HoneyBears & SydneyBeans: November 2014

Happy Birthday HBear and Mushroom & Onion "Gratin" Potatoes

One day when she was two years old she was playing in a garden, and she plucked another flower and ran with it to her mother. I suppose she must have looked rather delightful, for Mrs. Darling put her hand to her heart and cried, ‘Oh, why can’t you remain like this for ever!’ This was all that passed between them on the subject, but henceforth Wendy knew that she must grow up.

J.M. Barrie

I remember waiting for Christmas or my birthday and it felt like FOREVER!!!! That is how poor HBear has felt all week.

Friday night she almost had a seizure on her bed shaking so hard lol She turned to Ninja and said,

"Finally, it is MY turn!"

I get it. She may be at the beginning of the school year but she is at the END of the year. She went through SBean's birthday and her party... and one of her besty's bday was on Friday and FINALLY it was her party on Saturday!!! She was so excited!

This is hard. Tonight was the last time I kissed her as a 5 year old!!!! OMG

On a daily basis I say,

"HBear stop growing!"

and she says,

"But Mommy I can't! I just keep growing up!"

Why?

Why is my baby girl turning 6 today? Why can't we just hit pause on life and stay right here? I wish we could because it's just going too fast...

When I look at her I see so much. I see a smart, kind, funny, generous, and beautiful little girl. I want so much for her. I wish for so much for her. I try to teach her so much so she can have the tools to be a successful in life. Life as child, a teenager, and as a woman.

On your 6th birthday my Sweet I hope for... everything for you...

I hope you learn about other people. Listening is one of the most important skills you will ever learn.

I hope you aren't afraid to try. Try things, try again, try your best.

I hope you love mornings. If you wake up happy it can shape your whole day.

I hope you get enough. Take what you need and pass the rest along.

I hope you laugh loudly and lots!

I hope you never forget how much your family loves you. We are behind you no matter what.

I hope you ignore high school girls. It's only a few years and then you move on.

I hope you become a Mom and experience a love like no other.

I hope you find joy in the game and in the outcome whether you win or lose.

I hope you respect yourself. If you don't no one else will either.

I hope you grow old. Surrounded by a large family full of love and good memories.

Happy 6th birthday my Sweet HoneyBear!

Love forever,

Mommy

For dinner last week I made these AH-Mazing potatoes. They are like scalloped potatoes but without the cream!!! Granted you use butter, but it is SO worth it!!! Best side dish EVER :)

Mushroom & Onion Gratin Potatoes

Adapted from Vikalinka

4-5 potatoes, sliced thinly

1 onion, chopped

2 cups mushrooms, sliced

4 sprigs parsley, chopped

¼ cup sour cream

3 tablespoons butter

Salt and Pepper

¼ cup Parmesan, grated

Preheat your oven to 350.

Pam an oven proof dish and set aside.

Heat your pan and melt a tablespoon of butter into it. I don’t use butter very often but in a simple dish like this butter is what will really give it flavor so treat yourself!

Sauté you potatoes in batches until golden, season with salt and pepper. Take them off the heat once they are nicely colored.

Sauté your mushrooms in the same pan over a medium heat adding more butter and seasoning them with salt and pepper.

Sprinkle your parsley all over mushrooms and cook 2-3 min. longer until all the liquid from the mushrooms evaporates. Set aside.

Add a bit of butter and sauté your onions.

First arrange your slices of potatoes on the bottom of your dish and scatter onions on top of them.

Next layer mushrooms.

And then repeat all the layers one more time finishing with a thin layer of sour cream.

Finish it off with sprinkling of Parmesan and parsley.

Bake at 400 for 25 minutes or until bubbly at hot all through.

READ MORE...

Happy Birthday SBean and Honey Garlic Chicken

You are the naughtiest two year old anyone has ever seen.

But all is forgiven because you are also my cutest little SBean.

SBean turns 2 tomorrow (or today depending when you are reading this)!!!!! In honor of my Beautiful Bean I am going to tell you a few stories about the past few days...

So the other day nap ended early because I heard "Mom... Mama... Mommy I'm done!"

