Showing posts with label hockey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hockey. Show all posts

Tuesday, 31 March 2015

The End of Hockey Season


Hockey season came to an end this past weekend.  


Well, sort of.


There's still some school hockey on the schedule.


And one more tournament.


Two weeks after that, try-outs start for next season.


But their regular season has ended.  Each playoff round was tougher than the one before.


They finished the season at the top of their division, undefeated in three tournaments, and finally, regional champions.



So proud of and thankful for these boys.  They provided us with a season filled with the very best entertainment. 



Wednesday, 18 March 2015

Embracing Routine, and Braised Cabbage


Instagram lately.


Airing out stinky hockey equipment.
Swedish meatballs at IKEA.
A quick trip to Muskoka, where there's still plenty of snow.
Our kitchen, turned into a barbeque assembly area.
Wii, rediscovered.
Food.
Hockey.

I'm grateful that we made the time for a quick road trip last weekend.  Things have been so routine around here, and although I try to appreciate all of the moments that make up our everyday lives, I desperately needed a changed of scenery.




We celebrated another hockey tournament championship.

Number one son decided to make a birthday cake for his girlfriend.  The recipe he chose wasn't a simple one, and a two hour education followed.


Lessons learned:

Unhusked hazelnuts do NOT have the husk removed.  
Hazelnuts are also known as filberts.  
Husks are not easily removed with a vegetable peeler.  
Toasting nuts removes most of the husks with minimal effort.
Hazelnut paste is not Nutella.
Heavy cream is whipping cream, not the table cream I use in my coffee.
The toothpick will never come out completely clean.
Icing a cake with mousse is a pain in the a**.
Mom needs a new stand mixer.

We ate Irish food in honour of St. Patrick.  The kids thought the corned beef tasted like ham, so the ham-haters in the house weren't impressed.  I've never made this before, so I just used the pre-seasoned, packaged brisket from the grocery store.  Next time I think I'll try making a more authentic one from scratch.

Surprisingly, the braised cabbage was a hit.  Until now, I had never even so much as bought a cabbage, unless you count the pre-shredded coleslaw mix.  Growing up, I couldn't stand it.  If cabbage rolls or sauerkraut appeared on my plate, you could bet I'd be at the table for a very long time trying to find ways to avoid eating.  I didn't much like the smell while I was slicing it, but once it started to simmer the smell was amazing.  One of the kids thought it tasted like onion rings.

I will be making this again.


Braised Cabbage

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons bacon fat
2 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 bay leaf
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
One half of large head of cabbage, cored and thinly sliced
1/2 bottle beer
Red pepper flakes, optional

Directions:

In a large pan, melt butter and bacon fat. Add the onion, bay leaf, and cabbage, stirring to mix. Add the beer, season with salt and pepper, and cover. Braise until the cabbage has wilted, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes.

Remove the bay leaf, sprinkle with red pepper flakes (optional) and serve immediately.





Wednesday, 10 September 2014

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Hemp Seed Muffins


I was up at 5am today.  Early enough that I finished two cups of coffee before the sun even came up.  Usually, I'm hitting the snooze button at 6am, sometimes even at 6:30am... playing the can-I-still-get-ready-and-get-lunches-packed-in-less-than-an-hour game with myself every time I whack the alarm clock.

I am not a morning person.


But this morning I was on a mission.  Evenings have been busy since school and hockey have started back up.  We spent most of the weekend at a hockey tournament, and even though I was patting myself on the pack for getting the laundry done, the much needed trip to the grocery store didn't happen.  Instead we were picking up milk, bread, bananas, juice, hot dogs, and pizza on our way back and forth to the tournament.


Last night, after spending the evening back at the rink, I realized there wasn't a bagel or slice of bread left in the house.  No cold cuts, no cream cheese.  The staples required to feed my sandwich and bagel loving crew were gone, and I was too tired to do anything about it.  So I did what I've done many times before.  I set my bread maker on time delay, and got busy making pizza buns bright and early this morning.


Of course, there weren't any granola bars left either...just three empty boxes sitting in the cupboard masquerading as granola bars.  So while the pizza buns were rising, a quick batch of muffins took shape.


Over-ripe bananas, oatmeal, chocolate.... and hemp seeds.  I sort of  felt like I was cheating on my beloved chia seeds when I threw them in, but these are some healthy little seeds, and they made me feel a whole lot better about the pizza and hot dogs.

