Blueberry sour cream scones

I visited with a bunch of great ladies this morning at my pal Alison's house for a mug of coffee and baileys lovely tea.
It was so nice to come out of my cave and get out and visit over some yummy morning nibbles and great conversation. I tried out a new scone recipe as I was, as usual, not very organised and had not planned ahead my treat to share with the ladies.
This one came together very quickly and I timed it just right so that I could deliver a steaming plate full of yummy blueberry scones to the gathering. Mind you, they did make me half an hour late as I don't normally do the wedge style scone and I had to pull them out of the oven, separate them and give them a quick flash in the oven to be sure they were fully cooked through.
I had a few requests for the recipe, so here 'tis ladies, with a few alterations.

I got this recipe from a website called Chef in you, I'll be heading back there after I finish this post to go check out some more recipes.
Click on the pic to be directed to the recipe, I had to nab the pic from their website as  I didn't take one of my own this morning.....as I was running late remember!!!!
Then scroll down to see what I did differently.

So instead of 2/3 cup of sour cream, I used 100ml of strawberry yogurt and then made up the rest with sour cream to get the correct amount.

I also used full fat sour cream. Did I tell you this is not diet friendly already?
I also upped the amount of sugar from 3 tablespoons to 6 tablespoons!!

THEN, I made a vanilla bean drizzle to go on top of the warmed scones..........drool!

Vanilla Bean Drizzle.

5 tablespoons of icing sugar

1 teaspoon of Madagascar Vanilla

a pinch of vanilla bean seeds. ( I have something like these in my pantry)

add a tiny bit of milk until you get the "drizzle" consistency you like.

If you don't have the vanilla bean seeds don't worry, the recipe is just as yummy without it. They just had an extra hit of vanilla flavor and the seeds looks so great in the drizzle.

Easy!!

December

I don't know what I did with the entire month of November, other than watch way too many old episodes of Lost on Netflix and make jam. I know I was busy.......productive, no...but busy....yes.
I did a couple of Christmas markets, sold lots of my jams and jellies and had tonnes of fun doing it.
No excuses though, just letting you all know I'm still alive and well. I don't have cabin fever just yet!

So lets just pretend like November didn't exist and just jump head first into December shall we?
Firstly, a quick update and some pics from the last month.

We are finally seeing some snow on our side of the mountain which in turn is bringing out the Christmas spirit in the Simpson household ( I must admit we've been a little Grinchy in these parts, with the hubby being away so long).

The kids are getting excited, thanks to our nightly visits from Kevin the elf. He has been a naughty little elf lately, getting into all kinds of mischief, stealing my lipstick, eating and drinking from the pantry and making little elf messes all over the house. What a fine example of what NOT to do for the children.

I finally caved in and dragged the Christmas tree out of storage yesterday. The girls and I had a great time deciding on our color scheme and making a start on our decorating. We still have a long way to go but it's nice to get started.

Get a load of the size of the Narcissus bulb we planted. I potted it up mid November and it looks as though it will flower in the next week or so. I've always wanted to plant one but never got around to it.

I'm hoping to feature it in a lovely table centerpiece for the holidays. 

I've been working quite a bit at Simply baskets with Brenda in her new location and now that she has expanded her business and added the florist, I've been lucky enough to get some floral training and some much needed hands on experience. So stay posted for some more pics.

Next up...holiday baking. I'm thinking butter tarts, as always, but have been scouring pinterest for some new family favorites to add to the ever expanding cookbook.

If anyone was some favorite recipes they are willing to share I'd love some new inspiration.

I also have some great recipes I want to share soon. Like this one.... Magic crust custard pie. 

The girls and I made this lovely, simple dessert tonight which reminded me of the delicious custard tarts you get in the bakeries in Australia. Although, we couldn't wait for it to cool down so we ate it warm with fresh blackberries and a dusting of icing sugar. The only thing it was missing was a dollop of whipped cream.

The girls devoured it and we've already planned future alterations to the recipe using some passion fruit pulp. Yum.

Anyhow, it's after midnight and I had better get myself off to sleep. Just wanted to say hi. I hope you are all well and feeling festive, can you believe there's only two weeks until Christmas? Eeeeeeeeeeeek!!