Apparently I should jump but because I had to steam the floors and wash the shower and work on calendars in that hour and a half nap I didn't quite jump... and apparently SBean feels that if I do not jump I need to be taught a lesson.

When I walked into her bedroom 5 minutes later she was standing in the middle of her crib buck naked. "Oh I PeePee". Of course her diaper is on one side of the crib and she is on the other, great let's strip it down. I love it when I have to do this 5 minutes before we have to leave to go pick up HBear from school.

No biggie, whatever, I can do that quick enough so I get SBean onto the change table to put on a new diaper and to get her re-dressed and what do my shining eyes see... something sparkling... something gleaming... OMG it's her earring. She had stuffed right up her butt!

Oh my GAWD, did she eat it and it's coming out the other end? Nope! She was just trying to stuff it up there... fabulous that's going to be need to be disinfected.

On Monday night (or Tuesday morning) whichever way you want to look at it, HBear came into our rooms and said, "Mommy by accident I threw up all over my bed."

OK let's do this thing. I turned to Ninja who was burning up with fever and shaking with the chills all at the same time. OK then.

I took HBear to the bathroom and stripped her pukey clothes off and cleaned the chunks out of her hair and told her to try potty while I cleaned up her room. I then climbed up to her loft bed and began stripping it. I have to say vomit is my least favorite of the bodily fluids. Ninja usually does this as I have a bad gag reflex *groan*

I noticed that the major amount of vomit is on the left side of the bed, almost over the bed.... seriously? No freaking way...

I scurried down the stairs and felt around, and when I felt something wet I turned on the light.

Yup HBear had puked over the bed too and all over SBean and her crib!!!!! Ninja came in looked down at our puked on little girl still sleeping so quietly and looked at me with sick glazed eyes and said "Can we just move her over?"

Ahhhhhhhhhh

So I woke the poor Bean up, got both girls redressed while Ninja changed the sheets and cuddled the puke smelling sisters into my fresh clean sheeted bed. Now THAT is love!

So obviously yesterday was a sick day. I pulled out the tent and the Xmas Toopy and Binoo movies and we cuddled and drank water and ate fruit :)

I am in the process of doing waterbottles, goodybags and all the fun stuff that goes with 2 birthdays within 4 days of each other, so I was working hard when I heard "AWE Shitballs!"

SBean was walking around in her cute little footed sleeper... leaving BIG squishy wetmarks from her right foot????

Apparently she decided she wanted her diaper off so she took it off (inside her sleeper) and pushed it down her leg and proceeded to walk on her WET diaper like a stilt.

So while Ninja changed her I got to steaming the floor LOL

"AWE double shitballs... literally!!!"

SBean apparently crapped AFTER she took off her diaper and it was smeared on her butt and there was a log stuck to the inside of her leg that plopped out when he stripped her.

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Happy birthday Baby Girl, Mommy and Daddy love you to the Moon and Back!

They other night I made this tasty dish! It is really really good! Take out without the MSG :) Quick and easy this is a GREAT week night dinner!

Honey Garlic Chicken
Adapted from Crème de la Crumb

3 chicken breasts
2 tablespoons oil
½ cup corn starch
2 cloves garlic, pressed
⅓ cup honey
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
½ cup water
1 teaspoon soy sauce
½ teaspoon Red Hot Sirrachi
corn starch slurry: 2 tablespoons cold water + 1 tablespoon corn starch
3 green onions, chopped
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Heat oil in a large pan or skillet over medium heat.

Chop the chicken into bite sized pieces.

Toss the chicken pieces in the corn starch. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook the coated chicken in the preheated pan 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure even cooking, until chicken is cooked through and crisp on the outside.

In a small sauce pan whisk together garlic, honey, vinegar, water and hot sauce. Bring to a boil.

In a small bowl/cup combine cold water and corn starch for the slurry.

Add to boiling sauce. Reduce to a simmer and allow to cook a couple more minutes until thick.

Add sauce to chicken and stir to coat.

Top with green onions and sesame seeds.

Happy 2nd birthday to my Precious SydneyBean,

I love you more than you will ever know.

