Month: March 2012

Smoothie Chef

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This morning Grae and I whipped up one of her all-time favourite snacks, a banana almond oatmeal smoothie.  These are seriously delicious, take all of 2 minutes to make (maybe 5 if working with a mini sous chef), and require ingredients we always have in the house.  Here’s what you need:  A frozen ripe banana, milk, yogurt, old-fashioned oats, almond butter (or any nut butter for that matter), and pure vanilla.

(Side note: Please try to ignore our hideous kitchen tiles!  We are currently renting and somehow the 6 months we’ve spent here has allowed me to enter the kitchen without shuddering in disgust, but seeing these photos makes me wonder how that’s possible…  Yeesh!  I’m sure they were fashionable at one point in time.)

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Break your frozen banana in half and pop it in the blender.

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Add your old-fashioned oats.

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And some yogurt.  (Make sure it’s GOOD yogurt.  Good yogurt makes all the difference.  We’re all about the Greek yogurt right now.)

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Pour in some milk.

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And some all-natural almond butter.

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Add a couple of drops of pure vanilla if you wish.

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Blend until smooth.

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Voila!  Done.

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Shove your entire mouth into your glass and slurp as quickly as possible to achieve this awesome smoothie moustache.

You really can’t go wrong with this smoothie.  If you like to experiment, just chuck the ingredients into the blender and play with the ratios to reach your desired flavour and consistency.  If you prefer to follow a recipe of sorts, here’s what we normally do:

Banana Almond Oatmeal Smoothie

  • 1 frozen banana
  • 1 cup of milk
  • 1/2 cup of yogurt
  • 3 TBSP of old-fashioned oats
  • 2 TBSP of all-natural almond butter
  • 1 tsp of pure vanilla

Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.  Pour into two cups and enjoy!

The Bloedel Conservatory

This afternoon Gracen and I finally ventured out to a place we’ve been meaning to visit for a while – the Bloedel Conservatory in Queen Elizabeth Park.  Grae was in heaven before making it anywhere near the dome.  The surrounding area is home to sculptures, fountains, and endless room to run, which was more than enough for our easy-to-please little lady.  We took our time, explored a little, watched the fountains again and again, and eventually made our way to the doors.  Inside the conservatory is a little slice of the tropics.  Exotic plants and tropical flowers fill the dome from ground to ceiling and birds fly freely over head.  Mix that with the warmth, humidity, and sounds of running water and birds calling, and you feel like you’re on vacation in the rainforest.  Of course, Grae soaked up every second.  Birds, flowers, sunshine… This place was right up her alley.  We slowly wandered along the paths visiting birds and stopping to smell flowers along the way.  The absolute favourite of the day had to be a little cove inhabited by several small birds and one larger parrot.  There was a puddle of water in front and Gracen was absolutely fascinated by the fact that the birdies were having a bath.  She repeatedly signed ‘Bird. Bath!’ with big eyes and a look of disbelief on her face as we watched them and then requested that we go back to the bird bath several times later on.    Here are some photos of our afternoon:

IMG 7213A little unsure of the fountains.

IMG 7221Much braver when they weren’t at full power.

IMG 7224Taking in the view of downtown Vancouver and the mountains.

IMG 7312Ruby, the bird that greeted us in the cashier station.

IMG 7242Macaw watching.

IMG 7228Carmen and Maria, green-winged macaws.

IMG 7244Flower sniffing.

IMG 7245The pink orchids were G’s favourites.

IMG 7252Must. smell. each. and. every. flower.

IMG 7274Kiwi, the talking bird.  I think he fancied G quite a lot…  He kept saying, “Muwah!” and “I love you” whenever she got near.

IMG 7276Clyde, an Eastern rosella parrot.

IMG 7277Very into Clyde.

IMG 7284Watching the birdies bathe.  Completely captivated.

IMG 7287Bird talk.

IMG 7291Mmmmm… Flowers!

IMG 7288Grae told me that these leaves were “pretty pretty pretty”.

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IMG 7293Casey, a yellow-headed Amazon parrot.

IMG 7303Copying Casey’s calls (scarily well actually).

IMG 7315Outside after a great visit with her birdie friends.

IMG 7322Soaking up the sunshine.

IMG 7328Our visit was probably only an hour long (and that was walking through twice), but it was so much fun.  We’ll definitely be back again soon, and hopefully this time with a picnic to enjoy outside afterwards.

Baking Biscotti

IMG 7127It’s been a little while since I baked something with the help of my little sous chef, so this morning we got to work and tried making some healthy, wholewheat, low-sugar biscotti.  First things first, we gathered our ingredients:  wholewheat flour, raw almonds, organic dried cranberries, baking powder, sea salt, pure maple syrup, pure vanilla, pure lemon extract, and eggs.

