mmmmm muffins

Pin It My sister passed this recipe on to me. We made these muffins this afternoon and they did not disappoint. Nothing better than fresh raspberries. Check these babies out, don't they look great? Ok, you can stop drooling now. Go make some. The recipe is below.







Real Simple Sugar Crusted Raspberry Muffins

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup whole milk
1 large egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries

Directions
1.Heat oven to 400° F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners or coat it with cooking spray, vegetable oil, or butter.
2.In a medium bowl, combine 1 3/4 cups of the flour, 1/2 cup of the sugar, the baking powder, and salt. Add the butter and combine. In a second bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, and vanilla. Gradually add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined; the batter will be lumpy. Toss the berries with the remaining flour in a bowl. Gently fold the berry mixture into the batter.
3.Fill each muffin cup 3/4 full. Sprinkle the batter with the remaining sugar. Bake for 17 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Serve warm.

Recipe from Real Simple Pin It

another craft

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This week we made homemade picture frames. Cam even coloured his own with the help of mommy. These turned out really cute and I especially love the owl one because it matches Kirsten's room so well. This was a fun project and the kids loved it. Pin It

crispy skinned chicken a l'orange with warm green bean and citrus salad

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Yummy! This was the first time I made this meal and it was delicious. I LOVED the salad. The skin on the chicken was delicious, but after you eat the skin, it's just plain ole chicken. Here's the recipes for anyone interested:

Warm green bean and citrus salad:

Ingredients:

a bunch of green beans, trimmed
2 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup cashews
2 oranges, peeled and segmented
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp water

1/4 cup light soy sauce, or to taste
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp fresh squeezed orange juice
orange zest from 1 orange (use skin from above oranges)

Directions:

To cook the green beans, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, and then add the 2 tbsp oil. When the oil is hot, add the green beans and stir until coated with oil, then add the 2 tbsp water. Cover and cook for 2 -3 minutes, until the beans are brightly colored and tender but slightly crunchy; shake the pan midway through to ensure even cooking.

While beans are cooking, prepare dressing (1/4 cup light soy sauce, 2 tbsp sesame oil, 2 tbsp OJ, orange zest from 1 orange).

To serve the salad, remove the pan from the heat and transfer the green beans to a large bowl and stir in the green onions, cashews, and orange segments. Coat with dressing to taste.

Serve warm.

Crispy-skinned chicken a l'orange

Ingredients:

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 skin-on bone-in chicken breast halves
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup frozen orange juice concentrate
4 tablespoons honey

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Liberally salt and pepper the chicken breast halves. Heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat and sear the chicken, skin side only, until brown and beginning to crisp, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the orange glaze: In a small saucepan, heat the orange juice concentrate, honey, and salt and pepper, to taste, over medium heat, and boil for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Turn the chicken over and brush each piece with the glaze. Turn the chicken skin side up and transfer the pan to the oven. Bake until the internal temperature reaches 160 to 170 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, brushing on more glaze halfway through, mine took about 40 minutes total.

Enjoy!

Recipe for the chicken from Melissa D'arabian

Recipe for the green bean salad adapted from here wellsphere Pin It

pictures of the kiddos

Pin It The kids are finally starting to feel better - although Cam is a few days behind Kirsten. I decided they were well enough for a little photo session yesterday. Photographing a one-year old and a two-year old is not an easy task. Kirsten just likes to dance around and play, and Cam won't sit still for anything. I did manage to get quite a few nice ones, so thank-you kids.























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recycled crayons

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Sick kids = not many pictures of them. They are on the mend though so I hope to take some great pics of them this weekend. I have a new setup that I'm dying to try out. In the meantime, here's another craft. Kirsten loves colouring and we have so many broken crayons. You can easily 'recycle' them into any cool shape. Remove all wrappers from your crayons and break the crayons into small pieces. Place in a muffin tin (I used a star shaped silicone one) and bake at 275F for about 15 minutes (until all the crayons are melted). Remove from oven and allow to set completely - at least 1 hour. Enjoy your new crayons!

