2011 Goals Update

At the beginning of the year, I set some goals for myself to work towards this year.  I vowed to update my progress at the end of each month to help keep me motivated.  This month there have been some successes, and some things that I need to work harder at going forward.

First, the successes!  I have kept up with the blog dare challenge and posted every day.  Some days have been more challenging than others to find something to write about, but it has helped me branch out and expand my comfort zone.  I managed to get out and meet up with some friends, and gathered the family together for my son's birthday party.  As for date night, my husband and I managed to sneak in a restaurant dinner while shopping for my son's gift (not exactly a date night, but the closest we could manage this month!).  I'm still plodding along on my thesis, and hope to have the first draft completed soon.  My goal for this blog was to have 40 followers by the end of February, and I'm at 38, so I'm happy!

There's still much room for improvement though.  Let's not discuss the weight loss, except to say that I'm still committed and need to up the exercise if I hope to reach my goals.  We still haven't put together any photo albums or hung any new photos around the house, so that's a priority going forward.  And hopefully my husband and I can find time to have a real date night soon!  Both of our birthdays are in March, so that provides a good excuse to see friends and family again.  Maybe finish that thesis draft?  And another 20 followers would be lovely as well!

Time to get cracking on those goals!  I'll keep you posted...

Menu Plan

Daycare Lunch Menu
Monday: Chicken in a mushroom cream sauce with Rice and Peas
Tuesday: Sloppy Joe with corn
Wednesday: Stir Fry with rice
Thurs. and Fri. not applicable

Dinner Menu
Monday: Provençal-style white beans over shell pasta
Tuesday: Spanish stew with chicken and potatoes & Salad
Wednesday: Black Bean Nachos
Thursday: Mushroom Chicken, Rice and Baked Leeks
Friday: Turkey Chili

Recipe: Herbed potatoes with crumbled bacon

These potatoes are a delicious side dish that can be perfectly paired with some scrambled eggs and a citrus fruit salad for a nice breakfast, or served alongside a meat and vegetable for lunch or dinner.  Tonight I prepared them with baked turkey sausages and steamed green beans for dinner. 

Ingredients
4 strips of bacon
6 red potatoes (medium sized)
1/2 tsp. dried rosemary
1/2 tsp. dried parsley
salt and pepper

Directions
1- Wash and cut potatoes into 1 inch cubes.  Set aside.
2-In a frying pan, fry the bacon until crispy.  Remove from pan and place on paper towels to soak up excess oil and cool.
3- Over medium high heat, fry the potatoes in the oil from the bacon until crispy on the outside and cooked through on the inside.  Sprinkle with dried herbs and pepper. 
4- With a slotted spoon, remove the potatoes from the oil and drain on paper towels.  While still warm, place in a serving bowl.  Crumble the bacon over the potatoes and combine.
The bacon should add enough salt flavour, but season with more salt if desired.

*** This dish could be made by tossing the potatoes in olive oil and herbs and baking them in a 375F oven until cooked to cut down on fat and calories.

Recipe: Niçoise Salad (Naturally Gluten and Dairy Free)

I love having salad for a meal, particularly accompanied by a nice bowl of soup.  This salad is one that I love because it's filling, full of protein, and great for any season. 

My recipe is a loose take on the traditional recipe.  I've omitted what I don't really like and substituted in flavours that I prefer.  That's the beauty of such a versatile recipe. 

A few subtle changes and the salad can be adjusted to suit anyone's preference.

Product Review: GroOrganic Garden Planner

When I came across the opportunity to review the groOrganic Garden Planner software, I jumped at the chance.  I'm fairly new to gardening, but have set a goal for myself to replace half of my family's produce consumption this summer with produce from the garden, and have the rest supplied by a local green box delivery service.  To accomplish this goal, my garden will have to be much bigger than it was last year and produce a wider variety of produce.  Knowing where to begin was overwhelming.  That's where the Garden Planner came in.

The planner is available directly from the groOrganic website, and doesn't require any special software.  To use it, a membership plan must be purchased.  The website describes the planner as follows:
"This online Garden Planner helps you grow fruit and vegetables to the best of their ability, whatever the size or shape of your garden or plot. With the groOrganic Garden Planner it is easy to draw out your garden plan and decide how best to plant it. The groOrganic Garden Planner software shows how much space plants require and how to group them for maximum success, removing the need to look up planting distances and crop families. Growing advice is just one click away as you select the plants that you wish to include, enabling you to solve problems and maximize your harvest from the space you have."

I found the planner straightforward and easy to use.  The quick start video walked me step-by-step through the planning process, and I had a garden plan started within the first 15 minutes.  The plan opens up on a grid, and it's a simple point and click function to add garden beds and plants from a scrolling menu at the top of the screen.  I also liked that I could create and save multiple plans, allowing me to create different layouts or to focus on one area of my garden in each plan.  The true product value for me is not the visual of the garden that it provides, but the wealth of information available. 

Clicking on a plant allows the user to access an information page, including space and light requirements, companion planting, watering needs and pest concerns.  By entering in my location, the planner provides me with frost dates in my area and advises when to sow and harvest each plant.  The program sends me email updates to remind me when something can be started from a seedling indoors or planted in my outdoor garden. It allows the option of square foot gardening.  It calculates how much space a plant needs and how many plants can be placed in a given area. Perhaps for an experienced gardener this information would be second-nature, but I find it useful for someone just starting out.  I found the list of vegetables and herbs fairly comprehensive, but the program allows additional plants to be added manually.