Halloween hangover

Farewell October...with your birthdays, thanksgiving and Halloween and Hello nice quiet November. 

The kids are all settling back into their post candy school routine and I'm looking forward to a month of mellowness and quiet Christmas planning. 

Halloween has come and gone (can I get a hell yeah from the audience!!!), not that I don't like to celebrate the scary season, but it does make my kiddos a little crazy.

I'm one of "those" parents that lets my kids gobble up all their candy straight after Halloween. The sooner that stuff is out of my house the quicker the sugar induced mood swings are over.

I worked this Halloween, in full costume, at the store handing out candy to all the wee little downtown trick or treaters. Within 2 hours we had around 1100 trick or treaters... that's a lot of "Happy Halloweens" and "ooooh look at YOUR costume" and " What are you's?????" 

Shortly after my shift I ripped home, took off my bat lady costume, made myself a thermos full of hot toddy, grabbed the kids and headed out for some trick or treating. The weather was nice and mild, no snow which meant the kids could show off their costumes without having to cover them up with winter jackets.

I managed to snap a few pics of the kids before they left for school, so fun that they get to dress up and wear their costumes all day. Zoe put so much work into hers, the hot glue gun, scissors and makeup were out for days as she put her outfit together. I think I might have a future Tim Burton on my hands!!

Marley put her own outfit together also and when I asked her what she was her response was " I'm a little kid who goes to pubs and kills people in the washroom". 

She looked semi sweet in her outfit until she declared her evil plot...........what do you think??

Zoe, was a mixture of the mad hatter and the evil side of the Cheshire cat. 

I'm happier that the girls are embracing the creepy side of Halloween and have grown out of the princess dresses, tiara's and cutesy costumes. 

I hope everyone had a spooktacular Halloween. 

Tootles,

Kj*

My happy little vegemite.

It's official...Miss Marley is now officially an Australian citizen. Only took me 7 years to get my butt organised and get the paperwork done. 

She received her certificate in the mail yesterday and now I can get her an Aussie passport to complete the process....woohoo.

I will now teach her the happy little Vegemite jingle (Zoe's favorite), the slip slop slap song and other random Aussie trivia that she will be needing in the future if she wants to "blend in"!!!!

Next big thing on my humongous list of things to do is to get my Canadian citizenship, and from what I have been reading is quite a bit more complicated that Marley's simple application process. Oh the joys of marrying someone from another country. 

I am, at this point, an expert form filler outer lady, I think I should get myself a government job after all of this is over. 

I'm thinking the passport office could use my expertise!!!

Public transport......who wants to go on a bus trip????

Living in the country means that, aside from the morning school bus, there's not a lot of times come by where I've had the need or opportunity to catch a bus, train, tram or otherwise. 

I've got my every loyal red jeep to get me from A to B but this mornings little video clip has me yearning to jump on a bus.

This fantastic bus as from Denmark gave me a giggle and I wanted to share it....just because.

Does anyone else out there feel like going on a road trip after watching this.....or is it just me?

Kiddo's

Its been a while since I've blogged so I thought since the kids are back in school it might be time to add blogging back on my "to do" list. 

I'll keep it short and sweet today though and just post some pics of the girls. 

Summer has flown by and now that fall is creeping up on me I thought I'd flick back through some of the pics on the camera from summer and share some of my faves with you all.

I can't believe how much my kids have grown this summer. I probably feel this way every year but this year in particular, especially where Zoe is concerned, I'm struck with the realization that my little babies are turning into little ladies.

This year Zoe was lucky enough to earn the title of May Queen. I've seen a lot of growth and change in her since then and her confidence is slowly starting to show.
As part of her commitment to her role of May Queen she has had to make appearances and speeches at community events and participate in parades.

Here's some pics from the Armstrong IPE parade.

Now for the fun stuff......

First day back at school : Zoe (grade 7) and Marley (grade 2).

Miss Zoe striking a pose during a visit to Surrey to see Dad last weekend. Sporting a new haircut. 
She had been begging to cut her hair off for 6 months so, as you can see, her persistence paid off.
I'm kinda glad the blue streaks she wanted with the haircut didn't take!!!!

