The busy book

I had on of these as a child and I loved it. I remember always being slightly confused about where to put the soft book, on the shelf or in a toy bin. 

I remember pulling the book into bed with me during quiet times and being fascinated by the Captain Kirk figure inside. I haven't got a clue where that book ended up (I was the first of four) but I wanted one for my kids. 

It took forever to finish, but this is what I came up with...

 My cover wraps around and the book itself is in 2 parts - one side for each kid.

2 kids means either two books or just one mega book in two halves. Much better idea!

Shapes have Velcro on them and the colour printed under the stick on shape. 

The presents each have something inside. A few fold down and a few have snaps to undo. The charms are attached by a ribbon, so they don't disappear.

Counting fish.. 1,2,3...

The pocket is sewn on and then I cut fish out of felt.

The clocks hands move around. Attached with a piece of pipe cleaner and a button. It gets them familiar with a clock face... Who knows they might be the last kids to know how to read an analogue clock!

The shirt opens and you can undo and do up the buttons. 

Lace up and learn to tie a bow. The panels open and there is a turtle inside. 

The lacing is tied to one side, again so it doesn't disappear.

The coloured felt strips are just sewn at one end, they can be woven into a pattern. 

Count the buttons on the train. I still think I want to do something more on this page, I just don't know what.

The apples are attached with snaps. You can pick them and put them into the basket.

A huge sunflower with a braidable stem.

Hide and seek in the talk grass with super cute fancy buttons.

A little mitten for a little hand. Teaches right or left.

There are usually little puppets of animals who live on the farm. The barn doors close.

A piggy bank with coins to count and figure out sizes and how to read a coin.

Count to nine.

Each door opens to find that number beads attached to ribbon. Count the number of beads and see the numeral that corresponds. 

A pocket with a little book and pencil to draw and a zipper and a buckle. The is a fan favourite!

Who doesn't love getting mail? 

I had other ideas, but I ran out of time! The kids love it and I always love when they like something I made. It makes my heart warm! 

Waffle Eggs

Not particularly mind blowing in originality, but a cute little last minute dinner fix!

My kids LOVE breakfast for dinner and I tried to find a fun, quick way to do it.

Enter the waffle maker. I softened some peppers, wilted spinach and added left over ham to warm up. 

Cooked 4 eggs in the waffle maker and let cook. Topped with the pepper/spinach/ham mixture and a little cheese (and tomato for b). Cut into strips and it was finger food fun!

Energy balls

I love chocolate, a lot. I'm trying to make better choices about food, especially at work and these little beauties are wonderful. They're sweet and chocolately and can cut that sweet tooth without that much guilt!  They also are wonderful to get things going! 

Energy bites..

2 cups medjool dates

2 cups almonds

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup shredded coconut plus more to roll in

1/2 cup chopped dried cherries

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon coconut oil

Instructions:

Put dates, coconut, almonds, cocoa and 1/2 of the cherries into a food processor. 

Pulse a few times to combine the ingredients, scrape down the sides and add in almond extract, vanilla extract and blend for 2-3 minutes until the mixture begins to come together in clumps.

Add a little coconut oil as you go, you might not need it all. 

Add the remaining cherries and pulse together a few times to mix the cherries in. (You can put them all in at first, but I like cherry chunks).

Roll in a little coconut.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge. 

Easy spinach dip

I'll never have go for spinach dip again! So tasty and the first thing to go at tonight's work potluck. Yay! I didn't get a picture before the food went poof. I'll just have to make this again, soon! 

Easy hot spinach dip

1 pkg room temperature cream cheese

1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1/3 cup shredded asiago cheese

3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

2 tbsp finely chopped red pepper

2 tbsp finely chopped Vidalia onion

1 1/2 cup wilted fresh baby spinach

1 tsp garlic salt

A pinch of cayenne pepper

A pinch of smoked paprika

Instructions:

Cream softened cream cheese on blender.

Dump in spices, onion, peppers and cheese. Mix for 2 or. 3 minutes until well blended. Scrape down sides often.

Mix in spinach and spread into shallow dish. Sprinkle with a little more cheddar cheese.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes until bubbly.

Serve with warm naan bread or tortilla chips. 

Coconut cranberry granola bars

It's almost summer time and that means my kids get up at 6am, are outside by 8am (would be 7, but I try I consider my neighbours) and typically don't come in until they're hungry, which is every 10 minutes.

