Pumpkin Pancakes

I couldn't bare to see our Halloween pumpkins go to waste especially since we grew them ourselves. So I've been chopping away at them all day, skinning and cubing them up for the freezer. Of course though instead of just packing it all away like I had planned to I ended up making 2 pumpkin pies and a batch of pumpkin pancakes *grin*.

I thought I'd share my recipe for my pumpkin pancakes which are both delicious & nutritious. Just don't tell my children I put a vegetable (or is it a fruit) in their pancakes! LOL.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup raw pumpkin pureed in the blender
2 cups of milk
2 eggs
3 tablespoons of sugar
2 cups of flour
dash of cinnamon

Mix all of the ingredients together with a whisk until smooth and use one ladle of batter per pancake. This recipe is for a crepe type pancake so you will want to spread your batter out all around your pan to get a nice thin pancake :)

If you like the fat & fluffy type of pancakes I use the exact same recipe except I add 2 teaspoons of baking powder to it when I mix the batter and of course you don't need to spread the batter with these ones as you want them puffy!

These get rave reviews from my kids every time and I'm sure you will like them to :)

~ Rosina

Asian Salad

I'm on a total pasta salad kick lately and can't seem to get enough of my favorite Asian salad! Maybe it's because it brings back memories of warm summer days that would be so lovely at the moment as we're drowning in torrential rain & wind. I kid you not, as I type this there is a lake forming in my backyard and if this keeps up we just might get that indoor swimming pool I've always wanted.... in my basement *grin*.

The beauty of this salad is that you can use any pasta noodles & whatever veggies you have in your refrigerator :) Normally I add broccoli florets, julienned carrots & radicchio, but you can add cauliflower, sprouts, sesame or sunflower seeds and if radicchio isn't your favorite try Chinese cabbage instead. It's delicious!!

The sauce is super quick to make by adding equal portions of sesame oil & rice vinegar. For a large salad bowl I usually add about 5 tablespoons of each and then add 2 tablespoons of a low sodium soya sauce. Mix it in well with your salad and if you have time to let it sit in the refrigerator for a couple of hours it actually helps to intensify the flavors as it marinates into the veggies & noodles :)

Now if only I could get the rest of my family to love it just as much as I do!

~Rosina

Man Fabric

I just love having a good excuse to buy new fabrics and since my shop is seriously lacking in the manly fabric department I just knew I had to have these!

The outdoorsman in your family is going to get a real kick out of this one :) The comic strip style pictures have the funniest little sayings to go along with the graphics and are bound to please any hunter or fisherman *grin*.

Fabricland was conveniently having a sale on these manly gems so I also picked up a fish one appropriately named 'The Daily Catch' which I know my boys are going to really like. It's a win win situation for everyone *wink*.

I've got them all pre-washed and cut so tomorrow I just need to whip em up, take photos and get them listed in the shop :) Can't wait to see them in sandwich bag size!

~ Rosina

Thinking Christmas

I seem to be totally fixated on Christmas at the moment and getting my Christmas letter in order so that maybe, just maybe I'll get it out before December 1st this year! I'm really hoping it will make it to everyone before the holidays are over this time around *grin*.

As if getting my very unorganized holiday letter system kicked into high gear isn't tough enough and I'll admit it's always a major challenge I thought that maybe I might endeavor to hand make all 45 of my Christmas cards on top of it :)

Nah, just kidding! I may be slightly over zealous in my thoughts but I'm going to knock that total down to around 10 close family members that will get one of my new papercut creations. Especially since the scrolling 'Happy Holidays' gave me a wee bit of trouble!

I'm going to see if I can find some new blades for my craft knife or at least a really sharp pair of mini scissors before starting my next ones to see if I can get a smoother cutting effect as this one is a little bit choppy. LOL.

~ Rosina

Boy + Embroidery = Boybroidery

My son has been dabbling with embroidery but all of my patterns that I have on hand of course seem to be florals. So he created his own pattern in true boy fashion... a pirate ship being attacked by a giant sea monster!! LOL

He finished transferring his pattern onto the cotton and is now painting it with thread. Mental note... must get pattern transfer paper for next time :)

I think it's coming along really well & I just LOVE the variegated waves. We're calling it 'Boybroidery' *grin*. The version of 'Manbroidery' for younger boys! LOL.

I know some of you may be thinking that boys don't do embroidery or any needlework for that matter! But hey, I think it's just a form of creative expression and there shouldn't be a gender role applied to it as there are some truly AWESOME men that embroider :) I actually ran across this article about stitching in public & I think it's well worth popping over to read :)

~ Rosina

2010 Olympic Torch Relay

With all of the excitement that has been building on the news about the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay starting in Victoria and making its way up Vancouver Island, I just had to take the kids to see it in real life :) Plus I have to admit that I really wanted to see it myself *grin*. So we made the trip to Campbell River and found ourselves a nice little spot to hang out near the 50th parallel to wait for the runners.

As it neared there were tons of police vehicles monitoring the traffic and then the big red Coca Cola truck was the first thing to come into view :)

As the Coca Cola truck was passing by us they started hopping off of it and gave all 3 kids flags & these really cool coke bottles that have fibre optics in them so they randomly change colors from green to blue to red. They were a BIG hit in the car on the way home in the dark *grin*.

Next vehicle in the relay entourage was the RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) truck pumping out the tunes while they danced around on it. It was like being at a parade *grin*.