OK, you're all caught up now. 

Tooth fairy

Another milestone reached yesterday, Marley lost her second tooth. Now the second tooth is usually not as big of a deal as the first but in this instance it was a pretty big deal as Marley did not want to part with her first tooth.
She wrote the tooth fairy a nice little letter asking her to kindly leave her first tooth with her as she was not ready to give it up to the tooth goddess quite yet.
Who knows where that tooth is now, probably sucked into the vacuum cleaner or buried deep into the carpet in her bedroom.

But last night daddy helped the natural course of things along by wiggling Marley's tooth out. He has come to be known as the neighbourhood "assistant" to the tooth fairy, helping not only our kids but one or two others along the way. He has it down to a fine art now with a combination of distraction, gentle pressure and trickery!!!!

Now I don't know if it's just my upbringing, but the tradition in my childhood home was to put your tooth on the kitchen window sill in a glass of water and overnight the tooth fairy would visit,  inspect the tooth and reward accordingly.
No tooth under the pillowcase stuff at my house, I'm sure the tooth fairy remembers me from all those years ago and just knows that that's the way we roll!!!!

So before going to bed last night I checked to make sure the correct protocol had been followed and was surprised to see that the kids had implemented a new tradition of their own with the tooth fairy...........begging!!!!!

I think she may have had a little assistance from big sis on this one.

Marley awoke to $6 in the jar this morning, she sounded a little perturbed...I think she was hoping for a substantial amount more.

Better luck next time kiddo!!!!!

My little forest nymph

We recently had some company stay at our house from Alberta, it's summer here in the sunny Okanagan and these parts are usually flooded with out of province folk, looking for some fun in the sun.
My dear friend Lisa and her family graced us with their presence for two nights for a long overdue catch up session.
The kids get along famously and I really enjoy seeing my kids faces as they reappeared from behind their electronics and closed bedroom doors.
The girls decided to do a re-enactment of snow white in the lush trees surrounding our house and unbeknown to them, I was able to sneak up and snap a few shots while they were in the middle of their story telling.
I just wanted to share a few shots of Marley as it's been a while since I've blogged and I'm starting to receive complaints and death threats. I thought this would be a great jumping off point as I attempt to return to blogging.

There, that wasn't so bad after all. Stay tuned for more summer fun!

Home envy

I recently stumbled across a new blog somehow or another through the web.........most likely pinterest, and now have a major, humongo case of home envy. 


If you haven't already stumbled across The lettered cottage yourself then please, please, please go directly to TLC; do not pass Go; do not collect $200.
Take a peek at this budget savvy duo, Kevin and Layla Palmer, and their uncanny  ability to know exactly how I want to decorate my next house.


The before and after of their kitchen had me at hello and I can't wait to see what they do with the rest of their home as they renovate one room at a time.

Standard builder, straight out of a box type decor. Their home has great bones.
Just look at the transformation below............I'm in lurve!!!!!!

Their laid back, airy home speaks "Australia house" to me. Ocean breezes and sandy toes, nothing too stuffy and oh so kid friendly.

Not to mention the fact that these guys have obviously not experienced renovator "burn out" yet, so they have the attitude that anything is possible and are eager to do as much of the work themselves. 

To see more go here.

Spring break 2012

 

What to do, what to do with kids for spring break? My day yesterday went a little something like this.

•  Get up, feed kids.
•  Pull all the pictures off the wall and start moving things from wall to wall until it feels right.
• Change one thing, nothing else feels right.
• Put everything else back on the wall so that hubby doesn't notice when he comes home.
• Take pics of the one thing that you are happy with (see below).

• Feed kids lunch.
• Go outside and burn some energy (see below).

• Pack the kids back up in the car to get those icy cold toes into a nice warm shower.
• Put kids to bed to rest for another fun day tomorrow.

I'm having a moment today, so please bear with me while I think out loud.

I am in a place in my life right now where I am taking stock of my life, making big plans for the future and trying my darnedest to push ahead and make these secret yearnings a reality.
The biggest part of this plan, the part that causes me the most hesitation and heart ache, is the fact that I can't wrap all of my nearest and dearest up in a neatly tied little package and bring them with me.