 


Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Hemp Seed Muffins

Ingredients
  • 1 cup rolled oats
  • ½ cup plain yogurt
  • ½ cup milk
  • 1 ½ cups flour
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • ¼ cup cocoa powder
  • ¼ cup hemp seeds
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • 3 ripe bananas - mashed
  • ⅓ cup oil
  • 1 egg
  • ½ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. Pre-heat oven to 375°F and line a muffin tin with 12 baking cups.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together oats, hemp seeds, yogurt and milk. Set aside to soak for 10 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, whisk together remaining dry ingredients in a small bowl: flour through nutmeg.
  4. In a medium bowl, whisk together mashed bananas with oil and egg. Add to the soaking oat mixture and stir to combine.
  5. Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring until just barely combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Do not overmix or you’ll end up with tough, dry muffins.
  6. Scoop batter evenly into 12 lined muffin tins, filling each to about 3/4 full. Bake until toothpick comes out clean, about 20 minutes.
This made 18 small muffins.  I should have doubled the recipe!

Click here to go to my Pizza Buns recipe:


And if you're looking for another chocolatey oatmeal muffin, try this one.  It has pumpkin, flax, and chia seeds:








Thank you for featuring me!

Time for Mom 

Wednesday, 4 June 2014

It's June, wait...what?


I'm having a hard time getting my head around the fact that it's June.  May was a blur.  Long hours at work and a husband working out of town made for a month of just getting through the day, and then just making it to the weekend.  The weather has been glorious, although I've had little time to spend outside and enjoy it.  I'm grateful for the warmth and sunshine...something we waited a long time for this year.  And I'm happy to see so many shades of green colouring our world again.


Mother's Day was quiet.
And as busy as we are, I'm still feeling a little lost.  For the first time in 20 years no one is playing any outdoor summer sports.  No soccer, no baseball, no football.  I should be jumping for joy that I'm not running like an idiot from one field to the next, trying to keep up with their conflicting schedules... but the truth of the matter is that I miss it.  A lot.

But there's always summer hockey.  Nothing like sitting in an ice cold rink wearing shorts and sandals.


Last but not least, I have a slew of recipes to share.  I've finally managed to pull off a really good homemade,  nut-free granola bar for the kids lunches.  I've been struggling to keep their lunches interesting as we near the end of the school year, and the healthified baked goods I've been trying haven't all been well received, but these granola bars were a great success.  I've also been using my crock pot a lot lately and have a few slow cooker gems to share.   And there was sticky toffee pudding, with caramel sauce from scratch...


...which was totally worth the half hour I spent stirring.

Stay tuned.

Friday, 11 April 2014

Friday Photos, and Random Scraps


It's Friday, and Spring is finally here.   The snow is almost gone and I haven't worn a coat since Wednesday.  The winter boots have been put away and we're drinking our coffee outside.


We went on a quick road trip last weekend, one final hockey tournament and another big win for the boys.  Hockey equipment has been washed and put away... for a while anyway.  Tryouts for next season start at the end of the month.




I had some success and some failures in the kitchen.


Ham, broccoli, and cheese stuffed buns - amazing.  Just like the ones you saw here, with ham instead of chicken.  A great way to use leftovers, and oh so good.  I'll be sharing this recipe soon.

Granola bars - yuck.  Oatmeal apricot muffins - OK, but not great.  

Jalapeno cheddar sour cream biscuits - really good!  I used this Sour Cream Biscuit recipe and added some chopped pickled jalapeno peppers along with some shredded cheddar.  YUM.

Speaking of food, did you know that April is National Grilled Cheese Month?  Grilled cheese sandwiches are the go-to I-don't-like-what's-for-dinner alternative in our house, but that humble sandwich has the potential to be so much more than just bread and cheese.  Check out my National Grilled Cheese Month Pinterest board for some unbelievable grilled sandwich inspiration:


And check this out...coffee flour!  You can read all about it here.  I will be keeping an eye open for this!



Also, I am in love with this Arugula Skirt Steak Salad with Caramelized Pears, Pecans, and Gorgonzola from Ashley at Baker by Nature.   It's gorgeous, healthy, and easy to put together.  I seriously want this for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.


Easter is next weekend.  If you plan to colour Easter Eggs, have a look at this gallery of creative ways to do it:


A great quote:


A great sign:


And a lazy dog:



Tuesday, 1 April 2014

More Hockey, and a Touch of Spring


The regular hockey season may have officially ended, but there's still some school hockey to be played.  Yesterday we hit the road for a one day tournament.  I was thrilled to be driving on dry roads under sunny skies for the first time in months.








The best part - no boots or winter coats required.






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