I have a feeling that washing dishes is the new doing laundry…
No one is allowed to do them without the help of a pint-sized assistant.
Author: Jen
Pancake Assistant
Since moving from Kuwait, I haven’t been able to find our go-to pancake recipe (I know, who keeps their favourite recipe on a cue card nowadays?!). We’ve tried several new ones since, but hadn’t found “the one”… Until today, that is. I came across this recipe this morning and my little sous chef and I decided to give it a try. These pancakes were seriously delicious. No need to look any further… This will definitely be our go-to recipe from now on. Here’s our slightly modified version:
Wholewheat Oat Pancakes
- 2 cups wholewheat flour
- 1 cup organic old-fashioned oats
- 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
- 2 tablespoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups milk
- 3 tablespoons grapeseed oil
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Enjoy!
iPhoneography // Hint Hint
Today Gracen came out of her bedroom with her bathing suit around her neck saying, “Pool! Pool!” Perhaps she wants to go swimming?
Spring Sunshine
We spent our morning in the house, and by the time the afternoon rolled around, we were more than ready to get out and enjoy the sunshine. We brought along some bubbles, some sidewalk chalk, and my camera and headed out into the front yard. Sometimes a little sunshine is just what you need.
Dish Deputy
Anyone who knows me well knows that dirty dishes are the bain of my existence. Give me a filthy toilet to clean, a closet to organize, or windows to wash, and I’ll do so happily if it means that I don’t have to wash dishes. I despise them. Yet, unlucky for me, we seem to have more dirty dishes than ever lately. And because we’re sans dishwasher in our little Vancouver rental house, I normally spend a couple of hours a day doing my dreaded chore. Partner that with a very busy toddler who loves to interact, sleeps lightly, and shares a wall with the kitchen, and saying that getting the dishes done daily is very difficult, is an understatement. So today, I decided to try something new… Having Gracen wash dishes with me! We filled up two sinks of sudsy water, pulled a chair over, filled her sink with plastic containers, and got at it.
Now let me tell you, accomplishing the task at hand was probably about 18 times harder than normal with a splash splashin’ munchkin by my side. Not only did I have to wash dishes at warp speed while strategically stacking them in a careful dish mountain, but I also had to keep Grae from drinking the soap water, yanking the clean dishes from the drying rack back into the water, and grabbing at dangerous kitchen utensils. Good grief. By the time we were done, our kitchen was nearly flooded, we were both soaked head to toe, Gracen had a heap of bubbles atop her head, and I had three new grey hairs atop mine. But you know what? They got done. There was no whining or pant pulling. And Miss G had a blast. And when it comes down to it, that’s all that really matters.
{1 ingredient} Cheese Crisps
These little cheese crisps are Gracens ULTIMATE favourite snack. We don’t make them that often, but when we do, they have to be kept in a high cupboard hidden from both Grae and Bradley if they have any chance of surviving more than a day or two. They’re the kind of snack you pull out when your little one’s getting his or her hair cut, or when you’re attempting to complete a 10 kilometre seawall walk with your munchkin strapped into a stroller for an hour and a half. The bonus is that they’re ridiculously easy to make and take all of 3 minutes from start to finish.
All you need is some cheese (we normally use an all-natural cheddar and today we also tried some jalapeño havarti) sliced and cut into squares {the thickness doesn’t really matter – both thin and thick work perfectly} and a griddle or a frying pan and a stove top.
We start with the griddle unplugged and off so that Miss G can help out like a little sous chef should. Place the cheese squares on the griddle leaving plenty of space in between each (we placed ours too closely together today and ended up with a couple of GIANT cheese crisps).
Once your cheese is on the griddle, plug it in and crank it up to 300 degrees {when we use the stove, we just start with a hot frying pan over medium heat}.
Watch closely as the griddle begins to warm up and work its magic.
Give it a few minutes so that all of the cheese is fully melted and bubbly. Here’s the key… For the first bit, the cheese will look melty and very oily (yes, gross). But suddenly, the oil will seem to disappear and the cheese will look slightly browned, crunchy, and ‘dry’. Dry is the key. At this point, you want to use a spatula or flipper to remove the rounds from the griddle. Place them on a couple of paper towels to cool and use another paper towel to gently blot any extra oil from the tops of the crisps (I despise using paper towel because it’s not at all environmentally friendly, but I have tried using a cloth towel, and it just doesn’t seem to do the job quite as well).
When they’re done, your cheese crisps should look something like this.
Give a couple to your toddler and watch her gobble them up like you haven’t fed her in a week. Quickly hide the rest and hope they last longer than a day.
Are you following us on Facebook and Instagram yet?
We’d love to have you!
Toddler Food: What Miss G Eats {3}
Breakfast // Scrambled organic egg with basil and fresh parmesan. Wholewheat english muffin with all-nautral cream cheese. Strawberries, honeydew, and banana slices.