They will always have a place in my heart, but if there's one thing that I've learnt from years of separation, it's that those connections are so easily lost with time and distance. And the thought of that is totally terrifying to me.

My people are my tribe...my family. So my new mantra is to cherish, connect with and nurture those connections with these seriously special members of my tribe.
To simplify and streamline my lifestyle and my environment, so that it is more conducive to connecting with the people of importance in my life.
I don't know the steps to make this happen or have the answers to make this a reality......... here's where the floundering around part comes back into play.

I'm finding since my return from Australia that there are so many things on my list that need to be conquered in order for us to be able to have the financial freedom to move back.

I keep tackling the little projects, the one's that have a start and a finish, they make me feel like I've accomplished one little miracle at a time.
But they're not really contributing to the big picture.
I feel like these little daily overhauls are taking time away from my people. I need to find a way to get my s&*t sorted in a more efficient, timely manner. Make better use of my down time when the kids are at school, spend less time cleaning and more time "making time" for my family.

The kids are on spring break for two weeks, so there's lots of family time to be had. There are adventures to chase, master pieces to create and lots of snuggles on the couch and movies to be watched. Today is one of those days, it's snowing out side and I have a few extra kid's for the day to keep my little one's busy.

So I'm allocating my morning to purging and cleaning a space for me. A space where I can sit, reflect, work and connect, without the weight of the overwhelming mess and clutter threatening to swallow me up.
Because now it's time to focus on the big scary things. Finishing renovations, bank refinancing, renting out the basement and my favorite, preparing for court to end this roofing nightmare.
And to do that, I need some organisation and focus so that it doesn't gobble me up like a big monster and leave nothing for my family.

It's not rocket science, but it's a start, hopefully in the right direction.

 

Happy Spring equinox y'all!!

 

The March equinox signals the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. It marks that special moment when the sun crosses the celestial equator going from south to north. In 2012, this equinox comes early. It’ll be on March 20 at 5:14 UTC.

Why is the equinox early in 2012? The reason is, in part, because 2012 is a leap year. If this year weren’t a leap year, this equinox would come on March 21 – not March 20 – at 5:14 Universal Time. The equinoxes for the coming three years – 2013, 2014, 2015 – will all fall on March 20 as well. But – with each passing year – each equinox will come nearly 6 hours later by the clock. In the year 2016, the equinox would fall on March 21 – if 2016 weren’t a leap year.

Yesterday felt like it was spring here in chilly Canada. As soon as the sun was up I practically leaped outside with my gum boots on my feet and garden clippers in hand.    

 I raked and trimmed, primped and pruned, cleaned and swept my yard all afternoon in the glorious spring sunshine. Trimming all the dead winter growth away to expose the new life emerging from underneath and the DUN DUN DUN!!! It snowed again this morning.......REALLY!!

Oh well, no point putting the horse before the cart. Next thing you know I will be complaining about all the yard work I need to do and how sick and tired I am of mowing my grass. 

SPRING.....you are always welcome in my backyard. (You're my favorite season....just don't tell the others).

Domestic Diva Tip #1

So, if you've not discovered Pinterest yet then I must warn you to continue reading this post at your own risk. 
I will not be held responsible for any addiction that you may encounter, the hours of your day wasted on the computer or the sudden urge to modpodge, organize, redesign and/or renovate your entire life!!!!


If you are brave enough ( or stupid enough ) to ask "What is Pinterest" then I apologise in advance.

Pinterest is an online Virtual pinboard.
It lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.

Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests. To get started, request an invite.

For example, I have a board title "domestic diva", this is where I accumulate all of the brilliant ideas OTHER people have discovered for housekeeping that I plan to implement in my own home so as to radiate domestic awesomeness.

So the theme of this post is exactly that.......Domestic diva tips. I would like to share some tried and true ideas that I've found on pintereset and elsewhere online so that I can at least feel as though the hours spent in front of my computer screen ooohing and aaaahing have not been in vain.

Starting from today, maybe once a week, once a month or as the urge floods over me to share, I will test a Domestic Diva Tip and give it either a thumbs up or a thumbs down.

That way you can all keep from wasting your precious time on a Pinterest addiction such as mine!!

