Thumb print Birthday Card

Since I did not have a birthday card for my gorgeous god daughter, I figured, Olivia and Lexie could make her one using their thumb prints.  I think home-made cards are a lot more special anyway, especially when they come from little ones. :)  We ended up making two cards, one for my god daughter's little brother as well, as their birthdays are only a month apart.

I actually bought the card stock paper - pastel at the Dollarama for $1.50.  It comes in a package of 100 with the following colours: yellow, green, blue, pink and purple.  I also bought the ink pads at the Dollarama - I got blue, yellow and purple.  I love using those, as it's SO easy to clean your baby or toddlers fingers, hands or feet.  You just use a wipe after using it and it's a no mess clean-up.

Making birthday cards does not get any simpler than this.  We used Olivia's thumb prints for the big balloons and Lexie's thumb prints for the little balloons.  Then I drew a string on each of the balloons and drew some easy birds for a little bit of life to finish up the birthday cards.

Linking up with Skip to My Lou

Spaetzli with Pork and Sauce

Prep and cook time (meat and sauce): about 40 minutes
Prep and cook time (everything): about 1hr, 15 minutes

First off , before I really get into this, the prep and cook time for everything might be high.  I am not the best multi-tasker.  The time I indicated is me doing the spaetzli first, they moving onto the other stuff.  See the alternatives at the bottom that can speed things up some.

(c) Helpful Daddy 2011

Oh wow!  I has been ages since I have posted a recipe.  The laziness is just completely uncalled for.  I have had the pictures for this recipe for months now, and yet, it is just now that I am deciding I can post it.  My title for the recipe is fairly self explanatory; Spaetzli with Pork and Sauce.  The recipe for the Spaetzli can be found here.  It is dead easy to make.  I believe for this current recipe, I had some frozen in the freezer.  Anyway, the pork recipe I have to give some credit to my mother in law, who's similar recipe was the inspiration for this one.  Here is what you will need:

2 Pork Tenderloins
1 large onion, diced
2-3 carrot, sliced thin
2 cups chopped broccoli
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream
3 tsp of flour (or corn starch)
2 Bay leaves
2 generous pinches of sage
3-4 cloves
Salt and Pepper to taste
2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Preheat skillet or pot to about medium heat.  Remove the silver skin from the tenderloins while the pot is heating up.  Season the meat with salt and pepper.  Put the EVOO into the pan, and then cook the meat - about 7 minutes a side or until done.  While the meat is cooking prepare the veggies.  When the meat is done, remove it to a plate for the time being.  In the same pot, add a little more olive oil and toss in the onion, garlic and carrots.  Saute for a few minute to help remove the stuff stuck to the bottom from the meat.  

Add the chicken stock, broccoli, and herbs and reduce the heat to a simmer.  Simmer for about 15-20 minutes, or until the carrots are to the desired tenderness.  While the sauce is simmering, slice the meat into 10cm (~1/2") slices.  Make sure that you keep any of the juices that come out of the meat while cutting it - we will add it to the sauce for more flavour.  When the stock is done cooking, whisk the flour into the the heavy cream and add to stock and keep stirring until it is incorporated.  Add the meat back to the sauce to warm back up again.  Serve over the spaetzli with some shredded cheese.

-Note, it goes without saying, but don't eat the bay leaves of cloves.

Alternatives:

-As always you can reduce the calorie and fat content by replacing the heavy cream with evaporated milk

- If you aren't down with the home made spaetzli, you can buy pre-packaged stuff that cooks like pasta

- You can also use pasta, rice, or mashed potatoes.

-Add any other veggies you like to jazz it up.

That's all for now

-d
o_0

Linking up with Skip to My Lou

Graham Cracker Ice Cream Sandwiches by Jessica Seinfeld

I figure I should post the Graham Cracker Ice Cream Sandwiches by Jessica Seinfeld from her cookbook Deceptively Delicious before the summer is over, so here is the recipe:

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 120 minutes

Makes 8 sandwiches

*2 cups lowfat plain yogurt

*1 cup sugar

*1 cup lowfat (1%) buttermilk

*2 tablespoons lemon juice

*Grated zest of 1 lemon

*16 lowfat graham crackers, broken in half (32 squares)

*Shredded coconut (optional)

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, sugar, buttermilk, lemon juice, and lemon zest.  Transfer to a small bowl, cover, and freeze for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until the mixture starts to thicken.

2. To form the sandwiches, scoop out and then press about 1/4 cup of the semifrozen yogurt mixture between two graham cracker squares.  Wrap each in waxed paper and freeze 30 minutes, or until firm.

3. If using coconut, put some on a plate and dip all four edges of the sandwich to coat.

I have to be honest, I liked these, but didn't love them, but it's probably because I don't love lemon.  If you love lemon and like a healthy snack, this is an excellent, easy and quick way to make your own!  Let me know what you think of them, if you try them out!

Linking up with Skip to My Lou

Yoda Ears

To Andrew's Mum and sisters: yep, that's how long Andrew's hair is now!

I can't help myself and have to share this.  Tonight, Olivia figured that Daddy needed "Yoda Ears" (the general public would call them pig tails), too.  This is what Olivia came up with, after brushing Daddy's hair - well ok, I helped a little...

These are Olivia's Yoda Ears.

...and since we are talking about Yoda.  Here's another visual. :)

Emerson - Mommy's Nose is Scary!

Our little girl was allowed to watch some Heidi and Care Bear songs on You Tube tonight and also found this video.  It's so cute, I just had to share it here.  Enjoy! :)

Fun Family Crafts - Website

Check out this awesome site Fun Family Crafts that we are featured on!  It's a really neat site where you can take 30 seconds to sign up (login name, password, e-mail address required), so that you can have your own Craft Box on the site and store tons of cool ideas to make later. I already found some easy to make Smurf Cookies, so exciting!

Outside Storm Pictures

Just a quick post from me today (someday, I will get around to uploading another recipe, I am just so lazy).  We are currently having a good ol' fashion summer thunder storm.  It is a beautiful and wonderfully aural spectacle.  At one point during this storm, the clouds started to thin, and the sky turned this bizzarro colour that I hope the pictures give justice.

No, these have not been doctored to look like sepia, this is the actual colour.

That's all I got for now.  Something more substantial soon.

-d

o_O