Breakfast // Old-fashioned oatmeal with stewed apples, walnuts, ground flax, cinnamon, and whole organic milk.
Breakfast // Toasted multigrain bagel with all-natural almond butter. Melon and avocado slices.
Snack // Blueberry banana oatmeal smoothie.
Snack // Roasted garlic parmesan chickpeas.
Snack // Steamed edamame beans.
Snack // Fresh mango.
Snack // Jalapeño havarti on multigrain seed crackers.
Snack // Apple sandwich (all-natural peanut butter, old-fashioned oats, and organic raisins).
Lunch // Veggie and bean soup with crostini cubes and fresh parmesan.
Lunch // Creamy curry penne with grilled chicken and veggies.
Lunch // Chicken and wild rice wrap (low-sodium spinach tortilla, fresh spinach leaves, brown wild rice, grilled chicken, toasted almonds, green grapes, onions, and celery). Fresh veggies. Roasted red pepper humus for dipping.
Lunch // Tomato, spinach, and orzo soup topped with feta. Turkey, oat, and seed meatballs. Seedy organic sourdough drizzled with olive oil (the bread she selected while on our recent Trader Joe’s visit – a special treat because we don’t normally eat white breads).
Dinner // Chicken and refried bean burritos baked in tomatillo sauce. Fresh avocado and tomato. Sour cream for dipping.
Dinner // Poached chicken breast with lemon and herbs. Barley, kale, cranberry salad. Steamed beets.
Dinner // California shrimp pizza (wholewheat crust, pesto, shrimp, sun-dried tomato, parmesan, feta, and fresh avocado). Roasted red cabbage. Lemon wedge for drizzling (or for sucking on if you’re like Grae).
Dinner // Amita’s curry (Amita, our housekeeper in Kuwait made this at least once a week for us and we never got sick of it…delish). Sticky white rice (a special treat because Papa says Amita’s curry just can’t be on brown rice).
Dinner // Wholewheat spaghetti with grilled chicken, fresh baby spinach, artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, feta, garlic, onions, and fresh parmesan.
Dessert // Greek yogurt with hemp hearts and frozen blueberries.
Dessert // Baby banana. All-natural almond butter for dipping.
Dessert // Organic yogurt with homemade granola and organic raisins.
Shoping in the States
Today was Brad’s virtual Saturday, so we headed down to Bellingham for our monthly stock up and some fun. First, we hit up our two favourites, Trader Joe’s and Target for the essentials. Gracen was a champ about spending a couple of hours roaming up and down store isles and enjoyed riding around inside the shopping carts. Afterwards, she and Papa headed to the mall’s play area while I got in a full 45 minutes of clothes shopping by myself (a post-Grae first)! It was already past nap time, so we snuck in a quick lunch at the Chipotle knock-off, The Habenero Factory, and hit the road to do a few errands while G snoozed in her seat.
Gracen awoke from her nap to find that we were parked out front of this shop (hmmm…wonder whose stop this was…) and naturally, we had to get out of the car to investigate the big green guy. She wasn’t so sure of him at first, but she quickly warmed up to him and ended up giving him 5s, kissing his knees, and rubbing his rock hard abs. After all that, I’d say Miss G and The Hulk are good friends, wouldn’t you?
Tired and done with shopping, we headed back towards home when we decided to make an impromptu stop in White Rock. It was absolutely freezing by the ocean, but we layered up and headed towards the beach. Lucky for us, a train was making its way down the tracks as we got to the boardwalk. Grae watched closely as it nosily clunked on by, until it stopped. I mean, completely stopped, creating a barrier between us and the beach. We waited and watched until it finally started with a jolt, and continued along its path.
Gracen loved ‘Grizlee’, the bear statue and kissed his fur (she’s all about kissing things she likes right now) and rode on his back. We played on the grass, collected rocks, threw them in the ocean, and walked along the boardwalk until we were frozen solid and could no longer stand being out in the wind.
Once we got home, our little helper helped empty all of the grocery bags, we ate dinner, and it was bath time and bedtime for G after a long day.
Matching
A little bit of pre-bedtime colouring matching…
Beach Afternoon
After a lazy morning at home, I knew we’d both enjoy getting out for the afternoon. So when Grae woke up from her nap and had had her quiet time, I asked her if she wanted to go to the beach. As soon as I said “beach”, she started signing ‘Rock! Rock!’ (we always collect rocks at the beach), then ‘Birdie!’ (we watch the crows and seagulls), followed by ‘Drink! Drink!’ (we often cross the street to get hot drinks at Starbucks). Smart little cookie. I took that as a yes. 
Lazy Sunday Morning
We had a wonderfully lazy morning today. We meant to get out of the house, but it simply didn’t happen. Instead, this did:
Peep toes.
Bingo dabbin’.
Apple sandwiches.
Tea party.
Hilarious hair.
Magazine reading.