So here goes: 

Domestic  Diva

Tip #1

Protecting stainless appliances

with baby oil.

A couple of hears ago we upgraded our kitchen appliances, the hubby instantly wanted stainless steel, a look I LOVE also. However, we've all heard the warnings about finger prints, smudges and scuffs driving even the most dedicated housekeeper to insanity.

But who can resist?? You either come to terms with the fact that your appliances will never look clean like the day you unwrapped them or make stainless steel wipes your new best friend!

I do a little of both, I can live with the smudges on a day to day basis but always find myself shining those suckers up before a dinner party or visit from the mother in-law.

I recently read somewhere the baby oil does a great job of buffing up those appliances like brand new so I thought I'd give it a try. Normally I use the stainless steel wipes from the supermarket, no brand in particular, just whatever is on sale. There's no doubt that they work but they are a little pricey for what you get, and I always try to stretch the amount of  square inch wiping I get from each cloth and end up with tell tale "cheap lady" streaks.

So, good old Johnson's baby oil, I'm sure this bottle is as old as my 6 year old. But it still looks, smells and works great. A little squirt onto some paper towel and buff to your hearts content. 

Some people recommend that you clean the surface first with a wet cloth, mine wasn't too bad to start with but you can see the streak marks from the last time I wiped my fridge down. If you look carefully, the door on the right has been wiped with baby oil and the one on the left is a good representation of what my stainless steel always looks like.

I was going to leave one side treated and the other untouched in order to do a comparison in a week or so but the pure joy I got from seeing my stainless steel so shiny got the better of me and I ended up doing everything, the dishwasher included!

So readers, The Fonz and I agree. The cheap and multi-use baby oil gets my vote, my home will now officially be a stainless steel wipe free building.

House cleaning central also offers a multitude of other options for cleaning stainless steel. I've only tried the baby oil and am super happy with the results so far. 

Happy Domestic Bliss to you all. Feel free to share any of your own tips.

Happy LOVE day.

Watch this video, it will put a smile on your face and get you feeling all V-Day like.

A big warm hug to all the wonderful, special and genuinely fantastic people in my life both near and far.

I'm missing my hubby as he is working in Vancouver all week and he is also celebrating his birthday tomorrow   in the comfort of a Sandman hotel room, maybe he'll order some room service and some pay per view???

Happy Vanbirthday Baby!!

Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity.

Henry Van Dyke

Roasted Cauliflower poppers.

Dear fellow bloggers....
Don't you hate it when you start a recipe and are being so dedicated to taking pictures every step of the way. Always thinking in the back of your mind about how to best demonstrate a recipe in pictures and instructions to your viewers so as to make it a pleasant experience for all those involved.
And then the recipe turns out super awesome, you take a taste to be sure that it is indeed a recipe that is worthy of sharing, one that you are proud of and are so excited to share and then DUN DUN DUUUUN!!!
You forget to take a picture of the finished product because you are too busy eating it!!!

Please tell me I'm not the only one out there that does this...you all make it look so easy and flawless, like it's as simple as taking your next breath without having to think about it.

I made the current low carb and low point Internet favorite of the week. Roasted cauliflower poppers. Sound intriguing?
These nummy little goodies seem to be literally popping up everywhere I look, so I just had to try them out for myself to see what the big deal was all about. I'm so glad I did because I loved them. Super easy, super quick and very satisfying. Maybe not for every one's taste buds but a big thumbs up for mine.
I was even able to get the kids to give them a try.

Here's the before pic, they already look super tasty. Just picture them hot and steamy. 

There are lots of recipe's online for cauliflower poppers but to put it simply, all you do is cut up cauliflower into bite size pieces, toss with olive oil and you favorite seasonings ( I used a barbecue rub I picked up at Bass Pro shop)  and bake in a 350c oven until cooked through.

They make a great snack or appy, even a side dish. They have zero points if you are on weight watchers , are low calorie and low carb. Not much more to say really....other that num num!

BE MY*printable*VALENTINE

There are so many amazing talented people online these days offering their artwork to lazy people such as myself, for free!!

I especially love scanning the net when it comes to seasonal celebrations such as valentines day.