READ MORE...

Vegetable Lo Mein

Mail your packages early so the post office can lose them in time for Christmas.

Johnny Carson

I am so sorry!

It has been far too long my friend.

I would like to say that is going to get better... but that would be a lie.

I would like to say that I have many hours to sit and cook and blog and chat with you all. But in reality I don't know how freaking bloggers do it? The people that have craft/cooking/mom blogs like me, where do they find the time to craft, cook, mom, and blog????

Right now I know we're only in mid November but I am in a Christmas crunch. There are calendars to make, sewing to be done, stockings to be sequenced, bake sales, fundraisers, Christmas concerts, AND both girl's birthdays... the list could go on and on and on.

I have found time to collect some random thoughts, I usually have them when I'm driving but I would never ever take my phone out while I'm driving because that would be illegal and wrong! Buuuuut if I did use my microphone on my phone to "jot" down some random thoughts they would be these...

Is it weird that I haven't closed my mom's Facebook account? I really don't see me ever closing it actually. I still post things on it. Still go on to see her pictures, to see her. Sometimes I even message her and then I'm the one that still checks her email so I'm the one that gets the message. I think that should be weird but for some reason it's not.

This weekend was the BC municipal elections. All day our 1 station was packed. That's right I said 1 station. I think our population is estimated at like 32,000... we definitely should be using more than just 1 station. Throughout the day we drove by and it was constantly packed people waiting outside, lineups an hour long. I felt bad for the elderly. This election was a big one, we've had a lot of incumbents and seniors run this town for quite a while and the youth vote was coming out in droves. I really wanted to just take the girls. HBear has "voted" 3 times in her short life and I was very excited to take SBean for her first time. But being so cold and the line so long I didn't dare. Ninja and I went to vote at 7 o'clock it took us an hour to get through but it was totally worth it.

So here's the thing... the results came in quite quickly that evening. We voted for 1 Mayor, 6 Councillors and for 4 School Trustees. I voted for 1 mayor, 5 counselors and 3 school trustees. I only voted for the people I felt very confident about, there were 25 people running for the counselor positions! I'm pleased to say that the Mayor that I voted for was elected. Out of my 5 pics for counselor, 4 of them were elected. Out of my 3 school trustees all 3 were elected. These results please me very much and I feel strongly that our city is headed in the right direction.

With that being said I'm disappointed about 2 things. There was 1 man running that I voted for the didn't get elected. He ran on a very strong platform, he was well spoken, well researched and had fantastic new ideas. He was the 1 counselor nominee that really got me excited. He had some great vision for the future of the city. He also raises chickens, believes in local farming and is a self proclaimed tree hugger.

Apparently people are ready for women in office, black man as presidents but there is still a major group of the population that will not stand behind energy efficiency and alternative energy solutions. Makes me very sad and very disappointed I hope in the next election he runs again and people will see the light, the solar powered light :)

The other thing that really bothers me is the voter turnout... and that, being roughly 8,400 people. However, no matter how I look at it, that does not make sense. There was 1,700 pre-votes as opposed to last time of only 300. Last time it took me 5 minutes to vote and that was even registering as I was a new voter to BC. This time it took an hour. All I heard all day was people complaining about the wait time and how long it took. Every person I saw had I voted stickers on. Are you telling me that less than last time and only 30% of our population went out and voted??? Now I'm not one for conspiracy theories but I feel that there was a mistake in the counting because that just can't be right?!?!?!

Enough politics, I apologize, so yeah, that's what we did this weekend LOL

Last week my MBesty tried to teach me how to sew. We made PJ pants for HBear and Ninja. It was painful... For her :) seriously I am so bad at sewing even my cutting around the pattern was terrible and don't even get me started on how me times I pricked my finger with pins! Sewing is not for the faint hearted.

What's up with swans? They just arrived here in Penticton. I figure they must be stupid birds, why else would they stop here? Perhaps they think this is south? Well I guess swans continue the stereotype that beauty=stupidity :)

HBear blows out of her nose after she says something. Or when she is thinking. It sounds like she is blowing her nose into the air. Why does she do this?

