Raw-k 'n' Roll

So I've been going through what I would call a quarter life crisis, a combination of trying to lose baby weight, rethink my diet, and attempt to get my excersize has accumulated into, well, a big mess. A couple nights ago I was up almost all night, couldn't sleep. I finally ended up on the computer, and stumbled on this blog: http://www.rawmazing.com/

Well, me and my trusty notebad jumped from raw blog, to raw blog all night and I came out of that night on a mission! Albeit a very tired mission at the time.

I decided to attempt to slowly rawify my life! I highly doubt I will ever go fully raw, partly for David's sake, but I figure if I work my way up to 80% eventually that'd be pretty good! I really thought raw-foodists only munched on carrot sticks all day, but there is really a lot more too it! So far I am doing pretty well, I have decided not to focus on packages and labels (a lot of amazing foods are really high in fat, like nuts!) but to go as pure and basic and 'live' as possible! I really am not so much caught up with being raw as renewing my vigor to be HEALTHY!!! Which isn't easy when my never gain a pound husband is chowing down on halloween candy! He always tells me "I'm an adult I can eat what I want!" Well, it's his forte!

I decided to make these (non-raw) vegan low fat pumpkin cookies to use up my leftover pumpkin!

Ingredients:
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup applesauce
3 cups oatmeal
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
Preparation:Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix together the pumpkin, sugar and applesauce.
In a separate bowl, combine the remaining ingredients, then add to the pumpkin, mixing well.
Drop by spoonfuls onto a baking sheet. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until done.

I ran out of applesauce so I boiled prunes for 3 minutes and then blended them in my magic bullet with a little bit of water instead! Then I realized I had a jar of applesauce in my pantry...

I've also stopped eating after 7pm at night. I am proud to say that I have been doing this for 4 days and lost 3lbs already! Here's to the next 13!

*note: I think you could make these raw really easily! Maybe I'll give it a shot!

Summer Adieu

I stepped out my door saturday evening to be greeted by this.

After a week of snow and cold, we had a few wonderful days of plus 10 and sunshine. The sunset was amazing, the air wrapped around you when you stepped outdoors, greeting you with a fresh warmth. The whole sky glowed, with colours more beautiful than any human can create! It was a pastel evening. I live for being outside in moments like these, it puts me so at peace with everything! Teething baby or not!

Love is a Temporary Madness

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are.
Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two."

- Captain Corelli's Mandolin. "Love is the beauty of the soul." --St. Augustine

Winter has Sprung

Winter sprung up by falling down on our heads in the form of white, soft, cold, wet snow. Calgary is something else. It has been almost exactly four months since our last snow fall, June 6th to October 4th. Our blissful four month hiatus from the cold of the Calgary winter.
Here's some scenes from the neighbourhood when we finally got outside for a walk after three days of being snowed in with an extremely grumpy teething baby.

The snowmen are standing, the sled hill is ready, snow has decended on our little world!

Bundled up for a brisk walk, the snow crunched, the sun shone, and my boots got so wet they soaked my socks! But for the chance to get outside and see something other then the beige walls of my house I would gladly soak all my socks. We are on the third tooth and I think I may be losing my marbles!!!

The Start of 'The Project'

So as I've posted before we bought furniture for Juni's room.

*note: Juni is short of Junior, which is Amaris's nickname. David calls me Diffy, because my little brother used to call me Merediffy, then David starting calling Amaris 'Diffy Junior'. It quickly turned into Junior, which turned into Juni. Now we never call her Amaris. Oh my.

The furniture is still in the process of being painted, it's on the 'Hunny Do' list. There is this whole lingo you pick up on when your married, I learnt the 'Hunny Do' thing this year. Anyways, my plan for her room is to do a cherry blossom and sparrow theme. I have this beautiful old book that I am using as the inspiration. I fell in love with it years ago before Amaris was even born, and when trying to think of a theme for her room it seemed perfect.

On the inset the date reads 7/7/01 as the year it was given to Joseph Mason. I love trying to imagine how it got all the way into my hands over 100 years later!

Oops, sideways. This is the back of the book.

It's such a gem! I'm hoping to paint coat hooks for the wall, letters to go above her bed, and a two part picture to go on her walls, hope it all turns out okay! I'm not exactly an amazing artist!

So far this is as far as I've gotten, little train letters for her dresser.

Before, and after.

Take me to the Zoo

Well our Thanksgiving weekend was turkey and family free (we had our turkey dinner on thursday and we don't have any family in Calgary) but we had each other! We went to the zoo this weekend, it was -7, so very moderate Calgary-wise, but for us Vancouver Islanders it might as well have been the arctic. We bundled up Juni (Amaris) to the nines, poor thing couldn't even move! We bought her a snowsuit this weekend at Superstore (cutest clothes ever there!).

I told David there wasn't enough pictures of the two of us so I made him do the self-photo shoot and snap one at the zoo in the Rainforest builing, you go from outside which is -7, to inside which is about 30-35 degrees, gah!

You can't even tell he took the picture of us! Juni was so good at the zoo, she just sat there all stiff in her layers and would smile when we stopped to look at her. The zoo was almost empty which was nice, I actually saw the lions for the first time and I've been to the zoo six times! Usually it's so crowded!

