Crock Pot Paleo Chili 

Ingredients:

• Two pounds of ground meat (I have used beef, pork, chicken, & venison; just mix and match)
  
• 1 Can tomato sauce (be sure it has no whacko oils or sugar in it if you're eating paleo). I really enjoy President's Choice Tomatoes First sauce.
  
• 1 can diced tomato (again, with nothing but tomatoes, well, and maybe salt)
• 4 cups Broth (any of your choosing)
• 4 Cups of veggies, this time around I used:

            Celery
            Peppers (orange and yellow)
            Onions
            Mushrooms
            Jalepeno (just one)
      I have also used carrots & turnip before

• 4 Cloves of garlic, crush and chopped
  
• 1 Tbsp of cocoa powder (gives it a great colour and a deep, earthy flavour)
  
• 3 Tbsp chili powder
  
• 1 Tbsp paprika
• Cayenne pepper, just a pinch (optional)
  
• Salt/pepper to taste
  

Method: 

1. If your meat is thawed out, place it into the bottom of your slow cooker and break it apart with a spoon. 
2. Dump all other ingredients on top of it, turn it to low and cook for 5-7 hours on low (it can cook longer too, fear not)

If your meat is frozen....

1. Stick the frozen meat into the slow cooker
2. Dump all other ingredients on top
3. Cook for 6-7 hours on high, then an additional hour or so at low.
4. Whenever you get a chance, use a large spoon to mix through the chilli and break up the meat. Once I only managed to do this after about 6 hours, and the chilli still tasted great

*With both recipes (frozen or thawed), you'll want to take the lid off the crock pot for the last part of the cooking (any amount of time is better than no time, but I generally have the lid off for an hour). This helps some of the liquid to cook off so that the chili is thicker*

   I hope everyone had a good Monday! Ours was a busy one, and it had some surprises in it, but it was good. 
    I'm feeling pooped now, and may make a nice cup-o' decaf coffee and watch some IT Crowd. Never seen it? It's a semi-stupid, semi-hilarious show that's on Netflix now. It's a clever show, but it's British, so would you expect anything else? Thought not. 
   
Cheerio! :)  

   Peanut butter, chocolate, and salty pretzels? Are there any questions? 
   I clearly think this is a yummy idea, and I have people who ate these cookies who will vouch for the yumminess of this idea! 
   I am often making treats for my son who can't have gluten, and I've made him peanut butter cookies before, but I wanted to jazz them up! And everyone knows that peanut butters' best friends are chocolate and pretzels. Everybody knows it. 
   So, I took a super simple recipe and just added a few yummy things and made it a super-duper yummy, and still so simple recipe! And if you are not a gluten-free person you can just use regular old pretzels! I think that point is obvious, but I just wanted to say it, just in case. 

Gluten-Free Peanut Butter, Pretzel & Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup peanut butter (the "fake" peanut butter works best, not the kinds that are only peanuts), chunky or creamy
• 1 Egg
  
• 1 Cup sugar (sometimes I like to use half white, and half brown, it's up to you!)
• 1 Cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

• 1/2 Cup crushed gluten free pretzels (you can also use regular pretzels too if you're not a gluten free person but are drooling at this recipe!) :)

* I literally "crushed" my pretzels by scooping 1/2 cup out of the bag, then dumping that half cup into my hand (in 2 parts) and squeezing! Then they were crushed! 

