Kitchen - The Heart of the Home

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Everyone knows the kitchen is the heart of the home.  When we built our house 7 years ago a great deal of thought went into designing our kitchen.  We have a relatively simple layout with a few must haves such as the recycling/compost cupboard and a deep pots and pans drawer.   My counter is just about as cluttered as it can be with kitchen appliances, storage canisters, bread box, fruit bowl, cookbooks, etc.  Here is a picture of one corner of my kitchen counter. 

A few things have helped me keep the space looking somewhat organized.  Gotta love IKEA organizers - the magnetic knife strip and the hooks for my measuring cups.  And I also use a wooden box to help store frequently used spices, S&P, etc.  My utensil holder features blueberries - one of my favorite things!  And in the centre is my favorite kitchen appliance - my KitchenAid Stand Mixer.  I always said I never wanted one of these (because I thought I would never use it) but it was a gift from my in-laws and it is well used now! 

I just wanted to share with you a little corner of my kitchen and how I try to organize all the chaos that usually finds its' way into my kitchen everyday.  What are your tips for kitchen organization and your go to kitchen appliance?  

TNT Pin (Tried N' True Pin)

Cooking Asparagus

It has been awhile since I've posted a TNT pin and since we had this again last night I thought I would share.   The original pin states: The absolute best way to cook asparagus: Season with olive oil, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese; bake at 400 for 8 minutes. Perfection.   And this is just about spot on. So yummy!  I can't wait until fresh, local asparagus is available.  Enjoy!  

~Elizabeth

A Brook, Some Rubber Boots, and Childhood Memories

Many of my childhood friends likely remember "playing down by the brook" when they would come over to our place.  Even into my high school years we would have campfires down there.  I honestly can't believe we were even allowed to play down at the brook by ourselves.

It's a fairly shallow brook that runs behind my parent's house in NS.  I remember playing down there for hours when we were kids.  Throwing rocks, watching sticks float down stream, and at one point there was even a swimming hole that was maybe up to our waists.  The brook seemed to change every year and I think we could only swim in it for a few summers.

When we were visiting over Easter Emma and I took a walk along the brook which eventually feeds into a river.  We walked all the way down to the river, stopping in spots to throw rocks and sticks into the brook.  Emma had her rubber boots on so she waded in the freezing cold water.

Love those rubber boots.  I could not get over how much the brook had changed.  Things were grown in more than I remember and it seemed that spots we use to play around looked so much different.  New streams had formed where the brook had taken a different path.  I could literally close my eyes, listen to the sounds of the babbling brook and be transported right back to my childhood.  It was no Disneyland or Seaworld but to me it was a magical place.  

I don't know if Emma will ever feel the connection to this special part of home that I do, but one thing is for certain we sure did have a great afternoon "playing down by the brook".

~Elizabeth

Easter Traditions

To me Easter is a special holiday for many reasons.  It has a lot of significance religiously but it is also a holiday with many traditions for me and my family; traditions that I have grown up with and also ones that I've started with my own family.  One of those traditions is making Hot Cross Buns.  For as long as I can remember my grandmother and mother have made this tasty treat at Easter.  I've tried to replicate the recipe every year but to no avail.  So this year was extra special since we were visiting Nova Scotia and were able to enjoy my mother's Hot Cross Buns.  

This is Emma at home in Ontario attempting to make a batch.  And of course Dustin getting in on the action as well.

And here is Emma helping Grammie make a batch of Hot Cross Buns while visiting her in NS.  Mom still uses an old blue enamelware bowl that belonged to my great grandmother. Imagine the batches of bread this bowl has seen!  I never did get a picture of the finished product - we were too busy eating them!

Of course the Easter Bunny visited and hid chocolate eggs in the same places he did when I was a kid.  Except he use to leave us the marshmallow cream eggs which my sister and I never did like!

Probably the most exciting thing for me was that we were finally home for our family's 14th Annual Easter Egg Hunt!  Now this is not an ordinary Easter Egg Hunt.  I can only imagine how many hours of planning and preparation my wonderful cousin puts into this.  There was 85 people searching for 1168 eggs, carrots and bunnies.  Emma had so much fun collecting all the goodies for her and Dustin.

 

 

It was also a great chance to catch up with family and friends - some who are meeting Emma and Dustin for the first time.  We were surrounded by so much love and excitement - it's a wonderful feeling to be leaving NS with.  It's something I know Emma will always remember.  

And if you thought that was enough "Easter" on Sunday afternoon we had our family dinner and enjoyed many laughs and some great games of bingo!  Things were feeling very festive with my Aunt's beautiful Easter decorations.  

So I thank all our family and friends for helping us make so many new Easter memories.   It is always great to be home in NS and even more special when we're home for such a wonderful holiday like Easter.  God Bless! 

