foodie fridays

i love cooking & baking. it is, absolutely, one of my favourite things to do. (i am running a baking business out of my home, so i must like it!) we enjoy trying new recipes often and re-playing the ones that have been the best. if you look on my pinterest profile, you will learn that food is the main reason i use it. what can i say? we love food. a lot.

we try to eat as healthy as possible, and lately that has meant cutting down on our meat consumption. we are "weekday vegetarians" or "flexitarians" and that was brought on when we watched this ted talk. (it's only four minutes long, so go watch it!) we've found that not eating meat during the week (though we are not super strict about it) has made us feel better, save money and be more creative with our meals. protein is important, but eating meat is definitely not the only way to get it. in fact, there are healthier and way cheaper ways to get it. we eat a lot of beans, lentils, quinoa & other whole grains, nuts & nut butters and some delicious veggie burgers that i always keep stocked up in the freezer. (recipe here, if you're interested. and you should be! we love them.)

anyways, i'm rambling. for the sake of documenting the new recipes we try and sharing them with those who are interested, i'm starting my new post of "foodie fridays!" i promise to share only the yummiest things i've made in the week previous. no duds! vegetarian, meat, side dish, salad or baking, you'll find it here on fridays. (every friday, i hope.)

this week the recipe is "greek style quinoa burgers." packed full of protein with quinoa & white beans and topped with a greek yogurt sauce, this is an easy, quick summer-time meal.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup rinsed quinoa
• 1 medium carrot, cut in large chunks
• 6 scallions, thinly sliced
• 15 ounces great northern beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 cup plain dried breadcrumbs
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• Coarse salt
• Ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 4 pitas (each 6 inches)
• 1/2 English cucumber, thinly sliced diagonally

Directions

1. In a small saucepan, bring 3/4 cup water to a boil; add quiona, cover, and reduce heat to low. Cook until liquid is absorbed, 12 to 14 minutes; set aside.
   
2. In a food processor, pulse carrot until finely chopped. Add cooked quinoa, half the scallions, beans, breadcrumbs, egg, cumin, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; pulse until combined but still slightly chunky.
   
3. Form mixture into four 3/4-inch-thick paties (dip hands in water to prevent sticking). If too soft, refrigerate 10 minutes to firm. In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium; cook burgers until browned and cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes per side.
   
4. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine yogurt, lemon juice, and the remaining scallions; season with salt and pepper. Serve burgers in pita topped with cucumber and yogurt sauce.
   
   

my notes: i read the comments at the bottom of the post and decided to add a bit of dried oregano to the "burgers". i might cut out a tiny bit of cumin next time, as it can be a little overpowering. also, great northern beans are just a white bean. i used white navy beans but i'm sure whatever you have would work. i also subbed out the bread crumbs and put in ground flax seed instead. i cooked the burgers in smaller patties instead of the four the recipe suggests, which was good because they were a little crumbly. i added cilantro to the greek yogurt sauce and didn't put all the green onions in. we put feta cheese into the prepared pitas because who doesn't love a little cheese? i ate leftovers the next day with spinach instead of cucumbers; just as good! the burgers taste a lot like falafel to me. delicious! leave any questions in the comments below!

my eyelashes catch my sweat

regina spektor is fantastic. this song is delightful & we love to dance to it in our living room. give it a listen! that is all. enjoy!

my mothers day

the day was lovely. i enjoyed going to church with my boys, taking a nap, reading les mis, playing with ollie while brian made an amazing dinner (lime coconut salmon, rice pilaf & asparagus with garlic), a raw chocolate tart for dessert and finishing the day off with almost two hours at the park. (we took our camera to the park and it was a beautiful evening, so....there's A LOT of pictures.)

walking with daddy & pointing, probably at a dog. 

he loves throwing sand on the slide...

and then playing with it!

those eyelashes! so dreamy. 

i'm in love with these boys.

that is the face of a dirty, happy little boy. 

i am so thankful for the many women in my life who have been such amazing examples of motherhood. my sweet mother, my dear mother in law and my loving grandmothers. my incredible sisters, each of whom have taught me something different about motherhood as i have learned from their examples. my cherished friends, many of whom i have come much closer to through this journey of motherhood. i am so grateful for you all. but most of all, i feel an overwhelming love for my husband and my son, the boys who have made me a mother. my heart has grown more than i can express. i cherish being a mother, though it is not always the easiest. it is the greatest blessing in my life. that sweet little boy with the mischievous grin, the twinkly eyes and the sweetest body is mine and i get to keep him. i'm so happy to be a mama.

my choice

this morning, ollie crawled & played around me while i lay on the living room floor, trying to wake myself up after a night of sleeping not sleeping. (we had a "party" from 1:00-3:30. you should've been there. it was wild.) i'm pretty sure i drifted in & out of sleep while ollie happily investigated his toys and books. then he started crawling over to me, giving me a big, sloppy kiss on the mouth and crawling back over to his toys. he did this over & over, proving that he was happier to see me so early in the morning than i was to see him. a light turned on in my head and i knew this day would be what i made it. so i laughed, hugged him & kissed him back. i got up, got dressed and laced up my shoes (literally & figuratively) and we went on a walk. a long, brisk morning walk, full of twists & turns, construction vehicles and some hills that almost killed me. ollie took his socks off three times and spotted at least seven birds and one BIG dog. the fresh air was exactly what i needed to start today off on the right foot. (and those slobbery baby kisses helped, too.)

