My new favourite breakfast

Ok, so I like oatmeal. I don't love it simply because I feel like I can never get the consistency right and then it usually doesn't have enough flavour for my liking. I have come across 2 kinds I have liked and one I made just this morning. First is one from the Quaker Oats website and it's a banana bread flavour one and the second is a baked oatmeal from the Brown Eyed Baker website. I really liked this one because it made a great amount and I put the leftovers in individual containers so I've got a quick (and filling) breakfast for the week. I added some cinnamon and vanilla to the recipe. To serve it I put a dollop of vanilla yogurt and drizzled a bit of maple syrup! Yum! Oh, and I used dried cranberries instead of the raisins. I think I would try some frozen blueberries in it next time because I LOVE blueberries! You can follow the links to the original recipes.

Banana bread oatmeal

Baked oatmeal

Yay, updates on the kiddies

I found this website in a magazine and thought it seemed pretty cool, so I've been checking it out. You can post about your kids and follow along in their growth, daily occurences, etc. So family and friends can follow along too. I have one for Maya and one for Rylan. I am just using the free one so I guess you can have up to 3 kids on it. The storage amount is a bit smaller, so we'll see how it goes. It's kind of fun!!

Maya

Rylan

Another project

I decided to recover the old infant car seat we had before Rylan was born. It needed a little spicing up so I picked out some neat fabric, got a tutorial off Etsy and went on my way. I have to say it's not bad for my first try (especially with outlining it all with bias tape) although it took a while. The most tedious part was pulling the old cover apart, tracing the pieces to make new ones, then sewing it all back together. Otherwise it wasn't difficult and I'm more than pleased with the result...a custom car seat cover! Car seat before:

Christmas goodies

I wasn't going to do any baking this year for Christmas, but ended up doing some anyway because Rylan decided to hang on a while before being born, so I had some time on my hands and it was either baking or cleaning and baking won out. Here are some of the things I ended up making: I was getting really into making sugar cookies and decorating them with royal icing this year so I practiced a few different things. I think there's still a long way to go with the decorating (and the patience) but it's a lot more fun than decorating sugar cookies used to be for me. Turtles are always on the menu at Christmas. I think the homemade ones are a million times better than store bought. I always use Callebaut chocolate and that makes all the difference! I found this recipe for baked Jello popcorn. I LOVE my grandma's marshmallow popcorn balls, but thought I'd try some baked "caramel" popcorn. It was really addictive and I'm glad I made these to give away! PS - I've made since then a cinnamon caramel with white chocolate and pecans baked popcorn and it is heavenly...I'm planning when I can next make it for an event since I won't be able to keep it at home or I'll eat it all! I also ended up making two-layer peppermint bark and cranberry pistachio bark with white chocolate. The picture wasn't too good, so I'm not going to post it. So much for my resolution of not doing any Christmas baking this year!! (Side note - I also said I wasn't going to do Christmas cards this year, so for anyone who did or didn't receive cards or they weren't personalized enough for you, Dave did them all)

When bad things happen to good people

All I can say about this picture is that Dave kindly gave Maya a blue sucker (before dinner I might add) and that it makes my teeth quiver....yuck!

Ok, so funny!!

Maya during her bath, "Back sore...chiropractor fix it?" Upon telling her they were closed for the night, she got really upset and kept repeating "Chiropractor fix it??" Seriously, I think you'll survive Maya!

Nearing the end...

Well, I'm trying to get everything in order for the Christmas season as I have only 2 weeks left until my due date. This photo is taken at 37 weeks, and, for the most part I'm feeling pretty good. It's nice to finally be close to the end (or beginning, depending on how you look at it!) I hope everything goes well and that I have some baby pictures to post soon!

A little Halloween treat!

I decided to bake some Halloween cupcakes, then thought mini ones are always more fun! They turned out delicious! Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Cupcakes:

1/2 cup (50 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1 cup (240 ml) boiling hot water

1 1/3 cups (175 grams) all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Fudge Frosting:

4 ounces (120 grams) unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

2/3 cup (150 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/3 cups (160 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly butter, or line 16 muffin cups with paper liners.

In a small bowl stir until smooth the boiling hot water and the cocoa powder. Let cool to room temperature.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Then in the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat only until incorporated. Then add the cooled cocoa mixture and stir until smooth.

Fill each muffin cup two-thirds full with batter and bake for about 16-20 minutes or until risen, springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost with icing. You can either spread the frosting on the cupcakes with a small spatula or if piping, use a large Wilton 1M open star tip to make lovely swirls.

Chocolate Frosting: Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and beat until it is light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the chocolate and beat on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until frosting is smooth and glossy (about 2 -3 minutes).

Makes about 16 cupcakes

Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/ChocolateCupcakes.html#ixzz0WHhTePCm

Halloween

Maya had fun this Halloween. I didn't dress her up last year, so this year I did and took her out trick or treating. She really enjoyed ringing doorbells and picking out candy from people at the door!

I took this picture the other day when we were outside playing. She just looked so darn cute!

Maya as of late

I'm pretty lame at adding to my blog, but about a month ago a few friends and I went to the Aquarium and Maya had a pretty good time. We had a little picnic outside afterwards and caught some pictures. I really liked this one of Maya. Funny how grown up she's getting!