Have you ever called someone a name and then turned around and they are right there? Yeaaaaaahhhhhh I have done this... a few times. When will I ever learn to shut my BIG mouth? That's it! My New Year's Resolution is to STOP gossiping about people, no matter how much they piss me off! :)

Thank God I still have 44 days... watch out,

Nobody is safe MWHAHAHAHAHA

On Thursday my WpgBesty's Grandma passed away. My Besty is the strongest lady I know. Her brother passed at age 18, her Papa passed a short while later, her Dad passed in March and now her Omme :( My heart breaks for her family. I have MANY stories and memories of Omme, some good, some bad, ALL funny! LOL

Omme, I am happy that you are at peace and back where you belong, in the arms of Papa. Irene Lee 1930-2014

L-o-v-e

Tonight I did vegetarian. Ninja made an amazing roast beef dinner last night and I figured our bodies could use a night off from meat. This was super tasty but it was my first time using this type of noodle and I overcooked them :( The texture sucked but we ate it all, so that tells me it was a winner!

Vegetable Lo Mein
Adapted from The Woks of Life

2 packs lo mein noodles

6 tablespoons soy sauce

2 teaspoons sesame oil

2 teaspoons sugar + 2 teaspoons hot water to dissolve the sugar in

pinch of five spice powder

1 tablespoon oil

1 clove garlic, pressed

1 cup sliced mushrooms (shiitakes, button mushrooms, or anything you like)

1 leek , whites only, cleaned and sliced

1 bell pepper, julienned

2 carrots, julienned

1 tablespoon Mirin

1 cup peas

a handful of leafy greens (I used spinach/kale mix)
a handful of cashews, chopped
3 green onions, chopped

Boil water in a large pot for the noodles. Just cook until al dente 5 1/2 minutes, drain, and rinse in cold water. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, sesame oil, dissolved sugar, and five spice powder.

Heat oil in a wok, I don't have a small wok... Yet, Santa may be bringing me 1 though :) over high heat and add the garlic, mushrooms, and the leeks. Stir-fry for 30 seconds and add the peppers and carrots. Make sure the pan is hot and then throw in the Mirin. Stir fry for another minute.

Next, add the peas and leafy greens to the wok and cook until the greens are just wilted.

Then add your noodles. Make sure that before you add them to the pan, they're somewhat loose and not all clumped together (you can rinse them in warm water to loosen them up before adding them to the pan).

Pour your sauce mixture over the noodles and stir-fry until everything is well-combined, add cashews and green onions, stir and serve.

READ MORE...

Maple-Glazed Pork Tenderloin... EPIC FAIL!!!!

SBean 0oooohhhhhhhh SBean.

What can I say about her? Actually, the question is more like what's not to say about her? LOL. With her birthday coming up I begin to reflect a little. I know a lot of people start getting that baby urge at this point and I can honestly say... not a freaking chance in hell am I getting any urge! When I see babies I want to run for the hills!

Seriously though, my cousin is getting married in the summer so she will have a baby soon :) I hope and I mean really really hope that my sister will have another one soon too and give my SweetPea a brother or sister. No matter how scared I was of another horrifying labor, sleepless nights, potty training, teething,or any of that stuff... We just wanted to give HBear everything. We wanted to give her a sibling.

I have to say it was the best decision we ever made. SBean completes our family. She is affectionate and smart and loving and funny and for the majority of the day and absolute joy to be around.

With that being said OMG SBean OMG.

Yesterday I was putting in an order with a friend at Epicure and I guess it is a pretty big order and she said "for the total... that will be your first born" and just as I typed "hey want to take my second?" she texted back and said "... and no I don't want your second born!" LOL.

I get it. I mean she's a handful. The man that she sets her sights on well, his fate is already sealed. BAHAHAHAHAHA

When I think back to those first 3 days in the hospital it was so quiet and peaceful, we just sat there and bonded. Ninja and HBear, my in-laws, my Dad, all came to visit of course Mom couldn't because she was doing chemo, but for the most part it was so...

Quiet.