my day is always better when i choose to be happy.

what we do

we have been busy enjoying the sunshine at the park and baking cinnamon buns to keep up with my orders, but i need to sit down and record some things about my sweet boy and the things he is up to these days. he is changing from a baby to a kid and his emerging personality is awesome. i love seeing him learn & grow.

like i said, we spend lots of time at the park. we've been meeting friends there during the day or going just before bed with daddy. ollie rides the ducky, goes down the slide and crawls everywhere. if there are other kids, he sits and watches them, pointing and whispering in his little voice, trying to tell me all about them. he finds all the best sticks and eats the sand & dirt. he is such a boy. 

encouraged by our walks and time spent at the park, ollie has realized that being outside is the best place to be. he is happiest and most peaceful when we are outside! one of his favourite activities is sitting on the front lawn of our apartment and watching all the cars go by. he loves cars! he points (always! he is always pointing) and jabbers excitedly. he is quite the celebrity on 99th street and gets smiles & waves from so many passersby.

for a baby who used to be quite shy and very cautious, ollie is starting to come out of his shell. he will reach out to be held by some of our friends and he does better than he used to without me around. he is becoming more outgoing with other kids as well, which is always fun to watch.

we've been trying to get to the library every thursday afternoon for "sing sign laugh & learn", a fun program for littles around ollies age. there is a man who plays guitar and sings with a girl who tells stories and teaches some baby sign language. i love that we live so close to the library! we go on other days too, just to play, read books, work on puzzles and visit the fishies.

this boy loves to eat. if it is not finger food, then i usually help him eat, but he insists that he hold a spoon and play in the bowl too. it's gets pretty messy. ha! he is definitely becoming more independent; he wants to hold his food and not just have me hand him little pieces. i can't help but think how grown up he looks when he's doing that! (he got his first free cookie from the kids club at superstore. it was adorable.)

ollie is getting to be quite the talker. he "answers" every question we ask him and carries on long conversations if we continue to respond. it is so fun to hear his little voice; he sounds so earnest in the way he talks, like what he is saying is really important and we need to listen up. just recently he's started singing, too. he talks, but in a sweet little sing-songy way whenever there is music on. he did it at church on sunday and i almost died. so cute.

he is still a good little sleeper and i love it. although this is a rare case, this morning he slept until almost 9:00! i only wished i had known and had slept later myself. also, he looks massive in his crib. he is getting so tall!

ollie, it makes me so happy to be your mama and to be able to share all these new & exciting adventures with you! it is a whole new world through the eyes of a toddler.

early morning wins

ollie rocking the baby ray bans i bought before i finished working.

 i got up super early this morning to get to superstore and beat the saturday rush. i just got back into town on wednesday and i have no idea what we've been eating...we really needed groceries. when i filled up with gas i found some superbucks someone else had left behind! awesome. when i got inside and started shopping around, i realized it was double the gst off day today. it's not a ton to save, but every dollar counts! i also found the cutest pair of coloured skinnies for five dollars! when i discovered the change rooms wouldn't open for another half hour, i totally crawled underneath a locked door. the jeans fit and therefore, it was worth it. also, it was fun! ha. all of that awesome happened before 8:00 am.

it's going to be a good day.

also, i love this little guy.

i am blessed

found here.

last night was hard. it was one of those nights where, right when i was about to go to sleep, ollie awoke. i had put him to bed about three hours earlier and, despite his fever and imminent teeth, he'd gone to sleep without much trouble. but at 10:30, he woke up a very unhappy little boy. he was crying, gnawing on his teeth and just laying on his tummy in his crib (i am used to him already on his feet, peering over the edge of the crib by the time i go in). he also had one of the longest boogers i'd ever seen, just hanging out of his nose when i picked him up. delightful. i cleaned him up. i nursed him. i rocked him. i sang to him. i let him cry. i brought him into bed with me. (brian already foresaw it as a couch night for him - our bed is not big enough for all three of us.) nothing worked. he was sick, sad and just wanted to cry. it was really difficult; rarely has he been so inconsolable. there were times when, selfishly, all i could think about was when i would finally be able to go to sleep. i should've been thinking, praying to be guided to help ollie. i felt guilty afterwards, realizing that, like the quote above, motherhood is not a hobby. it is what God gave me time for, and i want to use that time to be a good mother.

just this afternoon, ollie laid beside me on the couch. he put his head on my shoulder and his hand on my face. lately, he has been learning to reciprocate love, to give kisses & hugs, and his little snuggle this afternoon made me feel so loved, despite feeling sleep deprived. his little voice, calling me "mama mama" has never sounded so sweet.

moments later, as i nursed him before his afternoon nap, i watched how the slits of sunlight streaming through the blinds played on his golden skin. i watched his sleepy eyes close, the downward pointing of his curtain of eyelashes, his hands clutching his soft blanket and i thought to myself, "i am so blessed to be a mama."

i love being a mother.


p.s. i read this today and it made me bawl.

"It just takes one little moment like that, a smile, a laugh, an arm flung around you, to remind you of what you felt the first time you saw your child."