• A little extra sugar in a bowl for the tops

Method: 

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
2. Mix the peanut butter with the egg until well combined
3. Add the sugar(s) and mix until it is all well incorporated
4. Add the chocolate chips and crushed pretzels and stir it up!
5. Roll or scoop 1 tablespoon-ful of dough and place onto a baking sheet
6. Press a fork into the bowl of sugar, and press down into each cookie to flatten it and give it a nice design that is generally expected with peanut butter cookies....I'm not sure why though...?
7. Bake for 8-10 minutes, just until they are a tiny bit golden around the bottom edge and set     
   
8. Let cool slightly before removing from cookie sheet and devouring!

   Yummy, right? And so simple too! Hazaaa! They are the best!...unless you're allergic to peanuts...then I could see these being the worst...but lets not talk about that.
   I hope everyone has a great weekend doing what you're doing! 
   My brain is drawing a blank on cute and quippy closings, so I'm just gonna go! 

xo

Amy-Lyn 
   

   My youngest was turning 5 and asked for a pet shop birthday....which is exactly what she had asked for last year! Oh well, I appreciate her unwavering love of all things furry! 
   We decided to make it a pet shop (NOT Littlest Pet Shop {the show|, as you actually can't find much in the way of party products for that brand, but I am more than happy to not have a commercial birthday!). 

   As far as food goes at this shin-dig, Keziah wanted hamburgers, so that's what she got! Nothing animal themed about it...well, except for it being an animal product....?
   I just realized that I didn't take any pictures of lunch, except for dessert! Oh well, we had (as mentioned) burgers, and also popcorn and chips (served in dog food dishes!), & veggies and dip. 
   As part of dessert I made a cookie sheet of Rice Krispie treats, poured melted chocolate over it, and let it set. Then I cut out fish and dog bones using a cookie cutter, then added some detail with the buttercream I had made for the cupcakes. You can see the bones in the bottom left picture of the above collage, and my middle goof-ball daughter is holding a smily fish in the top right photo. 
  I also made up a batch of my peanut butter macaroons to be, well, animal poop, and we had fresh fruit as well. Oh, and ice cream! 
   I bought the paper ware for the party from Party City (I usually order stuff online from Party City, but an actual Party City store opened in Belleville so my middle kiddo and I went to have a looky-loo. It was fun!)

   Last year I made her a fancy cake (you can see it here), but we were planning on having her birthday so close to us getting home from holiday visiting and New Years Eve that I knew I wouldn't have the time to really work on a cake. So, before we left for Christmas (3 weeks before the party), I made a batch of chocolate and vanilla cupcakes and stashed them away in the freezer. I took them out of the freezer to thaw one day before the party and decorated them with a simple buttercream. 
   Then to some I added chocolate animals I had made from some moulds I had gotten from my Mother-in-law. I made one cat for my daughters cupcake, and a few puppies for some other cupcakes. I also wrote "meow" in moulding chocolate (by putting it into a ziplock bag and cutting a small corner off to making a piping bag).    

   The last thing we (my sister and I) did for the cupcakes was to make some paw prints out of buttercream and marshmallows. We simply piped some buttercream onto the iced cupcakes as 'glue', then added 3 mini mallows, and a cut-in-half big mallow to create a paw.  

   For grab bags I decided that the kids could each 'adopt' a pet from the 'pet shop'. 
   Instead of spending a crazy amount of money on new animals, and also to be mindful of the wastefulness of the toy industry, I set out to find cute stuffed animals at second hand shops. My sister found a whole bunch of them at Value Village in Brantford, and I found some at The Salvation Army and St. Vincent De Paul in Belleville. Getting "stuffies" was important because I was able to throw all the toys into my washer and give them a nice hot wash, then dry them until they were super fluffy and good as new!
   Seriously, in total (and this includes a bunch of stuffies I didn't end up using) it cost roughly $6 to buy all the animals you see in the baskets in the collage above! 
   To the grab bags I also added "puppy chow" which is a seriously, seriously, seriously yummy and addictive snack made with Chex cereal, peanut butter and chocolate, and icing sugar. Mmmmmm.....puppy  chow......Google it for a million variations on the recipe! 
   You can see the puppy chow in the pink bag in the collage above, and we also served it with lunch (in the first collage in this post). 
   There were a few other treats in the bags too; a few Swedish Fish and some fruit flavoured candy sticks-these were meant to be, well, fish (duh), and dog bones. I got those candies from Party City. You could buy 15 candies for $1, and the candy sticks and fish were individually wrapped, so it was handy and sanitary! 