Once the sponsors had gone by we could finally see the flame! At first all we could see was fire floating above the heads of others watching ahead of us and then it finally came into full view. That baby was really burning! I think the fact that it was starting to get dark really made it look even more impressive than what we had seen on tv :)

And there it goes. It was only seconds from the time it came into view to the time it went past us but it was so worth it to see the excitement on the kids faces as it burned right in front of them :) We never made it to the new Spirit Square downtown Campbell River where the torch finally ended by lighting the cauldron on stage because the crowds were so fierce but we found a nice little spot right in front of the fireworks display *grin*. It'll be great memories for all of us as we may never get the chance to see it again :)

~ Rosina

My Newest Papercut

I was inspired by a fellow Etsian's haunted house papercut and just had to try my hand at designing my very own pattern. It's actually much easier than you would think since you don't have to be a great artist to do this! All you need is a vision and if you can draw an outline you're good to go *grin*.

It sort of took on a life of its own as I drew it. Originally it was supposed to be two trees flanking each side of the papercut but somehow the tree on the right ended up turning into a 'ghost' tree as my daughter calls it since the branches resembled a ghost like shape floating upwards. So I gave it some eyes and a bleeding heart and thus the ghost tree was complete :)

It's hard to tell from the top photo but it is actually compiled of 4 layers of papercuts to give it a really neat 3D effect. I'm just not sure how to display it. I have this great vision of it being in a shadow box like it is above but with some sort of light source below it that illuminates it while it hangs on the wall. I've explained it to my husband and he's mulling around the idea of creating something for me so I'm crossing my fingers he'll come up with some ingenious plan! LOL

For now I'll have to be content with placing it on a flashlight to enjoy it. It seems like such a shame to tuck it away so hopefully it will get a permanent home soon. If you have any ideas on how to create a permanent illuminated display I would LOVE to hear from you :)

~ Rosina

Happy Halloween

Our Halloween festivities were a smashing success! We decorated cookies, licked our fill of icing off of our fingers and made a Halloween gingerbread house. Who said gingerbread houses are only for Christmas! *grin*

It had never occurred to me to make a little haunted house. The kids did all of the decorating themselves but I just couldn't resist adding a skeleton to the grave :)

Of course we had our monstrous candy apples.

And talk about perfect, a 'mummy' for the mommy! LOL

I am totally thrilled with my finished brain to. It turned out awesome!! The jelly covering oozed & dripped like blood and the parts that fell off gave the perfect effect of blood that was congealing or clotting. It was a perfect treat for Halloween!

I hope everyone had a happy Halloween :)

~ Rosina

Halloween Party Preperations

It's become a yearly ritual to make a special trip to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory just before Halloween so that each of my 3 children can pick out a special candied apple :) I think each year those apples get bigger and better to!

With so many wonderful monsters to pick from it posed quite the dilemma for my 3 year old who insisted he needed more than just one for himself *grin*. With our treats picked out it was time to head to the grocery store to pick up supplies for our Halloween birthday bash.

Hubby's birthday is on Halloween and we always put on a mini Halloween bash for fun. We don't actually go out trick or treating but it doesn't mean we can't enjoy partaking in some of the creepy party foods. So far I've managed to keep my party menu a complete surprise and can't wait to serve brains, eyeball hors d'oeuvres, monster jaws & a nice tall glass of bloody punch should wash it all down*grin*.

I can't wait to see their faces!!
~Rosina

Sausage & Bacon Soup ~ Recipe

With the snowy cool weather upon us I thought it would be the perfect time to share a recipe for one of my favorite soups :) I actually took these photos during the summer months when I had an odd hankering for hot soup during a heat spell! LOL



Ingredients:

Roast chicken bones left after meal
1 whole head of garlic
2 or 3 ribs of celery
3 or 4 carrots
5 onions

1/2 pound of bacon
6 sausages
pepper & salt
basil

Start by grabbing a large stock or soup pot and add your chicken bones, peeled carrots & onions and the entire head of garlic. I love to cut the head of garlic horizontally across the middle so that it opens up the making it even easier for that wonderful flavor to escape. Don't worry about the skin on the garlic as you are going to strain it all out before finishing your soup :)



Once you have all of your veggies in your pot fill it until the water level is just under the rim and place it on the stove. Turn the heat on high until it comes to a boil. As soon as it boils you can put on a lid and turn it down to low so that it can gently bubble away for a couple of hours to infuse your water with all of the yummy flavors.



While you are waiting for you chicken stock to cook you can start to get your meat ready for frying. Take your half pound of bacon and slice it up. I cut mine about a 1/4 inch thick but you can do it thicker if you like. There are no rules to how chunky your bacon has to be!



I love using our homemade sausage for this soup which is a garlicky beef & pork blend but you can pick up any of your favorite flavors at your butcher. If you want a soup with a little bit of a kick you may want to find yourself some spicy Italian sausages! To prepare your sausage for frying take a sharp knife and slice through the outer casing and peel it off of each of the sausages.



So it's been a couple of hours or perhaps an entire afternoon if you got busy and forgot about your simmering stock , but now it's time to strain it. Taking your largest colander and another large soup pot, place the colander into the empty soup pot and pour the hot stock into it. Be very careful trying not to splash any of the hot liquid onto yourself. Quite often I actually wear my oven mitts when I do this to protect my hands from splashes and steam burns :) Let your colander drain a couple of extra minutes to catch the final drips of stock and then place both the stock and colander of bits to the side for later. If you have chickens the boiled veggie leftovers is a delicious treat for them :)



Now that your soup pot is empty again, return it back to the stove and add your chopped bacon and sausages to it. You are going to fry them right in your soup pot. That way you won't loose any of the good flavors. Fry until nice and brown :)



As soon as you have browned your meat you can add your homemade chicken stock and all that's left to do is to season it with salt and pepper. I LOVE adding basil and usually add about 3 tablespoons of dried basil as I don't have any fresh at this time of year, but that's not set in stone and if you hate basil just leave it out and add your favorite spices :)

Mmmm, so delicious and I think I've got some fresh Portuguese rolls that are just begging to be dipped in it *grin*.

Enjoy!

~ Rosina