~Elizabeth

The Rule of Three

You know the saying "bad things always happen in threes" - well that certainly applies to our family this week.  It has been a tough one. 

Over the weekend Dean's Uncle Ken passed away.  I remember him as such a jolly person who loved kids. Here he is pictured with Dustin last Fall.  He was able to spend his last days surrounded by the love of family and friends - isn't that all anyone could ask for?  You will be missed Uncle Ken. 

On Sunday night Dean and I had our first trip to the emergency room with Dustin.  His fever had spiked sometime after he went to bed and he started having convulsions.  It was so scary watching his little body go through that.  I was amazingly calm as was Dean.  We rushed to the hospital (and I can laugh about this now but when we arrived at the hospital I did a beautiful dismount from the truck - landing on my knees as I rushed to follow Dean and Dustin into triage.  Not too graceful am I).  Anyway, they soon got Dustin's fever down but kept us overnight just to be sure he was OK as he continued to have convulsions.  It turned out he had a viral infection in his lungs so he was also treated for that.  For anyone who has experienced this (convulsions/seizures are quite common in children with very high fevers) you know how hopeless it leaves you feeling.  Dustin is pretty much 100% now-keeping us smiling and laughing.

The outcome of the third event is still unknown.  Any dog-lovers out there know that it's almost as hard to watch your beloved pet go through pain as it is a human loved one.  Our 9 year old beagle dog Rusty displaced a disc in his back over the weekend.   Dean took him to the vet and Emma and I said good-bye not knowing if we would see him again.  Our vet and the staff at her office gave Rusty excellent care and sent him home with some medication that will hopefully help resolve the problem.  It's so hard to watch your dog not be able to walk.  We won't know for a few days if the medication is working and if it doesn't we'll be saying good-bye to Rusty for real this time.  He's such an amazing dog-man's best friend and protector of our children.

And all this happened three days before the kids and I were to leave for an Easter holiday in Nova Scotia.  Our vacation has proceeded as planned and I'm looking forward to the feeling of renewal and blessings that Spring and the Easter season brings.

I thank all our friends and family for their support this week.  We don't know what we would do without you!

~Elizabeth

March Book Club

As mentioned in an earlier post, I've recently joined a book club.  We call ourselves Mommies Who Read.

This week I hosted our March get together.  Our selection this month was Letters From Heaven Love Mom xo by Sandy Bucholtz.   It is a collection of letters written by Sandy for her children to remind them of her unyielding love and their inner strengths should she ever be absent from their lives.

So as our book club meetings tend to go we started off with a few questions about the book to generate some discussion.  And discuss we did.

We could all relate to the book in one way or another.  And not just as if we were sharing this with our children, but how the letters related to all aspects of our lives (work, personal, friendships, etc.).   We each had a few letters that really stood out for us.  Mine was the letter about Being Grateful.  Here is a part of that letter:

"One of the main ingredients in the recipe of true happiness is a sense of gratitude.  Beginning each day with expressions of gratitude lays the foundation of a great day.....Ask yourself, what am I grateful for today?....The more things you are grateful for, the better you will feel...automatically." pg. 53, Letters From Heaven Love Mom xo by Sandy Bucholtz.

I really do try to practice this in my everyday life.  Even on the worst days (which are not really that bad) when your children are driving you crazy, your husband didn't take out the garbage again, and you've had a bad day at work.  Just be grateful for the sound of your children crying (so many moms would do anything to once again hear their children cry), be grateful you have a husband who loves you, and be grateful for that job.  It may sound so simple, but in the midst of all the chaos, just repeating what you are grateful for over and over can help calm the spirit and get you through the day.

Letters From Heaven Love Mom xo is a thoughtful, inspiring read.  It's a book you can read over and over and have a new or different message resonate with you depending on your mood and what kind of day you've had.  It's not only lessons moms can pass onto their children, it's lessons we could all practice in our lives!  Thank you Sandy for sharing it with us!

April's book club selection is Away by Jane Urquhart. It was a CBC Canada Reads contender this year.
  
Oh and I should mention food plays a big part in our book club meetings.  I made this delicious apple dip (recipe below):

Apple Dip

1 pkg cream cheese
1/2 cup brown sugar
Skor bar (I used Skor bits because I had them from another recipe)
Caramel sauce
5-6 Granny Smith apples

1. Mix brown sugar and cream cheese until smooth.  Spread on bottom of pie plate. 
2. Sprinkle crushed Skor bar on top and drizzle with caramel sauce.  Serve with apples.  (I tossed my apples in lemon juice to keep them from browning.)

This recipe was hand written by my great aunt in our family cookbook which she gave me for a wedding shower gift.  One of the most thoughtful gifts I've ever received.  She had written notes all through the book, adding her own recipes and sharing which ones she'd tried and liked.  It is my most used recipe book to this day. 