   Here's me! :)  I am (like my middle child) quite unable to make a normal face for a photo. There is endless proof of this, but we'll leave that for another time!  

    Anyway, it was a good party; attendance dropped dramatically when I announced to the guests (via e-mail) that Keziah had chicken pox, and although she would likely not be contagious by her birthday party, it was likely that her sister would be.
   She still had a few friends over, and my sister and brother-in-law came with their many, many children, and that's a party right there!  
   I didn't plan anything except to print out some animal colouring pages. Kids generally are happy playing with new toys at someones house, and I have found that planning 100 games isn't always necessary. In fact, it can just make things more stressful! 

   So, that's it! I hope if you're planning an animal party you can glean some ideas from here (or from last years animal birthday post!) and that you have a grand party! And if you were just looking for fun....well, you may want to examine your idea of fun. Whomp whomp. Gotcha there. 

:)  

   A wonderful friend came over and we made Nanaimo bars together! I hadn't made them before, but I was willing (and eager!) to try!
   So, we started with a recipe from my cousin, added a recipe from the World Wide Inter-Web, and ended up with a version just slightly our own. Brittany ended up getting Oreo crumbs because graham crumbs were on sale and there were none to be found! Usually a Nanaimo bar recipe calls for graham crumbs and the addition of cocoa powder, but we just went with the Oreo crumbs instead and they were aaaawwwwwesooooome!!! :)  
   I took a batch with me to see family over the holidays, and I made another batch while visiting, and they got a lot of compliments (*blush*)! My father-in-law said he doesn't always really like Nanaimo bars, but these were the best he had ever had! That was high-praise indeed! 
   So, here it is! 

Brittany & Amy-Lyn's Nanaimo Bars
These bars come together in stages and require cooling between layers. 
Adapted from this recipe from Hidden Ponies, and my cousin Lizzie.  :) 


Ingredients:

Bottom:

• 1/4 Cup sugar
  
• 1 Egg
  
• 1 Tbsp milk
• 1 Tsp vanilla
• 3/4 Cup butter
• 2 Cups oreo cookie crumbs

• 1 Cup shredded coconut

Middle:

• 1/2 cup butter 
• 1/4 Cup + 2 tbsp milk
• 4 Tbsp custard powder
• 4 Cups icing sugar

Top:

• 8 oz semisweet or dark chocolate chips, chunks, baking chocolate, whatever
• 1 Tbsp butter

Method:

Bottom Layer:

1. Line a 9x13 inch pan with parchment paper and set aside
2. Whisk together the sugar, egg, milk and vanilla in a large saucepan. Place onto stove-top at medium-low heat and add the butter.  Stir until mixture is hot (just a few minutes) and the butter has melted. Remove from the heat.
3. Stir in cookie crumbs and coconut and mix 'er up so it's well incorporated.
4. Using your hands, press the mixture firmly into the prepared pan. Chill while you prepare the middle layer.

Middle Layer: 

1. In a bowl with high sides (the highest you've got!), beat the butter and milk with an electric mixer until creamy and smooth
2. Now add the custard powder and continue beating.
3. Add the icing sugar slowly. If you add it all in one dump you'll get a poof of icing sugar in your face, and icing sugar/butter all over your walls! Trust me (and Brittany!), this is for real!
4. Spread over first layer. and chill for 45 minutes (at least)

Top Layer:

1. Melt chocolate and butter in a small saucepan on medium-low heat, stirring often until melted and smooth. 
2. Spread fairly evenly over middle layer.
3. Chill for 1 hour, then score (gently cut into the bars, but only a shallow cut into the chocolate) with a sharp knife and return to fridge to chill completely before cutting into bars

*Scoring these bars before they are fully cooled helps you get a nice clean square when you cut and serve them. Without scoring, your chocolate would harden, and when you cut into the bars the chocolate would break and the delightful middle layer would squish out! Thumbs down. 

