that didn't blend up so I found I was having to chew those as I enjoyed the smoothie. 

It was a nice way to start my Sunday! I hope you're enjoying yours.

Introducing Jacob to food

When Jacob was six months old, we introduced him to food. I had read a lot about various methods and was debating between starting with purées or baby led weaning (BLW). I began with purées and now that he is almost 10 months old, have started to veer toward BLW. This week I wanted to try something new for Jacob so we walked to the produce store and I picked up some broccoli and bananas for him to try.

When we got home, I began researching how I could prepare and present the broccoli to him, and I stumbled upon a recipe on one of my favourite baby food websites. It incorporated wonton wrappers that were stuffed with different fillings. So I began to prepare the recipe but ultimately ended up making my own creation. I created two different types of wontons for Jacob to try: broccoli, and banana.

For the banana wontons, I prepared a filling of softened cream cheese, mashed banana, and ginger. For the broccoli wontons, I combined fresh, steamed broccoli (which I puréed with a hand blender), cream cheese, and curry powder.

Cream cheese purées before mixing

I stuffed the wonton wrappers with a tablespoon of filling and pinched the edges together to seal them. I I placed the packets into a muffin tray and brushed them lightly with melted butter. Then I popped the trays in the oven at 375° for 15 minutes.

Raw wonton packages before baking

When the wonton wrappers were golden brown at the tips, I removed them from the oven.

Crispy wonton bites!

I lifted the wontons out of the tray and placed them on a wire rack.

On the rack to cool

The banana packets had a nice banana flavour but were a bit bland. The broccoli packets were extremely delicious. We ended up eating most of them as they were cooling, so there were only a couple left for Jacob to try. They were his favourite too. 

The banana recipe could be modified for adults by adding a sprinkle of sugar and cinnamon.

Hello and welcome

Hi! As I work to create an exciting, fun and happy life for my infant son, I have decided to chronicle the things we do along the way. Being a mom has been so fulfilling and exciting this far and I want to share some of the things we have been up to.
Thanks for reading!