And now almost 2 years later a typical day go something like this...

This morning I looked at the clock and it was 6:07 and I thought WOW a sleep-in! I thought to soon apparently because at 6:11 I heard at the top of her lungs a scream and "I STINKY! I STINKY! I STINKY!"

The Bean was awake.

I walked in and she was standing in the middle of her crib... just in her diaper, which she was trying to rip off because it was very saggy, it was really really full of shit. She had one earring ripped out, her blanket, Elmo, her Blanky and her water bottle (all things she NEEDS to go to sleep) were on the floor and she was screaming at the top of her lungs.

Oh and from her eyebrows to her chin she was dripping in bright green snot!

At this point I look up to the top bunk to see if HBear is miraculously still sleeping through this literal shit show. Believe it or not... she's not LOL

"Mommy" she croaks, "is it a school day today? Is it day or is it night still?" "It is still night HoneyBear go back to sleep."

As I clean SBean up I try to remind her what an indoor voice sounds like. She just doesn't get it. Really. Everything as is at the highest volume. Everything is at a 10, there's no medium, there's no quiet, there's no library voice, there's no whisper, everything is loud.

Her stages are like this,

When she's content... she's pretty loud.

When she's happy... she's very loud.

When she's excited... she's ear-piercing loud.

When she's mad... she's deafeningly loud.

It's funny because on my Mom's side, her mom's family (my Nana's) has the crazy gene, I inherited that :) But on my Mom's Dad's side (my Poppy's) 1 out of every 3 are very very loud. They have foghorn voices as we like to say.

Take for example my Uncle Ken he's a quiet, mild-mannered man on the other hand is my Uncle Robin. Incredibly loud. It's funny because when we were in Calgary this summer SBean was even louder than usual at my Uncle Ken's very quiet and serene house. I mean they have a tinkling beautiful fountain and a meditation area!!! SBean was visibly uncomfortable LOL.

Then we went to Edmonton and we got to my Uncle Robin's house and right away he took her from my arms and I was like "oh no she's not gonna go to you!" and he looked at me like I was crazy and said "what do you mean we're buddies!" and she never left his arms really the entire time?!?!?! It was like their house with 4 dogs, his booming voice and rambunctious grandchildren all of the place was somewhere she felt totally at ease with. She was totally at home lol... It's all very telling LOL.

Needless to say I took SBean into our room hoping that HBear would get a bit more sleep. Of course by this point HBear was up and wanted to know where the party was and apparently it was in our bed.

Yep, that's how the mornings usually start.

Loud, full of poop and early.

And then of course it's breakfast time where she proceeds to lick off all of the peanut butter and jam off of her toast and throw each piece onto the floor.

You would think by these actions that she's not hungry but that would be a mistake. She must be hungry why else would she go into her bedroom open up the diaper drawer and pull out the honkin' container of Vaseline and shove it up her nose, and rub it all over the floor and eat it but the handful?

We haven't left the house in 3 days because we have both been so sick. So today we went out window shopping wink wink. :) We were at Winners and I was singing She'll be coming around the Mountain and the little shit bit me!

I screamed and twacked her in the cheek an old lady was walking by and I think she wanted to call child services on me but SBean just cackled.

When we got home for lunch I made her a wrap and strawberries. It is 1 of her favorites but will she eat it? No. It is impossible to get any kind of meat into her. I have to sneak it in and trick her. One of the ladies from my HotLunch Crew sent me a care package today of tea and all these amazing clothes, you see she has 3 daughters and amazing taste and her newest bundle of "joy" is a little boy so my kids reap the benefits. :) Anyways, I turn away for 20 seconds to go through the box and when I looked back she has the entire wrap ripped apart and it's raining chicken and lettuce and cheese all through the dining room.

It is so freaking nap time.

Other things she does that make me shake my head...

1. She hides behind the bathroom door sucking on MY toothbrush. Always MY toothbrush.

2. She LOVES picking up the toilet brush and spattering the water driplets all over the wall.

3. She take off her shoes AND socks every time we are in the van. 1 time I had a little Keen hit me in the side of my head. You see having kids is DISTRACTED DRIVING!!!