   And there you have it! 
   Monday, Monday! I have a lots to do this week with the 'usuals' as well as finishing a few paintings, getting a chalk board/cork board done, and the start of rehearsals for the new show the Belleville Theatre Guild is putting on, The Drowsy Chaperone! 
   I am looking forward to the week though, and taking the challenges on! 
   Whatever your Monday looks like, try to have a good day! 

    Our holiday season was so coo-coo crazy that I never got a chance to really sit and write about how Caleb did through it all. I might normally have written beforehand and speculated, or during and given a "how it's gone so far", but because this is coming weeks late I can give the, "this is how it went" angle!    

   Like I've mentioned, our holiday season was filled to the brim with activities, parties, visiting and the 'usual' Christmas fun.
   I almost feel as though I don't have a lot to say about how Caleb did because he did so very well! He even managed to get himself to the bathroom to barf into the toilet without help (that's a big step, especially considering we weren't at our own house at the time). 
   He enjoyed the parade without any trouble (getting frustrated by things such as the noise, the cold, the overwhelming amount of candy he gets but isn't allowed to eat right away). He participated fully and enthusiastically in his school Christmas concert (though he did stall out at first and didn't want to go on stage), he   sat with Santa and even told him what he wanted (a Chevy Cavalier...sheesh), as well as being so well-behaved (using a good voice volume, sitting quietly, being polite) at a "Christmas party" at the theatre where he got a treat, met Santa, got a present, and got to watch The Penguins of Madagascar. 

   Caleb helped decorate the tree, and even let his younger sister put the star on the tree even though that is usually his job. 

   There were, of course, road bumps along the way. Big group family photos were still a little hairy (he really doesn't like the idea!), he had some trouble with his sisters touching his new things and he would holler at them. He had some bad listening days, and days where he made bad choices. But overall, it was the best Christmas he has ever had, which is what I had hoped for. Forward steps, slow and steady, but forward. 

   Christmas is stressful. I know it's a season of love, of being merry, of getting together with family and friends, but it's a lot to get through!
   As a neuro-typical adult, I needed to be prepared, I needed to communicate my thoughts and concerns as they came along, I needed to process things as they came, and I needed some "normal", but I didn't get much of that. Truth time? I spent 15 minutes crying in the bathroom of the first place we went for a Christmas get-together because it had been such a blunder of a day and I fell apart!
  As a child with autism, a condition marked with processing problems, communication impairments, sensory difficulties, and the need for routine and sameness, Caleb had (and has) every right to not do well and to have many, many meltdowns!!!
   I had no excuses to be upset about anything during the holidays with Caleb chugging along and making the best of it all. 
   What a kid! What a new year we have to look forward to! Caleb is growing up, becoming more mature, and learning how to live life! He enjoyed Christmas! It's been 10 years coming, but he enjoyed the whole Christmas season and that makes me feel so happy! 
   He is still troubled, he is still struggling with the ins and outs of his autism, but he is just amazing! All those years of "torturing" him by ruining his schedule to go to see family for the holidays; I'm glad we did it! Perhaps I wasn't so glad at the time, but I am now.
   