We took Juni out of her stroller and de-bundled her in the Rainforest Builing and let her interact more closely (as close as is safe) to the animals. I want to immerse her in learning and expand her experiences as far as I can. Speaking of expanding experiences, word on the street is we might be moving, again! We are slowly making our way further and further out east! Following the work! A great opportunity has been offered to us in Saskatchewan and we can't say no! Hopefully everything will pan out the way it's supposed to be!

Thanksgiving Feast!

So my first Thanksgiving dinner! Well, actually my second being married but the first one I've cooked the dinner for! We had a friend from highschool, Eiliene, out in Calgary visiting so she and our friends Katherine and Josh and their cutey Memphis came over for dinner! I arrived home from Victoria late thursday night and spent all of friday cooking! Whew! My lovely husband did all of the shopping (according to the list) and so everything I needed was at my finger tips!

Here's my menu:

• Sausage Stuffing (as per David's request)
• Brussel Sprouts and Cheese Sauce (also David's request!)
• A HUGE 20lb Turkey!
• Steamed Carrots
• Mashed Potatoes
• A salad, courtesy of Katherine!
• Buns, courtesy Eiliene
• And an amazing Two Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie!

My first ever attempt at cheesesauce! The cheesy sprouts.

Here's the recipe for the sauce and sprouts!

Ingredients
1 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup milk, warmed
1/4 cup shredded cheddar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Pinch cayenne
Directions
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Place Brussels sprouts in saucepan with enough water to cover. Add juice. Simmer, uncovered, 8 to 10 minutes, until tender. Drain.
Meanwhile, melt butter in small saucepan. Stir in flour; cook 1 to 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in milk; cook, whisking, until sauce thickens, about 2 minutes. Stir in cheese, salt, pepper, nutmeg and cayenne.
Transfer Brussels sprouts to a 1-quart casserole. Pour sauce over top. Bake in for 20 minutes or until heated through.

From http://www.foodnetwork.com/

Notes: NOT CHEESY ENOUGH!! I put 1/2 cup grated cheese and it could have used more!

I have also discovered that http://www.kraft.com/ is an AMAZING website for recipes! I sure use capital letters a lot! But really, they're simple, fast, and don't use complex ingredients that you can never find in the grocery store!

The pumpkin cheesecake pie recipe was mostly from Kraft (mostly as in I modified it a bit, combined two recipes together). It was super duper uper good!

The pie, I really wish I had taken a picture before it got demolished!

The Recipe
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup plus 1 Tbsp. milk, divided
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided
1 HONEY MAID Graham Pie Crust (6 oz.)
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin
2 pkg. (3.4 oz. each) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves

BEAT cream cheese, 1 Tbsp. milk and sugar in large bowl with whisk until blended. Stir in half the COOL WHIP. Spread into crust.
WHISK remaining milk, pumpkin, pudding mixes and spices 2 min. (Mixture will be thick.) Spread over cream cheese layer.
REFRIGERATE 4 hours or until set. Top with remaining COOL WHIP just before serving
Notes:

I used Peak Freans Bran cookies as a 'sensible solution' crust, about 20 cookies with 1/4 melted maragrine as a crust. I also used 95% less fat cool whip, and 90% less fat cream cheese, still tasted amazing, you couldn't even tell! You don't have to use the brand name stuff either, I got everything no-name.

David's lunch the next day. Leftovers!

Well, that was our dinner, I wish I had taken more pictures!

Airplanes, Weddings, Friends and Family!

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach.
~Elizabeth Barrett Browning
What a busy week! We flew to Victoria on the first of October, and Amaris was an angel! She did not even so much as whimper once and I didn't even have to whip out the new toys I had bought her for the ride! She simply amused herself by trying to grab the nose of the man sitting in the seat next to us. Luckly he was a good sport, because as Amaris gets bigger the seats on the airplane seem smaller!
On the way to the airport! We have to take the car because the truck dosn't fit in the parkade! Oh husband of mine.
So the reason for the trip was Sam and Jessica's wedding! I love weddings! It does something good to the soul. It's not everyday that you are in the presence of the truest, most pure, public display of love and commitment, it also serves as an extra large reminder of how much I love my husband! I love you David! ♥

The beautiful bride, check out the look on Sam's face, too bad it's blurry! Jessica and I.
I also got to spend an evening with Kim and Sarah, we indulged ourselves at DQ, the Oreo Cheesquake (there's that cheesecake thing in me again coming out!) Blizzard, so good! Even a small seems way to big though!

Sarah's weird cup animal we drew eyes on. The three of us!
We also spent two wonderful evenings at the Marks' house! It was so nice for Amaris to see her Grandma and Grandpa Marks and Uncle Jesurun! We also got to see a large portion of the extended family which was so fun for Amaris to meet her cousins!

Uncle Jesurun, the rocking bug, and Amaris. Amaris and a few of her cousins! Totally the white one out!

Papa Hugh and Amaris.
Well, much more went on in Victoria but I don't want this post to be 50 miles long! We arrived home in Calgary on the 7th, I've noticed I am starting to call Calgary, 'home', which is really odd! I have come to learn that home is really where the heart is, and since David often stays in Calgary while we are in Victoria, I yearn for home!