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HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

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We are all sick and homebound today. I had to work with what I already had in the house to come up with this meal. Apparently a few people have found it quite humorous that I am posting recipes on this blog. I actually used to have very little interest in cooking, and to be quite honest, I still don't love it. But, unless I wanted my kids growing up on garbage, I knew that I had to learn at least a little bit. While I was on maternity leave with Cam I spent a lot of time searching through recipes and trying them out. I have quite the extensive collection of recipes now, and I'm going to share the good ones as I try them. So stop laughing! For Valentine's supper we had seafood pasta. It was delicious and I definitely recommend you should try it out. For dessert, Kirsten helped mommy make a heart-shaped cake. The cake was nothing fancy, just a box mix and canned icing. See, I'm not totally gourmet. Here's the recipe for the seafood pasta:

Ingredients
1 box penne pasta
1 pound peeled shrimp
1 pound scallops
3 Tablespoons Butter, divided
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil, divided
1/2 white onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chicken broth (or could use white wine)
1 cup plain tomato sauce
1 cup heavy cream
fresh basil leaves - use a bunch and chiffonade them
Salt To Taste
Pepper To Taste

Preparation Instructions
Cook the penne pasta until al dente.
Heat about 1 tbsp. butter and 1 tbsp olive oil in a skillet. Add the shrimp and scallops and cook for a couple minutes until just opaque. Do not overcook them. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes.
In a large skillet heat 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the garlic and onion and sauté, stirring occasionally. After the garlic and onions have cooked a bit add your 1/2 cup of chicken broth. Let the chicken broth evaporate for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.
Now add in 1 cup of plain tomato sauce. Stir well until combined. Then add 1 cup of heavy cream. Continue stirring. Turn heat down to low and let simmer.
Now add your shrimp and scallops back into the tomato cream sauce. Give it a stir and add salt and pepper to taste. Throw in your chopped basil leaves and stir until combined. Finally add your cooked penne pasta and give it a good stir. Enjoy!

Recipe for seafood pasta adapted from The Pioneer Woman's Penne a la Betsy Pin It

Happy Valentine's Day from the kiddos

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Valentine's day crafts: second installment

Pin It Here's another Valentine's craft: thumbprint heart magnets. This craft was made using clay and little hearts made out of my kids thumbprints. When they were dry, we painted them. The top row are Kirsten's thumbprint hearts, and the bottom row are Cam's. When they were dry, I glued a magnet on the back to use them on the fridge. I hope you enjoy this darling little clay craft, because it will most likely be the last clay craft you ever see on this blog. Clay is incredibly messy! Mama doesn't like messy. Enjoy!





Idea adapted from the wonder years

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Valentine's day crafts: first installment

Pin It Nobody loves crafts more than Kirsten. Nobody loves crafts that involve handprints/footprints/thumbprints etc. more than me. Here's our first Valentine's craft this year: handstamp hearts. The stamp is made by painting the pinky finger side of your hand (while in a fist) and stamping it on the paper. Then repeat with the other hand. This craft is super easy and super cute. Enjoy and stay tuned for more this week!

Idea from here





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sick kids = homemade soup

Pin It Well, we managed a whole month of me back to work and the kids in daycare before they finally both got sick. I knew it would happen. The kids are pretty sick and miserable right now, so I made a batch of their favourite (and mine too!) chicken and rice soup. Here's the recipe if you're interested. Try it, you won't regret it.

Ingredients
1 cup uncooked white rice
2 whole chicken breasts (with bone and skin)
10 cups water
12 chicken bouillon cubes - I use the OXO sachets
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup chopped celery (about 3 large stalks)
1/2 cup chopped carrots
6 Tablespoons Butter, divided
4 Tablespoons Flour

Cook the rice according to box directions. Wash two whole chicken breasts (skin, bones and all) and place them in a pot; cover with 10 cups water. Add 12 OXO bouillon sachets. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium and cook until chicken is done, about 20-25 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pot and let cool for a few minutes. Remove the skin and discard and cut all the meat from the bones and chop into bite-sized pieces.
In a skillet, melt 4 tablespoons of butter. When it is all melted, make a roux by adding 4 tablespoons of flour. Stir until thickened and then add it to the pot of chicken broth. Stir well.
In a skillet, melt the other 2 tbsp of butter and throw in all of the diced veggies. Stir, then add the chicken. Cook for a couple of minutes and then add the chicken and veggie mixture to the broth.
Add in the cooked rice. Enjoy!



Recipe adapted from the pionner woman Pin It

my beautiful orchid

Pin It I can't believe this beautiful orchid has been in bloom now for 5 straight months! It's absolutely gorgeous and it continues to form buds and bloom. I can't wait for the kids to get a little older so that I can get back into growing orchids as a hobby and not worry about the kids destroying or eating them! Here's a couple pics I took this afternoon.



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revisting some old favourites

Pin It Here's some old favourites that I have recently re-edited. They're not perfect, but I'm learning. Photoshop is hard!







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and don't forget about the little guy

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What a handsome little man! Pin It

my little monkey

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Here's a storyboard I made of my little monkey. Isn't she the cutest? Pin It

So I'm starting a blog......

Pin It So I've decided to start a blog. The main purpose is so I can share some of the photos I've been taking of the kiddos. Let's see where this goes. I hope you enjoy! Pin It