Hamburger Soup

Hamburger Soup!

Easy to make, a great slow cooker recipe, and oh so swell to freeze. I love dinners you can make once and eat twice!

1.5 lbs Ground Beef (I always use extra lean)

1 medium onion, chopped finely

28oz canned tomatos

3 cups beef broth

1 cup tomato soup

4 carrots chopped finely

1 bay leaf

3 sticks celery

parsley (use own judgement)

1/2 tsp thyme

pepper to taste

8 tbsp barley

Personally the barley is my favorite part so I often add extra. Brown meat , add onions, then through everything else in your pot and simmer for 2 hrs, or all day, whichever works for you!

In Other News:

Lumsden's first snowfall! October. This is an old picture I kept meaning to post.

Stars and Kitchens

This week has not been kind. It was 'one of those Mondays' that has become the monster of 'one of those weeks'. Amaris has decided she has a huuuge attitude problem, and Jamison has been super gassy. It's also the one of the few weeks left until we leave for our much deserved Christmas holiday! I can't wait to have tons of hands available to hold my babies, ah, to take a shower without two kids in the bathroom = bliss.

Also, Jamison decided not to sleep last night. Ugh. But in more upbeat news, I bought three stars from Dollarama (I mean, uh, Pottery Barn) and I think they're super cute on my hearth. What do you think? I really would love to get a wreath for above them, but alas, there isn't much point since we leave next week for HOME. Will I ever call Saskatchewan home? Will I ever call anywhere that gets -35 home? That would be like admitting that we're stuck here.

Also I've been all over this dinner making business lately (no easy feat with two kids under two). Last night was hamburger soup, I'll post the recipe tomorrow!

In Other News:

In the website I'm loving right now, Young House Love, there was a link to this:

Cutest Homemade Kid's Kitchen EVER! Check it out, couldn't be sweeter, now to convince my Dad to make one for Amaris....

Lemon Loaf, etc

This is a lemon loaf recipe I have fallen in LOVE with, all through my pregnancy I craved lemon loaf and it's not until the past few weeks I found a recipe that I can make and indulge in, so good!



The Recipe for the Best Lemon Loaf Ever:
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt



3 eggs, room temp.
1 c. sugar
2 tbsp butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 c. fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/2 c. oil (I always use applesauce as a substitute here, it is so moist and delish, and less fat!!)



Icing:
1 c. icing sugar
2 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp lemon extract (if you want, I don't have any so I don't do this)

The loaf is so good you don't even really need the icing (although I still like to, I'm not going to lie).
Mix the dry ingredients, then the wet (but not the oil), then combine together, then add the oil (or applesauce) lastly, stir, pour into loaf pan, cook for 45 mins at 350, cool and enjoy!!

In Other News:
Two new websites that I'm loving lately, during those late evening, middle of the night (he's actually sleeping amazing the past few nights, falling asleep on his own and in his own bed) feedings I peruse them on my iphone.
Young House Love (I almost put, 'Young House Loaf', you can tell what's on my mind!!)
Lizzy Writes (this lady is amazing, I wish I had this much energy!)

Well I think that's about it, I'm off to start my roast chicken before the kidlet's wake up, having a 23 month old and a 1 month old means not many quiet moments and I want to capitalize one and do more than just blog!
xxoo Meredith

The Past Two Weeks

The past two weeks have been eventful. My mother in law came out to visit, seeing family is always so great! It's so nice for Amaris to be able to spend some time with her grandparents! Especially when they are playdough-playing, song-singing, book-reading grandparents!

In Other News:

On November 12th we had an adrenaline moment, driving down the highway we were the second vehicle to arrive at a rolled over vehicle in between the highways. I guess he lost control somehow. We were driving along and we see the car on it's side, smoking, and a lady who had just pulled over (I guess she saw it happen) standing next to it looking at us screaming. That alone made my heart start pumping!! It was like in those action movies where there's the slow mo of the people freaking out (have you seen Transformers??) Anyways David pulled over right away and the ONE time I couldn't find my cellphone, I needed to call 911! So he threw me his phone and then ran down to the car. By this point about 5 other cars had stopped.

David tried pulling the windshield off (it was broken) to get the guy out, but he couldn't get it all off, so he climbed on top of the car. Inside the car was luckily only one guy. I would have been so upset if there had been babies or kids in it, how awful to think about! The guy was from Ontario though, and his car was CRAMMED full of huge suitcases! All of which had flung forward and landed on him when he crashed! So I see my husband, standing on top of this car which is on it's side, with the passenger door open, pulling about 6 huge suitcases and duffel's out of the car and onto the snow.
At this point about 10 cars have stopped and there are about 8 people standing around the car, a couple of women freaking out. Eventually David 'dug' him out of his luggage, and got him out, he was okay! Thank God!
I was off the phone by now and the police were on their way, an ambulance was dispatched too although I don't think he needed it. I was transferred from the 911 operator to the RCMP dispatch and put on call waiting. REALLY?? What if someone had been seriously injured? C'mon people!!
All's well that ends well though, and we went on our way!

May you have a safe, accident free week!!

xoxo Meredith
P.S This is an old post I wrote and never posted!

Yellow Dress

My Beauty, pictures Auntie Annette took this summer.

She fell in love with blackberries!

But learned very quickly that the bushes are prickly! Grandma sympathizes :(

October Recap

October, our first snow! Big suprise. But not really. My mom was out again because Jamison was just born, and the snow and cold invaded our sunshine! Amaris LOVED it!

Babies do the best old people impressions. So cute.

Our pumpkin carving party! Too bad all of our pumpkins froze and then collapsed when it thawed out again!

Stretchy Pants

These pants are from babygap, and they are amazing play jeans! They don't have the bothersome and tight button and zipper and don't cut into the cute little belly that adorable babies have. Perfect for crawling, bending, rolling and jumping. Amaris has almost worn through hers! So we ordered them in two more sizes for Jamison!

On the note of stretchy pants, I can't remember the last time I wore pants with a zipper and button myself...sigh. Time to dig the post pregnancy pants out of the basement!! And then hopefully pack them away again when I 'Shrink' out of them! My goodness I can't wait to be the same size for more then a year soon. Two kids in two years is a lot of clothing fluctuation!