   When Caleb was about 5 our paediatrician said to us, "the only real way to deal with autism on a day to day basis is with routine, routine, and more routine". She meant it, and I believed her, and it's true....mostly. Having a routine for people with autism is important, but at what cost? If we had said years ago, "nope, we can't go see family for Christmas because it'll throw off Caleb's routine (and he may have a meltdown and act like a crazed lunatic!)!", Caleb would not have had this amazing Christmas this year. 
   I know  every child and adult with autism is different, but I strongly believe a general parenting rule applies to raising all kids, and that is you start them off how you want them to go. Most kids don't naturally use manners, so we teach them. Why? Because we want to raise polite and courteous members of society. You can't suddenly say to a teenager-"say please and thank-you!" after never once asking them to do so.  
   We wanted a life with Caleb where he felt comfort in his regular, scheduled life, but he also trusted us when we were just winging it! 
   I rambled there for a bit about schedules, but I said it all to say this: on a day to day basis raising a child with autism can seem endless, hopeless, even pointless. You feel like you aren't making progress, nothing is getting better, and nothing will change. You deal with dirty looks, snide remarks, and having your child loose their ever loving mind in front of those bystanders who don't understand, and don't want to. 
   Then, it seems sudden, but you realize all at once that it isn't sudden, and things have changed. This change looks different for each family raising kids with special needs, but it comes. You see that the start you gave, the way you wanted them to go, is taking hold. We kept giving the message that said, "routine is good, but if it isn't there, don't freak out!"
   We dragged Caleb here, there and everywhere during the holidays, and he kept up! He had some lows, don't get me wrong, but we didn't have to leave any parties because he was falling apart. We didn't have to send him to a dark, quiet room because he couldn't handle the situation we were in, he didn't even get the least bit upset when he realized the Christmas dinner we were going to wasn't happening. In fact, that first place we were that I had my cry was a night Caleb could have easily fell apart. 
   We told him he would see cousins, and aunts and uncles, and none of those things happened (serious schedule glitch!). But, the dining room was set up for the following night (when the dinner actually was going to be) and Caleb walked in, he had his pyjamas on (as we had asked him to do), and I was in looking at the place settings and how nice everything looked. 
   Caleb came to me and said, "Caleb will to see his cousins???". And I realized that, even though Adam and I knew our scheduling blunder, we hadn't really explained to the kids the change. We just unloaded our stuff and settled in for the evening-without the party.
   Caleb stayed calm, he did what he was told. He ate the food we gave him, and put on his pyjamas. He must have known something was wrong, he must have felt how tense we were, he knew what we had told him would happen wasn't actually happening, and he stayed above it. He rose above it, really. 
   I see it. I see the change. If you are eye-ball deep in the exhausting job of raising kids, especially kids with special needs, take heart! Change comes, it's slow, it's quiet and careful, but it's there! Embrace where you are, but keep going too; keep working hard and a harvest will start to come in. The change you hope to see will come. 


xo

   Yes, yes I know this is dreadfully late to be posting a "new year" blog, but it's still January, so it's no too bad! 
   I read a post by a wonderful, beautiful lady about having a new years revolution, instead of just a resolution. Read that post here. :) 
   I've been thinking the same things lately; thinking about what people say about me when I'm not around. I want to think they have only good things to say, but that just shows my flawed heart and how selfish I really am (therefore giving people more negative things to say!). Round and round we go.
   So, this year, this new year, I want to be more intentional. What that means exactly, I won't know until the situation is looking me in the face. But, as a starting point, I want to intentionally encourage others around me. Make a point to compliment, build up, and say a kind word to someone else. Not falsely, but out of a heart that wants to makes others feel valued and loved.     

   I also want to clean up my life. No, not any bad habits (I quite like the ones I've got! Hehe...), but my actual surroundings! We've accumulated a lot (A LOT!) of stuff it seems in the last year. My basement is a cave of scary stacks of bins, bags, boxes, fans, lamps, canvases, deep freezers, etc., etc., etc! Why? Why?!?! I know why-out of sight, out of mind! 
   Well, my plan for 2015 is to get rid of 2,015 things! Literally, I will be keeping count! I only mentioned my scary basement, but I also have some scary closets, laundry room/dog room/animal feed storage room (imagine that disaster!), and our toy situation is out. Of. Control!!! So, I plan on chipping away at our life of material goods, and getting back to the basics. I will keep you posted (as well as keeping count) of where I am in my 2,015 things! 