Toddler Food: What Miss G Eats {2: St. Paddy’s Edition}
I can’t tell you how happy I am that Gracen is a good eater. As a mama, providing her with proper nutrition is at the tippy top of my list of goals, right next to making sure she gets proper sleep. Of course I’d like to attribute her good eating habits to the way we introduced her to food initially (and the way we continue to deal with her eating in general), but it could very well just be that we are lucky. Or perhaps it’s a little bit of both. Either way, if she was a picky little thing, as many munchkins are, you’d better bet I’d use St. Patrick’s Day to trick her into eating as many green things as possible in one single day of the year. It would most likely involve some crazy story involving pesky leprechauns and lucky green super foods, but for now, let’s just be thankful I don’t have to go there. Today Gracen and I ate green foods at each meal, and she was more than happy to do so!
Breakfast // Green pepper enclosed organic egg. Green fruit salad. Toasted multigrain farmer’s bread drizzled with olive oil.
Lunch // Veggie and black bean quesadillas (low-sodium spinach tortilla, roasted zucchini, avocado, green onion, no salt added black beans, and jalapeño havarti). Avocado sour cream for dipping.
Snack // Spinach and green fruit smoothie.
Dinner // Pesto chicken breast. Spinach linguine with avocado, fresh spinach, and toasted pine nuts. Roasted spicy green beans.
Dessert // Grape skewers.
Spinach & Green Fruit Smoothie
Recently, Miss G and I have been experimenting with spinach smoothies. So far, we’ve found that you can pretty much add a couple giant handfuls of fresh baby spinach to any smoothie without altering it’s taste very much. Now, I’m not going to lie… Despite the flavour remaining the same, the appearance does not. In fact, many of the smoothies we’ve tried look like poop. Strawberries or raspberries plus green spinach equals brown. Blueberries plus green spinach equals an even darker brown… So today, with St. Patrick’s Day in mind, we set out to make a bright green, vitamin-packed smoothie that not only tasted good, but looked appetizing too. And we succeeded! Here’s our spinach and green fruit smoothie:
First off, our ingredients… Fresh baby spinach, green grapes, honeydew, a frozen ripe banana, a green apple, and coconut milk.
Start off by putting your frozen banana into a blender.
Add your apple chunks.
Be sure to stop and take a bite.
Dump in your honeydew.
And then pour in your grapes.
Next, fill up your blender with fresh baby spinach.
And pour in some coconut milk (or your preferred type of milk).
Pop on the lid…
And blend until bright green and smooth.
Pour into glasses (or sippy cups).
Enjoy!
Here’s our {approximate} recipe:
Spinach & Green Fruit Smoothie
- 1 ripe frozen banana
- 1 green apple, chopped
- 3/4 cup of green grapes
- 3/4 cup of honeydew melon
- 3 big handfuls of fresh baby spinach
- 1 cup of coconut milk
Put all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Enjoy!
*For a less-textured smoothie, peel your apple first. Plain greek yogurt and kiwi would be great additions to this recipe.
iPhoneography // Cool Chick
Headed out.
St. Paddy’s Day
Today Grae and I had a busy day filled with all things green. It started out with a happy little munchkin waking up extra early and extra hungry, so we got to it and prepared a green breakfast.
Finding something green to wear was a bit of a challenge as this little lady has very little green in her closet, but it was nothing a ridiculously big green bow couldn’t fix. It was so adorable in fact, that we ended up having a little impromptu St. Patty’s Day photo shoot.
The weather forecast called for a rainy, snowy morning, but by 9:30, neither had made an appearance so we packed up our things and headed down to Granville Island to get some fresh air and do some exploring. We picked up our usual Granville Island treats (Terra Bread cheese flutes for G and a coffee for Mama) and headed to the playground where Gracen played in sand, slid on repeat, and made some friends.
Afterwards we headed back to the Public Market area and visited the birds, boats, and performers like usual. 
Apparently Grae was pooped after a crisp morning outdoors because she was out like a light after just a minute in the car.
After a great nap, I prepared lunch while Gracen begged for pieces of green onion below me. I ended up giving her a whole green onion and the little monkey was pleased as punch, headed to the living room with it, and chowed down. Luckily she saved enough room for our green lunch.
The afternoon turned out to be beautiful too, so we took advantage of it and headed outside to do some art. Grae was beyond excited to use bingo dabbers (sadly, we didn’t have green, so we ended up with blue and rainbow coloured shamrocks, but oh well…) and dug the sidewalk chalk as usual.
By late afternoon, G had worked up an appetite, so we whipped up a quick green smoothie to hit the spot.
Shortly after, it was time for our last green meal of the day. Of course this little monkey carefully picked out and ate each pine nut and avocado chunk before eating anything else.
Gracen’s second St. Patrick’s Day… Whew! How things have changed in a quick year. Just take a look at my chubby-cheeked, spiky-haired little munchkin last year.