Well folks I've been writing this blog for just over a month. I've been posting three times a week but I know I'm not going to be able to keep that up.  I've got one month left of my maternity leave and want to enjoy every moment possible with the kiddies-so if you don't hear from me for a bit-that's why-I'm off making memories to blog about :)  Thank you all for your loving support and kindness.  Thanks for reading and hopefully I'll continue to provide you with a little something to brighten your day.

~ Elizabeth

Spring Has Arrived...Not Really

Little late with my blog post tonight.  I was hosting Mommies Who Read Book Club.  I'll share more about that in another post.  

I know everyone is talking about the weather.  Today was the first day of Spring but not really.  I clearly remember the weather this time last year because I was pregnant with Dustin.  On March 21st, 2012, I posted this picture to Facebook with this comment: 

Really??? March 21st??? And it's this hot? All I have to say is thank goodness for Crocs (only shoes that fit me) and I'm glad this baby is due in May!

 Yesterday (March 19th) I woke up to this:

Hard to believe today was the first day of Spring.  It's true-we are ready for the real Spring to arrive.  For awhile now Emma has been asking to go on her swing.  It finally cleared the snow so we were able to get out for a swing the other day.  Dustin enjoyed it too. I had to borrow Emma's Tinkerbell sunglasses for him. 

While Emma can't wait for Spring so she can have full access to her playhouse and swing set I'm looking forward to Spring so I can get out and tend to my flower gardens.  For a little inspiration and to get me through till the real thing I thought I would share a few pics.  I enjoy gardening and have a vision of what my gardens will look like someday.  And while they may never look like that, I have certainly enjoyed creating them since we built our house in 2006.  

I do believe there are some weeds in the first picture but I just love our barn in the background.  I spray painted an old bike and leaned it up against a tree in our front yard.  I love using old items in my garden.  And Pinterest is full of ideas...like this one...

Source: http://pinkrosesandteacups.blogspot.ca/2011/06/creative-gardening.html

So as I wait for Spring to really arrive I'm just going to sit here and come up with some plans for my garden (and what I really mean by that is Pin things on Pinterest and never do them).  *sigh*  One can dream.

A garden is always a series of losses set against a few triumphs, like life itself.  ~May Sarton


~Elizabeth

A Wee Bit of Irish For Ya'

Happy Monday everyone!  So what did you all do to celebrate St. Patrick's Day? We celebrated Friday, Saturday, and Sunday!  Whew!

Friday we ventured into the small Ottawa Valley Irish town of Douglas for their St. Patrick's Day parade.  What an event.  The effort that goes into some of the floats is amazing.  The kids really enjoyed it and we already agreed it was colder watching the St. Patrick's Day parade in March than it was watching the Santa Claus parade in December!

My sister and I enjoying the parade.

Saturday we had some friends in for supper.  We enjoyed some Irish stew and green dessert (recipe below) and green Kool-Aid for the kids. 

And of course I had to decorate with a few shamrocks.  Emma and I made name cards with thumbprint shamrocks and I attached  a Dollarstore shamrock to my wooden napkin rings.  It looked nice and festive.

And here is my tip for making stew.  Well it's not actually my tip.  I did a quick Google search and this isn't a secret but I'm going to share it anyway.  For those of you who have a Pampered Chef Crinkle Cutter-use it to cut turnip!  It's so easy!

Sunday was an "adult" day.  We ventured back into Douglas for some St. Patrick's Day celebrations.  The music was fabulous and included the Ryan Brothers and Bang On The Ear.  Good times for a couple of girls from Nova Scotia!

And I guess some of you are wondering about the dessert we had so here is the recipe.  (This is a combination of chocolate trifle recipes I've tried over the years).

St. Patrick's Day Chocolate Pistachio Trifle

1 Chocolate Cake Mix
1 package Two-Bite Brownies
Skor Bits
2 pkgs Pistachio Pudding
1 tub of Cool-Whip
Green food coloring

1.  Bake chocolate cake according to package directions.  Let cool.  
2.  Mix pudding according to package directions.  
3.  Add green food coloring to Cool-Whip, mix well.  
4.  Mix some Cool-Whip with the pudding.  

Assembling the trifle:  Break up chocolate cake and brownies.  Layer on bottom of clear bowl.  Add  Skor bits.  Add layer of pudding/cool-whip mixture.  Continue layers, ending with a layer of pudding/cool-whip (or just cool-whip).  Sprinkle Skor bits on top.  Enjoy!

I always enjoy St. Patrick's Day festivities, especially the music.  It was nice this year to celebrate with the kids as well.  Would love to hear how you celebrated!

May love and laughter light your days, and warm your heart and home. ~ Irish Blessing

~Elizabeth