   The last thing I want to learn this year is how to love myself. Yikes. That made me feel jumpy just typing it out.
   I'm not talking about loosing a certain amount of weight, or getting a six pack, I'm just talking about loving myself no matter what I look like. Some people honestly and naturally have a love of their bodies and how they look. I have personally never been that way. I can remember maybe once in my life thinking, "alright, I think I look o.k?", and that was as close as I got to approving of myself. 
   Whatever the reason, be it media, upbringing, chemical imbalances, I don't know, but I have always been poking at and disliking how I looked. My sister showed me this woman's story, and I am deciding (though not even close to being "there" yet) to have a body image revolution. 
   I want to learn to love myself no matter what. Does this mean I am going to start eating whatever I want, stop exercising, not get enough sleep, and let myself go and just say, "this is me, and I love it!?"  No, that's not it at all. Being healthy is the goal; healthy in mind and body. Eating crap-food all day won't give me a long and healthy life! 
   Taryn, the woman who started this body image revolution said (and it's right on the home page of her website), "my body is not an ornament, it is a vehicle to my dreams". How beautiful, how profound. 
   I want to see myself as the beautiful woman God made me to be, not the me who has been insulted, rejected, weight-obsessed, food possessed, and so hard on myself that I was not enjoying life.  
   It's hard to find out where this starts and stops though, but I will figure it out. What I mean is, I will still brush my hair, and my teeth. I will clean my face and use moisturizer. I will eat well and work out. Self-love does not mean not giving a care about anything body image related (at least that's how I feel about it!). I will dress nicely because I like to "look good" when I go somewhere. "Looking good" can mean different things to different people, but that's just the point, I want to dress to look good for me and who I want to express. 
   For instance, I wear a super large, red and cream coloured knitted "coat" (really, it's just a huuuuge sweater), and I think it's great. My husband said, "that is the ugliest thing I have ever seen!", but I wear it anyway because it feels like me!
   Anyway, I am rambling a bit, and I will probably be sharing more about this here and there in the future, but for now I shall let it rest!   

   So, being more intentional, minimizing our "stuff", and learning to love myself! Next to each other they are 3 really big new year things!!! But here's the thing-I've got time! I've got today, haven't I?
   It seems daunting, but I refuse to be discouraged and give up. It's not some rules someone else has given me and I must live up to them. It's for the better, for my better and the better of my family. The goals don't start January 1st and end December 31st, and if I haven't accomplished all I wanted then I failed! If I've tried, I've succeeded! If I keep trying I'm a super-star!!! :)  
   Whatever your goals, dreams or hopes for this new year, set the wheels in motion! Take one day at a time, and do your best. If you fail, no worries. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start again! 
   When I was learning to ride a horse I was taught that if a horse bucks you off,  no matter what (well, unless something is broken!) get right back on! Why? Because if you don't you might never get back on! Your fear will set in, and you'll talk yourself out of it. The other reason to get back on is to say to the horse, "you can act like an idiot, but I will keep on riding!". 
  Both reasons to get back on taught me something about fear and controlling what makes you fearful. Fear is just an excuse to not try, but I say try! Try, fall off, get back up and try again! Tell yourself, "I am not afraid of my goals!", and tell your daunting, bucking goals, "you may be big, but I will get back on and keep trying!".

   Happy New Year!

   Muffins! Sometimes you just want a good muffin to go with your coffee, am I right? Read that like you're from Brooklyn, it sounds way better.  
    Anywho, I'm back with a paleo recipe today, a tasty, make-and-freeze kind of deal. I'm not saying you have to freeze them, just that you can, and that makes them a handy little snack you can pull out when you need it.
   Let's just get to it!   

