I know I try to post this on Sunday... but Im a bit behind this weekend. Sorry!
Ive also decided to try and make one meal a week that is jaxon's choice... which should be interesting!
Monday - Chicken with a rub or some sort and Scalloped Potatoes
Tuesday - Hot Dogs and Fries (yep... J mans choice!)
Wed - Boston Pizza (hooray gift cards!)
Thursday - Chicken meatballs and Penne
Friday - Tortilinni Soup
Saturday - Japanese Grilled Chicken and Rice and Corn
Sunday - Leftovers
Im super excited for the Chicken Meatballs on Thursday... they are a new(ish) item at M&M meats and I cant wait to try them out!
Monday, March 28, 2011
Saturday, March 26, 2011
The Perfect Present...
Jaxon loves books (yep... thats my son!) We are constantly reading books. He is also super smart. Which means he memorizes alot of his books. So new books are always a highlight in his life because he doesnt know whats coming.
We got a super cute book from Jaxons little buddy Krysten. Its called Smash Mash Crash There goes the Trash. This is such a great boy book! Its all about two pigs who love watching the garbage truck come and eat up all the trash. There are only a few words on a page which means its a great book for nights when Bedtime is later then normal. But its loud, and dirty and there is a garbage truck. Every boys dream! It even rhymes which is a good thing in any kids book!
All in All its a super fun read!
We got a super cute book from Jaxons little buddy Krysten. Its called Smash Mash Crash There goes the Trash. This is such a great boy book! Its all about two pigs who love watching the garbage truck come and eat up all the trash. There are only a few words on a page which means its a great book for nights when Bedtime is later then normal. But its loud, and dirty and there is a garbage truck. Every boys dream! It even rhymes which is a good thing in any kids book!
All in All its a super fun read!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
favors
I love doing party favors. I think they are super cute and a great way to thank your friends for coming to the party and celebrating the big day with you! This year was tough because I had to make 36 favor bags and I didnt want to spend alot of money. So here is that I did. I made these super cute boxes out of brightly colored cardstock. I drew some circles on them because Jaxon LOVES circles. Then I filled them up with some super cute goodies. I wanted to keep with the swimming theme so I found Lifeguard rubber duckies, sea creature fruit snacks and then just since they are Jaxons favorite, some kool aid fizzers!
I think they look pretty darn cute on the table with the doughnuts!
I think they look pretty darn cute on the table with the doughnuts!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Onto the cake
Every birthday needs CAKE. But I am always trying to be creative... so this year instead of cake Jaxon had homemade cake doughnuts at this party. we went with doughnuts to keep with the swimming theme. I thought they looked like Inner Tubes! They are super simple because I have a doughnut maker (thanks mom!) I love that gadget! I made two kinds for the party; a vanilla doughnut with a mint chocolate truffle glaze and a chocolate doughnut with a Raspberry chocolate glaze.
Here is the recipes;
Basic Vanilla Doughnut
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
9 Tbsp butter, melted
3/4 cup Milk
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1)Preheat doughnut maker (if you have one... if not the next recipe tells you how to do it with out one)
2) Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make a well in the center. Whisk in the butter, milk, vanilla and egg until mixture forms a smooth batter.
3) Scoop into doughnut wells and cook for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
I got the chocolate doughnut recipe online from Handle the Heat.
Baked Chocolate Cake DoughnutsFrom Lara Ferroni Yield - About a half dozen Note from Lara: It may seem strange to add nutmeg to a chocolate recipe, but nutmeg is the key to a recognizable doughnut flavor. It’s fine to leave it out, but your doughnuts may taste a bit more like chocolate cupcakes.
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tablespoons natural cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon fine grain salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter or coconut oil
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
Chocolate glaze (see below)
1. Lightly grease a doughnut (or muffin) tin and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.2. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda, and then whisk in the sugar, nutmeg and salt.3. Add the butter, and using your fingers, rub it into the dry ingredients until it becomes coarse crumbs.In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, yogurt, vanilla and egg. Add to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Do not overmix, or your doughnuts may be a bit rubbery.4. Fill a ziploc bag with the batter, cut an opening in one corner, and pipe the batter into each cup 1/2 to 3/4 full. It’s important not to overfill, or as the doughnuts rise, you’ll lose the hole.5. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the doughnuts spring back when touched. Let cool slightly on a wire rack before glazing.Chocolate GlazeFrom Alton Brown
1/4 cup unsalted butter (4 tablespoons)
4 tablespoons whole milk, warmed
1/2 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
Combine butter, milk, corn syrup, and vanilla in medium saucepan and heat over medium heat until butter is melted. Decrease the heat to low, add the chocolate, and whisk until melted. Turn off heat, add the powdered sugar, and whisk until smooth. Place the mixture over a bowl of warm water and dip the doughnuts immediately. Allow glaze to set for 30 minutes before serving.
***In order to make the chocolate glaze different flavours I simple used different flavours of Kisses instead of the bittersweet chocolate. It worked great!!!
Here is the recipes;
Basic Vanilla Doughnut
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
9 Tbsp butter, melted
3/4 cup Milk
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1)Preheat doughnut maker (if you have one... if not the next recipe tells you how to do it with out one)
2) Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make a well in the center. Whisk in the butter, milk, vanilla and egg until mixture forms a smooth batter.
3) Scoop into doughnut wells and cook for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
I got the chocolate doughnut recipe online from Handle the Heat.