IMG 7129Then it was on to our dry ingredients.  As always, I measured and Miss G dumped.  Her aim is not always spot on, but boy, oh boy, does she ever love this part.  In with the flour.

IMG 7132Add the baking powder and sea salt.

IMG 7133Chuck in your almonds.

IMG 7145And your cranberries.

IMG 7151Next, on to the wet ingredients.  Crack your eggs and pour them into a separate bowl.

IMG 7154Add the maple syrup, vanilla, and lemon extract.

IMG 7159And give it a good whisk.

IMG 7161Now for the combining.  FIrst, give your dry ingredients a little mix.

IMG 7163Then slowly add your wet ingredients into the dry ones.

IMG 7165Mix just until combined and scrape your attachment clean.

IMG 7166Plop the sticky dough onto a parchment-lined pan.

IMG 7170With very well-floured hands, gently pat your dough into a rectangular shape about 1 inch thick.

IMG 7174Then pop it into the oven and bake.

IMG 7177While you wait, clean up and then have a tea party.

IMG 7181Or play with a tray of ocean items.

IMG 7185When risen and golden brown, take your loaf out of the oven and let it cool for about 10 minutes.

IMG 7186Once cooled, carefully cut into thick slices.

IMG 7188Place the slices back onto your pan, pop it in the oven, and go for a walk around the block.

IMG 7189Come home to a delicious smelling house and fully baked biscotti.

IMG 7193Enjoy!

These actually turned out really well and got the Gracen stamp of approval in the form of a sign for ‘More, more, more!’  Ours have just a tiny bit of sweetness and a good crunch without being rock hard.  If you want to try making your own, the original recipe can be found here and this is our modified version:

Cranberry Almond Biscotti

  • 1 1/4 cup of wholewheat flour
  • 1 tsp of baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp of sea salt
  • 1/2 cup of chopped almonds
  • 1/4 of dried organic cranberries, chopped
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 TBSP of pure maple syrup
  • 1 tsp of pure vanilla
  • 1/2 tsp of pure lemon extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix together flour, baking powder, and sea salt. Stir in the nuts and fruit.

Whisk together the eggs and extracts. Slowly add to flour mixture, stirring until combined.

With floured hands, shape dough into a rectangular loaf about 1 inch thick on the parchment-lined baking sheet.  Bake for about 25 minutes until the loaf is risen and firm. Remove the loaf from the oven and reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees.

Let the loaf cool about 10 minutes on a cutting board, then cut into thick slices.

Arrange slices cut-side down and bake 10 minutes.  Turn the slices over and bake for 10 more minutes, until dried.  Let cool on wire rack.  Enjoy!

*Grae and I cooked our slices for the first 10 minutes, flipped them, turned the oven off completely and let them sit in the cooling oven as we went out for a 45 minute walk, and ours turned out perfectly!

 

 

A Day Outdoors

It was a chilly day here in Vancouver, but that didn’t stop us from spending the day outside… It started with an early morning walk around the block.  Now that may not sound like a lot, but when you stop to splash in each puddle and visit with each picketing teacher, just one loop around the block takes a significant amount of time.

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IMG 7031When we originally walked out the door, Gracen had bent over, tapped her pointer on the sidewalk and said, “Star. Star!”  I asked if she wanted to draw stars on the sidewalk with chalk (she’s all about stars and hearts right now) and she enthusiastically nodded ‘yes’.  I told her that we would do just that upon our return, and she certainly didn’t forget.  The second we stepped up on our walk, she reminded me of my promise. We worked on our sidewalk art for a while, and then Grae focused her attention on expanding the size of her ever-growing rock collection.

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IMG 7039We headed inside for a few minutes, but Gracen wasn’t done with being outdoors.  As I tidied the kitchen and got started on lunch, she decided she’d have a tea party in the solarium.  She played for a long while as I secretly snuck peeks of her pouring cups of tea and nibbling on plastic sweets.  I got away with it several times, but eventually got caught.  It turned out that being caught was a huge treat, because when I did, I got showered with ‘through the screen kisses’ and then got to enjoy this little show of funny faces.IMG 7055IMG 7056IMG 7058IMG 7063IMG 7064
It wasn’t easy, but I lured her in with a grilled avocado and cheddar sandwich (avocado being the key factor) and a banana almond oatmeal smoothie.  But after lunch and a great nap, guess who was back outside having afternoon tea?IMG 7068
I took that as a hint and decided we better fit in some more outdoor time before winding down for the day.  We got bundled up for the cold, jumped in the vehicle, and literally just drove around looking for a fun new playground to visit.  Gracen was my little helper as usual, and every time she saw a play structure or open green space, she’d shout, “Par!” (park) from the back seat.  We eventually found ourselves at an old school in the Marpole area and the playground was perfect.IMG 7072IMG 7077IMG 7096
We played until our hands were numb and our noses were red and then headed home to defrost with a hot dinner and a warm bath.  