The main drawback of this program is that it's geared specifically towards growing fruits and vegetables.  I was hoping to plan out both my flower and vegetable gardens.  Although the program does have generic categories for flowers and trees that can be customized, they don't automatically provide the same wealth of information that is provided for the vegetable garden plants.  However, with a little patience, I could enter in the flowers and other plants on my list and add them to the system.  With all of the other benefits, this minor drawback would not deter me from continuing to use the program.

Want to see what the garden planner looks like?  Click on the link to get to the site, then click Try Out The Garden Planner button in the top right hand corner.  It will take you to a sample plan of the White House Vegetable Garden.
http://gardenplanner.groorganic.com/gardenplanner/gardenplanner.html#

Overall, I found this product useful and simple to use.  I can't wait to put the plan into action!

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Tomoson Product review & giveaway Disclosure.

Wordless Wednesday

                                                         Just loungin' around!

Menu Plan

Daycare Lunch Menu

Monday: Closed for Family Day
Tuesday: Fish filet and oven roast potatoes with mixed vegetables
Wednesday: Shepherd's Pie
Etienne is now home with me on Thursdays and Fridays, so the menu no longer applies


Dinner Menu

Monday: Roast chicken thighs, green beans, salad and leftover antipasto
Tuesday: Spinach and rice soup with GF crackers, salad w/cranberries, apple, walnuts & leftover chicken
Wednesday: Pizza and fruit salad on the side
Thursday: Oven baked pasta with steamed broccoli
Friday: Crustless quiche and cauliflower gratin, salad

Birthday Party Rundown

As mentioned yesterday, the birthday party was a success.  The photos, not so much.  For some reason, most of them are a bit blurry, so excuse the quality.  I wasn't taking the photos, so maybe the camera setting was off.  Everything else was perfect though!  The Sesame Street theme sent my son into a tizzy of excitement, and he insisted on wearing his Elmo pyjama top.  If you look closely, you'll also see that he insisted on putting on his cousin's pink princess shoes and refused to take them off!

The birthday boy, in an Elmo shirt and princess shoes!

He didn't really understand that all the gifts were for him, and once he opened one, he would get completely absorbed in the toy and had to be coaxed back over to open another!  Here's one of his new toys.  My parents bought my husband a real kit that looks about the same for Christmas, so my son was very excited to get a tool kit just like his Dad's!

The kit comes apart, and came with pliers, a hammer, screwdriver, etc.

As I mentioned in this previous post, everything at the party was gluten and dairy free, and no one even noticed.  The only question I had to answer was if there was any bread, and I just explained to everyone that my son can't have it so there were crackers instead.  The food was excellent, and there was very little left over.  My biggest concern was the cake, but once I opened the box all my fears were put to rest.  Look at the masterpiece Terra Mia Bakery put together for us:

We had fifteen people at the party, and we got 24 regular sized slices from it.  The inside was a three layer, double chocolate sponge cake with a whipped cream-style filling.  The cake was light and airy but not dry, and the icing was full of flavour but not overly sweet.  Our guests began questioning how my son could eat the cake with his dietary restrictions.  Everyone was completely surprised when they discovered that the cake contained no gluten and no dairy.

Three layers of chocolate deliciousness!

.
As you can see, my son enjoyed it too!

In fact, it was so good that people asked to bring slices home with them.  By the time everyone was gone, this was all that was left.

 

And my husband finished that off before bed!  I'm really happy that the cake was a success because it was the most stressful part of the planning.  Decorations, gifts, invites are pretty straightforward to get ready.  Even the main dishes were fairly simple to plan and order after a bit of research.  The cake was an entirely different matter. We had some bakeries tell us that they could do dairy free OR gluten free, but not both.  The baker we almost went with told us that we should just get an 8 inch cake because most people probably won't like the cake anyway.  The bakery we chose, Terra Mia Bakery, we found by accident, and it felt like the stars had aligned in our favour.  We were quoted for a 10 inch round cake, but the baker put together a larger square cake, with an extra two pieces as the little boxes on top for no extra charge.  The service was fantastic, the price was $45, which is $10 less than all of the other quotes we had received, and the cake was to die for.  As soon as they get a website I'll post it on here for local readers.

I am, however, hoping that someone else got a good shot of my husband, son and I, because this is the only one from my camera, and it's a little blurry.

 

                                                 I guess I can't have everything!

Happy Birthday Etienne!

My little man turned two today, and the birthday party was a success!  Mommy's exhausted, so I'll post a full account tomorrow with photos.  Let me just say before I head off to bed, that his cake ROCKED!  Who said gluten and dairy free can't be delicious?  Seriously, I am thrilled with the bakery who made his Sesame Street themed cake that went above and beyond our expectations.  It was so good people asked to take home the leftovers. 

I'm still getting used to the idea that I'll probably have to stop referring to his age in months soon....

Just a quick note...

Tomorrow is my son's second birthday, and with all the running around to prepare for the party I haven't really had much time to reflect on the past two years.  It seems like it's all happened so fast!  The struggle to get his health in order has been a tough one, but we know that we're blessed to have relatively small concerns.  Watching him change from a helpless baby to a fiercely independent little boy who can run and sing and help get himself dressed has been an amazing experience.  Every day he comes out with some new phrase that makes us laugh, or sings a song I didn't know that he knew. 

So although I still have to wrap his gift and fill out the card, decorate, pick up the food and cake, cut his hair and deal with the check engine light that just popped on in the car, I think I'll make a cup of tea, pull out some photos and take a few minutes to savour the memories of the past two years.