Baked Chocolate Cake DoughnutsFrom Lara Ferroni Yield - About a half dozen Note from Lara: It may seem strange to add nutmeg to a chocolate recipe, but nutmeg is the key to a recognizable doughnut flavor. It’s fine to leave it out, but your doughnuts may taste a bit more like chocolate cupcakes.
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tablespoons natural cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon fine grain salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter or coconut oil
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
Chocolate glaze (see below)
1. Lightly grease a doughnut (or muffin) tin and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.2. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda, and then whisk in the sugar, nutmeg and salt.3. Add the butter, and using your fingers, rub it into the dry ingredients until it becomes coarse crumbs.In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, yogurt, vanilla and egg. Add to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Do not overmix, or your doughnuts may be a bit rubbery.4. Fill a ziploc bag with the batter, cut an opening in one corner, and pipe the batter into each cup 1/2 to 3/4 full. It’s important not to overfill, or as the doughnuts rise, you’ll lose the hole.5. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the doughnuts spring back when touched. Let cool slightly on a wire rack before glazing.Chocolate GlazeFrom Alton Brown
1/4 cup unsalted butter (4 tablespoons)
4 tablespoons whole milk, warmed
1/2 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
Combine butter, milk, corn syrup, and vanilla in medium saucepan and heat over medium heat until butter is melted. Decrease the heat to low, add the chocolate, and whisk until melted. Turn off heat, add the powdered sugar, and whisk until smooth. Place the mixture over a bowl of warm water and dip the doughnuts immediately. Allow glaze to set for 30 minutes before serving.
***In order to make the chocolate glaze different flavours I simple used different flavours of Kisses instead of the bittersweet chocolate. It worked great!!!
Monday, March 21, 2011
Simple is AWESOME
Tomorrow is my little man's Birthday. He is going to be 4! I can not believe it!!! Time as flown by! We had his birthday party this past Saturday. So I thought Id take the next few days to share the party with the blogging world. It was such a fun party!
Today we will discuss venue! Jaxon loves to swim. He is constantly wanting to go swimming. So I thought it would be perfect to have a pool party. That was until I started pricing it out at the local pools in calgary. EXPENSIVE. But we havwe a little gem just 15 minutes from our house... OKOTOKS! That little town has so many hidden treasures.. this time it was the rec center. I was able to rent the entire pool (yes we had it all to ourselves) for $104.00 and we could invite up to 75 people. They had lifegurads and everything. AWESOME. In calgary I only found places were you spent $100.00 and could bring in 10 guests and you didnt have the pool to yourselves. As you can see this was a way better deal. So we invited a bunch of Jaxons friends and their familes and have a great time. We had invited close to 80 people but of course not everyone could make it so I think that night we had close to 50 people there. It was great. the kids had a blast swimming. Then we headed over to the chapel and have some pizza! It was so easy to plan because I didnt need to worry about games... they had just swam for an hour so then we ate and had cake and that was the end. Wonderful!
Today we will discuss venue! Jaxon loves to swim. He is constantly wanting to go swimming. So I thought it would be perfect to have a pool party. That was until I started pricing it out at the local pools in calgary. EXPENSIVE. But we havwe a little gem just 15 minutes from our house... OKOTOKS! That little town has so many hidden treasures.. this time it was the rec center. I was able to rent the entire pool (yes we had it all to ourselves) for $104.00 and we could invite up to 75 people. They had lifegurads and everything. AWESOME. In calgary I only found places were you spent $100.00 and could bring in 10 guests and you didnt have the pool to yourselves. As you can see this was a way better deal. So we invited a bunch of Jaxons friends and their familes and have a great time. We had invited close to 80 people but of course not everyone could make it so I think that night we had close to 50 people there. It was great. the kids had a blast swimming. Then we headed over to the chapel and have some pizza! It was so easy to plan because I didnt need to worry about games... they had just swam for an hour so then we ate and had cake and that was the end. Wonderful!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Hoping to be back
Hello World! Did you miss me??? Life has been beyond insane the last two weeks. And my life has been monopolized with spending time with family and then organizing the finishing touches on Jaxons 4th birthday. So tim returns to work this coming up week and so life should return to normal... which means Im hoping my life will get back to normal too! Dont get me wrong I LOVE that he has been home since last friday afternoon. And I will miss him like crazy when he goes back to work on Tuesday. It was just everything else going on that threw my schedule off... so fingers crossed that life will calm down here!
So it is yet again a start of a new week and here is my food plan for you all!
Monday - Pizza
Tuesday - (Jaxons birthday so he gets to pick!) Waffles
Wednesday - Chicken and Rice
Thursday - Pad Thai
friday - We are having a famiy bday party for Jaxon and I still have to think of what to serve
Saturday - Baked Pasta
Sunday - Leftovers
So it is yet again a start of a new week and here is my food plan for you all!
Monday - Pizza
Tuesday - (Jaxons birthday so he gets to pick!) Waffles
Wednesday - Chicken and Rice
Thursday - Pad Thai
friday - We are having a famiy bday party for Jaxon and I still have to think of what to serve
Saturday - Baked Pasta
Sunday - Leftovers
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Naan Bread
I love Naan Bread and I also love pizza... so here is my tip for you tonight... instead of pizza crust try making a pizza on Naan Bread. Im sure an Indian flavoured pizza would be awesome on it... but I even just did a traditional BBQ Chicken Pizza on Naan and it was Fabulous!
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