Canadian Thanksgiving has already come and gone, but I’m posting this great recipe for homemade cranberry sauce in time for American Thanksgiving, and of course it’s perfect for Christmas too. I always bought canned cranberry sauce for the holidays because I thought making my own sauce would be too much work. Then this year when…
Chocolate Chia Pudding
Remember Chia Pets? “Ch-ch-ch-chia!” Well it turns out those little seeds that grow ‘hair’ on silly clay figures are actually really good for you. Who knew? They can help balance blood sugar, promote weight loss by helping you feel full longer, and are the richest plant source of omega-3 fatty acids. My family doesn’t like…
La Compote de Pommes (Apple Sauce)
I’ve been pretty impressed with how many fun fall activities both Cole and Bennett have been doing at school lately. Bennett has had a field trip to the library, hosted a tea party for the parents, and roasted pumpkin seeds. Cole has gone to the pumpkin patch, learned how to curl, and made pumpkin pie. One…
Pizza Pockets (and other school lunch ideas)
Since Cole started kindergarten last month, I’ve been struggling daily with what to make for his lunch. In daycare it was easier; they could heat food up in the microwave or toast things like bagels and waffles in the toaster, and nuts were okay. I bought a thermos and some nut-free Peabutter thinking that they…
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
When I eat a pumpkin cream cheese muffin, it always reminds me of when Cole was first born. It was September and the leaves were just starting to change, the mornings were becoming colder, but the last remnants of summer heat lingered in the afternoons. I used to take walks with my mom to Starbucks…
Homemade Alphagetti
Cole came home from daycare one day asking for alphabet soup. When I probed further, he explained it had to be red soup with alphabet noodles, just like he saw one of the other kids eating for lunch. “Oh!” I said as it dawned on me. “Do you mean Alphagetti?’ His eyes lit up. “Yes, that’s it!”…
Sweet Potato Brownies
I’ve been disheartened by my family’s lack of interest in yams and sweet potatoes so I stopped using them for a while, but when I was in the grocery store the other day the sweet potatoes seemed to be calling to me and I couldn’t help grabbing a few of them. I wasn’t exactly sure what to…
Cherry Clafoutis
It’s a funny thing with cherries in my house; sometimes they get gobbled up so quickly I barely get to enjoy any of them, and other times they sit in the fridge untouched for days. On one of those occasions where a big bag of cherries was threatening to go bad due to lack of interest…
The Hour That Matters Most
When I think back to my childhood, one of the things that stands out for me the most is that my family ate together at the dinner table every night. Whatever else might have been going on in my life, however chaotic my day may have been, I knew that at the end of the day my family would be gathering…
Pirate Party
My first-born son Cole just turned 5 a few days ago, and today he went to school for his first day in kindergarten. It’s a special time for him, to reach half a decade and to make the transition from preschooler to school-aged kid. So to celebrate these milestones we decided to throw him his own party, instead…