Sweet Potato Chai Muffins
Adapted from PaleOMG

Ingredients:

• 1 medium sweet potato, baked (at about 400 degrees for 35-40 minutes) and pureed/squished
• 1 overripe banana, squished :)

*You should have 1 cup-ish of puree sweet potato/banana total*

• 3 Eggs
• 1 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 1/2 Tsp lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp Maple syrup
• 1/2 Tsp baking soda
• 1/3 Cup flax meal
• 1 Tbsp coconut flour
• 3 Tbsp almond meal
• 2 Chai tea bags (you will cut open the bags to use the spices inside)
• 1/4 Tsp each ginger, all alice and cinnamon, optional
• 3-4 Tsp maple or coconut sugar for the tops, optional

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees, and line a muffin tray with liners (this recipe will make about 12 muffins)
2. In a large bowl throughly blend the sweet potato, banana, eggs, coconut oil, lemon juice and maple syrup
   
3. In a separate, smaller bowl, mix together the baking soda, flax meal, coconut and almond flour, as well as the chai tea and other spices (if you're using the extra spices). Add a pinch of salt here too
4. Now add the dry to the wet ingredients and mix until combined
5. If you have a scoop use it to measure out the batter into each muffin cup. The biggest scoop I have is a 2 tbsp sized, and each cup holds about 2 scoops, which is about 1/4 cup. Just try to make each muffin the same size so they bake evenly, that's all this rambling is about! 
6. Sprinkle each muffins with a bit of the maple or coconut sugar, if you're using it
7. Bake muffins for 25-30 minutes or until you poke them with a toothpick and it comes out clean.
8. Let the muffins cool a bit before eating 'em.

   My favourite way to make and eat these is to freeze them after they have cooled completely, then when I want one I will warm it in the oven and eat it like it's fresh and hot out of the oven. Which it is, sort of....? 
   Either way, I find that paleo baked goods sometimes have the tendency to be wet (just a hair past moist), and warming it in the oven dries it out perfectly. Not dry as in choke it down dry, but dry as in a nice crunchy top, and a warmed inside. That's all. 
   I hope everyone had a good weekend! Mine was good, busy, interesting? I can't explain now, but perhaps I will some time! 
   Anyway, I've still got little miss middle child home today with her chicken pox, and we went for a really nice wintery walk (I pulled her in a sled so she wouldn't get worn out and feel more sick, and I got some serious exercise!). It's the kind of beautiful, mild winter day where the snow if falling silently in big, heavy flakes. So lovely, and a great start to a week!
   I hope everyone has a great Monday!

   Lets talk about cookies! These light and tasty darlings are gluten free, so simple to make, freeze well, and um, actually, I think I covered every point!   

Kokosmakronen

Ingredients:

• 2 egg whites
  
• 3/4 cup of sugar
  
• 1 1/2 cups of shredded coconut
  
• Pinch of salt
  
• 2 Tbsp gluten free flour blend (regular flour works just as well too if you aren't worried about these being gluten free) 
  

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 300 Degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside
2. Using a hand mixer (or stand mixer), beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then slowly add in the sugar while continuing to beat
3. Keep beating until the sugar has dissolved. To test if it's dissolved you can pinch some egg white between your fingers and rub them together. It can still feel a bit grainy from the sugar, but not too much
4. In a separate bowl, mix the coconut, salt and flour together, then carefully fold this mixture into the beaten egg whites
5. Scoop up 1 tablespoon-ful of the cookie dough (small pampered chef style scoop makes them perfect if you have one) onto the prepared baking sheets
6. Bake for 13-15 minutes. The cookies will be all-over lightly golden when they are done. They may also seem a little underdone in the centre, but they will set up as they cool.

   My gluten-free skeptic son loved these cookies! He gave them his stamp of approval by devouring 2 in about 60 seconds and then asking for another with his mouth still full. I said "no", by the way. :) But the compliment was noted!
   Whip up a batch, do it, c'mon.
   So, truth be told, I am gruuuuumpy today!
   I'm not 100% sure why.... :(  How's everyone else feeling? I'm wondering if it's just the day?
   I got outside stacking/piling wood for a while (sunshine, fresh air, etc.), but it did little to ease my seriously pessimistic outlook! I've got my middle child home today with the chicken pox (so, phew, that makes all three having had them now!), and that's not making me grumpy. She is sweet and pleasant and isn't making me feel blue at all. 
   Anyway, whatever the reason, I hope you are happy today!
   I just thought, I might be feeling stressed about this weekend. The Belleville Theatre Guild is having their auditions for The Drowsy Chaperone on Saturday and Sunday, and I'll be involved with choreography and with auditions, and maybe I'm feeling pressure? Maybe I'm feeling sad because I want to be in the show, not just helping with it? I literally have no idea....I'm blog-counselling myself right now....just ignore me. 
   I'm gonna get more coffee. 

xo

Hello!