4. She climbs over the gate and goes up onto HBear's loft bed. She then proceeds to call "Moooommmmyyyy" and when I come racing in she tries to grab the chandelier just to see me freak out!

5. She takes apart my tupperware closet at least 2 times a day.

6. Every night after dinner she goes under the sink and gets out the little broom and then crawls under the table to "sweep" really she just brushes her teeth and hair with the gross broom!

7. If I stub my toe or even sneeze she will run to me screaming "OK Mommy? OK?" When I assure her I am OK she rains kisses all over me :) OK so that's a good one but really she IS a sweetheart that just challenges us ~~all the time~~ sometimes :)

Tonight I am making pork tenderloin, rice and a salad with toasted almonds, strawberries and mandarin oranges... I used this dressing recipe :)

Maple-Glazed Pork Tenderloin

Adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1/4 cup molasses, light or mild (I used fancy... I don't think you should lol)

1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 cup cornstarch

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon thyme

1 tablespoon salt

2 teaspoons black pepper

2 pork tenderloins (1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds each)

2 tablespoons oil

Preheat the oven to 375.

Stir 1/4 cup maple syrup, molasses, vinegar, paprika and ginger together in a liquid measuring cup and set aside.

Whisk cornstarch, sugar, thyme, salt, and black pepper in small bowl until combined.

Pat the pork tenderloins dry with paper towels, then roll in cornstarch mixture until evenly coated on all sides. Pat or shake off the excess cornstarch.

In a skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Place both tenderloins in the skillet and cook until well browned on all sides, 5-6 minutes total.

Transfer the tenderloins to a lightly greased oven-proof wire rack set in rimmed baking sheet.

Pour off any grease from the skillet and return it to medium heat. Add the syrup mixture to the skillet, scraping up any browned bits and simmer the mixture until it is reduced slightly, 1-2 minutes.

Transfer 1 1/2 tablespoons of the hot glaze to a small bowl and set aside. Using the remaining glaze, brush each tenderloin with approximately 1 tablespoon glaze.

So it was about at this point that I totally did an EPIC fail and completely burnt the sauce and pretty much turned it into a blackened Werther's original hard candy.

I thought it was burning but I was in the middle of a great texting convo with my SIL lol so of course not thinking I tapped my finger on the sauce and....

Holy shit my finger is on fire!!!!! Omg it is like hot burning candy that has melted on to my finger and is quickly turning the skin under it into a blistering, boiling, suffocating mess!!!

Dad and Ninja came running and all I could see was black with tiny pops of white blinding light/pain.

It looks little but the pain was BIG I assure you!

The sauce is still currently stuck in my favorite bowl! Actually Ninja raced around the kitchen cleaning, practically using a pry bar to get hardened molasses off the floor, the counter, bowls, my finger, and my new Jamie Oliver induction skillet :(

The tablespoon and a 1/2 I poured into the maple syrup hardened in a layer on top!

So now I realized that I had to come up with something for dinner quickly as the rice was almost done, my salad was done and I have these beautiful pork tenderloins browned and waiting for something to go on them.

I got quickly got Ninja to mix:

My In a Fix Pork Tenderloins

1/4 cup of maple syrup
1/4 cup of soy sauce
2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar
1 clove of garlic, pressed

together and pour it over those tenderloins and pop them into the oven.

It was actually quite delicious! LOL

Roast the pork for about 15-20 minutes.

Brush each tenderloin with another tablespoon glaze and continue to roast another 4-6 minutes until an instant-read thermometer inserted in thickest part of tenderloins registers 135 to 140 degrees.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven and brush the pork with the remaining glaze. Let the pork rest for 10 minutes.

While the tenderloins rest, stir the remaining 1/4 cup maple syrup into the reserved 1 1/2 tablespoons glaze (you may need to warm the reserved glaze slightly if it has thickened). Brush each tenderloin with a bit of glaze and serve with the remaining glaze.

So I put the whole recipe on here... so if anybody ever makes it please let me know how it tastes... I for one will not be trying to make this one again!