Gracen Cries Boo-hoo!

Aw, my poor little doodle.  I think I may have to tone down my story reading a tad.  We were just reading Llama Llama Red Pajama, a favourite bedtime story that we started reading to Grae when she was only a couple of months old.  She was laying on me enjoying each page of the story as she always does, until I read “Baby Llama cries boo-hoo!”  As soon as those words came out of my mouth, she burst into tears.  And I mean big, soggy, dripping-down-her-cheeks, alligator tears!  I asked her if she was sad for Baby Llama and she nodded big, deliberate nods in between sobs.  Poor thing.  We quickly got to the part where Mama Llama wooshes upstairs (a favourite part) and by the time we got to the page where Mama kisses her baby, it was business as usual and she was kissing the book pages as she often does.  She has been very into emotions lately, but hopefully her reaction was just due to tiredness…

To the Beach with Manmaw

Today we headed down to our favourite beach to enjoy our last couple of hours with Grandma Charlotte.  We played on the playground for a little bit and then made our way to the walking path (towards Cornwall Ave and Starbucks), to which Gracen immediately exclaimed, “Drink! Drink!”, knowing that a steamed milk with cinnamon was in her near future…  Smart little cookie!  Puppy kisses, puddle jumping, sea glass collecting, and extreme swinging were also involved.  Here’s the proof:

IMG 6951Mondern merry-go-rounding.

IMG 6956A dreary day treat.

IMG 6958Splish splash.

IMG 6970Searching for something special.

IMG 6973With Papa’s help.

IMG 6983Taking it all in.

IMG 6985“Catching Papa”.

IMG 6997Extreme swinging, courtesy of Gma Char.

IMG 7002‘Hello down there!’

IMG 7007‘Wheeeeeee!’

Our morning ended with a tuckered out little lady falling asleep on the drive home (an hour before her usual nap time), therefore missing out on saying goodbye to her “Manmaw”.  Oopsies.  Although she didn’t wake up desperately searching for Grandma like we thought she might, she did remind us about where Grandma sleeps and where she sits at the table several times throughout the remainder of the day.  Not to worry my sweet girl, Grandma’s last words were, “Make sure that foamie doesn’t go too far – I’ll be back at the end of March!”  Days spent in the backyard gardening with Grandma are coming very soon, Miss G.

A Day with Gma Char

Today we got in a full day of quality time with Grandma Charlotte (a.k.a. ‘Gma Char’).  It involved a Granville Island visit, some shopping, several tea parties, plenty of cuddles, and a giant Costco trip.  All in all, I’d say it was a pretty great day.   Here are a few photos I took along the way.

IMG 6902Captain Gracen.

IMG 6906Peek!

IMG 6915Ducks galore.

IMG 6923Mama’s worst nightmare.

IMG 6931Kisses for Calgary Stampedin’ Gido.

IMG 6934Greek for lunch!

IMG 6936Grandma, Grae, and Papa.

IMG 6941Tea for two.

IMG 6946Pretending to be a teeny tiny baby.

Homemade Bird Feeders

Despite the incident we had at Granville Island a couple of months back, our little lady remains a dedicated bird lover (unlike her mama).  So today we headed out into our sunshiny backyard, supplies in hand, to make a couple of simple, toddler-friendly bird feeders.  Here’s what we did…

Seedy Bagel Rings:

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For this project, we used wild bird seed mix, some wholewheat bakery bagels, some ‘just peanuts’ peanut butter, some jute (it’s biodegradable and can be repurposed by birds when building their nests), a spatula, and some scissors.

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First things first, cover one side of the bagel with peanut butter.

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You want it nice and thick so that the seeds really stick.

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Then plop it, peanut butter side down, into the seed mixture.

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Really push it down into the seeds to collect as many as possible.

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It should look something like this.

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Next, spread peanut butter on the other side.

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And cover it completely with seeds.

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Almost done!  While you tie a loop of jute through the middle of the bagel, have your little one wash the gobs of peanut butter off of her hands.

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Tada!  Here’s the finished product.

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Now tie them up in a tree and wait for hungry birds to flock your way.

 

Toasted O Loops:

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For this feeder, we used jute, scotch tape, low-sugar toasted O cereal, and some scissors.

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First thing, cut a piece of jute, tie a triple knot at one end, and wrap a small bit of tape around the other end so that it doesn’t fray.

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Next, string the o’s onto the jute, one by one.

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It’s a slow process… Especially if your munchkin eats five o’s for every one she strings!

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When you’ve got a nice long string, make a loop and tie it at the top.

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Then knot it onto a tree branch.  It doesn’t get any easier than that!

I’m sure we’re inviting all kinds of scary crows and seagulls into our yard with these tempting treats swinging from our trees, but if it provides some entertainment for our little bird watcher, it’ll be worth it.