   How are we today?
   Well, our holidays are finally over! After being away for 10 days we got back and had a day of rest before heading to a friends house for New Years Eve...where we stayed up late! Super duper late! The kind of late that reminds me I'm not as young as I think I am... 
   We headed home and had a day to rest/tidy then we had my sister, brother-in-law and all their kiddos coming for a visit for a few days. In the midst of their visit our youngest had her 5th birthday party (which I'll share about later). 
   I didn't send the kids to their first day back to school because we still had family visiting, and also because our middle child barfed the night before! Whomp whomp.
   So, to tally, since December 18th when we left our house for the holiday we had: 3 out of 5 of us barfing, one with chicken pox, one got diarrhea. Visited/met up with: 60-70 people (I won't lie, it could be more but I got tired of counting!). Ate: 3 Christmas dinners (we had to miss one), and a few Christmas get-togethers that weren't "dinners" but sure had a lot of food! Did: New Years Eve all nighter, had guests over, and threw a birthday party. 

The End. 

   It's been a whirlwind few weeks, it was fun too, but I am glad to be settling down and getting back into real life.   

   So, getting back into the swing of things and eating right often means soup! 
   I love soup for a lot of reasons. 1. You can make it out of anything! 2. You can make it super healthy by packing it full of veggies. 3. You can make it in the crock pot. 4. It makes great leftovers for a quick and healthy meal.
   When it comes to crock pot recipes though, having to prepare meat before putting it into the slow cooker seems dumb to me. The point of the slow cooker is to make a meal as crazy simple as possible (thats what I think, at least!) 
   So, I've started adding my meat un-cooked, and in many cases, completely frozen.
   With this soup, I find the chicken is actually more tender when I make it from frozen, so, all the better! You don't even need to remember to thaw the meat out!
   It's -18 degrees fahrenheit here today (that's almost -28 in celsius!), so I'm feeling the need for soup!!!

Crock-Pot Chicken & Tomato Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 onions, diced
• 2 Large chicken breasts, frozen or thawed

• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 3 celery stalks, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 4 cups broth
• 1 Tsp garlic powder and paprika (if you have any)
• Salt & pepper to taste

*Add more veggies if you want, we were just low so I used what I had!*

Method: 

1. In a 5 quart crock pot place the diced onions, then the chicken breasts, diced tomatoes and tomato sauce, celery, then stock. Add the seasonings and gently stir
2. Turn slow cooker onto low for at least 5 hours if the breasts are frozen, or 3-4 hours if they aren't. This can stay in the slow cooker for up to 8 hours on low
3. Once ready to eat, get the chicken breasts out of the slow cooker by using tongs, or two spoons, or whatever. Just pull them out and place them onto a cutting board
4. Cut or shred the chicken, then place back into the crock pot (you will find the chicken is very tender and may fall apart as you take it out of the crock pot, but that's a good thing so don't worry about it!)
5. Give it all one good stir, add salt & pepper as needed, scoop it up and serve! 

 
On a crazy cold day like today I like to add a splash of hot sauce to my soup to warm me up even more. 

   Well, stay warm today! I'm wearing a big, multi-coloured knitted sweater my Mom got for me at the Salvation Army to keep warm. When it gets this cold, only a good wool sweater will keep you cozy, and all the better if it's just a bit ugly, ya know, so you look artsy and individual. :)