Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Mmm...Pumpkin!

I love pumpkin all the time, but this time of the year gives me an excuse to cook with it more often! This is one of my favourite, easy recipes.

Pumpkin Dip

1 pkg cream cheese, softened
1 14-oz can pumpkin
3 cups icing sugar
1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice

Beat cream cheese then add remaining ingredients and mix to combine. Serve with ginger cookies or graham crackers.

Friday, September 25, 2009

A new recipe success

What do you do when a fast, simple dessert that uses ingredients already in the pantry is required? Make Sweet Lemon Pie. Refreshing, delicious, perfect for a BBQ.

Sweet Lemon Pie

1 prepared graham cracker crust
2 (14 oz) cans sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 tsp grated lemon zest
whipped cream for garnish (optional)

Whisk sweetened condensed milk with lemon juice until smooth. Stir in lemon zest. Pour into crust. Refrigerate for three to four hours. Garnish with whipped cream, if desired.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Best smile ever!


Biased? Maybe. But how cute is my beautiful baby boy?

Friday, March 20, 2009

A Slow Cooker Success

I tend to find Monday's an especially tiring day - back to work and all that - so I try to have really easy recipes. This week I tried a new one and it was definitely a success!

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

1 pork butt (also called Boston butt - it's really pork shoulder), trimmed
Root beer
BBQ sauce
Buns

Place the pork in a slow cooker and pour enough root beer over it to about 3/4 cover it. Cover and cook on low until well cooked and the pork shreds easily, 8 to 10 hours. Remove (a slotted spoon is handy here!) Shred the pork. Then your choice - either mix with the BBQ sauce or place pulled pork on the bun and top with BBQ sauce.

We made a coleslaw to accompany the pulled pork.

What else can I say - it tasted great, was really inexpensive to make and was yummy!

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Finally! Photos from our renovations

At long last, here are some photos of our renovations.

The front entry - new paint and newly installed tile floor.  Of special note, the mirror used to hang in my Grandpa's bakery.


A couple views of our new living room furniture and the fabulous new hardwood floor.



The bedroom portion of the "guest suite" in the basement.


And the bathroom which features heated tile floor.


And the family room, with our fabulous new TV!



Hope you enjoyed the tour!


Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Keeping up...

...and I'm not referring to the highly enjoyable Brit-com "Keeping up Appearances."

Right now, it just seems like there is so much to do! I can't keep track of everything that I need to get done - and I have all kinds of lists everywhere!

Phone calls, paperwork, volunteering, work, extra classes, social life etc. How is it possible that I haven't even been able to make all the phone calls I want?

To be fair, I can't blame it all on my bus that always late these days. Perhaps less sleep is the answer.

Why aren't there more hours in the day?

Friday, January 9, 2009

A virtue

It has been written that patience is a virtue.

Webster's Dictionary defines patience as the capacity, habit or fact of being patient.

Patient, an adjective, is further defined as follow:

1: bearing pains or trials calmly or without complaint 2: manifesting forbearance under provocation or strain 3: not hasty or impetuous 4: steadfast despite opposition, difficulty, or adversity

Those all sound like very good things. I think that I will try to be more patient. Did I mention that I'm not very good a that????