Here are a few of my favorites flying around the Internet...freeeeee...just need a printer and LOTS of colored ink. (Notice I didn't say it would save you money???)

You are the cheese to my macaroni.........*tear* how frigging adorable?

via craftgossip 

Traditional.

via simple as that

So many options......just pic one!

via the long thread

WHOOO doesn't have a soft spot for owls? I'm such a dork!

via living locurto

cute,cute,cute.

via Mr Printables

Cute and simple.

via Mr Printables

Like I said before, colored ink is a given for major impact!

via secret agent josephine

Ahhh the season of love. 

I still have yards and yards of colored butchers twine to put to use so I'm trying to think of some fun valentines crafts to share with you all this week. 

Anyone have any super romantic plans for V-day this year? The hubby's birthday is on the 15th so he gets the annual double whammy, two day love-arama celebration....lucky man!!

Lord help me!

Nom, nom......winter food.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Perogy how I luuuurve thee. Empty calories all rolled into one delicious little package.
We made and served these little babies to the guests at our back yard wedding reception in Australia 12 years ago. The Aussies loved them, these strange, foreign, delicious pockets of potato. I think it made my hubby proud to share a little something from his native land and have it so well received. He also made his famous creamy mushroom perogy sauce, don't ask for the recipe, it goes to the grave with him.
We've not made them since then.....and now I know why. Because they are a lot of work!!!
Totally worth the effort though, just like homemade ravioli and bread baked from scratch. And what a great opportunity to teach the kids the difference between store bought and good down home cookin'.
There's an art to the forming of them, I was certain that after making 100 or so I'd have it all figure out.......NOPE.

They don't look at all bad and they tasted mighty fine but I absolutely must invite my adopted Ukrainian mother over and have her show me all her secrets.

We decided after returning from our last trip to Australia that every weekend would involve a new family recipe, we either make copious amounts of something we know and love or agree to experiment and hopefully create the next recipe to be added to our family cookbook. The weekend before it was lasagna, this weekend was perogies and next weekend is undecided. Any suggestions?

Anywho, back to the Perogies. So we made potato and cottage cheese, potato and bacon, potato with sauerkraut and bratwurst and my all time favourite...potato and roasted pumpkin...we were literally fighting over these ones, forks in hand.

I have a dough recipe to share, this is a new one that was passed on by my mother in law. I hope she doesn't read this, she really is not a random recipe sharer. Usually you have to marry into the family for her recipes so don't go telling Gramma Le!!!

Perogy Dough

6 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp salt

3/4 cup of oil ( I used a canola/olive oil blend)

1 1/2 cups mashed potatoes

Mix all ingredients together.

Add approximately 2 cups of warm water until texture is soft but not real sticky. I used my kitchen aid stand mixer with the hook attachment and then turned the dough onto a floured surface for a quick knead. If it feels too sticky, add a bit of flour.

For best results let sit covered for 1/2 hour. Dough can be frozen or refrigerated.

If refrigerated, take out 1/2 hour before. If frozen, take out the night before.

I found this dough to be very elastic and to be a bit tricky to work with at first. But after a while (100 or so perogies), you get the hang of things.....trust me.

For those of you who know how to make perogies you can stop reading here..the rest of you still wondering what the heck to put in the dough..follow me.

The recipes below came with the dough recipe, I have to tell you that we did not follow any of these recipes, not because they are bad but simply because the hubby wanted to create his own.

These are simply a guideline. Does that sound like a decent disclaimer??? Done!

Fillings:

Dry cottage cheese: Mash the cottage cheese, add salt and pepper, onion flakes, dill  (optional). Or, add mashed potato which helps keep the perogy together.

Cheddar Cheese: Grated cheddar cheese, mashed potato, salt and pepper, minced onion. Bacon is also welcome here!

Sauerkraut: Drain and fry sauerkraut. Add chopped onion, mashed potato, salt and pepper to taste.

Once you've made your perogies you can boil or fry them and sit down like a piggy and eat them all. Or like we did, you can eat SOME and then freeze the rest on baking trays and later; transfer them to ziploc bags.

From frozen, we like to gently boil them first and then fry them in a hot, oily pan with a little salt and pepper.

Soooooooooooooooooo goooood! Tootles.