Thursday, December 30, 2010

Recipe to share

So I'm thinking that part of my blogging experience will be to share some recipes too.  I'm always looking for new, healthy, easy recipes for my family.  This one isn't a new one for us, but I'm making it for supper tonight and it smells so yummy that I wanted to share.  We serve it over rice and have naan bread on the side for soaking up the sauce.



Slow Cooker Squash and Chickpea Curry


Ingredients

Preparation:

In slow cooker, combine squash, potato and chickpeas. 

In large skillet, heat oil over medium heat; fry onion, garlic and ginger, stirring occasionally, until onion is light golden, about 7 minutes. Add curry paste; cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add to slow cooker. 

Add coconut milk and stock to slow cooker; stir in cashew butter and salt. Cover and cook on low for about 4 hours or until vegetables are tender. 

Stir in Swiss chard and peas. Cover and cook on high for about 15 minutes or until Swiss chard wilts. Sprinkle with coriander.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Snapshots of Christmas

Well, I spent a few hours last night and a few more hours today making a beautiful slideshow of our Christmas pictures with music and video.  It was a true masterpiece.  But now I can't get blogger to upload it for me - aaargh!  So I will share a few pictures anyways but please sing lovely Christmas carols in your head as you look at them :)

All dolled up on Christmas Eve
Kids in jammies are so sweet - especially when you know they'll be sleeping soon!


  

Has absolutely no idea what is going on!


The new quilt came in handy on our walk.

Trying out the new wagon.  Works great!
Merry Christmas!










Monday, December 20, 2010

Labour of Love

When Kara was born, I decided that I really wanted to make her a quilt.  Something that she could keep forever; something that she could cuddle with; something special that her mom made her when she was brand new.  Anyways, I'm not much of a seamstress (I've always taken my pants to Stitch It to get a simple hem!), but I tackled a rag quilt and was very happy with how it turned out.  Rag quilts are very forgiving so it was a great way to start.  But now, with another baby, I realized that I would have to keep up the tradition so I started one for Jonas.  I planned on doing another rag quilt, but when I went to the quilt store, I got excited by a few different fabrics (who knew I would ever be excited by fabric) and ended up attacking a real quilt with a back and batting and the whole nine yards!  There were moments when I thought I should give up or else pay someone to finish it for me.  But I stuck it out and just finished it last night.  And so here is my labour of love for my little boy.  It is his Christmas gift but I'm sure he didn't mind getting a sneak peek!

ps:  if anyone was interested in the kind of fabric I used, I think it is called "minky" and it's that super-soft-almost-like-fleece-cuddle fabric.  Everytime Kara touches it she says "mmmm, cozy"

Friday, December 17, 2010

New Beginnings

I've been thinking about starting a blog for quite awhile, but every time I talk myself out of it thinking that nobody would really be interested in following it.  But then the other day, my friend Claire suggested that I start one and it got me thinking (again!) that I really should.  Our friends and family are spread all across the country and this is a great way to stay in touch with the small, everyday details of life in the ditch.

Disclaimer:  I don't know if I'm going to be any good at this.  But I promise to tell it like it is (I guess I wouldn't really be Andrea if I didn't) and I invite you to laugh and cry along with me as I share some of our life with you.




First post:  My mom is here visiting for Christmas and is helping a lot with the kids.  I asked her to get Jonas up from his nap this morning and after a few minutes, I heard shrieks of laughter coming from his room.  When I went to see what was happening, this is what I found:


I love laughing kids.  And I love my mom.