I have a love/hate relationship with granola bars. On the one hand, so easy to grab and go, on the other holy sugar batman! 

I am in the midst of a house clean, freezer included and found a half bag of frozen cranberries from Christmas when I made cranberry sauce. Both kids love cranberries, so away I went.

I used apple sauce and mashed bananas so the bars are plenty sweet, but have that lovely burst of tartness to. They're chewy if you keep them sealed in an airtight container and you could easily add in flax or chia seeds if you had them. (Mine had spoiled, so next time).

3 1/2 cup rolled oats

3/4 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut

3 ripe bananas mashed (think banana bread bananas)

2/3 cup applesauce (unsweetened)

3/4 cup cranberries (fresh, frozen or dried)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/5 nutmeg

You can add a couple of tablespoons of ground flax or chia seeds too, for that added health punch!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Spread the oats, pecans and coconuts evenly on the sheet and bake about 10 minutes or so until everything is lightly toasty. Flip the mixture around a few times to get everything even.

In a good sized bowl mashed the bananas together with the applesauce, cinnamon, nutmeg and optional chia/flax/ sesames.

Bring the toasted mixture out of the oven. Carefully lift the parchment off of the sheet and dump into the apple/banana mixture.

Fold the mixture together until it begins to come together.

Add in the cranberries and dump back onto the parchment lined cookie sheet. Press the mixture down evenly and make it as square as possible with your spatula.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until bars are golden.

Remove from heat and let stand 15-20 minutes until slightly cooled. Transfer to a wire rack to cool and cut into bars.

Store in an airtight container.

Pineapple Carrot Muffins

I got lazy with the title of this one and just named it Pineapple carrot, but in reality there is blueberries, raspberries, coconut, walnuts, cherries, apple sauce, raisins, carrots and pineapples.

T is feeling pretty crumby, so I took t and b out this morning and we went grocery shopping, to the park and the garden centre. I still haven't found my citronella plant or a good looking sweet red pepper, but I did find Swiss Chard. t asked if we could bake something when we got home. I figured a good, healthy muffin would do the trick. I wanted a little of everything in it and pretty much emptied my pantry/fridge into the thing.

It is tasty though.

Kitchen sink Muffins:

• 
  
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup AP flour 
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsps baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1 cup milk
• 3/4 cup applesauce
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar (packed)
• 1/3 cup grape seed oil
• 2 medium eggs or 1 large egg
• 2 tsps vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups grated carrot
• 2/3 cup shredded coconut plus some for the top
• 1 cup fresh pineapple cut into tidbits or use the canned tidbit or crushed pineapple
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup dried cherries
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup fresh raspberries
• 
  
• 
  
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• 
  
• In mixing bowl add milk, eggs, applesauce, brown sugar, oil, egg(s) and vanilla. Mix together.
• 
  
• Stop the mixer and add the flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and ginger. Turn the mixer on and mix until wet and dry are just incorporated.
• 
  
• Stop the mixer and remove the bowl from the stand. Add in pineapple, carrots, coconut, walnuts, raisins and cherries and fold using a spatula.
• 
  
• Fold in blueberries and raspberries.
• 
  
• Spoon mixture into either greased mini loaf pans or lined cupcake tins. 
• 
  
• Sprinkle the tops with coconut.
• 
  
• Bake for about 25 minutes or until muffin tops spring back when poked and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
• 
  
• Can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 or 3 days BUT they freeze really well. I got 8 loaves, 6 big muffins and 12 mini muffins out of this batch. For mini muffins you only need to cook for about 18 minutes. 

Ancho chicken tacos

I should really call it left over ancho chicken tacos, but the word leftover tends to be a dirty word. Well, it used to be, now it's one of my favourite.

I used left over grilled chicken from the night before and kept adding things until it smelled good.

It turned out way better than I had hoped! This should break my Quesada addiction!

Left over chicken (about 1 1/2 breasts) chopped up

1/2 cup chicken stock

1 jalapeño seeded and chopped

1/4 cup onion chopped

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp ancho chilli powder

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Dump in a pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and allow to simmer for about an hour. If you want more hear, add more peppers or chilies.

If the stock runs out, or dries up, add a little more in.